Kia Chooses Europe For EV2 Production, July EV Sales Surge Again and Tesla Model Y L USA Plans | 23 Aug 2025

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Granger. And the Tesla Model YL USA plans.

Plus, stay tuned. Later in the show, I'll tell you how many Nicola Hydrogen fuel cell trucks

one Texas company just bought themselves at an auction.

Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you're listening around the world.

This is EV News Daily, and this is your trusted source of EV information.

It's the weekend, Saturday 23rd of August. I'm Martin Lee, and I go through every EV story.

So you don't have to. Patreon supporters fund the show, get the episodes ad free,

and get closer to the EV News Daily community. Be like them by clicking on a link in the show notes.

Welcome to a new Patreon producer in the last 24 hours.

Signed up last night, actually, yesterday evening. Patrick joined the Patreon gang.

Thank you so much, Patrick, for supporting the show at how I earn a living these days,

spreading the news about electric vehicles far and wide around the world,

cutting through some of the lies that are out there and the misinformation and disinformation

about the move to electric mobility. Patrick, you are supporting the work that I do here

and the mission. Thank you so much. Now, let's get into the news of Kia.

So we told you about the Kia EV4 earlier in the week.

Now, we can tell you about the Kia EV2 and the Slovakian plants, which I mentioned.

Well, that's going to be the same location where Kia will make their other one, the EV2.

So the Kia EV2 will start the Slovakian plant production in February.

Now, on August 20th, Kia began production of the EV4, the hatchback version.

Europe gets the hatchback EV4, and the CEO of Kia Europe signed that Kia is investing

108 million euros to make both the EV4 and then the EV2 in Slovakia.

Said that making 20 to 30,000 EV4s next year would make sense in Europe

and that the combined output of the EV4 and the EV2 could be up to 20%

of the plant's total production next year.

Now, that factory they have can make 350,000 vehicles a year.

So, well, that could be, well, 70,000 EVs coming out of a European factory.

That's cool. Asked about the EV2's starting price, Mark Hedrich,

the CEO of Kia Europe, would not be drawn. I wouldn't give an exact amount.

But look, he didn't rule out a price below 30,000 euros, 32,000 US equivalent.

That would make the EV2 Kia's cheapest battery electric model on sale.

The current lowest cost Kia Bev is the EV3, which starts at 35,000 euros.

So that's EV2, EV3, EV4, all using the 400-volt version, cheaper version

in terms of components, things like that.

A VGMP, Mr. Hedrich saying that battery electric vehicles are 22% of Kia Europe this year.

Kia aims for 74, 75% Bev sales by 2030 in Europe.

And you can see how they're going to get there with brilliant cars like the EV3.

Still, I think one of my standout buys of 2025.

Kia EV4 is a bigger vehicle. The hatchback version looks great.

And then the Kia EV2. Now, yeah, OK, 30,000 euros or less.

I think you've got to come a little bit under that because, well, certainly in the low 20s,

there are some really compelling cars.

Fiat Grande Panda, the Renault 5, probably one of the standouts.

A little bit more money is the Alpine, of course, because you're paying for the Alpine experience,

which is the Renault 5. But then the Chinese cars coming in as well.

But Kia aren't daft. They'll know exactly where to price this to sell as many as possible.

OK, let's move on. This is a big, big story today.

And that's European plug-in sales surging in July.

Last month in July, new car registrations in Europe were up 5.5% compared to July last year.

So summer on summer, things are up for the car market.

But plug-in hybrid vehicle sales were up 52% and Bev sales up 34%.

Chinese car sales in Europe were strong. They were growing a little more slowly.

Their market share fell from 5.5% in June to 5.3% in July.

Looking at the individual companies, Cherry's sales did really well in July.

I think maybe a ship must have arrived because 10,000 of them were sold in July last month.

That's up from only 1,000 a year ago, thanks to brands like Omoda and J-Coup,

which I'm seeing more and more, driving around certainly here as well.

