DAILY: VW ID.3 Neo Gets Big Upgrades, IONNA Joins With Circle K and BMW EV Deliveries Fall Ahead of Neue Klasse | 15 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.

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.

Welcome back to EV news daily.

Coming up today, VW's ID3 NEO gets big upgrades.

Iona joins with Circle K and BMW's EV deliveries fall ahead of Neuerklasse.

Plus they tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you why Rolls-Royce think they can find 100 buyers for a £7m EV.

Over on our spin-off podcast EV news China today, we're talking about Chinese OEMs

leading in software.

Shanghai EV exports and GAC launching a European EV.

One of those stories that could go in either podcast here or there.

But it went in EV news China today.

The new ION UT designed in Europe for European buyers.

And welcome to a new member of the Patreon gang.

In the last 24 hours, Joe signed up.

That'll be Joe Edgel or Edgel.

Joe, thank you so much for being a producer of the podcast.

Thanks to the ads that we put in the free feed and the essential support of all the

legends on Patreon.

It allows me to do this full time now as a living and create content for you.

Thank you to everybody and you Joe for helping me do this via the Patreon platform,

patreon.com slash EV news daily.

Let's get into it.

Volkswagen earlier today unveiled the new NEO ID3 NEO.

That's it's got a double barreled name for a start.

The revised car is not an ID golf.

They point out the dimensions are different.

And besides, they're saving ID golf for a whole new vehicle.

It has new styling, has different batteries, has a new interior.

A lot has been fixed.

Volkswagen says NEO, the suffix was the name used during the development codename.

And signals the fact that it's more than just a tweak because the ID threes had a tweak already.

A new front end and some various fiddling around, some fettling.

This is a proper upgrade.

The firm is also moving away from number based names.

So ID4 becomes ID Tiguan.

This is still ID3 NEO, not ID NEO, but still we're getting the ID Polo ID Cross.

They're all coming.

Biggest changes to this car and it is a really big change is a whole new interior to ID3.

Physical buttons are back and boy are they back.

The steering wheel is a properly busy steering wheel.

Just buttons for everything.

There's also a row of buttons inside that are like up and down toggle buttons

below the main screen for everything from your hazard lights to your heating controls

to your de-mister that you want to instantly flick on and a volume knob.

And so the original car's touch heavy interface is all gone.

We'll see this interior on the Polo and the Cross as well.

And so they have explicitly linked all of those cars to the new button led philosophy,

which seems crazy because that's what the car makers doing before EVs

kind of came along before Tesla minimized everything.

Well, the direction comes from the top.

Thomas Schaeffer took over as CEO in 2022 and said,

Volkswagen's first wave of dedicated EVs moved away from what the brand really stood for.

And the first wave ID3, 4, 5, 7 and bars,

that first wave of EVs weren't where they should be.

The new ones are more intuitive, a more reliable part of everyday life, he says,

to be a true Volkswagen.

Without saying that everything they've made has been rubbish,

they've had to draw a walk of fine line, I would say.

And so that we've improved the vehicles and added buttons back and real door handles and

things like the window controls.

There's just four controls next to the driver on the door card,

rather than two buttons that then you have to toggle for the rear two windows,

which even on very premium vehicles like the Volvo EX90 is a ridiculous cost saving measure.

Just give us four windows, just give us four buttons.

Now the VW tech chief, Kai Grunetz, said the original ID3 was good,

but he also said that there were usability problems and that's

probably a nice way of putting it, I think we all agree.

Here in Europe, Volkswagen have three versions of the NEO and new trim names,

as well, gone of pro and pro S, there's three new trims and three battery sizes,

50, 55 and 79 kilowatt hours.

And with those three battery sizes, three power outputs,

the smallest battery, 168 horsepower, the middle battery,

188 horsepower, the big battery, 228 horsepower.

WLTP ranges start at 259 and go up to almost 400 miles,

which is class-leading, segment-leading 400 miles for the ID3.

On the big battery is great DC fast charging between 105 and almost 200 kilowatts DC,

again for the biggest battery.

Very, very good charge speeds, 10 to 80 in less than half an hour.

That's right up there with what you'd get with, like a Tesla.

ID3 NEO will arrive this July.

By then, Volkswagen will hope buyers will see more than a simple facelift

after six years of learning the hard way it now wants its EVs to feel,

like proper Volkswagen's again.

All the reviews today, admittedly from the British motoring press that I did a little

flick around and read the reviews, all very, very positive, by the way.

Nobody had a negative word to say about this upgrade.

