DAILY: Stellantis Admits EV Mistakes, Polestar Adds Supercharger and Megawatt Truck Charging | 07 Feb 2026

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Welcome back to EV News Daily.

Today, Stalanta submits EV mistakes.

Polestar adds supercharging and megawatt truck charging.

Plus, stay tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you about the next high-performance Mercedes-AMG EV.

No EV news China today, as it's the weekend.

That's our spin-off show, looking what happens in the East and how it affects the global EV landscape.

That's back on Monday morning.

Stalantis said yesterday it will take more than 22 billion euros,

that's 26 billion US dollars, in charges tied to reversing course on its electric vehicle strategy.

Much of the ride down will cover the cost of cancelling EVs

and compensating its suppliers and the contracts.

Chief Executive Antonio Velosa blamed his predecessor Carlos Tavares for, I quote,

going all-in on EVs.

Velosa said the moves reflected the cost of overestimating the pace of energy transition

and cited previous poor operational execution.

While Velosa took over as CEO last June, many buyers outside of Europe

haven't taken to their product mix, as Stalantis would have hoped.

The reset lands as car makers face a geographic headache, China and Europe,

powering ahead with EVs, often setting new monthly records each month,

just as sluggish EV demand hits the United States,

as the Trump administration removes incentives.

Stalantis' own slump has closer causes too.

Buyers have balked at some of the price increases,

while gaps in the lineup and quality problems compounded the damage.

Many of my US listeners would think,

well, there was just nothing that they made any good that I wanted to buy.

Over here we have quite a rich product mix at the lower to mid-end of their European brands.

While the group has been slashing prices to claw back market share

and rebuilding relationships with dealers,

Tavares had pledged so Stalantis would go only EV in Europe by 2030

and 50% EV in North America in 2030.

Stalantis has walked back those targets after Tavares left in 2024.

It's delayed introducing new EVs in the US.

It brought back its polluting V8 engines to try and rescue Ram truck sales.

On batteries, Stalantis said it's adjusting its battery-making footprint

to account for mistaking its future demands.

It's leaving a joint venture with LG in Canada,

and LG will buy out the Stalantis stake.

In 2022, Stalantis said it would invest over 5 billion Canadian dollars.

That's 3.7 billion US,

with LG to establish its first large-scale EV battery plant in Windsor, Ontario.

The scale of the write-down and the write-off sets Stalantis apart.

The 22 billion euro charges exceed recent impairments by Ford, GM and Porsche.

For now, the bill for going all-in on EVs,

with some would say all the wrong EVs for sale,

didn't have the cars the buyers actually wanted.

Plenty of their competitor brands are making good business out of electric vehicles.

Stalantis now knows that was a 22 billion euro mistake back to the drawing board.

Polestar is next in the news,

now offering plug-and-charge at 28,000 stations across Europe

through its Polestar charge app.

The feature lets the car and the charger talk directly

and takes payment without extra steps.

I have downloaded it, but I've never actually used it.

I see it sits on plug surfing.

It's kind of a reskinned plug surfing,

but all the car makers call it their own network.

All they're really doing is bringing others together.

I always use the Octopus Electroverse app,

former sponsor of this podcast, by the way,

only because I have an octopus energy at home

and it puts it on my home lecky bill

and it just saves another card being tapped

or just another bill, right?

It all goes on my home electricity bill,

which just makes sense for us.

If you're a Polestar driver, the app now includes Tesla.

So Polestar added 20,000 Tesla supercharges

in 1,500 European locations.

They also added Ionity, recharge, shell recharge,

Total, Fastnet, and a Lego, plus local providers

in specific markets.

Polestar charge connects drivers to more than a million

charging sockets and points across Europe

by piggybacking the plug surfing platform.

Polestar says drivers can also view real-time

Tesla availability now on the Incar Google Maps nav

and that's really good.

So if you are navigating to a Tesla supercharge,

you get some real-time data.

The service runs in 15 European countries,

including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, and France,

Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Netherlands,

Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,

and here in the United Kingdom.

It remains absent from Portugal.

Okay, WhatEV upgraded its truck charging depot

in San Bernardino, California last week,

lifting the site to more than 11 megawatts of capacity.

The site said the depot now supports up to 200 semi-truck

charging cycles a day,

offering megawatt charging for trucks

capable of the MCS standard.

The expansion added 30 additional CCS connectors

and six MCS connectors.

It says the site has 30 250 kilowatt CCS ports,

which honestly for some commercial vehicles,

that's fine depending on how long you're stopping for.

But if you need one of the six MCS ports,

they're rated at 1.2 megawatts of power.

WhatEV said the updated site can now serve

daily truck volumes traditional to what any diesel truck

stop would typically see in its throughput.

The location helps.

WhatEV said San Bernardino sits at the center

at some of the most freight dense corridors in the country.

WhatEV said its network currently stretches

from the port of Long Beach to San Bernardino

and north to Bakersfield.

They provide charging for fleet operators,

running their own trucks for shipping as well

and offering truck as a service for carriers

and owner operators.

