The money in today's edition went where a test drive cannot reach. Volkswagen kept most of the ID.3's body for the ID.3 Neo, according to Electrifying, and spent instead on the MEB+ platform, a new rear motor, three new batteries and a cabin that VW says got the kind of development work it would normally give an all-new generation. Range Rover went the same way on purpose. What Car? says customers asked for an electric Range Rover Sport that did not advertise itself, so the visible changes are mostly a blanked-off grille, aero wheels and a reshaped diffuser fed by a completely flat floor.
Lift a car up and the priorities become legible. Under an owner's iX3, the Out of Spec BITS team found skid plates shielding the battery's coolant lines and a rear subframe that appears to be a single die-cast aluminum piece with no welds. They also found stamped steel rear suspension arms and a 12-volt battery tucked into the tunnel under the center console. The rear motor is the brushed, externally excited design that Out of Spec Reviews raised on the iX5 in our October 23 edition. The host says he has heard of brush replacements on earlier BMWs that meant removing the whole motor, and hopes the iX3 is easier.
None of that shows in a showroom. It shows after a winter. AMMO NYC's host builds his whole pre-winter routine on the idea that the parts owners never look at, the wheels, suspension, door jambs and rubber seals, take most of the damage from sand, salt and brine. Range Rover's engineers appear to agree. What Car? reports that the Sport Electric's brake discs carry a coating so they will not rust when regenerative braking leaves them idle for long stretches.
The one component in today's edition that is meant to rust is a battery. Form Energy's iron-air cells oxidize to discharge and reverse the process to charge, giving back about 40 percent of the energy put in, Undecided reports. Winter is the sales pitch here too. An Xcel Energy spokesperson told Utility Dive that long-duration storage earns its keep in periods such as midwinter, when several cloudy days with very little wind can arrive together.
What to watch: Electrifying's promised efficiency test of the ID.3 Neo, since the channel has not yet checked VW's efficiency claim for the new motor; What Car?'s drive of the production Range Rover Sport Electric later this year; whether BMW made the iX3's motor brushes serviceable without pulling the drive unit; and Form's ramp-up, after chief executive Mateo Jaramillo told Utility Dive earlier this year that the company expects to ship its first modules by the end of 2028.
VW Kept the ID.3's Body and Rebuilt Almost Everything Else
Electrifying presents the ID.3 Neo as the car Volkswagen has been trying to build for six years. Outside, the basic body carries over, but the old car's black roof, pillars, bonnet panel and tailgate are now body-colored. Underneath, the video lists the updated MEB+ platform and three UK batteries of 50, 58 and 79 kWh, with 170, 190 and 231 hp and up to 258, 306 and 390 miles of WLTP range. The 58 kWh car peaks at 105 kW on DC and the 79 kWh at 183 kW, and VW quotes 26 to 29 minutes from 10 to 80 percent. Inside, physical buttons and knobs return and the materials are a clear step up, the presenter says, echoing OnlyElectric's drive in our October 22 edition, which also found the old platform's seating position unchanged. One-pedal driving finally arrives through the B setting. Rear space and the 385-litre boot carry over, and there is still no frunk. The tested 58 kWh Style Launch Edition weighs about 1,900 kg and needs around eight seconds to 60 mph; Electrifying has not yet tested its efficiency. Prices in the video run from £35,495 for the 58 kWh Life to £40,000 for the 79 kWh Style, and Electrek lists the 50 kWh Life at £33,080. All versions qualify for the £1,500 Electric Car Grant. Electrek also notes that BYD's Dolphin starts at £30,230.
Range Rover Built the Electric Sport Not to Look Electric
What Car? drove a Range Rover Sport Electric prototype at JLR's headquarters, and most of the news is how little has changed. Two motors give all-wheel drive, 543 bhp and 627 lb-ft, the most of any Range Rover, the reviewer says, with 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. The battery holds 118.1 kWh usable, and Range Rover claims about 350 miles of real-world range. The video quotes a 325 kW charging peak and about 22 minutes from 10 to 80 percent; Electrek, reporting on the UK order launch, gives the peak as 350 kW, so that figure is worth confirming. The cabin and boot match the combustion car, and the rear seats split 40/20/40. In Dynamic mode the reviewer found almost no body lean, and rates the three regen settings, including a one-pedal mode tuned to stop gently, among the car's best features. The brake discs are coated so they do not rust when regen leaves them unused, What Car? explains. Off-road, it wades as deep as the combustion car, and the flat floor is why it goes no deeper: the car starts to float. Electrifying gave the larger Range Rover Electric 542 hp and 372 miles WLTP in our October 21 edition, so the Sport nearly matches its big sibling on output. What Car? puts the Autobiography at around £122,000 and the First Edition at £126,000. T3 lists the entry Dynamic SE at £109,810.
