DAILY: UK Tax Pay-Per-Mile, Skoda EVs Double Share and Largest Tesla Supercharger Opens | 27 Nov 2025

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Hear that?

That's me with a lemonade in a rocker on my front porch.

How did I get here?

I invested to make my dream home, home.

Get where you're going with MDY, the original mid-cap ETF

from State Street Investment Management.

Getting there starts here.

Before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives,

risks, charges, and expenses.

Visit statestreet.com slash im for a prospectus

containing this and other information.

Read it carefully.

MDY is subject to risks similar to those of stocks.

All ETFs are subject to risk,

including possible loss of principal,

Alps distributor, Zinc distributor.

Welcome back to the podcast.

Today, the UK goes pay-per-mile on EVs.

Skoda EVs double their share,

and the largest Tesla supercharger opens.

Plus, stay tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you why Greenpeace

are walking the walk and practicing what they preach

with a new flagship vessel.

On EV News China, today, our spin-off show,

looking at EVs in the East,

we're talking about neo deliveries and margins improving,

Chinese EV factories in the EU,

and Li Auto slipping into the red.

Let's start with this headline news from Britain yesterday.

Electric motoring will stop being tax-free.

From April, 2028, every mile you drive in an EV

will incur a charge, three pence per mile,

in fact, for bevs and 1.5 pence for plug-in hybrids.

The move aims to fill a hole in fuel duty

as petrol and diesel sales fall,

but it risks cooling demand for EVs

just as the market matures.

Chancellor Rachel Reeve sent out the plan

as part of a broad reset of how Britain tax is driving.

The paper mile levy will come

on top of the recent 195 pounds per year.

Vehicle excise duty, we call it road tax,

which EV owners already pay,

plus the 400 pounds,

a EV tax on cars costing more than 40,000 pounds,

and that isn't a very high threshold at the moment.

The mileage fee will also rise each year with inflation.

By 2029, the government's own Office of Budget Responsibility

expects the scheme to bring in 1.4 billion pounds a year

on today's numbers.

A typical driver who does 8,500 miles per year

is paying another 255 pounds in government tax.

The Treasury's own OBR, Office of Budget Responsibility,

expects a hit to EVs.

The OBR forecasts themselves 440,000 fewer EVs

between now and 2031, an extraordinary number.

That would make it harder to hit

the government's own zero emission vehicle mandate,

and with it, the country's climate targets for raising,

albeit 1.4 billion pounds,

that's not a huge amount of money,

but it's a huge amount of vehicles

which the government themselves say won't hit the roads

because of these new punitive taxes.

Industry voices have never denied

that road taxes need reform.

They're asking, but why now?

And who shoulders the bill?

Delvin Lane, the CEO of rapid charging firm Instavolt,

backed the long-term idea of paper mile funding

for all vehicles driven,

but warned that introducing a system now puts off drivers

who are just considering making the switch to electric.

He also pointed to drivers who can't charge at home.

Many, many people in this country don't have home charging

and they already pay 20% VAT on public charging

compared with 5% if you charge at home.

Tania Sinclair, the CEO of Electric Vehicles UK,

striking a similar note.

She accepted that motoring tax system

needs fundamental long-term reform

and that change is unavoidable.

As more drivers go electric,

the question is, how do we design change

that doesn't stall the very transition

that makes the reform necessary?

Let's move on.

Skoda has flipped its sales mix in just a year.

One in four cars itself now has a plug

up from one in 10

and the compact LROC small SUV

is at the heart of the uplift.

Volkswagen Group's latest report

puts Skoda's plug-in share,

battery electrics plus plug-in hybrids at 24.1%

up from 11% a year ago.

That 13-point jump means plug-ins went from niche to normal

in a single model cycle.

Over the first nine months of this year,

Skoda delivered 765,700 vehicles worldwide,

up 14%, keeping Skoda as the Group's third biggest brand,

the numbers mix, BEVs and FEVs,

but the Group singles out the new pure BEV LROC

as the driver of the success.

