Roughly a year since announcing it, McDonald’s is ready to test its first plant-based burger. Ahead of its trial launch in the US today, I tasted the collaboration between Beyond Meat and the Golden Arches; although the version here in the UK is entirely vegan, with pea-protein-based ‘cheese,’ a vegan sauce subbing in for mayo and even a vegan-friendly sesame-seed bun.

The US take uses a slice of American cheese and proper mayo — though you can customize your order to avoid these. The plant-based patty will also be cooked alongside meat-based products, making it not entirely vegan. Given the cheese included, however, McDonald’s USA is positioning it more like a substitute item for people looking to reduce their meat intake. But how does it taste? You’ll have to read on.

— Mat Smith

NVIDIA Broadcast is kinda underrated

How your GPU might give your streams a leg up.

NVIDIA is tapping the potential of its own GPUs to do things beyond, well, graphics. Evolving from RTX Voice, which as the name implies, is a tool for upping your microphone skills, it quietly released Broadcast — a more comprehensive tool aimed squarely at streamers and content creators. Broadcast dabbles in both audio and video improvements, and James Trew has been testing it out. Expect to see his spin-off Twitch stream dedicated to the Atari Lynx very soon.

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'Overwatch 2' and 'Diablo IV' have been delayed indefinitely

Literally, there is no release date.

Blizzard

Activision Blizzard is once again delaying Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. Following months of upheaval at its Blizzard Entertainment subsidiary, stemming from a sexual harassment lawsuit the State of California filed in July, the publisher announced during its recent third-quarter 2021 earnings call that it's pushing those games back to give the teams working on them more time.

"While we are still planning to deliver a substantial amount of content from Blizzard next year, we are now planning for a later launch for Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV than originally envisaged," the company said.

This announcement came alongside news that Jen Oneal has stepped down from her role as co-leader of Blizzard, leaving Mike Ybarra as the head of the studio. Oneal, the first woman in a president role since Activision's founding in 1979, will temporarily transition to a new position, but will leave Activision Blizzard at the end of the year.

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'Squid Game' cryptocurrency collapses in a $3 million scam

Its creators may have made off with as much as $3.38 million.

​​A cryptocurrency inspired by Netflix hit Squid Game successfully enticed enough investors to see its value soar to over $2,800... before its creators cashed out and disappeared. The cryptocurrency called $SQUID launched in late October and rose up to 310,000 percent in value in just a few days. It was meant to be for playing for an upcoming online game based on the South Korean series.

Early Monday morning, however, the coin's value plummeted to $0, its website disappeared (you can view an archive here) and its Twitter account got blocked.

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Microsoft Loop is a new Office app built for collaborative work

It makes the company's vision of collaborative work clearer.

Microsoft Loop, a new Office collaboration app announced today, takes the company's Fluid Framework vision one step further. You might remember the technology from Microsoft's recent developer events. Simply put, it should allow collaboration on specific chunks of content, say a table or chart, synchronized across multiple Office apps. A table you create in Outlook, for example, would instantly update if someone plugs it into a Word document and adds new information. Oh, and Microsoft is, naturally, working on the multiverse. MS Word in VR, baby!

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Traeger now ships full barbecue meals for you to cook on its smart grills

Everything aspiring pitmasters need to prepare a feast.

Traeger

Definitely not a plant-based burger. Traeger is expanding its range of supplies and gear to offer you literally everything you might need for a full meal, with all the dishes cooked directly on its grills. Traeger Provisions is a HelloFresh-like meal kit that includes the meat, sides, rubs, sauces and more.

At launch, the meat options are Wagyu beef brisket, Poulet Rouge chicken and Berkshire St. Louis pork ribs. Traeger says portion sizes for all three will accommodate 4 to 8 people, depending on the protein. For the brisket, the company also offers an option for 14 to 16 people (half brisket vs. whole brisket). Prices range from $150 to $180 for the smaller packages, while the larger whole brisket box is $250.

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The biggest news stories you might have missed

Elon Musk says Hertz hasn't actually ordered 100,000 Tesla EVs yet

Seven tech charities to support this holiday season

The home theater gear worth gifting this year (even if the giftee is you)

Tesla issues recall of 11,704 EVs over braking software glitch

Apple's 512GB Mac Mini M1 returns to a record low of $750 at Amazon

Netflix starts rolling out mobile games to all Android subscribers

'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is shutting down on January 31st, 2022

Razer's latest Productivity keyboard and mouse have 'silent' mechanical switches

Back in October, Google Stadia introduced free trials with its Hello Engineer game. While the service lets users try any game they want with a $10-per-month Pro subscription, it was the first time free users were given the chance to test a game before purchase. Now, according to 9to5Google, Stadia is giving free users the opportunity to take two more games for a spin before they have to buy them. One of those games is Control: Ultimate Edition, which recently just came out for the platform.

