The Current News: April 14, 2022

Hello dear readers and riders! Did you get your taxes done? Are you ready for Easter? With so much going on this week, we encourage you to take a breather while catching up on the latest EV news. This week’s stories include some upcoming releases from Honda and Cake, the race to secure battery materials, a crazy hyper-car concept that promises 2,200hp, some mind-blowing funding news, and a custom e-Motorcycle exclusively made for Shaq. As always, shoot us a message at stephanie@thevintagent.com if you think we should cover a particular story. Let’s roll.

Killer Concepts from Honda and Cake

Both Honda and Cake revealed awesome EV concepts this week. The former includes two electric Honda sports cars that will be released later this decade, including a “specialty” and “flagship” model. Both cars will most likely be built on the automaker’s e:Architecture platform.

Meanwhile, Cake recently dropped a teaser that hints at a lighter two-wheeled EV. What are your thoughts?

An Electric Hyper-Car Concept that Promises 2,200 Ponies

DEUS Automobiles debuted its jaw-dropping Vayanne electric hyper-car concept at the New York International Auto Show this week. The Austrian company is less than two years old but has bold ambitions. The startup’s stunning new concept is predicted to churn out 2,200hp, 1,475 lb.-ft. of torque, and reach top speeds of 248mph. The Vayanne was developed in partnership with Britain-based Williams Advanced Engineering, the tech division of the Williams Formula 1 racing team.

NASA Partners with Canoo to Develop EVs for Artemis Missions

This week, NASA announced that they would contract startup Canoo to build EVs to transport astronauts to the launchpad for the upcoming Artemis mission to the moon. According to a press release, Canoo will provide NASA with crew transportation vehicles (CTV) and customized lifestyle vehicle (LV) models by next summer.

Fresh Funds

BMW Group reported that they more than doubled their EV sales in Q1 of 2022. A driving factor of the automaker’s success was the recent arrival of the i4 and iX. Overall, BMW Group sold 35,289 BMW and Mini EVs in the first three months of 2022.

Electric boat manufacturer X Shore secured $50 million in their latest round of investment funding. The company will use the funds to increase research and development of maritime EV technologies, as well as to support the manufacturing of their first production boat.

Porsche dropped $75 million in investments in the industrial production of eFuels to support their goal of electrifying 80% of their model lineup by 2030.

 

GM and Ford Shore Up Battery Materials

Automakers General Motors and Ford are making strategic moves to secure EV battery materials. This week, GM signed a cobalt supply deal with the Glencore, a global mining company. Ford also signed a supply agreement with lithium miner Lake Resources.

 

Shaq’s Custom e-Motorcycle

Remember when West Coast Choppers built a custom bike for Shaquille O’Neal over 20 years ago? Well, the NBA star is at it again, but this time it’s an EV. Oklahoma-based Ty’s Profab build a café-style e-Motorcycle for Shaq in just 14 days.