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Ford remained the second top-selling EV brand in the US, behind only Tesla, after selling nearly 26,000 EVs in Q4. The F-150 Lightning was America’s best-selling electric truck in 2023, while the Mustang Mach-E had its best sales year yet.

Ford sold a record 25,937 electric vehicles in the last three months of 2023, up 24% over the third quarter.

The American automaker sold a total of 72,608 EVs in 2023 (+18% YOY), a new record. The growth was enough to remain the second top-selling EV brand behind Tesla.

After electric truck sales soared nearly 75% in Q4, Ford’s F-150 Lighting was the best-selling electric truck. Ford sold 11,905 Lightning models in Q4 for a total of 24,165 in 2023.

The Mustang Mach-E was the second best-selling electric SUV in the US, with 40,771 units sold last year, another record. Ford’s E-Transit was the best-selling electric van, with sales of 7,672 in 2023 (+18% YOY).

“I am especially proud Ford remained the No. 2 EV brand in America,” Ford’s CEO Jim Farley said.

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Ford F-150 Lightning and E-Transit charging (Source: Ford)

Ford remains second in US EV sales amid record Q4

Ford edged out GM, which sold 19,469 EVs in Q4, down slightly from the previous quarter. GM ended production of its top-selling Bolt EV as it ramps production of its Ultium vehicles.

Hyundai, which doesn’t provide an exact breakdown, sold nearly 47,000 IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 EVs last year, a record of its own. However, these numbers don’t include the Kona electric. With Kia and the Kona EV included, Hyundai Motor Group likely topped Ford in EV sales last year.

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2023 Ford F-150 Lightning (Source: Ford)

As demand continues building for the Lightning electric truck, Ford spokesperson Martin Gunsberg told Electrek the company is “making adjustments to pricing, production, and trim packages.”

2024 Ford F-150 Lightning prices start at $54,995, $5K higher than last year’s base model. The entry-level 2024 F-150 Lightning Pro features up to 240 miles EPA-est range. Other trims, except the Platinum, saw increases between $2K (Lariat 320 mile range) and $7,500 (XLT 240 mile range).

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2024 Ford F-150 Lightning prices and trim options (Source: Ford)

The Platinum trim is the only model receiving a price cut. It will be $7,000 lower than last year’s model. The Platinum Black is $5,000 less than the 2023MY.

Ford added a new Flash trim with 320 miles range, a tech-oriented cabin, and a heat pump. It also comes with Ford’s Tow Tech package and Power Tailgate. Although it was initially expected to start under $70K, the new starting price is $73,495.

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2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Flash trim (Source: Ford)

Gunsberg explained that the adjustments are to “achieve the optimal mix of sales growth, profitability, and customer access to the IRA tax benefit.”

Ford is also updating the 2023 Mustang Mach-E with $7,500 available in Red Carpet Lease Cash.

Electrek’s Take

Despite a record year, Ford is scaling back EV plans. Ford’s CFO, John Lawler, said Ford is “slowing down several investments,” including around $12 billion in EV spending.

Lawler added Ford is “changing the pace and flow” of capital and EV capacity put into place at the 2023 Barclays Global Automotive & Mobility Conference in November.

This includes reducing planned production at its Marshall plant by roughly half, cutting inverter and motor capacity, and scaling back on plans to integrate vertically.

Ford, like Toyota, is leaning into its hybrids amid rising EV competition. Ford’s hybrid sales outshined EVs, with over 37,000 sold in Q4. The automaker sold more than double the amount of hybrids (133,743) than EVs (61,575) last year.

EVs only accounted for 3.64% of Ford’s total vehicle sales. Meanwhile, hybrids accounted for 6.7%, leaving nearly 90% as gas-powered ICE vehicles.

Although Ford placed second in US EV sales, Tesla was first by a wide margin. Tesla delivered a record 484,507 EVs in the fourth quarter to beat its 1.8 million guidance for 2023.

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A 100-MW solar farm just broke ground in Wisconsin

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A 100-MW solar farm just broke ground in Wisconsin

National Grid Renewables has broken ground on its 100 MW Apple River Solar Project in Polk County, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin solar farm, which will use US-made First Solar Series 6 Plus bifacial modules, will be constructed by The Boldt Company, creating 150 construction and service jobs. Apple River Solar will generate over $36 million in direct economic benefits over its first 20 years.

Once it comes online in late 2025, Apple River Solar will supply clean energy to Xcel Energy, which serves customers throughout the Upper Midwest. According to National Grid Renewables, the solar farm will generate enough energy to power around 26,000 homes annually. It will also offset about 129,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year – equivalent to taking 30,900 cars off the road.

“We are excited to see this project begin as it underscores our dedication to delivering clean, reliable and affordable energy to our customers,” said Karl Hoesly, President, Xcel Energy-Wisconsin and Michigan. “This project is an important step in those goals while bringing significant economic benefits to Polk County and the local townships.”