Ultimate Edition contains the core Control game, along with the expansions that were released for it. Like Hello Engineer, players will be able to test it out for 30 minutes before they have to decide whether to pay $40 for a copy. The other game is Ubisoft's recently released Riders Republic, a massively multiplayer extreme sports game, where teams can battle each other on bikes, skis, snowboards and in flying wingsuits. Players will get the chance to try it out for two hours instead of just 30 minutes, perhaps because half an hour might barely be enough to cover tutorials when there are several extreme sports to choose from. Besides, Riders Republic isn't cheap and costs $60 to purchase.

With the addition of these two games, we can probably expect Google to make more titles available for free trial in the future. It could be an effective way to get people who'd rather own the titles they play interested in purchasing from Stadia instead of from other gaming platforms. 

Ready to buy yet another version of Skyrim? After coming to nearly every system imaginable, Bethesda’s seminal 2011 RPG is about to get the tabletop treatment. Modiphius Entertainment, the company behind Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, is working on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - The Adventure Game. Set to come out sometime next summer, the game will allow you to revisit Tamriel’s frozen north as an agent of the Imperial Blades. You can play either by yourself or with up to three other friends.

The narrative-driven game will ship with two campaigns made up of three chapters. Modiphius says each one should take about 90 to 120 minutes to complete. Provided you don’t get distracted by side quests and exploration (not an easy feat in any Elder Scrolls game), you can expect your initial playthrough to take about 12 hours. Worry not, you can “save” your progress at any point, and pick up where you left off. The decisions you make during a playthrough will shape how the story unfolds. And with a deck of about 600 cards driving the narrative, no two sessions should play out exactly the same.

If you want to read more about the game, Polygon has a detailed preview. You can pre-order The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - The Adventure Game through Gamefound. The first 2,011 people to back the project’s base tier can get the game by itself for £68 (approximately $92). For everyone else, it will start at £82 ($111).

At Engadget, we’ve long been fans of Samsung’s T7 portable SSDs for their fast performance and compact design. They tend to be more expensive than some competing options, but if you’re patient, you can usually find them on sale. To that point, Amazon has discounted the black 1TB Touch model from $190 to $150, matching the previous all-time low price for the SSD. You can also get the silver colorway for less than MSRP, but it’s only discounted by $20. Additionally, the 2TB variant is $70 off, making it $300 currently. If you want to save an extra $10, the non-Touch model, which doesn’t include a built-in fingerprint sensor, is $140 at the moment.

Whether you go for the standard or Touch model, the T7 has a lot going for it. Both variants feature an aluminum outer casing that will protect the solid-state drive from drops. They also include ePCM technology and a Dynamic Thermal Guard feature to assist with heat management. When it comes to performance, the T7 can read files at up to 1,050 MB/s and write them at up to 1,000 MB/s. And while it only features a single USB-C port, the T7 comes with both USB-C and USB-A cables inside the box, allowing you to use it with almost any modern device, including some video game consoles. For those reasons, we think the T7 is a solid option for storing your photos and other important files.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

McDonald’s first plant-based burger (ignoring the veggie “burgers” that have come before it) finally goes on limited sale in the US later this week.

Following a brief trial in Canada in 2019, the McPlant has been on a wider tour of McDonald’s franchises in Europe. Ahead of its debut next week, I decided to try out the McPlant here in the UK, where it’s been available in selected restaurants for over a month. The TLDR review is that it tastes like... a McDonald’s burger.

I’ve had better (and worse) burgers, both plant and animal-based, but the launch itself is a major deal for the future of plant-based burgers in general. Whether you eat there or not, you can’t avoid the fact that this is the world’s biggest fast-food chain attempting a burger that tastes of meat — without using any meat.

McDonald’s is a little late to the plant-based patty party. In 2019, its rival Burger King started selling its own Impossible Whopper, recruiting Impossible Foods to help create a meat-free patty for its iconic menu item.

