Tesla Model Y is Electrek’s vehicle of the year
For 2023, Electrek has decided to make the Tesla Model Y its vehicle of the year. Well, it’s not as much us who decided, car buyers did.
With Model Y becoming the first electric vehicle to become the best-selling car in the world, how can we not make it the vehicle of the year?
Generally, when choosing a new vehicle of the year, publications choose new vehicles that launched that year. And there were plenty of fantastic new electric vehicles that came to market in 2023.
But we feel it’s more appropriate to choose the electric vehicle that has had the best impact this year, and by that criteria, I think Model Y is the undeniable winner.
Throughout the year, Model Y has broken records across many markets by not only becoming the best-selling electric vehicle but also becoming the best-selling vehicle period in those markets.
Last year, Model Y already became the fourth best-selling vehicle in the world behind only the Ford F-Series, Toyota Rav4, and Toyota Corolla.
Model Y was at about 750,000 units, while the Corolla was sitting in first with 1.1 million.
In 2023, with all those new records in massive markets, the electric vehicle is on track to beat that number while the Corolla is slightly down.
That should make the Tesla Model Y the best-selling passenger vehicle in the world in 2023.
Tesla achieved that by adding Model Y production to Gigafactory Texas and Berlin on top of the existing production in Fremont, California, and Shanghai, China.
On the demand side, Tesla had to cut prices throughout the year to keep orders coming in amid increasing interest rates, but the automaker was able to do that thanks to its industry-leading gross margin.
The feat is also impressive considering the fact that Model Y starts at exactly twice the $22,0000 starting price of the Corolla in the US.
Most of the industry laughed at Elon Musk when the CEO estimated the demand for the Model Y between 500,000 and 1,000,000 units per year back in 2016.
Now, it’s even exceeding that.
It’s hard to overstate the impact of having an electric vehicle program now reaching 1 million units annually and becoming the best-selling passenger car in the world.
Tesla’s mission was always to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles both directly with its own vehicles and indirectly by putting pressure on the industry. The Model Y managed to do both by adding an enormous number of EVs on the road that are replacing gas mileage and by showing the rest of the industry that if they want to have the best-selling car now, it needs to be electric.
Tesla Model Y
It’s clear why Model Y sells so well. It took everything Tesla did great with Model 3, and there’s a lot of that, and made it into a form factor that fits the most popular segment in the world: small SUVs/crossovers.
The vehicle has the performance and driving dynamics of a sports car, the cargo space of a small SUV, and that’s subjective, obviously, but it looks fantastic.
The design is simple yet strong. Many say it looks too much like Model 3, but can’t you blame Tesla if it happens that Model 3’s design transforms so well into a crossover?
Model Y can also have a factory tow package with a small but still useful 3,500-lbs towing capacity. This contributes to making Model Y a sort of Swiss army knife of a car.
The Model Y also has the same advantages as all Tesla vehicles, like the over-the-air software updates that make the vehicle better (for the most part) every few months.
I know that the spartan interior of the Model Y is a bit polarizing, but I like it:
It’s not crowded with buttons and controls. Even the AC fans and speakers are hidden. It helps create a zen feeling to the vehicle’s interior. Whenever I sit in my Model 3 (very similar interior to Model Y), I feel relaxed, which is a welcomed feeling when you are about to sit Montreal traffic for an hour.
Also, if you haven’t sat in the latest generation of Model Y and Model 3, I would recommend it. Tesla has made a lot of improvements to its seats. I understand that it depends on your body type, but it is perfect for me (6’0″, 180 lbs).
The Full Self-Driving package is a wild card, and its value depends on your faith in Tesla delivering on its promise, but Autopilot is a solid level 2 driver assist system.
If I was going to list all the cool technology in the Model Y, we would be here all day, but as a Northerner, I want to mention the very efficient heat pump in Model Y. It’s a game changer for winter driving in colder climates.
With all that technology, smart design, and performance, a starting price of $44,000, which is $4,000 less than the average new car price in the US, and up to 330 miles of range, it’s easy to see why Model Y would be so popular.
It’s so popular that it is now the best-selling passenger car in the world. But today, it receives its biggest honor yet: being Electrek’s vehicle of the year.
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Environment
Toyota’s new EV is getting an off-road upgrade: Here’s our first look at the bZ Woodland
It’s bigger, more powerful, and built for on and off-road adventures. Toyota’s new electric SUV is getting an upgraded Woodland edition with 375 hp, added ground clearance, and a host of other outdoor-ready features. Here’s our first look at the Toyota bZ Woodland EV.
