The automobile industry is an exciting industry to cover as a journalist, because cars, more than any other consumer product, touch every aspect of our lives.
When you write about cars, you’re not writing about cars, you’re writing about materials science, energy, manufacturing policy, the global economy, personal finance, climate, geopolitics, and much more. In the past few years, the industry has moved at a pace that may seem impossible to keep up with. Especially in 2025. Looking back, I could have used a few more slow news days here.
Fortunately for me, InsideEVs The team was more than qualified for this task. So, as we bid farewell to 2025, I wanted to take a moment to pay homage to our best stories of the year in all the forms they took, from news articles to investigative reporting to podcast episodes and videos.
What’s in store for next year? I hate making predictions, but I have a few things on my radar. More electric car models may be cancelled, while newer, more promising options with better range and charging will be put into operation. Affordability concerns will dominate the conversation. Charging networks will continue to grow. Self-driving vehicles are It’s pretty clearly here to stay. The industry will continue to push toward a software-defined future, whether that’s what drivers want or not. With any luck, automakers might end the tariff mess. We will soon see a big change in China’s fast-growing electric vehicle field.
I know we will have a lot to keep us busy next year. Until then, enjoy our best work in this business, and thank you for your continued support of everything we do here.
Our team relaunched InsideEVs Podcast In 2024, but I feel like last year was the year we really hit our stride. My co-host, senior editor Tim Levin, and I have focused on notable industry guests, and we’ve got a big personality for this episode: GM Chairman Mark Reuss. In this episode, the CEO, racer, and longtime gearhead explains what’s coming next on the electric vehicle front — and why he believes battery-powered cars will be part of America’s automotive landscape from now on, despite any headwinds.
Photography: Ralph Hermens
The central theme behind everything we cover at InsideEVs is this: The future of the automotive industry is, in all likelihood, battery-driven, increasingly automated and connected through advanced software – but getting there isn’t easy. In this story, Deputy Editor Mac Hogan dives into the reasons why almost every automaker, whether a new startup or an old one, has software problems. We’ve certainly seen a lot of that in 2025, and I’m not sure 2026 will be any smoother. So when does the industry discover these things?
Photography: Ralph Hermens
Reporter Suvrat Kothari is on alert. It’s never boring, between the constant achievements and also the promises that never seem to come true. Solid-state batteries fit into the latter camp. They’ve been hailed as the holy grail of battery technology for decades, promising faster charging speeds, lower fire risks, lower weight, and countless other benefits. So, when will they really reach serial production? a little Chinese automakers We may get there next year, but in this story, Sovrat looks at what it might take to achieve a major, widespread breakthrough.
Video: Rivian’s e-bike is also the coolest e-bike I’ve ever seen
Rivian also has a subsidiary It is one of the most interesting experiments in e-mobility I have ever seen. This is largely because this is already happening, it’s not just a typical vehicle or white-label e-bike, but a real product that you can buy soon. In this video tour, Tim explains why he could be a game-changer in this space.
Photo by: InsideEVs
Writer Julian Dunistran has been in the electric car business for a long time, and he has a very clear view on what modern electric cars get right – and where they can still fall short for many drivers. He’s the owner of a Volvo PHEV, and in this story he explains why the gas engine needs to evolve, and why hybrid power is about to show more promise than ever for many people.
Photography: Illustration by Sam Woolley
I love highlighting the work of interesting companies in this field. You may not have heard of Alpitronic, but its technology is spreading rapidly behind the scenes. Sovrat delves into why he’s grown so fast and what’s in store for him next.
Video: We visited China – its electric cars are taking over the world
I’ve been very proud of InsideEVs’ coverage of China over the past few years. China’s automakers have a significant technology lead compared to the rest of the world, and we’ve worked to underscore what that actually means for drivers everywhere. In this video, our China expert Kevin Williams takes you behind the wheel of some of the country’s best shows. How the rest of the world deals with it will be a major story for 2026 and beyond.
Speaking of China, I’m very proud of this story and the video package (which I shot myself, even though I wasn’t a videographer in any way, shape or form). Getting to Beijing during the Shanghai Auto Show and speaking at this BYD event took a lot of work, but in the end, we were the first Western outlet to trial five-minute electric vehicle charging technology.
Photography: Ralph Hermens
Long before the F-150 Lightning’s unceremonious end, Mack — a big-time truck guy — has been vocal about the strengths and drawbacks of all-electric trucks. Sure, many of them are great, but making them do everything a gas truck can do will be a long-term technical challenge that we’re excited to cover. That’s why it happens, and why hybrid power shows such promise for big trucks.