The launch wasn’t without issues though. Depending on location, the Impossible Whopper launched at roughly $1-2 dollars more than the beef-based original. (The chain eventually cut prices, due to slowing sales according to Bloomberg.)

Then there was the class-action lawsuit, because the Impossible Whopper, while entirely plant-based, was being cooked on the same surfaces as meat and dairy products. A vegan customer said that ads that said "100% Whopper, 0% Beef" were misleading. A Florida judge eventually dismissed the case, but not before it made headlines, and ensured that, from then on, Burger King stipulated that its plant-based Whopper was prepared on surfaces that came into contact with meat and dairy items, meaning that it was subsequently not vegan.

McDonald’s takes a similar approach on its corporate site, saying that the McPlant will be “cooked on the same grill as meat-based products and eggs“. In even more certain terms, the McPlant features American cheese and mayonnaise, which make it far from vegan-friendly.

McDonald's

However, McDonald’s UK and Ireland took three years to develop its own take on the McPlant, and it ticks the vegan box. Alongside the co-developed Beyond Meat patty, this particular McPlant comes in a vegan sesame bun, uses a pea-protein-based ‘cheese’ slice and a new vegan sauce that tastes somewhere between mayonnaise and the Golden Arches’ own burger sauce. (I really wish they’d given the sauce some kind of name, just to make it less... mysterious.) I think it's meant to be a mayonnaise substitute.

The new menu item has also been given the Vegetarian Society’s vegan accreditation, because on top of those recipe changes, here in the UK it is cooked and prepared separately to non-vegan products. For now, the US McPlant is neither vegan nor vegetarian and will come with a slice of American cheese and mayonnaise. The burger is also cooked on the same grill as meat - and egg-based products.

But back to my McPlant. With lettuce, tomato, pickles and that faux cheese slice, the UK version of the McPlant is more substantial than a standard McDonald’s cheeseburger.

Mat Smith/Engadget

From what I’ve been told, the composition and the Beyond Meat patty remain the same in the McDonald’s USA version. Like other high-end plant-based burgers given the mainstream treatment, it tastes meaty and the — I hate this word — mouthfeel tells my brain that I’m chewing on a McDonald’s burger.

The good thing about using plant-based meat substitutes in a burger is that the patty is just half the story. How it’s cooked, the toppings, the seasoning and the sauce add an awful lot (often more) to the flavors and textures.

Each bite is literally a cross-section of the entire burger, and so even if you think rival plant-based patties (like Impossible Foods’) are better than Beyond’s, once it’s cooked, stacked and in your hands, for most of us, a patty that’s marginally tastier is irrelevant.

Despite that, the burger itself does taste like a McDonald’s beef hamburger. So that’s a success. (I’m less sold on the fake cheese slice, but the majority of vegan cheese options taste terrible too, so not sure I can blame McDonald’s entirely here.)

The economies of scale are why the McPlant matters. Depending on how the US trial at eight restaurants fares, McDonald’s patrons might be willing to swap out their beef-based burger for a McPlant — if it tastes the part — and that could have a tangible effect on how much meat is both consumed by the public — and how much is farmed.

Halfway through eating the McPlant, I realized that it reminded me of a Burger King Whopper. (I can’t wait to read the comments after this.) 

But I’m a Big Mac man, myself. Maybe a Big MacPlant is next?

It may have been another long year, but the holidays are finally approaching — and, with supply chain issues plaguing retail, it’s best to get your shopping done sooner rather than later. This year we’re all a little burnt out on screens, so the best gifts for kids are things they can hold. But, since this is Engadget, we’re always looking for that tech angle. This year’s crop of tech toys for kids is mostly grounded in the real world, with a few electronic twists to surprise and delight.

Miles Morales in Winter Suit Funko Pop

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Funko

It’s always good to grab a few stocking stuffers, and Funko makes figures from what feels like every pop culture property on earth. Around here we’re partial to the video game ones, of course, and what’s more festive than this adorable Spider-Man all dressed up for the cold weather? It’ll look great while also adding a bit of geeky holiday cheer to someone’s bookshelf or desk.

Hasbro Lightsaber Forge

Hasbro

For kids who aren’t old enough to build their own lightsaber at Disney’s Galaxy Edge, this kit from Hasbro might be the next best thing. Not only is it way more affordable, but it’s also quite durable, allowing kids and adults alike to reenact their favorite Jedi versus Sith battles with gusto. Best of all, a child can rebuild their lightsaber again and again using different parts, so they can have a customized weapon that fits their mood each day.