BYD was up to 13,500 units.

The CLU, C-Line 7 and Dolphin Sur are very popular.

Tesla's sales in Europe still continuing their decline.

I won't flog that dead horse. I think we all know Tesla's got issues.

Tesla sales fell 37% compared to July last year.

Now, look, Tesla have some good months and bad months in specific countries.

Again, it can be to do with when shipments arrive and things like that.

But generally speaking, I think Tesla would...

I think they'd be very happy if there was a turnaround in the second half of this year.

Other brands with losses, well, Jaguar Land Rover down 21%, Suzuki down 14%,

and Geely, which does include Volvo down a smidge as well.

Audi sales were down a little too in Europe.

Volkswagen Group, though, led the market.

Still, obviously the wider group, not the brand itself,

a 12% sales increase here in Europe.

They've got some great EVs across the Volkswagen Group, haven't they?

Renault Group up 10%, BMW up 12%.

Stellantis down a smidge.

Their Chinese partner with their joint venture, Leap Motor, surging.

Now, they didn't sell anything last July.

Well, that's a lie. I think they sold 23 vehicles last July a year ago.

Now, 2,500.

So, other notable results.

Scotta was up, and they got that new L-Rock BEV,

which is a really, really good vehicle by the way Cooper up doing well too.

What else at the lower end?

Oh, Dacia was up. That little Dacia Spring is very good.

SAIC is the Chinese parent company of MG.

They were doing okay as a parent company, but MG itself not so great.

The MG4 was down.

Of course, remember that is a vehicle made in China

and EU tariffs are impacting those Chinese companies as well.

Okay, let's move on and talk about the Tesla 6-seat Model YL.

That is the 6-seater, 3-row version of the Model Y.

Physically, it's a 30 centimeter foot longer car, so it's bigger.

And that all goes in the wheelbase as well.

So, that's just knee room.

Well, actually, that's just room for the rear passengers.

So, there's been loads of speculation.

Will it come to Europe? Will it come to the USA?

We've seen camouflage cars driving around outside of China.

Tesla released that new vehicle on August 19th,

what, four or five days ago, at the Shanghai factory where it's made.

The longer wheelbase allows for three rows of seats,

starting at $47,000 equivalent.

Elon Musk now taking to X to say that the Model Y won't be produced in the United States.

If it is, it would be the end of next year.

And he says, if at all, because, never missing a trick,

he says that self-driving technology would reduce the demand for it.

He didn't explain how self-driving technology would reduce demand for the Model YL.

But like I say, never missing a trick to always promote,

some would say pump, those that think that he's just continuing to promote

technology that, well, hasn't delivered on its promises yet, at least.

In the US, Tesla is focusing on autonomy,

reinventing themselves as an autonomy, as a robot, as an AI company.

Anything really, but making cars, which is a shame,

because actually the Model YL six-seat three-row,

I think that would be enormously popular in so many places around the world

that, well, just a little more room.

It's not quite a Model X, but doesn't need to be, actually,

a Model Y with a bit more room and three rows.

You might not always use all six seats, but it's a very usable third row.

I think that is a, well, I think a really killer vehicle, actually.

Very, very interesting, but that's probably not where Tesla's focusing on right now.

However, they are focusing on a battle they've got right now with the administration.

And so many people thought earlier this year when the CEO cosied up with the new White House,

that this was going to be an easy ride for Tesla.

And then there was the fallout.

And of course, many people speculated online, as the internet will do the internet,

that it was all a smoke and mirrors show, that the whole fallout was just a fake argument online

to try and get the more left-leaning customers of Tesla back on site.

I mean, the data shows that hasn't worked.

Brand damage has been done, actually.

But either way, many people also thought that that wouldn't mean Tesla would get an easy ride

in terms of regulations and government agencies.

Well, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA Onitsa,

is now opening a full investigation into Tesla over what they say are delays in reporting crashes

involving full self-driving, ADAS, autopilot, things like that.

