DAILY: Australia Approves 6-Seat Model Y, MG Hits A Million and VW Tops Europe’s EV Charts | 22 Feb 2026

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Welcome back to EV News Daily.

Australia approves the six-seat Model Y, MG hits a million, and VW tops Europe's charts.

Plus they tuned, because late from the show, I'll tell you about a mobile EV charging and roadside assistance vehicle

that builds high-powered DC fast charging right into the bed of the truck.

No EV News China today, as we do that weekdays, it'll return tomorrow morning.

Australia's road vehicle regulators approve the Tesla Model Y L for sale.

The green light landed on the 12th of February 10 days ago and surfaced publicly this weekend on Twitter.

The Model Y L adds a third row and brings seating for six.

Rover's approval covers both front-wheel and all-wheel drive variants.

Tesla's not confirmed the name it'll be in Australia, nor pricing, nor when it might arrive.

The Model Y L first broke cover in China last August with delivery starting in September.

In China it costs about $46,300 equivalent, that's $10,000 equivalent over the entry-level five-seat Model Y.

Tesla has already begun pushing the six-seat variant beyond China.

For instance, in December last year the Netherlands vehicle authority, the RDW, approved it.

A step that typically precedes a launch by a few months, though no date has been confirmed there either.

If Tesla brings the Model Y L to Australia, it'll go up against other expensive seven-seaters

like the Kia EV9, Hyundai Ioniq 9, Volvo EX90 and Zika 009.

Let's move on. MG Motor has chalked up one million customer deliveries in Europe.

The UK did much of the work with 386,000 deliveries here alone, more than any other European market for the brand.

The milestone cap say steady rebuild since MG re-entered the UK in 2011 with the MG6.

MG now sells in 34 European markets and works through 1,300 dealerships.

Sales momentum is still solid. MG's European sales reached 300,000 units last year,

up 30% year-on-year from 2024. Electric products drive a slice of the volume as well.

MG's delivered 317,000 BEVs across Europe to date.

MG4 cast as the stand-out BEV model, but the best seller for MG remains the MG ZS.

In all its various powertrain guises, almost half a million of those sold.

I owned a first-gen MG ZS EV, the mighty, mighty MG ZS.

Actually, I kind of miss that vehicle. It was kind of frustrating in so many ways

because they've improved the MG so much, but back then, mine was a 2019, 2018.

It had quirks that I didn't love, and sometimes I love quirks in cars,

and this one had ones I didn't, but I miss it when I'm sold it.

I kind of miss it. It would be great to still have that car

because I'd be a little less precious about all the stuff the kids throw at it.

And boy, did that take all of the kids' stuff.

I mean, maybe we only had the one when we had that MG.

But big boot, loads of space, got the job done, and I always like driving it as well.

Always felt fun to drive. All right, let's move on to VW.

Starting the year as Europe's top-selling electric car brand in January,

VW took the number one spot on just shy of 20,000 pure-bear registrations.

The figures come from Data Force, and they're pretty complete.

98% of the volume in the European Union and the UK and the EFTA countries as well.

Only Portugal and Bulgaria hadn't fully finalized January's data, but otherwise it's all in.

VW's volume spread across the ID3, which led the way.

ID4 then ID7, IDBuzz followed up.

Renault jumped into the number two spot with the Renault 5, E-Tech,

generating the most registrations followed by the Scenic, E-Tech, the McGanee, E-Tech, and the Renault 4.

Scotta climbed six spots to third with success from the LROC and ENIAC,

and further down BYD climbed six positions to eighth from fourteenth.

Tesla moved the other way in January.

It fell six places to tenth in the market as volume dropped down to just over 7,500 units.

The Model 3 slid to just over 1,000 Model 3s sold in all of Europe, EU, UK, EFTA countries,

which is down from 3,500 on the same month last year.

The data pointed to intensifying competition, hitting Tesla in exactly the segment,

the mid-sized segments in which they sell their vehicles now that the SNE-X are going,

as data from the United Kingdom and Germany both show

that potential buyers were pushed to competing brands by Tesla's chief executive,

publicly supporting far-right extremists in those countries.

As for how the numbers affect the tightened clean air regulations,

automakers can spread compliance over a three-year emissions window

as EU targets tighten January mark the start of year two.

Most automakers join emissions pools, but BMW and Renault didn't.

No emissions pools have been announced yet from 2026,

where those that have excess credits that sell only EVs can trade with other car companies,

cheaper than paying the fines for them to sell some credits

and join together and pool together.

Now, Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation, the Penn DOT,

which would be cool, has launched the community charging phase

of the federal NEVI program.

Now that the federal judges have ordered the illegal restriction

of the NEVI funds by Trump early on in the presidency,

that went through the court system for almost a year.

We got those preliminary rulings last year, last summer, a long time ago,

and then a federal judge recently kind of rubber-stamped that

and said, no, it's not the job of the whim of a president

to stop money the Congress has approved.

That's not how democracy works, so you can go and spend the money now.

