Update: April Fools! The Edison Destiny isn’t among the crop of electric startups to watch. Instead keep your eyes on Tesla, Faraday Future, Lucid Motors, and Karma, as well as tech giants like Uber and Waymo.
Sky Commuter. Fisker Automotive. Lyons Motor Cars. Automotive startups come and go every single year (especially those of the electric variety), but each time a new one pops up, a faint sting of hope pierces our jaded media hides. Competition in the EV space is a good thing, but while we try to stay optimistic about a young brand’s chances, we know all too well that many simply fade into the ether.
On a completely unrelated note, the website of start-up EV manufacturer Edison Destiny went live today. Much like Apple, E.D. is keeping things close to the vest, and has publicized no information about its product other than the shrouded teaser image shown above. There isn’t much to see at this point, but the crossover-ish vehicle looks like a revised version of the Mercedes-Benz GLA, complete with fog lights, side mirrors, and a roof.
The homepage’s tagline oddly reads, “Building yesterday’s future tomorrow,” but after a closer look, we found the following excerpt.
“Electricity, connectivity, mobility. The dreams of yesterday become today’s future. Harnessing innovation isn’t just inevitable, it’s our destiny.” Hmm.
The name, of course, is inspired by famous American inventor Thomas Edison, seemingly following the theme of companies like Tesla and Farady Future, whose names harken back to the pioneers of electricity. Edison created the first electric light bulb, motion picture camera, and phonograph among other things, which leads us to believe E.D. has some innovative tricks up its sleeve. Could it be increased range? A new battery design? Retractable wings or cotton candy emissions? Is it a coincidence that we’re just hearing about the company on the eve of the New York Auto Show?
Whatever E.D.’s chosen niche is, it’s clear that boring days in the EV industry are hard to come by these days. So what is the Edison Destiny, exactly? We’ll be sure to let you know — just as soon as we find out for ourselves.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.