On August 21st, the NHTSA said it found several Tesla crash reports

had been submitted to the agency months or longer after they were supposed to.

Federal rules require companies to report crashes within one to five days

after learning about them.

NHTSA updated the rule in April.

The agency is auditing Tesla to evaluate the cause of the potential delays,

the scope of the delays, and the mitigations that Tesla might have developed to address them.

So if you thought Tesla would get an easy ride

because of the CEO's close affiliation with politics, it doesn't seem to be the case.

Well, that's what it seems anyway.

NHTSA is saying Tesla sometimes sends reports in batches or on a schedule.

In talks with the agency, Tesla blamed the delays on data collection processes internally.

NHTSA is checking if there are crash reports from Tesla that have not yet been filed

and making sure that they have all the required data.

And finally, Tesla is also fighting a battle in the courts as well.

A class action lawsuit against Tesla will go ahead.

It's been ordered by the US District Judge Rita Lynn.

Now, this case claims that the CEO misled customers over a period of time

about the ability of Tesla's self-driving features.

The court said there are enough questions about whether the cars

had the needed sensors required for advanced self-driving.

And if Tesla could actually show a car driving long distances

autonomously, that means the judge pointed out

that thousands may have seen claims on Tesla's website between October 2016

and August 2024 saying that cars were now shipping with all the hardware needed

for full self-driving capability.

The lawsuit claims that the vehicles that they were buying in October 2016

did not come with all the hardware required,

but what if you remember is what we were told at the time.

Similar statements have been made in Tesla's blog posts on newsletters

in quarterly earnings calls and indeed by the CEO himself.

Tesla said not everyone saw the claims and argued that there's no proof

that these claims even affected people's buying decisions.

The lawsuit claims otherwise.

And the judge has now given the go-ahead for a class action lawsuit.

Now, these things nearly always get settled, don't they,

at the end of the day.

But we'll see where that one ends up.

And when we come back, we'll be talking Mercedes-Benz

and a bit more Leap Mode, a bit of Toyota BZ4X stuff

and more, stick around back in a moment.

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Okay, welcome back to the podcast.

Now, let's talk a little bit about Mercedes-Benz

moving up the launch of their EQE sedan.

That's been brought forward by 12 months.

So we're looking at 2027 now

for the launch of the new generation EQE,

or maybe just the new E-Class with EQ technology.

The new electric E-Class was the first supposed to use

their new electric platform.

Now Mercedes will build it on the smaller platform instead

called MBEA Medium.

The platform will launch on September the 7th this year.

We'll find out more details about it

just before the IAA mobility show.

For the new electric E-Class,

Mercedes will return to a classic three-box sedan design.

They know what Mercedes-Benz buyers want to buy.

They tried something different with the EQE and EQS.

Didn't particularly go down too well.

So they will refresh the EQE

to make it look as E-Class as possible.

800-volt technology coming to that next year.

And then they'll refresh the whole thing by 2020.

By 2027.

Now FAW Group is actually China's oldest car maker.

It plans to buy 10% of LeapMota,

the Stellantis-backed EV maker in China,

boosting that business.

LeapMota are doing some interesting things in Europe right now

outside of China with electrification.

The investment will encourage more state-owned car makers

to partner with startups, say FAW.

They also work with Volkswagen and Toyota, by the way, in China.

In LeapMota, they've cut the price of the BZ4X

in the United Kingdom by £6,000.

And there's a reason they've done that.

The base model is now £36,995.

£36,995 is five quid under the £37,000 limit needed

for the UK's new electric car grant.

But why have they done it?

Well, they must expect it to qualify for £1,500 off.

For now, well, that car's made in Japan

and there's going to be lots of carbon emissions

with shipping that vehicle around the world.

The car grant in the UK will save you either £1,500

on the lower tier or £3,750 on the higher tier.

