Transcription
Hey everyone, Miscoco Electric here. Today is Sunday, May 24th, 2026, and this is the current, your weekly EV news in about 10 minutes.
Mercedes has officially revealed its all-new 2027 AMG GT four-door coupe. The first fully electric performance vehicle built on the dedicated AMG.EA 800VT architecture. Based on the AMG GTX concept, Mercedes says this next generation model is the first series production EV to feature axial flux permanent magnet motors. It will include a tri-motor setup with one at the front and two at the rear, delivering fully variable all-wheel drive and a disconnect unit which decouples the front motor to improve efficiency.
The GT55 variant produces 805 horsepower and 1,328 pound-feet of torque, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in about 2.4 seconds. While the more powerful GT63 pushes output to a peak of 1,153 horsepower and 1,475 pound-feet of torque with a 0 to 60 time in about 2 seconds. Power comes from a new battery design which includes a 106 kWh usable NCMA or nickel cobalt manganese aluminum chemistry in the cathode and a silicon-containing anode with an energy density over 298 Whours per kilogram at the cell level. The battery pack's direct cell oil cooling technology enables sustained high output. The 800-volt system supports DC fast charging up to 600 kilowatts through a North American charging system port for Tesla Supercharger access and can achieve a 10 to 80% charge in around 11 minutes. It will also be able to convert to 400-volt charging for compatible stations. AC charging reaches 11 kW. EPA estimated range has not yet been confirmed.
Notably, the vehicle will include the AMG race engineer control unit, which is designed to allow the driver to finely tune throttle response, traction, and handling characteristics through the rotary controls in the center stack and on the steering wheel, which Mercedes says provides the most finely tuned and customized experience than in any previous AMG vehicle. It will also have six-degree rear-wheel steering and active air suspension and active aerodynamics to improve handling and efficiency. Mercedes says the new electric GT four-door coupe maintains AMG's emotional character with an advanced synthetic sound system that generates a realistic V8-style roar based on the AMG GTRC190 using over 1,000 audio files along with simulated gear shifts in certain drive modes and vibration through the seats.
Three screens span across the dash, including a 10.2-inch driver display, a central 14-inch touchscreen, and a 14-inch passenger display. They run the new generation MBUX OS, which integrates artificial intelligence from ChatGPT, Microsoft, and Google. A telemetry package records driving data and can be paired with a dash cam and an augmented reality head-up display, which projects racing lines on track. The vehicle includes seating for four and usable storage, including a 14.7 cubic foot trunk and a small 1.4 cubic foot frunk. In the US, the GT55 is expected to arrive at dealerships in fall of 2026, followed by the GT63 in early 2027. Official pricing has not been announced yet, but the model is intended to compete with the Porsche Taycan, which starts around $100,000 and tops out at nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Stellantis outlined its new "Fast Lane 2030" strategic plan at its investor day this week, committing roughly 36 billion euros to North America, which is about 60% of its global product investment as the company seeks to regain momentum through a mix of powertrains and affordable vehicles. In North America, Stellantis plans to launch 11 all-new vehicles to expand its market coverage by 50% with a strong emphasis on accessible pricing. Seven products under $40,000 and two under $30,000. The company aims to grow volumes by 35% to reach 1.9 million vehicles in the region.
As part of the strategy, they're introducing a new multi-powertrain software-defined vehicle platform called Stella 1. With the first vehicle on the platform launching in 2027, the fully electric variant will utilize an 800-volt platform with a cell-to-body architecture leveraging lithium iron phosphate or LFP cells through their partner CL. The broader plan includes more than 60 new or significantly refreshed models globally by 2030, including 29 battery electric vehicles alongside hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and internal combustion engine options. No new specific all-electric models were announced for the US market, but the company emphasized expanding utilization of existing factories to help increase revenue.
As part of the increased factory utilization effort, Stellantis also announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Jaguar Land Rover to explore collaboration on product and technology development specifically for the US market.
"What happens in North America? Well, in North America, we can develop together products. We can develop together technologies and we can have opportunity or capacity sharing."
"Since the new trade condition makes our installed capacity very attractive to to many to many other uh competitors or potential partners and we have very unknowledge manpower and industrial teams that run every day a lot of assembly uh plants uh in this region and in this country."
Stellantis currently operates six active US assembly plants across the Midwest with one of those facilities already building plug-in hybrids. JLR has stated that electrification is central to their strategy and before the end of the decade their brands will each have a pure electric model while Jaguar is still planning to be entirely electric. The partnership aims to leverage complimentary strengths, potentially including shared vehicle platforms and local production to improve efficiency and avoid import tariffs.
