BRIEFLY: BMW, Tesla, Škoda & more | 02 Mar 2026
EV News Daily - Technology and Business of EVs
Martyn Lee
4.8 • 749 Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2026
⏱️ 5 minutes
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Summary
It's EV News Briefly for Monday 02 March 2026, everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.
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A leak on BMW USA's online shop revealed two fully electric i3 sedan variants — the i3 40 xDrive and i3 50 xDrive — confirmed for the US in 2027, sharing the Neue Klasse platform with the iX3 and featuring Gen6 batteries, 800-volt hardware, and an iDrive X interior. The 2027 lineup also adds a first-ever iX4 coupe-SUV in two variants, an iX3 in three configurations launching in North America this summer, an electric iX5, and an i3 M60 alongside a full electric M3 positioned as the spiritual successor to today's M3 Competition.
Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin produced 211,235 vehicles in 2024 against a stated annual capacity of 375,000 — a 56% utilisation rate — and output has since declined further, with the factory now reportedly running at around 40% capacity and BYD outselling Tesla in Europe in January 2026. Labour tensions are deepening ahead of works council elections, with IG Metall pursuing collective wage agreements similar to those at Volkswagen and BMW, while Tesla filed a criminal complaint against a union member and Elon Musk warned that "outside organisations" could hinder the site's ambition to become Europe's largest factory complex.
A Transport & Environment report argues the EU can shrink the cost gap between domestically made and Chinese batteries from 90% to around 30% through scaled-up local production, with higher automation and lower scrap rates potentially cutting the gap to $14 per kWh by 2030 — equivalent to roughly €500 on an average EV. The findings align with the EU's forthcoming Industrial Accelerator Act, which targets ~70% local content thresholds for publicly supported EVs, though some carmakers warn this risks making batteries prohibitively expensive while T&E's Julia Poliscanova calls it "a sovereignty premium worth paying," particularly given China's export restrictions on critical minerals.
A UK tax tribunal has ruled against HMRC in a case brought by community charging operator Charge My Street, finding that a de-minimis clause in the VAT Act 1994 — capping "domestic" supplies at 1,000 kWh per month per customer — can qualify most neighbourhood charge points for the 5% reduced VAT rate rather than the 20% rate currently applied to public charging. The ruling is significant for drivers without off-street parking, though it also raises commercial complications, as many charge point operators have multi-year contracts priced on 20% VAT, and it opens the door to networks gaming the threshold by splitting sites or charger banks into separate "premises".
Škoda has opened a €205 million (~$216M), 55,000 m² battery production facility at Mladá Boleslav, making it the Volkswagen Group's largest BEV battery system site and the first VW Group plant in Europe to manufacture cell-to-pack (CTP) systems at scale. The line produces over 1,100 battery systems per day — targeting up to 335,000 annually — and Škoda's switch to LFP cells has cut battery production costs by 30% compared to its previous MEB systems.
MG has narrowed its European factory search to five countries, aiming to begin production by 2027 to circumvent the EU's 45% tariff on Chinese-built BEVs — a levy that caused MG's European BEV sales to fall 33% to 48,479 units last year, even as overall European sales rose 26% to 307,282 units in 2025. MG Europe head William Wang declared "it's time to build local," positioning the brand as a European marque rather than a Chinese import, as rivals BYD, Chery, and Leapmotor also race to establish European manufacturing footholds.
Citroën has refreshed the C5 Aircross plug-in hybrid with a new 21.5 kWh battery (17.8 kWh usable), delivering up to 96 km (60 miles) of WLTP combined electric range — a 33% improvement over the outgoing model and ahead of rivals like the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4 (69 km) and Ford Kuga PHEV (64 km). Priced in the €40–50k range, Citroën positions the updated C5 Aircross as one of the most tax-efficient family SUVs in the mainstream segment across EU markets while still targeting Euro 7 compliance.
A real-world Canadian trial by FPInnovations' PIT Group and Transport Canada tracked two commercial fleets over 12 months and more than 200,000 km of Montreal-area operations, projecting savings of $157,126 per truck over six years — described as the most comprehensive dataset of its kind outside controlled demonstrations. The study compared the Freightliner eCascadia (BEV) directly against the diesel Cascadia and found that despite the electric truck's higher purchase price, higher-than-expected maintenance costs, and lower residual value, a six-year saving still emerged and may prove conservative.
Denza has launched the D9 electric MPV in Australia from A$85,990, powered by a 103.3 kWh Blade Battery with 200 kW DC fast charging, 11 kW AC charging, and V2L capability across both variants, all built on BYD's e-Platform 3.0 with a cell-to-body battery structure. The seven-seat, three-row cabin targets the premium end of the people-mover segment with nappa leather, open-pore white ash wood trim, a 14-speaker Dynaudio sound system, adaptive suspension, and second-row captain's chairs offering over 900 mm of legroom, massage, and individual screens.
A Cox Automotive survey of 802 prospective US car buyers found the country almost evenly divided — 38% would consider Chinese brands if available, 39% would not — with Gen Z showing notably higher openness at 69%. Chinese brands remain locked out of the US market by high tariffs and software regulations, but cost pressure is a key driver of interest, with 68% of open buyers expecting lower prices against an average new car price of $50,000, while BYD has already surpassed Tesla in European EV sales.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Dating apps? Easy. Online shopping? Simple. Banking app? Sorted. Life admin? Ugh. That's what a digital ID could change. |
| 0:14.3 | And the government is opening a conversation to make it work for you. Your voice will shape the final product. |
| 0:21.8 | So search digital ID consultation to have your say. |
| 0:25.9 | Digital ID, making it work for you. |
| 0:29.8 | It's TV news briefly for Monday 2nd of March. |
| 0:32.6 | Everything EV in less than 5 minutes. |
| 0:34.4 | If you haven't got time for the full podcast, let's get you up to speed. |
| 0:37.1 | A leak on BMW USA's online shop revealed two fully electric I3 sedans coming. The 40x drive and the 50x drive |
| 0:47.0 | confirmed for 2027, sharing the Neuer Classer platform with the IX3, Gen 6 batteries, 800-volt |
| 0:53.2 | architecture. The lineup also adds a first ever |
| 0:56.4 | I-X-4, coupe SUV, an I-3 in three configurations, and an all-electric I-X-5 plus M versions. |
| 1:06.0 | The website has since been taken down. Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin produced 211,000 vehicles in 2024, |
| 1:13.6 | but Tesla's 2025 statement of capacity of 375,000 means a 56% utilization rate. An output has declined |
| 1:23.8 | since then, the factory reportedly running at 40% capacity. Now they do ship to Canada, |
| 1:31.1 | parts of the Middle East and Europe as well, but labour tensions at the Berlin plant, |
| 1:37.6 | overshadowing the current undercapacity issue with unions voting for collective bargaining agreements, and more of a say in how the factory is run. |
| 1:48.4 | A new report by Transport and Environment argues the European Union can shrink the cost of batteries by making them themselves with higher automation and lower scrap rates, |
| 2:00.0 | cutting the gap to $14 per kilowatt hour between |
| 2:03.9 | Chinese and European cells, and also arguing that with a little bit of European subsidies |
| 2:10.0 | and incentives, a slightly higher price of the vehicle won't work its way through to end |
| 2:15.3 | consumers, but will mean a more robust battery supply chain |
| 2:18.9 | for European EV buyers. A UK tax tribunal might sound like a bit of a dull subject, but this was |
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