Check out the new 2026 Toyota bZ Woodland EV
Toyota is finally stepping it up. After introducing its new bZ electric SUV earlier this week, the refreshed version of the “bZ4X,” Toyota unveiled a more powerful, off-road Woodland model on Thursday.
Unlike the bZ, the Woodland model has standard all-wheel drive (AWD). Powered by dual electric motors, Toyota’s rugged new EV packs 375 hp, or 37 hp more than the AWD version of the bZ electric SUV (338 hp).
It also offers added capability, with up to 3,500 lb towing capacity, 8.3″ of ground clearance, and available All-Terrain tires.
Although the bZ Woodland features Toyota’s new “hammerhead front end” with a full-length LED light bar, it adds a twist with black overfenders and a wide, powerful stance.
The outdoor-focused electric SUV is nearly 6″ longer, opening up an extra 30 cubic feet of cargo space. It also gains a standard roof rack and 18″ aluminum wheels.
Powered by a 74.7 kWh battery, Toyota expects the bZ Woodland to have a driving range of up to 260 miles. Like the bZ, it will also have a native NACS charging port to access Tesla Superchargers. Using DC fast charging, the electric SUV can recharge from 10% to 80% in roughly 30 minutes.
Other added features, including battery pre-conditioning and Plug & Charge capabilities, improve charging performance while making it easy to find and navigate to stations.
The interior looks about the same as Toyota’s other EV models, with a 14-inch infotainment and driver display screens. Toyota’s Audio Multimedia system powers the infotainment and supports standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capabilities.
All bZ Woodland models will have heated SofTex®-trimmed seats for the driver and front passenger and a choice of Stone Brown or Black coloring.
Upgrading to the bZ Woodland Premium package gains a premium JBL Audio System, panoramic roof, ventilated front seats, and a front radiant heater.
The bZ Woodland is Toyota’s third EV to launch in the US, joining the new 2026 C-HR and bZ electric SUVs. It’s expected to arrive at dealerships in early 2026. Toyota will reveal prices closer to launch, but the upgraded off-road Woodland model is expected to start a bit higher at around $50,000. Check back soon for official prices.
Would you buy Toyota’s rugged new electric SUV for around $50,000? You’ll have the chance soon. Drop us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
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Arc, the company behind the powerful Arc One and Arc Sport electric boats, announced its next model today: the Arc Coast, a center console boat with many of the capabilities of its predecessors at a significantly lower price.
As a reminder, Arc is a relatively new company, founded in 2021 in Los Angeles, targeting the luxury boat market with high-powered electric boats. Its cofounders, Mitch Lee and Ryan Cook, are engineers who met while working at Boeing.
The company has since grown to over 170 employees, and boasts that many of them are former SpaceX, Tesla, and Rivian workers (like, well, every other electric startup).
It started with the Arc One, a $300,000 limited-edition 500hp electric speedboat, of which only 20 were made. Then Arc moved onto the Sport, a powerful wake boat made for lake activities (which we drove and it literally knocked us off our seat), starting at $258k. It’s also working on an electric tugboat for the Port of LA.
Sales are going well with a substantial backlog and the Sport is sold out through the summer. It’s currently hoping to ramp up production of the Sport “into the hundreds of boats a year,” but it isn’t there yet.
But even while it ramps Sport production, it’s looking to address other markets, and its new Arc Coast announced today is an impressive stab at that.
The Arc Coast is a “center console” model. For those of us in the car world, it might sound confusing to name a vehicle after one of its parts, but the term makes for a meaningful distinction on a boat: the helm (or “console”), where the pilot operates the boat, is smack in the middle, offering mobility all around the edges of the deck.
This mobility is helpful for certain applications, for example fishing. Being able to move around all sides of the boat means that your rod won’t get caught up on rigging or a canopy.
It also just makes it easier to hang out and get around the boat. Instead of having to squeeze between seats or flip open a door to get towards the bow, you can just walk all around the boat without much obstruction.
However, these types of boats tend to have less luxuriant upholstery, less protection from the elements (sun shades, windshields, etc), less sitting space than other boat formats.
Because of this, Arc has been able to save a good amount of money on materials, and it allows them to offer the Coast model with similar performance and many of the same features as its others, but at a lower price.
