Yea, the humanoids from Boston Dynamics and others are among the technologies that can bring about a big resurgence of manufacturing productivity in the U.S., reversing stagnation and decline over the past decade or so:   The labor productivity of American manufacturing has declined in the past decade. American workers needed 106 hours of work in 2023 to produce what needed only 100 hours in 2013. The good news, though, is that the game of leapfrog calls for the jumped-over player to then do the jumping. And the oncoming wave of AI-enabled manufacturing technologies are well suited to U.S. advantages.   While industrial robots have been around for a long time, engineers had to program those machines for each task they might handle—and, crucially, re-program them when a task changed even slightly. Such brittleness is exactly what contemporary approaches to AI stand to fix.   In theory, then, general-purpose robots could potentially adapt to any environment without having to be explicitly programmed to do so, communicating about needed adaptations in human language. They could handle subtle changes in their environment (“the boxes are usually in one part of the factory, but today, they’re somewhere else”) in the same fluid way that a human worker does.  

Yea, all good stuff. But the two charging related features that really make this EX60 appealing are: 19.2 kW Level 2 onboard charger Built-in NACS port

Humanoids (as they are being called) have the potential to change everything.  From Autoline Daily a few days back:   Last week we reported that automotive assembly plants building cars entirely with humanoid robots could be a reality by 2030. One Tier 1 CEO told Autoline that even if humanoids cost $250,000 apiece they would pay for themselves in less than two years, because each robot could work two shifts, replacing two workers. And that’s at a supplier company that pays lower wages than the automakers do. The total annual labor cost for the average UAW worker at the Detroit Three is about $140,000 a year, so the payback for a humanoid could be less than a year. The UAW contract expires in 2028 and it will be fascinating to see if the threat of humanoids plays a role in labor negotiations.

I forgot that Hyundai bought Boston Dynamics 

Not bad!   800v architecture  400kw charging  Up to 115 KWh battery 

Maybe it’s more a case of “ we’re doing BS and Maverick now so Escape doesn’t matter” I would think it’s a great way to develop Escape and Edge replacements in one go using a new approach to make them more profitable again even if volume sellers.   A lot of Ford’s product decisions are obviously driven by what it sees as mounting costs vs the projected returns, so change one side of the equation by lowering costs and maybe Ford’s views can change…

Them Atlas robots are expected to be deployed throughout Hyundai's Metaplant near Savannah, GA by 2028. Metaplant already uses lots of the Spot robots, one of which was featured in the grand opening of that facility:  

BYD's and other Chinese companies' ability to fulfill consumer demand for affordable, technologically advanced EV has made it successful not only in Mexico, but other markets in the Americas too:   BYD’s Quiet Takeover: How a Chinese Automaker Changed Brazil’s Car Market Chinese Automakers Reshape Ecuador’s Electric Vehicle Market as BYD Takes the Lead BYD ship reaches Argentina with record delivery of nearly 5,800 electric and hybrid vehicles BYD surges in Uruguay, home to one of South America’s strongest EV adoption rates Costa Rica’s EV Surge Ignites Latin America’s 2025 Boom BYD Dominates Electric Vehicle Market Growth in Latin America Diverse Customers Announce Plans to Purchase BYD Battery Electric Buses in Canada

I think they're playing the long term game. Increasing appeal and loyalty amongst enthusiasts by making Corvette into the master of performance per dollar. It's resulted in people calling 200k corvettes bargains, which is insane imo.    I have strong concerns that Ford, by charging and arm and a leg for s650 is doing the opposite, maximizing short term profit, but damaging the reputation of their most iconic product long term. I'm very worried about this, and hope Ford reverses course with s750. 

Well, obviously hybrids (at least in truck applications) have become PowerBoost.   I'll throw things at a wall for EREV.......   PowerBoost+ PowerCharge ChargeBoost EcoCharge EVoBoost lol