Hardware

Tesla's European configurator is quoting Model Y delivery in the first quarter of 2027, with entry trims at January–February and no immediate-delivery inventory. France's delais.fr tracker put the average wait near 98 days on 5 October 2026. The 7,500-a-week Grünheide rate behind the shortage is a mid-October target the plant was about 1,000 cars a week short of in early September.

Renault CEO François Provost told France Inter on 3 October 2026 that the group will reinvest more than EUR 10 billion in France over five years in electric and more affordable cars. The previous five years got EUR 13 billion, and the new pledge carries a political condition the old one did not.

Tesla updated its North American configurator on 1 October 2026: every Model 3 in the US, Puerto Rico and Mexico now has a 16-inch centre screen, the Premium AWD drops from 4.2 to 3.8 seconds to 60 mph, and the Performance gains 18 hp and 7 miles of range. Prices did not move. Canada and Europe were not included, and vehicle-to-load still did not cross the Pacific.

A Mercedes spokesperson confirmed to Car and Driver on 2 October 2026 that the EQE sedan, in both Mercedes-Benz and AMG form, leaves the 2027 US model-year line-up, together with the Maybach EQS 680 SUV and the AMG S63 E Performance. The EQS sedan and SUV continue. Mercedes has still not confirmed the globally reported end of EQE production.

BMW opened its Gen6 high-voltage battery plant at Irlbach-Strasskirchen in Lower Bavaria on 1 October 2026 and began series production immediately on two shifts. The EUR 1bn site assembles cylindrical cells bought from outside suppliers into structural packs for the new i3 — it does not make cells.

BMW used its 30 September Capital Markets Day to confirm an entry-segment all-electric Neue Klasse model for 2028 with a focus on Europe. The widely used "i1" name and its specification are not official. BMW also says the iX3 has passed 100,000 orders and reached margin parity with combustion models.

On 1 October 2026 Tesla added an entry-level Model 3 RWD in Australia and New Zealand at A$45,990/NZ$54,900 — A$9,000 below the Premium, with the rear screen, ambient lighting and premium seat materials removed. The Model Y Performance fell A$4,500 to A$84,900 (NZ$95,900) because Tesla moved its production for those markets from Giga Berlin to Giga Shanghai. Premium and Performance Model 3 trims gain the 16-inch screen, dark headliner and V2L.

Tesla has filed a Model Y L update in China swapping the 142 kW front motor for the 176 kW TL2 unit used on the Model Y Performance. CLTC range rises from 751 km to 776 km and consumption falls from 12.8 to 12.4 kWh/100 km, with kerb weight unchanged at 2,088 kg and no price change — the gain comes from drive-unit efficiency, not a bigger battery. The Model Y L is not yet sold in Europe.

HMD Trucking, a carrier running close to 700 diesel trucks out of the Chicago area, has ordered 50 Tesla Semis. Co-founder Henry Malukas told MotorTrend at the Semi rollout event in Sparks, Nevada, in remarks published on 29 September 2026, that lower maintenance, fuel cost and driver experience drove the decision, and he highlighted cold-weather operation: diesels idle overnight or need crew assistance to start in winter, while a plugged-in Semi pre-heats its cabin and battery. HMD is installing its own charging in Chicago and plans to use Tesla's Megacharger network. Unlike recent drayage and shipper-alliance orders, HMD is a general long-haul incumbent.

Tesla has given the Shanghai-built Model 3 a 16-inch centre screen, a light grey premium interior, a black headliner and vehicle-to-load power export of up to 2.2 kW. China, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea are confirmed, with South Korean deliveries changing specification from Q4 2026. V2L also expands to every Model Y trim. The feature is tied to 2027 model year hardware and cannot be retrofitted or enabled by software. Europe's Model 3 is built on the same line, but Tesla has announced no European date, and the US Model 3 gets neither the screen nor V2L.

Hansjörg Gemmingen posted on 30 September 2026 that his 2013 Tesla Model S P85+ had reached 3,000,000 km, or 1,864,113 miles. He passed one million miles in June 2022, so the last 1.39 million km were covered at roughly 889 km a day. The car is on its fourth battery pack, fitted in 2023 at about 1.76 million km; by March 2026 that pack had itself done a million kilometres and retained about 85% of its capacity. The drive unit is the harder story: fourteen motors to 1.8 million km, mostly remanufactured Tesla units failing on coolant seals, and then a rebuild by EV Clinic in Zagreb that has run more than 1.2 million km since.

Stellantis is pausing production at four French factories in October 2026. Sochaux (23-30 October) and Rennes (22-30 October) stop because of a shortage of long-range battery cells from ACC, the joint venture it owns with Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies. Mulhouse and Poissy pause for weak demand instead. Customers paying about 5,000 euros for the 97 kWh pack are waiting roughly eight months.