So 100 million going into public EV charging across the state.

Penn DOT will roll the money out by region.

Southeastern Pennsylvania gets the first 34 million,

covering Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

Western Pennsylvania follows from April.

Eastern and Central regions come last from August onwards.

Local transport planning agencies will set site priorities.

Any publicly accessible location can apply.

The Penn DOT has also launched a matchmaking survey.

What that will do is link interested organizations with charging station builders

and operators that can put the application in joint.

The community charging pot builds on $54 million that the Penn DOT

had already committed to public charging under NEVI.

Pennsylvania got round to delivering 29 NEVI funded stations before it was halted.

There are 54 in planning and construction right now, which can go ahead.

The first NEVI funded site was opened in December 2023

since then drivers logged 80,000 charging stations across their NEVI funded network.

Now, if a plug-in hybrid is for you,

then JQ, another Chinese brand under Cherry,

has unveiled the largest vehicle so far for Europe.

That's the JQ-8, the SHS.

They call it Super Hybrid System.

It's not a lot super about it to be honest with you.

They say it'll charge the battery when it needs to

and it can run in electric mode only.

That's just called being a plug-in hybrid, but anyway.

I don't want to spoil their party.

They call it the Super Hybrid System, but still.

It pushes deeper into Europe after the JQ's seven success

and the JQ-5 as well.

I know it's only anecdotal,

but I do tend to see a lot of JQ's in a motors around

and maybe I'm just looking out for interesting EVs

that are a little bit out of the ordinary.

But over the last year, I keep seeing them driving around

and the finance deals are good.

I think they do 0% finance on those, which is very attractive.

At 4.8 metres long, that's almost 16 feet,

the JQ-8 aims at large family plug-in hybrids

like the Hyundai Santa Fe and Volkswagen's Tayron.

Europe gets one trim level.

It's called the Exclusive Trim.

And as you can imagine, these Chinese cars are loaded

with gadgets and gizmos.

And all the tech, panoramic roof, 20-inch wheels,

full LED lighting, dual 12.3-inch screens,

head-up display, a nice Sony audio system,

leather seats with massage, ventilation,

heating in the first and second rows.

I'm not buying this. I'm not getting my kids massage seats.

What? I don't like them that much.

Buyers can also choose a seven-seat layout

with independent third-row adjustment

and added comfort features.

The powertrain is a 1.5-litre engine

and three electric motors.

34.46 kilowatt-hour.

We'll call it 35 kilowatt-hour, probably.

Battery. WLTP range, 83 miles.

Look, if you plug the thing in every night,

I'm not a fan of plug-in hybrids,

but if you do use it like that

and plug it in every night,

and I don't do 83 miles a day ever,

apart from for special reasons anymore

now that I work from home,

that would be a zero-emission vehicle.

And in fact, the car is a zero-emission classification

because the battery is big enough

to grant it unrestricted access to

many of the zero-emission zones,

congestion-charged zones

that are springing up in European cities.

Order book's open next month in March.

Customer deliveries in April.

Now, let's talk about Subaru

and a company called Easy.

Completing an off-grid EV charging pilot

in Canada's Northwest Territories,

charging a Subaru Salterra off-grid.

They used four portable solar panels,

links to battery storage,

and the inverter.

The trial ran in February

when daylight is scarce.

Even so, the system delivered 25%

of the output of a standard

7 kilowatt home or public charger.

The pilot was to test smart charging,

renewable generation,

and storage on a micro-scale,

working together to power electrification

in a very remote location

and for off-grid communities.

And that matters in a region where Arctic warming

is running at

three times the global average.

And it's causing wild swings in weather.

Recent wildfires and drought

add pressure on communities that rely

still heavily on imported fossil fuels.

Local leaders watched the trial

and are exploring how clean energy

and EVs with a bit of storage

and renewable generation

improve resilience, citing the region's

strong solar potential.

We'll take a break, we'll come back

and we'll talk Sao Paulo

and what's happening in the U.S. auto industry.

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Welcome back to the podcast.

Let's go to Brazil.

São Paulo's state law 18403

took effect two days ago.

It gives apartment owners in São Paulo

state the right to fit

individual EV charging stations

in their own parking spaces

parking areas that sit in a common

use space

even if those common use spaces get

assigned to an individual

unit or I'd call them

flats or apartments

even when it's

classified as a private area.

Now that carve out matters because many condominiums

built in recent decades in Brazil

use the common use parking model.

EV charging disputes in those buildings

have been going on.

They're set to carry on as well with no clear legal

insight for now real estate developments

in São Paulo whose project

win approval after the law takes effect

must build in minimum electrical

supply capacity for future

EV charging at the point of building

the executive branch will set

the technical specs for that requirement.

All right, let's move on. Now this is an

interesting article I saw in The Verge.