- Length: 24ft
- Battery: 226kWh (the same as the Sport’s battery, which was good for 4-5 hours of use there)
- Horsepower: 400hp
- Top speed: 50mph (~43 knots)
- Hull Material: Fiberglass
- Seating: 10 people
- Pricing: Starting at $168,000
The Arc Coast maintains the benefits of its electric powertrain, which Arc highlights that it designed and built from the ground up. By starting from scratch and designing a boat around its own powertrain, instead of just building a fiberglass hull and attaching an off-the-shelf outboard (like the vast majority of other center console boats) and console gauges from random suppliers, Arc is able to offer a more consistent experience.
It’s the same thing we at Electrek notice and comment on in automobiles – cars that were built from the ground up to be electric generally do a better job of it than cars which are retrofitted from gas models or share platforms with them.
Arc thinks that the difference is even starker in boats, as outboard motors are notoriously unreliable and offering a properly-sealed electric powertrain will make maintenance much easier, even in harsher saltwater environments (as compared to the Sport model, which was more freshwater-focused).
It also offers usability benefits. By moving to inboard motors, the rear of the boat can be utilized for a low swim step, making ingress and egress easier, and a sunpad for lounging. It also takes away the fumes and noise that normally plague the back end of a fossil-powered boat, giving you more usable space and making it much more pleasant to hang out back there.
That usability carries over into the boat’s software, which Arc has also designed from the ground up in a modern, consistent interface. When we saw this ourselves on the Sport we were impressed, though the software wasn’t done yet (and will surely be in a constant state of getting updates for some time to come).
This interface includes connectivity and over-the-air updates, which offer big benefits for a boat owner as it’s a lot easier to check your boat’s charge, or perhaps see a feed from the boat’s cameras, through an app rather than having to head down to the marina and take a look yourself.
We haven’t yet had a chance to try out the Arc Coast – and in fact, you’ll notice that the photos and videos on this page are backlit renders, as Arc is still working on some of the specifics. Nevertheless, preorders are open today over at Arc’s website, and Arc says the boat is “coming in 2026.”
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eVTOL developer Archer Aviation has signed on as the official air taxi partner of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. As a partner to the event and Team USA, Archer’s Midnight eVTOL aircraft will transport VIPs, fans, and athletes around event venues in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Archer Aviation ($ACHR) appears poised to be the first eVTOL developer to bring commercial air taxi rides to the skies above the US. Leading up to today’s news, Archer had announced partnerships to establish zero-emission air taxi networks in several global regions, including Japan and the UAE, and flights in its native US.
For example, Archer unveiled an initial route map for air taxi operations in New York City last month alongside details of an ongoing partnership with United Airlines. The pending air taxi network includes vertiports at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports around NYC and a presence at regional airports and three helipads in the city itself.
The NYC air taxi network was preceded by plans for an eVTOL air mobility network coming to Los Angeles, announced in August 2024. At the time, the company said it is targeting initial eVTOL operations in the Los Angeles metropolitan area by 2026, long before the influx of global visitors for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Today, Archer announced that it has become the official air taxi provider for visitors to the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Archer to take air taxis to the skies above the 2028 Olympic Games
According to an update from Archer Aviation, it has signed a partnership to be the exclusive air taxi provider for the LA28 Olympic Games. In this partnership, Archer Aviation will integrate its flagship Midnight eVTOL aircraft into transport operations and support Team USA
The Archer eVTOL is expected to transport Olympic VIPs, fans, and company stakeholders around the 2028 games’ locations, utilizing vertiport hubs at key venues. The eVTOL developer said its sustainable aerial technology will also support emergency services and security. Per Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein:
We want to transform the way people get around Los Angeles and leave a legacy that shapes the future of transportation in America. There’s no better time to do that than during the LA28 Games. I can’t wait to see Midnight flying passengers over Los Angeles, emblazoned with the Team USA logo and the Olympic Rings and Paralympic Agitos.
eVTOL vertiports are planned for SoFi stadium in Inglewood and the Memorial Coliseum on the USC campus. Other locations include visitor hubs at LAX Airport, Hollywood, Orange County, and Santa Monica. The 2028 Olympic Games are expected to welcome over 15 million visitors from around the world, some of whom will have an opportunity to experience some of the first-ever air taxi rides in the US.
Archer’s Midnight eVTOL can transport up to four passengers at a time and is significantly quieter than other traditional forms of aerial transportation, such as helicopters. The Midnight aircraft will be assembled at Archer’s manufacturing facilities in San Jose, California, and its newly erected facility in Covington, Georgia.
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