![I did burnouts in the mud at Mt. Magna testing a new 4WD EV powertrain system [Videos]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/07/Magna-EV-Mud-burnout-Jeep-Glasiator.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
I did burnouts in the mud at Mt. Magna testing a new 4WD EV powertrain system [Videos]
Yes, that’s a Jeep Gladiator in the image above, which is inherently not electric (quite the opposite actually). However, thanks to Magna International’s new EtelligentTerrain EV powertrain system, 4WD combustion vehicles like Jeeps will soon be able to tear up muddy terrain without any emissions. I recently got invited to Mt. Magna in Michigan, where I tested the new EV powertrain system, climbed the mountain, and sprayed mud EVERYWHERE. Watch me go below.
Magna International is a globally recognized automotive contract manufacturer that currently reigns as the largest in North America and the fourth largest on the planet. It currently operates over 130 production and assembly facilities across North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa, showing no signs of slowing down, recording $4.652 billion in gross profits for 2022 and well on its way to surpassing that number in 2023.
The past year, we’ve seen Magna commit to nearly a billion dollars invested in its North American operations, including $470 million in Canada, where it’s globally headquartered, in addition to another $500 million in Michigan, where its US headquarters sits.
Last week, I got the opportunity to visit the company’s HQ in Troy, Michigan, where the team took me out to its Mt. Magna terrain park, and I got the chance to explore new and developing EV technologies and make quite a delightful mess while doing so.
Magna turned a Jeep Gladiator into a sweet off-road EV
On the first half of the day with Magna on its home turf, I visited the renowned Mt. Magna in Southeast Michigan. This was a very different experience from my visit to Magna last year, where we towed 10,000 pounds of cargo around a track at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac.
The focus of this trip was, of course, electrification but also new technology Magna has integrated into four-wheel drive vehicles to deliver powerful and effective BEV conversions. Example A is the Jeep Gladiator prototype, featuring Magna’s EtelligentTerrain powertrain system.
The new system combines Magna’s eBEAM technology into a dual-motor configuration designed to electrify sport and light-utility vehicles for both on and off-road situations. Here’s an all-electric Jeep Gladiator featuring the system ripping up Mt. Magna without issue.
Magna’s EtelligentTerrain system consists of a steerable eBEAM motor (Mid) in the front, complete with a remote inverter (no room up front for it in the Jeep) and a 2-in-1 offset on the axle to make room for the EV’s steering column. The front also features a disconnect unit and park-lock capabilities, perfect for climbs like the one seen above.
Unlike the front powertrain, the rear axle eBEAM (High) is coaxial and has an integrated inverter since there’s a lot more space. It comes with a higher gross axle weight rating (GAWR) compared to the front (5,000 pounds vs. 3,000 pounds) but delivers significantly more power and torque.
In the case of the Jeep Gladiator, Magna utilizes an 83 kWh battery pack, but a production model would definitely see a larger battery. The truck was equipped with third-party QuadLink-Coil spring/solid axle suspension in the front and back to handle the higher weight of the battery pack while keeping the Gladiator as close as possible to its standard model ride height.
After summiting Mt. Magna, I got the opportunity to do some burnouts in the fresh mud after an entire night of thunderstorms. Who am I to say no? Since there are virtually no off-road BEVs aside from Rivian, my experience in the dirt has been limited, and it shows. After my first run, I forgot I was still in reverse, so when I tried my second burnout, I was able to showcase how effective the brakes on Magna’s EV prototype are. Have a laugh with me:
Whoops!
Shoutout to Ben Sanders for capturing my mistake and the correct mud-inducing burnout that ensued:
Just like I wrote it up.
Magna’s EtelligentTerrain EV system will not be sold retail but instead will only be available to OEMs that are perhaps looking to electrify existing Class 1 chassis. The dual motor system and its ability to include the inverter on the axle or remotely offers flexibility for a number of vehicle implementations. It paired quite well with the Jeep Gladiator, in my opinion, so why not make that one a full EV?
We know Magna has already committed to helping INEOS build 4×4 EVs, so perhaps we will see this technology in those upcoming models in the next few years.
Magna International is showing once again why it’s one of the most trusted in the business. It not only builds reliable, cutting-edge components, but it also continues to research and develop new ways to make vehicles safer, more efficient, and now, more sustainable. All while still delivering the capability to carve your name in cursive in a muddy field somewhere.
I’ll have more Magna EV innovations from my visit to share soon, so stay tuned.
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Thanks to Trump’s repeated executive order attacks on US clean energy policy, nearly $8 billion in investments and 16 new large-scale factories and other projects were cancelled, closed, or downsized in Q1 2025.
The $7.9 billion in investments withdrawn since January are more than three times the total investments cancelled over the previous 30 months, according to nonpartisan policy group E2’s latest Clean Economy Works monthly update.
However, companies continue to invest in the US renewable sector. Businesses in March announced 10 projects worth more than $1.6 billion for new solar, EV, and grid and transmission equipment factories across six states. That includes Tesla’s plan to invest $200 million in a battery factory near Houston that’s expected to create at least 1,500 new jobs. Combined, the projects are expected to create at least 5,000 new permanent jobs if completed.
