In this podcast, “Truck” is used to refer to news about a truck model called Slate Truck. The episode mentions a leaked price, which matters because it helps people estimate cost before buying. It’s part of the show’s updates on upcoming vehicles.
This segment is setting up a discussion about charging behavior across different EVs. Different cars can charge at different speeds and in different ways depending on battery size, charging standards, and how the car manages power during a session.
An EV charger is the device you use to charge an electric car. The point here is that not all chargers are the same, so it’s smart to check what you’ll be able to use before you plan a trip or buy one.
The Tesla Cybertruck is an electric pickup truck made by Tesla. The “base” version can be set up with different drive systems, like rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, which changes how it handles on different roads. People talk about it a lot because it’s a new, unusual-looking electric truck.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an electric crossover SUV. It’s meant for everyday driving and charging at home or on the road. The podcast brings it up because the host is comparing it to other Hyundai electric vehicles.
The Hyundai Ioniq 9 is an electric vehicle made by Hyundai. The podcast says the host drove it for about a week, which is meant to share real-world impressions. It’s brought up because it’s part of Hyundai’s electric Ioniq lineup.
The McLaren Sabre is a very high-performance sports car made by McLaren. It’s designed for extreme driving performance rather than everyday commuting. The podcast mentions it while talking about other vehicle topics, but it’s still treated as a standout car.
Term
dual-wheel motor
It means the electric power is handled by motors that are tied closely to the wheels. That can help the car put power down better and adjust traction more easily.
Steer-by-wire means the steering wheel isn’t mechanically linked to the front wheels. It uses sensors and electronics to turn the wheels, and some people don’t like the way it feels compared to normal steering.
FSD means “Full Self-Driving,” which is software that helps the car drive more of the time. In this conversation, the host likes it because it reduces how much they have to drive themselves.
The Chevrolet Silverado EV is an electric pickup truck. It’s built on the Silverado truck platform, but it uses an electric power system instead of a traditional engine. The podcast mentions it while talking about electric trucks in general.
Four-wheel steering means the car can steer with both the front and rear wheels. That can make it easier to turn and park, and the host thinks it drives better than some other electric trucks.
“Low entry point” means the car’s floor and seats are closer to the ground. That usually makes it easier to get in and out without stepping up as much.
In modern EVs and tech-heavy cars, “software” covers the infotainment and vehicle control interfaces—menus, settings, and how functions are accessed. When the host says the buttons and software feel “busy,” they’re criticizing how the UI is laid out and how quickly you can use it while driving.
The Porsche Taycan is Porsche’s fully electric car. This episode segment explains that for 2027 it gets software features that mimic shifting gears, plus a bigger battery as standard. They also mention updates to the charging ports and the new starting price.
Because electric cars don’t shift like gas cars, this feature uses software to fake the feeling of gear changes. The Taycan uses the paddle shifters to trigger that “shift” sensation. It’s meant to make the driving feel more like a traditional performance car.
When you lift off the accelerator, cars slow down a bit because the drivetrain resists motion—this is often called engine braking. This feature makes that resistance change depending on the simulated gear, so the car feels more like it’s actually in different gears. It’s designed to improve the driving feel.
This is a Porsche feature that creates and adjusts sound for an electric car. Instead of relying on a real engine noise, it changes the audio based on how you’re driving—like when you press the gas or the brakes. The goal is to make the car feel more engaging.
A bigger battery pack stores more electricity. That usually means you can drive farther before needing to charge. In this update, Porsche makes a higher-capacity battery standard on all Taycans.
Performance Battery Plus is a higher-capacity battery option for the Taycan. The episode says Porsche is making it standard on all Taycans going forward. They also mention the usable capacity number to show how much bigger it is.
Kilowatt-hours (kWh) are a way to measure how much energy is in the battery. “Usable capacity” means the part of that energy the car can actually use for driving. It’s the number that’s most relevant to real-world range.
J1772 is the common plug shape used for home and many public AC charging stations. The episode says the Taycan keeps this on the driver side. AC charging is usually slower than fast charging, so the port layout affects how you charge day to day.
Term
Native Nax
“Native Nax” sounds like a specific type of charging connection built into the car. The host is saying the passenger-side port gets this, while the driver-side keeps the more common J1772 plug. It likely changes what kinds of chargers you can use and how fast you can charge.
Smartphone charging means the car can charge your phone. The host says it’s faster than before, so you should be able to top up your phone more quickly while driving. It’s a convenience upgrade.
Term
magnetic ring technology
This is a tech idea that uses magnets arranged in a ring shape. The goal is usually to help the car “measure” what’s happening more accurately so it can control the drive system better.
This is navigation that tries to think ahead using real-time information. Instead of just giving one fixed route, it can update guidance when traffic or conditions change.
It’s the car’s voice assistant, but powered by AI. You can talk to it more naturally, and it tries to understand what you mean to do things like navigation or music.
A Manthey kit is a performance upgrade package. It adds track-focused parts—often aero pieces and related tweaks—so the car handles better and looks more aggressive.
This phrase means the car’s shape and airflow are being tuned. The goal is usually to make the car stick better at speed by increasing downforce and reducing unwanted lift.
The wheel arch is the bodywork that frames the wheel opening. When a kit adds parts like flares or fins around the wheel arch, it’s usually to manage airflow and/or accommodate wider tires while keeping the tire covered.
A fender flare is the plastic or metal “extension” around the wheel. It helps cover the tire and can also make room for wider wheels so everything fits properly.
An aerodynamic upgrade means changing the car’s shape and add-ons so air flows better around it. The goal is usually to make the car stick to the road more at high speed.
Track tires are performance tires designed for higher grip and better heat tolerance during aggressive driving. They typically offer stronger traction for lap times, but may wear faster and be less comfortable than normal street tires.
A production EV record is a “fastest lap” claim using a car that’s meant to be a real, sellable model. It’s not just a custom prototype built for one run.
Term
MR kit
An “MR kit” is a performance upgrade package for track-focused use. The host’s point is that very few Taycan owners would actually need it.
Manthey Racing is a company that works with Porsche cars, especially for track performance. In this segment they’re brought up as a kit option for people who want a more serious performance setup.
A “production car” is a vehicle that’s built for regular sale to customers, not a one-off prototype. Lap-time record categories often require cars to meet specific production/availability rules so the comparison between automakers is more meaningful.
They’re talking about the Nürburgring, a very famous race track in Germany. Car companies use it to measure lap times, so having a record there is a big marketing brag.
“Cross-terismo” is Porsche’s name for the Taycan wagon-style version. They’re saying Porsche is stopping that wagon variant (and the related Sport Turismo) for future model years.
The Taycan Cross Turismo is the Taycan’s wagon-style electric Porsche with a more rugged, crossover vibe. They’re saying you don’t see many of them in some places, but you might see more in certain states.
Allocations are the limited number of cars a dealership is allowed to order from the factory. If the dealer can’t get enough cars in the right configuration, fewer customers will end up buying them—even if they would have wanted that version.
Here, “wagon” means a car with a longer, more cargo-friendly rear than a normal sedan. The point being made is that many people in the U.S. don’t see or hear about the Taycan wagon versions, so they don’t consider them.
“Custom spec” means choosing the factory options and configuration (trim, battery/drive details, interior, and equipment) to build a personalized car. The host suggests that enthusiasts want to do this with the Taycan wagon, but dealers don’t stock enough “exciting” configurations to spark demand.
“Used values” means what the car is worth after it’s been sold new. The host is wondering whether the Taycan wagon will hold its resale value well if fewer people bought or even knew about it.
This “320 kilowatt” number is about how fast the car can charge. In general, higher power means you can add energy quicker, but the actual speed can change depending on the battery’s condition and temperature.
This is a Porsche Taycan version called the GTS Sport Turismo. It’s basically a higher-performance Taycan with a wagon-style body, and the host thinks it’ll be a sought-after model for a short time.
Audible feedback is the sound you hear from the car while you drive. The hosts are saying electric cars can be fast, but they may not give the same “sound cues” that make driving feel engaging like a gas car does.
A linear power curve means the car’s power feels like it builds in a smooth, consistent way. They’re saying electric cars often deliver power more steadily than gas cars, which can feel more “RPM-based.”
“Motor wind” is the whirring sound electric motors make when they’re working. The hosts are contrasting that sound with the richer noises you get from a gas car’s engine and shifting.
A hybrid 911 is a 911 that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. That can make the driving feel and sound different from a regular gas-only 911.
“In drive the whole time” means you leave the car in its automatic gear mode. The instructor is basically saying don’t worry about shifting—let the car handle it.
Electric cars are usually very quiet, so some of them add fake engine noise through the speakers. The host says this particular car’s fake sound actually worked for them.
The “user interface” is the car’s on-screen and control layout—menus, graphics, and how you interact with settings. In EVs, UI design matters because it’s where you access driving modes, feedback features, and any simulated-audio/shift settings.
PCM is Porsche’s main infotainment system—the screen and controls for things like navigation, media, and settings. The host is saying the system itself is okay, but the overall screen setup and user experience still aren’t great.
The Tesla Model 3 Performance is a faster, sportier electric version of the Model 3. The host is comparing it to the Taycan to say Tesla’s software and user experience are more advanced.
The Porsche Cayenne is Porsche’s SUV. The host is saying the Cayenne’s infotainment and screen experience seems better than the Taycan’s, and that the Taycan might benefit from similar improvements.
Car
Rivian
Rivian is an electric-vehicle brand. The host is comparing Porsche’s screens/software to Rivian’s and suggesting Rivian feels more straightforward.
Car
Tesla
Tesla is an electric-car maker. The host is saying Tesla’s screens and software tend to be easier to use than Porsche’s.
This is about how much money the car is worth later. The host is saying the Taycan may drop in value a lot after you buy it, which makes it a tougher deal.
The Porsche 911 is a long-running sports car line known for strong enthusiast demand and, in many cases, better resale value than newer or more niche models. Here it’s used as a comparison point: the hosts say people would buy a Taycan if it held value the way a 911 can in some situations.
