DAILY: Quad Motor BMW iM3, Bolt Returns To USA and California Subsidies

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Welcome back to the podcast.

Today, a quad-motor BMW IM3.

The Bolt returns to the USA.

And California's subsidies.

Plus stay tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you why a single YouTuber forced Lucid into a software climbdown.

On EV News China today, our spin-off podcast, looking at what's happening in the Eastern,

how it's affecting the global EV industry.

We're talking about Leap Motors, 80 kilowatt hour e-rev, Zika's 8x plug-in hybrid,

and the X-Pung P7 plus global vehicle.

Hey, no bonus show today to start the week, but check out some recent ones about the Tesla

Cybertruck going, trying to get homologated for Europe and another bonus show about which

countries are doing the best job of encouraging EV uptake.

I've called that one the carrot or the stick, both are in your feed right now.

Had some lovely comments about both over the weekend.

BMW wants its new electric IM3 to feel like an M car first and an EV second, they say.

The company's talking about M3 grade pace when it comes out in 2027.

800 volt system made for fast charging and sustained output.

The prototype first surfaced under heavy camouflage in 2024, but BMW now describes

the project as a full-blooded M model rather than a re-skin.

It'll share the platform with the petrol M3, though BMW implies similarity stopped there.

The headline hardware is a four-motor layout with one motor per wheel, with two motors on each

axle. Obviously, BMW says the car can run in all-wheel drive or rear wheel drive and can

disconnect either axle for efficiency, for example, only on motorways using the rear axle,

saving energy. Software does much of the heavy lifting, though. BMW says it's

heart of joy. Control system juggles torque across four motors in real time, keeping grip and

balance where drivers need them. The battery pack will be over 100 kilowatt hours with cell

chemistry and cooling tuned for high currents and repeated track use. BMW expects the pack to

act as a structural element, adding stiffness rather than sitting in the chassis. This will

not be an EV that pretends sound and sensation. Don't matter, though, say BMW. They talk about

multiple driving modes, including simulated gear shifts, like the Koreans do with the GT cars,

and dedicated sound profiles aligned with its Neuerklasse platform, pricing,

and on-sale data. I'm afraid I can't tell you. This one's important, though,

the Chevrolet Bolt. 2027 model year, what are we, a couple of weeks into January of 2026.

It's now in American showrooms, four years after GM retired the old one, and at the time

said it was done. And then very quickly went, oh no, no, we're going to bring it back.

The car looks, well, much as before, but the hardware changes matter. GM has grafted its

Altium battery tech into the familiar package. Don't mention Altium anymore. And switched to

LFP cells, because that's why we don't talk about Altium anymore, because they're doing LFP stuff

from CATL. And the whole Altium thing was their partnership with LG. But it brings the usual

virtues of LFP technology, lithium, iron, phosphate. The chemistry is more durable.

It wants to be charged to 100% every day, with no worry about degradation,

different to the NCM chemistries. The refreshed bolts now peaks at 150 kilowatts,

night and day better than the old bolt. And if you're thinking on a DC fast charger,

well, 150 isn't exactly class leading anymore. That's exactly what the bolt is meant to be.

That is the perfect sweet spot of cost and convenience. It's a huge jump over its predecessor.

You can do that on a long journey if you want to. Range has gone up a little.

The EPA rated number is 262 miles, although frankly, the bolt was always really good for range.

But it's the price, not the range, which will be the big number that hopefully dealers put far

and wide, because they should do. Starting price 28,595. Now, the current trims that are on sale,

29,990 for the LT or 32,995 for the RS. But in time, it'll go down to 28,595,

the cheapest electric vehicle on sale in the United States. And if you are shopping for this

or an Nissan Leaf, try and find dealerships that are over the road from each other,

then you can just pop between them and go, well, over there, they just gave me another 100 dollars

because those are the two vehicles that are going to go head to head this year,

in terms of being America's cheapest EVs. The nameplate carries more weight than its modest

looks suggest, launched in 2017 as the first serious all EV, not a compliance car or a

testbed for technology. The bolt won universal praise for its price and size, if not charging.

Strong sales didn't save it, though, from an extended recall and the limits of GM's old,

previous EV platform, then they retired it. Now GM calls this bolts a limited time offer.

I've never quite worked out what they mean by that. How often this bolt lasts depends on demand.

So if I were you and there's one in your local area and even just anywhere, get it shipped,

and you want a vehicle like this, this is incredible value for a brand new car.

