We toured the Honda EV Hub in Ohio where the Acura RSX and 0 Series EVs will soon be built [Video] - Related to [video], ohio, 350e, honda, some

Review: 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e depends on math appeal

Plug-in hybrids are building their case as stopgap solutions for drivers not ready to take the EV plunge. Those of you who can control or limit your daily driving needs are squarely in its sights. Do you keep your daily duties at 50 miles or less? The Benz GLC 350e has you covered.

A home-charging setup for off-peak parsimony turns plug-ins into e-commuter cars. But charging costs matter in this equation, too. And if you’re counting nickels and dimes, and find yourself paying the usurious rates charged by some popular stations in popular places, the advantages of a plug-in flicker and dwindle.

That’s what I experienced earlier this month during my test drive of the Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e, which acquitted itself thoroughly well as I toured my old stomping grounds. Until I needed to plug it in, that is. With nearby high-power Electrify America DC fast-charging priced at 64 cents a kilowatt-hour, I realized charging locations alone aren’t the only hurdle to adoption. Cost’s a real killer.

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e plug-in hybrid test drive review.

GLC 350e: A convenient fast-charge mode, at a price.

I picked up the GLC just as a flurry or two fell out of a gray sky—never a good sign in Atlanta, the city too busy to plow. The vehicle indicated 47 miles on its battery from the stop, but once I tapped it to life and snicked its stubby shifter into gear, that range fell immediately to 37 miles. I set out at a crisp 29 degrees to find the Electrify America station I knew well, with the first spittle of snowflakes on the horizon, knowing I would need to stick close to it to guarantee some all-electric driving before this winter-paralysis demon showed up.

The powertrain’s an extravagant dose of technology, though it’s mostly indecipherable from the outside, where it gets only small badges to differentiate it from gas-only models. The [website] turbo-4 engine mates up with an electric motor and a [website] battery pack ([website] kwh usable) for a combined output of 313 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque, and an EPA-rated electric range of 54 miles. Mercedes promises a 0-60 mph time of [website] seconds, a little slower than the gas-powered midrange GLC, and a top speed of 135 mph as a hybrid, or 87 mph in its electric drive mode.

When I get to the EA station, Bolts and [website] and Niros have lined up to take advantage of its proximity to Kroger, Starbucks, and LA Fitness. I’m guilty as (not yet) charged, too. When my slot opens and I pull in, a Taycan takes the plug next to me. Surrounded as we are by glassy golf-course mansions, I’m not surprised—but I am to find that the EA quotes me a charge time of one hour, 14 minutes. I could charge at its default battery-friendly rate, but with snow on the way I flick through the interface to engage fast charging, which chops the remaining time, boosts the charge rate to 60 kw, and commits to completion in about 55 minutes.

A few espresso shots later, the GLC has peaked at 33 kw, and has accepted [website] kw of energy, for a promised 62 miles of range. It also charged me 64 cents for each kilowatt: including tax, the $[website] total for the equivalent of a day’s commute leaves me at a loss. Adding insult to injury, as soon as I pulled out of the charging station the range dropped to 59 miles, almost like it was recalculating depreciation instead of range.

The exorbitant cost of EA charging aside, the GLC 350e performs remarkably like the other GLC cars, with about 700 pounds more packed into it, that is.

Driveability isn’t much of a concern. There’s some lurch when the gas engine kicks in—when the battery’s exhausted, or when the Hybrid mode blends its power with battery energy to optimize higher-speed performance. The Mercedes regenerative braking system lets the brake pedal go stiff or soft, depending on whether it’s set for the strongest amount of regen in D-, or the least in D+.

I experimented with the various drive and regen modes through a familiar series of four-leaf clovers that loop around my usual stopovers around town. Leaving the car in Auto mode, with regen set to its maximum, yields the most useful driving range in mixed traffic. The GLC’s big wheels and tires produce little bump-steer, but Mercedes SUVs have more head toss than those from some other luxury brands, mostly from dialed-in lateral stiffness and big wheels and tires—and in this case, a self-leveling rear air suspension that offsets the battery weight. While I stay vigilant against incoming winter, the GLC 350e tackles the tight on-ramps and the few snaky roads I can access.

