Policy

China has published GB/T 46991.1-2025, which sets capacity-retention reference points of 82%, 75% and 70% at five, eight and ten years, and caps the error on a car's own battery-health readout at 5%. It is a recommended standard, not a mandate — unlike Euro 7, which becomes binding in Europe from 2027.

Bavaria's CSU is demanding that Germany's EV purchase premium be tied to European value creation after ministry data showed Tesla, Skoda and Renault taking the largest share. A coalition review is due in the autumn.

A Deloitte study finds 98% of Europe's battery cell production capacity is controlled by Asian manufacturers and Europe risks forgoing €100–150 billion in value added by 2030 unless it builds its own cell supply.

UK factories built 385,979 cars and commercial vehicles in the first half of 2026, down 7.5% year on year, though output all but stabilised in the second quarter. The SMMT says regulation is running ahead of demand and that ZEV Mandate reform is now essential if manufacturers are to keep investing in British plants.

The European Commission has opened applications for the Battery Booster facility, offering interest-free loans of up to €1.5 billion in total — and up to €500 million per project — to first-time commercial-scale EV battery cell manufacturers in the EEA. The deadline is 30 September 2026.

US regulator NHTSA has rejected a petition asking it to investigate the hidden manual door releases on 179,031 Tesla Model 3 sedans, finding just one matching complaint that traced back to the petitioner's own car. But in the same decision it agreed to start writing new federal door-egress rules for the entire auto industry, conceding that today's standard says nothing about where a manual release sits or how it is labelled.

Spain has approved the Auto+ incentive programme, offering up to €4,500 plus a mandatory €1,000 dealer discount for ZERO-label EVs and running through 2030. It replaces the region-run MOVES III with faster, centrally managed grants — and Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y both qualify.

The UK is removing VAT from domestic electricity from October, making home charging for cars like the Model Y slightly cheaper — but public charging stays at 20% VAT, widening the gap for drivers without a driveway.

A new Transport & Environment analysis finds that public charging infrastructure across the EU has grown faster than the battery-electric fleet. Every member state except Malta now meets the fleet-based targets in the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), with total public capacity running 180% above the minimum. The findings undercut the long-running claim that a lack of chargers is what holds back European EV adoption.

Britain will introduce a mileage-based Electric Vehicle Excise Duty from April 2028, charging battery cars 3p per mile and plug-in hybrids 1.5p, on top of standard road tax. Tesla drivers face a new running cost the pipeline puts at roughly £240-£300 a year for an average driver.

Early figures from Germany's 2026 income-based EV incentive show Tesla and Skoda leading approved applications under the €3 billion, up-to-€6,000 scheme, helped by the programme's lack of a price cap or local-content rule.

New Jersey's S1677 would require driverless commercial vehicles to carry cameras plus two additional sensor types — a threshold Tesla's camera-only Robotaxi cannot meet, while lidar-equipped rivals like Waymo can. A near-identical bill is pending in New York.

Tesla's 216-page 2025 Impact Report says customers avoided 37 million metric tons of CO₂e last year, up about 16% on 2024, and puts fresh numbers on FSD (Supervised) safety — with methodology caveats worth reading before you cheer.

Tesla buyers in France can stack up to €10,700 in aid on a Model Y this summer — a €5,000 trade-in bonus plus a €3,600–€5,700 income-based CEE grant — cutting the entry Propulsion to €29,290 for orders placed by 30 September 2026.

The UK government has opened a consultation on a £190m Strategic Charging Infrastructure scheme that would fund electricity-grid upgrades at English motorway service areas, easing the connection costs that have stalled fast-charging rollouts.

From 1 October 2026, the Brussels-Capital Region introduces a rotation fee for EVs left plugged into public chargers after charging is done. It follows Antwerp and Ghent, which already bill idle cars by the minute.

Ireland's new ICE2EV scrappage pilot was fully subscribed within an hour of opening on 1 July 2026, with the rural allocation gone in 30 minutes. It offers up to €8,500 off a new EV when an older petrol or diesel car is scrapped.

A majority of MEPs back exempting motorway fast-charging stations of up to 1 MW from permit requirements. If it survives trilogue talks, the change could speed up Supercharger and rival network buildout across Europe.

US regulators have closed their power-steering-loss investigation into 376,241 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y cars without further action, after an over-the-air fix and recall cut owner complaints.

US regulators have proposed scrapping the requirement for brake pedals in purpose-built driverless vehicles — a change that removes a key obstacle for Tesla's pedal-free Cybercab, even as Europe takes a very different, safety-case route to the same destination.

A German regional court has ruled that if an electric car's real-world range falls more than 10% short of its official WLTP figure, that counts as a material defect — and the buyer can withdraw from the purchase. The decision treats the manufacturer's range claim as a binding guarantee.

A Dutch collective claim over Tesla's broken Hardware 3 self-driving promises has grown to nearly 7,000 owners and won the backing of leading law firm Kennedy Van der Laan. Owners want refunds of up to €6,400 plus compensation for lost vehicle value.

Sweden's Transport Administration has told the EU's Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles to vote against approving Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) across the bloc unless the system's ability to exceed posted speed limits is removed. The April 30 letter surfaced just as the committee prepares to take up an EU-wide approval, complicating Tesla's path to a single continental rollout after several countries already granted national approvals.

Under regulatory pressure in the US and China, Tesla is redesigning its interior and exterior door handles around a single mechanical-plus-electronic release. The Cybercab's new one-pull lever previews where the rest of the lineup is heading, with the changes expected to reach Europe's Berlin-built cars.