Alongside the earlier ENIAC,

the 100,000th LROC rolled off Skoda's

Mlada Boleslav plant in early 2025,

an LROC RS in bright, mumber green.

It came off a flexible line

that also turns out the ENIAC

and the combustion Octavia in plain terms.

Skoda can build EVs and petrol cars

on the same kit, then swing volume

from one to the other as orders shift

and from January to the end of the third quarter,

that setup has delivered 120,000 more pure

battery electric vehicles from Skoda.

Great news from Tesla next.

They switched on the world's biggest supercharger

on the main highway between San Francisco and LA,

a test case for how long distance EV travel

will work in America.

The new Oasis hub sits on Interstate 5,

164 fast charging stalls with onsite solar and storage.

The aim is simple.

Stay ahead of the looming fast charging crunch

on one of California's busiest corridors.

The timing was tight.

Tesla announced the project over a year ago.

Max Dasega, Tesla's director of charging

for North America, Europe,

the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific

first laid out the plan.

Groundwork started eight months ago.

The first 84 superchargers were switched on in July.

Now the remaining 80 have come online,

so the whole site is open,

a shade under the original plan for 168 stalls.

Each stall though could in theory deliver 325 kilowatts.

It's very rapid DC charging.

What makes Oasis stand out is not only the size,

but the 11 megawatt solar array feeding all the stalls.

Most of the panels spread across open land

behind the covered charging base.

10 Tesla mega packs onsite

with 39 megawatt hours of storage,

soaking up excess solar

and then discharging when demand spikes.

Of course, a big fat grid connection as well.

Tesla has just become Norway's best selling car brand.

Not just this year, although it is this year,

but for any year, for any brand ever.

And there's still four weeks of the year to go.

The company has already passed a milestone

that Volkswagen set in the pre-EV era.

Tesla Europe and Middle East

counts more than 26,000 registrations

in Norway so far this year,

going past Volkswagen's 2016 peak.

That makes Tesla the best car maker,

most successful car maker in Norwegian history.

In a one-year basis, of course,

in a market where BEVs, battery electric vehicles

are pretty much the entire market.

Two cars do all the heavy lifting, Model Y, Model 3.

Policy helps as well.

Many buyers are rushing to lock in the current terms

before expected tax changes pulling demand forward.

Some car makers now pitching their own VAT guarantees,

pledging to cover any extra VAT value-added tax

if a car ordered now arrives after

the start of the new rules.

Lotus is betting it's come back on a plug-in hybrid.

The electric, sorry, the Electra plug-in hybrid

is due in China in January next year

with a 900-volt system and 680 miles of range

on a tank and a charge.

The timing matters because Lotus sales

from January to September were down 40% this year

and bosses now depend on China more than ever.

China's 46% of Lotus's business,

they blame tariffs, dealers clearing stock

on a slow handover to updated models

and they frame the slump as a transition, not a collapse.

The new Electra plug-in hybrid

is the clearest sign yet of that shift.

Prototypes have been spotted near the Lotus store in China

earlier this month in November with a fuel door

and charging ports in the rear fenders

and an exhaust on show,

confirming the car will pair combustion and plug-in,

an upcoming Lotus plug-in hybrid.

So all upcoming Lotus hybrids

have the shame 900-volt system, big battery,

not that we know what that would be,

and Lotus sits inside the Geely Empire,

so I would expect them to leverage the engineering

for the powertrain from within Geely.

Horse powertrain, which is Geely Renault Aramco,

builds hybrids and combustion systems for global markets.

That could be a likely source of the key hardware.

Porsche is opening up Cayenne electric orders in the US

in the first few days of those orders being open.

The first full EV version of its best-selling SUV

has got early interest

and the car looks set to play a key role.

US buyers can now configure and reserve the Cayenne electric.

Deliveries begin summer next year

and the EV sits alongside.

The gasoline and hybrid versions doesn't replace them.

In the first four days,

Porsche said that they have a record 110,000

builds on the configurator.

Yeah, it's not actually orders for cars, is it?

But still, it's a good press release.

The car matters far more than just those vanity metrics.