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e plug-in hybrid test drive review 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e plug-in hybrid test drive review 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e plug-in hybrid test drive review 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e plug-in hybrid test drive review.

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class looks, space, and stuff.

Mercedes repotted the GLC in the 2023 model year, resculpting its handsome shape that leans more wagon than SUV. Also sold as a more rakish Coupe model, the GLC has a stunning interior, with a digital tombstone at its center that asserts the interface’s prominence against a river of matte wood or metallic trim. Studded by squircular air vents and glammed up with metallic trim in every direction, it lights up the ground as you enter, flickers to life when its start button gets pressed, and responds to almost every beck and call when you send out the voice command, “Hey Mercedes.” If there’s an element of modern tech missing from its wrapper, I wasn’t able to identify it over a four-day road trip.

The GLC’s [website] wheelbase sets out a footprint that permits lots of interior room, with snug front 16-way power seats that have been designed around a person slightly smaller than me. After a few hours of darting out to an exurban retreat and back, the driver seat made itself known at my hips with a dull ache. On one break, I sat in the three-person bench, which could house two of me and my size-12 feet and short-leg, long-torso body with ease. Everything I’d brought on my road trip—coolers, overnight bag, backpack—fit easily into the [website] cubic-foot cargo area, too. Folded down, the rear seatbacks expand that total to [website] cubic feet.

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e plug-in hybrid test drive review.

How much does the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class cost?

With a price that falls between the Kia EV9 and a base Rivian R1S, the $61,050 GLC 350e plug-in hybrid came witha charging cable I wasn’t pressed to use, as well as its [website] touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and touch-sensitive steering wheel controls that I grew more accustomed to over time.

Mercedes sells another plug-in GLC—the 671-hp AMG GLC 63 S E Performance, which lays on the power to earn its initialism. Both join a lineup of PHEVs that also includes the plug-in hybrid edition of the larger GLE-Class that arrived for the 2024 model year.

In the future, it’s likely we’ll see the EQC electric SUV in the [website] in 2025, after Mercedes pulled back from plans to bring it here in 2019. These stopgap models will help the automaker as it pivots and delays its EV sales targets, as the politics surrounding electrified vehicles shift with every passing minute.

Most of us would rather own the all-electric models that may come to pass, but over this weekend of driving I was able to calculate exactly how the GLC plug-in might work. It’s the same line we harp on with every PHEV review: You must plug it in for it to make sense.

This time it comes with the caveat: You must plug it in at home for it to make sense.

What you plug into superior have something more like the $[website] price most Atlantans pay for electricity. That calculates out to something more like $[website] for a full, putative 62-mile charge.

That scenario is entirely possible—if not likely—with a home charger that’s used religiously. Out here in the bougie burbs, plug-in drivers who don’t have their own garage setup will remain at the mercy of our strip-mall overlords—and, at times, by overpriced, undermaintained charging situations created by legal settlements. At those prices, the espresso should be free.

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We toured the Honda EV Hub in Ohio where the Acura RSX and 0 Series EVs will soon be built [Video]

As we enter the second month of 2025, Honda is inching closer to commencing BEV production at its long-standing US plant in Marysville, Ohio, later this year. That $1 billion transition will begin with the assembly of the not long ago confirmed Acura RSX EV, followed by the first two models in Honda’s 0 Series lineup. Before that happened, however, Honda gave an , which included an innovative new approach to modular vehicle assembly, massive mega press machines, and an insightful look into the positive impact Honda has established amongst the residents of The Buckeye State. You can view my whole tour expeirience in the video below.

While Honda is a global name synonymous with engines and mobility, it is still carving out its own legacy in the BEV segment. That process began with two initial all-electric models – the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, both of which I’ve had the opportunity to test drive and share my impressions.

