Production of electric mini-trucks begins in Texas
AYRO, an electric mini-truck maker based in Round Rock, Texas, has just announced the start of production at its local factory. The company’s first vehicle, known as the AYRO Vanish, is an electric utility truck with a modular design intended for a wide range of urban uses.
The company has begun with low-rate initial production (LRIP), which is a limited manufacturing run intended to validate the efficiency of the production processes and systems designed to build the Vanish.
Training, tools, processes, and quality measures are currently being evaluated on the line as AYRO prepares to ramp up to higher production rates.
As the company CEO Tom Wittenschlaeger explained:
We believe entering LRIP for the Vanish is a major milestone for AYRO. Within a few weeks, we anticipate being able to deliver the first vehicles to our dealers and partners so they can begin showing and selling the Vanish beyond pre-orders.
The company opened pre-orders for the Vanish back in May, when a $250 deposit through AYRO’s online configurator secured reservation holders a spot in line for the US $33,900 vehicle.
Last month, AYRO completed homologation to receive its street-legal status in the US and Canada.
Homologation is the process that new vehicles undergo to test and verify that they meet or exceed vehicle regulations.
In the US, the AYRO Vanish was homologated to LSV (low-speed vehicle) standards set out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, as mandated by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Canada uses very similar regulations set out in the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
As Wittenschlaeger continued:
We’ve worked tirelessly to reach this point in our processes. Our partners and dealers are incredibly excited to share the Vanish with their customers. We’re also looking forward to seeing the Vanish in action with customers and fleets as this is just the first vehicle in our planned portfolio.
While mini-trucks are commonplace in Europe and Asia, we rarely see these useful vehicles in the US or Canada thanks to the prevalence of oversized vehicles. AYRO is hoping to help buck this trend with the Vanish, which is small in size but designed for serious utility.
The Vanish’s versatility is one of its main selling points, with ARYO’s engineers focusing on an adaptable design. The mini-truck’s standard model features a “common core chassis,” essentially a compact flatbed truck. However, multiple configurations are available to tailor it for specific utility purposes.
For example, while the flatbed is ideal for general hauling, especially of large items, buyers have the option to outfit the Vanish with a foldable tailgate and side gates to resemble a pickup truck. There’s also the choice of an enclosed cargo space, transforming it into an electric mini box truck or van.
The lower bed height makes the vehicle ideal for loading and unloading, and the smaller size is more appropriate for crowded urban areas. Use cases like cargo delivery, package couriers, and other local utility jobs could likely be better suited with the Vanish than larger vehicles. In fact, a business considering an electric pickup truck might find that the Vanish, which costs half as much, can actually carry larger cargo in back. It doesn’t offer the same highway speeds or long range as larger electric trucks, but neither of those are useful in a city – in fact they are disadvantages in crowded areas.
The AYRO Vanish certainly won’t replace larger pickup trucks and box trucks everywhere, but it marks a much more appropriate choice for densely populated cities where such large vehicles struggle to navigate congested streets.
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Chevy just unveiled a ferocious new Blazer EV.R prototype. Based on the new Blazer EV SS and NASCAR’s tri-motor powertrain, the prototype delivers over 1,300 horsepower.
Chevy unveils 1,300 hp Blazer EV.R NASCAR prototype
Ahead of the Daytona 500 this weekend, Chevy is giving us a glimpse into the future of racing. Chevy introduced the Blazer EV.R prototype on Thursday, which was built in collaboration with NASCAR.
Based on NASCAR’s Next-Gen EV chassis, the Blazer prototype packs over 1,300 hp (1,000 kW) from three STARD UHP 6-Phase electric motors, one in the front and two in the back. It also features a 78 kWh liquid-battery cooled battery.
Chevy said the Blazer EV.R is an example of new technology it’s testing out that could potentially be used in future production cars and race programs.
The prototype pulls design features from the 2025 Blazer EV SS, the fastest SS Chevy has ever made. With up to 615 hp, the electric Blazer can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds.
Chevy’s global design executive director, Phil Zak, explained the Blazer EV.R features a lower and wider stance with added aerodynamics for performance.
Although just a prototype (for now), GM engineers were able to test it out at race pace last month at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina.
The prototype was driven by Team Chevy Driver Justin Allgaier, who won the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion.
NASCAR vice president of vehicle design Brandon Thomas said, “With the Blazer EV.R NASCAR prototype, Chevrolet and its engineers meshed new technologies with the NASCAR Next Gen platform – and the result is a powerful, exciting vehicle that we believe fans will love when they see it at Daytona International Speedway.”
