Kia’s electric hot hatch will be here before you know it. After getting a sneak peek of the EV4 GT’s interior for the first time, it looks a bit familiar.

First look at the Kia EV4 GT’s interior

Kia’s bringing the hatchback back in style. The EV4 is Kia’s first all-electric hatchback, also available as a sedan or fastback.

Although it’s already pretty cool-looking with Kia’s new design elements like the Digital Tiger Face grille, Star Map Lighting, and aggressive stance, the GT version promises even more style, performance, and fun features.

Kia revealed the electric hot hatch for the first time earlier this week, showcasing its new GT Wrap. The new foil design “infuses models in development with the energy and attitude that define Kia’s GT production models.”

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By reimagining the Gran Turismo for a new generation of drivers, Kia said it’s bridging the gap between its heritage and future innovation. The GT Wrap will be used for a new generation of Kia performance vehicles. It still features the signature neon color, which has become a “symbol of electricity,” Kia said.

Now, we are getting our first look at the interior. The video from HealerTV offers a closer look at the EV4 GT’s interior, free of camouflage.

Right off the bat, you can see this is clearly a Kia GT. It has about the same setup as the EV9 GT and EV6 GT, including the steering wheel, infotainment, and seat design.

The EV4 GT’s interior is essentially a blend of the regular EV4 and the EV9 GT. One slight difference is that the GT’s armrest has storage space rather than just a flat surface.

The back seats also look about the same as Kia’s other GT models. It appears to include ambient lighting on the door panel and back of the driver’s seat, like the EV9 GT.

Although it has similar features, HealerTV noted that the EV4 GT still has a unique interior and decent design, which should help differentiate it. According to Autocar, which saw it firsthand, the interior “received a significant makeover” with lower-sitting seats, neon green accent colors throughout, and an added GT Mode button on the steering wheel.

Like Kia’s other GT vehicles, the electric hot hatch will be equipped with a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive (AWD) powertrain with around 400 horsepower.

The EV4 GT will launch in 2026, joining the EV6 GT and EV9 GT in Kia’s expanding performance EV lineup. Looking ahead, the EV3 and EV5 are also in line for a GT upgrade.

bp pulse has opened a new 40-bay EV fast charging hub near Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, marking the company’s latest move to expand its US charging network. The Hobby Airport hub is bp pulse’s second in Houston, as it opened its first US hub in early 2024 at bp’s Houston headquarters.

The new hub, located at 8100 Monroe Road, is just 1.5 miles from the airport and features 150 kW DC fast chargers designed for ride-hail drivers, airport rental car customers, and local EV owners who need a quick top-up. The chargers are situated under a covered canopy, and drivers can enjoy free wifi while they wait. bp pulse hasn’t indicated which connectors are available, so I’ve emailed them to find out and will update when I hear back.

This latest opening is part of bp pulse’s broader initiative to install EV charging hubs at airports across the US, in partnership with Hertz. The two companies recently opened hubs at SFO, Boston Logan, and LAX, making the latter the largest bp pulse location in the US.

“As our rideshare drivers often turn to EVs, having fast, reliable charging near key locations like Hobby Airport makes a real difference,” said Doria Holbrook, EVP of mobility at Hertz. “This new bp pulse hub offers the convenient access and ultrafast charging our drivers need to stay powered and productive.”

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bp pulse is also expanding its network across bp’s retail network of bp, Amoco, ampm, Thorntons, and TravelCenters of America sites. Many of these locations offer additional amenities, such as convenience stores, restaurants, and car washes. The company recently announced plans to add EV chargers at Waffle House locations starting in 2026.

Read more: bp pulse opens massive EV charging hub near LAX Airport, its largest in the US to date

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Police in Colorado’s Columbine Valley recently tracked down a “porch pirate” who stole a package from a suburban home in Bow Mar, Colorado. The only problem: they got it completely wrong, and the accused had to resort to footage from her Rivian truck to exonerate herself.

The police used technology from a company called “Flock” which has been gaining popularity with law enforcement in recent years. The company operates a network of cameras that automatically read license plates, tracking movements of vehicles wherever they go (you can see an incomplete list of its cameras here).

The system has provoked concern from privacy and freedom focused organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union. Flock also recently announced a partnership with Ring, seeking to use a network of doorbell cameras to track Americans in even more places.

And when police saw a certain green Rivian truck entering a neighborhood 20 times over the course of a month, they got suspicious. Then, when they noticed that the truck’s driver and the porch pirate were both blonde women, they knew for certain that they had their criminal. Surely, there is no reason anyone would both drive and be blonde at the same time and not be up to something nefarious.

