Last night, Ford released a pair of electrified Ford Bronco models – a pure battery-electric version packing a massive 105.4 kWh battery pack and an EREV version with its own whopping 43.7 kWh battery and 800 miles of combined range. That’s the good news.
The bad news? You’ll probably never see either them.
Ford Authority reports that these Bronco New Energy models (“new energy” is name often given to electrified vehicles in China) will be produced in China by Jiangling Ford exclusively for the Chinese market. But, while the New Energy versions may look like their ICE-powered cousins, that’s where the similarities seem to end.
It’s its own thing
Bronco New Energy is smaller, narrower; via MIIT, Ford.
Developed specifically for the Chinese-market and apparently designed for more on-road driving, the Bronco New Energy is visually similar to “our” Bronco Sport, but reportedly much, much larger. “At roughly 198 inches long,” reports The Drive, “this Bronco is about nine inches longer than a gas four-door and has more than two feet on a Sport. It also carves a wider footprint than all Stateside models except the widened Wildtrak, and weighs around 5,800 pounds.”
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The EREV version of the Bronco New Energy reportedly weighs in a bit under that, at “just” 5,500 lbs.
Powering the big battery-electric Ford Bronco features a pair of electric drive motors, a 130 kW (~175 hp) unit up front and a 202 kW (~270 hp) unit at the rear for AWD performance. They’re powered by a 105.4 kWh LFP “blade” battery from BYD’s FinDreams subsidiary, which also provides similar batteries to Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai.
The EREV version makes do with “just” 43.7 kWh of battery – but that’s an EV battery all on its own in some markets, and with more than 200 km of electric-only range (over 130 miles), the 1.5L turbocharged ICE genset probably won’t get much use. That said, once it does kick on the combined gas-electric hybrid system will reportedly travel more than 1,220 km (~750 miles) before it needing to get topped off.
Those specs come from Chinese auto industry analyst Tycho de Feijter, and I’ve included his original tweet about the reveal, below.
Ford Bronco goes EV and EREV in China – with lidar – MIIT July
The Ford Bronco is made in China by Jiangling (JMC) -Ford. Until now, it was an ICE-only car. But no more.
Soon, Ford will add two new versions to the Bronco line-up: an EV and an EREV.
The photos, from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) also hints at a new ADAS cluster above the windscreen that seems to incorporate LiDAR and sensors at the front fenders. There’s no word on whether this is the rumored “Level 3” autonomous tech stack Ford has been teasing since last June, but a high-profile launch like the company’s first-ever electric Bronco in a critical market like China makes a ton of sense to me.
The Ford Bronco New Energy EV and EREV models are expected to launch in China later this year. Pricing and options have yet to be announced.
Electrek’s Take
New Energy Bronco options; by Ford, via FordAuthority.
An all-electric or even EREV Ford Bronco like this one – a bit more mainstream and less off-road focused than the 60s-inspired we have now – would do great numbers in the US as a rival to the Kia EV9, Rivian R1S, or six-passenger Model Y (I know the X is a better comparison, but no one’s buying those). Under the current Trump Administration and franchise dealer body, though, an EREV might receive a warmer welcome. But while Ford has said that it plans to offer extended-range EVs in the US under a variety of nameplates, those are at least two years away.
IMAGES: MIIT, Ford.
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Tesla started a dick measuring contest with Waymo, and it is losing. The Alphabet company is expanding its service area in Austin beyond Tesla’s recently updated penis-shaped service area.
Waymo is taking a few shots at Tesla in the announcement, too.
Last month, Tesla launched its ‘Robotaxi’ service in Austin.
As we have often reported in the last few months, the service is primarily for optics after years of being wrong about Tesla launching unsupervised self-driving in its consumer vehicles, CEO Elon Musk needed a “win” and therefore, Tesla launched a limited service in a small area of Austin, Texas with Tesla employees being in the cars at all-times ready to stop the vehicles.
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The service falls short of the promise that all Tesla vehicles built since 2016 would achieve unsupervised self-driving capabilities, and it’s also not comparable to Waymo’s service, which operates in Austin and several other cities without supervisors inside the vehicles.
Despite the situation, Tesla shareholders are hoping that the automaker is going to be able to scale faster than Waymo and eventually catch up.
They claimed victory when Tesla expanded its service area in Austin this week, but we noted that the expansion, which Tesla intentially made penis-shaped without any practical benefit, did more to illustrate the seriousness of the effort than anything else.
With the joke, Tesla inadvertently start a dick measuring context that it is now losing.
Today, Waymo announced its own service area expansion in Austin and it now covers 90 square miles:
After a successful four months serving riders together, Waymo and Uber are expanding our service territory in Austin – spanning North Austin to South Austin. Starting tomorrow, riders can take fully autonomous rides across 90 square miles of the city, including new neighborhoods like Crestview, Windsor Park, Sunset Valley Franklin Park, and more, as well as popular destinations like The Domain and McKinney Falls State Park.
Waymo’s service area (blue) is now much bigger than Tesla’s (black):
But more importantly, Waymo’s service operates completely autonomously without any supervisor with a finger on a killswitch inside the vehicle like Tesla.
Waymo is well aware of the difference and poke Tesla in its announcement of the service area expansion:
We’re proud to offer the only fully autonomous, 24/7 experience for anyone in Austin, and are excited to offer more destinations across the city – no waitlists or caveats. In Austin, customers have been enjoying their experience, giving their Waymo trips 4.9 out of 5 on average. There are more than 100 Waymo vehicles on Uber in Austin, and that number will continually grow to hundreds over time.
