Hardware

The rebuilt Fangschleuse station on the Berlin–Frankfurt (Oder) line went into service at the weekend, roughly two kilometres west of the stop it replaces and much closer to Tesla's Grünheide plant. It is designed for up to 16,000 passengers a day and up to 24 freight trains, and it ends the shuttle train that used to carry workers the last stretch.

CATL's aftermarket arm Ning Service opened ten directly operated battery repair centres on 10 August 2026, including its first in Norway, and is targeting 100 cities by the end of the year. The pitch is repair instead of replacement: robot-assisted cell-level work that CATL says cuts a pack repair from about 100,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan, roughly $14,800 to $1,480.

Allianz's technology centre still measures EV collision claims at around 30% above comparable combustion cars, but says the electric drivetrain is not the reason. Young fleets, franchised-dealer labour rates about 50% above independents, missing repair solutions, towing and over-long battery quarantine are what fill the invoice — and pack damage runs from under €1,000 to €29,000 depending on how well the battery is cased.

Tesla has added a $40 underseat storage tray to its shop for the Model Y, a moulded bin that slides beneath a front seat. It fits only cars built in the second half of 2025 or later, does not fit the six-seat Model Y L, and Tesla advises against fitting it under the driver's seat. It is the second Model Y accessory in a week to divide the fleet by build date.

Tesla has enabled Vehicle-to-Load on Model Y Premium trims in the United States, including cars bought before the feature existed. It needs the $80 Outlet Adapter and delivers 2.4 kW at 120 V. Europe already has V2L on the Model Y Performance but has not been given this extension, and the adapter is a US-spec 120 V device.

Tesla has launched a Certified Pre-Owned programme in the United States: a 115-point inspection, no structural-damage or airbag history, and a one-year or 10,000-mile warranty on top of any remaining original coverage. It is not offered in Canada and nothing has been announced for Europe.

BYD has launched the Qin Max in China from 109,900 yuan for the electric version, using its second-generation Blade battery and flash charging that the company claims takes it from 10% to 70% in about five minutes. It is not sold in Europe, but the platform underneath it is what BYD brings to European showrooms next.

High-mileage Model S sedans typically keep 85-90% of their original battery capacity after ten years and 200,000 miles, while resale prices have fallen far faster. One European listing with free lifetime Supercharging was found at EUR 14,000. A UK airport-taxi Model S has covered about 430,000 miles on its original pack and lost roughly 65 miles of rated range. On a car this old, the battery is not usually the expensive part.

Tesla Energy has launched a Powerwall Lease in parts of Texas: two Powerwalls, no installation cost, a $100 order fee and a $122 monthly base payment that falls to about $35 after an $87 Tesla Electric credit. The base payment rises 3% a year, and the credit disappears the moment you leave Tesla Electric.

Tesla has listed a remanufactured Long Range pack for the Model 3 and Model Y in its public parts catalogue at $8,000, against roughly $14,500 for a new one. It is a real price and a genuinely good one — but it is a part price, not a bill, and Tesla has not published the warranty or rebuild spec behind it.

Samsung SDI is buying GM's 49.99% stake in Synergy Cells, the $3.5 billion cell plant at New Carlisle, Indiana, and will run the 27 GWh site as its first wholly owned battery factory in North America. Both sides name the same reason: EV demand grew more slowly than the plan assumed.

CATL says an aviation battery system built from 350 Wh/kg prismatic cells contained a deliberate thermal runaway in two adjacent cells without the failure spreading — a harder test than the single-cell trigger packs normally face.

Clemson University's Deep Orange 17, developed with BMW and Germany's Fraunhofer ISE, wraps more than 1,700 photovoltaic cells around a 550 kg coupe. On a modelled 20 km commute it generated roughly 50 km of surplus range.

BCA has opened a first-of-its-kind battery repair centre in Doncaster that repairs modules, casings, inverters and DC chargers on any manufacturer's pack instead of replacing whole batteries — aimed at used EVs whose warranty has expired or been invalidated. BCA says battery health checks alone have lifted its EV sale prices 1.4% above guide and cut time-to-sale by 2.7 days.

SpaceX confirmed it will power Terafab, the $16.8 billion Texas chip megafactory Tesla co-owns, with newly built natural gas plants and very large battery arrays rather than Tesla solar and Megapacks. Electrek notes Musk owns about 20% of Tesla but all of APR Energy, the gas turbine company with over a gigawatt of mobile capacity he bought in May for more than $1 billion.

A blogger measured 76.42 °C on BYD's second-generation Blade pack while the car's BMS reported about 71 °C, and a state laboratory later recorded 78.5 °C. He has since been barred from Chinese social platforms, reported to police by BYD, and named in a national enforcement notice.

A federal judge in Texas granted Tesla a temporary restraining order and a writ of replevin on 5 August 2026, letting it recover die-cast tooling held at a supplier's plant. Cybertrucks were filling the Giga Texas outbound lot again the next day.

Renault has quietly raised the R5's WLTP range to 431 km on the Autonomía Confort version and 321 km on the entry car, with no change to motors or batteries. The gain is credited to a new energy-management system.

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.