At the core of the R2’s cost-cutting approach is ruthless simplification. Rivian says its new zonal electrical architecture slashes wiring complexity, trimming 2.3 miles of harness length and reducing connectors by 60%. High-voltage cabling is down 70% thanks to consolidating multiple power modules into a single unit.

The same philosophy carries over to the powertrain. Rivian’s new “Maximus” drive unit uses 41% fewer parts than the Enduro units found in the R1 lineup. By integrating the inverter directly into the drive unit and even using its housing as a mounting structure, Rivian cuts both material cost and assembly time.

According to InsideEVs, even the sensors got a rethink. Swapping ultrasonic sensors for corner radars yields a claimed 50% cost reduction, a move that reflects a broader trend toward fewer, more capable components. In theory, that could help Rivian reduce repair costs, a known concern for the brand.

The front suspension ditches the more complex double-wishbone setup used in the R1 for a simpler MacPherson strut design, cutting costs by 70%. Large die-cast sections reduce underbody part count by 90%, while rear doors shed 65% of their complexity.

There’s also a less glamorous but equally important factor: scale. When Rivian launched the R1T and R1S, it was a newcomer building expensive, low-volume vehicles. Now, with higher production targets in sight, it can negotiate better supplier pricing.

Something as basic as a windshield reportedly costs half as much on the R2 compared to the R1. Add in the fact that the R2 is simply smaller, and therefore uses fewer raw materials, and the math starts to make sense. At this point, all that’s left is to see how Rivian executes on production and sales.

The report stated that the federal loan for the project was cut by $2 billion, bringing it down to $4.5 billion. The funding comes from the Department of Energy and is intended to help boost EV and battery production. While it may be too early to tell what the cut means for Rivian and the R2, CEO RJ Scaringe pointed to a silver lining during the company’s Q1 earnings call.

Scaringe said Rivian will be able to draw the funds earlier than expected in 2027, which could help support construction, tooling, and hiring sooner. Instead of the original two-phase plan with 200,000 units of capacity each, the funding will now be used for a single phase with an annual capacity of 300,000 units.

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WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - The chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants to collect funds from electric vehicles to help pay for U.S. highway repairs ‌as part of a surface transportation bill.

Representative Sam Graves, a Republican, said he plans to take up a multi-year bill in early April. Last year, House Republicans proposed a new $250 annual fee on EVs and $100 for hybrid EVs but it was not included in a massive tax and ⁠spending bill. The current five-year surface transportation law expires on September 30.

"We would like to get money from EVs," Graves said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce infrastructure event, saying he expects the five-year bill to include $500 billion to $550 billion in funding for highways and bridges.

Some states charge fees for EVs to cover road repair costs. Congress for the past three decades has opted not to hike fuel taxes to pay for rising road repair costs. ‌Some ⁠Republican senators in February 2025 proposed a $1,000 tax on EVs for road repair costs.

 

Most revenue for federally funded road repairs is collected through diesel and gasoline taxes, which EVs do not pay.

Last year, the Electrification Coalition, an EV advocacy group, argued a $250 ⁠fee for EVs was unfair since an average gas-powered vehicle pays just $88 yearly in federal gas taxes.

Since 2008, more than $275 billion - including $118 billion from the 2021 infrastructure law - has ⁠been shifted from the general fund to pay for road repairs.

The Trump administration has taken a series of steps to disincentivize EV sales, including repealing ⁠a $7,500 EV tax credit last year.

Given the November congressional election, some lawmakers say it will be challenging to reach a deal by September 30 on funding.

Slate Auto initially drew attention with plans to sell electric vehicles for under $20,000. However, that pitch shifted after the loss of the $7,500 federal tax credit last September 2025, prompting the company to revise its expected starting price to the mid-$20,000 range.

Even so, Slate Auto continues to show signs of momentum, including backing from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The latest is a $650 million Series C funding round led by TWG Global, according to Automotive News. It will help support manufacturing at the startup’s plant in Warsaw, Indiana, as the company works to deliver its first electric pickup truck later this year.

A report from TechCrunch states that Slate Auto has raised roughly $1.4 billion to date. TWG Global has been investing in the company since 2024, with its most recent funding round seen as a boost as production nears.

In addition to securing funding, the startup has also made a structural change by appointing Peter Faricy as its new chief executive officer. Faricy, a former vice president of Amazon Marketplace, is expected to help build a similar platform that makes it easy for customers to purchase vehicle accessories. Chris Barman, who served as CEO when the brand launched in 2022, has since shifted to overseeing manufacturing, engineering, and design.

https://www.motor1.com/news/792532/volkswagen-id4-dead-us-for-now/

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Iran war should be wake-up call about costs of not going full throttle towards EVs as Chinese have done, experts say

 

By the 1980s, Detroit’s once titanic carmakers were being upended by rivals from Japan. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler had grown rich selling gas guzzlers, but when oil prices rose and suddenly cheap, fuel-efficient Japanese models looked attractive, they were unprepared. The collapse in sales led to hundreds of thousands of job losses in the automotive heartland of the US.

