There are also some clever design elements throughout. For instance, Genesis found a clever way to work its brand’s front-end design language in without the use of a grille, by simply recreating the grille’s silhouette in headlight bars. It looks great, keeps Genesis’ brand recognition, and eliminates the obnoxious fake grilles of almost every other EV.

Out back, the double taillights and subtle ducktail spoiler give off Aston Martin DB9 Volante vibes and it’s lovely. Also lovely is the way the shoulder line stats at the hood and makes its way all the way back to above the rear fender, which makes it both elegant and muscular looking. The taillights are also in line with the headlights, so if you look at it in profile, it looks like they’d meet if they continued on.

People need get excited about EVs and we need more than just futuristic looking sedans and hatchbacks. So far, 90-percent of EVs on the market are smart, practical, sensible vehicles. We need fun cars with beautiful designs and the Genesis X Convertible Concept could be just the thing. Unfortunately for all of us, it is unlikely that Genesis will put any of these X concept vehicles into production. But there is always hope…

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No More V12 Engines

Its split headlights, ultra-slim upper headlights, and far shorter Pantheon grille are all drastically different than the Wraith’s. However, in profile and from the rear, the Spectre looks like an updated, sharper, sleeker version of the Wraith. There are some nice unique touches, though. For instance, the shoulder line is crisp and looks sporty, its window trim is sharp, and its front end seems to be a bit shorter and lower, due to not having a V12 under hood.

The new Spectre is built on the brand’s all-aluminum Architecture of Luxury platform. It’s a flexible platform, designed to accommodate either internal combustion or electric powertrains, and it’s both lightweight and stiff. In fact, due to the battery tray being integrated into the floor of the chassis, the Spectre is 30 percent stiffer than any previous Rolls-Royce. Interestingly, the battery also acts as 700 kg of sound insulation, making the car even quieter inside.

Replacing the old 6.75-liter twin-turbocharged V12 is a pair of electric motors. Rolls doesn’t have any official power figures just yet, as the powertrain is still being refined. However, the current prediction from Rolls is that the Spectre will make 577 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque. The initial performance estimate is a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds.

260 Miles Range

But the important bit is range. How will customers respond to have a bit less convenience with the Spectre than any other previous Rolls? Its battery pack should provide around 260 miles of range, which isn’t horrible but it isn’t great, either. That range estimate is with 23-inch wheels and with its 6,559 lb curb weight. Will Rolls customers being okay with being on a 130 mile leash, lest they wait 30 minutes to charge up in public? It’s going to be interesting to see how customers handle this. 

Like with the new Ghost, the Spectre will have Rolls’ Planar suspension setup, which can read the road ahead and prepare the suspension for bumps ahead of time. It can also decouple the anti-roll bars, which allows the wheels to move independently of each other. Not only does that remove the twitchiness of stiff anti-roll bars on the highway but it also improves ride quality.

Rolls-Royce says it’s still testing the powertrain to get its power figures and refinement finalized. Though, don’t expect to see any definitive answers any time soon. Rolls claims it will have official figures before its market launch in Q4 2023. 

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In these shots, you can see a bit more of the digital gauge cluster than before and it’s quite a bit different than those that you’ll find in the rest of Rolls’ lineup. There seem to be two main digital dials, a speedo and the classic Rolls-Royce power reserve. .

The rest of the cabin is pretty typically Rolls. That’s no bad thing, obviously. Every Rolls-Royce is a masterclass in interior material quality, so seeing most of its corporate cabin inside the Spectre isn’t too concerning. We’re all still in the dark about battery size/capacity, powertrain layout, powertrain specs, and range, when it comes to the Rolls-Royce Spectre.

We’re excited about the Spectre because Rolls-Royce is the perfect brand for electrification. Electric powertrains are whisper quiet, effortlessly torquey, and infinitely smoother than even the smoothest of internal combustion powertrains. Perfect for car like a Rolls-Royce, then. Some old-school purists might scoff at the idea of anything other than a V12 powering a Roller, and there will be some customers who find its charge times to be inconvenient, but there’s no denying that a Rolls is probably better as an EV than with a piston engine. So the Spectre is going to be an incredibly interesting and exciting new car.

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But what about the Audi R8 supercar? “The future will be fully electric,” said Hoffman. “We intend to come up with some surprises again and we are working on sports car concepts that will probably be fully electric. All I can say is we will surprise and thrill you.” Even though this is hardly a confirmation, there is very little doubt that Audi will not plan a fun and electric supercar. It’s certainly not out of the question, as Audi has the means to do it, thanks to its new PPE architecture, 800-volt platform, and high-performance electric motors.

