The 'Prove It' Moment Arrives For EVs

Fun fact: Most Americans still rank Toyota and Honda highest for EVs—even though their current offerings largely trail the competition.

That may change with the new Toyota Highlander. It’s all-American, made in Kentucky with North Carolina-built batteries.

The Highlander comes in front- or all-wheel-drive forms, with up to 320 miles of range. It has seven seats for families and a more sophisticated software system than past Toyota EVs.

Most importantly, it’s the first Toyota EV with vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities, meaning it can power your devices and appliances—maybe even your house in a power outage with that big 96-kWh battery pack.

Also a plus: it’s roomy, thanks to the better packaging EVs offer.

And Toyota apparently doesn’t mean for this to be some niche vehicle: “There will be volume,” Toyota brand chief Dave Christ told Automotive News. “We felt one of our portfolio holes was not having EV options in the showroom.”

The verdict: With V2L, some great style and lots of room, this feels like a better car than gas-powered Toyota SUVs would be. And a great option for families. But will people bite? It should all come down to price.

My first drive impressions of the R2 Prototype can be found over at InsideEVs, but here’s the TL;DR take.

The version I drove is analogous to the launch trim R2 coming soon. It has 300-plus miles of range, packs 656 horsepower, off-roads well, and hits 60 mph in 3.6 seconds.

Rivian has long touted a $45,000 base price for the R2, but the launch trim is expected to be more expensive. Still, I wondered: What cars in this presumptive price range offer more than this does? I can’t think of many.

But Rivian isn’t anywhere near where Tesla was, in terms of market cap or public awareness, when the Model Y was unveiled in 2019. Its biggest challenge may be getting people to know what it even is—and to not balk at its final price.

Toyota, like most automakers, won’t talk sales projections for the Highlander. The last, gas-powered one sold 56,208 examples in the U.S. in 2025, significantly eclipsed by the larger Grand Highlander.

A close competitor to the Highlander is the Kia EV9: In 2025, Kia sold 15,051 of those three-row SUVs in the U.S. In other words, the new electric Highlander is unlikely to match the sales volume of its gas-powered predecessor.

Meanwhile, Rivian aims to boost production by 50% as it seeks 67,000 deliveries in 2026, the Wall Street Journal reports, up from 42,247 last year.

Translation: Rivian is counting on the R2 to be a hit, and to do what the $76,000-$120,000 R1S and R1T cannot.

Like it or not, Tesla is still king: In 2025, Elon Musk’s company sold an estimated 357,000 Model Ys in the U.S. alone.

There are no more participation trophies now that the EV tax credits are gone.

Having said that, almost every new batch of EVs we test feels better, more sophisticated and more dialed in than they used to be.

But can automakers persuade car buyers to care? In Toyota’s case, can dealers effectively sell these EVs—and will they even try?

It may just come down to price. I could see the Highlander and R2 being a hit in California, New York, Colorado, and maybe even Texas.

And the rest of the country? Unclear. Too many EVs still feel built around old economic expectations: near-zero interest rates, less inflation and greater household purchasing power.

Then again, the cost problem is a challenge for the whole industry: nobody seems thrilled that Ford is planning more cars under $40,000, a number that still feels out of reach for most people.

Still, the best offense is a good product. Both of these cars seem to be. Now, we’ll see how the market responds.

The EPA is ending the legal basis for restricting greenhouse gas emissions, including in cars. This is a big one—but the lawsuits are coming. [Politico]

While Toyota is now ramping up its EV strategy, Honda’s timing couldn’t have been worse: it’s dealing with write-down costs and not much product to show for it. [Automotive News]

Despite tariff costs, automakers are largely resisting big price hikes—for now. [Car Dealership Guy]

Ford expects its EV division to break even after 2029, and in the near-term, it’s focused on Europe. [Financial Times]

General Motors has big plans for its next-generation EV platform, including better packaging and more efficiency. What car will benefit from this first? [The Drive]

U.S. rules ban Chinese vehicle software on national-security grounds. It’s more pervasive than you think; how quickly can automakers replace theirs? [WSJ]

Forget EV sales; Ford lost to BYD in total car sales for the first time last year. Where does that go? [Bloomberg]

Okay, the Jonny Ive-designed Ferrari EV interior sure looks neat, and more functional than an all-screen setup. But how does it really drive? [Bloomberg]

The Trump administration is pushing for EV chargers and their components to be fully U.S.-made to secure federal funding—but critics fear that’s impossible, and could staunch the industry’s growth. [E&E News by Politico]

Electrify America reports big gains in fast-charging usage last year: over 20 million charging sessions, a 21% increase from 2024. [Electrify America]

Same story at ChargePoint, which primarily specializes in Level 2 charging but has a sizable DC fast-charge network too: sessions up 34% in one year, exceeding actual charger growth. [ChargePoint]

Tesla has released the supposedly final specs for the long-awaited Semi, and it’s said to be capable of megawatt (1,200 kW) fast-charging. [InsideEVs]

California-based QuantumScape just kicked off solid-state battery pilot production. Can these really be made at scale? [InsideEVs]

Unfortunately for QuantumScape, investors aren’t exactly dazzled. [MarketWatch]

America’s once-booming EV battery industry is in full-blown pivot mode to support AI data centers. [Financial Times]

The U.S. Department of Energy is developing “superbatteries” for extended-range combat drones. [The Information]

Chinese carmaker Changan Automotive’s world-first sodium-ion battery could tremendously improve cold-weather performance. [Tom’s Guide]

I like Ford’s hands-free BlueCruise ADAS, but when I tested it in December, I found takeover warnings to be too abrupt. That’s part of wider safety concerns dating back years, my former colleague Ryan Felton reports. [WSJ]

The sixth-generation Waymo Driver tech stack has officially arrived on Zeekr’s purpose-built robotaxi vans. “High-volume” production is next. [The Verge]

The idea of autonomous taxis is still wildly unpopular in New York City, according to a new study. While it was funded by the hired-driver insurance industry, the take is… understandable. [Gothamist]

Aurora’s self-driving trucks can now do a 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth and Phoenix, longer than what a human driver can legally do. [TechCrunch]

Human teleoperators play crucial roles in supporting robotaxi safety—but legally, who’s “driving” the cars? [Junko Yoshida Substack]

Obama’s bailout czar, Steven Rattner, warns that China’s progress in AI has moved at warp speed—including in cars. [NY Times]

If car factories are full of humanoid robots, who’s left with money to actually buy cars? [Automotive News Canada]

Used EV retail newcomer Ever just raised a $31 million Series A round as it seeks to make car-buying easier with AI. [Inc.]

Are Western automakers cooked in the age of AI? A warning from my colleague Kevin Williams. [InsideEVs]