busybee fluffy rambles

Hatchbacks

This space is, unfortunately, kind of bleak for the US market.

Ford unveiled the Puma Gen-E for the EU and UK market. This car is super cute (IMO) and is pretty similar to the Mazda3. Ford has no current announced plans to bring this to the US market, but I hope that will change.

The Rivian R3X also seems promising, but that’s unlikely to appear before 2027.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 are both being marketed as compact crossover SUVs but they’re basically hatchbacks. Both have been available for a while, but the 2025 models are improved over the previous years, and they’re both apparently heckin' fun to drive. (Especially the Ioniq 5N and EV6 GT-line sport variants, although those are quite a bit more expensive.)

Trucks

There is only one actually compact EV truck I know of, and I’m not sure how likely it is to actually become A Thing within the next year, but I recently learned about Telo from the fine folks at Transport Evolved. At least on paper, the Telo MT1 is extremely competitive: a 350-mile range, a full-size truck bed (with a cargo tunnel that sacrifices the rear seats for even more cargo space), and an integrated bed cover, all in a vehicle that’s about the size of a Mini Cooper. There’s also hints that they’re going to use the same platform to produce a compact van/SUV with three-row seating and which could possibly be used as a sort of micro-camper. Definitely a company to keep an eye on.

Even more amazingly, they’ve gotten the base price down to $41,520, and even fully-loaded it comes in at just under $50K.

(I am, of course, skeptical that this will last with tariff increases, or with the usual issues that will happen from going into full production.)

Meanwhile, Silverado EV and Ford F150 Lightning are good choices for folks who want a full-sized truck, even though they don’t actually have more cargo capacity or overall utility, they’re just bigger. But that’s been a massive problem with pickup trucks in the US for a couple decades, now. It’s ridiculous to see a full-sized truck from the 1980s or 1990s next to a “compact” truck from 2022. And for the luxury tech enthusiast set, the Rivian R1T is also pretty nice!

The downsides to both the Silverado EV and Rivian R1T is that they’re locked into their own navigation/infotainment systems and don’t support CarPlay or Android Auto, which is a shame. In the Silverado’s case you have to pay an additional subscription fee to keep using navigation after the end of the trial period. It’s not even that expensive of a subscription so it’s not like it’ll be a massive revenue stream for them, so why don’t they just support device projection? It’s asinine.

Compact SUVs

The Kia EV3 (announced) and Hyundai Ioniq 3 (rumored) are planned to be subcompact SUVs, basically in the same niche as the Niro and Kona, respectively. Unfortunately neither of them are going to hit the US market until 2026 at the earliest, but the current estimate is that they’ll start at around $35K, making it a good price even by ICE standards.

On that note, the Niro and Kona are both great vehicles for everyday people. They don’t have the fastest charging or all the amazing high-end features of some of the newer, flashier models, but if you need a car now, a used Niro or Kona is a great deal. I’m still super happy with my 2019 Niro, aside from it still having a minor case of the TSB ELE234 “Wheel of Fortune Click” problem (which Kia doesn’t want to fix until it gets worse).

Big-ass SUVs

Okay I’m less interested in this area but the Kia EV9 (available now) is pretty dang cool as far as an SUV goes. Hyundai is also releasing a version as the Ioniq 9 but that’s not coming out until 2026. If they had sliding hatches instead of passenger doors they’d be called “minivans.” I’d love to see them used as campers or transit vans or whatever. I’ve also seen several EV9s in person and they don’t look too stupidly big to me.

The Honda Prologue also looks pretty decent as far as having an EV which looks like An Car is. The price is also fairly competitive as far as both EVs and SUVs go. It’s pretty much just a modified Chevy Blazer EV, but unlike Chevrolet, Honda supports CarPlay and Android Auto in their infotainment systems.

Both of these are marketed as “mid-size SUVs” so I’d hate to see what car manufacturers consider to be a full-size.

Sedans

The only non-luxury electric sedan I know of for the US market continues to be the Ioniq 6. It’s fine, I guess. I still think it’d have been a lot better if they’d made the trunk a liftgate instead (like on the old Honda CR-X or the original VW Scirocco).

Well, okay, the Tesla model 3 and S still exist but, y'know.

And arguably the BMW i4 isn’t a luxury sedan but it still starts at well over $50K, so it isn’t terribly interesting to me.

Other

Aptera is apparently Actually Shipping This Time For Reals and they are certainly distinctive, and also affordable, starting at around $27K for the shortest-range battery (which is still a pretty decent 250 miles, more than enough for daily driving). Even with the standard 400-mile spec comes in at around $31K. And of course this one can have its battery extended with a 1000-mile range, so for people who really want to road trip they have no excuse. It can also be used as a camper! So that’s also super cool.

Being technically an “autocycle” there’s a few states where you’ll need a motorcycle license to operate one (Washington being one of them, unfortunately), but they’re optimistic that they’ll be able to get reclassified in those places shortly.

Disclosures

I have (small) financial investments in both Aptera and Rivian.