Northeastern University researchers, working with Consumer Reports, intercepted the network traffic of 21 late-model cars and 30 companion apps. The Tesla Model 3 contacted 34 advertising, tracking and analytics domains and the Cybertruck 23, the two highest counts in the sample, against zero for the Mercedes EQS and Buick Envista. The paper attributes this to rich infotainment rather than misconduct, and notes the Teslas were measured more thoroughly than most of the sample. The Tesla app, by contrast, reached nine such domains where the GM and BMW apps reached more than 45, and it was not among the seven apps caught sending personal data to third parties.

BMW released pricing and homologated figures for the electric i3 alongside the wider new 3 Series range on 29 September 2026. The i3 40 xDrive starts at EUR 59,900 with 275 kW and 710 km WLTP; the i3 50 xDrive is EUR 65,900 with 345 kW, a 108.7 kWh net battery and 912 km. Both charge at up to 400 kW, 10 to 80 per cent in 21 minutes. An M60 xDrive follows in 2027. Series production began at Munich in August.

Ultium Cells, the GM and LG Energy Solution joint venture, said on 29 September 2026 that its Spring Hill plant in Tennessee will be the first in the world to mass-produce prismatic lithium-manganese-rich cells — claiming 33% higher energy density than LFP at comparable cost. Conversion starts later in 2026 and completes in 2028, adding 500 jobs. It supplies the commercialisation date and energy figure that LG's September durability paper lacked.

Volkswagen's PowerCo and China's Gotion High-tech plan three battery joint ventures worth about €3.22 billion. PowerCo keeps 51% only in Spain; Gotion takes 51% in Slovakia and Morocco. Sagunt drops from a planned 40 GWh to 29.1 GWh and Šurany from 20-40 GWh to 8.4 GWh. No investment agreement has been signed and the deal still needs shareholder votes and regulatory clearance in China and Europe.

Volkswagen has officially renamed its electric ID.4 and ID.5 SUVs to ID. Tiguan, merging the pair into one model. The premiere is in early October 2026, European sales begin in early 2027, and North America follows later. The car uses MEB+, an evolution of the ID.4's platform rather than a new one, and Volkswagen disclosed no battery, range, charging or price figures.

Tesla used its Sparks rollout event to explain how the production Semi differs from the trucks it has shown since 2017: a single Megamanifold heat pump for cabin and powertrain, 4680 cells in place of 2170s, steel-caged rotors and bar-wound stators shared with Cybertruck, and fully electric 48-volt steering with no hydraulics at all.

The Czech Transport Research Centre and AURES Holdings analysed Aviloo Flash Test diagnostics on 3,171 used plug-in vehicles from the Czech, Slovak and Polish markets. Battery-electric cars past 100,000 km held a median 90.3% state of health; those over six years old held 90.0%. For plug-in hybrids the age effect was far sharper, at 83.2%.

Renault's new model year Mégane E-Tech swaps its 60 kWh nickel-based pack for a 67 kWh LFP battery, raising WLTP range from 468 km to up to 501 km and cutting 15–80% charging to about 24 minutes. The German entry price stays at €34,990. LFP normally costs range; here it added it.

Bentley revealed the Torcal, its first EV, on 23 September 2026 and confirmed a day later that its second electric model will not arrive before 2030. The 2030 all-electric target was already dropped in November 2024; what is new is a flexible Crewe production line, ICE and PHEV output through at least 2035, and a 2035 date that is now conditional.

European Rally Champion Mikołaj “Miko” Marczyk covered 1,338 km across Poland in an Audi A6 Sportback e-tron performance without recharging, averaging 7.09 kWh/100 km over more than 45 hours. It beats Lucid's 1,205 km mark, and it consumed exactly the car's 94.9 kWh usable battery.

Tesla inaugurated its Sparks, Nevada Semi factory on 24 September 2026 and handed series-production trucks to PepsiCo, US Foods, DHL, WattEV, ABF, Einride, IMC and OK Produce. It announced 500 miles at 82,000 lb and 30+ Megacharging stations by year end, but disclosed no current production rate, no delivery total and no European allocation. European deliveries remain set for 2027.

Mercedes-Benz has secured first rights to evaluate ProLogium's Gen4 solid-state cell, claimed at up to 400 Wh/kg with a 5-80% charge in 6.4 minutes. It is the first carmaker ProLogium has named, three weeks after starting series production of the certified 381 Wh/kg Gen 3.5 cell. Mercedes expects its first solid-state production EV in 2030; the cells would come from Dunkerque, at about 4 GWh a year by then.