BRIEFLY: VW ID.Golf, EV Vans, 400-Stall Charger Site & more | 07 Mar 2026
EV News Daily - Technology and Business of EVs
Martyn Lee
4.8 • 749 Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2026
⏱️ 4 minutes
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Summary
It's EV News Briefly for Saturday 07 March 2026, everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.
Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the EV News Daily Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/EVNewsDaily
Volkswagen has given Wolfsburg workers a first look at the ninth-generation Golf, expected to carry the ID Golf name and built on VW Group's new Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). From summer 2027, current combustion-engine Golf production shifts to Mexico, freeing Wolfsburg to retool for the ID Golf and an electric VW T-Roc successor.
Stellantis Pro One is running a European campaign until end of June that matches the purchase price of eight battery-electric vans to their diesel equivalents across compact and mid-size segments. The offer directly closes gaps such as the €7,150 difference between the Opel Combo Cargo Electric and its diesel counterpart, testing whether price parity alone will push fleets to commit.
Tesla is planning a 400-stall V4 Supercharger station in Yermo, California on Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, which would more than double the current record of 164 stalls. The site would be built in six phases as part of a wider retail hub called Eddie World 2, with Phase 1 delivering 72 stalls breaking ground in 2026.
Uber has partnered with Pod in the UK to offer drivers a home EV charger subscription for £25 per month over three years, with no upfront cost, a lifetime warranty, and potential cash rewards of up to £170 a year through smart charging. The offer arrives as Uber expands its Uber Electric category to eight new UK cities including Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds.
BYD registrations surged 1,550% year-on-year in Germany in February to 3,053 vehicles, while also rising 83% in the UK to 2,154 units and tripling in Spain to 3,003 registrations. The gains come as BYD ramps up its first European plant in Hungary, built partly to sidestep EU tariffs on Chinese-imported EVs imposed in October 2024.
Nio is overhauling its European operations by switching from direct sales to a distributor-led model in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, while retaining direct sales only in Norway. The restructure, moving from a country-led to a function-led organisation, has already seen Nio Germany general manager David Sultzer step down.
Milence, backed by Volvo Group, Daimler Truck, and Traton, has opened a 400 kW HGV charging hub at the Volvo Trucks plant in Ghent, its fourth Belgian site, positioned on the TEN-T North Sea–Mediterranean freight corridor. A second phase will add Megawatt Charging System infrastructure, targeting charge times of 30 to 45 minutes for large HGV batteries.
The European Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) will open EU manufacturing subsidies to up to 40 "trusted partner" nations including the UK and Japan, following lobbying by UK business secretary Peter Kyle after fears that Nissan's Sunderland plant could close under earlier exclusionary proposals. The IAA also targets lifting manufacturing's share of EU GDP from 14.3% to 20% by 2035, though US firms are expected to be excluded due to American public procurement restrictions.
After Ethiopia banned ICE vehicle imports in 2024 and cut EV import duties, EVs rose from under 1% to around 6% of all vehicle imports, surpassing the reported global average of roughly 4%. The government is driving electrification as energy sovereignty, aided by low electricity costs of around $0.10 per kWh and a tiered tariff structure that exempts domestically assembled EV kits from import tax entirely.
Hungary has attracted approximately €26 billion in foreign EV battery investment, mainly from South Korean and Chinese manufacturers, but battery output has fallen during a prolonged sector downturn weeks before the April 12 national election. The strategy faces additional political pressure after a news investigation into health and safety violations at Samsung SDI's factory undermined the narrative around foreign-capital-led industrialisation.
A Queensland parliamentary inquiry has tabled 28 recommendations including a ban on under-16s riding e-bikes and personal mobility devices, prompted by 12 e-mobility deaths and over 6,300 emergency department presentations in the state last year. Key proposals also include requiring at least a learner car licence to ride, cutting footpath speed limits to 10 km/h, and reclassifying any device capable of exceeding 25 km/h as a motorcycle.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's EV News briefly for Saturday 7th of March. |
| 0:02.2 | Everything EV in less than five minutes. |
| 0:04.0 | If you haven't got time with the weekend to catch up with the full show, let's get you up to speed. |
| 0:08.7 | Volkswagen has given workers a first look at the ninth generation golf, expected to be called the ID Golf and built on Volkswagen Group's new SSP platform from summer 2027. The current combustion golf production |
| 0:23.7 | goes to Mexico, which frees up German production to retool for ID golf. Stalantus is running |
| 0:30.8 | a European campaign until the end of June that matches the purchase price of eight purebev vans |
| 0:37.4 | to their diesel equivalents in the markets |
| 0:39.6 | they're sold him. That's across compact and mid-sized vans. The offer directly closes the gap. |
| 0:44.7 | Like in some places take Germany a 7,000 euro difference between the Opal Combo Cargo Electric |
| 0:51.8 | and its diesel MSRP. testing where the price parity alone pushes |
| 0:58.0 | fleets to go Bev. Tesla is planning a 400 stall V4 supercharger in California on Interstate 15 |
| 1:05.0 | between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. More than double the current record of 164 stalls. The site would |
| 1:10.5 | be built in six phases, part of a wider retail hub called Eddie World 2. Phase 1 would be 72 stalls, breaking ground later this year. Eventually, 400 stall supercharging. No one does it, at least outside of China, like Tesla does it. Uber has partnered |
| 1:31.8 | with PodPoint in the UK to offer drivers a home-easy charger subscription. It's going to cost |
| 1:38.1 | £25 per month, and you pay over three years. Getting over the upfront cost of paying up to £750 for a home charger |
| 1:47.8 | to be installed if you want to drive an electric vehicle. They offer a lifetime warranty and even some |
| 1:53.4 | cash rewards as well. The offer arrives as Uber expands their electric category to eight new UK |
| 2:00.4 | cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. |
| 2:03.2 | BYD surging in Germany last month in February, now ahead of Tesla in Germany by market share, |
| 2:11.0 | also rising 83% in the UK, year on year, to over 2,150 BYDs, tripling in Spain. |
| 2:21.8 | The gains come as BYD ramps up its first European plant in Hungary, built partly to sidestep EU tariffs. |
| 2:29.3 | Neo, a Chinese competitor, are overhauling their European operations, though, switching from direct sales to a distributor-led model in Germany, Netherlands and Sweden, and retaining direct sales only in Norway. |
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