Only cars that meet government rules

on sustainable manufacturing, local manufacturing,

low carbon emissions throughout the whole process qualify.

If the BZ4X is approved,

then all versions of that trim get in.

So you can start it at £37,000.

You can have higher priced versions of the BZ4X

and even the higher priced ones would get the money off.

It makes sense to do the discount

as long as it's the same powertrain.

So it wouldn't apply to things like the four-wheel drive

version stuff like that.

But if it's got a 71 kilowatt-hour battery,

which I think is about the same size battery

in all of the BZ4Xs.

So yes, so it's all to do with the powertrain.

So as long as it's the same,

then all versions of it get it.

There's the pure, the motion and the vision.

So maybe I'll learn a little bit more about the BZ4X

and must admit it's not a vehicle

that I spend too much time looking at.

It's not one that blows me away at the moment.

If Toyota wanted to make a great EV,

they certainly could.

They've got the talent and the money

to do that when they are good and ready.

Now, by the end of July this month or this year,

Turkey had almost 300,000 EVs registered

and things are going really well in Turkey, by the way.

120% up from the same time last year.

Ten years ago there were about 500 EVs

floating around in Turkey.

Now, 300,000 electric vehicles

make up almost 2% of the country's total passenger cars.

The growth supported by more charging stations,

new EV models and, of course,

Turkey's own EV brand called TOG,

which we never really talk about.

In the first six months of the year,

3,000 EVs were sold in Turkey.

Leading the way was BYD, but just behind was TOG.

I'm guessing you've never even driven a TOG EV.

I know I haven't, but they're very popular in China, by the way.

Now, let's talk about Australia.

And Australia Post is rolling out electric vans.

New Mercedes-Benz EVTOs adding to the delivery fleet.

The first 36 have arrived.

Their first and largest EV van order.

Of course, zero tailpipe emissions is very good

when you're doing things like parcel and post delivery.

Those vehicles tend to, depending on the route they're doing,

the route tends to be, if it's urban,

that start-stop all day long.

And why would you be driving a combustion vehicle

if you're doing start-stop all day long?

In terms of the wider Australian fleet,

there are about 5,000 electric vehicles in use

across Australia for Australia Post.

It's the biggest trial, though,

that they've done with electric vans.

The EVTO vans are ideally suited to busy stop-start routes.

Now, we are heading into the bank holiday weekend,

as you may know, if you're in the UK,

or maybe wherever you're listening around the world,

you've got Monday off of work.

I mean, I don't really work anymore.

I make this podcast for you.

And whilst it does take many, many hours a day,

you know what?

I love doing it, so it doesn't feel like work.

So I'll still be here on Monday.

My wife says to me,

''Bank holiday?''

Well, I could do, yes.

But also, you know, I like doing this job.

It's not really a job, let's face it.

But bank holiday Monday means that people are going to be on the roads.

Those that do have real jobs, may I add, unlike me.

EV charging sessions will rise by over 5% on Monday.

The increase matches the growth of EVs in the UK.

Most charging happens either Friday, yesterday, or today,

they say on a bank holiday weekend.

The numbers are going to be between 6pm and 8pm on Saturday night.

BP's UK manager saying the August bank holiday is a busy travel time

with many people wanting to charge their EVs at charging demand at peak times.

So other busy times are going to be 10-11 in the morning

and 8-9 in the morning as well.

You can avoid those times as well as in the rush hour peak, 6-8pm.

Then you might save yourself either queuing up

or at least having to wait to get a charge spot.

Now, NIO announced on Wednesday this week

they're taking legal action against more so-called influencers,

but these are people in China with social media accounts and large followings.

And NIO, just like many Chinese companies lately, Chinese EV makers,

are taking what people say on the internet incredibly seriously.

Now, a quick bit of backstory as many of you know.

I had a career of what, 25 years?

I suppose so, maybe a bit longer.

It started when I was 16.

