In the evolution of the electric vehicle, 2022 will be remembered for its megafauna: massive electric trucks finally roamed the land, with equally outsized prices. Next year, however, should bring some subspecies — a diaspora of SUVs, including some slightly smaller options and, rarer still, a precious few with more modest window stickers. If you are in the market for a car, here are four prognostications to keep in mind.
You can expect to see more EVs at Costco.
Somewhere around 20 all-new electric vehicle models are expected to launch in the US over the next 12 months, roughly the same amount as debuted this year. Critically, however, many of them are aimed at a sweet spot in the American market, which is to say good for carrying cargo and families, and not extremely expensive.
Days ago, Nissan’s long-awaited Ariya finally rolled into dealerships with a starting price of $43,190. A few months from now, Chevrolet says it will add its Blazer EV at just shy of $45,000, followed by the smaller, cheaper Equinox EV in autumn. Kia’s EV9, a bonafide three-row, will probably land in somewhat affordable territory as well, if it tracks its smaller sibling, the EV6. And on the startup front, VinFast, a Vietnamese manufacturer, will debut with its VF 8, a small SUV priced at $40,700 (although the battery is packaged in a monthly subscription plan).
European drivers can expect many of the same options, plus a few that are strictly Continental, like the Jeep Avenger, a stubby SUV that stands as the brand’s first all-electric offering. It’s joined by some sporty station wagons, including the Opel Astra Electric and the Peugeot e-308 SW. In part because of their lower profiles, both cars boast impressive efficiency, posting road-trip-ready range figures with batteries far smaller than those found in most American EVs.
The $100,000+ market isn’t slowing down.
Plenty of swankier SUVs are in the offing this year, including a version of GMC’s Hummer EV, with a price tag squarely in six-figure territory; the first electric Lexus, dubbed RZ; an “Electrified” version of Hyundai’s GV70; two more small crossover-type things from Polestar, named simply 3 and 4; and at the top of the luxury pyramid, the Mercedes EQE and EQS. There’s even talk of a large electric Volvo.
We’ll also start seeing greater numbers of EVs like the Rivian R1S and Cadillac’s new Lyric, which are technically on the market but still uncommon on most American roads. On the truck side, GM will finally start stamping out its Silverado EV, a model that regularly wins more than half a million gas customers a year.
Manufacturing issues will barely ease up.
Those on the hunt for an electric SUV will see their choices double in 2023. But choosing a new whip and actually buying a new whip will continue to be very different things. Supplies will stay tight, prices will stay elevated and legacy automakers will still be eager to sell gas vehicles while they spool up almost the entire EV market.
Startup automakers, meanwhile, are still figuring out how to actually build an auto at scale. Rivian, for example, only made about 25,000 vehicles this year, although it has more than four times that many orders on its books. Lucid Group was aiming for just 6,000 to 7,000 EVs in 2022 after halving its production goals late in the summer.
S&P Global Mobility expects drivers around the world to snap up 10 million EVs in 2023, almost 14 per cent of the entire market, but they won’t come cheap. S&P warns that EV fever is pushing prices even higher and a rash of new incentives laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act will only lessen the sting slightly.
Making money on EVs won’t get much easier.
While the suits in Detroit, Seoul, Stuttgart and Tokyo may finally get the computer chips they need, the unit economics on electric vehicles are still crummy. Lithium-ion battery prices increased in 2022 for the first time on record, a 7 per cent bump. And some of the biggest brains in the business, including Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Rivian CEO and co-founder RJ Scaringe, worry that it will take years for the battery supply chain to catch up.
That’s why the best strategy for auto executives may be to stick with the simple bait-and-switch: get drivers hyped to go electric with low base prices, while predominantly stamping out far more expensive, higher-trim models. If you already can’t make enough cars, the logic goes, make the most profitable ones.
But if the economy stays on shaky ground and interest rates continue to climb, banking on indefinite demand may be unwise. “US consumers are hunkering down,” says S&P analyst Chris Hopson, “and recovery towards pre-pandemic vehicle demand seems like a hard sell”.
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 380hp at 5,800rpm
Torque: 530Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Price: From Dh299,000 ($81,415)
On sale: Now
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
