EVs in Reverse

Automakers are pulling the plug on electric ambitions

They seemed, almost, inevitable. We’d all be driving electric cars soon enough, right? And maybe that will still be the case in the future. But lately, it seems like more and more automakers are walking back their electric ambitions.

Car and Driver says the “temperature check for electric cars changes pretty drastically depending on what part of the market you're polling. Family crossovers and luxury commuters may be popular, but shoppers in search of the pomp and circumstance normally associated with ultra-high-performance models may feel differently.”

Lamborghini has officially canceled the Lanzador EV, which was slated to be the brand's first all-electric model. The company’s CEO Stephan Winkelmann told The Sunday Times that the brand’s target market has “close to zero” interest in electric vehicles. Oh, so it’s Lambo drivers that don’t want it? Maybe they want a little? Lamborghini is now planning to launch the model as a plug-in hybrid.

“EVs, in their current form, struggle to deliver this specific emotional connection,” said Winkelmann, adding that the supercar brand will continue to build internal-combustion engines “for as long as possible.” Road & Track says this speaks to the fast-changing nature of the industry as a whole these days. “Canceling a near-complete vehicle is not a cheap endeavor given that it completely eliminates any chance of recouping costs.”

Plus, there are the rumors surrounding Porsche scrapping its next-gen electric Boxster/Cayman project. And Nissan announced it was pulling the plug on the under-$30,000 LEAF EV for 2026. The company will “continue to assess future battery configurations based on customer demand and segment needs,” the spokesperson said, so a 2027 model year has not yet been decided.

This is definitely a strange time for electric vehicles. At The Verge, Lawrence Ulrich recently provided a detailed analysis of the EV-related woes at global automotive conglomerate Stellantis, which owns brands like Dodge, Jeep and Ram, writing that “demand for EVs” has simply “gone glacial.”

FYI:

Unlike starter batteries used in gasoline vehicles, EV drivetrain batteries are designed to last the lifetime of the vehicle with very low failure rates.

The State of the Union

Bruised and unpopular, the president is seeking a reset

When Donald Trump last addressed Congress, in March 2025, he was triumphant. He’d stormed back into the White House after surviving assassination attempts, and his first 100 days in office were on track to accomplish many of his goals. But now he’s on far less stable ground. Nearly 70% of Americans say Trump hasn’t paid attention to the country’s most important problems. And after running on affordability issues, six in 10 Americans now disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy.

But Trump opened his speech by declaring that “our nation is back bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.” He extolled the One Big Beautiful Bill tax legislation that congressional Republicans approved last year, while leaving out its major spending cuts (about $1.2 trillion in social spending—the biggest cut to the safety net in modern history—primarily to Medicaid, food stamps and student loans.)

Saying the country is “winning so much,” the president introduced the gold medal-winning men’s hockey team to raucous applause. Of course, there was a lot to fact check about the address. The White House even released a bingo card for last night’s speech, highlighting how the White House often blends the president’s most controversial positions with online jokes.

Meanwhile:

The Washington Post asked 2,300 Americans about the best and worst things Trump has done.

Are Ultra-Processed Foods the New Cigarettes?

The latest research points to … yes

Will we soon be seeing warning labels on our favorite snack foods? Researchers from Harvard, Duke and the University of Michigan are calling for ultra-processed foods to be regulated like tobacco, arguing that they’re engineered for habitual overuse.

"Cigarettes and UPFs are not simply natural products but highly engineered delivery systems designed specifically to maximize biological and psychological reinforcementand habitual overuse," a team of doctors wrote in their new paper, published in the journal Milbank Quarterly. “Both industries have used similar strategies to increase product appeal, evade regulation, and shape public perception, including adding sensory additives, accelerating reward delivery, expanding contextual access, and deploying health-washing claims.”

Food & Wine says the docs have a point. The publication has been tracking the latest scientific findings, which indicate that ultra-processed foods may be fueling a global health crisis, increasing our risk of heart disease, and even altering our hunger cues. Because of that they say that regulating them with a stricter policy isn’t a bad idea.