Hardware

Geely says solid-state cells at 500 Wh/kg - double its current 250 Wh/kg packs - enter pilot deployment across its brands in 2027, claiming over 1,000 km of range. Volvo and Polestar are on the list, which is what makes it a Tesla problem.

Tesla has confirmed it will publish the European Semi's specifications and launch details at IAA Transportation in Hannover, 15-20 September. The European listing shows a 40-tonne truck charging on MCS at up to 1.2 MW - not the North American configuration.

Edmunds recorded 358 miles for the six-seat Model Y L against Tesla's 320-mile estimate — 11.8% over, and the longest range it has measured for any Model Y. The same day, "Model Y L" appeared in the source code of Tesla's configurators in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, where the car still cannot be ordered. Tesla has confirmed no European launch date, price or specification.

WETOX has put a CCS2 discharge adapter on Kickstarter that turns a European Model 3, Y, S or X into a 230-volt power source, with what it says is the first ISO 15118-20 certification report from SGS. It is 3,680 W on a Schuko socket, and it is still crowdfunding.

The Information reports Tesla will unveil the next-generation Roadster as early as this month at SpaceX's McGregor test site in Texas. The car will lift off under SpaceX cold gas thrusters, but it will be operated remotely with nobody inside, spectators will be held several hundred yards back because the thrusters can damage hearing, and the stunt vehicle is not street legal. A more ambitious routine was cut after Musk reviewed it. Tesla has confirmed none of it.

WirtschaftsWoche reports that Porsche management and its works council have agreed in principle to phase out the Taycan by 2030, with no replacement named and a planned move to Leipzig abandoned. Porsche declined to comment, having said in July that it had no short-term plans to drop the car.

CATL has told investors it plans to begin small-scale production of its first solid-state cells in 2027, the same year BYD is aiming for. Both are pilot lines, not factories: CATL's own chief executive puts mass-market use no earlier than 2030, and the technology currently sits at level four of nine on the readiness scale.

Franz von Holzhausen told Jay Leno the next Roadster is coming "very soon" and repeated it when pressed. The car was revealed in 2017 and promised for 2020. Reporting points to an unveil this month, but that would be a demonstration, not production.

Indian conglomerate JSW Group is reported to be close to taking 51% of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, in a joint venture meant to fund a dedicated Indian EV platform derived from Volkswagen's China architecture. Neither company has confirmed it, and the money involved has already been cut once.

Elon Musk posted a Terafab concept video showing Optimus units and a Robovan on an elevated roadway through the building, alongside a Semi and a Cybercab. The render is credited to SpaceX. Robovan still has no confirmed production timeline.

The Paris Motor Show organisers have confirmed 12 October 2026 as the reveal date for Citroën's electric 2CV. It is expected as a prototype: the production car is due in 2028 at under €15,000 before incentives.

Reporting relayed on 7 August 2026 puts the next-generation Alfa Romeo Stelvio in 2028, two years later than the debut Alfa originally planned, and says it will no longer be electric-only: hybrid versions will join the battery-electric one on the STLA Large platform. Alfa Romeo has not confirmed the new timing.

Ford and Geely announced a European joint venture in July 2026 — Ford 66%, Geely 34%, based at Ford's Valencia plant — and reporting now places an all-new Kuga in 2029, developed with Geely technology and offered with more than one powertrain. Two Geely-derived electric SUVs are due first, from late 2028.

New road photos show Kia's PV7 electric van with most of its camouflage removed. It is expected in 2027 as a substantially larger sibling to the PV5, which already leads Europe's small electric van segment. Kia has not published range, battery or powertrain figures.

Renault Group is midway through a switch from NCM to cheaper LFP cells, starting with the Twingo's 27.5 kWh CATL pack. Sodium-ion is the plausible next step: CATL says its Naxtra cells can be up to 30% cheaper than LFP and hold about 90% of capacity at −40 °C. Renault has confirmed nothing, and the only executive quote on record dates from 2023.

Lucid has pushed its sub-$50,000 Cosmos mid-size SUV from late 2026 to the second half of 2027. CEO Silvio Napoli said the Air and Gravity were launched "a bit in haste" and he will not repeat it. The delay lands alongside a Q2 net loss of just over $1 billion, an 18% workforce cut in June and a $1.4 billion cost-savings plan.

BYD has published six patents covering solid-state cell chemistry and manufacturing, four on materials and two on production. Nearly all of them attack the same problem: getting solid electrode particles to make and keep good contact with a solid electrolyte. Pilot production of dual-electrolyte cells is targeted for 2027.

Homologation documents filed with China's MIIT show the production Smart #2 without camouflage: a two-seat city car 2,751 mm long on a 1,875 mm wheelbase, built by Geely's Zhejiang Haoqing. It is the first true Fortwo successor since Smart moved upmarket, and its world premiere is at the Paris Motor Show in October.

Tesla has appointed a business development manager to lead the Semi's commercial launch in France, extending a European build-out that began with sales listings in Germany and a hiring push for Megacharger infrastructure.

Elon Musk says Tesla plans to "open source" the Model S and Model X, echoing its 2023 Roadster release. But that earlier release turned out to be little more than a handful of files, so it is far from clear what owners and independent shops would actually get.

Tesla plans to train its Optimus humanoid robot by recording the movements of employees at its Grünheide vehicle plant in Germany, while building out robot component development in nearby Reutlingen.

Tesla's six-seat, long-wheelbase Model Y L has been spotted testing on German roads with local plates — the strongest sign yet that a European launch is imminent, just days after the crossover's US debut.

South Korean media report that LG Energy Solution is bringing two new cylindrical battery lines online at its Nanjing plant in the second half of 2026, adding around 4 GWh of capacity to cover Tesla's growing orders driven by strong Model Y demand.

Sources say early production Cybercab units run a more powerful version of Tesla's current AI4 self-driving computer, with more RAM than the chip in today's Model 3 and Model Y — but it is still not the long-awaited AI5, which Tesla has pushed to mid-2027.