Engineering Explained's host had a Lucid Air that he describes as excellent on paper and frustrating in daily use, ten months of software trouble by his account, until Lucid bought it back. He replaced it with a four-year-old Mustang Mach-E whose fast charging he calls its biggest disappointment. He bought it knowing that. Every product in today's edition comes with a trade-off someone accepted, and the useful question for buyers is shifting from which one is strongest to which flaw they can plan around.
The engineering version of that choice shows up twice. Ziroth's analysis of Tesla's Cybercab motor argues that Tesla gave up rare-earth magnets for ferrite, the cheap material on the back of a fridge magnet and far weaker than neodymium. If the host's reading of a recent Tesla patent is right, the company made up the gap with geometry: a second layer of magnets to draw more reluctance torque from the rotor, a plastic or epoxy filler where steel would leak flux, and a motor that spins about 13 percent faster per mph than the Model 3's. The video cites no confirmation from Tesla on the magnet material, and the patent mentions neither ferrite nor the Cybercab. Gjeebs' tour of CATL's new truck battery, which CATL sponsored, shows the same instinct applied to time. Heavy trucks lose money while they charge, so CATL quotes 80 percent in 25 minutes on megawatt charging, inside the 45-minute break the host says EU drivers must take anyway. The weakness does not disappear. It gets scheduled.
Passenger cars make the trade in plainer terms. Autogefühl's ID. Tiguan walkaround shows Volkswagen fixing, by the host's account, nearly everything owners disliked about the ID.4, from door handles to steering wheel buttons to a missing frunk, while keeping the same batteries and 400-volt charging, 26 to 29 minutes from 10 to 80 percent. Electrifying's Ioniq 3 review finds Hyundai giving its bigger battery less power than its smaller one, alongside a UK price from £18,495 with the government grant and about 4.7 miles per kWh on the presenter's drive. Against both, the Mach-E needed just over 40 minutes for the same charge in the Engineering Explained test, and its owner says he loves it anyway, crediting its physical controls and a range that matches its EPA rating.
The next few months should show which of these bets hold. Teardowns of the Cybercab motor will settle the magnet question faster than any patent. Volkswagen says it is working on quicker charging within its 400-volt layout, the Autogefühl host reports, and it needs that before rivals he points to, such as an 800-volt XPeng G6 at a fraction of the price, draw off its buyers. Hyundai's price advantage depends on the UK grant staying as it is. And winter will test a Mach-E whose owner already expects its 260-mile real-world range to shrink.
Lucid Bought Back His Air. A Four-Year-Old Mach-E Took Its Place.
Engineering Explained's host says Lucid bought back his Air after ten months of buggy software, and a long-term Gravity loaner went back to service within a week when a passenger window would not close. Waiting on an R2, he traded his GR Corolla for a 2022 Mustang Mach-E GT with the Performance package. He praises what many newer EVs dropped: real stalks, physical mirror and seat controls, and adjustable vents. He reports 480 hp, 634 lb-ft and a tested 0 to 60 mph of 3.9 seconds. Over 1,267.1 miles he averaged 3.1 miles per kWh; with about 85 kWh usable by his estimate, that is just over the car's 260-mile EPA rating, on Continental summer tires from a sponsor of part of the video. Charging is the weak point. On a 350 kW charger the car held its 150 kW peak only from 10 to about 13 percent, fell to around 100 kW by 15 percent, and took just over 40 minutes from 10 to 80 percent, roughly double an Ioniq 5 by his account, and well behind the 26 to 29 minutes Autogefühl gives for VW's ID. Tiguan today. He also dislikes the push-button doors, a laggy touchscreen, and navigation that plans charging stops on a trip but asks for a subscription to search for nearby chargers.
How Tesla Might Build a Rare-Earth-Free Motor From Weaker Magnets
Tesla revealed details of a new motor for the Cybercab on September 3, the video says, claiming it is 18 percent smaller and 25 percent lighter than competitors' units without any rare-earth material. Ziroth's host notes Tesla calls it a permanent-magnet design and names ferrite as the most likely magnet: cheap and easy to source, but much weaker than neodymium, whose supply the video describes as about 90 percent concentrated in China. His case for how Tesla compensates rests on a recent Tesla patent. It adds a second, flat layer of magnets above the V-shaped pair used in the Model 3's rotor, which should raise reluctance torque, and swaps the steel in a central region of the rotor for an injected non-magnetic filler so flux has no shortcut. He also cites an EPA filing showing 131 motor rpm per mph, about 13 percent faster than the Model 3, trading torque for speed. He flags the limits himself: the patent never mentions ferrite or the Cybercab, and the size and weight claim names no competitor. The Cybercab is a light two-seater that, as he notes, does not need hard launches, which makes it the easiest place to try a weaker magnet; a heavier or faster Tesla would be a stiffer test of the same idea.
