Everyday Chris paid for his Rivian R2 before he was allowed to look at it. That is the order, he reports: proof of payment first, inspection second, with a cashier's check the only way to keep the money in your hand until the walkaround is done. He walked the car for more than an hour. Almost none of that hour went on range or acceleration. It went on panel gaps, seals and trim, a tire reading 34 psi against 40, and whether the manual door release opens the door when the handle will not.
The Ioniq buyer's guide is the same job at the far end of a car's life. Out of Spec Roaming plugs an OBD reader into a first generation Hyundai and gets a state of health of 100 percent after 72,000 kilometers, which the host says cannot be true. The explanation the video gives is that Hyundai buffers the first 7 percent of degradation out of view. On the same screen the battery management figure for state of charge reads 89.5 against a displayed 93.5. Neither number is a lie. Both are the car describing itself in the kindest terms available.
Elektrotrucker's week is what this looks like when verifying is the job. He rebuilds the plan hour by hour around charge state, rest rules and a hazmat tunnel code. His Model 3 threw an isolation fault, a warning that could mean a ruined pack or almost nothing, and the workshop traced it to a marten chewing a cable.
The racing story is the compressed version of all of it. Kimmy's Model S Plaid qualified around three seconds clear of the quickest Ioniq 5 N and led until the final lap, then slowed at roughly 5 percent and lost the place. Kyle's reading is that the two cars hold similar energy, and that Hyundai's edge is a cell chosen to push current at low state of charge plus a cooling package built around it. A lap time answered one question honestly. It said nothing about the one that settled the race.
The solar report is the exception, and the useful kind. Here the checking was institutional, and the finding is that almost nothing else got checked. On the video's telling, SolarPower Europe counts a record 664 GW installed last year, then forecasts the global market shrinking about 8 percent in 2026. Read past that and the dip is a Chinese feed in tariff deadline rather than lost appetite. What the report actually spends its pages on is grid congestion, storage, planning queues and market rules written for coal stations. Australia is where to watch, because it is furthest into the problem and has started paying for the fix.
He Paid for the R2 Before He Was Allowed to Inspect It
Chris says he was a day one reservation holder, invited to configure at the end of June, and took delivery on August 13 after a week's delay he was told came from a paint blemish that Rivian repainted. He rates the repair as good, and reports being told California allows seven days or 100 miles to log fit and finish issues through the app, and that rejecting a VIN for a serious fault puts you back in the queue without refunding the 100 dollar deposit.
The hour turned up, on his account, scratches in gloss black trim he attributes to buffing, a door sitting low against its trim, a hatch panel higher on one side, a tire at 34 psi against 40, and bolts near a rear handle he describes as stripped. Service refilled the tires and said there was no puncture. He reports a vibration and a rattle on the drive, and the car charged at home on a Tesla Wall Connector and at Superchargers.
Two things to know before your own appointment: Gear Guard recording needs a USB-C drive you bring yourself, and he says the portable charger and CCS adapter ship only with cars delivered in CARB states.
Why This Channel Says the Smaller Ioniq Battery Is the One to Buy
The argument is counterintuitive: on the first generation Hyundai Ioniq Electric, the host rates the 28 kWh car the better buy. The video puts peak DC charging at 70 kW on the small pack with 10 to 80 percent in about 25 minutes, against roughly 45 to 50 kW and close to double the time on the large one, so on a one stop trip the smaller battery can arrive sooner. The 38 kWh pack is liquid cooled and repeatable; the 28 kWh pack is air cooled through the cabin and the host expects it to derate in hot climates. He also reports the 38 kWh cars carry an active fire risk recall to check by VIN, and the 28 kWh cars do not.
The video's guide to telling them apart: black grille, seven inch screen and 120 horsepower on the 28 kWh car against a silver grille, 10.1 inch screen and 136 horsepower on the 38 kWh, changeover late in 2019. An OBD read shows state of health at 100 percent after 72,000 kilometers, which the host explains as the first 7 percent of degradation sitting in a hidden buffer. He flags two known faults: a grounding recall, and an undersized 12 volt battery.
For a price signal, today's Elektrotrucker video is selling one: a 2019 28 kWh car with 85,515 kilometers drew a €9,400 offer in a sponsored segment.