A rev limiter is a safety feature that stops an engine from spinning too fast. On an electric car, a “virtual rev limiter” is software that imitates that behavior so the car feels more like a gas car when you shift or push it.
Engine braking is when the car slows down because the engine and drivetrain are resisting motion after you take your foot off the gas. Different gears can make it feel stronger or weaker.
Regen is how an electric car recovers energy when you slow down. Instead of wasting that energy as heat, the car stores some of it back in the battery.
DC fast charging is the “quick charge” option for electric cars. It can refill the battery faster, but you need the right charger and the right plug type.
Term
Naxx
“Naxx” sounds like the host meant a fast-charging plug/standard. The important takeaway is that the car uses different plugs for fast charging versus regular charging, and that can trip people up.
Level 2 charging is the common “regular” charging speed for electric cars. It’s faster than plugging into a basic outlet, and it’s what you’d use for overnight charging—just not as fast as DC fast charging.
A DC adapter is a device used to make one charging connector/standard work with another charging setup. Adapters can help in some situations, but they don’t eliminate the core issue: the EV and charger still have to be compatible for the charging type being attempted.
The Cadillac Escalade is a large luxury SUV. Here, the host is talking about a gas version that had serious engine issues and had to deal with the dealership.
“6.2 liters” is the engine size. It’s a way of describing how big the engine is, and in this story it’s tied to problems that led to recalls and engine failures.
The Tesla Model Y is an electric SUV. It’s built for regular daily driving and has room for passengers and cargo. The podcast brings it up because owning one can make it easier to charge at home.
The Dodge Charger is a car that’s known for performance and a bold look. In the podcast, it’s mentioned in the same conversation as an electric vehicle, which is about how people manage driving and charging. It’s being used as a reference to what someone drives besides an EV.
CCS1 is a common electric-car fast-charging plug standard in the U.S. If your adapter or charger doesn’t match CCS1, you can end up unable to charge or charging slower than expected.
Term
DC
DC means the electricity flows in one direction. Some EV charging systems can charge using DC directly, which is often faster than other types.
Term
AC
AC is the type of electricity most homes and public outlets provide. EVs usually need to convert AC into the DC form their battery uses.
A switcher box is like an electrical controller that helps the car or charger handle different kinds of charging power. It’s used to make sure the right electricity goes to the right place for charging.
They’re comparing the Lucid Air’s space to the Taycan’s space. The point is that if Lucid can fit the charging hardware, the Taycan should be able to find room as well.
The BMW M Coupe (E36) is a sporty two-door BMW made for performance. It’s based on the E36 generation, which is a specific model generation from BMW’s past. The podcast brings it up as part of a conversation about BMW’s newer plans and how they relate to older performance cars.
“Neue Class” is BMW’s name for a new generation of how they want to build cars. The hosts are connecting it to a BMW concept so you can guess what future production cars might look like.
“Neue Klasse” is BMW’s plan for a new way to build future cars. The podcast mentions it because it’s newly introduced and is connected to BMW’s performance ideas. It matters because a new platform can change how the car is designed and built.
Door handles are the outside handles you use to open the car. The hosts are pointing out that the new BMW concept uses a distinctive handle design and placement.
The BMW X5 is BMW’s midsize luxury SUV, and “Neue X5” here is being used as a shorthand for the newer X5 design. The hosts reference it to compare exterior styling—specifically the “winglet” look of the door handles.
It means the car has a separate electric motor driving each wheel. Because the car can control each wheel individually, it can grip the road better and adjust how it accelerates and turns.
The BMW iX3 (G08) is an electric SUV based on the X3 model line. The podcast talks about it while discussing newer battery versions, like “Gen 6 batteries.” It’s mentioned because battery improvements can affect charging and driving range.
A more power-dense battery cell stores more usable power (and typically energy) in the same physical size. In practice, that can mean more performance and better thermal behavior, because the pack can deliver higher output without needing as much volume.
Thermal endurance is how well the battery can handle heat when you drive hard for a while. If it has good thermal endurance, it can keep making power without overheating and backing off.
Inside the battery, resistance is what makes energy turn into heat instead of useful power. Lower resistance means the battery runs cooler and can deliver power more effectively.
A multi-motor system means the car uses multiple electric motors at once. The car’s computer has to coordinate them carefully so the car accelerates and handles smoothly instead of feeling jerky or unstable.
Electric cars don’t shift gears the way gas cars do, but some simulate gear changes to make the driving feel more familiar. The episode is about an update that adds or improves that simulated shifting behavior.
Wheel flares are the parts of the body that wrap over the wheel area. They’re often added when tires are wider, and the host is saying they had to check them for proper fit.
Some electric cars use more than one electric motor. The host is saying that having multiple motors can make the car’s driving behavior harder to tune so it feels smooth and predictable.
The BMW M3 is a famous high-performance BMW that enthusiasts buy for its driving feel. Here, the host is saying the electric BMW should cost about like an M3 and be aimed at the same kind of buyers.
The BMW iX3 is an electric BMW SUV. The host is saying the new electric sedan is built on the same kind of engineering foundation BMW learned from the iX3.
The BMW i3 is BMW’s early electric car. It’s the kind of EV people wondered could get a high-performance “M” version, but the executive says that idea wouldn’t happen.
“True M car” is basically the executive’s way of saying an M car should feel and be built the “real” M way. He’s arguing that, at the time, BMW didn’t want EVs to become part of that identity.
“Electric drive” just means the way an electric car moves—its electric motor(s) and how they control power to the wheels. The speaker is saying that BMW’s M division, as they defined it then, wouldn’t mix with that EV setup.
“M” is BMW’s performance line—think faster, sportier versions of BMWs. They’re talking about whether an electric car can still feel like a true BMW M car.
The C-pillar is the vertical support behind the rear door window—part of the car’s roof structure. People talk about it because its shape affects how the car’s roof and rear end look together.
They mention Slate Auto as another company trying to sell a truck in the cheaper electric-truck price range. The point is that multiple brands are aiming at the same budget buyers.
A reservation is basically an early “I’m interested” sign-up, often with a small deposit. It helps companies estimate demand, but people can still back out later.
LFP is a type of EV battery. It uses a different chemical recipe than some other batteries, and it’s often chosen because it’s safer and can be cheaper to make.
NMC is another kind of EV battery chemistry. It’s made with different materials than LFP, and it’s often used when the goal is more energy in the same battery size.
Range is how far an EV can drive before the battery runs out. It’s usually measured in a standardized way, so your real-world distance can be higher or lower depending on how you drive and the weather. Bigger batteries often help, but efficiency matters too.
Topic
LFP vs pricing for an affordable EV pickup
They talk about how the battery type (LFP) might be used to make an electric pickup cheaper. Then they discuss whether that lower price is enough to convince people who aren’t hardcore EV fans. The main idea is: cheaper batteries can help lower the sticker price, but buyers still want enough range.
This means the car’s battery system runs at a higher electrical voltage. Higher voltage can let the car take in more power from a fast charger, so charging can be quicker.
Instead of treating the whole battery as one unit, the car splits it into sections. That helps the car “talk” to both 800-volt and 400-volt chargers for faster charging.
The Chevrolet Volt is a car that can drive using electricity, and it also has a gasoline engine for when the battery runs low. The podcast talks about battery design, like higher-voltage systems, which can affect how the car charges and delivers power. It’s mentioned because the battery setup is an important part of how the Volt works.
These are fast chargers that provide electricity at about 400 volts. Even if a car uses a higher-voltage battery, it can be designed to charge well on these common chargers.
Kilowatts measure how fast the charger can deliver energy. If the car can take 400 kW for a while (not just for a few minutes), it should charge faster.
Inside the battery, there’s some “resistance” to current flow. Less internal resistance means less heat and better ability to charge quickly.
Car
Tello MT1
The Tello MT1 is a small electric truck being talked about in terms of safety and price. The hosts mention that people will wonder how safe it is in a crash because the front end is short.
Madden Gopal is a safety engineer with a long background at Tesla. The segment says he was hired to help make sure the Tello MT1 passes crash-safety tests.
Crash safety tests are official checks to see how well a vehicle protects people during an accident. The segment says the Tello MT1 needs to pass those tests.
MSRP is the price number the manufacturer puts on the car before extra costs like taxes and dealer fees. The hosts use it to estimate what the truck might cost at launch.
“Body in white” means the car’s metal body is fully welded together, but it hasn’t been painted yet. It’s an early-but-important step in building a car because the structure has to be right before finishing everything else.
Right-hand drive (RHD) means the steering wheel is on the right side of the vehicle, which is common in Japan and other countries. It affects driving feel, visibility, and even how the car fits local traffic patterns when imported.
An EV conversion means turning a regular gas vehicle into an electric one. You swap in an electric motor and battery, and you have to make all the systems work together safely.
Term
EV9 modules
They mean battery modules from an EV9. Those modules are chunks of the battery that you can combine to make a working electric battery pack.
The Kia EV9 is an electric SUV with room for more passengers, including a third row. The podcast mentions it while discussing battery parts and how EVs are built. It’s brought up because the EV9 is a well-known electric SUV option.
The Jeep Recon is an upcoming electric Jeep SUV. They’re talking about how far it can drive on a charge (range) and how big its battery is, which are the two biggest things EV shoppers care about.
EPA is a U.S. agency that tests and publishes official EV range numbers. It’s meant to make it easier to compare different electric cars on the same kind of test.
A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the unit used to describe how much energy is stored in an EV battery. More kWh often means more potential driving range, but how efficiently the car uses that energy still matters.
This phrase means the company’s original promise was too optimistic, and the final tested result came in worse. They’re comparing the expected range to the official EPA number.
“Stalantis” is the host’s way of referring to Stellantis, the big car company that owns brands like Jeep. They’re blaming the company for the EV not meeting the expected range.
“Real world” in this context means how the EV performs outside the standardized test cycle—especially at specific speeds like 70 mph. It’s used to contrast with official range estimates, which may not reflect real highway conditions.