Photography: Illustration by Sam Woolley
Kevin returned to China this fall to check in on Xpeng, which is already emerging from stealth mode in 2025 with bold plans for self-driving vehicles, humanoid robots, and energy storage…sound familiar? Here’s a good look at what’s next for the brand that could be a bigger part of the conversation in the coming year.
2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA first drive
Photography: Andrei Nedelya
European correspondent Andrej Nedelya has a good description of what’s next in electric cars: what he calls Gen3 cars. If the first generation was things like the original Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, or even the Tesla Model S, and the second generation was everything from the Tesla Model Y to the Hyundai Ioniq 5, imagine the lessons the next crop would hold. In the midst of a difficult year, this list is a great reason to be optimistic about the future.
Photography: Illustration by Sam Woolley
But many automakers are still using this moment to back away from that future, especially if they weren’t really advanced in advanced technologies to begin with. In this story, contributor Brett Burke delves into the reasons behind Stellantis’ EV decline and what the long-term consequences of that decision might be.
Photo by: InsideEVs
We can’t go through our year-end report list without discussing the massive headwinds facing the electric vehicle space, especially here in America. I wrote this article right when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law and put an end to electric vehicle tax credits, green energy incentives, and possibly America’s battery boom. Sadly, many of my predictions have come true, so how can this country keep up with the rest of the world in the long run? Could she even do that anymore?
Photography: Ralph Hermens
But 2025 also saw a lot of outdated myths and misconceptions about electric cars that were put to rest forever. One trend we’ve seen this year has been particularly fascinating: electric car battery replacements are actually very rare, and they can be driven for many more miles with less degradation than people might think. The auto industry would do well to spread this more widely in the future.
Photography: Autokritica
Meanwhile, Europe is moving forward, not only with new affordable models but also with a charging infrastructure that has become surprisingly robust. On this multi-country electric vehicle road trip across Europe, even Andre was surprised at how easy it was to charge. There are a lot of lessons for the rest of the industry in this piece.
Photography: Ralph Hermens
As I mentioned above, affordability will be a major concern for the entire industry in 2026; Who’s really excited about the average new car price hitting $50,000? But Chinese automakers do not face this problem. Even in markets such as Europe and Latin America, they are making rapid progress, including domestically made electric vehicles. The BYD Seagull compact car, a bestseller everywhere it goes, shows why competing automakers may need to completely rethink their value propositions.
Photography: Ralph Hermens
Fortunately, at least some automakers in the West are not taking the threat posed by China into consideration. In this deep dive, Sovrat explains the promise of next-generation lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries that could have huge potential for Ford and General Motors — especially when it comes to decoupling from Chinese supply chains.
Video: Slate’s cheap $25,000 EV truck that can turn into an SUV
Perhaps the US market is not entirely devoid of hope. After all, the $25,000 Slate Truck is coming soon, packing the power of electric vehicles into a minimalist chassis from a new startup backed by Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos. In this video tour, Tim explains why Slate Auto can deliver the next big thing — to the right buyer, anyway.
Photo: Mac Hogan/InsideEVs
I expect autonomous driving to be a bigger part of the “what’s next in cars” conversation in 2026 than electric vehicles. Yes, really. No automaker has had greater success in self-driving than Tesla, but it also fell short of its ambitious promises several times over. In this latest story, Mack tests the latest version of full (supervised) self-driving, and provides a good summary of how it improves and where it needs to improve.
The other big thing on our podcast this year was Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. He kindly met us in New York at a barbershop and podcast studio (the greatest city in the world, baby) last summer for a wide-ranging discussion about the Rivian R2, the company’s self-driving plans, how the electric vehicle space has evolved over time, Rivian’s partnership with the Volkswagen Group, and much more. If you haven’t watched the full conversation, now is a good time.
2026 Breakthrough Awards: Nissan LEAF
Photography: Ralph Hermens
We’re a small crew here at InsideEVs. That’s why I’m always proud of our year-end Breakthrough Awards, a months-long collective effort to test the best new or significantly updated electric vehicles for sale in the U.S. I’m amazed at how much the auto field has improved this year compared to the 2024 pack — we’re truly reaching an era where modern electric vehicles are cohesive, connected, mature products that can meet the needs of a lot of people. I’m very excited for this same test next year.
Image by: Rivian
This is because of what comes next. I’ll leave you with an optimistic note from Mack: “Those who celebrate the death or decline of the electric vehicle industry are as misguided as those who predicted unlimited and continued growth. That’s because 2026 is set to be the best year for new electric vehicles yet.”
Here’s what’s next.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
