Lift’s new Lift5 and LiftX electric foil surfboards make gliding over water easier than ever - Related to water, new, over, admit, is

At just $9,140, is the 2025 Nissan LEAF the best new car deal in Chicago?

The 2025 Chicago Auto Show opened this week, and I’ve been struggling a bit with how to approach this story about the decline and fall of what was once the American auto industry’s premier commercial vehicle show – but. One thing was absolutely clear: the Nissan LEAF is the best new car deal in Chicago. ***.

If you have fond memories of the Chicago Auto Show from years past – and not even that many years past; like, pre-COVID years past – skip the 2025 show.

Once upon a time, the Chicago Auto Show occupied both main halls, with another hall housing commercial trucks and. Vendors, and drive activations outside and in the parking lot. Since that heyday, the show has shrunk significantly. It’s down to a single hall now. Depressingly, the show can’t even fill that with OEM displays, and has worked a number of vendors, drive events of both the EV and ICE-powered varieties. And even military recruiters into huge swaths of floor space. Despite the compacted nature of the displays, the show floor is not packed. You will be able to sit in any car you want, for as long as you want, with minimal chance of interruption.

I was lucky enough to be able to walk the show with my good friend and. Industry legend, Greg Lucia. Greg is best known for an iconic, gonzo PR stunt he pulled off while he was working at Toyota that involved the Space Shuttle Endeavour being towed to its final destination at the California Science Center in Los Angeles across the 405 freeway by a then-new Tundra.

Oddly enough, we both honed in on a specific year. 1997, as one that stood out.

“I had a part-time job at Sears while I was in college,” I told Greg. “I was making $9/hr. plus either 1% or 3% of everything I rang up. It worked out to a pretty steady $12/hr., and that money was good enough that there were a bunch of cars I could have reasonably bought. I ended up with a ’98 Dodge Dakota pickup. Manual. My payment was $218/mo.”.

“Those were neat trucks,” he stated. Adding, after a thoughtful minute, “I don’t think you could do that, today.”.

Greg is obviously correct. Auto displays have turned a corner. Instead of being someplace that any able-bodied person could go and, with a reasonable amount of effort and willingness to put in the hours. Pick out a fun, dependable vehicle. In such an economic climate, it’s no wonder that the car you drove stated something about you above and beyond what you could afford. Today, the closest thing to that mid-sized Dakota is probably the current Ford Ranger. The mid-sized Ford starts at $32,820 … but the average part-time mall job doesn’t pay any more than I made back in ’97. If anything, it pays less.

I wondered what possible value a traditional auto show could offer a college kid in 2025, when something like a base Ford Mustang that started at about $15,800 in 1997 has more than doubled to $31,920 and the cost of college has risen even higher, over 140% in the same interim, while wages have largely stayed the same.

Deeply entrenched in this gloomy mood, I plodded along between the relatively subdued Nissan and Volkswagen booths towards the ComEd presser (see the show map. Above), that was already under way.

ComEd $100M commercial EV rebate program.

ComEd press conference announcing $100M in EV funding; photo by the author.

ComEd chose the Chicago Auto Show to lay out the 2025 version of their beneficial electrification rebate programs that will offer clients access to $100 million (up from $90M last year) in funding opportunities designed to remove up-front cost as a barrier to widespread adoption of EVs and the expansion of charging infrastructure in northern Illinois. $53 million of that budget is earmarked specifically business and public sector clients, with up to $7500 available for each light-duty (Class 1 or 2) EV purchased by a ComEd commercial customer.

That was when it hit me: this is why local events like the Chicago Auto Show exist — to highlight deals that are unique to the area, that outlets like Motor Trend and Car and Driver and even Electrek (if we’re being honest) might overlook due to factors like geography, international audiences, or some other general lack of interest.

Allow me then, to explain how a parks district. Or a police department, or a car sharing fleet, or a delivery fleet, or any other business, incorporation, or LLC in northern Illinois can score an absolutely killer deal on a Nissan LEAF.

Structuring that $9,140 Nissan LEAF deal.

For 2025, Nissan’s groundbreaking LEAF S starts at just $28,140 before incentives. That’s already more than twenty thousand US American dollars less than the $49,740 average transaction price of a new vehicle recorded just last month. But $28,140, you’ll notice, is a lot more than $9,140. Here’s how we get there:

For that $9,140 you get a smooth, capable EV with 149 miles of range* whose only real shortcomings are its relatively slow charging speed* compared to something like a Hyundai IONIQ 5, of course, the CHAdeMO charging standard* that every other brand has abandoned and for which precious few public charging options exist.