The “supercharger network” is Tesla’s fast-charging network. The host is saying that partnerships around access to those chargers influenced what charging ports new EVs had to include.
The Rivian R2 is an electric vehicle from Rivian that’s meant to cost less than their bigger models. The podcast mentions it while talking about pricing and value. It’s part of Rivian’s plan to offer more choices in electric vehicles.
Flash charging means charging an EV very quickly. It usually needs special fast-charging stations and the car’s battery has to be able to handle the high charging power safely.
BYD is a company that makes electric cars and EV batteries. Here, they’re talking about building fast-charging services and selling cars through dealerships in Canada.
State of charge is how full the EV battery is right now, usually shown as a percent. It affects how the car drives and how fast it can charge.
LIVE
Hello, and welcome to the Batteries Included podcast.
It's Friday, June 19th, 2026, and this is episode 144.
On today's show, we'll be talking about Porsche Taycan getting some new updates for 2027,
the reveal of the new AM concept, and the leak of Slate Truck's official price.
And of course, much, much more, I'm your host, Damle Kioni.
Joining us today is the incandescent, Mr. Tom Logney,
head of YouTube's channel, State of Charge, and the premier EV charging news site, evchargingstations.com.
Kyle Conner will be with us shortly, or sometime in the near future,
from the majestic, practically palatial halls of Out of Speck Studios.
But Scott joins us also from the Out of Speck team,
live from the Out of Speck Ranch, where I believe you run the Out of Speck Ranch channel as well.
So, welcome, Scott. This is your first time on the Batteries Included podcast.
This is my first time on the Batteries Included podcast,
but I've been around while you've recorded many, many episodes.
I think we've seen you pass by the background of when Kyle was talking once or twice, too,
but your first time in the seat chatting with us.
Welcome, Scott. Great to have you.
Thank you. I'm excited.
And of course, we've had the pleasure of meeting you in person before.
So it's great to see you again. It's been a while.
The Batteries Included podcast is sponsored by evchargingstations.com.
If you drive an electric vehicle or you're planning to,
this site is packed with comprehensive charger reviews, detailed DC fast charging graphs,
and the latest news from all of the fast charging networks,
you'll find real world testing, easy to understand comparison,
and deep dives into how different electric vehicles actually charge.
Before you buy an EV charger or plan your next road trip,
make sure to bookmark evchargingstations.com and make smarter charging decisions.
Well, Wally, have you on? Let's start with you.
Exactly. What have you been driving lately?
Yeah, I have been driving a lot of cars lately.
We've had quite a few different cars and car accessories on test.
So we've had the, and you guys have to correct me if I'm wrong on this,
but it's the base Cybertruck, which I think is all-wheel drive,
or is it rear-wheel? It's all-wheel drive.
I think the base might be rear-wheel drive.
I'll take a quick look at the Tesla website while we talk about it.
Yeah, I think you got the one that they recently lowered the price for? No, or is it the, yeah?
Yes, I have the one. I believe it starts at $70,000, and I've been driving that.
I am a certified Cybertruck hater. I hate absolutely everything about the Cybertruck
experience, and I am the only one on our team that feels that way.
And I can dive into why here in a minute.
We've also had a Hyundai Ioniq 9, and I drove that for about a week.
It's a Hyundai. It was pretty boring.
Nothing super notable, but I see why people buy them.
It's a good price point, but very basic in my opinion.
And then the thing that I've been most excited, I haven't technically been driving this because
you can't drive it, but we have the Pebble RV on test, and that it should be in a league of its own.
It has been so amazing to enjoy that product, and we still have it on test.
I'm hoping we can just keep it.
Yeah, that'd be pretty wild. I mean, it's like a tester unit, though.
If they sell you that, where do they go to?
Right, they'll have to build another test unit, I guess.
I guess. Well, hopefully, they're all set up to build more of these.
I mean, that's kind of like the business, right? Build Pebbles.
The business wasn't to build a tester, and that's it.
So, let's go back to the Sabre truck real quick.
Is that pulled up? See, dual-wheel motor, all-wheel drive.
Yeah, there are all-wheel drive.
How many see all-wheel drive motors on the...
They drop the rear wheel drive ones, because a couple wanted it.
And I think this one starts at $70,000.
It does.
So, what kind of conditions have you been driving it in?
Just like on the roads, off-road, around?
So, I've been driving it at our track here in North Carolina.
I've been driving it from the farm to the track.
It's about an hour and a half drive.
Everything I hate about the Sabre truck,
and it's actually not just the polarizing how it looks.
I'm actually getting completely used to seeing them on the road,
and I'm not as offended by the exterior at all.
It's... I do not like the steer-by-wire.
I cannot get used to it.
I have tried.
I've now driven it, I don't know, maybe like 100 miles or something,
and I just... I cannot get used to it.
I do like that it has FSD, so then I don't have to drive it,
because I just don't enjoy it.
And yeah, it's hard to park.
It's not really a useful truck, in my opinion,
and I think a lot of people will get heated for me saying that.
But like, it's because of the weird sloped design,
it's hard for me to put several bales of hay in it.
So, for me, that's like not as useful as the Rivian.
I could stack about 20 bales of horse hay in an F-1T,
or a Lightning, or a Silverado EV, or a Sierra.
Like, all of those electric trucks, and with the Cyber,
I can probably only fit about eight bales of hay,
and my horses go through that in four days.
Right, it's not great.
Yeah, and I can compare with that, Scott.
You know I have the Lightning, and I previously owned a Rivian R-1T.
I had a deposit on a Cybertruck,
but after getting one a couple of times on loan,
I decided to cancel my reservation.
I don't have the same opinion with you as far as driving.
I got used to this year by Y-Driving, the four-wheel steering,
I thought was really an improvement over the R-1T and the Lightning,
but the utility end of it.
And I know, as you said before,
I'll catch hell from the Cybertruck faithful,
but nowhere near as utilitarian as my Lightning is.
And the front alone was almost like a no-brainer.
I don't even think you could fit a set of golf clubs
in the front of the Cybertruck, and the Lightning,
I put everything up there.
Everything that I need to be securely stored,
and of course, yes, you can put it in the back of the Cybertruck,
but then it slides around.
Of course, yes, you can secure it,
but it's just so easy to pop that front, throw whatever I have in there,
my tools, anything I don't want broken into the vehicle and stolen,
and just close it, and it's done.
Everything about it just works better for me.
Not saying the Cybertruck can't work fine as a work truck for somebody else,
but it doesn't work for you on the farm.
It works for other people.
I've seen people talk about it.
So, yeah, I run my whatever boat business with it and so forth,
but it definitely comes up short in some categories.
So, you're not the only one that doesn't think
that the Cybertruck is the be-all end-all of trucks.
It's just not a great truck.
When you have a truck, you want to do truck things,
and it just doesn't, it doesn't work for my use case.
So, I also really don't like that when the tonneau cover is on,
you can't, there's no rear glass.
That bothers me a lot.
It drives me nuts, so.
Oh, really?
It has a camera mirror, though.
It does have a camera mirror, though.
I don't, I think this is a Scott thing,
but I really struggle with the depth perception with a camera.
So, you're not the only one, Scott.
I can't stand them.
Maybe if I forced myself to use them all the time, I would,
but I find myself, whenever I'm in a vehicle that has the camera,
I flip it onto mirror, and, you know, but, you know,
but, you know, the fact that they can't see out of the back
of the Cybertruck is, you know, in my opinion,
absolutely a negative.
It's disorienting, for sure.
Right, yeah.
Yeah, for me, I'm usually using the side rear mirrors anyway,
instead of the rear rear mirror, because I used to drive a van,
like, or big trucks, whatever.
And there is no rear rear mirror, right?
You're just constantly using side view.
So, yeah, there's that.
But the rear view mirror-wise, the Cybertruck isn't the only offender,
I believe, one of the pole stars.
I didn't like driving that high-star that I couldn't do.
Oh, really?
Yeah, that was my first company.
So, preference.
So, what is it about the FST, not the FST,
but the steer-by-wire that you don't...
Is it just that you can't put big inputs into it,
or is it just that it's a lag there?
I think I'm a little bit of a balls-to-the-walls person in general,
and I over and put...
Every input I put is too much, okay?
And I just...
I watched the people in the car with me,
and they're, like, getting jostled around,
because I'm so aggressive.
And I even tried to consciously, like, just use two fingers,
and I was like, okay, small inputs, small inputs,
and then it was just jerky.
I never smoothed out.
It was just really, really disorienting.
I see.
Yeah, so maybe you need more time with it, possibly, or...
I don't know.
Well, maybe...
I personally...
Not every car is for everybody.
True, true.
I don't like it.
Yeah, so no on the Cybertruck, which I'm kind of on your side with that.
Not a whole lot of love for that.
Yeah, never really got over the looks, really.
I mean, I didn't think it was the worst thing ever, but it's...
I actually think they look kind of cool from the outside.
Yeah, I like when they're, like, rusted out.
I think that's cool and different,
and if you want to be that polarizing on the road, be my guest.
Right, yeah.
It just didn't win me over the exterior, sideline, and the interior.
I didn't really do anything for me.
I will say with this base one, it's got that cloth interior.
It's very easy to clean, because they had a little spill in it,
and it hasn't held any scent so far.
Obviously, this is a pretty new test unit that we have,
but I was impressed with the performance of the cloth.
Okay, that's cool.
All right, so no on the Cybertruck.
Not really a big fan of the Hyundai Ioniq 9.
Yeah, it just feels cheap.
Maybe I'm a little spoiled.
We have a lot of really, really nice cars in our fleet.
You know, yes, it's a great three-row SUV.
It's got tons of space.
Kyle tried to get me to compare it to my Rivian R1S,
and they're just not really comfortable in my mind,
but I like the low entry point.
The seats were relatively comfortable.
I think the buttons and everything in the software
was a little bit much.
It seemed busy to me.
You know, it's a car.
It drives fine.
The sound system is fine.
It charges fine.
