Excited Onlookers: Look at the Charge Port on THAT

Cadillac debuts its electric Lyriq crossover on August 6th, just a few short… well, at least a year or more before it goes into production as either a 2022 or 2023 model.

Hoping to generate Bronco-worthy levels of buzz that won’t materialize, the automaker released a couple of teasers of the upcoming vehicle, revealing a feature that causes this Canadian to tug his collar in an aggressive manner.

The Lyriq, Cadillac’s first all-electric vehicle, is the vanguard of an EV product wave from the brand. Joining this cohort are similar products bound for other GM divisions. Built atop a versatile third-generation platform, with an in-house Ultium battery pack slung underneath, this midsize crossover is one of five Caddy EVs expected to be on the road within the next handful of years.

The brand didn’t do much revealing on Friday, but the sliding front fender panel hiding the model’s charge port is worthy of discussion. Hopefully there’s a modicum of heat generated behind that panel, as yours truly once had to violently kick the driver’s door of a GM product in order to enter it following a flash freeze. Breaking that icy seal left your author’s car with a permanent dent, but it was better than the alternative (grim, frigid death).

But buyers in the high-priced field like fancy things, and a conventional, fuel door-type charge port cover just doesn’t come across as innovative and disruptive. Like power running boards, new things that could fail and cause the owner embarrassment are the premium class’ stock-in-trade.

Joining the Lyriq’s look-at-me charge port are a set of very expressive wheels designed to match the model’s futuristic face — a visage that reportedly carries over nearly unchanged from the concept renderings released early last year.

While GM isn’t shy of the capabilities and power specs of its upcoming GMC Hummer EV pickup, the Lyriq carries many more question marks. The Ultium batteries, at least in the Hummer, are supposedly capable of up to 400 miles of driving between recharges, but it isn’t known just how long-legged this smaller crossover will be.

Tune in on August 6th.

[Images: General Motors]