Obviously, the federal tax credit has gone, but California plans to step in. California plans

to spend $200 million to stop its EV market from stalling. The money folded into Governor Gavin

Newsom's budget proposal for next year aims to replace the sum of the money lost from the federal

tax credit. The move matters beyond state lines, though, because California makes up a large

share of American EV sales and has one of the country's densest public charging networks,

a new pot of state cash will steady demand in a country that's cooling on EVs.

Details are thin. Officials have yet to spell out who would qualify, how much they would get,

which vehicles will count. But reports suggest the incentives may come as on-the-hood discounts

written into the deal and taken off the price at the point of sale.

I'm not a huge fan of that model. In fact, if you'd like to hear more about what I think about

carrots and sticks, I've got a whole half-hour bonus show in your feed right now about which

countries are doing it well and how California has traditionally done it within the wider American

story. It's kind of fascinating when you look at the historical context as well.

Lots of people who think you need to help people go EV just go money off the car.

It's just one way of doing it. And if we look at other places that are very successful,

China is at 60% EV now, and most of those are full BEVs, by the way. You say, well,

China sold 1.3 million EVs last month in December, and most of them were BEVs.

People's might, you can see their cogs start ticking and go, hang on a minute, how many?

Yeah, China was 60% EV last month. Obviously, Norway's 100%. Lots of places have taken

different ways of getting EVs on the road. California's new one would be cash on the hood.

Lots of people like that. It's easy. The other thought is that sometimes

car makers then don't feel the pressure as much to keep the costs down. There's other things that

regulators, states, politicians can do. More power can be leaned into infrastructure and

helping people that wouldn't be able to go EV otherwise. So we'll wait and see. The governor

previously backed away from replacing the federal tax credit like for like, citing budget strain,

reviving this idea, now signals a bet that triggered subsidies, and those that if you

jump through these hoops, maybe it's income or something else, that you target them as well,

costs less, but also doesn't mean the EV momentum stalls, because California's got some really

ambitious targets on reducing emissions. Okay, let's talk Dacia. That is the Romanian,

and these days I think a bit North African where they make the cars, bit of Renault. Dacia will

sell two battery electric mini cars in Europe as they cut their fleet CO2. This is important

because they want to meet EU emissions targets. And if you have excess credits, then you can make

a bit of money by selling them to people who haven't met them. The China built Spring starts at 16,900

euros in France. They've updated the Dacia Spring, by the way. It's a much better car than it used

to be. And if you don't mind buying one that's six months old, it's a stellar deal. I saw one that

was a pre-wredged car near me in Christchurch. I mean, pool and doorset, but further along the

coast a little bit. It was six, eight months old, still sitting on the lot all these months later,

pre-wredged car from February or March. Nobody wanted it. And it was down to 9995. It's gone now.

And it was in a really awful shade of brown. Kind of, I said to my wife, Nappy Brown,

because, you know, our little girl still in overnight nappies. It's not a color that I would

want on my car. And why Dacia painted it that certain shade of brown? I have no idea. But

if you don't mind it, it was a 10 grand brand new car. No one else had driven it. And it's a

stellar deal. So the spring is assembled by Renault in Wuhan, Renault Dongfeng in Wuhan,

using China's low cost EV supply chain. The other car we're talking about would be

a version of the Renault Twingo, but they don't know what it would be called yet. But effectively,

again, a small city car. But that little Renault Twingo, the little Nissan Micra, a Dacia version.

Oh, man, our small car market is exploding. And I'm absolutely here for it every day. I love it.

So, basing it on the new Twingo, built alongside Renault's other cars at their Slovenian plant,

should qualify for any European e-car category, like the Japanese K car category, but the EU

wants to bring that in over here. Lithium ion phosphate battery for both. The two mini cars

have similar technology, but be different in look and positioning. The spring's getting a little bit

long in the tooth now. But still, the Dacia spring has been improved. Not amazingly. It used to be

the slowest DC fast charging you could buy. New. I think they slightly improved it, though. All

right, we'll take a break. We'll come back and we'll talk about battery degradation and leap

back in a moment.

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unused subscriptions and lowering your bills. No customer service needed. With that money freed

up, the app will automatically set some cash aside for your goals. Whether it's an emergency fund,

paying off debt, or saving for vacation, Rocketmoney's got you covered. Users love the app,

with over 186,000 five-star ratings. And, on average, users can save up to $740 a year

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Welcome back to the podcast. Now, let's talk about battery degradation.