Audi’s current electric design language, seen on the Audi e-tron GT and A6 e-tron Concept, would make for an absolutely stunning electric sports car. If Audi were to make something reminiscent of the PB18 e-tron Concept from Pebble Beach a few years back, the automotive market would be taken by surprise.

Audi Sport’s next project is to “transform the R segment, and the R segment is going to be fully electric. This is our job for the next decade,” Audi Sport’s head of product marketing Linda told CNET’s Roadshow last year.

As of right now, there doesn’t seem to be an official timeline as to when the current R8 will die off and when successor will emerge. This current R8 should last about another year, with its naturally-aspirated V10 engine, but don’t expect it to last much longer than that.

[Source: QuattroDaily]

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Next up, the BMW i4 won Top Gear’s Best Electric Exec award. It seems that the BMW i4 gets praise for everything the 3 Series used to get praise for; sharp driving dynamics and powertrain, a simple but handsome and well-made cabin, and a silky smooth powertrain. The only complaint is that it doesn’t make a classic straight-six noise. Much has been said about the cost of the BMW i4, since its release. Surprisingly for a BMW, that talk has been positive. Despite its M3-conquering performance, the BMW i4 M50 is actually cheaper than its gasoline-powered sibling from the M Division. Even when it’s fully loaded, to its maximum possible spec, the BMW i4 M50 is still only about $2,000 more than the base-spec BMW M3 Competition xDrive.

In addition to the BMW iX and i4 receiving some awards from Top Gear, another electric BMW received an even bigger, more important award. The BMW i3 was given an EV Lifetime Achievement award. It’s nice to see the i3 get some recognition and, when TG explains why the i3 is still more spacious and lighter than the far newer Honda E.

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There are three pricing charts from three different locations; a national average, the cost in Boston, and the cost in San Francisco. The national average is to get a baseline cost analysis of electricity versus gas, while the latter two cities are used because their cost of electricity is higher, due to their higher rates of EV sales. These charts are based on EPA figures, which state that the average internal combustion engine vehicle in 2020 returned 25.7 mpg. Which would mean that, with an average vehicle, driving 100 miles requires about 3.9 gallons of gasoline. The baseline national average cost of driving 100 miles, based on that 3.9 mpg, has ranged from around $8.60 in 2019 to around $14.00 in 2022.

According to the EPA, the average electric vehicle sold in 2020 returned 97 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent). The EPA’s MPGe rating is based on how far an electric vehicle can drive on 33.7 kWh, as that’s apparently the battery energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. Which means that, using the EPA’s 97 MPGe figure, the average electric vehicle requires 34.7 kWh of electricity to drive 100 miles. At that rate, the average national cost to drive an EV 100 miles ranged from around $4.25 in 2019 to $4.60 in 2022.

The data shows that the cost of charging an electric vehicle is drastically cheaper than the cost of refueling a gasoline car. Even in Boston and San Francisco, where the cost of electricity is higher, electric cars still win out. There was only one point, in Boston, in which both the cost of electricity and gasoline were the around the same and that was in the early months of 2020, during the peak of pandemic lockdown, when most Americans were home using electricity, not driving.

Read: What’s more important in an electric vehicle – Range or Charging Speed?

It’s clear that electric vehicles are significantly cheaper to charge and run than gasoline cars, especially at the moment (although gas prices will likely come down in the coming months). That cost scale tips further into EVs favor if you charge at home with solar.

Of course, one could argue that the entry cost of electric cars is higher than gasoline vehicles, which then tips the scale back toward ICE vehicles. However, the cost of EVs is coming down, as more and more automakers are offering affordable electric vehicles, such as Hyundai and Volkswagen. And when it comes to brands like BMW, in which many of its electric vehicles are priced similarly to their internal combustion combustion counterparts, the entry cost argument weakens.

Read: How to charge my electric car – The Ultimate Guide

Will electricity become more expensive as EVs become more and more common and ICE vehicles become rarer? Possibly. However, Jeffries analyst David Kelley calculated that EVs are around $4,700 cheaper to run than ICE cars, over their lifetimes, and that gap is going to increase even further over the next couple of years. At the moment, EVs are cheaper to run, the numbers don’t lie. Which makes switching to electrification more and more attractive, especially as gas prices continue to soar.

