Hardware

XPeng launched the L03 compact SUV coupé at a Munich event, opening orders in more than 60 markets at once. German prices start at €35,600, with up to 520km WLTP and 236kW charging on a 400-volt architecture.

Volkswagen has opened orders for the ID. Polo with a 37kWh LFP battery, dropping the entry price to €24,995. It is rated at 334km WLTP and charges at up to 90kW.

Hyundai has put a new flagship trim on the Ioniq 9. Calligraphy Black Ink adds black exterior and interior detailing and exclusive 21-inch wheels for £79,320 in the UK, but leaves the powertrain untouched.

AutoPacific asked 19,000 drivers which of 160 features they most want on their next car. Heated seats won on 47%. The headline writes itself — but seven of the next nine places went to driver assistance, which is the finding worth reading.

The ID. UNYX 09 is a five-metre electric saloon co-developed with XPeng, launching in China in the second half of 2026 with up to 370 kW and city-street navigation on autopilot. European sales have not been announced, and the ID.9 talk is speculation.

The Boring Company opened a Vegas Loop station at Sahara Las Vegas on 6 August 2026, taking the Tesla-operated tunnel network to the northernmost point of the Strip. It joins Resorts World, Fontainebleau, Westgate and Encore, plus five stations at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Smart launched the revised #1 in China on 6 August 2026 with an 800-volt silicon-carbide architecture and a 6C battery that goes from 10% to 80% in about twelve minutes, down from thirty. The pack shrank from 66 to 61.52 kWh while power rose to 245 kW. No European launch has been announced.

SAIC Volkswagen filed the ID. ERA 5X with China's MIIT in the catalogue published on 7 August 2026. It is the first battery-electric model in an ID. ERA family that until now has been hybrid, the first Volkswagen on the new CMP platform, and it uses the CEA electronics architecture co-developed with Xpeng.

Geely opened German reservations for the E2 on 8 August 2026, a 4.14-metre electric hatchback starting at €19,990 with a 35.35 kWh battery and 252 km of WLTP range. A 47.14 kWh version stretches that to 345 km, and every trim adds 30-80% on a DC charger in 19 minutes.

Strabag has completed a partly electric construction site in Oberhausen using 11 battery machines, a 153 kWh mobile energy store and HVO100 renewable diesel for everything else, reporting energy costs down about 90% and roughly 18 tonnes of CO2 avoided.

The Boring Company has put Liner Truck 3 into service: a concrete-hauling tunnel vehicle built around Tesla Model 3 battery packs and drive units, carrying more than 22,000 lb of tunnel segments while being flown remotely from a control centre in Texas.

A Texas tax-incentive filing under the JETI Act reveals "Project Crystal Sun": a $10.1 billion vertically integrated solar cell and module plant in Fort Bend County, with construction starting later in 2026, completion targeted for 2028 and commercial operation in Q1 2029. The filing claims 9,712 permanent jobs but states no gigawatt capacity.

Mercedes-AMG's fully electric CLA 45 4MATIC+ lapped the 20.832 km Nordschleife in 7:32.070 on 28 July 2026, driven by Kevin Berger on its first attempt. Three axial-flux motors give 500 kW and 94 kWh usable takes it past 670 km. It is the first holder of a newly created Nürburgring class — which is the honest way to read the record.

Tesla's 2025 Impact Report says it recovers more than 90% of the nickel and cobalt in the cells it recycles, processed 14,000 tonnes of battery material in 2025 counting external partners, and sends none of its scrapped lithium-ion to landfill. The stated 2030 goal is for recycled output to match total North American mining output — a target that says as much about how little the continent mines as about how much Tesla recycles.

BYD has priced the Ti7 — a seven-seat plug-in hybrid SUV sold in China under its Fang Cheng Bao brand — from £47,995 in a single Excellence trim, with UK orders opening in November 2026 and deliveries from January 2027. Three motors and a 1.5-litre turbo petrol give 402 bhp, with 74 miles of electric range and up to 441 miles combined.

BMW owners are being greeted by a roughly 20-second full-screen Spider-Man promotion when they start their cars, complete with music and ambient lighting. It runs globally until 10 August 2026 on models built from July 2020 onwards. BMW says it is "a fun experience", not advertising, and that it has no plans to put ads in its vehicles.

Peugeot, now one of four global brands inside Stellantis, will launch seven new or updated models in Europe by 2030, led by an electric-only third-generation 208 on the STLA One platform built in Spain. The combustion 208 gets a restyling and stays on sale beside it — which retires the brand's promise of a zero-emission-only European range by 2030.

A Tesla driver was shot through the windscreen while charging at a Supercharger in Twin Falls, Idaho, and could not simply drive away — the charge cable locks to the car until the session is ended. Owners are asking Tesla for a one-touch emergency disconnect. Tesla has not commented.

Audi's first technical data for the A2 e-tron gives the 140 kW version with the efficiency package a preliminary 12.8 kWh/100 km on WLTP, from a 0.24 drag coefficient and a 61 kWh LFP pack. DC charging peaks at 105 kW with 10–80% in 26 minutes. Range and price are still open.

Tesla has acknowledged that the Power Conversion System in pre-2026 Cybertrucks does not meet its reliability standards. Coverage on 2024-2025 trucks rises to 8 years or 150,000 miles, owners who already paid for a replacement will be reimbursed, and a software update keeps Supercharging working on a truck whose PCS has failed.

Mercedes-AMG has added an entry-level GT 53 to its electric 4-Door Coupe range. Dropping to two motors cuts output to 400 kW / 544 PS but lifts WLTP range to as much as 800 km, with a synthesised straight-six soundtrack.

Ford has officially named its midsize electric pickup the Fathom and priced it from $28,350, or $29,945 with delivery. It is the first vehicle on Ford's Universal EV platform, with preorders opening in early 2027.

Tesla has signed a long-term power purchase agreement with ContourGlobal for about 90% of the output of Project Sterling in Arizona — roughly one terawatt-hour a year from 509 MWp of solar paired with 1.4 GWh of battery storage. Construction starts this year; power flows from 2028.

The US Patent and Trademark Office granted Tesla design patent D1138869 S on 4 August 2026, covering the Robovan's exterior body. It was filed in October 2024, credits Franz von Holzhausen's design team, and protects the look of a 20-seat vehicle with no windshield and no driver controls.