 

Now western car manufacturers are making what one former boss calls a similar “profound strategic mistake” as they pull back from electric vehicles (EVs) and refocus on the combustion engine just as oil prices are soaring once again. Experts say the industry’s future – and that of tens of millions of jobs – could be on the line. This time, however, the threat is from China.

 

Cheap, well-made electric cars from brands such as BYD and Leapmotor are finding buyers across Europe. BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s biggest EV seller this year. Chinese marques are fast seizing the market share once dominated by the likes of Volkswagen, Ford, Peugeot and Renault.

 

In the US, the pullback has been even more severe. Donald Trump has in effect wiped out the country’s electrification push by cancelling tax credits for consumers and dismantling exhaust emissions rules, which he calls a scam.

 

Andy Palmer, a former chief executive of Aston Martin, said: “The worst possible response [from the Europeans] is to blink, slow investment and hope the market somehow resets in their favour. It won’t.”

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R2 robotaxis will be available ⁠exclusively on Uber's platform, starting with San Francisco and Miami, the companies said, adding that Uber has the option to buy up to 40,000 more beginning in 2030.

Given the pricing, if Ford can keep its CE1 SUV at under $40K...it will have a winner in this market. 

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Rivian Upgrades Its Amazon Delivery Vans With 30% More Range and AWD

Rivian’s Electric Delivery Van will soon be able to go further, both in terms of distance and remoteness

Feb 17, 2026 9:45 AM EST

 

Key Points

• Updates are coming soon to Rivian's EDV electric van.
• New variants will feature bigger batteries and all-wheel drive for increased range and capability.
• Updated EDV and new R2 SUV models expected to launch and add new technology in 2026.

 

Rivian’s friendly-looking and unimaginatively-named Electric Delivery Van – EDV, for short – is now a fairly common sight on America’s roads, with Amazon alone – initially the van’s exclusive customer – having taken delivery of over 30,000 of them since 2021, and it comfortable outselling all of its rivals in 2025.

So far, though, its remit has been largely urban deliveries over relatively concentrated, thanks to two-wheel drive and fairly modest ranges. That’s soon going to change, though, as Rivian has confirmed in in its latest letter to shareholders it’s launching bigger-batteried and all-wheel drive versions of the EDV that’ll allow it to travel further and go to more remote places.

 

The EDV’s Limitations
 

Launched in 2021, the EDV currently only comes in front-wheel drive form, with a 320 HP motor driving the front wheels. The 100kWh battery pack allows for a quoted range of 161 miles in the smaller 500 variant, and 160 in the larger 700.

Those numbers are fine for the sort of urban, high-density mileage the EDV has been used for so far, but limit its usefulness in less built-up areas. Meanwhile, being front-wheel drive only means that winter weather and unpaved roads can cause a problem for it too.

 

The Next Step

 

Those two major limitations are what the new variants of the van are being specifically developed to overcome. Rivian says it’s working on a larger battery that’ll bring a 30% increase in range, potentially bumping it up to 209 miles.

Combined with a new all-wheel drive version, which will most likely add a second motor on the rear axle, Rivian says the new vans will “expand EDV route coverage in Amazon’s network.” It sounds like the new versions are once again being developed specifically for Amazon, then, as the e-commerce giant looks to further increase its fleet of zero-emission delivery vehicles.

HONDA TAKES $16B EV WRITE-OFF
Another automaker is taking a huge financial hit to pivot away from EVs. Ford recently announced a nearly $20 billion write-off, while Stellantis wrote off $26 billion. And now Honda says it will book up to nearly $16 billion in losses in its shift away from EVs. The automaker is canceling three EVs it was developing for North America, the 0 Series SUV, 0 Series Saloon and the Acura RSX. Honda says if it started producing and selling the vehicles, it would lead to even more losses in the long-term. On top of that its profitability has declined because of U.S. tariffs and not remaining competitive in Asia because it had to allocate more resources for EV development. So the company needs to save cash in order to offset losses in its automotive business. Several executives, including Honda’s CEO and executive vice president, are taking voluntary pay cuts for the next three months, as a result of its decision.

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Executive vice president Stella Li said that if the project goes ahead, BYD would aim to own and run the factory itself.
March 13, 2026
 

Chinese EV maker BYD is assessing plans to build a manufacturing plant in Canada while also leaving open the possibility of acquiring an established global automaker.

In an interview with Bloomberg, executive vice president Stella Li said the company is examining the Canadian market for a potential production facility.

Although no final decision has been made, she added that if the project goes ahead, BYD would aim to own and operate the factory itself.

Canada, for its part, has been looking to attract investment from Chinese carmakers and has encouraged them to pursue joint ventures with Canadian businesses.