[Source: CNBC]

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Of course, the camp does a very good job hiding the fine details so it’s hard to tell what’s changed. However, we expect Audi to have made some changes to keep it looking fresh. Even if the changes are minimal. There are also rumors that Audi made some major updates to the battery pack of the e-tron, providing more range.

“An Audi driver has to be able to feel it’s an Audi – in the form of harmonious, distinctive driving characteristics,” says Oliver Hoffmann, Audi Board Member for Technical Development. “The genes of the Audi feeling should be an unmistakable experience for the customer.”

Furthermore, there are also rumors that Audi is changing the e-tron name with this facelift. If so, it could become the Audi Q8 e-tron S Sportback. Just calling it the “e-tron”, without any “A” or “Q” designation causes confusion as to which model it actually is. Though, there’s no official word that Audi’s changing the name so take that with a grain of salt for now.

No word on when the Audi e-tron facelift will officially debut but expect it sometime this year, sold as a 2023 model.

[Photos: Audi| Source: QuattroDaily]

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The upcoming Audi Q6 e-tron, which will be the basis of the aforementioned potential RSQ6, shares its PPE architecture with the upcoming Audi A6 e-tron. Which means that whatever is made for one car will likely migrate over to the other, just as it does with Audi’s current vehicles. It wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see an Audi RS6 e-tron built off the A6 e-tron, as it seems like a natural progression of the model.

But if an Audi RS6 e-tron is on the way, which shape will it take? Will it be a sedan or an Avant (wagon)? What we know so far is that Audi hasn’t announced an A6 e-tron Avant, with the A6 e-tron Concept having only been showed as a sedan. So it’s still pretty much up in the air whether Audi will opt for a sedan or Avant body style. If the RS6 e-tron rumors turn out to be true.

Nonetheless, this news is exciting, as it gets us thinking about an all-electric RS6 e-tron with a monster electric powertrain and the gorgeous styling of the A6 e-tron Concept.

[Source: QuattroDaily]

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The BMW M3 Competition is powered by a 3.0 liter twin-turbocharged inline-six with 503 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. That engine is paired with an eight-speed ZF auto, through which is sends its powers to the rear wheels. On the flip side, the BMW i4 M50 is an all-electric sedan with two electric motors, one at each axle to make it all-wheel drive, making a whopping 536 horsepower and 586 lb-ft of torque. The tests include a 0-60, quarter-mile, skid pad g-force testing, and even lap times at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) Grand Course. And as you’d expect, the results are interesting.

The BMW i4 M50 is faster to 60 mph by a good margin. It get do the sprint in 3.3 seconds, versus 3.5 seconds. However, the M3 Competition takes the win in the quarter-mile by just a tenth of a second, at 11.6 seconds versus 11.7. Unsurprisingly, the BMW M3 Competition is better in corners as well, with higher skid pad numbers and sharper reflexes, due to its much lower curb weight.

Which one is the better car?

That’s hard to say, as they’re both designed for very different things. At their price points, though, customers are naturally going to cross shop both cars. It’s just going to come down to whether they prefer an electric experience or a gasoline one. Though, it’s hard to argue with the performance bargain the the i4 M50 is, as it’s faster than the legendary M3 while also being over $7,000 cheaper.

[Source: Car and Driver]

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This video comparison starts off with an interesting claim from co-host Ginny Buckley, who begins with the expectation that the i4 will win. It’s an interesting claim, as the Model 3 typically wins these comparison tests.

However, the two cars are remarkably well-matched. The BMW i4 eDrive40 M Sport uses an 80.7 kWh battery pack, has a WLTP-rated range of 365 miles, and reaches 62 mph in 5.7 seconds. While the Tesla Model 3 has a 75 kWh battery, gets 374 miles of WLTP-rated range, and hits 62 mph in 4.2 seconds. Both cars are also priced under £52,000. The Tesla does come with all-wheel drive, versus the i4’s rear-wheel drive, though, so there might be some more value there for customers that live in harsh winter climates.

Both cars have their strengths and weaknesses. The Tesla is a bit more tech-forward, with its massive screen and farts-on-demand, while also being quicker, and more efficient. However, the BMW i4 is far more comfortable, more refined, and more practical. Plus, the i4’s interior is better and it’s more fun to drive. On the flip side, Tesla’s Supercharger network is more convenient to use and far more extensive than any other charge network.

No question, both cars are excellent EV sedans that are both quick, fun to drive, and boast enough range to be used everyday. However, there needs to be one winner in this video and it might be a controversial one. Helmets are probably a good idea…

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