EV News Daily - Technology and Business of EVs Jan 29, 2026

BRIEFLY: Tesla Dumps S&X, Ford LFP Batteries, Mini Countryman & more | 29 Jan 2026

Annotations will appear as you listen

0:00

4:16

Car

Tesla Model X

The Tesla Model X is a large electric SUV that has unique doors that open upwards. It is known for being spacious and high-tech.

Term

RoboTaxi

A RoboTaxi is a self-driving taxi that doesn't need a human driver. It's part of Tesla's plan to create a fleet of cars that can pick up and drop off passengers on their own.

Car

The Tesla Cybertruck is a new electric truck that looks very different from regular trucks. It can have its software changed easily, but its shape can't be changed, which makes it less useful for some jobs.

Car

Polestar 2

The Polestar 2 is an electric car that has been updated for 2026 to have a better battery. It's designed to be more efficient and perform better as electric vehicles become more popular.

Term

EVs

EVs are cars that run on electricity instead of gas. They are becoming more common because they are better for the environment and technology is improving to make them more efficient.

Car

Ford Capri

The Ford Capri is a sporty car that Ford made a long time ago. It's known for looking good and being fun to drive.

Car

Ford Explorer

Car

Mini Countryman

The Mini Countryman is a small SUV that looks like a Mini car but has more room inside for passengers and cargo. It's known for being fun to drive and is a good option if you want a stylish vehicle that can also carry more stuff. The 'Countryman E' is a version that uses both gas and electricity to help save on fuel.

Car

Chevrolet Bolt EV

The Chevrolet Bolt EV is an electric car that is known for being affordable and having a good driving range, which means it can go far on a single charge.

Car

Toyota Corolla

The Toyota Corolla is a very popular car that many people buy because it's reliable and doesn't use too much gas.

Company

Jakku

Jakku is a car company from China that makes electric cars, like the J5 SUV, which is becoming more popular.

LIVE

It's EV News briefly for Thursday, 29th of January, everything EV in less than five minutes.

Let's get you up to speed. Tesla confirmed they are dumping their flagship cars to build robots

instead. Tesla has cancelled the Model S and the Model X, the original cars that made them

a successful car company back in the day. The move ends a run from niche startup to global

dominance. They will instead use the space in their Californian facility to make robots.

Tesla's RoboTaxi claims are colliding with the law. In their report yesterday for the Q4

financials, they mixed up the words RoboTaxi, sometimes spelling it with a capital R and

sometimes lowercase. Capital R means it's a RoboTaxi brand and those are the ones around

Austin. Without necessarily a driver, RoboTaxi's they referred to as the expansion of their fleet,

but that's just Tesla's ride hailing scheme with humans involved. They weren't clear between the

making it seem like it was a much bigger thing than it actually is.

Investors shrugged off the gaps between promise and reality. Tesla's full self-driving now has

a number attached to it usefully. 1.1 million people have subscribed to full self-driving,

but again they're mixing up the word subscriber. They confirmed later asking for clarification

from the media that 70% of those subscribers are actually people that bought FST from back in the

day. Are people who actually bought it classed as a subscriber? Well, they are now by Tesla

as the chief executive has to hit a number for subscribers to hit his next big compensation

package. And with cyber trucks not selling, the chief executive floated an idea yesterday

that they would be used instead for commercial intercity deliveries. But once again, Tesla

wanting for the cyber truck to be a useful vehicle, they can rewrite software at the drop of a hat,

but they cannot, without starting again, rewrite the shape of the vehicle which is useless for

commercial deliveries. That's quite a dull thing based really around boxes and pallets and things

like that, of which the cyber truck is no use to at all. And the chief executive also admitting

yesterday that the robots, which were promised to have a thousand of them doing useful work in

Tesla by the end of 2025, are not actually doing anything useful yet. There's zero doing that,

but there will be by the end of this year. Let's move on. Polestar 2 has been updated again for

