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Some of the best EV deals at your local Drive Electric Week event [part 3]
It’s national Drive Electric Week, and there are a ton of great events showcasing EVs happening all across the country. Yesterday, I spent a few hours at my local event (Chicago Drives Electric), to get a first-hand look at some of the best new EV deals on the road.
For me, personally, the most exciting vehicle on-hand at Chicago Drives Electric was this Nissan Ariya shown, above. Not because I didn’t know about the Ariya, or because it was some new model – I just simply hadn’t driven one before, so was excited to get behind the wheel … but more on that in a minute.
First, the electric pickup trucks.
Chevy Silverado EV
While the Silverado EV may not present the best lease deal in the business, but it’s an extremely capable electric pickup that may be a great option to buy instead of lease, thanks to $1,500 in unadvertised incentive cash and 0% financing + 90 days of no monthly payments.
Commercial truck buyers may qualify for additional state and utility incentives, as well – click here to find local offers a Chevy Silverado EV near you.
Cadillac Lyriq
The all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ was an Electrek favorite when it first made its debut two years ago, but I took some heat in the comments earlier this month when I sad that LYRIQ buyers who had been waiting for a deal can score more than $10,500 in discounts on the Ultium-based Caddy. That’s because $7500 of those “discount” dollars came from GM’s Ultium Promise Bonus Cash incentive meant to offset the fact that some of its EVs don’t qualify for the full $7500 federal EV incentive. And fair play to them for being technically correct.
That said, our own Seth Weintraub said that GM had come in, “a year early and dollar long at $60K” when he first drove the Ultium-based Cadillac LYRIQ back in 2022, and it remains a visually distinct, well-mannered SUV that anyone in the market should consider.
As I wrote then: if the Cadillac was a winner at its original, $57,195 starting price (rounded up to $60K for easy math), what could we call it at $10,500 less? Click here to find Cadillac LYRIQ deals near you.
Lots more to see
There are plenty of other vehicles on display at the event, which exists to help dispel some of the more persistent myths surrounding EVs (innocent and otherwise). There are also representatives from the OEMs and utilities around to help answer questions about rebates, incentives, insurance, home charging, and just about everything else you can think of as you shop for an EV.
And now, back to that Deep Ocean Pearl blue Nissan Ariya …
Nissan Ariya fast take
Nissan fans (we do exist) like to talk about the Ariya didn’t get a fair shake. When it made its debut, it was one of the only crossover EV options out there, alongside the Mustang Mach-E and Model Y. In that context, it car have sold well, but parts shortages, a slow rollout, and a raft of new models from Chevy, Hyundai, Kia, and price cuts at Tesla are often cited as reasons why the Ariya isn’t more popular than it is.
After driving the car for the first time, without a Nissan PR rep in the passenger seat to highlight its plusses and steer me away from its minuses, I think there are other reasons it’s not performing as well as it could be.
At first glance, the interior of the Nissan Ariya looks slick and modern. The backlit “wood” dash looks the part, and the backlit “buttons” look great as well. On a similarly positive note, the dash and infotainment systems were easy to navigate, the seats were comfortable, the climate controls were intuitive, and the steering wheel leather felt like it was made from healthy cows instead of the diseased street dogs Volvo used to make the leather in my 2009 XC70. Even at the rear, there was plenty of room for a Costco run.
All that said, pressing the buttons on that slick wooden dash produced a “haptic” feedback. Great, in concept, to let the driver know a button had been pressed. In practice, however, it feels like the dash panel is loose, and I can easily imagine my seventy-something father-in-law pressing it progressively harder and harder to “prove” it’s loose to some poor service writer.
Another drawback: I drive manual-transmission vehicles quite regularly, and have occasionally gone on record as a huge fan of Tiptronic-style automatics. As such, I am one of those drivers who often finds their right hand resting on the gear selector. And, on the Ariya, the hard, cheap, and squeaky plastics the shifter is made of are in stark contrast to the relatively high quality leather-wrapped steering wheel.
