DAILY: BMW M Electric Cars, Cupra Raval To Start Production and GM Energy Wants To Lease You A Home Battery | 21 Feb 2026

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Welcome back to EV News Daily.

BMW's M electric cars in the news today.

Cooper's Reval to start production and GM Energy wants to lease you a home battery.

Plus, stay tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you about how Rivian has now launched

their new dedicated Watch app to control your vehicles.

No EV News China today as it's the weekend back on Monday morning.

This year will mark BMW M's last year without a full performance EV.

In 2027, it will change that with an electric M3 and an X3M.

The electric M3 currently codenamed internally ZA0

will serve as BMW M's first full red-blooded performance EV model.

It will not arrive alone.

An electric X3 codenamed ZA5 also comes next year.

Sharing the M3's quad-motor setup.

BMW M plans to make both cars sound like something else.

It will play engine sounds through the speakers and pair them with emulated gear shifts.

BMW has recorded some engine pops and bangs and burbles from their historic range of M cars

to play you through the speakers as long as you can turn those things off.

I have no problem with them.

I kind of like in hardcore engineering to hear the electrical engineering,

but I'm just a weirdo.

BMW M CEO Frank Van Meel says acoustic feedback helps drivers

feel bonded with the road and connect with something familiar.

Oh, I get that. I get that.

Remember when iPhones first launched a hundred years ago

and then the note sap on your smart phone

when you trade it up from a BlackBerry or a dumb phone.

The early notes app would kind of be sepia yellow in color

and have almost a leather binder.

Look, I believe they call it skeuomorphism to help people understand.

Oh, this is the notes app.

And now I'm meant to take a note like I would with a pen and paper.

Similar, I think for cars.

We're in a weird hand-holding period

where some performance car drivers need to hear engine sounds to feel connected.

Not everyone does and it's not a problem if they do.

Now, Seat and Cupra plans to launch series production of their small urban car.

The Cupra Reval this year.

It will be the first 100% electric model built at the Martirelle plant

and the first car expected to reach the roads from the Volkswagen Group's

core urban EV family coming out of Spanish factories.

Seat and its performance bit Cupra, which now stands alone,

calls the program the biggest industrial transformation in its 75 year history.

The company's invested 10 billion euros, 11.8 billion dollars in Spain

through their future fast forward project,

which involves the Volkswagen Group, Power Co, their battery bit

and other partners, the aim to position Spain as an electric EV hub.

Martirelle has set aside nearly 160,000 square meters for EV production

and rebuilt its production line for the Reval.

The rebuilds added a thousand new robots in the bodywork phase

and 60 component stamping dies.

Battery logistics now run on an automated bridge that feeds battery systems

from the assembly plant to line one.

The bridge opened up last December,

is about five meters above the factory floor

and it keeps the battery systems flowing to where they need to go

with no interruption.

More than 90 suppliers and 110 production plants across Spain

support the project and account for 70% of material costs.

Seat and Cupra says teams have completed more than 560,000 hours of training

in total.

It now sits in the final series zero phase validating process

is validating production before customer cars start getting made.

We're really close and I'm excited about the small urban cars

like the VW ID Polo, Cooper Reval, etc.

The wider plan covers four urban electric models

also including the Škoda Epic and the VW ID Cross

as well as the previous two that I just mentioned.

They'll be made of Volkswagen Navarra.

Seat and Cupra lead the brand group EV kind of urban EV cluster

and four new body colors developed specifically for these small cars.

Can't wait to see the pricing.

They bring the map out.

It's going to be obviously then this monthly offers and things like that

but it's going to be really interesting to see how hard they really want to compete

with those cheaper Chinese cars.

Now GM Energy plans to launch a monthly leasing program

for vehicle-to-home hardware.

The units wants to borrow the financing model

that they use for car sales and apply it to vehicle-to-home

and all the home battery hardware that you might want to add.

Vehicle-to-home can supply backup power during grid failures

but it starts with a very large hardware bill.

The popular home battery systems that store around 13.5 kilowatt hours

are tiny compared to what most modern EVs can carry.

Yet GM's bi-directional capable EVs

still need dedicated equipment before they can run your house.

GM sold more than 246,000 capable vehicles last year

technically they're bi-directional capable.

Now for those quarter of a million EV drivers on America's roads

the current shopping list starts at $2,000 for a power shift bi-directional charger

over $6,000 for an enabler kit that houses the DCAC power inverter.

GM also sells the bundled package for $8,100

a handy $200 discount. What a bargain.

And that's for the hardware. Now you have to install it

and that could be thousands more. They also like to lease you a battery.

They call it Power Bank for on-site storage

capturing power from the grid or your solar panels.

Bundling Power Bank with V2H will run you anywhere between $15,000 and $27,000

depending on how big the battery is.