Solar Passed Three Terawatts, and Next Year's Forecast Is Down
Dave Borlace works through a new SolarPower Europe report. The numbers going in are the easy part: global solar capacity went from 100 GW in 2012 to 1 TW in 2022, doubled to 2 TW by 2024, and passed 3 TW at the start of this year, against total global capacity from all sources of just under 9 TW at the end of 2023. Last year brought a record 664 GW, around 80 percent of all new renewable capacity worldwide, putting solar past wind at roughly 2,778 TWh and 9 percent of global electricity demand.
Then the forecast: about 612 GW in 2026, down roughly 8 percent and the first shrinkage in over two decades. The video is clear that demand is not collapsing. Developers rushed to finish Chinese projects before feed in tariff changes landed, and with China at about 57 percent of new global installations last year, one domestic policy change bends the world total while other markets still grow.
What the report dwells on is integration: grid congestion, storage, planning delays and markets designed around large thermal plants. The video cites Australia's market operator reporting that batteries set the wholesale price in almost a third of trading intervals across the National Electricity Market in the first quarter of this year, which the video presents as evidence that the evening gap can be filled by something other than gas.
A Privately Run Plaid Is Leading Japan's EV Race Series Against a Factory Hyundai Team
Kyle brings on Drew of Martian Wheels, who visited a round of the series the guests call the Japanese EV Racing Association, along with driver Kimmy and his nephew Masayuki translating. Kimmy runs a Model S Plaid with Mountain Pass suspension, carbon ceramic brakes and forged wheels wider than stock, and uses it for work during the week. Drew describes a grid of four Ioniq 5 Ns, a Model 3 Performance, a carbon bodied Honda E and two Nissan range extenders. Races run 25 to 26 laps, which Drew says is about the full usable pack, so energy management decides them.
In the first race of a two race weekend Kimmy took pole roughly three seconds clear of the fastest Ioniq 5 N, a car Drew describes as run by Hyundai with a former GT300 driver and around eight staff, on fresh tires each session while Kimmy ran one set all weekend. He led until the final lap, then slowed at around 5 percent and was passed. Kyle's read is that capacity is not the difference, with the Ioniq 5 N near 82 kWh against an older 100 kWh Plaid: Hyundai chose a power cell that keeps delivering current at low state of charge, and added a large cooling package. Drew says Kimmy leads the championship into an October finale.
A 585 kWh Iveco, a Hazmat Load, and a Week Replanned by the Hour
German language and auto dubbed, this is long haul freight treated as a logistics problem. The load is three battery buffered fast charging stations moving as ADR Class 9 dangerous goods, placarded front and rear with a tunnel restriction code in the navigation. He says they weigh about 10 tonnes and sit over the trailer's rear axles, which makes the steering nervous. Charging gets fitted around driver hours rather than the reverse: a 15 minute stop and a 30 minute stop, split so the rest still restores full driving time.
Midweek he swaps a DAF XF Electric for an Iveco S-Way, model year 2026, on a two week test, and walks through the specification. A single speed FPT electric axle means no shifts and constant regeneration, transverse LFP packs give 603 kWh gross and 585 kWh usable, CCS charging runs to 350 kW on the left side only, and an ePTO feeds 32 amp three phase for refrigerated trailers. Eco mode caps road speed at 80 km/h while Normal and Performance allow 90, with Performance a paid option. The range readout sits at 280 kilometers until the true figure drops below it, a quirk he says newer software fixes.
His Model 3 threw an isolation fault and needed towing, and he reports the workshop traced it to marten damage on a cable rather than anything expensive. He also sells his first generation Ioniq, the car in today's buyer's guide.
Bottom line: Take the hour. Paying before you are allowed to look at the car is backwards, and once that is the process the walkaround and the seven day window are the only leverage a buyer has left. The used version is cheaper still: a dashboard reporting perfect health after 72,000 kilometers is not lying so much as declining to answer, and an OBD dongle settles it in a minute. Kimmy's race is the same lesson with a stopwatch on it. The fastest car over one lap lost over twenty five.
Commentary on third-party videos. Figures and claims are as presented in the sources and have not been independently verified. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.