Under the iX3: Guarded Coolant Lines, One Big Casting and a Buried 12-Volt
Out of Spec BITS put an owner's all-wheel-drive iX3 on a lift and removed the underbody panels. The front drive unit is an induction motor on three mounts. The front mount bolts on and could be swapped easily, while the rear bushings are pressed into the subframe, which the hosts read as a possible sacrificial design. Skid plates guard the coolant hoses where they meet the battery, protection the host says is missing on cars such as the Model 3 and Model Y, where he says road debris can break those fittings. At the back sits a large externally excited synchronous motor, which uses brushes to magnetize the rotor. That lets the field be varied for efficiency, the host explains, but adds a wear part. The unit appears to be oil-cooled through a stacked-plate heat exchanger, with coolant also running to the case, and it sits on four mounts. The rear subframe looks like a single die-cast aluminum piece with no welds, carrying five-link suspension with stamped steel arms that the host expects to favor ride comfort. The 12-volt battery turned up in the tunnel under the center console, and the hosts say replacing it would mean taking the console apart. Out of Spec's earlier iX3 videos, covered in our October 21 and October 22, towed at its limit and ran it 340 miles at 70 mph; this one shows the hardware underneath.
A Detailer's Winter Prep Starts With the Parts You Never Look At
AMMO NYC's host uses his own daily winter car, a Porsche Cayenne, to show a one-to-two-hour driveway routine for a season of sand, salt and brine. His rule is to put most of the effort into what he calls the car's armpits: the wheels and suspension, the door jambs and the rubber seals. Step one is a wash with foam and an anti-salt additive, left to dwell for four or five minutes and worked into the seams with a brush. A pressure washer is optional; he suggests a hose-end foamer that sells for $20 to $30. Once the car is dry, he recoats the paint and jambs after a wipe with isopropyl alcohol and water, or offers a quicker spray coating for owners short on time. Exposed suspension metal and the underside get Fluid Film, which he says is not a sponsor, and in the jambs he waits 24 hours after coating before spraying it. The seals get a conditioner. The video ends with a link to buy the full kit as a bundle. Nothing here depends on what powers the car, though one tip plays differently on an EV: his reminder to treat the battery terminals is much harder to follow on the iX3 in story 3, whose 12-volt battery sits under the center console.
Form Energy's Rust Battery Returns 40 Percent, and the Deals Keep Coming
Matt Ferrell first covered Form Energy in 2021, when the company had not published its efficiency and researchers suggested iron-air would need about 80 percent to work commercially. The number is now public, he says, and it is about 40 percent, with Form targeting 40 to 45 percent for its 100-hour system, against roughly 90 percent for lithium-ion. Form has still raised more than $2 billion, built a factory in Weirton, West Virginia, and signed a 300 MW, 30 GWh project with Xcel Energy to serve a Google data center in Minnesota, the video reports. pv magazine reports the battery will be paired with 1,400 MW of new wind and 200 MW of new solar. Ferrell scores iron-air against lithium-ion. Iron wins on material availability, cost and safety, citing Form's account of a 2024 UL9540A test with no flame or thermal runaway propagation. Lithium wins on energy density, at 200 to 300 Wh/kg against a practical 50 to 75, on size and on efficiency. Form's target of $15 to $20 per kWh compares with about $100 for lithium-ion, but he notes it was also the target five years ago. Form bought zinc-air company NantEnergy in 2020 to improve its air electrodes, and Ferrell puts zinc-air efficiency at 60 to 70 percent.
Bottom line: Buy this winter's EV from underneath. The ID.3 Neo is finally the hatchback VW should have launched in the first place, and the 58 kWh Life at £35,495 is the version to price against a Dolphin. But the details that decide what a car costs to keep, where the 12-volt battery lives, whether the motor brushes can be reached, how exposed the coolant lines are, never come up on a test drive. Ask to see the car on a lift. Then spend an hour on the parts you never look at before the first salt goes down.
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.