And. Admittedly, those are three very real, very scary asterisks.

For a business, though? For a parks district or city official or lab courier or car share service that has some dedicated parking space to put their own charging into? That’s not as much of an obstacle as it might be to you and me. Heck, a young, ambitious college student who realizes they can fit a few robot lawnmowers under the LEAF’s spacious cubic foot (668 liters) hatch might just find the money needed to start an LLC in Illinois and find any number of fun, expressive, practical news car they can actually pay off with a part-time hustle at the 2025 Chicago Auto Show after all!

That’s my take, anyway — you can get tickets to the 2025 Chicago Auto Show here, explore ComEd’s business and public sector EV rebate program here, then let me know what you think of all these musings (and whether or not you think I could get a few Automowers into the back of a Fiat 500e) in the comments.

insights | IMAGES: ComEd. Nissan, the twisted mind of Greg Lucia.

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The Leapmotor T03 Is Good Enough To Make Stellantis Admit Defeat

We used to laugh at how bad Chinese cars were 10 or 15 years ago. They were a constant topic of ridicule on Western auto sites and exhibits. We watched those crash tests that showed cars’ structures collapsing like an accordion, and. At the time, we never thought Chinese cars would be any good. Boy, how things have changed.

Now, Western automakers are looking to Chinese manufacturers for inspiration and help. There's no enhanced example of this than the Leapmotor T03, a tiny Chinese city car aimed at the Dacia Spring. While Leapmotor has only existed since 2015, it designed the T03 fully in house, and produces the battery pack itself. The result is a cheap, cheerful, impressive EV. It's so good, in fact, that one of the largest Western automakers has decided to buy in.

Little Leapmotor made Stellantis—a major European-based car conglomerate with over a dozen automotive brands under its belt—admit defeat. Like many Western automakers, Stellantis recognizes that it can't compete with Chinese brands on cost. Instead of trying to beat them, Stellantis entered a joint venture with Leapmotor to allow it to produce Chinese cars in Europe, allowing it to circumvent hefty import duties.

Stellantis invested $ billion in the business. Giving it a 20% stake in Leapmotor. Perhaps more importantly, it has a 51% stake in Leapmotor International, the export side of the business. The business plans to export cars around the world, and even build the TO3 at a factory in Poland. Stellantis is not the only automaker that has teamed with a Chinese partner, but it is the first to bring a Chinese car and assemble it in Europe.

When I asked the local Leapmotor importer here in Romania about where my T03 press tester was manufactured. They noted it likely came from China. However, Leapmotor officially began European production in a Stellantis factory in Poland in September of 2024. That plant will make both the T03 city EV and a larger battery-powered SUV called the B10, both of which are already on sale throughout Europe.

This is an impressive little car, especially when you know the entire story behind it. And it was for me a real eye opener since I've not had the chance to drive that many new Chinese cars. If this small EV from a small, fledgling Chinese automaker is this good and there are automakers from the People's Republic with a lot more resources and know-how, this is a sign that the global auto industry is being turned on its head.

Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea.

Measuring just inches ( meters) in length and 65 inches ( m) wide. The T03 is about two feet shorter than a Chevrolet Bolt EV and a bit narrower too. This gives it slightly unusual proportions—it looks a bit tall and narrow—but this makes the car very easy to maneuver in tight urban spaces, and. The interior is surprisingly roomy given its footprint.

With the driver’s seat set to my driving position (I’m about six feet tall), I had just about enough knee room not to feel trapped. My head did touch the headliner in the back seats, though, so traveling back there would get tiresome after half an hour. Still, two slightly shorter passengers could travel for longer in the back of a T03 in relative comfort.

Even though it’s a slightly bigger vehicle with a longer wheelbase than its main rival here in Europe, the Dacia Spring, the T03 allocates more of its interior room for passengers. And it has a very small trunk. It offers just cubic feet of cargo space, and the hold looks pretty tiny. But you can easily fit your weekly shopping in there. You can also fold the rear seat to free up 31 cubic feet for when you occasionally need extra space.

Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea.

