Elon Musk, CEO of EV pure play Tesla, has confirmed that any new product with a lower price tag from his firm will not become available this year, meaning his most ambitious previous forecasts on timeline are now off the table.    Explaining his plans to develop a new vehicle line-up based more on Tesla’s existing technology and manufacturing processes, rather than making a new car from scratch using a so-called ‘unboxed’ construction method, on April’s Q1 analyst call, Musk said launch of new models “to be more like early 2025, if not late this year”. But, in its Q2 equivalent this ..read more

Sino-Swedish OEM Volvo Cars is now forecasting full-year sales to be 12-15pc higher, rather than a previous target of 15pc growth, as it digests the impact of higher duties on China-made imports into Europe and the US, as well as a hike in rates on China-made batteries into the latter.   “For full-year sales volumes, our ambition is still to reach the 15pc previously guided, although considering the challenges we have and the clear prioritisation of value over volume, our guidance is now for the full year retail sales growth of between 12pc and 15pc,” says Volvo CFO Johan Ekdahl. Sign up ..read more

Sino-Swedish OEM Volvo Cars has downplayed negative reports around the software offerings on its fast-selling B-segment EX30 and its upcoming EX90 launch, following media coverage that the former was leaving customers dissatisfied and the latter would be released without full functionality and could require recalls. “We had some teething issues with the EX30 very early on in the launch of that product,” admits Volvo CEO Jim Rowan. “Those issues were sorted very quickly. “Maybe some of that news is just trickling out, but that seems to be aged news now and those problems have been solved. Afte ..read more

Germany’s Volkswagen and Chinese EV pure play start-up Xpeng have entered into a master agreement on electrical/electronic (E/E) collaboration that aims to jointly develop E/E architecture for all vehicles based on Volkswagen’s China Main (CMP) and Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB) platforms made in China. The two firms expect the new agreement to assist their moves into advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD). And there continues to be appetite, at least from Xpeng, to push the fruits of any collaboration beyond China. Sign up for EV inFocus EV inFocus: Hard ..read more

Adoption rates of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode chemistry as an alternative to nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) in EV batteries will lag in Europe and the US compared to in China for the remainder of the decade, in the view of new research from consultancy Bain. The firm notes that LFP has “taken significant share from NMC since 2018 due to improvements in energy density at sustained lower cost” (see Fig.1). And it predicts that, in China, LFP will become more dominant owing to “robust demand for mass-market EVs and established supply chains”. Fig.1: LFP's dominant share of China's EV bat ..read more

Volkswagen has launched an e-SUV coupe that is the first product under its ID. UNYX sub-brand that aims to “more closely reflect the needs of its Chinese customers”. The ID. UNYX01 will be followed by four further vehicles, including both SUVs and saloons, within the next three years. The new sub-brand is part of Volkswagen’s so-called ‘in China, for China’ strategy, under which the marque has regularly stressed its collaboration with Chinese OEM Xpeng also falls, despite suggestions that any fruits of the joint venture (JV) could be marketed internationally. Sign up for EV inFocus EV inFocus ..read more

Germany’s Mercedes is one of the now eight partners in the Ionna North American charging joint venture (JV). But it continues with its approach of investing in that network but also trying at the same time to build out its own branded chargers in the US by partnering with coffee chain Starbucks. Mercedes and Starbucks will collaborate to install chargers over 100 Starbucks stores across the US. The first phase of the programme will be to co-locate 400kW chargers at Starbucks located along Interstate 5 (I-5) — a major West Coast travel corridor stretching from Canada to Mexico. Sign up for EV ..read more

Paris-headquartered oil and gas firm TotalEnergies will partner with UK power form SSE on an EV charging joint venture (JV) to be branded Source that will focus on the UK and Irish markets. The new business has a target of up to 3000 high-powered 150kW+ charge points across the two countries over the next five years. The charge points will be grouped into 300 hubs “in prime locations in and around urban areas”, the firms say, and will be powered entirely by renewable energy. Construction on “several” of the hubs is already underway, with others under development, as existing projects from the ..read more

Japan’s Toyota has become an eight partner in the North American charging joint venture (JV) Ionna. The firm joins Germany’s BMW and Mercedes, US legacy automaker GM, Japan’s Honda, South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia and US-France-Italy conglomerate Stellantis in the partnership. Ionna plans to install at least 30,000 DC fast charging ports in North America by 2030, with the first arriving later this year. Stations will include both NACS and CCS connectors. Toyota’s participation means that drivers of both its eponymous brand and Lexus will be able to use Ionna facilities. Sign up for EV inFocus E ..read more

VW Group premium brand Audi is considering ending production of its Q8 e-tron model family of electric luxury class segment vehicles earlier than expected, citing a “segment-specific intensified drop in demand”. As a result, it is also consulting on the future of its Brussels plant, where the Q8 e-tron and Q8 Sportback e-tron are made. The Q8 e-tron “marked the start of electric mobility for Audi in 2018, and it ran very successfully worldwide for many years”, the firm says. But with new models built on VW’s next-generation Premium Platform Electric architecture being rolled out, the company ..read more