The Cayenne is one of Porsche's biggest profit engines

in America with 22,000 sold last year.

Porsche also says this will be the most customizable Cayenne

it's ever sold.

The flood of unique online builds backs that up

and hints at strong demand for options

and personalization vital for margins

in the luxury market.

X-Pong is next in the news.

They might bring plug-in hybrid power or E-rev power

that's where the battery drives the wheels

and the engine's a generator.

The X-9 is built for drivers who want EV tech

but the safety of a fuel tank wouldn't be for me

but some people want that.

Now the Chinese brand is weighing

whether to bring that to Europe.

The founder and CEO, Heu Xiaopeng,

telling Automotive, no news Europe,

the long range hybrid X-9 which is a big people carrier

is on the shortlist for export.

The car's already seen testing on the continent,

laps at the Nürburgring in Germany.

In China, the X-9 E-rev launched last week

at about $43,000 US dollars equivalent

undercuts the fully electric X-9 which is about $50,000.

For her, extended range EVs are a way

to speed the shift away from pure combustion

on X-Pong's latest earnings call.

He cast E-revs as a bridge from ice to new energy

saying they help win over buyers

who fear range limits and weak charging

especially in places like Northern or inland China.

Early signs do back that up.

Less than a week after launch,

X-Pong is rushing its supply chain

to lift the output of the E-rev X-9

by about 5,000 models before the end of the year.

But Europe is trickier.

On paper, the X-9 looks tailor-made for drivers

who want one car that can do both the school run

and a cross-continent holiday trip

and still plug in and get a good amount of juice

when they find a charger.

In practice, tariffs might blunt its edge though.

Under current EU rules,

E-revs shipped from China face the same duties as full-bears

but don't enjoy the softer treatment

given to plug-in hybrids.

That raises prices and muddles the message to buyers

who think of hybrid as cheaper and a safer bet.

We'll wait and see.

Lots more on the podcast to talk about today.

UK motorway charging is gonna get a lot better.

Euro NCAP might force Tesla to bring back buttons

and a billion-dollar graphite hub for Ontario.

There's stories and a lot more coming up on the podcast

that I so stick around.

I'll be back in a mo.

The number one resolution for people last year

was to save more money,

but nearly half gave up by February.

Don't let that be you.

Download RocketMoney to reach your financial goals

this year.

Track your spending, cut waste,

and automate savings in one simple app.

RocketMoney shows you all your expenses

and categorizes them so you know exactly

where your money's going and where you're overspending.

From there, the app cuts waste

by canceling your unused subscriptions

and lowering your bills.

No customer service needed.

With that money freed up,

the app will automatically set some cash aside

for your goals, whether it's an emergency fund,

paying off debt, or saving for vacation.

RocketMoney's got you covered.

Users love the app with over 186,000 five-star ratings

and on average, users can save up to $740 a year

when using all of the app's premium features.

Make saving money a priority this year.

Go to rocketmoney.com slash cancel to get started.

That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Hear that?

That's me with a lemonade in a rocker on my front porch.

How did I get here?

I invested to make my dream home.

Get where you're going with MDY,

the original mid cap ETF

from State Street Investment Management.

Getting there starts here.

Before investing,

consider the fund's investment objectives,

risks, charges, and expenses.

Visit statestreet.com slash IM for a prospectus

containing this and other information.

Read it carefully.

MDY is subject to risk similar to those of stocks.

All ETFs are subject to risk,

including possible loss of principal,

Alps Distributors, Inc. Distributor.

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That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Hear that?

That's me with a lemonade in a rocker on my front porch.

How did I get here?

I invested to make my dream home.

Get where you're going with MDY,

the original mid-cap ETF

from State Street Investment Management.

Getting there starts here.

Before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives,

risks, charges, and expenses.

Visit statestreet.com slash IM for a prospectus,

containing this and other information.

Read it carefully.

MDY is subject to risk similar to those of stocks.

All ETFs are subject to risk,

including possible loss of principal,

Alps, Distributors, Inc. Distributor.

