DAILY: Ford’s EV Chief Walks Away, Dacia Readies New Cheap EV and Mercedes VLE Van Now On Sale | 16 Apr 2026

Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI.

They are already deployed one.

It's called Chat Concierge, and it's simplifying car shopping.

Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help

buyers find a car they love.

It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing, and estimate trading value.

Advanced, intuitive, and deployed, that's how they stack.

That's technology at Capital One.

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Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI.

They are already deployed one.

It's called Chat Concierge, and it's simplifying car shopping.

Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks,

it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love.

It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing,

and estimate trading value.

Advanced, intuitive, and deployed, that's how they stack.

That's technology at Capital One.

You don't have to squint too much to think it looks a lot like a Range Rover.

However, this is loaded with tech, steer-by-wire, rear-wheel steering,

third-row seats that recline completely at a third of the sticker price of a Range Rover.

Full details on the podcast over there.

Stellantis is exploring a Dongfeng tie-up,

and BYD is updating the Yuan Plus for China,

just as overseas markets get the Ato3, which is what we call that car,

Ato3 Evo, they're getting a new version,

so the version that we're about to get, although it's much better than the existing one,

effectively becomes a little bit outdated already,

because that's getting the Blade Battery 2.0 and the nine minutes full charge treatment.

All the details over there on EV News China.

Let's get into it then.

Doug Fields will leave Ford next month on a voluntary basis.

He is their EV chief,

and he ends a stint that began in 2021 when he joined from Apple.

He'd previously worked at Tesla to launch the Model 3.

Mr. Fields hinted that he plans to give back all the things that he's learned at Apple, Tesla and Ford,

but gave no further details about where he's going.

Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, called him an invaluable partner.

Farley said Mr. Fields helped Ford find its footing in EVs and technology,

and that makes its timing notable because Ford has also chosen this moment to reorganize themselves.

Ford will create a new organization led by its chief operating officer.

His group will combine Ford's EV, gas guzzling and mild hybrids and full hybrid vehicle programs.

Ford said that this consolidation speeds up decision making.

The reshuffle points to Ford's big problem.

Finding a profitable direction in EVs has eluded them thus far.

Building them at speed and at profit matters more than ever.

Ford is preparing a wave of new and refreshed products in the second half of the decade,

and it wants one chain of command, they say.

Alan Clark, a former high-level Tesla engineer,

who now serves as the executive director of advanced EV development at Ford,

becomes vice president for advanced development projects in the new structure.

He'll lead the launch of Ford's universal EV architecture.

Mr. Farley compared the importance of that to the Model T.

The first vehicle on that architecture will be a mid-size electric pickup,

which Ford plans to launch next year.

Ford will assemble it using the radically different production method they're developing

The company said this method aims to help compete with low-cost Chinese rivals.

But going back to the original story, and that's Doug Field,

he might leave with warm words, but plenty of questions online today.

And I think good questions as well remain.

Why someone so senior, not only within Ford, but also within the EV industry,

is effectively leaving immediately of his own decision.

Ford is tearing up its previous plan, which at the time they said was meant to be their future direction,

now reversing course on that, and where's Doug Field going?

He's got some massive hits on his CV,

plenty, like Tesla's Model 3, but also some swings and misses,

like Apple's EV project, which, although there were probably some learnings from that,

no doubt, which filtered into the wider Apple company,

there's no Apple car you can buy now.

And at the moment, there's no next-generation Ford you can buy either.

Many people online asking the question if Ford were on the precipice of something really good,

why someone so good would jump ship at this time?

All questions, we look forward to the answers.

Let's move on.

Thatcher's next electric city car has broken cover in some spy shots.

I found them in AutoCar magazine here in the UK, ahead of its reveal.

The new model will start from under €18,000.

That's about £15,500, making it cheaper than the Renault Twingo,

and one of the key tests of whether low-cost EVs make sense.

The car is close to the Renault Twingo, but Thatcher hasn't just rebadged the Renault.

Of course, Thatcher is the more affordable bit of Renault.

It uses some gloss black panels like the Thatcher Spring, their other EV.

It doesn't have the Twingo's cutesy round lights,

and the brake lights are different at the back, for instance, on the Thatcher.

Thatcher says the design takes inspiration to look like a kind of a smaller crossover shape.

The new car will be slightly larger and wider than the existing Thatcher Spring,

even though they're not taking the spring off sale.

The car will use the Twingo's 27.5 kWh battery.

Yeah, that's small, but it'll deliver 160 miles of range in a small urban car.

For the European market, this is designed for.

That could be a very popular car by the time you add in some offers,

because there's always some monthly offers.

That's a very attractive price.

Thatcher put this car together in 16 months, thanks to their China team.

They'll show off the car at the Paris Motor Show in October, and then it'll go on sale.

Thatcher will launch three further EVs before the end of the decade.

When they go electric with their Sandero, that'll be a big moment, won't it?

Right, Mercedes-Benz are next in the news, putting a price and fishly launching.

The VLE, that's their big luxury van.

Price is starting from 82,000 euros.

The firm plans to expand the range gradually this year.

