Nine hundred kilograms. That is what Nobby On Cars says the first Audi A2 weighed, and the host has no doubt that the new electric one, parked on a Dublin showroom floor, weighs more. The video gives no figure for the new car. What it does give is a 0.24 drag coefficient, and that swap, a slippery shape in place of a light one, has been the usual bargain for electric cars: accept a heavy battery, then win the energy back from the air. Several of today's stories come from places where that bargain does not work, and they are pushing weight back onto the spec sheet.
CATL's aviation cell is the clearest case. Ben Alexxander reports that CATL calls its 350 Wh/kg prismatic cell ready for series production, built for electric vertical takeoff aircraft where, as the host puts it, there is no gliding to safety. Every kilogram of battery, he notes, is a kilogram of passengers or cargo the aircraft cannot carry, which is why the host treats the density figure as only half the story and the safety test as the other half. He also points out that CATL has claimed the same 350 Wh/kg for a car battery, and suggests carmakers may spend it on lighter packs rather than longer range.
Tesla is working the same problem from the race track. The Electric Viking reads the Roadster's new 4680 cell as a weight and heat project: an aluminum can where nearly every cylindrical cell uses steel, a titanium top plate on the pack, and a car Tesla puts under 1,700 kg. The goal, as the host tells it, is half an hour of hard driving without power fade, not a bigger range number. MotorWeek's bZ Woodland test shows how fast a small addition turns up in the results. Optional all-terrain tires cut the rated range from 281 to 260 miles, and MotorWeek's own drive came in on pace for 252.
CBS's ride on the Vessev VS-9 takes the idea furthest. The ten-seat ferry climbs onto carbon fiber foils and runs about 18 inches above the water, and CBS reports roughly two hours and 50 nautical miles per charge. A foiling hull has to stay light enough to lift, so the answer to more riders is more small boats, which is how chief executive Eric Laakmann pitches it: an addition to roads, bridges and tunnels, not a replacement for big ferries.
Watch for three numbers. First, the Roadster's pack weight, which Tesla has not given, and whether these cells reach cheaper Teslas, as the Electric Viking thinks they could. Second, the first car to use CATL's 350 Wh/kg chemistry, and whether its maker takes the gain as range or as weight saved. Third, the A2's curb weight when Audi publishes it. If it lands far above the old car, that 0.24 is carrying a lot.
Vessev's VS-9 Flies a Ten-Seat Electric Ferry 18 Inches Above New York Harbor
CBS Mornings' Chris Van Cleave rode the VS-9 across New York Harbor, a ten-passenger electric ferry from New Zealand's Vessev that rises onto carbon fiber hydrofoils as it picks up speed and, in the segment, glides about 18 inches above the water. CBS reports about two hours and roughly 50 nautical miles per charge, and says the foil design borrows from America's Cup racing yachts. CBS says a ferry operator in New Zealand already runs one, with projects pending in Northern Ireland and Australia. Chief executive Eric Laakmann argues his customers are not replacing big ferries but adding routes that compete with roads, bridges and tunnels, which he calls far costlier to build. Vessev announced a $19 million Series A round in August and named FlyTahoe as its first US customer. FlyTahoe founder Ryan Meinzer wants scheduled stops and charters on Lake Tahoe, where he says about 20,000 cars a day travel between the north and south shores; he puts a boat crossing at 30 minutes against an hour and a half by road, and hopes to be running by 2028. Van Cleave found it quieter and smoother than a gas boat, and Meinzer, who says he gets seasick easily, claims riders are much less likely to.
Nobby On Cars Prices Audi's A2 e-tron From Under €40,000 and Finds the Back Seat Tight
Nobby On Cars looked over an S line A2 e-tron at Audi North Dublin. The host says the entry version starts below €40,000, that an S line with the large battery will likely land close to €60,000, and that cars should reach Irish roads in 2027. The outside nods to the original with a carried-over boot spoiler, black A2 e-tron badging and a light strip cut into the rear lamps, and nearly everything else serves the air: an air curtain over the front wheels, aero wheels that are real alloys rather than clip-on covers, winglet door handles and, by his account, a 0.24 drag coefficient. He wonders whether the steeply raked rear glass will limit the view out, although a camera is fitted. Inside he likes the clip-in accessories for the boot, cabin and glove box, a drop-down boot floor, a split rear armrest, two magnetic wireless charging pads and nicely damped vents, and he notes vehicle-to-load, which he says VW Group is now fitting across its cars. Haptic steering wheel buttons stay, while windows and mirrors keep physical switches. At 175 cm he calls the rear seat just acceptable, with little thigh support and the glass roof close to his head. He says it is heavier than the 900 kg original but gives no figure. Electrifying's look at the A2, covered here August 4, focused on efficiency over battery size.