While those two models put some of Honda’s skin in the game, they are arguably only a fraction of Honda’s true design DNA, which it has since taken into its own hands looking forward. That future includes the Honda 0 Series, which was initially revealed at CES 2024 as a “back to zero” mentality for the Japanese automaker.

The 0 Series began with two BEV concepts called the “Saloon” and “Space Hub,” which have since evolved in the Honda 0 Saloon and SUV prototypes, which debuted at CES a year later and were on display at Honda’s EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio this past week.

Marysville, home to Honda’s first and longest-running US production facility, will soon house BEV production of the two models mentioned above. First, however, Honda will begin assembling an all-electric Acura SUV developed from the Performance EV Concept, which we lately learned will be called the RSX.

Honda is still putting the finishing touches on a $1 billion overhaul of its new EV Hub in Ohio but invited a group of media out to tour multiple facilities and see where the first true Honda and Acura-built BEVs will be assembled, beginning later this year.

I documented my visit in a video below, but will break it down in words for you as well.

Honda is taking a failsafe approach to production.

As you may or may not know, the Honda EV Hub is part of a $1 billion+ investment from the Japanese automaker to retool its existing facilities in Ohio to produce electric vehicles. That includes reimagining three existing plants: the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP), and the Anna Engine Plant (AEP).

During my EV Hub visit, we started at the Marysville Auto Plant, which originally opened in 1979 and has been building Honda cars since 1982, to see the progress the corporation has made in revamping a 40+ year old facility for the all-electric age while continuing to build ICE and plug-in vehicles.

What we saw was a unique approach to modern-day vehicle assembly, in which Honda will soon be able to build ICE, hybrid-electric, and BEVs on the same production line. Furthermore, the automaker can ramp up or down any specific vehicle configuration depending on customer demand. Senior vice president, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC, Bob Schwyn spoke to the media before joining us on the tour of Marysville:

The Honda EV Hub provides Honda with the flexibility to produce ICE, hybrid-electric and EV models on the same production lines so we can quickly respond to shifting customer needs and market conditions. Beyond adding the capability to produce EVs, we completely reimagined our approach to manufacturing, transforming the Honda production environment with more human-friendly processes and sustainable manufacturing practices.

As you’ll see in my video coverage, Honda was in the process of building a slew of Accords, which was interesting in its own right, but what was more exciting was the empty space at the Marysville section of the EV Hub, where Honda will soon begin assembling its battery platforms before integrating them into vehicles on those very same assembly lines, beginning with the Acura RSX.

As you can see in the image below, Honda has cleared out a massive amount of space for dedicated BEV component assembly, which required it to remove an entire existing build line and get creative about where to re-implement other manufacturing components in different parts of the plant – all while continuing to build non-BEV models.

Per the Honda team, the EV Hub will hire 300 new employees to specifically handle battery pack assembly at Marysville. The battery cases for those packs are built at Honda’s Anna Engine Plant, which I also got to visit and have detailed below. Those manufactured cases are then transported to Marysville, where trained Honda “Associates” will work alongside electric guided vehicles (EGVs) and robots to assemble Honda’s first-ever propriety EV platform.

Honda calls the process “Parallel module manufacturing,” which consists of a network of assembly cells performing assembly tasks in a multi-lateral manner in which if one cell is slow or completely down for some reason, production can continue.

Per Honda, the first batch of battery pack assembly cells have been installed at Marysville with a second batch to follow in three months. That will put Honda at its targeted launch volume of which it can scale from there depending on demand.

Honda’s megacast arsenal bolsters EV Hub’s future.

After our walkthrough around Marysville, we took a bus ride to Anna, Ohio, home to Honda’s Anna Engine Plant – another key piece to its EV Hub. Despite its name, Honda does not just build engines in Anna. Yes, it still very much does, but AEP is also the new home to vital machinery in Honda’s BEV manufacturing.

Honda has installed five of its six planned 6,000-ton megacasting machines at AEP, which will die-cast the EV battery cases mentioned above and seen in the images below. The massive die-cast machines, each capable of 300 tons of pressure during a trim press, will be operated in pairs by Honda as soon as the last machine has been installed.

