Ford is a big car company from America that makes many types of vehicles like trucks and cars. It's been around for a long time and is very well known.
The E-Vitara is an electric car made by Maruti Suzuki in India. Instead of buying the battery with the car, you can rent it to make the car cheaper to buy.
Battery as a service means you don't buy the car's battery when you get the car. Instead, you rent the battery, which makes the car cheaper to buy and easier to fix if the battery has problems.
Fast EV charging means charging an electric car's battery quickly, so you don't have to wait a long time to keep driving.
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It's EV News briefly for Wednesday 18th of February.
Everything EV in less than five minutes.
If you haven't got time for the full podcast, let's get you up to speed.
The European Union plans some minimum content rules.
If they want to access some of the funds and subsidies,
let me explain what that means.
70% of components excluding batteries,
so almost three-quarters of components of EVs,
must come from the European Union or be fully assembled there
if they want to qualify for state support.
What about batteries?
Well, the carmakers themselves say they rely far too much on China
at the moment, and it wouldn't be possible.
Jim Farley, who is the Ford CEO,
has proposed a joint US-China venture to Trump officials,
allowing Chinese automakers to make vehicles in the United States
under the domestic brands, the likes of Ford.
They would share profits, but importantly,
they would bring Chinese technology into the country.
Right now, the US does seem to have a more positive view
of bringing in Chinese investment and IP
as long as it is conditional on employing Americans
and making the cars on American soil.
There's a US-China summit pending,
and it does seem like these things can shift day-to-day,
frankly, hour-to-hour, depending on mood.
So honorable for him to do that.
I'm not sure we're going to see Chinese cars
made on US soil anytime soon.
Volvo are rolling out a fleet-wide update to their software,
and this is great because these are cars back to 2020
that run anything Android automotive,
like my 2020 Polestar,
but this is specifically talking about Volvo here.
And that's going to bring even six-year-old cars
completely up to date.
If you walked in and brought a brand-new EX-90
top of the range now,
your six-year-old Volvo is going to look the same.
Now, this is a huge undertaking
for an established carmaker like Volvo.
It is somewhat of an everyday occurrence, though,
for startups and the likes of Tesla
that effectively have one car, the three and the Y,
where fleet updates are more regular
and less of a big deal.
But for Volvo and for its drivers,
with 2.5 million vehicles getting this,
not all at the same time on the same day.
It should start in the next three weeks.
It's a really big deal.
EDF wants permission from the UK government
to run Nuclear Power.
It's the Seizwell B plant, if you know that.
For 20 more years,
yet a new study from University of Surrey today
points out that solar is by far and away
the most cost-effective way to generate electricity.
We need more investment and time and money spent on storage.
And then we can fully get away from fossil fuels
and even nuclear as well as a base load
using batteries to store wind, wave and solar power.
It does look to be the future of charging our cars.
In India, Maruti Suzuki, their largest carmaker,
has launched and begun delivering the E-Vitara
using battery as a service to lease or rent the battery
to bring down the initial cost of the vehicle.
The UK is leading Europe on zero emission bus sales.
The UK is the number one place to sell your electric buses.
Over two and a half thousand of them entering service last year.
Our office of zero emission vehicles
is currently surveying stakeholders.
So, you know, charge point operators,
motorway service operators,
about a new standardized system of signage,
which sounds very boring, doesn't it?
But it's actually a really important thing
to standardize how and where and why
we put signs up telling people where fast EV charging
is located on our, to begin with, motorway network.
At the minute some of the signs are inconsistent,
they're on private land, this would standardize
a bit like we do with petrol stations,
indications to drivers how far away from the next refuelling point.
Canada say that their new quota system
of Chinese made cars could tempt Volvo
to sell more Chinese made Volvos there.
And Maserati is offering discounts in the United States
of up to $85,000 off the sticker price of their US EVs.
That's briefly.
I didn't realize I was wasting $415 a month
until I downloaded Rocket Money.
I thought I had my finances under control
until the app laid out all my spending
and categorized it for me.
Takeout, shopping, and unused subscriptions
were quietly draining my account.
And as a result, my savings took a backseat.
But Rocket Money doesn't just tell you
what you're wasting money on,
it takes action to save you money.
First, the app looks at your income and monthly expenses
and calculates how much you can safely spend
each day to stay under budget.
Rocket Money also finds and cancels
unwanted subscriptions for you
and even negotiates better rates on your bills
so you have more money in your pocket.
On average, Rocket Money members can save up to $740
a year when using all the app's premium features.
Users love the app with over 186,000 five-star ratings.
It's time to simplify your finances
and take control of your money.
Go to rocketmoney.com slash cancel to get started.
That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
If you're an HVAC technician and a call comes in,
Granger knows that you need a partner
that helps you find the right product,
fast and hassle-free.
And you know that when the first problem of the day
is a clanking blower motor,
there's no need to break a sweat.
With Granger's easy-to-use website and product details,
you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along.
Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com or just stop by.
Granger, for the ones who get it done.
If you're an HVAC technician and a call comes in,
Granger knows that you need a partner
that helps you find the right product,
fast and hassle-free.
And you know that when the first problem of the day
is a clanking blower motor,
there's no need to break a sweat.
With Granger's easy-to-use website and product details,
you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along.
Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com or just stop by.
Granger, for the ones who get it done.
If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant,
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Granger, for the ones who get it done.
If you're an HVAC technician and a call comes in,
Granger knows that you need a partner
that helps you find the right product, fast and hassle-free.
And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor,
there's no need to break a sweat.
With Granger's easy-to-use website and product details,
you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along.
Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com or just stop by.
Granger, for the ones who get it done.
About this episode
The episode covers key EV industry updates including the EU's new rules requiring 70% of EV components to be sourced or assembled locally for subsidies, Ford CEO Jim Farley's proposal for a US-China joint venture, and Volvo's major software update for vehicles back to 2020. It also touches on UK nuclear power debates, India's battery leasing model for EVs, the UK's leadership in electric bus sales, and efforts to standardize EV charging signage. Additional news includes Canada's quota system impacting Volvo and Maserati's large US EV discounts.
It's EV News Briefly for Wednesday 18 February 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
