EVs In The News - JUNE 2025

Igor Orlovich and Ravi Mehta follow the news about Electric Vehicles and have curated items for fans and those thinking about going electric for their next car, SUV, or truck.

From the Automakers:

The newest Nissan Leaf will have a liquid cooling system that can maintain the battery pack’s temperature at an ideal level. The system can harvest heat from the onboard battery charger to warm the battery and potentially increase the driving range in cold weather.

After big investments in the facility, General Motors said it will make a "next-gen affordable EV" at its assembly plant in Fairfax, Kansas. This is where their new, affordable Bolt EV will hit production by the end of 2025.

Honda said EV sales were slowing in the U.S., prompting the Japanese automaker to scrap its previous goal for EVs to be 30% of its global vehicle sales by 2030. Instead, they are putting more emphasis on hybrids. The decision is “a switch in the planned course,” but the long-term shift toward electrification remained unchanged, just pushed back in time.

Despite challenges, Mazda presses forward with its plans for a new electric vehicle to be launched in 2027, the first since the MX-30 EV was discontinued. Unfortunately, they won't be able to build the vehicles in the US so the upcoming EV could be subject to tariffs imposed by the American administration on vehicles manufactured outside of the United States, which could be as high as 25%. However, they do have highly flexible and technologically advanced assembly lines that could cut production costs significantly.

Hyundai Motor has a rare earths stockpile that can last about a year and it does not expect any near-term impact from global supply chain disruptions caused by China's export curbs. China's decision in April to restrict exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has tripped up the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.

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Charging News:

Waffle House is about to become a go-to DC fast charging spot for EV drivers, thanks to a new partnership with bp pulse throughout TX, GA, and FL. Each site will get six charging bays with 400kW chargers featuring both CCS and NACS connectors. The first stations are expected to go live in 2026.

Now, if you’ve ever been on a road trip through the South, you already know Waffle House is always open. The lights are on 24/7, even during hurricanes and major storms. There’s actually something called the “Waffle House Index” used by FEMA and emergency responders to gauge how bad a storm is, making it a reliable place for charging!

Spain’s electric car sharing scene just got a little more interesting thanks to a new modular battery swapping technology. These EVs will be able to get a full charge in just five minutes. With each module being roughly the size of a carry-on suitcase, different packs can have different capacities for the same type of vehicle. A single-module pack would give you 100mi on a charge. If you have to drive a longer route, you could upgrade to a four-module pack just for one time.

Utilities need to estimate the numbers of EVs in their territories to project future growth. There is now a new type of smart meter that can provide EV detection and charging insights that can enable smarter forecasting, better distribution planning and more efficient managed charging programs for utilities.