My battery is 10 kilowatt hours. I got the solar edge one.

Maybe it's nine and a half usable.

And that is a buffer I would say in terms of a home.

We charge it up overnight peak rate, off peak rate.

And then in the summer obviously we try and absorb as much solar as possible

but we always have the cars plugged in and it's a bit weird.

We always have way more sunshine than we need for about four months of the year

and then over the other winter months

we're always importing overnight.

And we normally run out early afternoon and then we're back on to the grid.

So I mean a bigger battery would be useful

but that's the biggest investment we could make

and that's going to be a 20 year investment

along with our solar panels as well.

So you don't need the biggest home battery

but I would say the bigger the better.

Now Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy said

the leasing model aims to remove the upfront cost barrier

and pulling in more customers towards EV ownership possibly as well

framing the mission as focusing on affordability

by lowering the total cost of ownership.

GM can't provide that monthly lease price yet.

They said it depends on each home's electrical setup

and local incentives from your local utility company.

So I'd like to get some pricing on that

but anything that helps people get an innovative finance solution

I've been banging on about this for years

is that the kind of people who least need it

are the people who can afford it.

We're not well off by any means.

We are a pretty boring average middle class family

maybe we didn't take a couple of expensive holidays

that our friends would have taken

that kids have never been to Disneyland or Disneyland Paris

but we do have solar panels and a battery

so my lucky children, you know, it's different investments

we drive old used cars

and so that's just the investment that we made in this house

because we just bought it and we're going to be here

for a long time with between two good schools

and our kids are growing up, we don't want to move

we're going to be invested in the house

and so it's, but we don't need it

we could have got by without it

and yet the people who do need this technology

are those that can least afford it

and I do suspect that those going for the least deal

with GM Energy probably are those that can afford it

even if it's a monthly lease

but anything, anything that's a little bit of innovation

in financing, in deployment of capital

in anything like that

it has to be a good thing in this sector

because we need to get more people onto renewables

and a bit of stored energy as well as always good

right, let's talk about a wild car

the Audi RS5 is going plug-in hybrid

the new RS5 Sportback is going fully plug-in hybrid

replacing the outgoing Pure Combustion

the reveal counts as a global debut

Audi of America says the US launch is some time away

and expects few meaningful changes for the US version

compared to what's been announced today

the motor gets integrated into an 8-speed transmission

adding 174 extra horsepower

combined system output is 630 horsepower

Audi claims 62 miles an hour is hit in 3.6 seconds

the new RS5 from Audi

this rather wild plug-in hybrid

is over 5,000 pounds

that's over 2,300 kilograms

and that is more than the outgoing RS5 Sportback

they're about to integrate a 26 kilowatt-hour battery pack

under the boot floor

European rated WLTP range

52 miles or 84 kilometers

Audi expects EPA to land lower obviously

but still be competitive

braking mixes software and hardware

Audi's break-by-wire system called IBRS

prioritizes regen braking where possible

Audi also debuted the RS5 Avant

alongside the Sportback

though its US prospects look

somewhat more thin

the RS5 Sportback is confirmed

for the US though

timing is not yet determined

and because I have a thing

for wagons and estate cars

that RS5 Avant

is a very good looking car

yes it's widened

and it's got silly flared wheel arches

and lots of holes cut in the bodywork

and a fake diffuser at the back

and obviously it's got exhausts

because it's only a plug-in hybrid

very very good looking car

I'll print that one out and look at it later

IONITY is next in the news

opening Europe's first 600 kilowatt charger

actually they're 1000 kilowatt units

they're the Alpetronic HYC 1000s

IONITY opening Europe's first commercial

600 kilowatt charging station in France

on the A7 motorway

one of Europe's busiest travel corridors

the site runs as a

fully operational commercial station

this isn't a test site or anything

Alpetronics HYC 1000s pair

a 1000 kilowatt central module

with six charging points or dispensers

and it can split the power dynamically

based on live demand

this is very common now

has been for a long time

and it's very very sensible use

of power modules

if one car plugs in alone

that's the 600 kilowatts peak

that it can deliver down a single cable

to a single car

at that peak IONITY says that you would add

186 miles or 300 kilometers of range

in under eight minutes

if you can find a car that can take it

for now Lotus EMEA

charges quickly

X-Pung's G9

the new G6

Porsche Macan

Audi Q6 e-tron

would all give it a workout

but not exactly hit that 600 kilowatt limit

the new BMW iX3

Mercedes GLC electric

they'll peak at 400 kilowatts

and you know, they'll give it a workout

but they wouldn't max out the station

the launch lands as IONITY

enriches 6000 high power

charges in Europe

Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler and Ford founded it

Hyundai and Kia joined later

X-Pung plans to deploy its own

1000 kilowatts charging network

by the end of this year

in Europe a move it says will push

power capabilities higher

and costs lower

across the market will take a break

deal and more stick around

what did I just say? Mercedes and BYD Seal

and more

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welcome back to the podcast now