Electrek reported in February that Xcel Energy, Minnesota’s largest utility, expects to cut more than 80% – and possibly up to 88% – of its emissions by 2030, putting it on track to hit Minnesota’s goal of net zero by 2040. It also says it’s on track to achieve its clean energy goals for all the Upper Midwest states it serves – Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Michigan.


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Tesla announces 500 kW charging as it finally delivers V4 Supercharger cabinets

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Tesla announces 500 kW charging as it finally delivers V4 Supercharger cabinets

Tesla has announced that it will finally deliver 500 kW charging as it is about to install its long-awaited V4 Supercharger cabinets.

The rollout of Supercharger V4 has been a strange one, to say the least.

Tesla has been deploying the new charging stations for two years and calling them “Supercharger V4”, but it has only been deploying the charging stalls.

Supercharger stations are made of two main parts: the stalls, which are where the charging cable is located, and the cabinets, which are generally located further back and include all the power electronics.

For all these new “Supercharger V4”, Tesla was actually using Supercharger V3 cabinets. This has been limiting the power output of the charging stations to 250 kW – although

Today, Tesla officially announced its “V4 Cabinet”, which the automaker claims will enable of “delivering up to 500kW for cars and 1.2MW for Semi.”

Here are the main features of the V4 Cabinet as per Tesla:

  • Faster charging: Supports 400V-1000V vehicle architectures, including 30% faster charging for Cybertruck. S3XY vehicles enjoy 250kW charge rates they already experience on V3 Cabinet — charging up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.
  • Faster deployments: V4 Cabinet powers 8 posts, 2X the stalls per cabinet. Lower footprint and complexity = more sites coming online faster.
  • Next-generation hardware: Cutting-edge power electronics designed to be the most reliable on the planet, with 3X power density enabling higher throughput with lower costs.

Tesla reports that its first sites with the new V4 Cabinets are going into permitting now. The company expects its first sites to open next year.

We recently reported about Tesla’s new Oasis Supercharger project, which includes larger solar arrays and battery packs to operate the charging station mostly off-grid.

Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to all Supercharger stations, and Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.

While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.

Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:

It took about 8 years, but it sounds like the pieces are now getting actually in place with Supercharger V4, Megapacks, and this new Oasis project.

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Hyundai is launching an AI-powered EV next year to keep pace in China

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Hyundai is launching an AI-powered EV next year to keep pace in China

Hyundai has a new secret weapon it’s about ready to unleash. To revamp the brand in China and counter BYD’s surge, Hyundai is launching a new AI-powered EV next year. The new model will be Hyundai’s first dedicated electric car for the world’s largest EV market.

With the help of Haomo, a Chinese autonomous startup, Hyundai will launch its first EV equipped with generative AI. It will also be its first model designed specifically for China.

A Hyundai Motor official said (via The Korea Herald) the company is “working to load the software” onto the new EV model, “which will be released in the Chinese market next year.” The spokesperson added, “The level of autonomous driving is somewhere between 2 and 2.5.”

In comparison, Tesla’s Autopilot is considered a level 2 advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the SAE scale (0 to 5), meaning it offers limited hands-free features.

With Autopilot, you still have to keep your eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel, or the system will notify you and eventually disengage.

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Hyundai IONIQ 5 with Waymo autonomous driving tech (Source: Hyundai)

Haomo’s system, DriveGPT, unveiled last spring, takes inspiration from the OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT.

The system can continuously update in real-time to optimize decision-making by absorbing traffic data patterns. According to Haomo, DriveGPT is used in around 20 models as it looks to play a bigger role in China.

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Hyundai at the Beijing Auto Show 2024 (Source: Hyundai Motor)

Hyundai hopes new AI-powered EV boosts sales in China

Electric vehicle sales continue surging in China. According to Rho Motion, China set another EV sales record last month with 1.2 million units sold, up 50% from October 2023.

Over 8.4 million EVs were sold in China in the first ten months of 2024, a notable 38% increase from last year.

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Hyundai IONIQ 6 (Source: Hyundai)

BYD continues to dominate its home market. According to Autovista24, BYD accounted for 32.9% of all PHEV and EV (NEV) sales in China through September, with over half of the top 20 best-selling EV models.

Tesla was second with a 6.5% share of the market, but keep in mind these numbers only include plug-in models (PHEV).

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2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 (Source: Hyundai)

Like most foreign automakers, Hyundai is struggling to keep up with the influx of low-cost electric models in China. Beijing Hyundai’s sales have been slipping since 2017. Through September, Korean automaker’s share of the Chinese market fell to just 1.2%.

Last month, Hyundai opened its first overseas digital R&D center in China to help kick off its return to the region.

According to local reports, Hyundai is partnering with other local tech companies like Thundersoft, a smart cockpit provider, and others in China to power up its next-gen EVs

With its first AI-powered EV launching next year, Hyundai hopes to turn things around in the region quickly. The new model will be one of five to launch in China through 2026.

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