Grid access, not actually getting hold of the chargers,

is what sets the pace of installation actually

in terms of MCS and megawatt charging.

California's backlogged utility grid creates

wait time stretching from, brace yourself,

seven to 10 years for a suitable grid connection

that they need 10 to 20 megawatt loads at its peak.

Some of those WhatEV depots now have to feature

solar and battery backup.

Policy, of course, sits in the background.

California's advanced clean fleets regulation

took effect in April, 2023,

mandating certain fleet operators begin

purchasing zero-emission vehicles from 2024.

It also says the rule requires

dryage fleets at ports and rail yards

to move faster going EV.

Only ZEVs meet the requirements from 2035.

The Port of Los Angeles has collected

$123 million in clean truck fund revenues

over the last four years to support zero-emission

truck purchases and charging infrastructure.

And 546 zero-emission trucks are already operating

across the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

as of right now.

Let's move on.

Norway registered seven petrol cars last month.

Petrol hybrids, 29 cars in the entire country.

Diesel, 98.

Battery electric vehicles, clearly the only cars

that Norway is now buying.

Over 2,000 of those.

The Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council,

the OFV, said overall sales did fall in January

because buyers rushed to register cars

before the end of last year

because of tax rises in VAT.

The figures sit on top of a lopsided market already.

Bev sales over the year last year was 96%

across the entire year.

Some months have been much higher.

High carbon taxes, generous EV subsidies

and the lack of a powerful lobby opposing EVs

have all helped Norway get to

what's effectively 100% EV in record time.

The electric shift still has a way to go though.

So Christina Boo, who is Secretary General

of the Norwegian EV Association, said of the 2025 data,

it doesn't mean the job is over.

She told the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK

and I quote, two out of three people still drive fossil cars.

If they are to have the opportunity to choose electric cars,

we must continue to be as ambitious in 2026.

End quote.

So the used market backs up her point.

OFV said sales of used EVs rose 23%

compared with January last year.

Electric vehicles were one in four cars

on the used car market in Norway.

New car sales though can swing up and down

according to tax dates and things like that.

Fleet changes also happen

but the used EV market needs attention too

and the actual car park of combustion cars

is going to take decades

until those vehicles work their way through

past being serviceable vehicles.

JQ is next in the news.

So JQ's seven, that model,

jumped to the second place here in the United Kingdom

and in the new car sales

had over 4,000 registrations last month

according to the SMMT.

It finished only slightly behind the Kia Sportage

for the entire top spot of all powertrains.

The JQ seven beat out long running leaders

like the Ford Puma, Nishin Kashkai and Vauxhall Kors.

Last year the Puma was our top selling car here

by the way in combustion form as well.

JQ only launched in the UK a year ago, January last year

but it's already found a really high level.

JQ seven beat the Nissan Kashkai to sixth place

in November last year

and JQ's expanded to 101 UK dealerships now.

The dealers also pushed the seven with test drive vouchers

at a 1.9% APR financing last year.

The drivetrain mix matters.

JQ is 70% plug-in hybrid

and 55% private buyers.

The JQ seven plug-in hybrid starts at 35,000 pounds

which is a busy price band.

BYD's Seal U is a plug-in hybrid.

That starts at 33.

The MG HS, that's 34.

Overall EV market share in January was pretty much flat.

Renault said the Renault 5

was the UK's best-selling all-electric car last month.

The zero emission mandate here sets a 2026 target

of 33% zero emission sales

and if you don't hit it, you get fined 12,000 pounds

per non-compliant vehicle.

Forecasters predict rather than 33%,

perhaps we'll get to 29% purebev

by the end of this year.

That makes credit trading the quiet bit of our market.

Chinese brands like Polestar, JQ and more

that have either pure EV mixes or plug-in hybrid mixes

can accumulate surface credits

and then sell them to the likes of Toyota

who don't have enough vehicles,

any vehicles really worth buying

in terms of pure electric vehicles.

So no one will pay a fine again

but those car companies like Tesla has done for a decade

those car companies that go EV or plug-in hybrid

get more credits, you can make more money

straight to the bottom line from your competitors.

Nice business to be in, right?

Stick around, we'll come back.

We'll talk Massachusetts.

Next, Genesis, stick around.

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All right, welcome back to the podcast.

Genesis will launch a new bespoke platform next year

that supports electric drive trains.

The move marks a shift from Hyundai Motor Group architecture

that it uses today.

So right now, GV60, great car, feels very premium.

Get some really good deals on used ones, by the way.

GV60 is on the 800-volt eGMP architecture.

So that's the skateboard platform.

It's other models use its flexible M3 architecture.

So you can get the G70, G80,

and the GV ones as well, which is their more SUV shapes.

The brand now claims the new platform

will be completely different from its mother ship,

Hyundai Group.

But it hasn't shared any more details.

The European boss here of Genesis framed the change

as a bid for a more distinct feel.

He said the platform targets a driving experience

aligned with premium positioning

and set apart from Hyundai's and Kia's.

He pointed to brand-specific needs inside the wider group,

including drivetrain chassis, set up interior packaging

and more.