Geotab's latest haul of real-world data gives EV skeptics little comfort across more than 22,700

EVs. They took in 21 makes and models and many years of telematics. Geotab found an average

annual battery degradation of just 2.3%. That points to battery packs that age

rather slowly and suffer very little drop in capacity. This matters for anyone betting on EV

fleets. Battery health drives total cost of ownership and second-hand values. The new analysis

challenges some of the dogma around EVs that batteries don't last very long. People base

that on their mobile phones, and I would agree. Mobile phone batteries are terrible,

but they're not built like EV batteries. Might be lithium-ion, but it's entirely different.

Charging behavior. Not total mileage was the thing that they say stood out as the differentiator.

Vehicles that rely on very high-powered DC fast charging can degrade at 3% per year.

Those that have been AC-charged much slower degrade by about half.

Hotter climates, they say, only add a little more degradation than mild climates. The heat

hurts, but not if you live somewhere really hot and still AC-charge the things. Other data I've seen

over the years says charging doesn't really matter, but this is what the Geotab data says.

Patterns as well matter. Fleet managers fear things like battery degradation and what their

fleet could be worth at the end or things like that. Higher-use vehicles show only 0.8% more

degradation per year than very low-use vehicles. So again, if you're on a fleet and that fleet's

going to be doing 50,000 miles per year per vehicle, it's a trade-off that doesn't really matter.

The data undercuts the need for rigid daily charging rules. The data really says charge it

largely however you want, so it won't really matter for battery degradation, which isn't a big deal

anyway. For all of this to work in fleets, they need accurate state of health data.

Telematics now moves from a tool for things like routing your vehicles day to day and safety as

well to a thing that must incorporate battery life and getting the most value out of every

efficient use of every kilowatt hour. Eagle-eared observers will have heard our latest premium

partner sponsor, Test EV, come on board for Australia and New Zealand. We'll talk to them

on Saturday. Nathan Gore-Brown from the firm will join us to talk about battery health testing.

Now let's talk a little bit about Leap Motor. Rolled out three new electric models at the

sales from 800 points across the continent last year as simply a starting place. The ambition

lands in a market where Chinese brands chase volume but big incumbent brands. Leap Motor

leans on its tie-up with Stellantis to extend its reach into 800 sales points across Europe.

They're targeting 1700 sales points as well though. The aim says the chief executive of Leap

Motor International, the bit that is mostly owned by Stellantis in order for it not to be technically

a Chinese company. The aim there is to sell high-quality affordable vehicles. There's a new

compact city model coming for Europe called the B03X. That's going to anchor the new lower end

of the range. Very comfortable but very cheap. Above it sits a C-segment B05 with a 67 kilowatt

hour pack inside it. Quite a big screen in that panoramic roof. Nice software, lots of ADAS.

And Leap Motor is also going to offer a hybrid version of its B10, an extended range version

actually, where the engine will just be a 1.5-litre generator charging the battery. And as long as it

comes with a plug socket, I'm kind of okay with that because use it as an EV whenever you can.

80 kilometers of electric only range, that one will start at 29,000 euros when it arrives here.

Leap Motor still trails better known rivals but a broader lineup and a key partner in Europe with

Stellantis goes a long way. Mazda is tapping Chinese technology for a new European EV. This is

fascinating. Mazda has unveiled the CX6E at the Brussels Motor Show. A new all-electric crossover

for Europe that leans on Chinese engineering. It's effectively the Chinese EZ60. Maybe I'll

that's the Chang'an D-PAL SO7 car? It's the same platform, not a rebadging. This is Mazda's second

collaboration with Chang'an, a sign that the Chinese are increasingly influential. For now,

the CX6E, rear-wheel drive, 78 kilowatt hour lithium-ion phosphate pack, 0-62 in 8 seconds,

300 miles WLTP range, 10-80 in 24 minutes. Yeah, I'm listing off all the stats and they all sound

kind of good as well. A big 26-inch dual-split display, wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto,

for Mazda fans, and maybe for a few people who are new to the brand, this might be a quite nice EV.

Now, Mercedes-Benz opening high-speed chargers in British Columbia. Mercedes-Benz switching

on its first DC fast charger in Canada with three hubs in Abbotsford, Bitmeadows and

Sassawassen. Sorry Canadian listeners. Five more sites are planned. They've got a mix of CCS-1

and Nax connectors, a four cable layout so drivers can plug in pretty much with whatever car you

turn up at. They're the Alpetronic HYC 400. The units are rated for 400 kilowatts, obviously,

if all the cars turn up, you don't get that. But the network will support plug and charge as well,

and more importantly, whatever plug is on the side of your car, that, okay, it's a modest

build out, I get it. But it's an important beginning of a build out of just not making

adapt to hell, something for everybody. Volvo Enix, they've cut their electric semi down to

city size. The new Volvo Trux FL Electric has a 3,000 pound gross vehicle weight rating. It loses

an axle and the pitch is clear. This is a purpose built zero emission vehicle for inner city work.