Now The Verge is a very well

regarded tech website

and outlet that does, you know, writes about

science and AI and many more things as well

and they penned a really interesting

article that caught

my eye because

it was in contradiction to a thing that I've talked

about recently a couple of times

where, you know, clearly America

because of the political situation

has backed away from electric vehicles

and I've said a couple of times I don't

believe that America

is going to become this kind of stagnant

place where EVs

just simply don't exist

because I don't think it's how technology

works. Once it gets

invented, if China has

cars that charge at a thousand kilowatts

well then look, Europe's putting in a thousand

kilowatt charges and all of a sudden you've got

BMW and Mercedes and more, all

releasing cars that charge at four, five hundred

kilowatts and so

someone's always going to lead. But once

a thing has been invented in the world

you can't un-invent it. We're not going

back to the dark ages just yet.

And so when The Verge wrote their piece

which I noticed titled

America is at risk of becoming

an automotive backwater

they published this two days ago

an author called Andrew J. Hawkins

wrote this

I thought it was interesting to talk about because

this is in contradiction to what I've said

recently. I won't

read the article out but I'll briefly

tell you what it talks about. They go back

to the 1970s where they say that Detroit's

latest wobble

whilst it is self-inflicted can be traced

back to the fuel crises

of the 70s which allowed

reliable, efficient

Japanese imports

which harmed the US auto industry

then when Detroit got around to making EVs

seriously they were behind

the likes of Tesla and the startups

that had much better polished

software and they often built their

EVs on combustion platforms

and many had missteps

as well and made some bad cars

or priced them at, frankly, prices

that Americans balked at. And so

Ford booked a 20 billion

write-down, GM took

7.6 billion charge, Stellantis 26

billion charge, combined

over 50 billion in charges and write-downs

things like compensating

supplies for contracts and

factories that would no longer be needed and things like

that and then the dealers add drag

in America. Very powerful dealer lobby

the network profits from servicing combustion

and some of those in

America's dealer network work hard

to undermine the EV shift

and not all do. Washington

then

if you like the final

nail in the coffin was Washington

and Trump eliminating the $7,500

federal tax credit

rolling back federal emissions rules

challenging California's right to set

its own emissions clean air

standards telling the EPA

to rescind the endangerment finding

that's the very legal cornerstone

that recognizes

emissions rules and so without that

place with the endangerment finding

gone now automakers face

no federal emission standards no

fines for non-compliance and no

no paying Tesla to buy some

of their clean credits anymore

and so the US

no longer has emission standards

of any substance or meaning and

no other countries

no other developed countries large economies

have zero

emission standards and so

the verge make a good point and they argue against

the point which is I don't believe America

becomes a backwater I believe America

will catch up and so

China is what a 50%

Europe the big car

markets here UK Germany France

25 30% depending on

which month you look at pure Bev

China can be 60% some months

obviously got Sweden 65%

Denmark 68%

Norway almost 100% pure Bev

but analysts argue that automakers

that use this current

breathing room of

regulatory

to abandon the investment

will ultimately risk the final

collapse they will be swept aside by

those that are carrying on their

R&D and their the EV

investments and the Chinese

competition aren't going to go

away we're coming into Canada

at 50,000 cars a year now

that lower tariff rate they're already

BYD's all over Mexico

they're on America's borders

I think I still stick to my point

I don't see how America becomes

an EV

backwater so I understand

the other side of the argument as well and that's a

deep deep shame for the many

Americans that are that are

forward-thinking I want to move to this

wonderful new technology that the rest

of the world is

is not only embracing

but moving towards at a breakneck

speed oh well we'll wait and see how it

all shakes out now finally

California's L charge

is an off-grid charging company

they've launched their new mobile EV charging

assistance vehicle that builds high-powered DC

charging into the back of a truck

L charge says that they make full use

of the bed for standard service kit

and they don't have to

tow an EV charger around

it sends on a 60 kilowatt

DC fast charger

they say it's a compact unit that relies

on the vehicle's onboard power takeoff

not sure how it fully works

but obviously it's a gas truck that's

you know burning fuel

L charge says the system

needs no batteries

and works off grid and it can add up to

50 miles of range in 10 minutes

and that's important because if for any

reason a vehicle does need to be

charged well towing

it can be quite expensive and it also

has some considerations in EV as well

and recharging

the vehicle is often just

the simplest solution

and so they say

saves fleets money many thousands

of dollars and it's

preempts

having to tow an EV if you can add a bit of

charge and see if it can make it under its

own steam if it has just run out

of charge. I don't really

see EV stranded

by the roadside I'm not driving past thousands

of EVs on my journeys of people

who've run out of charge and I don't really hear about

I see it on the forums or Reddit or

I don't see it on social

media people going oh I can't believe I run out

of charge but obviously it's a business case

and they must come across it in California

and so they're doing that with an

integrated unit all in one

truck without having to pull

big heavy kind of battery

powered EV charges around

first one I've seen like this and looks very

cool and that's your podcast for today

thanks to our premium partners national car charging

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and New Zealand have a good and see you tomorrow

and remember there's no such thing as

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DAILY: Australia Approves 6-Seat Model Y, MG Hits A Million and VW Tops Europe’s EV Charts | 22 Feb 2026

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