In order to move the megacasting machines into the Anna Engine Plant, Honda had to widen its plant door. Then, it installed machines one through four, followed by number six, which just started operations a couple of weeks ago. Machine five, which would have been in the way if it hadn’t been installed last, will be arriving soon with plenty of time before Acura RSX production begins.

For me personally, it was awesome to visit AEP and see the megacasting in action because I got to see the same machine at Honda’s R&D center in Tochigi, Japan, this past fall. There, I was told that six more of those megacasting machines would be installed at the EV hub in Ohio.

Just months later, Honda is nearly complete with the installation process, and the three pairs will begin pressing the front and rear battery casings. While I did see the megacast machine in action in Japan, it was at a distance. During my visit to the EV Hub, however, Honda took us onto one of the machines where we could watch an EV battery case cast and trimmed up close. I documented it in my video below for you!

Another assembly technique I learned about in Tochigi but got to see in person at the Anna Engine Plant was Honda’s friction stir welding process. This innovative method produced high-strength welds to combine the two halves of the battery case and the water jacket (seen below) while reducing the amount of energy used and heat impact on the aluminum material.

This technique and Honda’s overall EV Hub renovation are part of a larger three-pronged strategy called “Triple Action to Zero.” Its goal is to achieve zero environmental impact by 2050 through carbon neutrality, clean energy, and resource circulation. That entails all zero-emission sales by 2040.

Honda is building EVs in the US the right way.

After my visit to Marysville and Anna, walking the assembly lines and chatting with Honda Associates from all levels of the business, I realized that a vestige of the American dream is still present in Ohio. Marysville and Anna are blue-collar areas, and those cities have continued to evolve thanks to Honda’s decision to plant roots on US soil over 40 years ago.

Many of the people I encountered during my trip have been with the business for longer than I have been on this Earth, some second generation, who grew up watching their parent grow alongside the business and its Ohio footprint.

While much of Honda’s US production history is a bit oily and dusty due to engines and combustion, the EV Hub provides a new era on par with Honda’s overall “back to zero” startup mentality. I was genuinely impressed by Honda’s ability to pivot, rethink, and repurpose its existing facilities to support the addition of BEV production.

Furthermore, the decision to implement those assemblies on the same line as Honda’s ICE and plug-in vehicles sounds like a pipe dream on paper, but in person, the business appears to have pulled it off. But it took everyone in Marysville, East Liberty, and Anna to get there. Honda will continue to rely on those Associates as it approaches the day when its first bespoke BEV on its very own platform rolls off that Marysville assembly line.

With the current political climate and EV education and understanding remaining huge hurdles for Americans and plenty of the public servants who help govern them, the future of BEV production is murky. That’s scary, given our tremendous progress in the past decade.

However, whether people are buying ICE cars, hybrids, PHEVs, or BEVs years from now, Honda has teed itself up to adapt and rise to the challenge (something the corporation prides itself on) with its EV Hub.

I’ve now learned the where, the when, and the how of BEV production at the Honda EV Hub, but now I’m ready for the what. From what I’ve been told, the 0 Series Saloon and SUV prototypes are “very close” to the final production design, but the Acura RSX remains a bit of a mystery aside from one camouflaged image.

I expect to learn more soon as that SUV will kick off Honda’s EV Hub production in late 2025. Perhaps I can take another trip to Ohio and see it built before driving one myself. While we await that milestone, you can check out my video touring the Marysville and Anna facilities at Honda’s EV Hub below:

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There’s finally some Tesla (TSLA) shareholder momentum to fire Elon Musk

There finally appears to be some Tesla shareholder momentum to fire Elon Musk from the firm after years of concerns being ignored by the board and most shareholders.

However, probably nothing will happen as long as the stock (TSLA) is up.

For years, we have expressed concerns about Elon Musk steering Tesla away from its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport and energy.

It has intensified over the last year when Musk threatened Tesla shareholders to breach his fiduciary duties, fired Tesla’s entire charging team in a kneejerk reaction, dove headfirst into a worrying social media addiction, shared countless misinformation on social media, and financed politicians who have directly attacked Tesla and whose policies go directly against Tesla’s mission.