R2-D2 Tamagotchi

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Maybe taking care of a small creature was just too stressful for your kid, and you’ve had to console them many a time when the little ghost floating above a tombstone appears. Well, now Tamagotchi has a special astromech droid they can take care of instead, one they have to clean and play a variety of mini-games with. If they don’t take care of little R2, the Jawas will take him away which might still be a bummer but hey, maybe they’ll sell him off to a local moisture farmer with a thirst for adventure.

Spin Master Purse Pets

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Spin Master

Kids are cute, but also weird and quirky, so why not get the child in your life something that reflects the more wild side of their personality? Purse Pets are basically living bags that can hold stuff but also blink, purr and even blow kisses at a child when it’s happy. It’s a real eye-catching accessory, one that will have them feeling like they’re on the runway — especially when you activate the Purse Pet’s runway music.

Mattel Samantha Cristoforetti Barbie Doll

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Barbie first went to space way back in 1965 and, while she’s had plenty of spacesuits over the decades, none have been as realistic as this one. That’s because this one is based on real-life space explorer Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut who was once the record holder for the longest space flight by a woman. Your kids can reenact her various scientific experiments in space with the doll, then cheer on the real-life Cristoforetti next year as she commands ISS Expedition 68.

Smart Tech Sound Action Tunnel

Brio

It feels like an unwritten rule that every child has to have one of those wooden train and track sets. Why not spice things up a bit by adding in this tech-enabled station that signals the included train to stop and flash its lights, just like the real thing. If your kid is a railfan you can even use the free Smart Tech Sound app to change the sounds to those from famous systems like London, Paris or Berlin.

Enchanting Hedwig

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

We were all super jealous of Harry Potter when Hagrid presented him with a lovely snowy owl who would become his mail carrier and friend. However, in real life owls can be pretty messy and aren’t as affectionate. So why not get your loved ones this interactive, life-sized replica instead? She loves to be petted and while she can’t fly, she can safeguard letters for you, only releasing them to people who have the secret code.

Got2Glow Fairy Finder

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

The Got2Glow Fairy Finder may look like a slightly fancier mason jar, but it has a special electronic twist. When you open the lid, a fairy will “fly” inside and show up on the front screen. What kind of fairy? It depends on how a child holds the jar and how bright the room is. There are 100 different magical creatures to collect and trade with their friends, so it should keep your kids active and busy for a while.

Hot Wheels Mario Kart Vehicle Pack

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Mattel

Your child may not be old enough to drive a real car, but chances are they’ve taken a few spins around Rainbow Road in Nintendo’s Mario Kart video games. And even if they haven’t, they’ll still enjoy playing with the whimsical vehicles from the series, recreated in 1/64-scale so they can fit in the palm of a kid’s hand. All the favorites are here, from Mario to Yoshi and even the often-forgotten Waluigi. Some of the karts even include gliders so kids can simulate some of the more treacherous jumps like Peach’s Castle.

LEGO Adventures with Luigi Starter Course

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

We’ve been a big fan of the Mario LEGO sets since their launch, but now it’s time for his brother to have a little time in the sun. It’s just like having a Super Mario game you can physically build and hold in your hand, complete with platforms, a see-saw and blocks. Luigi will even react to the course thanks to a small LCD screen embedded in his chest, and he’s fully compatible with the other sets so you can build a whole world for him to explore.

LEGO Boba Fett’s Starship

LEGO

You can still call it the Slave I if you want, but the most important thing about this Firespray-31-class spacecraft is who it belongs to: the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, Boba Fett. He even has his own show coming out at the end of December. We know that’s a long time to wait, but your family can at least spend part of that time putting together this 593-piece kit that even includes a tiny minifig Boba and Din Djarin from the Mandalorian.

Peek-a-Roo

Spin Master

There are toys that laugh, eat, burp and even poop, but there aren’t a lot that give birth. That’s probably because it’s pretty weird, but Spin Master’s Peek-a-Roo also makes it pretty adorable. This plush panda will react to being petted and spoken to by a child and, if the toy is treated well, it produces a tiny baby from the pouch in its stomach. The baby toy will continue to live there once born, popping up whenever its mama is happy.

LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar

LEGO

Advent calendars are a great way to get your kid excited for the holidays, but sometimes the little gifts inside aren’t so great. Why not go full-on nerdy with this Star Wars calendar, which has a smattering of tiny sets your kid has to build alongside minifigs of characters like Rey, Luke Skywalker and a holiday-themed Poe Dameron? The kits will hopefully keep them busy so they’re not asking you how many days are left until the big gift-giving occasion.

VTech KidiZoom PrintCam

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Kids love cameras but, with everything digital these days, there’s a little less tactility, which kids also love. Printcams tend to be too expensive for many adults, never mind children, which makes them a no-go — until now. The VTech KidiZoom prints photos for as little as a penny, so it’s not a big financial deal when your child takes 100 photos of their feet. Just make sure you keep them stocked up with fresh paper.

iRobot's latest Roomba that can detect obstacles — including pet poop — along its cleaning journey is cheaper than ever right now. Both Amazon and Wellbots have the Roomba j7 and j7+ for $150 less, so you can grab them for $499 and $699, respectively. Both robots are the same, but you'll get the clean base with the j7+ model, allowing you to set and forget the robot and only empty the clean base about once every 60 days.

The j7 series builds upon the Roomba i7 robots with more powerful cameras, better sensors and more power. The AI-driven computer vision technology allows the device to detect obstacles and move around them as it cleans, and you can label those obstacles as permanent (in the case of a chair or another piece of furniture) or temporary. Not only does this mean the j7 robots should better navigate around things like piles of clothes and charging cords, but they can also detect a robot vacuum's arch nemesis: pet poop. iRobot even has a Pet Owner Official Promise (yes, P.O.O.P.) which states that you'll get a new robot vacuum if your j7+ runs into poop in the first year of you owning it.

Aside from that, the j7 series takes advantage of iRobot's improved mobile app, which lets you schedule cleanings and set routine triggers. You can also label rooms in your home after the robot has created a map, so you can better direct it to a specific room when you only need a quick clean.

While the clean base included in the j7+ package isn't necessary, it takes the convenience level up a notch. Instead of emptying your robot's bin after every job, the j7+ will automatically empty its contents into the clean base when it's done. You then only have to worry about emptying the base once every two months.

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It’s been a while since we’ve heard any news from Amy Hennig, but now we know what the former Naughty Dog and Visceral Games writer and creative director has been working away at since going indie in 2018. On Friday, Marvel announced its working with Hennig’s Skydance New Media studio on a new narrative-driven action-adventure game set in its comic book universe. Details on the project are sparse, but the Disney-owned company teased the title will feature a “completely original story and take on the Marvel Universe.”

“I can’t imagine a better partner than Marvel for our first game,” said Hennig. “The Marvel Universe epitomizes all the action, mystery and thrills of the pulp adventure genre that I adore and lends itself perfectly to an interactive experience. It’s an honor to be able to tell an original story with all the humanity, complexity, and humor that makes Marvel characters so enduring and to enable our players to embody these heroes that they love.”

In some ways, it’s a surprise to find out Hennig is working on a AAA title. When she left EA after the publisher shut down Visceral, it seemed like she wanted a change of pace. "I would love to have a little company of about six to eight people, 15 at the most, and then do smaller projects," she said at the time. But then the possibility of working with Marvel may have been too difficult to ignore, especially for a new studio working on its first-ever game. Much like it’s done in Hollywood, the company has started to pull in talent from every corner of the gaming industry. Between Eidos Montreal, Firaxis and now Skydance New Media, some of the best studios are working on Marvel properties.

November is right around the corner and, if you weren't already thinking about all of the gifts you have to buy this year, now's the time to start. Black Friday sales have started earlier than ever, and we anticipate more to come once November 1st hits. This week, we saw the updated AirPods Pro with the MagSafe wireless charging case drop to $220, while Samsung knocked hundreds off one of its high-end projectors. Blink home security cameras have hit near record-low prices and you can still grab a Shark robot vacuum for $150 off. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

AirPods Pro (with MagSafe case)

Billy Steele / Engadget

Apple's updated AirPods Pro with the new MagSafe charging case are $30 cheaper right now, bringing them down to $220. The earbuds themselves have not changed, but now you'll be able to magnetically attach them to MagSafe wireless chargers. We gave them a score of 87 for their better fitting design, good ANC and handy Siri access.

2021 MacBook Pros

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Apple's latest MacBook Pros are already $50 less on Amazon even though they just became available this week. We gave the laptops a score of 92 for their excellent performance, lovely Liquid Retina XDR displays, good battery lives and new bevy of ports.

