The MEB Plus platform is a special design that helps Volkswagen make electric cars more easily. It can be used for different small cars, making them efficient and versatile.
Car
Volkswagen ID Polo
The Volkswagen ID Polo is a small electric car made for city driving. It's part of a series of electric cars from Volkswagen that are designed to be eco-friendly.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a very fancy car that is known for being super comfortable and packed with the latest technology. They recently made a version that can use electricity to help save fuel, but it still has a regular gas tank too, which some people find disappointing.
The Mercedes-Benz EQS is a high-end electric car from the luxury brand Mercedes-Benz. It's designed to be very comfortable and packed with the latest technology.
BYD is a big Chinese company that makes electric cars and buses. They've been in the electric vehicle business for a long time and are expanding into Europe.
Electrifying public car parks means adding charging stations for electric cars in places where people park. This helps more people use electric cars because they can easily charge them while parked.
WLTP is a testing standard used to measure how much fuel cars use and how much pollution they produce. It helps buyers understand how efficient a car is in everyday driving.
A kilowatt hour is a way to measure how much energy a battery can hold. The higher the number, the more energy it can store, which usually means the car can drive further on a single charge.
Vehicle to load means that the car can use its battery to power other things, like a small appliance or tools. It's handy for outdoor activities or emergencies when you need extra power.
Electric motoring means driving cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline or diesel. These cars are often better for the environment because they produce no tailpipe emissions.
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It's EV News Briefly for Sunday,
the first of a brief pinch punch and all that.
Everything you need to know about EVs in less than five minutes
if you haven't got time for the full podcast.
Here we go.
Volkswagen's battery power co has started series production
of their 2 billion Euro Gigafactory.
It means that now the VW Group designs, develops,
and manufactures its own battery cells entirely in Europe.
They'll go in the MEB Plus platform
for those small urban cars like the VW ID Polo,
Scotta Epic SUV, ID Cross, and Cooper Revalent more.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class has added a plug,
but it's kept a fuel tank sadly.
The new S-Class flagship is really special.
It looks utterly gorgeous.
And now it's a plug-in hybrid
that'll do 62 miles or 100 kilometers of range.
But if you want to get all electric,
you're still buying an EQS.
It's been around quite a long time now.
BYD has begun trial production
at its first European passenger car plant.
They've been making EV buses for 10 years.
In Hungary, opening up their new plant behind schedule
and building work continues there.
Chinese industrial policy is an interesting one
for Brussels and the EU because it's Chinese money
being spent on EU soil, which is kind of what they wanted.
It also means BYD can build 150,000 vehicles a year
to begin with in Hungary
and avoid any kind of tariff pain.
Volvo's boss thinks that Americans should love EVs
because of the way they live.
I can say Samuelson, who's the old boss
and he's back again at Volvo,
points to what is the suburban sprawl
of the American towns and cities.
The rise of the three car garage, et cetera.
He said, look, this is ideal.
Try being over here in Europe,
where some old cities, Europeans park at the curb.
They face many more hurdles to plug in.
Governments are having to electrify public car parks
and things like that.
Actually, the way that America has drifted
into the suburbs is perfect for driving EV.
You wake up every morning,
your car is fully charged, it's really, really cheap
because you can charge overnight on a good tariff.
And if you've got your own solar and generation,
then by the time those panels are paid off,
then it's free motoring.
Forget the politics, he said.
Just the simple way that people have got driveways
and garages suits America so much more
than many other parts of the world
that are adopting EVs quicker than that.
He is in no doubt that America will play catch up soon.
EU battery storage capacity grew by 45% last year.
As more people drive EVs, there is more interest
in the battery industry as well.
The lithium ion supply chain that feeds EVs
also increasingly serves stationary projects.
Good for shaving off things like peak demand
and peak of plants, storing renewables
and integrating EVs into the grid.
The key of EV4 turning up down under.
EV4 in Australia is pitched as the battery version
of the K4 and it's cheap as well.
It starts at about $50,000.
That's 35,000 US dollars on the road for the EV4 air.
Standard range, doing the other thing
with the standard range and big battery.
The big battery there is a really good WLTP,
380 miles on the EV4, 81.4 kilowatt hour pack.
Inside otherwise, so many standard features
like vehicle to load, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
and the rest.
Here in the UK, we're building out
a big megawatt charging park.
The first 32 megawatt chargers are going
into Magna Park in Lutterworth in the UK.
X-Pong will hold its prices on the refreshed G6.
20,000 improvements they made to the new G6,
but it'll cost the same here in the UK.
And Britain's car flat hire fleet is slowly going
electric as more people get their first taste
of electric motoring.
Not from a showroom, but from a car rental counter.
That's briefly.
Let's do the 60 second savings challenge.
Step one, download rocket money.
Step two, link your accounts
and see every subscription you're paying for.
Tap one you don't use and cancel it.
That's money back every month.
Step three, create a financial goal.
$50 every paycheck or let the app automatically move
small amounts of cash when you can afford it.
In a week, you'll forget you set it up.
In a month, you'll see real dollars piling up.
In a year, you'll be shocked at how much money you've saved.
Bonus challenge, upload an internet or phone bill
and let rocket money try to lower it.
You only pay if they find you savings.
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.
Make saving money the resolution you actually keep.
Start the 60-second savings challenge
at rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
About this episode
Volkswagen has launched series production at its new Gigafactory in Europe, focusing on battery cell manufacturing for their electric models. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class now features a plug-in hybrid option, offering 62 miles of electric range, while BYD begins trial production at its first European plant in Hungary. Volvo's CEO discusses the advantages of EV adoption in the U.S. due to suburban living, and the EU sees a significant increase in battery storage capacity. The episode also highlights new EV models and charging infrastructure developments.
It's EV News Briefly for Sunday 01 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
