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Here Comes the Flood of Plug-In Hybrids

Here Comes the Flood of Plug-In Hybrids

Last week, the Biden administration made it official: American cars are really going electric.

The US Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule, long in the works, that will require automakers selling in the United States to dramatically boost the number of battery-powered vehicles sold this decade, putting a serious dent in the country’s carbon emissions in the process. By 2032, more than half of new cars sold must be electric.

Automakers will have more leeway in choosing how to reach the government’s new tailpipe emissions goals, thanks to changes made between when the rules were first introduced in draft form nearly a year ago and now. One big, important shift: Plug-in hybrids are part of the picture.

In the draft of the rule, auto companies could only meet the gradually ratcheting zero-emissions goals by selling more battery-electric cars. But after lobbying from automakers and unions, which both argued that the EPA’s proposals were unrealistic, manufacturers will now be allowed to use plug-in hybrids to meet the standards.

This means that now carmakers can satisfy federal rules by ensuring that two-thirds of their 2032 sales are battery electric—or that battery-electric vehicles are just over half of their sales, and plug-in hybrids account for 13 percent.

Expect automakers to take advantage of these types of hybrid vehicles—which are powered primarily by electric batteries but supplemented by a gas-powered engine once the batteries deplete—as they race to meet the nation’s most ambitious climate goals yet.

There will be a lot of these things on the road. But the technology has a climate hitch: It’s only as emission-free as its drivers choose to be.

Gateway EV Drug

In recent months, executives for manufacturers including Audi, BMW, the Chinese EV-maker BYD, General Motors, Mercedes, and Volvo have suggested that the “compromise” cars could be a springboard that launches more cars and customers into the electric transition. And the policy shift could be vindication for Toyota, which has bet that customers will flock to gas-electric hybrids and plug-in hybrids rather than following Tesla down a fully electric path.

Globally, sales of plug-in hybrids are growing faster than battery-electrics (though this is partly because the hybrids have further to climb). Sales of plug-in hybrids jumped by 43 percent between 2022 and 2023, to almost 4.2 million, according to figures provided by BloombergNEF, a market research firm. Sales of battery-electric vehicles increased by 28 percent in the same period, to nearly 9.6 million.

The tech has some powerful upsides. The average US driver only puts in about 30 miles of driving each day, meaning most could get by most days using only a plug-in hybrid’s electric battery, and only using gas on longer trips.

Plug-in hybrids also make some automakers less nervous, manufacturing-wise: They’re more expensive to build than pure battery electrics (the whole two-motor thing), but the tech can sometimes be retrofitted into existing, gas-powered cars. This means less work, short-term, an exciting prospect for an industry that has to rejigger both how it builds its cars and how it sources the materials that will make their batteries go in the next few decades, as they move towards electrics.

Undersea-Aged Champagne Is Starting to Surface

Undersea-Aged Champagne Is Starting to Surface

If you’ve ever been hit by a flying champagne cork, you will be painfully aware of the pressure in a bottle of fizz. And that pressure inside—and outside—the bottle has caught the imaginations of champagne innovators.

“We conduct many trials every year to fine-tune the pressure to the vintage,” says Louis Roederer’s chef de cave, Jean Baptiste Lécaillon. “We have a lower pressure—so smaller bubbles—[because] we want a seamless and soft mousse.”

The pressure inside a bottle of champagne is typically around 6 bar, or three times the pressure of a car tire. But Louis Roederer champagnes can range from 6 to 4.5 bar. “The more acidity you have in the wine, the more aggressive the feeling of the bubbles … This is also why we are on the low side,” explains Lécaillon, “especially on Cristal, which is often non-malo [referring to malolactic fermentation] and low pH.” The newly released Cristal 2015, he says, “is a great example of this featherlight mousse … It is at the same time delicious, effortlessly intense, and delicate.”

One only needs a basic grasp of physics to realize that storing champagne at higher temperatures will increase the pressure inside. But scientists were astonished to find that when a bottle stored at 20 degrees Celsius (well above cellar temperature) was uncorked, the velocity of gas expelled from the bottleneck momentarily reached almost Mach 2—twice the speed of sound.

The Ballistics of Bubbly

Researcher Gérard Liger-Belair, professor of chemical physics at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, likens this phenomenon “to what happens with rocket plume exhausts.” The pressure causes the CO2 to freeze and turn to dry ice when suddenly released, creating a plume at the bottle opening.

Liger-Belair is a specialist in champagne and effervescence, and the author of Uncorked: The Science of Champagne. But he hopes the findings, published in an academic journal last year, will also have applications in the fields of ballistics and rocketry.

The pressure in a champagne bottle falls over the years, resulting in smaller and scarcer bubbles—and that more composed, rather quieter character can often be part of the charm of a long-aged cuvée.

In the name of research, Dom Pérignon’s cellar master Vincent Chaperon once tried to reinvigorate the bubbles in a bottle of Dom Pérignon Plénitude 2, which is aged on the lees for 15 to 20 years, or around twice as long as a flagship DP. He won’t say how he did it (SodaStream? Aarke?), but he admits the result was “unharmonious—not good.”

Best Hair Dryers and Diffusers (2023): Blow-Dryers, Brushers, and Diffusers

Best Hair Dryers and Diffusers (2023): Blow-Dryers, Brushers, and Diffusers

From the time the first hair dryer was introduced for home use in the 1920s, every one looked nearly identical until Dyson debuted its Supersonic dryer in 2016, which matched the design of its bladeless fans. Now, several companies are adapting their drying tech into the lightest, thinnest package possible, looking more like a heat gun than a hair dryer (I guess these are a type of heat gun, technically).