Even though the T03 debuted last year in Europe, it was launched in China almost five years ago and. Hasn’t been restyled since. It’s starting to look a bit dated compared to rivals like the much more rakish BYD Seagull, which will come to Europe in 2025 and. Cost about the same.

The T03 has a cute face that reminded me of one of the pig characters from the mobile game Angry Birds. It looks very upright and tall from the front, but if you move more to the side of the vehicle. You see that its roofline subtly dips toward the rear. The best compliment I could pay the rear end is that it matches the design of the front very well.

It rides on 15-inch wheels with tall and narrow 165/65 tires. Which surprisingly don’t look too small for the body. They are also quite inset, and this makes the car look a bit ungainly. During my time with the car, I kept thinking that with some larger wheels that fill the arches advanced the T03 could look a lot advanced.

Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea.

With its relatively narrow track width and tall body. You’d think the T03 wouldn’t be too at home taking a corner briskly. This was one of the first things I tried with the car, and I was surprised to discover that even pushing it into a corner, it never felt like it was going to topple over—far from it, actually.

The steering, while not very quick in terms of ratio. Provided more feel than I was expecting, and I could feel when the front end grip was about to run out. Sudden direction changes also didn't faze it, even if there was a bit of body lean. Driving this car, I was reminded just how much more stable EVs generally feel with a belly full of batteries keeping the center of gravity low.

It helps that the T03 is very light by electric car standards. Weighing in at 2,590 pounds (1,175 kilograms). That’s hundreds of pounds less than a GMC Hummer EV’s battery pack. The benefit of this low mass is very nimble handling and a feeling of agility that you don’t get from many EVs.

The T03 gets its oomph from a single motor driving the front wheels. It produces 95 horsepower and 116 pound-feet (158 Nm) of torque and propels the T03 to 62 mph (100 kph) in seconds. On to a top speed of 81 mph (130 kph). It feels much quicker than the Dacia Spring, and it pulls improved than you expect given the leisurely on-paper sprint time.

It stops well too. With disk brakes on all four corners. I did notice that if you turn the steering wheel while under braking, the car seems unsettled, but the stability control program keeps things in check.

The three driving modes (Eco, Comfort and Sport) not only affect pedal mapping and. Power delivery, but they also change the strength of the regenerative braking. You have no other way of controlling it, so if you want a certain regen feel, you must stick to the mode that offers it. In any of the modes, regen never feels particularly strong—I wouldn’t call this a one-pedal EV.

Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea.

Surprisingly for a car this cheap. The T03 comes with many standard aspects. You get a large panoramic glass roof (with an electric retractable sunshade) and a suite of ADAS functions (mandated by EU law for all new vehicles), including adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking. Forward collision warning, lane keep assist and speed limit recognition. It even has a drowsiness-detecting camera pointed at your face at all times.

While all of the ADAS systems seem to work, they are all a bit intrusive and. Annoying, each with its own chime that gets on your nerve after driving the car for a while. Listening to all the beeps before turning the safety systems off by going through each individual setting in the infotainment was probably the worst part of the T03 driving experience.

Bluetooth connectivity is standard but. Without Apple CarPlay or Android Auto support. This is why my test car came with an aftermarket head unit, which can mirror your phone, but it’s not necessary given the infotainment display. Its graphics look a tad pixelated but have a logical Tesla-inspired menu structure, and it generally works quite well.

You will find yourself using the central screen a lot in this car: You use it to change driving modes, change climate settings. Turn on the lights manually or adjust anything else since there are no physical controls. I used it most often to turn off the audible speed limit warning sound, which is mandated on all new cars sold in the European Union, and it’s absolutely infuriating.

Most manufacturers offer an easy shortcut to disable this system. But you must go through all the menus every time to do it in the T03. The driver gets a decent 8-inch display, which does the job without standing out. The car has its own 4G internet connection, which makes it compatible with over-the-air updates and runs the navigation app without requiring your phone to be connected.

You get rake adjustment for the steering wheel and. Seats covered in what felt like a surprisingly high-quality fabric material. The seats look good too, and they offer much more effective lateral support than the seats in the Dacia Spring.

With a kilowatt-hour battery. The T03 is rated for 165 miles (265 km) of WLTP range. That cycle is generally more optimistic than the ' EPA figures. When I got the car, the battery was 99% full and displayed an estimated range of 116 miles (187 km). That’s pretty decent for an electric city runabout, and it'd likely get closer to the WLTP estimate on a warmer day.

