Audi has now presented the more powerful S variants of the e-tron and e-tron Sportback with three electric motors. Their drive layout is based on the concept with two different asynchronous motors (ASM), designed as a modular system from the beginning of the e-tron series.

The Seat brand Cupra has presented its first model with plug-in hybrid drive. The Cupra Leon eHybrid will be launched this year as a five-door model and as a station wagon version with the addition of a Sport Tourer. The technology comes from the VW Golf 8 eHybrid GTE.

Chevrolet has started selling its first all-electric model on the Chinese market. The Menlo EV is a fully electric SUV with a NEDC range of up to 410 kilometers and is available at prices starting at 159,900 yuan (approx. 21,000 euros) after the government subsidy.

Audi is completely stopping production of the e-tron in Brussels for a few days due to supply chain issues. Short-time work has been announced for the plant, as the company has confirmed.

Under the name PURE ETCR, the world’s first all-electric multi-brand touring car championship has now been presented. It is due to start its first full season in 2021, with several demo events already planned for this year.

Tesla is working on a 110-kWh battery pack if leaked documents on their battery management system firmware are to be trusted. This should enable ranges of well over 400 miles or the equivalent of 644 km. There are also rumours that European Model Y enthusiasts will have to wait until 2021 for their cars.

At the beginning of March, Kia will be exhibiting the new generation of the SUV Sorento at the Geneva Motor Show. Kia has announced the new platform and powertrains and has published a little information about the hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions.

Mercedes-Benz is presenting the EQC, GLC F-Cell and the E 300 de in police livery at the General Police Equipment Exhibition & Conference (GPEC) in Frankfurt am Main.

Volkswagen and its partner association VAPV have agreed on a new distribution model in Germany for the all-electric ID. family. The agency model has apparently proven its worth in the fleet customer segment and will now be used in a similar form for private and small commercial customers.

BMW is expanding the plug-in hybrid range for its 3 Series. Following the introduction of the 330e Sedan, the new 330e Touring will also be available from this summer onwards. The two four-wheel-drive PHEV variants, the 330e xDrive Sedan and the 330e xDrive Touring, will be launched in parallel.

Dutch consultancy EVBoosters has released its latest funding report for 2019, with some of the trending developments reported here. Expect number-crunching covering Q4 in e-mobility funding and investment insights.

Citroën has officially opened the order books for the new C5 Aircross plug-in hybrid in the UK. It is being offering it in two grades named the Flair and Flair Plus. Pricing starts at £35,340 and £36,815 respectively. Customer deliveries will begin in mid-2020.

Fiat Chrysler has completed the production lines for the electric version of the Fiat 500 at its Mirafiori plant in Turin and has started production of the pre-series. Production of the hybrid version of the Maserati Ghibli has also started.

BMW wants to offer the top model of the 7-series with a fully electric drive starting in 2022, while the 5-series will be made available in electric versions a little later. Both series will also continue to be offered as diesel, gasoline and hybrid vehicles.

Honda has introduced the new Jazz, which is only offered as a hybrid in Europe. The market launch is scheduled for summer this year.

Renault has now officially confirmed that the first electric model from its Romanian subsidiary Dacia will come out within the next two years. There are many indications that this will be the modified version of the Renault City K-ZE electric compact car offered in China for the European market.

The Mercedes plant in Bremen in northern Germany has been awarded the contract to build a new electric model – which one is unknown as of yet. The EQC will continue production at the plant.

Maserati is clarifying its electrification strategy: the Italian brand will introduce hybrid and purely battery-electric drives in all new Maserati models. Besides, all the electrified vehicles will be developed and built entirely in Italy.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans dominated a crash-filled race this weekend and took P1 from Porsche’s André Lotterer on the first corner, which he held to the very end to secure the win at the Mexico City E-Prix. Four seconds behind him followed DS Techeetah’s António Félix da Costa, while Nissan e.dams’ Sébastien Buemi rounded […]

US Local Motors caught a lot of attention with a 3D-printed autonomous shuttle Olli as early as 2017. Fast-forward to 2020, and we sat down with Local Motors CEO John B. Rogers and his partners from Protean in the UK. The British company – that now belongs to Evergrande through NEVS – just launched mass […]

The construction preparations for the planned European Gigafactory of Tesla in Brandenburg have begun. The clearing of a 91-hectare pine forest began on Thursday evening. Brandenburg’s Minister of Economics Jörg Steinbach announced the launch via Twitter.

The lower performance version of Audi’s first electric vehicle, the e-tron, will be available in the UK starting at £59,900, excluding the government’s £3,500 plug-in car grant.

Tesla is taking advantage of the recent rise in its share price and issued new shares to obtain fresh capital. In gross terms, Tesla could raise up to 2.3 billion US dollars including the over-allotment option.

Nidec announced the expansion of its range of drive systems for electric vehicles by two new versions: The new versions are to be launched in the 50 kW and 200 kW power ratings. Series production is scheduled to begin in 2022 (50 kW) and 2023 (200 kW).

Ford has now presented the Mustang Mach-E for the European public for the first time at an event. At their Europe Roadshow Ford is taking the opportunity to inform consumers about the US-American company’s path to an electrified future. Part of this plan includes installing 1,000 charging stations at European company locations over the next […]

Peugeot has announced that a free six-month subscription to the Polar Plus charging network will be included with each new electric or plug-in hybrid car sold. This coincides with the launch of their new hybrid vehicle range and their first fully electric vehicle on the UK market.

There are updates on Tesla’s planned Gigafactory in Brandenburg: Tesla presented an environmental protection package in response to demands from nature conservationists. According to the package, Tesla wants to hang up about 400 nesting boxes and resettle several forest ant colonies.

The electric vehicle sales of the Chinese manufacturers BYD, BAIC BJEV and Nio declined sharply in January. The main reasons for this were the few business days in January due to the comparatively early New Year holidays and the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Škoda has announced that its first purely electric SUV will be called Enyaq. With this model, the Czech brand is establishing a new family of names that combines the ‘E’ as a reference to electric mobility with the ‘Q’ in the name of its SUVs.

The US American electric vehicle startup and the South Korean automotive giant have teamed up in an engineering partnership to develop electric vehicles. Canoo and Hyundai will co-develop an electric vehicle platform based on Canoo’s skateboard technology to be used for upcoming Hyundai and Kia EVs and PBVs (Purpose Built Vehicles).