Michael Timberlake of E2 said, “Clean energy companies still want to invest in America, but uncertainty over Trump administration policies and the future of critical clean energy tax credits are taking a clear toll. If this self-inflicted and unnecessary market uncertainty continues, we’ll almost certainly see more projects paused, more construction halted, and more job opportunities disappear.”
March’s 10 new projects bring the overall number of major clean energy projects tracked by E2 to 390 across 42 states and Puerto Rico. Companies have said they plan to invest more than $133 billion in these projects and hire 122,000 permanent workers.
Since Congress passed federal clean energy tax credits in August 2022, 34 clean energy projects have been cancelled, downsized, or shut down altogether, wiping out more than 15,000 jobs and scrapping $10 billion in planned investment, according to E2 and Atlas Public Policy.
However, in just the first three months of 2025, after Trump started rolling back clean energy policies, 13 projects were scrapped or scaled back, totaling more than $5 billion. That includes Bosch pulling the plug on its $200 million hydrogen fuel cell plant in South Carolina and Freyr Battery canceling its $2.5 billion battery factory in Georgia.
Republican-led districts have reaped the biggest rewards from Biden’s clean energy tax credits, but they’re also taking the biggest hits under Trump. So far, more than $6 billion in projects and over 10,000 jobs have been wiped out in GOP districts alone.
And the stakes are high. Through March, Republican districts have claimed 62% of all clean energy project announcements, 71% of the jobs, and a staggering 83% of the total investment.
A full map and list of announcements can be seen on E2’s website here. E2 says it will incorporate cancellation data in the coming weeks.
Read more: FREYR kills plans to build a $2.6 billion battery factory in Georgia
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Tesla has reportedly delayed the launch of its new “affordable EV,” which is believed to be a stripped-down Model Y, in the United States.
Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a pivotal decision that altered the automaker’s direction for the next few years.
The CEO canceled Tesla’s plan to build a cheaper new “$25,000 vehicle” on its next-generation “unboxed” vehicle platform to focus solely on the Robotaxi, utilizing the latest technology, and instead, Tesla plans to build more affordable EVs, though more expensive than previously announced, on its existing Model Y platform.
Musk has believed that Tesla is on the verge of solving self-driving technology for the last few years, and because of that, he believes that a $25,000 EV wouldn’t make sense, as self-driving ride-hailing fleets would take over the lower end of the car market.
However, he has been consistently wrong about Tesla solving self-driving, which he first said would happen in 2019.
In the meantime, Tesla’s sales have been decreasing and the automaker had to throttle down production at all its manufacturing facilities.
That’s why, instead of building new, more affordable EVs on new production lines, Musk decided to greenlight new vehicles built on the same production lines as Model 3 and Model Y – increasing the utilization rate of its existing manufacturing lines.
Those vehicles have been described as “stripped-down Model Ys” with fewer features and cheaper materials, which Tesla said would launch in “the first half of 2025.”
Reuters is now reporting that Tesla is seeing a delay of “at least months” in launching the first new “lower-cost Model Y” in the US:
Tesla has promised affordable vehicles beginning in the first half of the year, offering a potential boost to flagging sales. Global production of the lower-cost Model Y, internally codenamed E41, is expected to begin in the United States, the sources said, but it would be at least months later than Tesla’s public plan, they added, offering a range of revised targets from the third quarter to early next year.
Along with the delay, the report also claims that Tesla aims to produce 250,000 units of the new model in the US by 2026. This would match Tesla’s currently reduced production capacity at Gigafactory Texas and Fremont factory.
The report follows other recent reports coming from China that also claimed Tesla’s new “affordable EVs” are “stripped-down Model Ys.”
The Chinese report references the new version of the Model 3 that Tesla launched in Mexico last year. It’s a regular Model 3, but Tesla removed some features, like the second-row screen, ambient lighting strip, and it uses fabric interior material rather than Tesla’s usual vegan leather.
The new Reuters report also said that Tesla planned to follow the stripped-down Model Y with a similar Model 3.
In China, the new vehicle was expected to come in the second half of 2025, and Tesla was waiting to see the impact of the updated Model Y, which launched earlier this year.
Electrek’s Take
These reports lend weight to what we have been saying for a year now: Tesla’s “more affordable EVs” will essentially be stripped-down versions of the Model Y and Model 3.
While they will enable Tesla to utilize its currently underutilized factories more efficiently, they will also cannibalize its existing Model 3 and Y lineup and significantly reduce its already dwindling gross margins.
I think Musk will sell the move as being good in the long term because it will allow Tesla to deploy more vehicles, which will later generate more revenue through the purchase of the “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) package.
However, that has been his argument for years, and it has yet to pan out as FSD still requires driver supervision and likely will for years to come, resulting in an extremely low take-rate for the $8,000 package.
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Environment
Podcast: how Elon killed Tesla Model 2, global EV sales surge, and Chinese EVs keep killing it
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss how Elon Musk killed Tesla Model 2, global EV sales surging, how Chinese EVs keep killing it, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):
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