This is not a long haul tractor. This is a shorter layout, more compact for the cities,

145 kilowatt hour battery pack, 180 kilowatts electric motor in this. And so anything that goes

through lots of stop start routes, frequent loading bays, really important for these kind

of commercial vehicles to go electric, 125 miles of range or 200 kilometers. But this is built for

city duty cycles, go back to the depot, plug it in, charge it up probably overnight,

and off you go again the next day. Volvo adds new technology, more ergonomics, a much nicer

place for drivers than the vehicles it is replacing in combustion world. And Volvo Trux has a huge

track record now in not only trucking, but electric trucking, which is what many fleet

managers need that haven't quite dipped their toe in the electric waters.

And finally, extraordinary story. Lucid has been forced into a software climb down.

What was a level headed but scathing YouTube video review has done what thousands of owners

grumbling couldn't do. That's forced Lucid Motors to admit their software sucks at times

and that they're going to fix it. The maker of the Lucid Air sedan acknowledged a string of glitches

and an overhaul. So this is important because Lucid sells itself on engineering prowess and

premium pricing. So somebody on YouTube who is an incredible creator, his name is Jason Fenske,

he runs Engineering Explained and he does YouTube videos for mere mortals like us,

which explain engineering, hence the name, but he's such a good communicator and he can make

complex topics understandable to idiots like me. And he wasn't very happy with his Lucid. Now we,

you know, we haven't got platforms like him, but he has got millions of followers

and his Lucid video went to over a million views very quickly. And Lucid noticed it.

Imad Dalala, who now oversees all product development at Lucid, reached out, they connected with

Jason on the phone, had a long phone call about all of the problems in his Lucid Air

and promised that over the air updates would fix anything that they can.

The broken plug and charge functionality is being resolved. His bonnet that doesn't open or

close properly would be realigned. Look, we don't have platforms like this guy, but trust me,

he wasn't abusing his platform. He's one of the nicest people on YouTube. He comes across as a

genuinely good guy and I've been watching his channel for just many years and he's forced a

big car company into really big changes. Some of them will be tangible. The firm plans to redesign

its cup holders even with a new layout. He said that he made a follow-up video and said that

the other people on the call, without saying it, like, all agreed, the cup holders suck. So

isn't that amazing? We know car companies are building an electric car or any kind of motor car,

but it's one of the most difficult engineering challenges out there, apart from sending people

into space. It's really difficult to do and no one expects Lucid to get it right first time

and what is amazing is they just fessed up and owned up. You know what? We completely agree.

Let's get you on a telephone call with our boss and we'll fix this for all of the owners.

So there's going to be a more reliable phone as the key, more reflective voice commands,

improved carplay and Bluetooth integration, stuff like changing your driver profile while the car

is moving. They said they couldn't do that because, you know, what if your seat started moving

to your partner's setting and then put you in an unsafe position? I kind of get that,

but then a lot of older cars, you can just do that. They had buttons for the maybe the two

profile settings and, you know what? You just take your finger off the button or you put your

finger back on setting number one and it puts the seat back where you are. If you were moving,

I don't know, like too far away from the steering wheel to reach it or something silly.

I understand their point, but this is kind of a solved problem, Lucid. Either way, either way,

a lot of the things are being fixed and despite his complaints, Jason praised Lucid's engineering

and said that he would be keeping the Lucid air to the end of his lease and hadn't decided whether

at the end of it to buy it or give the vehicle back, but would keep it. Ongoing software friction

leaves him unsure whether he would ever buy one. Lovely story to end up. That's your podcast for

today. Thanks to our premium partners, National Car Charging on the US mainland and the Low Heart

Charge in Hawaii and Test TV, Avalu's trusted partner to independent EV battery health testing

in Australia and New Zealand. Have a good and sit-amara and remember, there's no such thing as

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DAILY: Quad Motor BMW iM3, Bolt Returns To USA and California Subsidies

About this episode

BMW iM3

Bolt

kilowatt hour

Tesla Cybertruck

BMW M3

all-wheel drive

Neuerklasse platform

DC fast charger

Nissan Leaf

EV

compliance car

federal tax credit

fleet CO2

EU emissions targets

Dacia Spring

Renault Twingo

Nissan Micra

lithium ion phosphate battery

battery degradation

Geotab

telematics

Leap Motor

Stellantis

Leap Motor B03X

Leap Motor B05

ADAS

Leap Motor B10

Alpina B10

Mazda CX6E

Volvo Trux FL Electric

Lucid Air

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

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