It's just not nothing special.
You're into that Rivian R1S life though, right?
I'm a little fancy.
I'm a little, little fancy there.
All right.
So the Pebble RV, yeah.
So Kyle, we've talked to Kyle about this a couple of times,
just briefly, but he seemed to really love it.
What is it about the RV that you like so much?
Yeah, I think I need to take a step back
because we had the LightShip RV for a period of time.
We had it for about seven days,
and that's a comparable competitor.
And that experience was so poor for so many reasons.
I'm not really going to harp on it,
but the quality control,
it felt as though nobody had ever camped in it
and actually fixed all the little things.
And everything about the LightShip that bothered me,
Pebble has fixed.
So the door, you can lightly shut it,
and it completely locks.
There's no air in between the seal.
Okay, that's like a basic thing, right?
You would think when you shut a door,
there's no air that comes in.
Speaking of air, the HVAC system in the Pebble is amazing.
We have been running it full blast on 100 degree
humid North Carolina days, and it stays like an ice box.
The water pressure in the bathroom is amazing.
The kitchen space is wonderful.
I've cooked in there a couple of times.
The Murphy bed is pretty easy to get down and put back up.
But even if you've got dogs and other people in there,
I was able to just kind of throw it up easily.
Software works all of the time, 100% of the time.
Again, very basic.
It just feels like a really well thought out product
that has been tested time and time again.
And it's been so reliable.
I think we've had it almost three weeks now.
Oh yeah, right.
We've had an issue with it.
Nice.
Do you think Scott said part of the reason could have been,
and I'm just throwing something out that you got the LightShip,
like they gave it to you too soon.
It wasn't fully baked yet, but they were so anxious to get out of spec,
to try it out, that they're like here.
And maybe the pebble, they're like,
we're not giving this out to media until it's solid.
Could that be the thing?
I love that question.
Yes, I think LightShip was too eager to send the unit out.
Because I was on the back end, and I kind of know the whole story of what happened,
they really pushed to send it to us.
I can say that.
Pebble has also been pushing to send us a unit for the better part of eight or nine months.
And it just wasn't working out because we had our move to North Carolina.
And then after the LightShip experience, I was like, are we going to get,
is this just the standard for RVs?
Because I've had other RVs.
I had an Airstream that it's just not a great product.
You know, you have this home on wheels that's kind of constantly breaking.
And so I didn't expect much.
But to answer your question, yes, I think LightShip sent the unit out too early.
But I think Pebble probably didn't send out their unit until they had camped
and it's many, many, many times.
So yeah.
It would be interesting if you ever, if you guys ever re-engage with LightShip,
like down the road, and we're like, you know, and they're like, okay, you know,
we address some of the things you talked about just to do a comparison.
That would be probably cool if at some point you guys could arrange that.
Because I'd be interested in finding out if they made progress.
Or if that was it.
Like, you know, if that was as good as it was getting, that would be interesting.
Because it's always hard.
You know, I'm sorry to cut you off, but we've, Kyle and I, you know, have,
over the years, we've driven many pre-production vehicles, cars.
And I try to reflect that when I talk about the vehicle and review it,
that like, I know this isn't fully baked.
But at the same time, if the company's giving it to you to look at and review,
you know, there's, there's a level of expectation on it being ready to review.
You know, so, but I know a lot of the companies are just, especially startups like this,
they're so anxious to get it in the hands of a large media outlet that can, you know,
put a lot of light on what they're doing.
That, you know, I think sometimes they make bad decisions, you know, and, you know,
and give you something that's not ready.
I, you know, if they were going to give you something that maybe wasn't ready,
they should fully explain all the stuff ahead of time.
Be like, look, the water pressure isn't great.
We're going to, we're putting in a stronger pump.
You know, the door seals, these aren't our production door seals.
You know, like, but I don't think they did that with you.
I kind of think they gave it to you as if, oh, here it is.
So, you know, we are always willing to work with companies and learn and do reviews or
tests, pre-production things.
Like you said, you and Kyle have for many years.
If that had been the case with Light Ship and they said, hey, this is not customer
representative, but it's close.
And this is the laundry list of things that we're still working on.
I would feel completely differently.
I've worked at several startups, so I know what it's like to get a product
up and off the ground and the process prior to giving it to customers.
But when we take a unit, like the Pebble, for example, we say, you know,
please give us a customer representative unit.
And I make that very clear because I'm the one who does all the
scheduling and arranging for these cars and RVs.
So I make that incredibly clear.
And I say, if it's not customer representative, we either A, don't want to have it right now,
or, you know, we're going to handle it as if it's a pre-production unit.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, my goodness.
Who is that?
It's Kyle.
Are you joining?
Yeah.
Okay.
I felt like an animal walked in.
It sounded like hoofs were coming.
No, I asked him.
I thought a horse was going to walk behind you or something.
No, I would not be that tall.
I have this room on lock.
So good morning.
Morning.
Welcome to Batteries Included Podcast.
Thank you.
Good to see you guys.
This is Kyle Conner.
Hey, Kyle Conner.
How you doing?
Got sidekick.
He's my employee.
So just in time to talk about the Porsche Taycan.
So the Porsche Taycan we all know and love is getting some new features and other changes
for 2027.
So really quickly, what's new?
They have a simulated gear shifting controlled by the paddle shifters.
Simulates an eight-speed gearbox, virtual rev limiter, and a gear-specific drag torque
when changing gears.
That sounds pretty interesting.
Pairs with Porsche's updated Porsche Electric Sport Sound feature,
which adapts to the accelerator and brake pedals,
changing the audio inside and outside the car in real time.
It's got a larger battery pack with the base car.
So every Taycan now comes equipped with the previously optional Performance Battery Plus.
Used to cost $5,780, and it offers 97 kilowatt hours of usable capacity.
That's up from the $83.7.
That's pretty good.
So the car overall has a higher price.
So pricing for the Taycan now starts at $114,250.
That's up from $108,050 for the 2026 model.
$6,200 more, which is a bit more than the price of that new battery, but $500.
But you get all these other things as well.
Native Nax now on the passenger side charging port, because Nax will,
the driver side still has the AC J1772 port.
Let's see, what else?
Smartphone charging is a lot faster.
1.5 times faster than before, 25 watts.
And it now supports the magnetic ring technology.
There's new infotainment software with AI voice control and intelligent navigation.
And they're also offering a Manthey kit with aerodynamic chassis and powertrain modifications
available directly from the factory for the first time.
So a Manthey kit is just something that's, you know, it's like just one of these aftermarket,
well not really, because it's kind of not so aftermarket, because it's almost like it's part
of Porsche.
I think it's a standalone company, but they, you know, they work with Porsche.
And so if you can see like this wheel on the screen, make sure I'm sharing that properly.
Yeah, this is part of the Manthey kit.
So you can see there's the little things like fins on top of the defender well,
as well as a fender, which is called.
These pliers.
Now extrusions, sorry.
What have you got, Kyle?
So the Manthey kit comes with a bunch of stuff,
but I'm not sure which component you're specifically asking about.
Right.
I'm just talking about just the wheel.
The word is slipping my mind is all.
But the wheel, the wheel arch.
The fender flare.
The fender flare.
It's fender flare.
That's why that's what it is.
Yeah, but also, yeah, some other body panels on the other side.
And it comes with, I think, 20 more.
Let me just pull this thing up.
Yeah, so you got the aerodynamic upgrade.
So you have a big rear wing on the back with enlarged end plates.
That's got an optimized front diffuser, high performance rear diffuser,
with extended fins, lightweight wheels and track tires, 20 kilowatts more power.
And so you can get up to 730 kilowatts in attack mode.
This is the spec, I believe, that set the Nurburgring record recently.
I think it was just like six minutes and 55 seconds, something like that.
So is that the production electric car record?
Yes.
Yep, it's faster than the Remak, Yang Wang.
Special GT version, I forget exactly what it's called.
But yeah, it's pretty much the fastest road legal EV basically
on the Nurburgring, at least.
So a bunch of stuff.
I don't know, is this going to change a whole lot of things for Porsche?
Do you think, Kyle, I mean, their sales numbers have been going down.
I mean, this whole credit, as many as like 40,000 one year, right?
But this has been going down.
It did like 16 last year.
And that's worldwide.
In the States, they do like 4,000-ish, I guess.
This will make no difference to anyone.
They can just, the only reason I suspect that they did this
is just so that they could have the records against other automakers
so that the Xiaomi isn't faster or that the Mercedes GT 4-door thing isn't faster.
Porsche people are not into Taycans, especially not performance Taycans.
And if you look at the number of turbo GT Vysox, those owners that need an MR kit
or the Manthey Racing kit, it's like less than one person.
So it's cool.
But it's purely just for the lap time to call it a production car
so that they can hold the record is my guess.
Well, and that's important for companies to, you know, like that's a bragging right,
you know, to say we have the record at Nuremberg.
So I understand why they would invest the money into it.
Sure. That is kind of a big deal.
So you mentioned something else that's happening with the 2027 model year for Porsche Taycan
that I didn't even notice, you know, and you just told me just before we went on air.
And so I just went over to the Porsche website to check it out.
And that's what you get when you try to look at the Porsche Taycan cross-terismo.
There is not one.
It's like done, done so.
So it looks like they're, they're ending the cross-terismo and the sport-terismo,
but like the street version of it, right?
Go ahead, Scott.
The cool ones, the ones that I wanted.
Right? The ones that everyone wants.
We think that's for all markets, right? Not just in the U.S.
I think from what we've gathered.
The thing is like I also preferred them.
Like I said, oh, if I was going to buy one, this is what I would get.
It's so much more utility, but you still get that whole Taycan driving experience and feeling.
But then when I look on the road, I almost never see them ever.
And I see quite a bit of Taycans around here.
But I mean, it's got to be 20 to 1.
So I mean, I don't know what Porsche has sold as far as percentage-wise,
but I'm guessing it was the sport-terismo and particularly the cross-terismo.
The two of them represented a tremendously small percentage,
I think, of overall Taycans.