Lots of praise and pricing.

Well, might even be there's more flexibility there because they're

moving to their own Volkswagen made LFP packs from their subsidiary called PowerCo.

And so they're making their own batteries and it's LFP.

And at least with the smaller batteries, with the smaller, medium-sized batteries,

that's going to give them more pricing maneuverability.

So it's not going to be a lot more money.

If anything might be the same, could be less.

Volkswagen has also updated the ID4 and the ID5 with larger batteries,

more range and vehicle to load.

Prices in the UK as well start slightly higher at $36,995,

but that is on the road price, including VAT.

The ID4 Pro 4-motion, the all-wheel drive, gets a WLTP of 341 miles and vehicle to load as well,

using two new optional adapters to connect to the charging port.

Also a 230-volt power outlet inside both models as well of ID4, ID5,

effectively the same car with different body styles.

Physical steering wheels are back.

There's a whole new steering wheel like we've seen on the ID3 Neo.

On the ID4 and ID5, Traffic Assist now adds front cross traffic support,

improving protection for pedestrians and cyclists at junctions.

There's an improved infotainment system, more driver retention monitoring,

faster wireless phone charging at 15 watts, a new heat pump as well to keep the cabin comfortable

more efficiently.

Volkswagen has made a few practical changes.

Towing is up from 1200 to 1800 kilograms as well,

and there's little or no extra cost for this for the buyer,

so a nice quality of life improvement there.

Volkswagen UK are reapplying for eligibility for the electric car grant as well.

Let's go to the United States, where I honor the charging network

from a collaboration of car makers has struck a deal with Circle K

to deploy high-powered charging to begin with at 350 US locations.

They're going to be called Rechargeries at Circle K,

which, I mean, all the I honor stuff is called Rechargeries.

It's at Circle K. It's a bit mealy-mouthed, but it does what it is.

It's Rechargeries at Circle K.

I don't know if anyone's going to call them that,

but anyway, the partnership gives I honor a broad retail foothold in the US.

Circle K has more than 7,300 US stores

and ranks as the second largest convenience store operator in the country,

and that matters because charging networks need sites that are good,

just as much as the charging hardware.

I honor, of course, founded by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz,

DeLantis, and Toyota under the deal.

It'll also take over operation of Circle K's existing US charging portfolio,

which, frankly, some of their charging is 180 kilowatts.

That might even be split at some sites if both cars plug in.

It could do with a bump, and so it plans to convert and upgrade 85 existing charging sites.

The tie-up also aims to speed up new charging deployments at high-traffic Circle K locations

that don't have charging infrastructure yet.

Those sites sit on major commuter and highway corridors,

which will help I honor place chargers where drivers will use them.

The chargers will be 400 kilowatts units.

They'll support J3400 or Naxx and CCS1.

The sites will pair honor's charging technology

with all of the conveniences of Circle K, food, drink, and other retail.

The first of the rechargeries at Circle K will open by the end of the year,

with more scale planned for next year.

The deal supports I honor's charging target of 30,000 high-powered bays by the end of the decade.

That's great news and welcome news to my US listeners.

Of course, more charging is always always good,

but more great charging, as I honor tend to use the Alpetronic hardware in great locations,

where Circle K offer a lot of conveniences as well.

Well, that's win-win, isn't it?

Let's move on. BMW would like to be selling more electric vehicles,

but for now, they are waiting for their latest technology to filter through.

BMW Group, so Mini and Rolls-Royce, as well as the main brand,

delivered 87,500 BEVs globally in Q1,

but that was down on 110,000 BEVs on Q1 last year.

And that left BEVs or BEVs, if you're new to the podcast.

Battery electric vehicles, so not hybrids, but pure battery cars.

20% lower year-on-year Q1 to Q1.

And it marked BMW's second straight quarter of decline.

BMW failed to beat its year prior BEV sales in Q4 as well at the end of last year.

BMW pointed to two external factors.

It said the removal of the US EB tax credit heard their US business,

and the expiry of Chinese subsidies heard their business there.

The Group also lacked a key product.

For many months, BMW had no high-volume BEV SUV on sale.

The old I-X3 ended, but we were waiting for its newer-class successor to arrive.

The new I-X3 became available generally in March last month.

The I-4 saloon was on sale, but the new I-3 won't enter production until August this year.

And besides, mid-range SUVs are where the volume is,

and BMW spent the quarter without anything on sale.

European order intake, though, for the new newer-class I-X3 is good.

It's better than good, actually.