Leapmotor points to the claimed urban driving range as being much higher than in mixed driving. The urban WLTP rating goes up to 245 miles (394 km), although even with the lightest right foot and perfect conditions, this seems like a stretch for a vehicle with a sub-40-kWh battery pack.

Unlike the Dacia Spring. Which has an air-cooled battery pack, the Leapmotor actively controls its battery pack temperature. That should help the battery last longer, as air-cooled packs tend to struggle when exposed to high temperature. But it doesn't have a heat pump, which is sad if unsurprising for a cheap EV. The range estimate also doesn’t change in real time when you turn on cabin heating like it does in most other EVs, but. It adjusts as you drive around.

Unlike the Dacia, the Leapmotor includes fast-charging capability standar. The T03 can replenish its battery at up to 48 kW, which is good for a 10 to 80% charge in 55 minutes. It’s not even close to making the list of EVs with the highest charging power, but since most buyers will probably plug in at home most of the time, using the car’s kW onboard charger, it should be fine.

Driving the T03 mostly around town, its displayed efficiency number got very close to 5 miles/kWh. Which is pretty good, although it’s a bit less efficient than a Spring. If you drive it gingerly in town, you could probably get it to exceed that figure.

Gallery: Leapmotor T03 InsideEVs Review 18 InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea.

The Leapmotor T03 costs €20,000 ($20,830) here in Romania, which is about the same as in other European Union countries and. Twice what it costs in China. The actual price buyers pay drops to €15,000 if you factor in the €5,000 you get from the Romanian government, and. Similar EV incentive schemes exist in many EU countries, helping spur EV sales. The incentive used to be €10,000 or up to half of the vehicle's value in Romania, but it was capped at €5,000 in 2024, following the recent European trend to reduce or eliminate these incentives altogether.

Leapmotor has a deal with Stellantis. Which allows it to assemble the T03 in Europe. The car I drove came from China, but Leapmotor wants to build its cars in the EU to avoid paying the hefty import duties that were put in place last year. That may partially explain why it's so much more expensive here than it is in China.

The manufacturer showcased in January that its vehicles were on sale through 400 Stellantis outlets in Europe, and. It planned to increase that to 500 in 2025. Even though it went on sale here in September of last year, I haven’t seen any T03s on the road in the area where I live, although I have seen quite a few brand new Dacia Springs.

Since the T03 is more expensive than the Spring (which is sold as Dacia. A Romanian brand), it probably won’t match its popularity here. However, it is a slightly fancier car with more performance and range. It’s arguably a superior EV than the Spring, and the price difference is justified. I think they should have called it something catchier than T03, though. The name is not especially memorable, and it also needs a facelift since it looks a bit old-fashioned parked next to a new Spring or some of its other competitors.

Still. The TO3 demonstrates just how far Chinese automakers have come. A decade ago, no one would consider importing a Chinese car. But these days, a brand like Leapmotor—not even one of China's biggest names—can do something Stellantis can't manage on its own. While it may not be as attractive as the Spring, the T03 is a advanced EV, and. Further proof that Western automakers can't afford to ignore Chinese competitors. And if they can't beat them one on one, teaming up may be a advanced path.

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Lift’s new Lift5 and LiftX electric foil surfboards make gliding over water easier than ever

Foil wings are changing the way that watercraft operate. Foils are now exploding in water transport, from surfing to boating and everything in between.

Foils aren’t necessarily a new technology. I remember taking a Hydrofoil passenger ferry from Hong Kong to Macau every few weeks when I lived in Asia in the late 90s. By knifing through the water rather than riding on top of it, the foils are much faster, more efficient and also. As a byproduct, are much smoother (no seasickness!).

How does that translate to the latest eFoil surf technology from Lift foil surfboards? The firm flew me out to their Puerto Rican HQ, factory, and testing grounds to find out….

As a background, Lift is a Puerto Rican-based maker of foil surfboards and. Electric foil (eFoil) surfboards. From my snowboarding background, they are kind of like Burton was in the 90’s. The firm is pushing the industry forward, not just for recreational ease and innovation but also at the professional sporting level.