I could be wrong.
Maybe it's just something here in the Northeast that people aren't buying them here.
But Kyle, what do you think about that?
I don't think they sold many of that version.
Yeah, it just depends.
In Colorado, there were a ton, of course.
The cross-terismos were pretty common to see.
I always get confused when automakers are like, OK, people aren't buying the wagons,
but they're also not giving the dealership's allocations to spec the wagons for people to buy.
So I always wonder if that's kind of a lazy excuse or if they,
a lot of times, what happens in the Porsche world, this is very common with Cayenne's and
very safe spec.
So you get a gray, you put premium pack on there, you don't put much else,
and they all kind of end up looking the same in inventory across the country.
And a lot of people that want to go enthusiast for a Taycan wagon
really want to custom spec it, want to make it their own, do something really cool,
do something exciting.
And the dealers just don't stock exciting cars.
And I wonder if that problem of the unexciting cars with this being an enthusiast choice
led to its downfall.
Yeah, it's kind of sad.
In Europe, they're very common.
I saw cross-terismos, sport-terismos everywhere.
So my anecdotal is just one data point across their actual numbers.
But I wonder how much of it is Porsche doing it to themselves versus customers not actually
buying those models.
Well, I had a bunch of friends that were interested in the Taycan,
but they didn't know that it came in a wagon at all.
They had no clue.
And then I tell them and they were like, really?
Yeah, even from their marketing and press stuff, the sedan was faster and went farther.
So anytime they were doing something interesting with the Taycan,
it was always a sedan version that was on display.
So with the cross-terismo and the sport-terismo, incredible cars,
but it's that 1% slower around a track.
It never got its chance to shine in all of the marketing stuff.
And I'll be really curious to see what this does to the used values.
The car to have in the future is going to be a J12 Taycan,
which is the big boy crazy charging 320 kilowatt, great cooling, the newest generation.
GTS sport-terismo, not in red, because like 90% of them are in car mind red.
And that'll be the car to have in the future,
because there's going to be one or two model years of that.
It's going to be super enthusiastic.
And if you find one of those, that seems like a buy and hold.
So it looks like this is a U.S. thing only, actually.
That's good.
So at least in Europe, you all can keep your wagons.
That's right.
Yeah, and wagons are traditionally a lot more popular in Europe than they are here in the U.S.
They're just cooler and better.
I'll give you one other piece of anecdotal information.
I was just at a Porsche program with my buddy,
Timon, for the last couple of days.
It was like a driving experience thing in Alabama at Barber.
And 60, 70% of the class drove Porsches.
Not a single one drove an electric Porsche.
Not a single one had any interest in driving an electric Porsche.
Did not care.
The instructors hated the electric Porsches.
Why?
They were like, look, they had Taycans on their program.
They said they just sat.
No one ever wanted to drive them.
They would have to like force their guests to try the Taycan.
And people were like, no, I came here to drive 911s.
And people just were not interested at all.
So there is a disconnect between like Porsche electric people and Porsche combustion people.
And it's sort of the same brand values, but completely different customers.
Yeah.
And that's understandable, especially at the driving school,
where part of the whole experience, Kyle, and you know this as well as anybody,
is being physically connected to the car, is changing gears,
is listening, matching revs, really involved in the driving.
And listen, getting that audible feedback, whereas as great of a driving experience
as electric vehicles are on a track, they might be able to perform as well.
But there is something missing with that, the overall experience versus a combustion vehicle.
Even the EV purists have to admit that it's a different experience.
And perhaps a better experience when you get that audible feedback.
And it's not that linear power curve of the electric, just the motor wind.
So that's understandable.
There's something way more fun about driving an imperfect machine.
Although I will say a lot of the modern stuff that were part of this driving experience
were the new hybrid 911s.
They use like a rematch situation and it's really cool.
They're turning into vacuum cleaners.
Those cars are getting so fast, so quiet.
The instructor has literally said, just keep them in drive the whole time,
so you're not actually shifting.
Time and ignored all of them and had fun.
But it's not like the combustion experience is all that different.
Now that the Taycan has the shifting thing, I think it will work for some customers.
It's pretty stupid.
I always liked that Porsche never did that.
Because Porsche is about pure performance, in my opinion,
and simulating a combustion engine is just taking the benefits of electric car away.
But it will cure your boredom in traffic, which is where I use it in the 5N.
And that's honestly, that's the only vehicle that I've experienced so far.
I obviously haven't experienced a new Porsche and I have to imagine
that they're going to implement this well.
But the 5N is the only vehicle that I've driven that really had like simulated sound
and simulated gear shifting that actually works.
And I remember when I got it on loan, I was wholeheartedly thinking,
yeah, I'm not going to enjoy this.
But it was a hoot, and I was playing with it the whole time.
Meredith wouldn't even go out driving with me anymore.
Because every time I got behind the wheel, I was driving it like I was racing someone.
It made me want to drive it that way.
So it actually works.
So hopefully Porsche implements it well.
And you get the same kind of experience that you want to drive it like its combustion vehicle.
The other thing I wanted to mention is the new software for Taycan,
which is really important for our audience and the EV customer.
So it seems like a refreshed version of the user interface,
more powerful chipsets, which is really needed because that's always been a Taycan
pain point is PCM is fine.
But that screen layout, everything, that isn't really changing much here.
But they are utilizing the lower display more.
And yeah, but it's still like, okay, now a base Taycan used to cost 70 something thousand dollars.
Now it costs 114 base, then no wagons.
So that's lame.
By the time you spec a good one, you're 150 to 180 for like a middle of the road spec.
It's so expensive.
And like the performance compared to a Model 3 performance
and the software experience is pretty far back.
Now a Porsche is different, right?
But I use my mom as an example now where she stepped up and spent the money
to get into a new Porsche electric.
And it ended up being a pretty painful experience for her from a software perspective.
It seems like the Cayenne will fix that because the Cayenne seems to have
pretty good software, nice screens, not, you know, it's actually probably more confusing
than a Rivian or a Tesla or something like that.
But it's cool and it's pretty powerful.
Hopefully the Taycans in that same realm because that's always been the, well,
it's an amazing driving car, blah, blah, blah, but the software.
And now if they can overcome the shifting thing and overcome the software thing,
Taycan might actually see a little resurgence.
But I really think the biggest problem here in Dominic, I know you want to chat as well.
The biggest problem with the Taycan is when you buy one, you will lose 70% of your value
in the first couple of years.
Like that is why people aren't buying them.
It's not because it's a bad car.
It's not, you know, if you could buy a Taycan and it would hold its value
or even gain value like a 911 does in some cases, people would be buying them.
But it's the fact that you're just losing your shirt on it every time you buy a new one.
That scares people away.
Dominic, go ahead.
No, I'm not sure what I was actually going to say, except that just talk,
just the back track, just for a second, the gear shifting thing is just very taken by the fact
that besides the virtual rev limiter, they have a gear specific drag torque when changing gears.
So I'm trying to imagine, we know how that feels like.
I mean, I love driving the manual.
Well, it feels just like the 5N.
Yeah, I haven't driven the 5N.
So it just does a little power cut on the gear shift.
Oh, yeah.
So slower.
Okay, well, I took it as something, you know, I thought it was more like engine braking.
You know, you have a different amount of engine braking depending on what gear you're
you're up shifting to basically, right?
Well, I'm sure it will simulate that.
But what does the exact terminology say?
Gear specific drag torque when changing gears.
Yeah.
So my guess is the drag torque would mean it does a little power dip in between them.
Or, you know, it's going to have to simulate a combustion engine.
So it will simulate a power curve of a combustion engine where down low, it probably won't be much.
You'll have to rev it out, you know, or so it'll probably hit a rev limiter and stop accelerating
like the Hyundai's do.
And yes, it's very possible that when the revs are higher,
you'll get more regen than when the revs are lower.
Right.
But to your point about that depreciation, that's really one of the biggest complaints I see.
I mean, a Tycon group on Facebook or something.
And that's one of the biggest complaints I think I see on a regular basis.
People complain they lost so much money in, you know, which I get it.
That's a lot.
It's a lot of money, especially a lot of the expensive EVs.
Big depreciation now.
I think there's going to lessen over the years over time.
But, you know, it's as the things that have been improving so quickly, you know, over the last decade
or so, you know, every couple of years, you know, everything's so much better.
And so you don't want to pay us.
You know, it's depreciation.
Big depreciation kind of makes sense in that respect.
But I'm going to take advantage of that.
I'm going to take advantage of that.
I'm waiting at 27, maybe 28.
I'm going to get a J12, three-year-old Tycon.
I don't know what spec yet, but I'm going to search.
And I've said that many times, I'm buying one of those babies.
That's going to be my weekend car.
That'd be fun.
All right.
One last thing on Tycon.
Before we move off, I hate that it has the two charging standards.
I hate when the manufacturers do this, you know, Naxx for DCfast and J1772 on the left side panel for
level two charging.
Why didn't they switch them both over?
I'm sure it was a cost issue, could have been a supplier issue, but like it just confuses people,
especially some people new to electric cars.
It's like, you know, the plug should be the plug.
We don't need to, you know, this is 2,000, you know, nine leaf with a Chatham-O and a J1772.
You know, like just make it one.
Don't switch over to Naxx unless you're ready to switch the whole car over to Naxx.
That's my two cents.
Well, it's actually interesting you bring that up.
Sorry, I know you want to move on down.
Kyle and I watched a clip the other day of Snooki from Jersey Shore.
She was driving an Escalade IQ and they got to the house.
It was low on charge and they kept trying to plug it into the Naxx plug.
But they were using a DC adapter.
Yeah, you know, so it really does confuse people.
Absolutely, it really does.
And besides, since you're mentioning that, my like second cousin had a Cadillac Escalade
and he had the gas version.
And you know, the 6.2 liter motors that are all getting recalled, whatever,
he blew two engines in one year.
And so the second time went back to the dealership Furious.
They gave an Escalade IQ until his vehicle was done.
