Lucid CEO Praises The 185-Mile EV, Judge Affirms Right To Repair Honda Passport Pricing In This Week's News Roundup

If you want an electric vehicle with the longest range possible, you buy a Lucid Air. Specifically, you buy a Lucid Air Grand Touring with 19-inch wheels and an EPA range of 512 miles. Even Tesla can't match that. Range anxiety? What range anxiety? And yet, in a recent interview, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson told InsideEVs he thinks 180-mile EVs are "the future," which may initially sound like an absurd idea. But you know what? He's right. – Collin Woodard Read More

Earlier this year, after presumably solving every other more urgent problem facing American citizens, President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. This move has very little meaning internationally, but American companies are already falling in lockstep with the order — and getting tired of anyone who tries to correct it back to the old name. Google Maps users have been leaving reviews for the Gulf of America, demanding it be changed back to the Gulf of Mexico, and Google has responded by eliminating reviews for the body of water altogether. – Amber DaSilva Read More

Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly passed the Right to Repair Act back in 2020. After some initial hesitation, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration threw its support behind the law. Automakers, however, sued to stop the law from going into effect. Unfortunately for them, a judge just dismissed the lawsuit, clearing the way for the law to go into effect more than four years after it was passed, Boston.com reports. – Collin Woodard Read More

[Updated February 10 12:55 p.m. EST - Clarified Amazon's current relationship with Rivian]

Anyone who owns a business and needs a delivery van has a newly available option today in the Rivian Van. From 2019 to 2023 the van was exclusively available for Amazon drivers, as the e-commerce Goliath commissioned the Illinois-based electric truck manufacturer to build 100,000 of these vans by 2030 and paid handsomely for the privilege. Amazon now has over 20,000 of the van in its fleet, but in 2023 Amazon ended the exclusivity portion of the deal, so Rivian has also found other companies to buy its E-delivery machines, including AT&T. – Bradley Brownell Read More

The 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport is rock-climbing its way to dealers this week and, with an MRSP of $49,900, the off-roader trim turns this formerly mild-mannered grocery-getter into a vehicle fit for the wilderness. The base 2026 Passport starts at $46,200 including destination, a couple grand more than the outgoing model. – Erin Marquis Read More

The owner of a gold-wrapped Cybertruck took to the internet to complain about what he and his family go through as the owners of a rolling, gaudy, controversial gold monstrosity. The man's had enough, but it looks like Tesla's not taking the truck back. – Lawrence Hodge Read More

Automakers in the U.S. are struggling to find ways to meet increasing demands for cheaper cars as the long-term repercussions of Trumpian economic uncertainty continue to unfurl. Some automakers have shown an interest in de-contenting existing models in an effort to make them less expensive to produce and pass some of those savings on to the customer. For now they're all half-assed measures, because consumers don't have an option to buy a car with no flashy and expensive infotainment screen at all, like they do in Europe. I thought this was the land of the free? Where's my freedom from paying for a shitty screen that will look dated in two years? – Bradley Brownell Read More

President Donald Trump's second term has thus far been a deluge of executive orders. They've largely ranged from bad to horrifying, but one always stuck out as primarily just weird and out-of-touch: A ban on remote work for the federal government. As it turns out, this one's even worse than it seems — government offices simply don't have the space for all their new in-person workers. – Amber DaSilva Read More

When Tesla first began building the Cybertruck, it promised a long list of features, but they weren't all ready to go at launch. If you wanted to go off-road in your shiny new truck, for example, you had to wait for the update that gave you an off-road mode. And if you wanted to use the same driver-assist software that Tesla offers in its other cars, you had to wait all the way until last October to get it. Don't worry, though, Tesla's so-called "Full Self-Driving" has wasted no time crashing Cybertrucks, too. – Collin Woodard Read More

Ford quietly discontinued one of its off-road vehicles but don't worry, it's not the Bronco or any of the Raptor models. It's the Ford Transit Trail which you may have forgot existed unless you're an influencer living that #VanLife. – Lawrence Hodge Read More