In January, the country agreed to exempt up to 49,000 Chinese-made EVs a year from a 100% tariff introduced in 2024, a move that signalled a change from its earlier approach of keeping Chinese vehicles out of the market.

Li also said BYD could consider buying a legacy automaker, at a time when several manufacturers in the US, Europe and Japan are under strain from the cost of supporting both internal combustion and electric vehicle development.

She did not name any potential targets.

The company has put plans to enter the US market on hold.

Li said the US is a tough market, citing high tariffs and restrictions on connected-car technology that have largely prevented Chinese-built vehicles from gaining access.

Instead, BYD is prioritising international growth and is applying what Li described as its “Brazil model”, using the same sales and marketing approach that supported its expansion in South America.

The company is working on its first European passenger car production base in Hungary and is weighing a second facility in Turkey as part of its broader overseas push.

BYD’s sales in the first two months of the year declined 36% to 400,241 vehicles, though exports continued to rise.

The company is aiming for overseas sales of 1.3 million vehicles in 2026.

Li said two recent launches – a new generation of BYD’s blade batteries and an ultra-fast flash charging architecture – are expected to help counter the drop in sales.

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• Gas prices have jumped sharply following escalating tensions involving Iran.
• Early signals in Edmunds site activity suggest an uptick in car shoppers considering electrified vehicles.
• The vehicle affordability crisis is more severe today than during the last major fuel price spike.
• A wave of EVs coming off leases in 2026 could expand the supply of more affordable electrified options in the used market.

Escalating geopolitical tensions involving Iran are beginning to affect fuel prices across the United States. According to data from AAA, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $3.54 on March 10, up 43 cents from $3.11 just one week earlier. In California, average prices have jumped even more sharply, rising about 62 cents over the past week to $5.29 per gallon.

It’s difficult to predict how long fuel prices may remain elevated, but sharp increases at the pump have historically influenced how drivers think about their next vehicle.

Edmunds on-site shopping data offers an early look at how car shoppers may be responding.

What Edmunds car shopping data shows

Early signals in Edmunds site activity show a slight uptick in shoppers exploring alternatives to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. In the week starting March 2, shopper consideration¹ of electrified vehicles (hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles) accounted for 22.4% of all vehicle research activity on Edmunds, up from 20.7% the previous week. Most of that increase was driven by growing shopper interest in battery electric vehicles, which saw the largest gain among electrified powertrains during this time period.

Because gasoline prices only began rising sharply late in the week, the shift in shopper behavior is likely still in its early stages. The data reflects just one week of activity, whereas previous major fuel price spikes have tended to influence shopping patterns over longer periods. 

 

Weekly Electrified Vehicle Consideration Share on Edmunds (Dec 2025–Mar 2026)

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Week Starting	Total Electrified Vehicle Consideration Share of Site on Edmunds
12/29/2025	21.1%
1/5/2026	21.0%
1/12/2026	20.9%
1/19/2026	21.4%
1/26/2026	21.1%
2/2/2026	21.3%
2/9/2026	20.8%
2/16/2026	21.0%
2/23/2026	20.7%
3/2/2026	22.4%

 

 

Gas price spikes can influence vehicle adoption over time

The last major fuel price spike offers a useful comparison. During the 2022 fuel price surge following Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, total electrified vehicle consideration on Edmunds climbed sharply, rising from 17.5% of all vehicle research activity in February to 25.1% in March as fuel prices surged nationwide. 

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Tesla loses Europe BEV sales title to VW, which also passes Mercedes for PHEV lead

VW EV sales up 56% in 2025

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The Chinese automaker’s Blade Battery 2.0 and FLASH chargers aim to remove the last barriers to electric vehicle adoption.

Charging your EV as quickly as filling your gas tank? That’s the goal, right? The brass ring, the tipping point that surely will make electric vehicles as compelling a choice, if not more so, than their internal-combustion counterparts. We’ve yet to get very close.

 

But Chinese automaker BYD may have figured it out. It says it has developed a new battery and charging system designed to dramatically cut electric-vehicle charging times, allowing for electric “fill-ups” in as little as five minutes.

The company unveiled its second-generation Blade Battery alongside a 1,500-kW charging system called FLASH Charging. Put together and in optimal conditions, BYD says the technologies allow compatible vehicles to recharge from 10% to 70% in about five minutes and from 10% to 97% in roughly nine. Even in subzero temperatures the system can charge a battery from 20% to 97% in about 12 minutes.

 

Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, said during the unveiling that automakers must address lingering concerns about charging speed and reliability if EV adoption is to expand further.

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Battery company SK Battery America Inc. laid off nearly 1,000 workers at a manufacturing plant northeast of Atlanta on Friday amid automakers’ changing electrification plans and uncertain consumer demand for EVs.

The company said Friday marked the last working day for 958 plant employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice filed by human resources chief Chuck Moore. Impacted workers will be paid through May 6.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/sk-lays-off-nearly-1000-workers-georgia-plant/7HHBFCCRO5EHHMYXXBFQCIFROI/