Now, his wife has a Model Y.
So great, I've got the charger in the garage.
Give me, you know, give me the IQ.
So he goes online and buys a Naxx to CCS1 adapter.
And you know, he calls me up.
He's like, what am I doing wrong?
He's like, I have the adapter I'm charging in the garage.
And I'm like, just take a picture of the adapter, please.
No, first question was, how much did you pay for the adapter?
He's like $180.
I'm like, you bought the wrong adapter.
He said, no, it said it.
I said, take a picture of it.
I looked at it.
I'm like, that's the one made by this.
I'm like, dude, why didn't you call me first?
He goes, I thought I could handle this one little thing
on my own that I didn't need to ask you for help with.
And that's when I made the video months back about,
you know, you're doing it wrong.
Naxx adapters are doing it wrong to kind of explain to people
there's AC and there's DC adapter.
So, you know, it's confusing and it makes people
not want to get involved with this.
We need to make this trend.
We need to rip the Band-Aid off and just
make this transition as quickly as possible.
So people just know, okay, this is what we use.
You know what I mean?
You shouldn't need to launch your video.
You know, yeah, you know, so, you know,
but I mean, I know we're going to talk about the Jeep Recon.
The freaking thing's a new vehicle.
It's launching now with CCS and J17-72.
It's halfway through 26.
That's not supposed to happen.
So, you know, there's also Stalantis.
So no, I know they're shooting themselves in the foot.
I can't believe they're doing this now in 2026.
And I have a question on the Taycan.
Is it really Naxx is DC only or is Naxx both?
And they just left J17-72.
Is Jackson Naxx on one side, J717-72?
I thought it was DC only.
What I read was that it was DC only, but let me.
Yeah, I don't want to say I'm 100%.
That's what I believed it was.
I would be okay if Naxx could handle both.
And the J plug was just for AC.
That way, like, off your existing customers.
I get it. I think you're okay with that.
But I don't think that was the case.
I thought it was DC only.
Yeah, I could be wrong.
I could be wrong.
A few years ago about this.
And that's how they were going to do it.
And I'm like, well, you can't do that.
And they ended up doing it maybe this way.
But they said they couldn't get the AC to DC.
Because Naxx uses the same lines for AC and DC,
you need a switcher box.
And they were like, we can't fit that anywhere in the Tycon.
Then I said to them, I said,
you have the exact same footprint of a lucid air
with like 1% of the interior space.
I'm sure you can figure out
where to fit that thing somewhere.
Apparently, maybe not.
Okay, let's talk about the BMW M concept,
Neue Class.
It's just debuted.
Actually, it debuted on Friday after our show aired.
But it's, yeah, as it just like you said,
it's the BMW M concept, Neue Class.
So it is a concept.
But I think this is pretty close
to what the production vehicle will look like.
I mentioned the production vehicle
will have door handles.
Right now, if you look on your screen,
you can see like the little video there.
Just pull in the handle.
It had door handles.
It has them up top.
They're little winglets like the Neue X5.
Oh, true, true.
Now that you mentioned that,
I remember seeing that on another clip.
They do have, okay.
So yeah, maybe it's just the interior.
That's because the interior is kind of hardcore, right?
I have not seen it.
I wasn't calling it hardcore.
Yeah, I think there's even a bar in the back seat.
Like it had, so it's got four seats.
I'm not sure if it has four doors.
It's been a while since I looked at-
Oh yeah, M3s have four doors.
Right, it ought to.
Yeah, yeah, four doors.
Yeah, but man, so there's not a whole lot of information on this.
They just basically, this is basically a design reveal.
But I believe this is really close to what I think we should expect to see.
But we'll call it what, the M3 or possibly the MI3?
But I kind of love it, except for maybe like the rear diffuser
that we're looking at now.
It's a bit much for a road car, but-
So that'll be the question.
Are they going to put I first or M first?
Will it be the IM3 or the MI3?
I think IM3 is easier to say.
And people will understand that better.
I think they'll have to go, I think they should just say M3.
No, they might just call it the M3 electric.
I mean, but I think they call it the IM3, so I think they should call it the IM3
if they're going to call it anything.
Right, but I mean, so a lot of people really love the way this looks.
Before we get down to the looks, the one other technical thing that we know about it
is that it will have more electric motors.
So one motor for each wheel, probably put over 1,000 horsepower.
And I'm not sure if there's really anything else.
You drove a, Kyle, you drove a engineering version of this car at one point.
Wrote in one.
Yeah, it was like a technical demonstration of everything Noya Classic could do.
Right.
So, and this is built on the Noya Classic platform, the, what do you call it, N car?
I think they call it internally.
But it's got, like, so it's got all the Noya Class, you know, the batteries,
what they call the Gen 6 batteries, like the I3 and the IX3.
It's got all that stuff, but I don't know what's different besides,
in this car, besides like the four wheel motors, more power.
Well, this is going to be a full M, it's going to be a full M car.
So expect, and I don't know what my embargo is on anything that I should or shouldn't talk about,
but expect a battery chemistry change, expect a, I think that's announced now.
It will use the same form factor cell with a more power dense cell, so less energy than the I3,
but more power, more thermal endurance, less resistance in the cells.
It's going to be able to handle track work without overheating.
Yeah, four motors.
It's really down to how they tune it, because even in the demo vehicle that I drove,
I really thought they could have improved.
There were some wheel flares and other stuff happening with that.
It's really hard to tune a multi-motor system correctly.
And almost no one has done it properly.
Even the Sapphire, I had some wheel flares that we had to get into check.
And so it's not, you know, when you have multiple motors,
it's really hard to make it drive appropriately, in my opinion.
And I've never been pleased with any of them.
And I own multiple cars with multiple motors on the rear axle.
They all drive me nuts in one way or another.
The car really is going to be a showcase for BMW,
saying here's what we can do for electric performance.
It should be priced relatively similar to M3s.
The design looks really good.
There still will be a combustion M3, is my guess, coming following this,
which is really going to be what the enthusiasts will buy.
But I'm really excited about this car.
I've owned M3s in the past.
I love M cars.
And so you take, you know, some of the amazing basis of engineering,
the core of Neue Classe that we all experienced in IX3,
put it in a sedan, dial it up to 11,
put all the crazy tech BMW obsesses over from a chassis
and powertrain performance standpoint.
And we might have found ourselves, you know,
it's going to be more than a Model 3 performance,
but it's going to be a lot more car as well.
And it might be like Tycon Go Home type situation.
I tell you, this, this, I can't help but think back to,
I don't know if it was 2013, 2014,
but I was at one of the big trade shows.
I don't know if it was in Frankfurt or Geneva or somewhere.
And I was actually with like a guest of the BMW brand.
So I was in their private room in the back, you know,
Kyle, where they have like little sections
where only the executives can go and they, to like rest.
And I was talking to BMW's, the M, the M divisions boss at the time.
I think it was Van Meel.
I forget who was at that time.
But we talked about, the I3 wasn't even out yet,
and talked about M. And I was like, when are we going to see,
you know, are we going to see a BMW I3M?
And he just looked at me almost with like disgust
and said, absolutely not.
And I was like, well, are you going to make like a dedicated M car?
And he said, BMW will never make an electric M car, true M car.
He said, that conflicts.
He said, electric drive can't be an M division.
And he went on with this rant, telling me why he's like,
the two will never converge.
He said, we will have BMW I and we will have combustion BMW.
The two will never converge.
Like, like angrily at me.
And I was like, okay.
I'm like, never, never's a long time.
Never, you know, like that was the attitude 13 years ago.
You know what I mean?
That you could never have a true M vehicle be electric.
But times have changed.
It's like an electric Ferrari.
Never going to happen until it does, right?
That's bad.
Well, that should not have happened.
That should not have happened at all.
Hopefully this is a better representation for the electric vehicle community than the Ferrari.
But, you know, as nobody's driven it yet and all that stuff, let's let's let's let people drive it.
I know it doesn't look great.
Although the chair.
Yeah, this this looks great.
Do you like this Tom?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely love it.
Look, I think it looks awesome.
You know who had a bad reaction to it the first time she saw it?
Okay.
From the side, it looks like a scion.
From the side, it has the same like round box.
I could see that the little scion coupe thing in the back.
Yeah, it looks like that from the side.
Somewhere in Turkey, there's a designer crying right now.
But everything looks like something at this point.
Right.
You know what I mean?
Because we've done everything like, you know, it's almost hard to design something
that doesn't look like something else out there.
Yes.
But let's make it not like boxy in the it's like the way the back.
I actually agree.
Box is down like from from straight on from the back straight on from the front.
It looks sick just from the side.
It doesn't look C pillar back.
Thank you.
Yeah, it just doesn't it's not giving BMW.
Yeah, the whole the whole back of the most I had an issue with on the i3 as well,
because I filmed this car a couple of times now.
And the normal one, I think our video is already live on it.
Yeah, so we can talk about it.
And I was just like, it all falls apart in the back.
This the rear actually works for me.
It looks nice.
I like the rear and the front how it scoops in.
Yeah, yeah, this is cool.
I honestly, this might be my next car.
If it if it really, yeah, it totally could be.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I love it.
So I love the the yellow lights in the front there, the shark nose, you know,
on the front, the way on the way the fenders like are like pulled stretched over the wheels
a little bit, you know, this is I just yeah.
I mean, of the cars that have come out recently between like the is it the luchae luchae.
And what was the other one?
Mercedes.
Yeah, this is definitely the best in looks.
So right.
I think it looks awesome.
I hope they keep it just like that.
And I hope they release a touring version so you can get a wagon electric M3.
That'd be freaking awesome.
Yes.
Yes.
All right.
We need to move along real quick.
So last week, we talked about the new Ford $30,000 electric pickup truck
being spotted in Camel for the first time.
That conversation turned towards Slate Auto because it's also bringing a truck to market
in that under $30,000 space.
And this week, we're going to talk about a little bit more because ahead of its big
production debut coming next week on the 24th, a couple of cats have been out of the bag.
