This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes a new cargo e-bike launch from Tenways, Lime bringing its new e-bike and e-moped to its larger fleets, testing a 100 mile e-bike, California’s e-bike vouchers are set to open again in another lottery round, a new electric unicycle from InMotion, and more. Read more…
Volvo EX30 Begins Very Timely Production In Europe
Until now, EX30s were only made at the Geely Group’s plant in China and faced big tariffs. Read more…
Slate Unveiled A Cheap EV. Tesla’s Is Still A Mystery.
On this week’s Plugged-In Podcast: Our thoughts on Slate’s cheap pickup, a battery breakthrough from CATL and turmoil at Tesla. Read more…
Octopus Energy launches ‘unlimited’ charging subscription
Octopus’ ‘Intelligent Drive Pack’ is being billed as the UK’s first ‘unlimited’ EV charging subscription. It costs £30 per month and enables EV drivers to charge their vehicles during set hours scheduled by Octopus. Read more…
XCharge to showcase improved microgrid solution in Munich
The charge point manufacturer will display its new generation of the Net Zero Series (NZS GEN2) at the Power2Drive in Munich at the beginning of May. It combines battery storage, photovoltaic integration and fast charging in a single system. Read more…
CPCA expects China Apr NEV retail at 900,000, down 9% from Mar
Overall passenger car retail sales in April are estimated to be around 1.75 million units, up 14.4 percent year-on-year but down 9.8 percent from the previous month.
The first week of April was the Qingming Festival holiday, while the second week saw windy weather in some parts of China.
CATL buys back shares to support stock price
CATL bought back RMB 254 million of its shares today, the first of its latest share buyback program.
CATL shares have been down about 9 percent so far this year.
Goliath solid-state battery achieves scale-up milestone
UK solid-state battery technology developer Ilika has verified the high performance of its Goliath batteries manufactured via an industrially scaled process at The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre. This confirms the battery is on track on its route to market, the company said. The announcement follows Ilika’s announcement in February reporting large-scale preparation of the Goliath… Read more…
Dongfeng debuts Nammi 06 electric SUV
Dongfeng has just unveiled its new compact electric SUV at Auto Shanghai, with pre-sales due to start later in April. It’s based on the Dongfeng Quantum Architecture Platform 3 and will initially only be sold in China. Read more…
BYD sees Q1 net income double year-on-year
BYD reported a net income of RMB 9.16 billion ($1.26 billion) in the first quarter, up 100.38 percent year-on-year.
The company’s revenue for the first quarter was RMB 170.36 billion, up 36.35 percent year-on-year.
Toyota unveils bZ7 flagship electric sedan
Toyota has unveiled its newest contender in the EV race, a sleek sedan called the bZ7. Making its debut at the Shanghai Auto Show, this battery-powered flagship is specifically designed for the Chinese market, and Toyota claims that thanks to its size, the bZ7 is ready to challenge established players like the Tesla Model S. If size was the only… Read more…
ABB E-mobility expands DC charging portfolio
ABB E-mobility is set to unveil three new DC charging systems, extending its portfolio to cover megawatt charging for heavy vehicles, depot charging for fleets, and modular high-power charging for passenger cars. Read more…
China aims for BEVs to dominate new car sales by 2035
This is the first time that a growth target for pure EVs, or BEVs, has been mentioned.
In 2024, BEVs contributed 27.61 percent of China’s passenger car retail sales.
Scania adds a three-axle low-entry model to its lineup of battery-electric buses
Scania has launched a new variant on the battery-electric bus platform the company introduced in 2023. The new low-entry 6×2*4 variant is “designed to meet the demands of medium- and heavy-duty operations, and with an increased passenger capacity compared to the existing 4×2 LE BEV, it is suitable for city, suburban and shorter intercity routes.”… Read more…
Cyclic Materials invests $20 mn in its first US recycling facility
Canadian rare earth recycling company Cyclic Materials, which is backed by BMW and JLR among others, is investing over $20 million in its first commercial plant in the USA. The plant in Mesa, Arizona, is expected to process 25,000 tonnes of used parts containing rare earth permanent magnets per year. Read more…
Deutsche Bank on Shanghai auto show: Global brands fight back with Chinese NEV tech
China’s smart NEV market has been dominated by local brands, but global auto brands have caught up, Deutsche Bank said.
Global auto brands showcased a number of smart NEV products at the ongoing Shanghai auto show.
Slate Auto to launch sub-$25,000 electric pickup by late 2026
In the US, a new electric vehicle startup is making waves. Slate Auto – backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – has entered the EV arena with an ambitious plan: to launch a fully electric pickup truck priced from just $25,000, or under $20,000 post-incentives. Read more…
Volvo starts European production of EX30
The company’s factory in Ghent has just started production of the fully electric EX30. The model was previously only built in China, but the Belgium factory will now support production capacity for sales across Europe. Read more…
Nissan scraps planned EV saloons from US factories
Nissan has abandoned its plans to launch two electric saloons produced in the US and will build another EV at its Canton plant in Mississippi instead. The carmaker appears set to proceed with its planned electric crossovers – albeit on a revised timeline. Read more…
Stellantis validates solid-state batteries from Factorial
Automotive group Stellantis and US-based battery developer Factorial Energy have successfully validated solid-state battery cells for electric vehicles. The move marks a key milestone on the road to deploying a demonstration fleet equipped with this battery technology next year. Read more…