BMW's BEVs rose 40% year-on-year in terms of orders, strong demand for I-X3.

Of course, the I-3, the saloon version coming,

and there'll be a touring wagon version of it too.

BMW said the I-X3's attracted over 50,000 orders since books opened last month.

More than half of all BMW X3's ordered, they're fully electric version.

Let's move on.

And Rivian, next.

Patrick George writing for The Wall Street Journal,

says Rivian will use old EV batteries to power its normal Illinois plant

under a deal with Redwood Materials.

The system will go live this year.

Redwood, founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel,

will build what Rivian says will be the largest repurposed battery

energy storage system by an automotive manufacturer.

At least in the US, it'll use more than 100 retired Rivian batteries

and cover the size of a small car park.

The batteries will come from Rivian test vehicles,

or customer vehicles that have viable battery packs

that weren't roadworthy for any reason.

Redwood Materials will integrate them into energy storage.

The system will deliver an initial capacity of 10 megawatt hours.

Rivian says that equals about 1,000 home energy storage units combined.

The Wall Street Journal writes,

the partnership is the latest example of the battery energy storage industry boom

in the US, where lithium ion packs, not dissimilar to those in EVs,

are increasingly used to power businesses, industrial facilities,

residential zones, and artificial intelligence data centers.

Yeah, I'd agree with the Wall Street Journal there.

I would point out that they're using very, very good EV batteries,

and when I say good, I mean the chemistry and the technology

as energy storage, which typically is size is less of a constraint.

If you're doing grid storage or energy storage for things like

factories, micro grids, things like that,

where you can use LFP technology or even a sodium ion technology,

anything that might not be as energy dense as the best out there.

But that's less of a factor when you're building large storage units

outside in a field compared to making everything compact for a car.

But either way, that's great news and a very welcome story.

We'll take a break.

We'll come back and talk Ohio and Lucid and Renault back in a moment.

Ohio has awarded $51 million in nevy funding for EV charging,

paired with a minimum of $26 million in private money.

The combined investment is $77 million, delivering 64 charging sites in Ohio.

Each will have at least four ports, adding more than 260 new public charges across the state.

Host locations include places like Sheets, Tesla locations, United Dairy Farmers,

Aldi's, Loves and Pilots.

All 64 sites will have at least a restroom, food and beverage options.

Lucid has a new boss, Lucid Motors, named Silvio Napoli as its new chief executive

after a 14-month search.

Napoli will take a base salary of $1.5 million and can earn a bonus of 200% of that salary,

including a $9.5 million equity grant, performance-based stock options and up to a million shares,

a $1 million in relocation and $25 grand a month for housing.

Mark Winterhoff, the old interim chief executive, stays on until Napoli gets his U.S. Work

Authorization – that should come, you would think, for an executive pretty soon.

Winterhoff's pay rises to $1 million a year with target bonuses,

and he moves back to the Chief Operating Officer role.

I think we've got to say he's done a very good job since Peter Rawlinson was shuffled aside.

For Lucid, they would obviously like to be selling more vehicles,

but the air, despite some recent recalls, continues to be a great EV.

Gravity, the SUV, has launched very well, software is being updated nice and quickly,

and they're going to have their latest model, the smaller vehicle on sale by the end of the year,

they say, so some would say that's China speed.

Renault is next in the news, the Scenic E-Tech.

I really love the Renault Scenic. It's definitely on our shopping list.

Now, it's still a new, very new vehicle, and probably still a little bit too new for us.

We tend to buy older vehicles in cash, and there's nothing against finance, of course,

but that's just the way we tend to do it.

And so, that's definitely, when it gets a little bit more used, that's a great family vehicle.

If we can get a bargain on one of those in a few years' time, it would be definitely

worth at least a test drive with Mrs. Lee. The Scenic E-Tech now gets the full UK car grant

of almost £4,000. Entry price now starts at £33,245.

So, for the Techno trim is the base price Techno Espirit Alpine,

is the mid-trim at £36, the iconic trim £38. The Scenic has the same full grant now as the

Renault 4 and Renault 5. The Renault Scenic E-Tech has a 220 horsepower motor, 87 kilowatt hour pack,

almost 400 miles of range WLTP. That's a big number in the electric family crossover segment.

How do they get it? Because the UK government gives out the full grant based on environmental

boxes being ticked. They show that the cell production at LG in Poland runs entirely on

renewable energy. Right, couple more stories. LightShip, the makers of those battery powered RV

trailers, are expanding their facility in Colorado to more than quadruple production.