these bends still keeps their VLE

specs under wraps

but it has confirmed one key number

the battery size that'll be

115 kilowatt hours

that sits above the current packs in

other vans the 75

kilowatt hour packs in things like the

Citroen e-space Torah and it's

sister cousin vehicles if you like

like the Vauxhall Opel Vivaro

Electric Life those vans

will do around 220 miles

official on WLTP

tops the current Mercedes EQV

which

used below 30 grand

now that's a 90 grand van

been hit by depreciation

96 kilowatt hour pack

for claiming 213 miles

of official range

Mercedes hasn't published an official range number

for the new VLE van

the VLE did drive from

Stuttgart to Rome

that's almost 700 miles

1100 kilometers they admitted

they stopped for two quick stops

it shows the van

can do distance

but it still leaves the key question unanswered

what's going to be the headline range number

of the VLE which will seat up to

8 mirroring probably the

EQV's flexible seating

configurations pricing is also

unconfirmed Mercedes pegging

the VLE to EQV

so starting at maybe 80,000 pounds

110,000 US dollars equivalent

which puts it above the rival

7 and 8 seat vans but you are

driving a luxury Mercedes

albeit a van

like I say these used EQV's

if you would like to have a look at one of those

and yes we have

we don't

have the budget for a nice one

at the moment that may be the car after

the next one we buy

but the prices are coming down

on those and they're very nice

places to be

BYDCL is being updated this year

details now that I've mentioned previously

this vehicle is coming we now know

that the 2026 BYDCL

gets more power more space

and a cleaner look nudging

it's more competitively with the

BMW i4 the latest

Polestar 2 as well they keep updating

that vehicle but

some of the underlying

technology is sadly not

improved the lineup keeps the two trims

entry level design

trim single motor rear wheel

drive 308 horsepower all

very respectable and

the 5.9 seconds 0-62

miles an hour then there's the flagship

excellence trim

that's all wheel drive twin motor

and it's a peak power

rising to 523

horsepower that

is 0-62 in

3.8 seconds

and so

the specs are good

on this model 3 performance

territory I would say

the battery seems to be the same

82.5 kilowatt hours

I can't tell if they've changed any chemistry

or anything inside it depending on spec

the trim will do

354 miles max

that's 570 kilometers

charging though I did double check

this because it felt wrong when I was

reading this but according to EV database

yes the charging

peaks at 150 kilowatts

I thought the BYDCL

BYDCL

went quicker than that

really surprised because that's

BYDCLion territory

it's better than Dolphin

or ATO the little tiny cars

but well I could have sworn

the seal was a faster charging car

150 kilowatts

10-80 in 37 minutes

I found four or five sources

and they all say the same thing

I could have sworn it was quicker

BYD did find some more room

in the vehicle boot space grows

from 400 to 485 litres

and the front expands

from 53 to 72 litres

the update brings new exterior colours

ruby red, obsidian black

and lavender grey plus new 19 inch

wheels

the BYD badge moves to the centre

above the full width LED light bar

at the rear the seal

logo shifts to the lower right corner

of the boot lid and BYD

removes its logos from the

leather headrests

standard equipment

well it's one of these Chinese cars that's just full of everything

so drive a monitoring system

to make sure you're paying attention

you can use your phone as a key

via Bluetooth

all cars get LED headlights

12 speaker audio system

and wireless

phone heaters

and the non-rotating

15.6 inch high-def touch screen

I say that because BYD's

rotate which is a nice party trick

but I'm not sure how much you use it day to day

but you do get a nice head-up display

as well a nice little quality

of life improvement on that BYD seal

for the new one that's out

which you can now order here in the UK

at least

and finally Rivian has launched

the new dedicated Apple Watch app

they told us what was coming

for R1-S R1-T Gen 2 owners

so the app covers the basics

you can lock and unlock the doors

you can vent the windows

with the digital key configured

you can also get entry

with the vehicle detecting the watch

as the driver approaches without having to interact

Rivian also turned the Apple Watch hardware

into a control surface

the app uses the digital crown

as a dial to set things like cabin temperature

and state of charge target

drivers can pin four controls

to the home screen

and add a live battery status

complication to the watch face

and the new move builds on Rivian's early

digital key work in December

last year they first added digital key

to Apple Google Pixel

and Samsung devices

joining the group of automakers using Apple's

car key platform

which they launched a few years ago now

Rivian says it will roll out more Apple Watch features

over time

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DAILY: BMW M Electric Cars, Cupra Raval To Start Production and GM Energy Wants To Lease You A Home Battery | 21 Feb 2026

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