I’ve used these three. They’re each less than a pound, relatively quiet, and have self-cleaning functions—you take the filter cover off the back and activate cleaning mode; the dryers shoot air in reverse to push dust and debris out. While each one stands out on its own, I wish I could combine all three for one perfect dryer.

Chi Lava Pro for $337: This one is slightly lighter than the other two. It has an LED screen indicating the exact temperature, which is a nice but rare feature, and there are four heat settings from cool to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The big flaw, however, is that far too much air comes through the diffuser, blowing hair around more than should happen with that attachment.

Gama IQ2 Perfetto for $430: The Gama dryer is sleek and includes a safety feature to automatically turn off should it overheat (it did not do this in testing, thankfully). There’s a setting lock so you can dry your hair without accidentally changing the speed or heat. Plus, it comes with a silicone mat that puts the dryer into standby mode automatically when you place it down, turning back on when you pick it up. This is really helpful if you’re sectioning off hair for a blowout, and frequently have to put the dryer down. But it’s expensive and the magnetic filter cover constantly falls off.

Bio Ionic Smart-X High-Efficiency Dryer for $329: This Bio Ionic also has a settings lock, which I now believe should be on every styling tool. I prefer the look of this one the best, however, it doesn’t come with a diffuser, which I think should be standard at this price point.

Best Cocktail Gear: Shakers, Strainers, Juicers, and More (2023)

Best Cocktail Gear: Shakers, Strainers, Juicers, and More (2023)

Nothing draws the attention of a party like a bartender, swinging open the doors of a bar cabinet and taking their place among the glistening bottles of brown and clear liquors, colorful spirits with foreign names, and sparkling cut glassware. Beer is a fine drink, as is wine, but they don’t match the spectacle of mixing a cocktail.

I’ve had more bad cocktails in my life than I care to remember, and it often comes down to the maker splashing in too much liquor or not straining their solid ingredients. You need a measure of knowledge, a splash of experience, and the right tools, which we’ve collected below. As we head into the holiday gathering season, the right cocktail tools and some basic bartending skills can make you popular with friends and family.

Be sure to check out our other buying guides and gift guides, like our Boozy Gift Ideas and Gifts for Coffee Lovers roundups.

Updated October 2023: We’ve added new books, glassware, a knife, ice crushers, and mixers.

BMW i5 (G60) Review: Specs, Price, Availability

BMW i5 (G60) Review: Specs, Price, Availability

The i3 and i8 were prescient precursors. The i4, iX and i7 moved the idea of an all-electric BMW center stage. Now things get real, for the numbers don’t lie. The i5 replaces one of the Bavarian behemoth’s heartland cars, the 5 series, a 10-million-plus bestseller across seven previous generations since 1972.

This is arguably the definitive BMW, a classy but entertaining European sports sedan aspired to by pretty much anyone with a hint of petrol in their veins. Now that fuel is changing—and much else besides.

We’re in the basement parking garage of a building in Lisbon, home to up to 2,000 software engineers employed exclusively by BMW (making it the biggest software employer in Portugal). The erstwhile purveyor of the “ultimate driving machine” now wishes to be seen as a far-sighted tech powerhouse that just happens to build cars. But can a company hard-wired to provide driver interaction truly manage the transition? Frank Weber, BMW’s head of total vehicle development, reckons the company has been on this path for decades.

“Every BMW engineer has a digital side to them,” Weber tells WIRED. “People ask about mechanical components, but there is nothing that is not digital. The software guys here are an integral part of our organization. We learned the hard way with the E65 7 series [in 2002], which was a nightmare and turned the whole organization upside down in the 12 months before its launch. But we established how to match hardware and software integration [on that car], and we now have a mature organization. The process has evolved. But, even so, software cannot compensate for hardware weaknesses.”

Two people playing games on the media console inside of the 2023 BMW i5

The new i5 has in-car gaming, with 20 built-in titles at launch.

Photograph: BMW

The i5 ramps up the new-age BMW offer significantly, not least in the way it’s pitched. As Weber hands over to colleagues, we learn little about the new car’s chassis or powertrain, but a lot about the arrival of AirConsole, which introduces in-car gaming to the 5 series.

Scan a QR code and your smartphone becomes a games controller hooked up to the 14.9-inch Curved Glass display (as premiered on the iX in 2021). BMW offers 20 built-in games at launch, with more to come, thankfully, as these launch titles aren’t exactly stellar (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Go Kart Go, Golazo, and Overcooked are symbolic of the questionable quality on the list. If you’re thinking Fortnite, Call of Duty: Mobile or Among Us, think again). Surprisingly, and somewhat oddly, this wasn’t set up on the review cars, so we can’t tell you how well it works.

Still, it’s another way of passing the time while you wait for your i5 to charge, as BMW admits. Then there’s the car’s streaming capability, including YouTube or TiVo, depending on which country you’re in. A Bundesliga in-car App is available from launch.

First Electric 5 Series

2023 BMW i5 EV charging next to a scenic lake

The i5 can handle a maximum DC charge of 205 kW, going from 10 to 80 per cent in 30 minutes.

Photograph: BMW

There is still a car in here somewhere, though. The i5 is the first fully electric 5 series, fitted with BMW’s fifth generation e-Drive technology and laden with all the radar, sensors, cameras, and driver assistance systems that are essential equipment these days.