That’s a shame, because those two minor features would cause the car to both fail the Father-in-law Test™ and disappoint the “I wanted a Z or a GT-R, but I have kids and dogs and stuff to haul around so this is as close as I can get” crowd.
But for those two very minor quibbles, the Ariya is a winner, with plenty of power and straight line acceleration and a relatively tossable feel that’s in stark contrast to the firmly planted “steamroller” feeling I get from my current tester (a Volvo C40 coupe). If you can wrap your head around the haptic feedback and keep your hands at 10 and 2, click here to see if the sweet deals and discounts available at your local Nissan dealer are enough to put one in your driveway.
ORIGINAL CONTENT FROM ELECTREK.
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MINI has partnered with lifestyle brand, Deus Ex Machina, to develop this. It’s called the Skeg, and it’s a high-performance, racing-inspired electric concept car that’s sure to lighten the mood – by shedding fully 15% of its mass in the quest for speed.
One of a pair of exclusive, one-off concepts based on MINI’s John Cooper Works cars. The Deus Ex Machina Skeg celebrates MINI’s storied racing history with what the company calls, “a clean, minimal, and quiet rebellion,” that draws on materials, technologies, and philosophies from the world of surfing.
The electric MINI JCW Skeg is stripped to its essentials, with much of the steel and aluminum bits replaced with lightweight fiberglass to maximize acceleration while driving the minimalist aesthetic home. The end result weighs 15% less than the standard car – but makes the same stout 190 kW (258 hp) as the production car.
Surf’s up
The interior is stripped back to the barest essentials, reflecting BMW’s vision of a surf culture that prioritizes function over form. MINI claims the end result resembles a mobile surf shop, with fiberglass trays for wetsuits, specially shaped bins, neoprene seats, and other touches that “bring the surf culture into the interior.”
For their part, the BMW and MINI styling team seems pretty proud of its minimalistic electric endeavor. “In this extraordinary collaboration … every single detail has been crafted with artisanal precision and expertise,” says Holger Hampf, Head of MINI Design. “This has resulted in unique characters that are clearly perceived as belonging together through their distinctive design language and use of graphics.”
The concept retains the production version’s 54.2 kWh li-ion battery pack, up to 250 of WLTP range with the production aero kit, sprints from 0-100 km (62 mph) in just 5.9 seconds. With 15% less mass, though, that should jump to more than 255 miles, with 0-60 times dropping below 5.5 seconds.
I dig it – but I’d skip the surf bits and just appreciate the raw composite, minimalist interior look for what it is. Take a look at the image gallery, below, then let us know what you think of MINI’s Skeg concept in the comments.
MINI Skeg concept | gallery
SOURCE | IMAGES: BMW MINI.
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Environment
Volvo Penta teams up with e-power to equip Boels with next-gen Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
Veteran marine and industrial power solutions company Volvo Penta has joined forces with energy solutions provider e-power to build battery energy storage systems (BESS). Volvo Penta’s battery systems for energy storage will power BESS units built by e-power that can be catered to a range of applications, most notably construction rental clients like Boels Rentals in Europe.
Volvo Penta is a provider of sustainable power solutions that currently serves land and sea applications under the Volvo Group umbrella. As more and more of the world goes all-electric, the global manufacturer has also adapted, sharing cultural values with Volvo Group to engineer new and innovative sustainable power solutions.
Nearly 100 years later, Volvo Penta remains an industry leader in marine propulsion systems and industrial engines. As more and more of the world goes all-electric, the Swedish manufacturer has also adapted, sharing cultural values with Volvo Group to engineer new and innovative sustainable power solutions.
For example, all Volvo Penta diesel engines now run on hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO), reducing well-to-wheel emissions by up to 90% across the marine and industrial power industries. On the zero-emissions side, Volvo Penta has expressed its dedication to fossil-free power solutions, including battery electric components to serve heavy-duty applications such as terminal tractors, forklifts, drill rigs, and feed mixers, to name a few.