At the world premiere, we saw the two versions.

The VLE 400, Formatic, all-wheel drive, and then the entry-level VLE 250.

The 305 kW all-wheel drive system is on the top model.

The lower-end one will use an LFP pack.

Still 800-volt architecture, though.

Charging up to 300 kW of power, adding over 300 kilometers.

350 kilometers of range in a 15-minute charge stop.

The VLE 300 plays a key role in the Mercedes-Benz lineup.

So that pricing will go up to 113,000 euros.

I'm sure you can add some more optional extras onto that.

Nice interior, great for airport shuttles and luxury transport, things like that.

You can go up to an eight-seater, though,

in its basic configuration will eventually be down to 70,000 euros

for a five-seat VLE 300.

Mercedes-Benz offers many interior layouts and configurations for this vehicle.

Now, Kia has confirmed the EV2.

Now, it qualifies for the UK's 1,500-pound electric car grant.

It joins the EV3, EV4, and PV5.

That's the van on the list.

The EV2 on-the-road price is $26,995.

But of course, workouts and monthly offers on that, and that price comes down.

The EV2 had its world premiere in January, so it's still a very new car.

Mass production started in March last month at the Slovakian plant.

This is a car designed in Europe, built in Europe for Europe, as a very small urban car.

Now, how do you fancy some free electricity to charge your EV?

Well, if you're in Germany, that's on the table.

The Mobility House is a Munich-based organisation,

and they will launch a vehicle-to-grid tariff in Germany,

sometime Q2, to let EV drivers charge for free.

The Mobility House focuses on bidirectional charging.

Their model charges your EV when there's surplus renewables on the German grid,

and it'll sell power back from your car when demand uses it.

It uses the gap between cheap charging and peak time to create a profit,

and therefore customer savings, and therefore, you driving for free.

The boss is...

Well, he's the Supervisory Board Chairman of the Mobility House.

It's a name you may recognise.

It's Herbert Dease. He's the former Volkswagen Group CEO.

He says, if our business model works and the chances are high, electric cars drive for free.

The Mobility House already has some evidence on this.

Two years ago, they did a trial in France with Renault,

and data from that informed this project,

showing that if you connect your car and leave it plugged in for 14 hours a day,

it can reduce the charging cost for 10,000 kilometres a year to effectively nothing.

Customers must connect their EV to the vehicle-to-grid capable wallbox,

and you must connect it for a minimum number of hours every day.

Honestly, for many people, that's OK.

For any home workers, it's a no-brainer, but also for people who work out of home.

14 hours a day, as long as a lot of that is overnight, by the way.

You get home from work, you plug straight in,

and let either Mobility House or your energy company manage charging and discharging.

That's not really a big problem for many people.

So, since the start of this year,

German law actually treated EV batteries the same as stationary home systems.

Removing the double-grid fee that had held back V2G in Germany.

There's still some admin and regulatory processes that Germans can sometimes,

you know, be a little bit slower than others at,

but they can be prone to delays.

If it all goes well, though, that'll be happening this quarter,

and certainly by the end of the year, they want to expand it beyond the Renault 5

to the Mercedes-Benz CLA as well.

There's others doing it, EON and BMW do it in Germany with the BMW iX3.

Customers can earn around 24 Euro cents per hour connected,

up to 720 Euros per year capped,

and you can discharge to the grid, you can charge at cheap rate.

Here in the UK, Octopus Energy and BYD have a V2G subscription package

that costs £300 a month and includes a BYD vehicle,

a vehicle to grid wallbox and electricity,

and you have to plug it in at least 20 times per month, 12 hours at a time.

These trials are edging forward, edging forward,

until it becomes, I don't know, the norm for the rest of us.

Let's take a break, we'll come back more, talk about BYD,

also Tesla and Polestar and Honda, stick around back in a moment.

Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI,

they are already deployed one.

It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping.

Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks,

it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love,

it helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing,

and estimate trading value.

Advanced, intuitive and deployed, that's how they stack.

That's technology at Capital One.

Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI,

they are already deployed one.

It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping.

Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks,

it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love,

it helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing,

and estimate trading value.

Advanced, intuitive and deployed, that's how they stack.

That's technology at Capital One.

How much the group still relies on making cars in China

and shipping them, BYD hasn't reached scale

with localized production in Europe.

Trial assembly's been underway at their plant in Hungary

and series production targeting sometime this year,

sometime this quarter, I think.

The Turkish facility for BYD should be online by the end of the year.

That's running behind schedule.

The Jinan Car Carrier left Shanghai on the 17th of March

on a 33-day voyage through the Suez Canal to arrive in Germany.

It's the company's eighth car carrier

and one of the largest in the world.

There are eight car carriers that BYD operate themselves

and own themselves, have an annual export capacity

of over a million vehicles.

And finally, BYD Australia has confirmed pricing

for the Seal 6 sedan and touring.

Plug-in hybrids are these.

They go on sale in June in Australia.

Targeting the Toyota Camry in BYD's view,

targeting everything because the price starts at $35,000

plus on-road costs.

That's £18,500.