By “fully autonomous”, Waymo means that it doesn’t have employees inside the vehicles. It also mentions “24/7” as Tesla’s service closes at midnight and also doesn’t operate in some weather conditions.
Waymo now serves more than 700 sq mi across the US, and it continues to expand fast.
Electrek’s Take
Waymo keeps doing its thing. It’s going to take some time, but at one point, Tesla shareholders are going to have to admit that Tesla has the same limitations in expanding its robotaxi service as Waymo does.
The main difference is that Waymo is already way ahead as it completed the phase with in-car supervisors years ago and already operates in a 10x bigger area than Tesla in the US.
It also has about 100x more vehicles.
The idea that Tesla will catch up by mid next year, which is what CEO Elon Musk claimed, is completely ludicrous.
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Our readers can score EcoFlow’s most expansive DELTA Pro Ultra station with $2,038 in exclusive savings to new $3,761 low
We’ve secured a great new exclusive deal from Wellbots for our readers on the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra Portable Power Station for $3,761.10 shipped, after using the exclusive code 9TO5DPU10 at checkout. While it normally goes for $6,098 in full direct from EcoFlow, its starting rate at Wellbots is lower at $5,799. We last secured a similar exclusive cut to $3,799 back in April, which is getting beaten out by the combined $2,038 markdown here, landing down at a new all-time low price for this expansive whole-home backup solution from one of the most popular brands in the game.
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Don’t miss Rad Power’s space-saving RadExpand 5 folding e-bike while at its $999 low
As part of Rad Power’s extended Prime Day promotions running through July 23, which include the ongoing second-ever savings on its new Radster Road Commuter and Radster Trail Off-Road e-bikes, we wanted to shine a spotlight on the continued low pricing on its RadExpand 5 Folding e-bike at $999 shipped. Before June saw the pricing come down this low, it was regularly keeping to its $1,599 full price and only dropping regularly to $1,299 during sales. Of course, since Father’s Day, we’ve been seeing this massive $600 markdown hang on so fans can score it at the best price to date, giving you a solid commuting option and versatile utility companion for errands and such.
Save up to 59% on four EcoFlow flash bundles like the DELTA 2 Max with alternator charger and bag at $1,049 low
As part of its ongoing Phase 3 Prime Day Sale, EcoFlow has launched the last of its 48-hour flash sales that are taking up to 59% off four different bundle offers. Among the units we’re seeing included – three of which give you power stations and one allows you to expand an existing setup – things start with the DELTA 2 Max Portable Power Station bundle that includes an 800W Alternator Charger and a free protective bag for the station at $1,049 shipped, which you won’t currently find in stock at Amazon. It’s coming down from its full $2,577 price tag, with this same flash offers having appeared in last week’s Phase 2 Sale. Through July 18, you’ll have another chance at the biggest savings of $1,528, landing the costs back at the best price we have tracked. Head below for more on this bundle and the others we’re seeing discounted in this sale.
If you want to learn more about this power station’s capabilities, as well as the three other flash offers, be sure to check out our original coverage of the sale here.
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As part of its Deals of the Day, Best Buy is offering the Greenworks 80V 10-inch Cordless Pole Saw for $217.99 shipped, which currently beats out Amazon where it’s sitting at full price. Normally going for $300, for the rest of the day, you can pick it up here with $82 taken off the tag. After spending January and the first half of February at $225, we’ve mainly seen discounts dropping the costs between $240 and $270 since then, with last week’s Prime Day event dropping things to $220. While we have seen it go lower in the past, you’re looking at a solid 27% markdown to one of the lowest prices we’ve spotted this year.
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
American automaker Rivian has shared its second release outlining expanded offices this week. Earlier today, Rivian shared plans for a new East Coast Headquarters coming to Atlanta, Georgia. The headquarters will operate near its massive new EV production facility being erected outside the city.
We’re almost having déjà vu on the Rivian news beat this week.
Just yesterday, we shared news that Rivian was planning to open a new international office in London, UK, which will become an AI-centric development hub.
At the time, we pointed out that Rivian currently operates out of a headquarters in Palo Alto, California, alongside its main production facility located in Normal, Illinois. Furthermore, the American automaker is currently in the process of building a second production footprint capable of housing 7,500 employees, located about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
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Other US locations currently include offices in Irvine and Carson, CA, Wittmann, AZ, and Plymouth, MI. Outside of the US, Rivian operates out of offices in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Belgrade, Serbia.
Today, Rivian announced a further investment in Georgia, making Atlanta the new home of its East Coast Headquarters.
Rending of Rivian’s future East Coast headquarters / Source: Rivian
Rivian’s new headquarters to open in late 2025
Rivian’s second headquarters was announced this afternoon alongside Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
The new office space, which is expected to support 500 employees, will occupy the lobby and top floor of the Junction Krog District building, located at 667 Auburn Ave NE, near the Eastside Trail of the Atlanta Beltline. The new headquarters will enable Rivian to operate closer to its pending production facility in Stanton Springs North, outside Atlanta.
With a growing footprint and investment in the Peach State, Rivian has already shared intentions to develop relationships and partnerships with universities, technical colleges, and local, regional, and state institutions. Governor Kemp spoke:
Georgia is a prime location for any company headquarters, and we’re glad to see Rivian will soon join the growing list of brands not only operating in our state but also wholly or partially based in our capital city. They recognize the unmatched value of Georgia’s talent and the location of their East Coast Headquarters in Atlanta is the latest demonstration of their commitment to the Peach State. I look forward to that commitment translating to new jobs and opportunities for hardworking Georgians.
Per Rivian, the new East Coast Headquarters is expected to officially open in late 2025 and employ around 100 people before expanding to 500 employees when fully built and operational.
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