BRIEFLY: ID Polo, BMW iX3, Ford & more | 30 Apr 2026
EV News Daily - Technology and Business of EVs
Martyn Lee
4.8 • 749 Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Summary
It's EV News Briefly for Thursday 30 April 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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Volkswagen has opened order books for the ID Polo, an all-electric small car starting at €24,995, built on the upgraded MEB+ platform to compete with Chinese EVs in Europe's mass market. It offers three power outputs, two battery options (37 kWh LFP and 52 kWh NMC) with up to 455 km WLTP range, a 13-inch touchscreen, 441 litres of boot space, and vehicle-to-load capability.
BMW has raised its projected EPA range estimate for the U.S.-spec iX3 xDrive50 to 434 miles, an 8.5% increase over earlier guidance, though final EPA certification is still pending. Priced from around $60,000, the iX3 is launching in the U.S. in May 2026, with customer deliveries expected in late September or early October after mass production begins in early September.
Ford's electric car division Model e lost $777 million in Q1 2026, roughly $23,000 per EV sold, despite a $72 million year-on-year improvement and a 10% rise in volumes to around 34,000 units. Ford's near-term focus is improving margins on existing EVs while developing next-generation models on its Universal EV platform and expanding into battery storage through the newly launched Ford Energy.
Citroën CEO Xavier Chardon has confirmed plans for a sub-€15,000 A-segment electric city car, positioning it as a modern equivalent of the 2CV to help restore European car buying, which remains three million buyers per year below pre-pandemic levels. A concept is expected at the Paris motor show in October, with a production version to follow within a couple of years at a price well below the current ë-C3.
Jeep has given the Avenger its first major update since its 2023 launch, debuting the revised model in Rio de Janeiro with a redesigned seven-slot grille that lights up at night and brings it visually closer to the newer Jeep Compass. A dedicated European launch is planned later in 2026, significant given the Avenger won the 2023 European Car of the Year and has been central to Jeep's European recovery.
Rivian appears to be quietly staffing a second production shift for the R2 at its Normal, Illinois plant, with a LinkedIn post from a newly promoted R2 Group Leader confirming he is "ramping production on night shift." Volume R2 production began on April 22, with early units going to employees for several months of real-world software data collection ahead of external customer deliveries.
SAIC's MG has confirmed the upcoming MG 07 fastback sedan will be among the first vehicles to feature Momenta's R7 autonomous driving system, unveiled at Beijing Auto Show as a direct rival to Tesla's FSD v14. Momenta's R7 supports weekly over-the-air updates, targets a deployed fleet of 200,000 vehicles by end-2026, and plans European robotaxi deployments later this year through a partnership with Uber.
The UK's zero-emission vehicle fleet reached 2 million registrations at the end of 2025, representing 4.8% of all licensed vehicles, with 528,000 newly registered in 2025 alone and electric cars taking 23.4% of new car sales. The government's Electric Car Grant, offering up to £3,750 off qualifying EVs, has already been used by over 100,000 buyers and has driven a 10% rise in electric car demand.
Plugin EVs captured 64.9% of Sweden's auto market in Q1 2026, up from 58.0% a year earlier, with BEVs alone reaching 40.7% market share on a 21% volume increase despite the overall market shrinking 2%. A new BEV incentive scheme targeting lower-income rural households helped sustain momentum, while the Volvo EX40 held the top BEV sales spot for the third consecutive quarter.
LG Energy Solution secured over 100 GWh of new orders for its 46-series cylindrical cells in Q1 2026, pushing its total backlog above 440 GWh, with the new business widely attributed to a reported ten-year BMW Group contract worth approximately €5.8 billion. The deal is said to cover both 4695 and 46120 cell formats linked to BMW's Neue Klasse platform, and would mark LGES's first time supplying cells for BMW battery-electric vehicles.
Spy photos have revealed Rolls-Royce testing an unnamed electric utility vehicle that closely matches the proportions and silhouette of the Cullinan, the brand's most popular model since its 2018 launch. Reports suggest this is not a next-generation Cullinan replacement but rather a separate new product alongside it.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | My name is Chevy and this is my NHS story. Over a couple of days I was getting quite intense pain on the left side of my stomach. So I called my doctors and then was referred to the Eltham CDC. It was literally a seamless, stress-free day. There was no anxiety or worry. |
| 0:16.9 | The government is opening new community diagnostic centres, with many already available 12 hours |
| 0:21.4 | a day, seven days a week, so the NHS can be there for all of us when we need it. |
| 0:25.1 | Find your closest one at gov.uk slash NHS Fit for the Future, available Englandwide. |
| 0:31.1 | My name is Chevy, and this is my NHS story. Over a couple of days, I was getting quite intense |
| 0:36.5 | pain on the left side of my stomach. |
| 0:38.1 | So I called my doctors and then was referred to the Eltham CDC. It was literally a seamless, stress-free day. There was no anxiety or worry. |
| 0:47.1 | The government is opening new community diagnostic centres, with many already available 12 hours a day, seven days a week. |
| 0:52.6 | So the NHS can be there for all of us when we need it. |
| 0:55.2 | Find your closest one at gov.uk.com slash NHS Fit for the Future. Available England-wide. It's evening. For Thursday the 30th of April, everything Evie in less than five minutes. If you've got time for the full podcast, let's get you up to speed. Volkswagen opened all the books for the new ID Polo, the all-electric small car, |
| 1:11.7 | starting at 25,000 euros built on the new MEP Plus platform to compete with Chinese EVs |
| 1:17.9 | in Europe's mass market three power outputs, two battery options, LFP or NMC, even vehicle to load, |
| 1:25.4 | and a nice new interior design for the Volkswagen's as well. |
| 1:29.3 | BMWs raising its projected EPA range for the US spec IX3, X-Drive 50, another almost 10%, |
| 1:36.5 | that's 434 miles of EPA estimated range. |
| 1:42.4 | Joining a pretty rare club of EVs that do over 430 miles, |
| 1:46.8 | price from around $60,000 should be launching in the US sometime in May. |
| 1:53.2 | Ford's electric car division lost $77 million in the first quarter of this year. |
| 1:59.9 | That works out at $23,000 per EV sold. And they sold more |
| 2:06.4 | vehicles, but they made less money, so margins are taking a hit. Avery selling prices down because |
| 2:13.2 | we'll Ford are selling more vehicles in Europe, but they tend to be the more lower priced vehicles. |
| 2:18.9 | Citroen CEO Xavier Chardon has confirmed plans for a sub 15,000 euro electric city car. |
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