Most of these would be firable offenses at most companies, but we also reported for years that Tesla has massive governance issues with the board basically being completely under Musk’s control despite him owning just 13% of the enterprise.

This leaves things in the hands of shareholders, who are limited to voting once a year. During Tesla’s shareholders meeting in June 2024, they made it clear that they are still for Musk, with most of them voting in line with what the board (aka him) recommended.

Since the inauguration and Musk’s salutes, the blowback, and his response to the blowback, there seems to be more traction amongst Tesla shareholders to remove.

Currently, the most popular post on the Tesla Investor Club on Reddit, one of the biggest Tesla shareholder communities, is about removing Musk as CEO of Tesla, and there have been a few of these types of posts getting traction over the last few weeks.

The post focused on Tesla’s lack of new models other than the Cybertruck in the last 5 years and the lack of growth in delivery volumes despite the rest of the EV market growing.

It also makes the argument that Musk is not following his own guiding principles when it comes to work dedication:

Assuming a few things… Musk is good at keeping organizations focused on long term hard to reach goals Musk is good at managing engineering teams Taking Musk’s own words as truth: management and engineers co-locating with production and “in person” at the office interactions are net positives. Taking Musk’s own words as truth: employees not willing to do #3 should move on. Musk is not doing #3 and thus is no longer performing #1 and #2 at Tesla for the mission. Additionally, with his own logic, he is now in the group of employees that were let go (#4).

This is not a bad argument considering that, in addition to virtually leading six companies and working out of the White House for his new DOGE government department, he was caught literally tweeting about non-Tesla stuff in the middle of Tesla’s earnings call last week.

All that while, he rages against employees who work from home because he believes it is less productive.

While many Tesla shareholders agreed with the post, the main objection was that “the stock is up, why mess with something that works?”.

This is indeed a problem for Tesla fans who want to see Musk go. With the board not doing anything, it would come down to shareholders voting the board out and forcing a confidence vote on Musk.

Shareholders are afraid that pushing Musk out would result in him selling his stock and triggering a big correction in Tesla’s stock.

Considering Tesla is currently trading at an insane price-to-earnings ratio of 200 and closer to 400 if you remove ZEV credits and the Bitcoin gain, would that be such a bad thing if it meant realigning with the mission?

Obviously, I don’t think we would see that happen if there were a confidence vote tomorrow. I think the stock would need to come down to reality to motivate shareholders to take action.

Personally, I think being scared of a selloff because of Musk leaving is shortsighted. Tesla’s fundamentals are looking worse by the day, and this quarter should be the worst in years.

If Tesla stock doesn’t crash this quarter, Tesla will likely be trading at a 500+ P/E after reporting Q1 2025 earnings. The last time Tesla traded at these levels, Musk warned Tesla employees that the stock would get crushed “like a soufflé being smashed by a sledgehammer” if it didn’t show profit growth.

A few years later, Tesla is in an even worse situation, considering profits from its main business, automotive, are actually crashing, while profits from self-driving cars and robots are realistically still years away.

It’s true that removing Musk would likely result in a short-term stock crash, but I think it would be good for Tesla long-term.

First, Musk is undoubtedly negatively affecting Tesla’s sales. Removing him would likely give Tesla some breathing room when it comes to demand.

Secondly, Musk has created a huge liability for Tesla by consistently promising self-driving capability on all cars produced since 2016. This needs to be addressed and fixed, and Musk is clearly not the person to do this.

Tesla needs leadership to realign the firm with its mission and derisk the self-driving effort. I think there’s room to still aim for Musk’s grand vision for Tesla, but without consistently lying and overpromising.

Call me crazy, but I think the corporation would fair enhanced with a competent full-time CEO instead of an egomaniac wannabe oligarch who consistently lies to shareholders, engages in resource tunneling with his private competing corporation, and is deeply lost in one of the worst cases of social media addiction that I’ve ever seen.

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