Okay, welcome back to the show.

Now, new high-power charging hubs

are coming to some of the busiest roads in Britain

and they're landing fast.

By the end of 2026, Extra and GridServe

have seven new super hubs for UK motorways,

adding 96 rapid bays.

The first is Beckinsfield Services

due to open by the end of the year.

For anyone planning long trips,

this is one of the clearest signs yet

that the motorway network is starting to match EV sales.

Each hub will use chargers

that can deliver 400 kilowatts

with a car that can take that much power

and there's not too many cars that can,

but several incoming drivers

could add more than 100 miles in less than 10 minutes.

After Beckinsfield,

new sites follow at Baldock, Cambridge, Cobham,

Colombson Leeds, Skeleton Lane and Peterborough.

Extra wants to grow its fast charging network

by almost 300% by the end of next year

and is spreading the work.

GridServe will build super hubs.

IONITY lines up its own high-powered units

at the same service sites.

Now, could this be a headache for Tesla

or could they look to acquire one of the companies

who make the third-party add-ons

that are the physical buttons that sit below the screens

on Teslas?

Actually, they integrate really well.

The pictures that I've seen,

not tried them in person,

but it's a row of physical buttons beneath the screen.

It clips on in some way.

Looks very original, actually.

Well, Euro NCAP, the safety testing organization,

is changing up how your next EV

will earn its five safety stars.

And of course, for anyone serious about selling an EV,

the Euro NCAP five-star safety rating is a must-have.

Crash tests alone no longer cut it.

Driver aids, how they behave

and how easy the car is to control

are increasingly being part of the final score.

The new protocol starts in 2026

and it stands on four pillars.

Safe driving, crash avoidance, crash protection

and post-crash safety.

Rather than just checking

whether assistance systems tick the boxes,

Euro NCAP will now want to know

how these ADAS systems in your next EV behave.

The shift follows years of complaints from drivers

about constant beeps and bongs and nagging

and lane-keep nudges.

Cars will score higher

if they can keep the driver engaged,

but not lulled.

Euro NCAP will favor driver monitoring technologies

that maintain the attention

and engagement behind the wheel,

including systems that monitor driver performance

in real time.

That means cameras and sensors

that track head and eye movement

and then tune the ADAS response

if the driver looks distracted or drowsy.

The best rated systems will not just warn,

they will adapt.

Inside the car, the Euro NCAP testing

is going a little bit old-school.

Euro NCAP is now going to scrutinize

the placement, clarity and ease of use of buttons.

Crucially, for many EV owners,

the new scorecard is going to reward physical buttons

for everyday jobs, lights, wipers and climate.

Must all be easily accessible

without having to look down

and take your attention off the road

at a big touchscreen in the car.

And this is very similar to what China is doing

and has done as well.

It reflects a growing view

that a simple hard key

for functions that you don't want to change over time

because you'll always want to flick the wipers

or flash your hazards

or turn the lights on and off, for instance,

rather than digging through,

in some cases, for a single action,

three layers of touchscreen menus

which significantly increases

the time that you take away

from your eyes being on the road.

Now, Tesla is proudly a no-button brand.

Is it conceivable that the next Tesla you buy

wouldn't have five stars on the safety ratings?

I think they'd find a solution.

Now, Norway's Vihanode will spend $3.2 billion

on a new synthetic graphite plant

in St. Thomas, Ontario,

aimed at feeding North America's fast-growing

EV battery industry.

The project promises 1,000 jobs

and a major new link

in the region's battery supply chain.

The company laid out the plan at a news conference

with Ontario Premier Doug Ford

and Vihanode CEO Burkhard Strauber.

The plant in the Yarmouth Yards area

will make synthetic graphite

for lithium-ion battery anodes.

At a scale, the Vihanode says

can support battery production

for around 2 million EVs every year.

Ontario is backing it

with a 670 million Canadian dollar loan.

Now, park DVs in Japan will soon start working

for the grid.

Caloosa and Mitsubishi have begun

the country's first home vehicle-to-grid trial

turning driveways into flexible power.