So the big one is the price in preparation for next week.
The Slate website updated its FAQ section.
And under the question, what is the price of the Slate truck?
It was answered with $24,950 excluding tax entitled and all those other things.
So yeah.
So originally Slate said it would be under $20,000 with tax credit,
leaving many to believe that the price would actually start at $27,000.
So this now leaves a $5,000 gap between the price for this and the Ford pickup.
So it's a question, I guess, is it enough of a gap, right?
I don't know if you want to chime in real quick with that, Tom.
So the Ford is $30,000 and this is $25,000?
Yeah, $25,000, $5,000 difference.
But that we don't know for sure, right?
We don't know for sure.
Ford keeps saying $30,000, but we don't have official, okay, it's $29,995 or whatever.
Like, we don't know for sure.
But if it does, no, it's not a big enough gap.
There's no way of $5,000 difference between what the base Slate, which it's called the blank Slate,
the $25,000 version, and whatever Ford puts out at 30, if they put it out at 30,
there's no way to justify getting this late, in my opinion,
even though I still probably will get one.
But because Ford will put out a complete truck at $30,000, they won't put out something with
crank windows and a bench seat and no radio and the stuff that's late.
So you're saying it's too much of a risk for there to only be a $5,000 difference?
Yeah, and I think people just, I mean, it's Ford for crying out loud.
What are they known for?
Building the best trucks there are.
So you're going to risk your money on Slate.
I mean, people will still buy them.
Don't get me wrong.
People think they're cool and want to customize them.
It's not like they're dead, but for the masses, if Ford manages to get that $30,000 truck out
around the time that Slate launches, they're just going to overwhelm.
They're going to crush Slate.
Yeah, I think they need a fleet price.
I don't know.
So they have like $160,000 something or more reservations apparently Slate does,
but those are like $50 reservations.
And we saw in the case of the Cybertruck, those can evaporate.
So next week, actually people can turn their $50 reservation into a
pre-order for I think $300.
So I think that's really going to window the field down a little bit.
And we can kind of see what the real numbers look like as far as demand goes, like hard demand.
And it should be interesting too to see what changes have been made.
Like I assumed that what we saw already was kind of like the production version,
but then I'm reading, oh no, the production version is what they're going to show.
I don't know if there's going to be a whole lot of, you know, large differences, but yeah.
So the other big thing about Slate this week, we also learned
about another change to the original vehicle.
So a report into the Detroit Free Press claims the Slate truck has an LFP battery now.
So originally we were told it would have a 52.7 kilowatt hour NMC battery for 150 miles of range
or an 84.3 kilowatt hour battery for 250 miles of range.
The writer didn't present this as new information or say anything
or say that it's going to be the only option.
It's just like, as a matter of fact, you know, whatever that LFP, but it's kind of news to a lot
of people. Yeah. So I guess we'll have those details for sure next week, but I don't know.
Is that so surprised to either of you guys?
Well, is it confirmed? I was going to say, is it true?
People write a lot of stuff without fact checking down these days.
Right. It was in Detroit Free Press and it was framed as what they've learned from the CEO,
you know, and I assume that Slate was aware that this article was put out and if they put
something like that in there that was completely wrong that they would say something, they would
correct it, right? So generally, that's what happens.
So I guess we'll see. Maybe it's not going to be better, but it sure sounds like
would be great. LFP is awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for the cheap version especially, I think that makes sense. So
use the LFP for that. Maybe that's how they're bringing the price down from originally from
their $27,000 mark to the $25,000 mark. You know, maybe that's just savings from going with LFP
on the battery, but yeah. So I think that's pretty interesting. It's an interesting truck
and everything. So I bring that up and mention it. I guess we'll keep an eye on it this week,
right? This week is the official announcement. This week coming. I think it's next Wednesday.
So we'll talk about it on the next show and hopefully people will have and leave us your
comments down below if you think that whatever you think of the LFP or this price and if it's
really enough. Yeah. I think our audience, Dom, would be more inclined to take a chance on Slate
because it's, you know, the EV nerds, the EV geeks, but the average person that wants an
affordable electric pickup truck, I can't see them buying this from this company they've never
heard of over if Ford's got one sitting on the lot for a couple grand more, which is like $50
more a month on your payment. You know, like should I get the Ford or should I get this company that
I think does Amazon make it? Or is it just invested? Like who are these people? And it
comes with nothing. You mean, you mean I've got to like add everything it doesn't have
and nothing is standard? Like that's going to freak a lot of people out. You know, I think the
EV. Well put that aside because people who are spending less money are also concerned about
repair costs and things like that. Like you're going to go with the Ford because the Ford dealerships
right down the street. Now they don't know that most of these Ford dealerships don't know
anything about electric stuff, but still like there's no way they're in eight years.
It's always a risk for a new company that, you know, it's their first vehicle, you know, the first
few months of production. Yeah, I'm waiting for it. I know Jay Leno drove like a prototype or
whatever, but I'm waiting to hear from, you know, Kyle or you or Tom, you know, how it actually is
in the road because I feel like with plastic body panels, there's just a temp. There's just like
I'm just worried about like boomy sounds on the interior. You know, I just feel like I don't
know if it's going to feel like put together like properly. Yeah, so if they price it cheap enough,
doesn't matter. Who cares? Right, right. I don't think it's priced at 25,000 still.
If it was like 20,000. Yeah, if it was 19 grand, yeah, it'd be five. Because don't forget, like I
said, the 25,000 is the blank slate. Well, most people are going to add some features to it.
You know, I mean, even it like that for the 19,000, you don't even get the shelf
to put your own supplied like iPad. So you have a display screen, you know, everything is optional.
So, you know, it's, it's, I think it's going to be hard for you to get one under 30,000 that
doesn't even just have the basic amount of amenities that will make, you know, your life
okay, driving it. So what we'll say. Right. All right. So we also mentioned
Tello Trucks last week, speaking of small companies with, you know, new products.
And we're wondering last week, we were talking about when we get an update on our progress,
you know, because it's been a while, I feel like and haven't really, I haven't heard a lot.
But so this week, we actually ended up getting two updates. So the one is a production update.
So in a shorter video, the CEO, Jason Marx, he'll pop up on the screen here in a moment.
He announced that Schwab Industries has been contracted to build their body in white.
So the body in white is like the complete metals structure of the vehicle that everything
attaches to like from the seats to the subframe. But it's, you know, it's a, but it's a lot of
hard work that, you know, you kind of need a lot of experience and specialized machinery to kind of
put that all together. And in this place out in Michigan has that, Schwab Motors, they do,
they do stamping parts and they, they supply, you know, stamp metal pieces for other other
companies. So, you know, their parts are in a lot of vehicles you might see on the road.
I think this might be their first contract to do a whole like body in white for somebody.
I think they were supposed to do the Atlas from a few years ago, if you remember that
electric truck from like 2021, that eventually got canceled and they pivoted to any fast
charging or something. And that seemed to, they went to new, they turned into a company,
NXU, and then they went out of business. Right, right. And when you see people pivot like that,
that's always in my mind, the next step, you know, out of business, basically. But yeah, so
that was that. So they have a, they're moving towards actual production in a small, I mean,
they're not very ambitious, like as far as numbers wise, I think they're looking at, you know,
hundreds or maybe some thousands, I'm not sure. It's not like huge numbers of production, not
like slight, you know, there's this new slight factory, I think they have capacity, they say
for 150,000 a year, which is a lot of capacity. So the teller's going to know he's done.
Yeah, this, these are going to be hand-built. I know it's only a couple hundred this year, I think.
Right. Yeah, I'm not sure how many they can even put this year. I don't know how they can put
it already in this year, but at least it looks like they're moving forward. And I think that's
good thing. In a separate video, the CTO Forest North announced that the truck will feature an
800 volt battery that uses a split pack approach so it can charge quickly on 400 volt chargers,
like most of the Tesla superchargers out there. He also claimed that it will have,
it will charge at, well, it will charge at 400 kilowatts, right? So, and not just briefly,
but like sustained. So he didn't give a specific charge time yet, but it sounds like it would be
better than like many of the vehicles you can get now from major automakers. So the high energy
level, he says, is made possible because according to him, they've started working with some new cells
and they have 20% more capacity than the ones they have previously working with.
But more importantly, importantly, they have one fifth of the internal resistance. So less
resistance means less heat, which means higher power levels are possible and shorter charge times.
And yeah, also the only other bit of news from there was a little while back, I didn't see this
when it happened, but a couple months ago, they hired a gentleman named Madden Gopal,
who spent 16 years at Tesla, mainly as a safety engineer. So it will be his job to make sure the
Tello MT1 is up to passing, you know, the crash safety test or whatever, because people look at
the Tello and, you know, one of the first reactions I think people will have is like,
oh, what about in a crash? Because the front is so short, right?
Yeah. So that's, that's everything on the Tello front. I don't know if anyone wants to add anything
to that. Yeah, super cool looking. I mean, I love it. But, you know, we're talking about cheap,
small trucks, that thing starts at 42,000. That's not cheap. Well, it actually starts.
It doesn't start yet. Well, yeah. Well, that's their estimated starting MSRP is 42 grand. So,
you know, you're talking about a $50,000 truck one-shot. I think it's worth a couple things I
into it. You look weird. I think it's kind of worth the price though. Yeah. It's not cool. It does
burnouts. I think it's super cool too. I'm just looking at who are the potential, the pool of
customers. Are there enough Kyle Connors out there that are going to drop 50 grand down on it
when they can almost buy a slate and a Ford truck and have all those trucks in the driveway for what
this costs? Yeah, there's no way. Also, the company has not done much, I think, to publicly and still
confidence that they can meet all the regulations, pass everything. And what I appreciate about them
is that it's a small team. They're scrappy. They're very talented engineers. Some of my friends work
there. But I don't think they have done enough to be like, hey, we know it's hard to build a car.
Here's the kind of qualifications and the way we can bring this thing through the goalpost.