The 2025 Chevy Blazer EV SS will be the first to pace “The Great American Race” this weekend. You can watch the Daytona 500 to catch Chevy’s new performance EVs on Sunday, February 16, 2025.
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Environment
Oil-backed senators introduce bills to kill $7,500 EV tax credit, add $1,000 tax on electric cars
Republican Senators have introduced bills to not only kill the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles but also add a $1,000 tax at the purchase of new EVs.
President Trump campaigned on killing the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. Therefore, it’s not surprising that it’s happening, but now we have a better idea of how.
Senator John Barrasso, along with 14 other GOP senators, has introduced a pair of bills going after electric vehicles.
The first one, unsurprisingly, would end the federal tax credit for electric vehicles, which includes the $7,500 credit for buying or leasing a new electric car, the $4,000 tax credit for used electric vehicles, and the incentives for charging stations.
Some hoped that legislators would push to end the tax credit for next year, which would have helped EV sales in the US in 2025, but the bill, as it stands, says that the credits would end 30 days after it is signed into law.
The second bill, sponsored by Senators Deb Fischer, Pete Ricketts, and Cynthia Lummis, would add a one-time $1,000 fee to the purchase price of a new electric vehicle.
GOP senators justify this by pointing out the lack of contributions from electric vehicles to fund the repair and maintain of highways, which is thought to be financed through taxes on gas and diesel. They arrive at $1,000 by calculating roughly the average contribution of a gas-powered car through the gas tax over 10 years.
Fischer said:
“EVs can weigh up to three times as much as gas-powered cars, creating more wear and tear on our roads and bridges.”
The most popular gas car in the US is the Toyota Corolla, which weighs about 3,000 lbs—or about 800 lbs less than a comparable electric Tesla Model 3—but it’s nowhere near three times heavier.
It’s worth noting that Fischer took $356,393 from the oil and gas industry during the last election cycle. It is one of her top contributors.
As for Barrasso, he takes even more money from the oil and gas industry: $781,381 during the last cycle.
Trump’s recently appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had signaled plans to impose new fees on electric vehicles.
Electrek’s Take
I’ve made my peace with the tax credit going away in the US. It’s going to cripple the country’s EV market, which is already way behind the rest of the world, but it sounds like Americans are OK giving up the lead on that front. So be it.
I was hoping that the change would be announced for the end of the year, creating some urgency to by this year – boosting sales in 2025, but it sounds like that won’t happen.
But the $1,000 fee is about as dumb as it gets. It doesn’t account for a vehicle’s size, weight, or efficiency. It’s a flat fee for everyone regardless of how much or how little they use the car. It makes no sense, and it is clearly meant to discourage electric vehicles.
If the GOP passes this legislation, it will sabotage its entire auto industry long term, including Tesla. They will lose EV expertise to the rest of the world.
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Tesla is testing a couple of creative solutions to try to prevent charging cable thefts at its Supercharging stations, which has become a serious problem for all charging station operators.
There are still a lot of problems with public charging stations for electric vehicles. There are issues with the number of stations, the number of chargers pers station, peak charges, which increases prices, and the reliability.
Several factors affect he reliability and uptime of a station, including having charging cables.
Believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for thieves to target charging stations to cut the cables off the charging stalls in order to sell the metal in them.
Tesla operates more DC fast-charging stations than anyone and therefore, it is a big target for these thieves.
The automaker has now confirmed that it is testing new ways to try to prevent those cable theft.
First, it is currently testing a new wrap around the cable. It has been spotted at a Tesla Supercharger in Seattle, Washington (Reddit):
These are DyeDefender, which consist of small hoses that wrap around the cable and if they are cut, they shoot dye all over.
It looks something like this:
Tesla’s head of charging, Max de Zegher, confirmed that Tesla is testing the solution.
He also said that Tesla is engraving the metal in the cables:
Supercharger cables will also have “Property of Tesla” engraved from our Buffalo NY factory, so recycling companies shouldn’t accept them and notify us. It’s a scalable, cost-effective solution that doesn’t impact service operations & customer experience.
He shared this picture on X:
As long as the scrapyards and recycling facilities are willing to enforce this, it could help deter thieves from stealing the cables if they are not able to sell them.
There are black markets for these sort of things, but they often offer lower prices, which could make the thefts not worth it in the first place.
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