11-inch iPad Pro

Apple

The 1TB 11-inch iPad Pro is $200 off right now, bringing it down to $1,300. It's still quite expensive, but with that much storage, this iPad could make a great laptop replacement with the right accessories. We gave the 2021 iPads a score of 87 for their powerful performance and new Center Stage cameras.

Apple Pencil (2nd gen)

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

The second-generation Apple Pencil is on sale for $100 right now, which is an all-time-low price. It works with all iPads except for the latest 10.2-inch entry-level model, which still supports the first-gen stylus. It's a must-have if you plan on taking notes or creating artwork with your iPad.

Shark IQ AV970 robot vacuum

Shark

Shark's AV970 robot vacuum is $150 off, bringing it down to a near record-low price of $250. It has a self-cleaning brush roll, IQ navigation and Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, plus an extra-large bin that will hold more debris than other robo-vacs.

Samsung The Frame TV

Samsung

You can still grab a 55-inch The Frame smart TV for less than $1,000 in Samsung's latest early Black Friday sale. These TVs use Art Mode to show artwork and photos when you're not actively watching something, and they support 4K QLED set with 100 percent color volume, 4K AI upscaling and Alexa voice commands.

Samsung Premiere Projector

Samsung

Samsung's high-end Premiere Projector is on sale for as low as $2,498. That's for the model with a 2.2 channel sound system, but the one with a 4.2.2 channel system is a whopping $1,500 off, bringing it down to $4,998. Both projectors support HDR10+ and up to 2,800 lumens of brightness, plus they both have separate red, green and blue lasers to cover the full Rec.2020 color range.

Blink security cameras

Amazon

Amazon knocked up to 33 percent off Blink security cameras this week and you can still get a camera for as low as $25. Blink Outdoor and Indoor cameras are wireless and support 1080p video, motion detection, two-way audio and Alexa commands. If you plan on watching over the outside of your home, the weatherproof Outdoor cameras as they ones to get.

New early Black Friday tech deals

Arturia free plugins

Arturia has a promotion going on right now that gives you three plugins for free when you buy a MiniLab MkII, KeyLab Essential or KeyLab MkII controller. The plugins themselves are worth over $400, so they're solid freebies to grab if you're already set on getting one of the company's devices.

NordVPN

NordVPN, one of our favorite VPNs, is running a sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up and pay $99 for two years, plus you'll get an extra three months free. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.

Tunnelbear

Another one of our top VPN services, Tunnelbear, is offering a two-year subscription for $100. You'll save 58 percent if you sign up with this deal, and we think Tunnelbear is one of the easiest VPNs to use, especially for those that don't want to go crazy configuring their connections.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This past April, Toyota teased the bZ4X, the first of seven “Beyond Zero” fully electric vehicles the automaker said it would debut by 2025. Other than to reveal it was working with Subaru to develop the SUV and that it would include its upcoming e-TNGA powertrain, the company didn’t share many details about the bZ4X. On Friday, it changed that by unveiling the production version of the vehicle.

Toyota will offer the bZ4X in front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants. The former will feature a single 150 kW capable of accelerating the car from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 8.4 seconds. Per the WLTC standard, the automaker claims the FWD model’s 71.4 kWh battery will allow it to travel approximately 500 kilometers or 310 miles on a single charge. Expect that estimate to decrease once the EPA tests the car. It’s also worth noting these measurements come from the Japanese model, which may end up featuring different specifications to whatever model(s) Toyota releases in the US.

Toyota

The battery will support 150 kW DC fast charging, allowing it to go from dead to 80 percent after about 30 minutes of charging. As for the AWD model, it will feature two 80kW motors, one built into each axle, for a total power output of 160 kW. It can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 7.7 seconds. Toyota estimates the ranges of the AWD model at 460 kilometers or 285 miles on a single charge. In both variants, the battery is integrated into the chassis, a design choice the automaker helps lower the SUV’s center of gravity and improve the rigidity of the chassis.

Toyota also plans to equip the bZ4X with some nifty extra features. One of those is a solar roof the automaker says will generate about 1120 miles worth of free power generation. It will also offer a steer-by-wire system that removes the mechanical connection between the steering wheel and front wheels. Both features will be available in select models.

The bZ4X will debut in the US and other markets in mid-2022.