They just found a supplier to manufacture the body in white. Okay, well, that's one out of the next
4000000 things you need to do. I don't know. And then talking about the charging without showing
it doesn't give me confidence. Anyone can say numbers. I'm sure they have tested it, but you
got to show people. You can't just make claims and not back it up. And so that's why I didn't even
cover the 400 kilowatt thing because I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. They seem
great, guys. They just need to prove to the people that they can do this.
Right. Yeah, all fair points. So just leave them there for now and we'll check in.
But it is a super cool vehicle. It's a super, you know, the first time Meredith saw,
I was watching a video and she walked by. She's like, oh my god, that's electric. I said,
yeah, she goes, you're going to buy one. And the reason why she said that is because one of
my closest friends, oh, Greg, Kyle, you met him. He was in the car with me once when you were doing
your cannonball. He bought like a 1985 Honda Acti and had it imported it from Japan and
totally restored it. It's a right hand drive and that's his daily driver. And I love it. And I'm
always like telling Meredith, like, God, I still want to buy one of these things and just tool
around with it. And it looks like it. It has the profile of an Acti, a little short front with a
flat bed in the back. So she's like, that's your electric truck. That's what you should be driving.
And which, you know, if they ever actually make it and make these things and they're available,
I'll definitely consider it because I would love to daily that thing. Yeah, there you go.
I just thought I'd pull up a picture of a Honda Acti. I love these things so much.
I absolutely love them. It's like his daily driver. He's very handy. He fixes it for brakes.
Even the Honda dealerships are like, we can't fix that thing. But like, you know, it's so cool.
It's got the side walls on the bed fold down. So it's actually really a flat bed. And then they
fold up. And I mean, he, he, he tools around, I mean, it only goes about 55 to 60 miles an hour,
something like that tops out at around 60. But it's his daily driver. He drives the hell out of
it. And it's still just tooling along. Nice. Yeah, I wanted to buy one of these things and
convert it to electric myself at some point, but that did not happen. I'm not really handy.
Alex should do this. Alex should. You should, you could import something like a cave on or
like a mini van or truck. And yeah, I wanted to do that. You know, I actually reached out to rich
rebuilds. We had a couple of conversations about this about a year and a half ago. I told him,
if I get you an Acti, will you convert it? And he was like, yeah, for the, for the right price,
I'll do anything. And I'm like, well, we've got to talk about what the right price is. Because I
mean, I'm not dumping 80 grand into converting. And then I just kind of busy and we never followed
up on it. But I actually wanted to do that. You know, maybe I should talk to Alex. Alex would do
it in a heartbeat. All right, let's talk about Alex would do it. Let's talk about doing this.
We could both get everything out of this and it would be super fun. Yeah, I want to talk to him
about this. We have so many batteries sitting around the track right now. Tom, we could put
Tesla modules in it. We can make EV9 modules. I can buy one in decent shape for like six grand.
Locally, that sells them. Yeah. All right. We'll talk about this later.
You can probably import one for maybe 20. No need to import them. No, there's a ton here already,
Dom. In North Carolina, everyone has them. You see, I see them every day, not Actis,
but just K trucks in general. Yeah. It's a pain Dom doing the importing yourself. It's not easy.
My Greg did it and he went with a broker and there was still all kind of issues like it got
held up because we're sitting at the port for two months. Buy one that's here and don't deal with
all the BS that you got to deal with but importing it. So yeah, cool. We'll talk about this.
The Suzuki Carrier is also another same kind of idea, right? Same business.
Yeah. There's Daihatsu MiniJet, SuperSambar, so many of them.
I love me a Sambar. All right. So 126 Jeep Recon Moab. So the Jeep Recon, sorry?
Anyway. Speaking of, the Jeep Recon range and energy consumption numbers have just been listed
by the EPA, but unfortunately, the results are slightly lower than initially anticipated.
So originally, Jeep hoped to get 230 miles of range out of this thing. It has 100.5
kilowatt hour battery. So huge battery inside this thing. Hope for 230 miles of range.
Official rating, 222 miles down eight miles from that estimate or 3.5%.
So yeah, I'm not sure what else there is to say about that. It's not out yet, right?
Do we know when this is supposed to come? Yeah, the second half of 2026.
But I haven't heard anything about this. Maybe is there anything that you guys can say publicly?
No, there's just nothing I want to say about this. Talking about the mileage, the range,
at least, it's not often that this happened. It does happen on occasion. But typically,
when manufacturers say, we expect this, they've already done the testing. They've already
basically supplied EPA with all of the documents that they have. And it's a fait accompli. That
is going to be the range rating. On occasion, it's off. Sometimes it's more even. When they
say it's going to have 300 miles, it comes up with 310. But it's not that often that it's lower
like this. It does happen on occasion. And it's unfortunate because you set a bar and if anything,
you'll like to improve upon that. Say, oh, we thought it was going to have
230, but it actually is 251. Oh, great. It's even better. But still,
it just went in the opposite direction. They overpromised and under-delivered.
And I mean, think about this. It's got 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack. It's much smaller.
That, well, not much smaller, but it's smaller, considerably smaller than a Rivian R1S.
It weighs a lot less. And it's much less efficient. It's like, what is Stalantis doing?
It's less efficient than my lightning. And the lightning weighs much more and is three feet
longer. And the lightning was engineered four and a half years ago without even a dedicated
platform. It's like, what's Stalantis doing? The one good thing about this potentially is
it'll be pretty hard to undercut those numbers in the real world. I think you're actually going to
get a pretty expected range out of this thing. And maybe it'll even outperform its EPA numbers.
I don't know. It takes dumb if you scroll back a little bit. You see that chart that we have,
if you're watching on YouTube. This is from my website there. Yeah, we list the highway
range rating and the city range rating. The combined, you'll see is 222. The highway is 196,
which is a huge hit, more so than most EVs take on the highway. So I'm thinking, Kyle,
like this is definitely going to be under 200 miles on a 70-mile-an-hour range test. This thing
might be like 175-180 on a highway range test, on a 70-mile-an-hour range test. So not good.
That's crazy. Not good. That's crazy. And just to add insult to injury, CCS-1 charging inlet for
AC and DC charging, simple. But we're still on the old standard, the next standard.
Didn't you expect them to do that? I did, and I'll tell you why. I know Tesla made deals with
the manufacturers that new vehicles, like all new vehicles coming out in 2026 or later,
had to have next. It was part of the deal they made to have access to the supercharger network.
So I'm really surprised unless somehow Jeep circumvented it by saying this isn't a new model.
We took an existing model and changed it a little bit. So it's going to have this charge port.
But they could because it's built on Sella Large. I have had conversations with other OEMs that
have told me this was a year or two ago when they made the announcement, and I asked them
about their timeline. And they basically said, well, we have to, by 2026, all our new vehicles
have to have it, not vehicles that we're continuing to sell from now, but the new
introductions have to have it. So it's a little odd. It's everything about this is just a point.
It starts at 65, right? You're highlighting that? Right. So yes, 67 with the destination charge.
I mean, I don't know money for, I mean, so you compare it to the R2 right here, you know,
at such a price that the Jeep Recon will have a difficult task of beating the Caribbean R2,
which is around $60,000, right? For the launch edition,
but over 300 miles of range next port. And I don't know if it'll have the capability off-road
that this does. We'll see, but man, it seems like a, like it's not really a fair fight, you know?
Yeah, it is bigger than R2 though. It's kind of in between R2 and R1S. So, I mean,
right, it's a little bit bigger than R2, but still, man, it's, those are disappointing numbers.
Yeah. Let's see what else we have here on this thing. Oh, I should just want to mention real
just real quickly, BYD prepares flash charging launch in Canada. So someone spotted on LinkedIn,
BYD is advertising, was it, or they were advertising for a flash charging business
develop manager. And I think they took that down and now they have one up that's looking for an
infrastructure business development manager. I think maybe they gave away too many clues with
their first ad or something. They've changed that. So congratulations to Canada for getting
five minute charging before the U.S. Well, it's not there yet, but I expect it will be before too
long. BYD is setting up at least 20 dealerships in Canada. And yeah, and we'll probably drive them
a lot of business our way. All right, Tom, do you need to run here real soon? Yeah, I got a hard
to. Okay, right now. Pretty much so. Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's, let's call it a week then,
but just real quickly, for stated Tom, Tom fans, state of charge fans, check out his
electron factory tour. And he's got a charger coming up that he'll review from that you'll see
being made on the factory tour. And you have something else coming up. You have a YARBO
lawn mower review coming up soon this week too that people can look at for? Yeah, I had so much
fun with the snow blower. I got the lawn mower attachment and I've been playing around with
that. So I'll have the first, the assembly unboxing and first use video coming up this week for sure.
All right. And for other specs, your channel, Kyle, so you had the big two hour
preview, our tour review last week. So this week was a bit late on reviews, but you did have
this really cool video that people should go out and check out. You take four Tesla models. I just
thought this was really cool. Got to run guys. Sorry, but I got a hard stop. Bye. Gotcha. See you,
Tom. Thank you. All right. So you get four different Tesla models with FSD. Oh, Dom, we can't hear you.
Oh, no. Oh, no. Can you hear me now? Can't hear you at all. What happened when Tom left? We lost
Dom's audio. Well, he can keep working on that, but we could tell them about that video. No,
they can just go watch it. They don't need to plug it. Why don't we just end the show, Dom?
They can find our videos if we need to. So if you can hear him, then I'll end the show.
Thank you all for watching another episode of Banners Included Podcast. We'll see you on another
episode again soon. Bye-bye. Ciao.
About this episode
Porsche Taycan takes center stage with 2027 updates: simulated paddle-shift “virtual gears,” a bigger standard Performance Battery Plus (97 kWh usable), refreshed Porsche Electric Sport Sound, and revised charging-port hardware. The hosts also dig into Taycan software and pricing, arguing the wagon lineup is ending while U.S. buyers may not even know wagons exist—raising resale-value questions. The rest of the show bounces through EV charging confusion, steer-by-wire complaints, and other EV/tech news.
