2022 Subaru Solterra ESUV Proclaimed

by Jason R. Sakurai

Published: May 11th, 2021

In 2022, the Subaru Solterra electric SUV will go on sale. Another Subaru-Toyota joint venture, it’ll roll on the new e-Subaru global platform.

Just when you thought the market for another electric vehicle was saturated, here comes the sun and the earth, in Latin. Will there be more Latin names for new Subarus? Environmental responsibility keeps the sales and marketing machine running, doesn’t it?

I caught a glimpse of the broadcast news this morning, which stated emphatically that by 2026, EVs will be less expensive than vehicles with internal combustion engines. So who at the automakers is controlling costs, and pricing these EVs? What about all the research and development costs?

You can be certain if there’s a new e-platform, there’s going to be more e-vehicles in the pipeline. What is a little different than every other EV is Subaru’s all-wheel-drive expertise, mated to Toyota’s e-technology.

The Solterra relies on Subaru’s AWD, driving dynamics, and passivity. Yes, the leader in passive safety is among its selling points. That’s what you get when you add Solterra to the Outback, Forester, and Crosstrek SUVs.

The Solterra EV is counting on the brand’s reliability, safety technology, and all-wheel-drive engineering to gain acceptance. Murky photos are also good for piquing our interest, at least until the actual reveal takes place.

The Solterra electric SUV is the logical evolution of Subaru all-weather, all-road performance in an earth-friendly package. Or at least as environmentally responsible as an all-electric SUV can be.

[Images: Subaru]

#ElectricVehicle #ESubaruPlatform #EVs #JointVenture #Marketing #Sales #Solterra #Subaru #Technology #Toyota

Jason R. Sakurai

With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.

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Statikboy on May 11, 2021

"By 2026, EVs will be less expensive than vehicles with internal combustion engines." So that just means that manufaturers are planning to significantly raise prices on ICE's.

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- Mcs on May 11, 2021
  
  I think they've been raising prices in ICEs anyway. For EVs to get cheaper, the battery designers and more importantly the engineers that design the battery production lines have to deliver. Lots of great battery tech has finally left the labs and is in limited low volume production. Toyota and several other companies have solid-state or semi-solid-state batteries ready to go. Low cost technology .like Sodium-ion is in limited production and Lithium-Iron, another low cost tech, is already going into low-end Teslas produced in China. The problem (except for Li-Fe) is ramping up to volume mass production. That's not a trivial step. Eventually, costs are going to go way down, it's just hard to predict when. I still think Sodium-Ion is the one to watch. Density isn't as good as lithium, but it's already as good as lithium batteries were a few years ago. It will never catch up with lithium-ion density, but I think it will be more than adequate in a few years (200 Wh/kg density) for use in low-end cars. Here's an IEEE article on sodium-ion. I really think the potential for the technology is huge and I think it's possible to get them into cars in 2026 if they can get them at or above 200 Wh/kg density. https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/batteries-storage/sodium-ion-batteries-poised-to-pick-off-large-scale-lithium-applications
  
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- Mcs on May 11, 2021
  
  @mcs One thing that I forgot to mention, is that as lithium ion improves in gravimetric density(gets lighter), vehicle efficiency will improve, so less battery will be needed for a given range further lowering costs.
  
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- Inside Looking Out on May 11, 2021
  
  "manufaturers are planning to significantly raise prices on ICE’s." It is already happening. Buy BEV next time.
  
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Garrett on May 12, 2021

The gaping maw where the grill should be looks very Lexus like. That’s not a compliment.

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