Harley-Davidson's electric motorcycle division, LiveWire, announced its first major acquisition, the assets of Oregon-based electric dirt bike startup, Dust Moto. Dust Moto developed a high-performance electric dirt bike platform known for its off-road capabilities, swappable 4.4 kWh battery, and rider-friendly design, but had not yet reached production. Dust Moto's Hightail is a midweight dirt-focused electric motorcycle that delivers 42 horsepower, around 485 pound-feet of wheel torque, a top speed of 75 mph, and approximately 40 miles of range. Priced just shy of $11,000, Livewire's present-day lineup is primarily road-focused.
The acquisition allows Livewire to rapidly participate in an electric dirt bike segment, which has experienced explosive growth in recent years, valued at approximately $2.8 billion globally in 2025 and projected to expand through the mid-2030s. In 2025, competitors like Surron and Talaria continued to dominate volume sales in the lightweight category as premium alternatives such as Stark Future's Varg and KTM's Freeride E posted solid gains in the high-performance motocross and enduro segments. Recent segment introductions include models from Zero's expanded FXE trail bike and emerging entries from brands like Segway and the revived Juiced Bikes. Livewire plans to accelerate Dust Moto's platform into production with the first off-road LiveWire model expected to launch in late 2026. Livewire will leverage its engineering resources, manufacturing scale, and global distribution network to bring the bikes to market.
General Motors and its battery partner Samsung SDI have indefinitely paused construction on their planned $3.5 billion EV battery cell manufacturing facility in New Carlisle, Indiana. The decision comes as the automaker adjusts production capacity to match demand for GM's EVs. The facility was originally expected to begin mass production in 2027 with an initial capacity of about 27 GWh, expandable to 36 GWh, which is enough to support roughly 300,000 EVs per year. GM will complete the exterior of the building, but has not yet announced long-term plans for the site.
As we previously reported, a third planned plant in Lansing, Michigan was sold to LG Energy Solution and now operates under their control. GM remains on track with other battery manufacturing facilities through its Ultium Cells joint venture with LG Energy Solution. The main operational plants are in Warren, Ohio, which has been running since 2022 with an annual capacity of approximately 45 GWh, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, which became operational in 2024 and is also able to produce 45 GWh annually. Combined, GM's primary operational Ultium facilities in Ohio and Tennessee offer roughly 90 GWh of annual battery production capacity at full output. This level of production could theoretically support nearly 1 million EVs per year depending on average battery pack sizes and vehicle mix.
In 2025, General Motors sold approximately 169,887 all-electric models across its brands in the United States, which represented a 48% increase compared to 2024 and positioned GM as the number two EV sales leader in the US behind Tesla. GM CEO Mary Barra has continued to say that EVs are the endgame, but the organization has not announced any new electric models beyond the family of affordable EVs that was intended to be based on the new Bolt and a commercial electric van in partnership with Hyundai. The company has already announced the Bolt will be discontinued just 18 months after start of production. They have not confirmed that other models based on the Bolt have been canceled. What models under the GM umbrella do you think should go electric?
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is back with more EV-related funding announcements this week, sharing that they have awarded more than $6 million to seven projects under their Vehicle-Grid Integration Program. The funding aims to accelerate the development and deployment of bidirectional charging technologies, which allows EVs to both draw power from and supply power back to the electrical grid.
Roundtrip EV Solutions received more than $1.6 million to demonstrate bidirectional charging on four refuse trucks serving municipal fleets in Ulster County. New York-based charging network Gravity was awarded nearly $1 million for a bidirectional platform in Manhattan that they say will reduce charging station installation costs and enable EVs to provide power back to buildings. Israel-based Electrion Wireless was awarded $1 million to demonstrate wireless charging for electric shuttle vans in Buffalo that they say reduces grid interconnection costs, lowers peak energy demand, and improves fleet operating efficiency. Brooklyn-based solar firm Pavilion was awarded $500,000 to demonstrate a portable solar-powered off-road EV charging solution using its solar power integrated structure with electric construction equipment at Westchester Tool Rentals in Peekskill and with electric farm equipment at the RPI Manufacturing Innovation Learning Laboratory in Troy.
Bidirectional systems help shift charging to off-peak times, absorbing excess renewable energy from solar and wind and discharge stored power when demand is high. The technology also enhances grid reliability by providing backup power during outages and is expected to help lower overall costs for consumers and utilities.
That wraps up this episode of The Current weekly EV News. If you'd like to support our work and gain early access to The Current, as well as exclusive content and merchandise discounts, I hope you'll consider a monthly subscription to the channel starting at $6. Your support keeps our reporting independent, concise, and neutral. I've included a link in the description. Thank you for joining us this week, and until next time, drive, fly, ride, go electric. Go electric.