FlashFeed

Full text

Ford’s upcoming $30k electric truck was spotted testing in Dearborn.

Prototype sits noticeably lower than a Ford Expedition Max.

The compact pickup rides on Ford’s new in-house EV architecture.

Ford’s highly anticipated, affordable electric truck is still working through development testing ahead of its debut next year, and our spy photographers have sent over fresh shots from Dearborn that put the compact pickup right next to a full-size SUV for scale. The result tells you a lot about how small this thing really is, especially when compared to the Blue Oval’s other truck offerings.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f");

}

});

More: Jim Farley Says It Took Ford Four Years To Finally Get Its Quality Issues Under Control

The camouflaged prototype got a brief escort from a Ford Expedition Max , and the pairing does the truck no favors. At 221.9 inches (5,636 mm) long and 78 inches (1,981 mm) tall, the giant SUV makes the pickup look like a car with a bed bolted on. The EV’s low roofline barely clears the Expedition’s shoulder line. There’s a good reason for that.

A Roofline Shaped by the Spreadsheet

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("89c65a14-4682-4807-a4bb-5436c5361bee");

} else{

adpushup.triggerAd("f25825bd-1260-4574-84ce-2b26e315fad8");

}

});

Baldauf

Ford’s designers poured their attention into aerodynamic efficiency , chasing every bit of range so the truck can get away with a smaller, lighter battery. In an earlier video, the company walked through the math, noting that adding 1 mm (0.04 inches) to the roof height would cost $1.30 more in battery or trim 0.055 miles off the range, which explains why the roofline sits where it does.

Beyond the low roof, the model has a steeply raked windshield, smaller mirrors, low-resistance Michelin E Primacy tires, an integrated roof spoiler, and cross-shaped aero wheel covers measuring 19 inches across. All of it adds up to what Ford claims is 15% better aerodynamics than “any other pickup truck on the market today,” including the similarly sized Maverick .

Retro Cues Hiding Under Playful Camouflage

Baldauf

Ford’s engineers have stuck chunks of camouflage onto the front end to disguise its shape, and the production version is expected to wear a lower, more rounded nose than what the prototype shows.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751");

}

});

More: Ford Asked AI To Build Better Cars, Then Rehired Humans To Fix What AI Broke

The droopy headlights sit low enough to suggest Ford might be dusting off the design language of the second-gen F-Series from the 1950s, a look it already leaned on for the mid-2000s and early-2010s Mustangs. Then again, these might be placeholder units, since earlier teaser sketches pointed toward a more futuristic take on the lighting signature.

Baldauf

The spy shots also give us a glimpse inside the cabin, where a large free-standing infotainment display dominates the dash. The new camouflage wrap comes into view too, scattered with graphics of a dog, a sailboat, a soccer ball, a heart, a flower, a motorcycle, and plenty more.

A Clean-Sheet Architecture

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("b25ecba7-3bbb-4ea7-a3a8-dbea91695c07");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("e46c436a-adeb-4b5e-a2c7-56bc36561c10");

}

});

Baldauf

Underneath, the pickup rides on Ford’s new Universal EV platform, developed in-house by a dedicated skunkworks team. The architecture leans on large aluminum unicastings for a 27% weight advantage over rivals, and it cuts parts by 20%, fasteners by 25%, and factory workstations by 40%. It also runs a simplified 48-volt low-voltage system with a wiring harness that comes in 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) shorter and 10 kg (22 lbs) lighter than the harnesses in Ford’s first-generation EVs .

More: Ford CEO Suddenly Reopens The Door To A New Falcon Ute

Baldauf

Ford hasn’t said anything yet about the electric motors or the battery pack. What we do know is that the truck will use a cost-effective Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery, which is how Ford plans to hold the starting price near the $30,000 mark.

More details should surface over the coming months as the 2027 debut draws closer. Earlier reports suggest the model could revive the historic Ranchero nameplate, though Ford hasn’t confirmed anything on that front.

Official sketches of a futuristic truck shared on an earlier teaser.

Ford

Full text

At least one Demon has remained on sale for more than five years.

Seven of them are rare Demon 170s, capped at just 3,301 worldwide.

Prices for the Demon 170 models range from $138,946 to $155,536.

Anyone who missed out on a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon when it was new can relax. Eight years after the car launched, the used market is still full of them, though they still change hands for more than they cost new.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f");

}

});

One particular dealership in California has more Demons in stock than most. The dealer, Huntington Beach Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram , currently has eight standard Demon models up for sale, and no fewer than seven Demon 170s available. While they are all commanding premiums, none of them are absurdly priced.

Watch: Hennessey’s Demon 1700 Makes More Torque At The Tires Than A Bugatti Chiron Makes At The Crank

Some of these Challenger Demons have been available from the dealer since at least 2021. These include the priciest one of them all, a Blue Pearlcoat example with an asking price of $107,621. The dealership is also selling one painted Go Mango, another painted F8 Green, one that’s Pitch Black, and another that’s finished in Billet silver, all carrying an identical asking price of $107,552.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform === "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("ea4d4b5a-f8e5-4d5d-9d9a-53a3b956b6cd");

} else{

adpushup.triggerAd("44c0a4dc-e25b-4ba5-ac64-2c510461b92a");

}

});

Huntington Beach Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram

The two cheapest Demons available from the dealer are both priced at $103,157: one painted Pitch Black and the other finished in Yellow Jacket. Curiously, none of the listings provides mileage details for the cars.