Handily undercutting Toyota Camrys,

the Seal 6 touring starts at $40,000.

That's about £21,000.

BYD describes it as the most affordable new wagon on sale

and it's a plug-in hybrid that'll do 100km of electric driving

on its 19kWh battery.

But are plug-in hybrids any good?

Well, our next story asks that question.

Polestar's Australia boss, managing director Scott Maynard,

says no.

Says plug-in hybrids.

In an interview with Drive magazine,

says they are the worst of both worlds.

Mr Maynard said plug-in hybrids combine the complexity

of an electric drivetrain with the weight and mechanical demands

of a petrol powertrain.

He said they don't deliver zero emissions.

The most plug-in hybrid owners rarely charge their vehicles.

If owners use a plug-in hybrid only with its combustion engine,

it's way less efficient than a comparable petrol car

because of the extra weight.

He argued the plug-in hybrids are becoming irrelevant anyway

as EV technology improves and range anxiety eases.

Polestar is, of course, part of Geely.

They own Volvo and Lotus and Lincoln Co.

Well, they all sell plug-in hybrids.

Geely also markets EVs with EREV's range-extended combustion engines.

There's a story over on our spin-off podcast,

EV News China, today about S-Volt,

a beginning mass production of their 80kWh plug-in hybrid battery,

or EREV battery as well.

But basically, a battery designed to sit alongside a combustion engine as well.

80kWh, they say that in an average SUV,

obviously, because every vehicle is different,

it would give you 400km of driving range,

and it's a 6C battery, which is just a measure of charging and discharging speed.

Effectively, it means a 10-minute charge, though, on a fast enough charger.

So you could do your entire weekly commute in China,

which could be 50km a day.

You could do your entire commute and charge for 10 minutes a week

on an 80kWh, and that's on a hybrid, on a plug-in hybrid on an EREV.

Why wouldn't you just drive an 80kWh Pure EV?

Anyway, all questions, I will let you answer that, all questions I have.

But Polestar and their Australian boss say, not for us, thank you.

Tesla is next in the news, they partner with Sunwoda,

making Sunwoda the fifth battery supplier to their Chinese Shanghai Gigafactory,

supplying the third generation LFP cells to Tesla.

These new LFP cells charge at 3C, that's a full charge in 20 minutes.

Current LFP tech with Tesla means about a 2C charge rate.

Tesla's have never charged fantastically quickly,

and apart from the Cybertruck, of course, but that tapers down pretty quick.

They're intended for vehicles made at Tesla's Gigashanghai for export,

not domestically. Tesla will buy the raw prismatic cells

and assemble the battery modules themselves.

And finally, Honda is leaving the UK's EV market.

They have removed the E-NY1 from sale,

and they have now nothing electric to sell you in the UK.

The compact electric SUV sold 7,122 units over three years.

A high price point and underwhelming range did little to help it sell.

Heavy dealer discounts were needed.

That leaves Honda in a very difficult spot in the UK.

The rules require 33% of a car maker's sales to be zero emission.

This year, at least, it's going up.

The target rises from 22% this year to 80% in 2030 and 100% by 2035.

That's right, yes.

Fines can be up to 15 grand for a non-compliant car.

And with no bevs on sale,

Honda's going to have to go cap in hand to their competitors,

do deals over credits, or just pay the fines, which they won't.

This marks Honda's second retreat from EVs.

The first one was when they binned off the Hondaree,

a great small, quirky car that was never replaced.

This strategy in the near term now points to Honda's incoming electric platform,

the SuperN system.

This platform is probably going to pin a retro-inspired compact DV.

I think we'll see that in the UK before the end of the year.

Honda expects a starting price of maybe 20K on that

and official urban range of less than 200 miles or so,

entering a very competitive segment,

but they will need to arrive sooner rather than later.

Thanks to our premium partners,

National Car Charging on the US mainland

and the Loha Charge in Hawaii and TESTV,

an Avalos trusted partner for independent EV battery health testing

in Australia and New Zealand.

Have a good one. See you tomorrow.

And remember, there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.

It doesn't just help buyers find a car they love.

It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing,

an estimate trading value, advanced, intuitive and deployed.

That's how they stack.

That's technology at Capital One.

Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI.

They are already deployed one.

It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping,

using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks.

It doesn't just help buyers find a car they love.

It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing,

an estimate trading value, advanced, intuitive and deployed.

That's how they stack.

That's technology at Capital One.

DAILY: Ford’s EV Chief Walks Away, Dacia Readies New Cheap EV and Mercedes VLE Van Now On Sale | 16 Apr 2026

About this episode

Capital One

multi-agentic AI

Chat Concierge

pre-approved for financing

Chevy Colorado

Chevrolet Silverado

Chevrolet Silverado EV

steer-by-wire

universal EV architecture

CV

spy shots

rebadged

kWh battery

on-the-road price

mass production started

vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tariff

surplus renewables

Volkswagen Group

Octopus Energy

BYD

Suez Canal

plug-in hybrid

Geely

Tesla

Sunwoda

2C charge rate

fast charging taper

battery modules

Honda E-NY1

battery-electric vehicles (bevs)

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