Turns out these very expensive trailers are actually very popular. Construction's underway,

operations in the new space begin in the summer. LightShip says a growing order backlog has driven

the capacity expansion and a simpler product plan. The AE-1 lineup has gone from three trims to just

a single model. The AE-1 is $157,000 and it replaces the Cosmos, Atmos and Panos trims.

The Atmos trim was $184,000, the Panos trim was $151,000. So now what do you get for your $157,000

single trim 77 kilowatt hour integrated battery pack, which was previously only on the top tier.

90% of customers optioned it anyway, so makes no difference. The new configuration options also

include home backup, power use, extended travel use, things like short-term rental as well,

even full-time living, they say. Launch Edition Cosmos trim sold out during early production.

This thing's fantastic. It looks so high-tech and there's no denying.

$150,000 for a battery-powered trailer is a huge amount of money, but there's lots of people in

America with a huge amount of money that would spend a lot on an RV and don't want to tow this

behind their, I don't know, Silverado or something, or even their gas-powered truck and not have a huge

range hit into the battery can power it onwards, but also be a great backup source and of course

power all of your activities and with the solar panels as well, whilst you are parked up. Now

let's finish with this. Have you got a spare 7 million? I know I've got a few down the back

of the sofa, but if you have a spare 7 million pounds, Rolls-Royce will happily hand-build you

a new EV. Project Nightingale is all-electric, open-top, two-seater. It's the most ambitious

project and when they decided to coach build a new vehicle, of course they went for an EV

powertrain. Now they can absolutely lean into some BMW i7 bits, I suppose, for the powertrain,

but either way, Rolls-Royce and their coach-build program do build everything by hand, bespoke

results for the kind of clients that, well, there is no base model, I say 7 million pounds,

but there is no spec is there because everyone's going to be entirely unique. It's a halo project

and it does drive a lot of revenue for Rolls-Royce. The business case rests on complete personalization,

huge margins, and they'll only ever make 100 of them. They actually made 5,500 cars last year

at Rolls-Royce, so this is a small run. So what are they doing? Well, the name comes from the French

Nightingale, Le Rossignol. Le Rossignol was a house used by Rolls-Royce designers near the

co-founder Henry Royce's estate on the Côte d'Azur. The coach-build designer led the design,

he's worked at BMW Group for more than 20 years, worked on BMW 3 Series and 8 Series

Grand Coupes in the past. The design draws on the Rolls-Royce Torpedo 17 EX, a long boat tail.

However long in your minds are you think the back of this car is, double it. There's only two seats,

it's a tiny compact cabin, but this thing has got a huge boat tail on it. Between you and me,

I'll whisper it quietly because this won't put me in the good books of Rolls-Royce.

It's kinda ugly. However, if you've got the millions to spend on this, then you might be into

slightly eccentric looking things anyway, things that the rest of us normals haven't got in our

life. Rolls-Royce, they went with convertible because they thought about a speedster layout,

but let's face it, these cars will be driven once or twice a month,

round the south of France as part of your car collection. Maybe you'll have it shipped to

possibly Monaco or somewhere else for some months of the year so you can drive it around.

Powertrain-wise, they're gonna give it a big battery, not the Spectre's 107kWh but maybe

something bigger from the Black Badge version. The CEO, Chris Brownridge, said the project combines

full coach build design, freedom, silent or electric drivetrain and open top motoring. This

thing, I know a half joke, this thing is utterly spectacular and of course the punchline to the

story is when you make something that is just the best possible thing that you can make for the

handful of people in the world where money is no object, then of course you choose EV because

it is the best, of course. And that's your podcast for today. Thanks to our premium partners,

National Car Charging on the US mainland and the Low Heart Charge in Hawaii, and Test EV,

Avalu's 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.

DAILY: VW ID.3 Neo Gets Big Upgrades, IONNA Joins With Circle K and BMW EV Deliveries Fall Ahead of Neue Klasse | 15 Apr 2026

About this episode

Capital One

Chat Concierge

pre-approved for financing

Chinese OEMs leading in software

Volkswagen Golf

battery

development codename

physical buttons are back

Tesla

Thomas Schaeffer

VW ID.3 Neo

WLTP ranges

DC fast charging

facelift

towing

electric car grant

Circle K

charging hardware

180 kilowatts

split power

BEVs

order intake

Rivian

lithium ion packs

EV charging

Lucid Motors

Renault Scenic E-Tech

LightShip

LightShip AE-1

halo project

Rolls-Royce Spectre

107kWh

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from EV News Daily - Technology and Business of EVs