VW's ID. Tiguan Fixes the ID.4's Cabin and Keeps Its Charging
Autogefühl's full R-Line walkaround follows its September prototype drive. The ID. Tiguan replaces both the ID.4 and ID.5, sits alongside the combustion Tiguan, and brings back features the host says owners asked for: real door handles, physical steering wheel buttons, physical climate controls alongside a 15-inch screen, optional Golf 4-style gauges and a small frunk. The drag coefficient drops from 0.27 to 0.26, which the host credits for a WLTP range he expects around 600 km, 20 to 40 km more than the ID.4. The batteries do not change: 58 kWh LFP or 77 kWh NMC, still on 400 volts, with a 165 kW peak on the larger pack and 10 to 80 percent in 26 minutes for the smaller pack and 29 for the larger, by his figures. That beats the Mach-E in today's lead story but trails the roughly 21 minutes savagegeese cited from BMW for the 800-volt iX3 on October 1. Prices, he says, run from about €43,000 to close to €70,000 fully loaded, and he expects VW dealers to lean on leasing deals against cheaper rivals such as XPeng's G6. His pick is the rear-drive R-Line with the big battery, partly for its 10.2 m turning circle against 11.6 m for all-wheel drive.
CATL Pitches a Truck Battery That Charges During the Driver's Break
Gjeebs visited CATL at the IAA show in Germany in a video he says CATL sponsored, and the pitch for its new modular heavy-truck battery leans on regulation as much as chemistry. CATL's figure is 80 percent in 25 minutes on megawatt charging, which the host notes fits inside the 45-minute break EU truck drivers are required to take. Other claims, all CATL's as presented: up to 1,000 km in the largest configuration, a design life of 12 years or 1.5 million km with no pack replacement, against an industry norm the video puts at seven to eight years, and an electric bus that kept 82 percent battery health after 780,000 km. CATL also showed a sodium-ion battery charging a phone at minus 40°C; a CATL representative said it is used today for start-stop systems rather than to drive a vehicle. He also relays a claim that 3 million Teslas carry CATL batteries with zero safety incidents, which the video does not test. Ziroth's October 1 coverage of what appears to be the same pack reported a 15-year warranty; Gjeebs uses 15 years only for corrosion protection. A design life and a warranty term are different promises.
Hyundai's Ioniq 3 Starts at £18,495 With the Grant, and the Big Battery Is Slower
Electrifying's presenter says Hyundai launched the Ioniq 3 in Istanbul because it is assembled in Turkey, and that it qualifies for the full UK electric car grant, bringing the entry price to £18,495 and the N Line she drove to £28,195. The 41 kWh usable LFP battery is rated at about 214 miles and the 58 kWh pack at about 308, which she calls the best against the Cupra Raval, VW ID. Polo and Kia EV2. Charging peaks at 110 kW, for about half an hour from 10 to 80 percent, a few minutes behind the ID. Tiguan's 58 kWh version by the two hosts' figures. The odd part is power: the larger battery makes less than the small one's 147 hp, she reports, with 0 to 62 mph in about 9.5 seconds, though at just under 1,500 kg the car returned about 4.7 miles per kWh on her drive. Inside, she likes the physical climate controls and a 441-litre boot that includes a 119-litre underfloor well. Against it: a tight, dark rear cabin, steering she found over-assisted, and wind noise at motorway speeds on what she says is technically a pre-production car. In the UK the heat pump sits in an optional pack.
Bottom line: Buy the weakness you can schedule around. The Mach-E's slow charging costs a frequent road-tripper real time and costs almost nothing to someone who charges at home, and controls that work every morning are a fair trade for longer stops. The Ioniq 3 at £18,495 is the best value here if rear headroom is not your problem. The ID. Tiguan needs those leasing deals, because near €70,000 on 400 volts is a hard sell. CATL's truck numbers deserve a signed warranty, not a sponsored tour. Tesla's motor is the smartest compromise of the lot, if the patent reading holds.
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.