Announced in 2024, the project deepens Caloosa's partnership

with Mitsubishi after they set up

a joint venture earlier in the year.

Caloosa's energy platform will link

with MC Retail Energy

and Mitsubishi to run the vehicle-to-grid

and vehicle-to-home services.

Together, they will test two-way power flows

between cars, homes, and the wider network.

With one key question in mind,

can EV drivers earn money

by joining future power markets?

This trial puts Japan into a global push

to treat EV packs as thousands of small power stations.

Caloosa is bringing in lessons

from earlier vehicle-to-everything pilots in California

where its software already juggled power

between cars, buildings, and grid assets.

In Japan, the partners will try out

bi-directional charging for backup power during blackouts

and for fast grid support services.

They'll also probe which tariffs and business models

might convince households to sign up at scale

rather than just plugging in and forgetting.

Now it is, sadly, bye-bye, Bollinger.

They've run out of road.

The Michigan EV startup shut down,

looks like six days ago,

after missing multiple payrolls

and failing to turn its bold prototypes into a business.

Staff learned the news in an early morning email,

HR director Helen Watson, telling employees,

the company will close the doors

of Bollinger Motors effective today.

The message followed at least two missed payrolls

and dozens of workers have now filed complaints.

The fallout will not stop with employees.

Michigan officials are preparing

to claw back millions in public incentives.

After Bollinger fell short of its promise

to invest and hire in the Detroit area,

the firm had secured $3 million

from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation,

tied to a pledge to invest $44 million

and create 237 jobs.

Those targets were never met,

so the incentive deal now looks set to become illegal

and political, probably, fight.

And finally, Greenpeace.

Their next flagship will try to cross oceans

without involving fossil fuels.

The 75-meter ship, Ju, in 2027,

will lean on a three-megawatt-hour battery,

sails, solar panels, and even a green hydrogen fuel cell.

The hull is taking shape in Spain,

where the keel went down in July.

Delivery is planned for 2027.

The propulsion is a hybrid mix,

engines that can run on methanol, feed,

two electric drive propellers.

Also, the hydrogen fuel cells

that would run on renewable green hydrogen, if needed,

above deck, 1,746 square meters of sailcloth

will do much of the work,

pushing the ship through the water.

Solar panels and battery packs from AYK Energy

cover the ship's electrical needs and loads.

AYK will install three-megawatt-hours

of its ARIES Plus Marine Battery Packs,

which won type approval from DNV earlier this year.

That sign-off means the system

meets strict marine safety and performance rules,

and it helps push large lithium packs from test cases

into real blue water work.

The aim is to run the ship as close to fossil fuel-free

as ports allow, with a clear path to 100% green power.

For the wider electric and hybrid ship market, though,

the project shows that multi-source systems,

batteries, sails, electric generation,

methanol-ready engines, hydrogen fuel cells

are no longer demos on small boats,

but tools for frontline ocean ships.

They also suggest ship owners now trust

megawatt-hours-scale battery banks,

especially when they team them with wind

to boost range, cut emissions, and add backup power.

And that's your podcast for today.

Thanks to our premium partners,

National Car Charging on the US mainland

and the Loha Charge in Hawaii,

and Octopus Electroverse Global Public Charging

made simple with one app and one map,

and a new name to be added this weekend.

Listen out for an interview in coming soon.

Thanks for listening, sit-amara, and remember,

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

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DAILY: UK Tax Pay-Per-Mile, Skoda EVs Double Share and Largest Tesla Supercharger Opens | 27 Nov 2025

About this episode

LROC

plug-in hybrid

battery electric vehicle

Skoda ENIAC

Skoda Octavia

supercharger

long distance EV travel

megawatt hours

Volkswagen

BEVs

Tesla Model Y

Tesla Model 3

VAT

Lotus Electra

900-volt system

680 miles of range

Electra plug-in hybrid

fuel door

charging ports

exhaust

Porsche Cayenne

EV

Nürburgring

vehicle-to-grid

vehicle-to-home

two-way power flows

EV packs

Request an Explanation

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