To leverage its battery electric value chain, Volvo Penta has also ventured into battery systems for energy storage (or BESS subsystems). These energy-dense, purpose-built BESS subsystems can provide portable, sustainable energy for all-electric charging and reduce grid dependency.
Volvo Penta to deploy battery systems for energy storage
Volvo Penta recently announced a strategic partnership with e-power, a Belgian power solutions provider. Together, Volvo Penta and e-power will develop a scalable Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) for Boels Rental.
The collaboration continues a long-standing partnership between all three companies. Boels – one of the largest construction rental companies is a long-time customer of e-power generators that utilize Volvo Penta engines. As the company shifts toward electrification and sustainability, it will again turn to those companies to deliver reliable performance.
Volvo Penta’s BESS subsystem comprises battery packs, a Battery Management System (BMS), DC/DC converters, and thermal management, combining to offer a compact, high-density, and transport-friendly solution optimized for rental operations. The company shared that this BESS design is integration-ready, enabling other OEMs like e-power to adapt and scale systems to customer-specific needs. Per e-power business support director, Jens Fets:
We’ve built our reputation on reliability and efficient power systems. Working again with Volvo Penta, this time on battery energy storage, allows us to meet the growing demand for energy in a silent, low-emissions, compact and mobile design—especially in rental applications.
The deployment of these new battery energy storage systems will help Boels cater to its customers’ growing demand for clean, silent, and mobile energy solutions in construction and other industrial applications.
Aside from being more quickly adaptable to customer needs, Volvo Penta says its BESS architecture marks an overall shift in rental power systems. This is welcome news for all who support a cleaner, more sustainable future across all industries.
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That didn’t take long! Just a few hours after Mercedes revealed the screen-heavy interior of its upcoming 2026 GLC EV, photos of the new crossover’s exterior – and that controversial grille! – leaked on Instagram and Reddit. We’ve got them here.
Two days ahead of the GLC EV’s officially schedule global debut, images that reportedly show the new 2026 Mercedes undisguised have leaked on Instagram and Reddit. They show the blocky new light-up grille on the nose of a very smooth, jellybean-like crossover shape that, despite Mercedes’ insistence that it’s moving away from the EQ series’ design language, looks an awful lot like an EQ Mercedes.
Check out the leaked images from kindleauto’s Instagram account, below, and see if you agree with that assessment.
If you need to see more before you feel comfortable commenting on the new SUV’s looks, there’s a few more angles over on the r/mercedes_benz subreddit.
Leaked exterior pictures of the upcoming GLC EV
byu/Quick_Coyote_7649 inmercedes_benz
As with everything else on the internet, take those unofficial images with a grain of salt and maybe wait until the GLC EV’s official reveal in a few days’ time before casting your final vote on the new look – but there’s very little reason to believe the new Mercedes will look terribly different from what you see here.
Will the new grille and tech-forward interior with its massive, 39″ screen and MB.OS software be enough to turn the tide for Mercedes-Benz, enabling it to finally gain some traction in the electric crossover market? That remains to be seen, but the recently updated Tesla Model Y and crisply-styled new BMW iX3 with its 500 miles of range will make it an uphill battle, for sure.
We got a sneak peek at the new GLC back in July, when Mercedes-Benz Group CEO, Ola Källenius said that, “We’re not just introducing a new model – we’re electrifying our top seller.” Back then, we learned that the new GLC EV would have a wheelbase 3.1″ longer than the current ICE-powered model, as well as more head- and leg-room for its occupants and an extra 4.5 cubic feet (for 61.4 total) of cargo space.
Källenius also promised an innovative new 800V electric architecture and the latest battery tech, which will enable the electric GLC to add around 260 km (~160 miles) of WLTP range in just ten minutes thanks to more than 300 kW of charging capability.
SOURCES | IMAGES: kindleauto; Quick_Coyote_7649.
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