The Roadster's Real News Is a 4680 Cell in an Aluminum Can, Says The Electric Viking
The Electric Viking's host argues the new Roadster's most interesting part is its battery, a new version of Tesla's 4680 cylindrical cell in the same 46 by 80 mm size as the Cybertruck's, but with an aluminum can instead of steel. He explains that nearly every cylindrical cell uses steel because the can also serves as the negative terminal, and says Tesla has not said how it solved that. His case for the change is that aluminum weighs about a third as much as steel and sheds heat several times faster. Citing Hagerty's interview with a Tesla engineering lead, he says the cells are cooled from both sides and the coolant makes a single pass through the pack, keeping it at one temperature, with Tesla aiming for 25 to 30 minutes of track driving without power fade. He adds a titanium top plate and Tesla's figure of under 1,700 kg for the whole car, the same weight Marques Brownlee reported in yesterday's edition. The pack runs at 800 volts, and the host says Tesla calls it its fastest-charging battery yet, with a target of 15 to 80 percent in 10 minutes and range of over 300 miles. With no pack size from Tesla, he estimates at least 80 kWh, which would put that charge within reach of 500 kW V4 Superchargers, and guesses a high-nickel chemistry at around 240 to 250 Wh/kg. He expects production in 2028.
MotorWeek's bZ Woodland Reaches 60 in 3.9 Seconds, and Its All-Terrain Tires Cost Range
MotorWeek's road test of the 2026 bZ Woodland, Toyota's biggest electric model, starts from a drivetrain it shares with Subaru's Trailseeker: dual motors, 375 hp and, by the show's account, a 74.7 kWh battery that reaches 80 percent in about 30 minutes on a DC charger through its standard NACS port. Rated range is up to 281 miles, or 260 on all-terrain tires, a no-cost option. The show lists 8.4 inches of ground clearance, Subaru's X-Mode software, 3,500 lb of towing and 33.8 cubic feet of cargo space, 74.3 with the seats folded, in a body 6 inches longer than the bZ. At the track it ran 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and the quarter mile in 12.5 seconds at 109 mph, a couple of tenths quicker than the last Supra MotorWeek tested. The all-terrains hummed on the highway and blunted the handling test, so the show advises skipping them unless you will really go off-road. On a 204-mile drive home the car used 81 percent of its battery, a pace of 252 miles, and averaged 31 kWh per 100 miles. MotorWeek gives a starting price of $46,975, about $10,000 over the standard bZ; CarPro lists the base car at $47,400, so check what each quote includes. TFLEV, covered here September 24, also found it quick and roomy with range as the trade.
CATL Says Its 350 Wh/kg Aircraft Battery Is Ready for Series Production
Ben Alexxander reports that CATL says a prismatic cell at 350 Wh/kg, built for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, is ready for series production. That sits below the 500 Wh/kg anode-free cell a lab verified in our September 26 edition, but CATL's claim here is about building in volume. For scale, the host says CATL has put its high-nickel prismatic car cells at around 260 Wh/kg and its research cells with silicon-based anodes at about 320. In the propagation test he describes, two neighboring cells were driven into thermal runaway at once, at the center and at the corners of the pack, and CATL reports the failure did not spread; CATL calls it the first prismatic aviation system at this density to pass that kind of test, with China's civil aviation regulator involved. The host stresses this is not approval for passenger flights. The first customer is expected to be AutoFlight, in which he says CATL became a strategic investor in 2024. He links the cell to CATL's Qilin condensed matter battery for cars, also at 350 Wh/kg, which CATL says could support about 1,500 km in a sedan, but cautions the two may not be the same product, and he thinks carmakers may spend the gain on lighter packs. He also discloses a partnership with an installer and Franklin WH, whose home batteries at his house he says use CATL cells.
Bottom line: The weight story worth following is CATL's, because aircraft makers will not accept a heavy cell and the same chemistry is already aimed at cars. If carmakers spend it on lighter packs instead of 1,500 km brochure claims, that is the better trade. The bZ Woodland is a strong family EV, but order it on road tires unless you truly leave the pavement. The A2 needs a weight and a firm price before anyone can judge it. And the VS-9 is the most appealing thing here that no American commuter can ride yet.
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