The Lift5 board is a huge step in the development of eFoil boards, making setup and. Riding an extremely quick operation. Instead of a complicated mess of wiring hookups and assembly, the Lift5 battery (smaller, less expensive batteries will be offered) just snaps in. It is the same with the mast and the electric foil wing, a few quick snaps and the board is together.

That brings the setup time down quite a bit to just a few minutes tops and. Makes assembly of the surfboard near the water so much easier.

That’s something else to consider. These electric surfboards can take the place of the much bigger, noisier, petroleum-powered jet skis for many uses. At a 30mph top speed, these can be used for around an hour and can fit in the trunk of a car rather than a trailer. Which needs a boat dock. It’s a true game-changer in the world of personal water transportation.

Then consider the specialized inflatable “Blowfish” accessory (above) that not only makes training on a Lift eFoil easier but also opens up the platform for specialized activities like fishing, diving. And multiple-passenger travel. What’s great is that once you are on the Foil, the inflatable ring is out of the water and. Only affects the efficiency of travel slightly. Otherwise, it can operate like a little dingy boat and can be used to bring people back and. Forth from shore to bigger boats docked out at sea. Versatility is key here.

The LIFT5 represents a complete reimagining of eFoil technology, built from the ground up to enhance performance, user experience, and reliability. With a focus on surf-inspired innovation, the LIFT5 introduces: All-New Design: A lighter, streamlined board featuring a double concave bottom for smooth touchdowns and sharper chine rails for crisp transitions.

Simplified Setup: Tool-free assembly with Lift Connect System (LCS) for effortless attachment of wings, mast, and propulsion.

Enhanced User Experience: Wireless connectivity, one-touch startup, and redesigned accessories like ergonomic board bags and. A battery backpack.

There’s one more thing in this announcement, and with a nod to Apple’s naming, Lift also introduced the LiftX, which is a lighter, more professional sports board with a key retractable propeller technology that allows the rider to go from electric propulsion to wave/wind/pumping propulsion seamlessly. It is a true hybrid board.

The Lift foil surfboard experience (LiftX and Lift5).

As a background. I’ve never hydrofoiled in my life outside of the aforementioned boats. I have done some very basic surfing and skateboarding and am an avid snowboarder.

Lift first let us try out the Lift4 foil boards on a river with very little waves. Initially, they were outfitted with the blowfish attachment, which made the learning process more fun. Getting up on the board was super easy for my 50-year-old body, and I was standing on the Lift4 within minutes. From there, I experiemented with the speed controls that go from 0-15. At about 6 or 7, my 200lb body would start to lift the board out of the water and foil.

That experience is incredible. The bumping of the waves and the sound disappear almost entirely. You are floating above the water magically.

Interestingly, because the foil is so much more efficient, once you get out of the water, you not only speed up considerably. But you also require a lot less power to go the same speed. I was told that foiling takes half the energy of just cruising like a traditional board (and that is why you can ride on foils for so much longer than an electric surfboard or boat).

Foiling did take some getting used to but I did get up and. Stay up for quite some time on the river.

The next day we went onto the ocean using the new Lift5 boards and without the Blowfish. There was a steeper learning curve to get used to the changing dynamics. That noted, I was able to get foiling within an hour of jumping on the Lift5. The challenge for me wasn’t turning necessarily but keeping the board flat in the water. Too much forward-leaning, and you’d push the front into the water. Leaning back too much and the foil pops out of the water in front of you. A little time is all one needs to figure out these dynamics.

I never got 100% stable in the 2 hours of training but. I was so close. I will say this: I really wanted to play on these more and more as time ended. The foiling experience compared to riding on the waves is singular and I would say akin to the experience when sailing when you turn off the motors and. Just begin using the wind power. Magical.

What an experience! Lift’s whole vibe of being a proud Puerto Rican business building and developing its industry-leading products on the island just feels so right. The fact that the business is pushing this nascent industry forward is huge.

Sure, there are some drawbacks to foiling. The big price points – these new products are expected to retail for north of $12,000 – but also safety is a big concern. At 30mph top speed, these things are knifing through the water and could be dangerous to snorkelers or other swimmers in the area. Wildlife could also be impacted.

That noted, Lift5 and LiftX represent huge innovations in the eFoil industry and coupled with accessories like Blowfish and leading edge controllers, snap-together assembly, and long-range integrated batteries, will make this the next big leap in the eFoil surfboard industry.

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