For your money, you get a raging 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 pumping out up to 840 hp and 770 lb-ft (1,044 Nm) of torque when running on 100-octane race fuel, or 808 hp and 717 lb-ft (972 Nm) on 91-octane pump gas. The powerful muscle car originally had an MSRP of $84,995, but finding one now for less than $100,000 is extremely difficult.

Demon 170 Galore

Huntington Beach Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram

Then come the seven Demon 170s. Production ran far tighter here than on the standard car, capped at 3,301 units worldwide. The engine starts life as Dodge’s Hellcat 6.2-liter supercharged V8, but the Hellcat’s 717 hp was only a starting figure. Dodge fortified the internals with upgraded pistons, fuel injectors, crankshaft, cylinder head studs and more, before bolting a larger 3.0-liter supercharger on top.

Also: From Over $200K To $128K, The Demon 170 Fell Hard And Fast

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751");

}

});

Run it on E85 and the engine sends 1,025 hp and 945 lb-ft of torque through an eight-speed automatic to the rear wheels. Switch to the more common E10 pump gas and it still puts down 900 hp and 810 lb-ft. Dodge quoted an 8.91-second quarter mile at 151.2 mph and a 1.66-second sprint to 60 mph (97 km/h) with a rollout, quick enough to embarrass a Bugatti.

Four of the Demon 170s at this single dealership carry identical prices of $138,946, while the most expensive one wears Sublime paint and asks $155,536. At the other end sits a Plum Crazy Pearlcoat example with a $139,041 sticker.

var adpushup = window.adpushup = window.adpushup || {que:[]};

adpushup.que.push(function() {

if (adpushup.config.platform !== "DESKTOP"){

adpushup.triggerAd("bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c");

} else {

adpushup.triggerAd("9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751");

}

});

Huntington Beach Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram

Full text

Fourth of July celebrations across the United States this weekend could be accompanied by light shows in the night skies, as a string of powerful solar eruptions appear set to strike Earth.

The sun has been especially hyperactive over the past few days — firing off 10 M-class solar flares over 24 hours that have been accompanied by multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are set to slam into Earth on July 3 and July 5.

CMEs are large, fast-moving clouds of magnetized plasma and solar radiation that occasionally get flung into space with solar flares when kinks in the sun's magnetic field snap. If CMEs smash into Earth, they cause disturbances in Earth's magnetic field, called geomagnetic storms, that can trigger partial radio blackouts and produce vibrant aurora displays farther away from Earth's magnetic poles than usual.

"Machine-Gun Sun! More than 5 storms on their way to Earth and 3 of them offer good chances for aurora views," Tamitha Skov , a space weather physicist at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, wrote in a July 2 post on the social platform X . "NOAA and NASA model predictions do not show all the storms yet (it's hard to keep up with the rapid-fire storm launches!) but the first should hit before noon July 3 UTC."

The CMEs are expected to give a glancing blow to our planet, creating conditions for a moderate (G2) geomagnetic storm , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center. It's also possible that these storms will strengthen to become strong (G3), depending on how they interact with Earth's magnetic field.

Auroras resulting from G3-class geomagnetic storms are often visible in northern parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Maine, according to NOAA. Skywatchers farther south in Oregon, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire will also have a chance of catching the light show. In any case, skywatchers interested in seeing or photographing the auroras will need to get as far from artificial light sources as possible.

The weekend storms might not be the last activity we see from the sun in the coming days, as two gigantic sunspots currently pimpling its face are displaying "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic fields — the most tangled and unstable type. This means these sunspots harbor the potential to launch powerful X-class flares, according to spaceweather.com .

RELATED STORIES

How to see 2 total solar eclipses in the next 2 years — including the 'eclipse of the century'

We are fast approaching the sun's 'battle zone' — and it could be even worse than solar maximum, experts warn

'The sun is slowly waking up': NASA warns that there may be more extreme space weather for decades to come

The last few years have seen a record number of powerful X-class flares explode from the sun's surface, hitting Earth with several major solar storms, including 2024's Mother's Day storm . This record comes partly from improvements to scientists' solar monitoring technologies, but also due to the sun reaching its 11-year peak in sunspot production, or solar maximum, in 2024.

Following this peak, the sun has now entered a period known as the "battle zone," a relatively understudied solar phase where instabilities across our star's newly flipped magnetic field ramp up the production of solar holes, gigantic, highly-tangled sunspots and subsequent geomagnetic storms.

The worst-case scenario for a solar storm is a superstorm like the 1859 Carrington Event , which released roughly the same energy as 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs. After slamming into Earth, the powerful stream of solar particles set telegraph systems around the world on fire and caused auroras brighter than the light of the full moon to appear as far south as the Caribbean.

The Carrington Event unleashed a roughly X45 magnitude solar flare that remains a record, yet it's likely far from the worst the sun can muster — with ancient tree rings harboring evidence of even more powerful blasts that occurred long before humans existed.

Full text

TL;DR

Google Sheets now lets you import 3D bar charts to spreadsheets in their original format.

The app previously defaulted to 2D charts when importing data from other providers, such as Microsoft Excel.

This quality-of-life update is available to all Workspace users and to those with personal Google accounts.

Google Sheets users have been able to import bar charts and graphs from other providers for a while now. However, if you tried to bring in a 3D bar chart, the app would always render it in 2D, instead. The Sheets team is finally lifting this limitation with an update this week.

Google announced the update in a blog post , adding that users should now be able to import bar graphs from other apps, such as Microsoft Excel, in their full 3D glory to enable “a more seamless experience.”