In radio, in terrestrial broadcast radio.

On FM and then digital here in the UK.

Local, regional, then national radio stations.

So as part of that, I used to have to sit down every year

and do my legal training.

Because if you say something on the radio that's not true,

well, you're going to get in lots of trouble.

And then many years ago we started incorporating social media

and the internet into all of our legal training.

And so it's something that I kind of just grew up with

and knowing that you can't say stupid stuff online

because publishing is publishing.

Whether you're publishing in a newspaper, on the television,

which many people think, well, that's, you know,

you have to be careful what you say on traditional media,

or a podcast, or your Twitter account.

It's all termed publishing, right?

And so you can't just say any old stuff.

Even makers in China have really had enough of people online.

What they say is maliciously defaming brands,

spreading false information.

This is not like having a conversation down the pub

with your mate when no one's listening.

This is effectively publishing misinformation.

Disinformation lies about businesses.

Less than a month ago,

Neo filed lawsuits against seven other bloggers in China,

saying they spread false information about Neo and Envo.

Neo shared through its official legal department account

on Weibo.

It's collected evidence and is now suing people who run

social media accounts that say untrue things.

On Monday, the automotive blogger Arthur Shen

and the Weibo real estate account Hefei Chuan

said that Neo would start building a new headquarters

in Hefei.

Hours later, Neo denied the report,

saying it is focused on making and selling cars.

Now, personally, if I see a Twitter account

saying Neo is going to build a new headquarters in Hefei,

is that something that I see is going to get people sued?

Well, Neo didn't like it, and they're taking action.

Be careful what you say on the internet, boys and girls.

Now finally, Nicola's hydrogen trucks.

Curiosity in the history of electric vehicles.

High road energy is an Austrian,

sorry, Austin startup.

They're not in Austria, they're in Texas, an Austin startup.

They just picked up 113 of Nicola's old trucks,

the bankrupt EV and hydrogen truck maker,

spare parts, software, IP, all auctioned off,

and picked up for $114 million,

sorry, valued $114 million.

High road paid $3.8 million.

So that's not bad.

For 113 hydrogen fuel cell trucks, if they work,

for less than $4 million.

High road energy has a small team.

They partner with Bosch and Hyundai.

The company offers hydrogen trucks to businesses

using trucking as a service, charging by miles driven,

not for the vehicle itself.

Nicola trucks will mainly operate in California,

where they're building hydrogen refuelling stations.

A key challenge is the lack of reliable refuelling,

even though they can refuel when they do work

and deliver with zero emissions.

It depends on how the hydrogen is made

and if you can get it to the filling stations,

and if when you turn up to the station,

there's any hydrogen left, there's strict limits

on how many cars can fill per hour, stuff like that.

Hydrogen really is not the answer for road transport,

but it's a curiosity, and it's still on the roads,

and that's where those trucks are ending up.

And that is your podcast for the weekend.

Well, at least for today. I might be back tomorrow.

There's loads going on, thanks to our premium,

premium partners, Porsche of the Village in Cincinnati,

Audi of Cincinnati East,

and Volvo cars of Cincinnati East.

National car charging on the U.S. mainland

and the Loha Charge in Hawaii, and Octopus Electroverse.

Global public charging made simple with one app and one map.

Remember to use your Octopus Electroverse if you are

travelling over the long bank holiday weekends.

Have a good and cinema, and remember,

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

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On average, Rocky Money members can save

up to $740 a year

when using all the app's premium features.

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

It's time to simplify your finances

and take control of your money.

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Kia Chooses Europe For EV2 Production, July EV Sales Surge Again and Tesla Model Y L USA Plans | 23 Aug 2025

Tesla Model

Kia EV4

Kia EV2

Kia EV3

5 Renault 5

Sealion Cline 7

Dacia Spring

Tesla Model X

Toyota bZ4X

Mercedes-Benz EQE

Mercedes-Benz Eclass

About this episode

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