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With Subaru rolling out some new EVs, I thought it would be good to remind myself what the original was like. I’m talking about the Solterra, which was born out of a partnership between Toyota and Subaru to jointly develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles.

I spent a week with a pearl-white 2026 Subaru Solterra premium trim model that starts at $38,495. Putting aside for a moment that my friend’s Ring camera identified the Solterra as a mini golf cart, this EV does have something to offer. Yeah, it’s basic. And sure, it’s not going to fire off the line like a Tesla, Lucid, or Porsche Taycan. But it doesn’t need to. 

The headline here is that the Solterra has gotten better — and it really needed it. 

The 2026 model has a bunch of notable updates that improve the power, range, and usability. 

The front and rear motors have been updated — along with a new controller that improves power distribution and control — and together produce an improved 233 horsepower (the XT trim pushes it up to 388 hp). Like most other EVs out there, the Solterra now has an integrated NACS charging port, the system developed by Tesla. The range has also improved to an EPA-estimated 288 miles, which is notable considering Subaru increased the battery capacity by only 2 kWh and managed to increase the range by more than 50 miles. There is also a preconditioning setting to prepare the battery for a charge, which greatly improves the charging time. 

Subaru revamped the tech inside as well, adding a 14-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and making wireless 15 W smartphone chargers for standard.

Subaru doesn’t offer true one-pedal driving in the Solterra, a standard bearer of EVs. Instead, the Subaru has paddles located on the back of the steering wheel that let you increase the regenerative braking if you want. But it won’t come to a complete stop like other popular EVs that have one-pedal driving. While longtime EV owners might be turned off by this, it could be more attractive to car buyers who want their EV to act like their old gas-powered car.