Genesis decided it needs its own platform

to meet those requirements.

But then questions remain

whether Genesis will use bespoke powertrains

or share a lot more with Hyundai and Kia,

which would make sense for cost-sharing

and things like that.

Right? Right?

Well, wait and see.

But like I say, some of those used deals

feel really special in terms of the material choice,

quality, knowing that it's really solid,

great architecture underneath from Hyundai-Kia,

but feeling a lot more premium,

some real used bargains on those.

Now, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center

has launched a vehicle-to-everything demonstration program

offering bidirectional AV charges

at no cost to those taking part.

The program covers four projects,

five school districts,

30 residences across Massachusetts to gather data.

It aims to turn EVs into what we know they can be used for,

energy storage, feeding power back into the grid.

Loads of places do this in trial schemes

and we just need to get all of that data in

and for this to become something more common,

more turnkey, something that the carmakers

or your energy company can simply say,

hey, do you want this one? Great.

Have this car, this box.

It'll just work.

And we're sort of there in some parts of the world on that.

Bidirectional charging will then lead an EV charge

and discharge according to what the grid needs.

You obviously have a fallback,

a backstop position to say,

no, I need 90% because we're going on a road trip tomorrow.

So, you know, it'll do a lot of smart stuff

unless you override it.

That is, of course, one of the key parts

of Vehicle 2, everything.

And so these virtual power plants

that can spring up in relatively local areas

with all the EVs chipping into a bit of battery storage,

offsets grid demand, no use of things

like diesel generators and individual property level.

Massachusetts Clean Energy Center says the program

will deliver a megawatt back into the grid

during demand response events.

The article that this is taken from

says it will be enough to power 300 average homes

for an hour, which doesn't sound a huge amount.

It's probably a local district or something like that.

But if it smooths out demand response,

then that's got to be a good thing.

So this clean technical article I found says the launch

landed days after Boston Public Schools

said it plans to install 105 fast chargers

for electricity to provide school buses power.

And the two moves are linked to a broader push

to use EV batteries for grid stability,

cut energy costs and avoid infrastructure upgrades.

And finally, Mercedes AMG will unveil

an electric SUV coupe in 2027.

According to the CEO, the car will sit close

to the traditionally shaped AMG SUV

that's coming next year.

The plan fits AMG sales mix doubling down on SUVs

they say at AMG, which account for more than half

of its sales.

An SUV coupe adds a second bite to the same market.

We see this often with the same car coming

in different body styles.

Both of them will sit on their new AMG.EA platform.

So this is AMG exclusive

and there will be a sedan due as well.

That's coming this year.

So that would be an indirect replacement.

Something like an AMG GT four door.

We've also seen AMG pushing out AMG versions

of the EQE, EQS as well.

The sedans and SUV versions of that.

But AMG.EA is their own

like we talked about a Genesis a minute ago,

their own clean sheet phase.

This is really interesting.

So now we have sub brands,

spin-off brands, performance brands

feeling that the EV market is mature enough,

is big enough to support this investment.

This is a really key thing, right?

So it uses those cylindrical cells of different heights

depending on what they need to make the cars

be like 800 volts architecture.

Do you remember the GT double X concept?

I told you about it a little while ago.

Trimotor powertrain, one on the front axle,

two on the rear, over a thousand horsepower.

Mercedes previewed the production car

last year with the GT double X concept.

That was going to be 1341 horsepower,

233 miles an hour top speed, charging speed

of 850 kilowatts, which is, you know,

we call it China speed.

Obviously there's BYD's that'll charge it

a megawatt a thousand, but that would be

something entirely new to the West

when that comes out next year with AMG.

850 kilowatt DC fast charging.

That's not just a reply to combustion world

in terms of, okay, so how quickly can you reply?

That is some of the best EV technology.

Now again, we know that's a little bit quicker in China,

but I would argue Mercedes AMG badge

comes with a lot anyway that they've built up.

And here's the really interesting thing.

We do see trademark applications going in.

We have an insistence from the chief executive

that Tesla will unveil their Roadster on the 1st of April.

No April Fools joke.

He says it's coming like 10 years later.

It's coming.

So all of a sudden we have now very, very high bar to hit.

There was a time when Tesla could put something out

and we knew that the specs would all be industry beating.

Here we have the Germans saying,

all right, well, we're going to charge you 850 kilowatts

next year.

What do you got?

So very interesting.

I know it's high end.

It's niche.

Maybe the likes of you and I wouldn't be buying this car,

but that tech always filters down eventually.

And that's your podcast for today.

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DAILY: Stellantis Admits EV Mistakes, Polestar Adds Supercharger and Megawatt Truck Charging | 07 Feb 2026

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Stellantis

V8 engine

EV battery plant

Porsche

Polestar

plug-and-charge

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Kia Sportage

Vauxhall Cors

Ford Puma

Nissan Qashqai

plug-in hybrid

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MG HS

Renault 5

zero emission mandate

pure EV

electric drive trains

Genesis GV60

800-volt eGMP architecture

skateboard platform

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Genesis G80

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Hyundai Genesis

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