2026. If this was a combustion car, maybe get one mid-cycle life refresh, but this is getting

a much better battery in the cheapest version and once again being updated as they keep the

Polestar 2 on the road, Ford is giving its cheapest EVs more range for the same price,

upgrading the Ford Capri and the Ford Explorer. Great cars, but actually quite expensive cars for

what you get, with new lithium-ion phosphate batteries and a stronger motor as well. That

standard range Capri will now go 288 miles. That's a decent entry level. The Mini has found 25 extra

miles as well for their Countryman E, and they haven't touched the battery pack efficiency

gains being made there. A used Chevrolet Bolt EV is now cheaper to own used than something like

a Toyota Corolla according to new research from the University of Michigan. Used EVs are actually

financially a very good way of spending your money on a car. Jakku has added another thousand

buyers for its electric SUV, the J5, the Chinese brand extending its finance office here in the UK.

Britain's National Wealth Fund is channeling more public money into EV charging and domestic

battery plants, betting that manufacturing and grid hardware will help grow EVs. And now a total

of 104 countries have reported to the United Nations that they have official plans in place

for electric vehicles to be on their roads. And those numbers matter. 66 have concrete expansion

targets for the adoption of electric vehicles. That's briefly.

About this episode

Tesla's recent decision to discontinue the Model S and Model X in favor of robot production marks a significant shift in their strategy. The episode discusses the implications of this move, including confusion around their RoboTaxi claims and subscription numbers for full self-driving features. Additionally, updates on the Polestar 2 and Ford's new LFP batteries highlight advancements in EV technology. The episode also touches on the affordability of used EVs compared to traditional cars and the growing global commitment to electric vehicle adoption.

EV Jakku Robotaxi

Chevrolet Bolt EV Ford Capri Ford Explorer Mini Countryman Polestar 2 Tesla Cybertruck Tesla Model S Tesla Model X Toyota Corolla

Original notes

BRIEFLY: Tesla Dumps S&X, Ford LFP Batteries, Mini Countryman & more | 29 Jan 2026

It's EV News Briefly for Thursday 29 January 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

TESLA TO END MODEL S AND X PRODUCTION IN 2026 https://bit.ly/3MewAzl
TESLA DUMPS FLAGSHIP CARS TO BUILD ROBOTS https://bit.ly/4q1XMiz
TESLA’S ROBOTAXI CLAIMS COLLIDE WITH CALIFORNIA LAW https://bit.ly/3ZF16FC
TESLA FSD USER COUNT RISES, BUT QUESTIONS MULTIPLY https://bit.ly/4rkWosw
TESLA PUTS HARD NUMBER ON FSD DEMAND https://bit.ly/4rkbGh0
MUSK FLOATS IDEA TO USE UNWANTED CYBERTRUCKS https://bit.ly/4kacliS
MUSK ADMITS TESLA ROBOT NOT YET DOING USEFUL WORK https://bit.ly/4a4knVI
POLESTAR 2 GAINS BIGGER BATTERY AND REAR-DRIVE FOCUS FOR 2026 https://bit.ly/49QlE48
FORD GIVES CHEAPEST EVS MORE RANGE FOR SAME PRICE https://bit.ly/4q4op6w
MINI SQUEEZES MORE MILES FROM COUNTRYMAN E https://bit.ly/3NMeiG3
USED BOLT EUV UNDERCUTS COROLLA ON OWNERSHIP COST https://bit.ly/4qUz84Y
JAECOO EXTENDS CUT-PRICE J5 EV LAUNCH DEAL https://bit.ly/4t734fy
UK WEALTH FUND PUMPS CASH INTO EV CHARGERS AND BATTERIES https://bit.ly/49W3r5f
EV PLEDGES GO GLOBAL BUT TARGETS STAY UNEVEN https://bit.ly/4alWXMU

EV News Daily - Technology and Business of EVs

Martyn Lee

View classic page →

0:00

4:16