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So, police officer Jamie Milliman of the Columbine Valley police went and aggressively confronted the Rivian driver, Chrisanna Elser, telling her that he knew she was the porch pirate the police were looking for. Per Milliman, proudly referring to Flock cameras: “we have cameras in that town and you cant get a breath of fresh air without us knowing.” A full video of the encounter is available online.

It took Elser by surprise, as she had no idea at first why the officer was there accusing her of a crime. Milliman claimed he had video proving Elser had committed the crime, and she asked “can I see this video or something?” to which the officer replied “if you go to court you can, but if you’re gonna deny it I’m not gonna extend you any courtesy – if you’re gonna lie to me, I’m not gonna extend you any courtesy.”

But, in fact, it was Milliman who was lying, because the police had no such video proving Elser’s guilt. In fact, they didn’t even have video of the truck in the area – merely tags of it entering Bow Mar (it also left the area minutes later, indicating a drive through, rather than crawling through neighborhoods looking for packages – but police neglected to check the exit timestamps).

Instead, the video Milliman was referring to seemed to be doorbell camera video, which Elser found herself on Nextdoor. That video showed a blonde woman walking up to a door, ringing the doorbell, then picking up a $25 package and running off. The woman has the same color hair, but different facial and nose shape and apparent age than Elser, which is all reasonably apparent when viewing the video. (Photos on left are Elser; on right are the suspected thief)

Instead of comparing these videos to Elser’s actual face and seeing that they obviously had the wrong suspect, police issued a court summons to Elser. Milliman said “it is her, it is 100%, it is locked in, there is zero doubt” that it is Elser in the porch video.

Elser was then forced to collect and provide her own evidence to prove her innocence – in contravention of the presumption of innocence which is meant to form the foundation of the US legal system.

Thankfully, Elser had access to her own evidence due to her Rivian’s onboard cameras, which constantly record footage of what’s happening on the road around the vehicle. During the initial encounter, Elser offered to provide this evidence to Milliman, but he declined, stating that he already knew where she was and had all the evidence he needs.

Through Rivian’s “Road Cam” feature, the car can be set to record footage of everything happening around it. Unlike a normal aftermarket dashcam, this doesn’t require installing additional cameras, since it uses the car’s built in cameras for its driver-assist features (Tesla has a similar feature). However, if you want to record footage all the time, you’ll need to plug in a USB-C external drive, because video takes up a lot of space.

It turns out, that day, Elser had indeed driven through Bow Mar, as Big Brother’s Flock cameras had indicated, but she was in fact heading to her tailor, and not jumping into a time machine that made her younger and changed her nose and cheekbones so that she could steal a $25 package.

After weeks of trying to contact police with her exonerating evidence, Elser finally got an email back from the Columbine Valley Police Chief Bret Cottrell, clearing the court summons that Milliman had served her with (and telling her “nicely done btw” – for doing the police’s job for them, for free). Elser has asked for an apology for Milliman’s aggressive behavior during the encounter, but has heard nothing back from the department despite a call, email, and physical appearance at the police station.

Electrek’s Take

In one way, this is a positive story about a Rivian owner using technology in a novel way to improve her life. It shows how companies can leverage technology in interesting ways to give customers something useful, and how over-the-air updates make cars better even after they’re purchased (since “Road Cam” wasn’t rolled out at vehicle launch, but came in a later software update). These are all directions that it’s nice to see the industry going.

But in what I would say is a more important framing, this is a dystopic story of an overbearing police state going mad with power and picking whatever random person they can to accuse of a crime simply so they have someone to pin the blame on. They weren’t interested in getting it right, they were just interested in getting anyone at all.

But citizens should not need to own a $70k+ truck, or even a $100 external hard drive, to keep track of everything they do in order to prove to power-tripping officers that they didn’t commit a crime.

If police can act like this in a low-crime suburb, imagine how often it might happen in a place where they are stretched more thin, with more actual crime to go after. And if it takes a $70,000 truck to exonerate a suspect, imagine what happens to suspects that don’t have that kind of money to assist in their defense. Or when the crime, and potential punishment, is more serious than the theft of a $25 package.

It also brings into question whether police, who have been proven to misrepresent evidence in the pursuit of any suspect at all right here in front of our eyes, should be trusted with the sort of surveillance that tracks every moment of every person’s life outside their house.

Americans like to act superior to countries like China or England and their massive government surveillance CCTV networks, but here we have an unaccountable private company (and unaccountable police) watching every part of our lives and facilitating false accusations and violations of the Constitution. I guess this is what happens when you start treating 1984 as an instruction manual, rather than a warning.

The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.