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GLOBAL EV SALES RISE, BUT CHINA RETREATS https://evne.ws/6pnct

CHECK BEFORE RECORDING https://evne.ws/faukr

ULTIUM CELLS TO RESTART OHIO OUTPUT https://evne.ws/faukr

VOLKSWAGEN OPENS ID.3 NEO UK ORDERS https://evne.ws/d2xlk

TESLA PLANS 124-STALL SUPERCHARGER IN SOUTHERN SAN FRANCISCO https://evne.ws/7aced

JD POWER RATES DC CHARGING 666, IONNA DEBUTS AT 803 https://evne.ws/cccw3

CHARGING FAILURES HIT SIX-YEAR LOW https://evne.ws/p4qow

CHINESE CAR MAKERS BUILD IN AFRICA https://evne.ws/15fpn

GAC ADDS 44KWH AION UT WITH 320KM (199 MILES) WLTP RANGE IN LATE 2026 https://evne.ws/rf0si

HONGQI TO ENTER AUSTRALIA IN 2027 https://evne.ws/kaakh

XCHARGE POWERS ELECTRIC AIRPORT FIRE ENGINE https://evne.ws/pj2hu

It's ev.news Briefly for Friday 14 August 2026, only todays headlines and nothing else, in just 4 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.
Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the ev.news Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/evnews

GLOBAL EV SALES RISE, BUT CHINA RETREATS
Global EV sales hit 1.85 million in July 2026, up 9% year on year but down 10% on June, with China falling 5% to around 980,000 even as NEVs took a record 60.4% of its new vehicle sales and NEV passenger exports jumped 147.8% to 540,000. Europe rose 33% to 450,000 and other markets 97% to 280,000, while North America fell 27% to 140,000 as the US decline widened beyond 30%.

ULTIUM CELLS TO RESTART OHIO OUTPUT
Ultium Cells restarts battery-cell production next week at its Warren, Ohio plant after a seven-month shutdown blamed on falling EV demand and the cancelled $7,500 federal tax credit. The GM–LG joint venture site makes large-format NCMA pouch cells with over 45GWh annual capacity for nearly all GM EVs, and expects headcount to reach 1,400 after cutting roughly 1,330 jobs at closure.

VOLKSWAGEN OPENS ID.3 NEO UK ORDERS
Volkswagen opened UK orders for the ID.3 Neo on 13 August 2026 from £33,080, or £31,580 after the Government's £1,500 Electric Car Grant, with 50, 58 and 79 kWh batteries giving up to 390 miles and DC charging from 100 kW to 183 kW. The revised hatchback gains new LED headlights, an illuminated badge, the return of physical buttons and rotary controls, a new Innovision system with an in-car app shop, and a 3.6 kW V2L adapter.

TESLA PLANS 124-STALL SUPERCHARGER IN SOUTHERN SAN FRANCISCO
Tesla filed plans on 26 May 2026 for a 124-stall Supercharger at 75 Waterloo Street in southern San Francisco, one of the largest globally and unusual for sitting inside a city rather than beside a highway. The site draws entirely from the grid with no solar canopies or Megapack storage, and includes a 416-square-foot building with two restrooms, vending machines and water fountains open 24 hours.

CHARGING FAILURES HIT SIX-YEAR LOW
Public charging failures fell to 12% in the second quarter from 14% a year earlier and 19% in 2023 and 2024, the lowest in the six-year history of JD Power's study, which credited faster chargers and larger destination-style sites. Ionna led DC fast-charger satisfaction on 807 out of 1,000, ahead of Mercedes-Benz on 797, Rivian on 755 and Tesla on 701, against a segment average of 666.

CHINESE CAR MAKERS BUILD IN AFRICA
Chinese car makers are opening African factories to absorb domestic overcapacity and sidestep European and North American trade barriers, with Chery buying Nissan's Rosslyn plant near Pretoria in July and BAIC and Great Wall already operating on the continent. South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Ethiopia and Ghana are drawing investment through rebates, tax breaks and import bans on fossil-fuel cars, though weak grids, thin charging infrastructure and policy uncertainty still deter long-term commitment.

GAC ADDS 44KWH AION UT WITH 320KM (199 MILES) WLTP RANGE IN LATE 2026
GAC will add a 44kWh lithium iron phosphate entry version of the Aion UT with an estimated 320km (199 miles) WLTP range, priced under AUD$30,000 before on-road costs. It sits below the 60kWh Premium and Luxury at AUD$31,990 and AUD$35,990, answering cheaper rivals such as BYD's AUD$23,990 Atto 1 Essential and Geely's AUD$26,490 EX2 Complete.

HONGQI TO ENTER AUSTRALIA IN 2027
Hongqi will launch in Australia under the HQ name in January 2027 via Sydney distributor Greentech, starting with the E-HS9 large three-row electric SUV. Entry cars use a 99kWh NMC battery for 465km (289 miles) WLTP and higher trims a 120kWh pack for 515km (320 miles), with six- or seven-seat layouts and twin 16.2-inch displays, but no announced pricing.

XCHARGE POWERS ELECTRIC AIRPORT FIRE ENGINE
XCharge North America has deployed a 400-kW ultra-fast charger at Dallas Love Field Airport to serve Dallas Fire-Rescue's Rosenbauer Panther 6×6 Electric, billed as the world's first fully electric aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle. The airport handles almost 18 million passengers a year, and XCharge argues electrification reduces the logistical and environmental risks of moving and storing liquid fuel around aircraft operations.

One flag: the GAC headline says late 2026, but the copy says "late next year" — from an August 2026 dateline those are a year apart. Worth resolving before publication.

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CHINA'S CHEAP EREVS LOSE GROUND https://evne.ws/mntgf

CHECK BEFORE RECORDING https://evne.ws/svo1f

GEELY GALAXY TT PRE-SALES OPEN IN CHINA https://evne.ws/svo1f

DENZA N8 CLAIMS 1,003KM MAXIMUM RANGE https://evne.ws/o0nt9

LUXEED RX ORDERS OPEN ON AUGUST 20 https://evne.ws/gppiu

CHECK BEFORE RECORDING https://evne.ws/gppiu

LUXEED SHOWS RX FIVE-SCREEN CABIN https://evne.ws/gppiu

STELATO G9 DRAWS EARLY PRE-ORDERS https://evne.ws/sokcz

BYD OPENS SEALION 08 PRE-ORDERS IN CHINA https://evne.ws/me4jc

TESLA DROPS FROM CHINA'S JULY TOP 10 NEV RANKING https://evne.ws/dwybk

FUZHOU SWAPS DIESEL CRUISES FOR ELECTRIC BOATS https://evne.ws/dvqaf

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EARLY EV SWITCH CUT CO2 IN 92% OF UCSC SCENARIOS https://evne.ws/tx6nb

EV VOLUMES FORECASTS 23.3M PLUG-IN SALES IN 2026, UP 7.8% https://evne.ws/5sm5q

JAGUAR REVEALS TYPE 01 INTERIOR BEFORE 6 OCTOBER NEW YORK UNVEILING https://evne.ws/xz16m

VW TO SHOW ELECTRIC ID. CALIFORNIA CRUISE AT CARAVAN SALON https://evne.ws/39dpy

WAYMO HAS 684 FINISHED OJAI ROBOTAXIS WAITING AT MESA https://evne.ws/zsqsu

YASA WINS DRIVE35 GRANT FOR RARE-EARTH-FREE AXIAL FLUX MOTORS https://evne.ws/xd4yx

AION UT HATCHBACK REACHES UK IN SEPTEMBER BELOW £30,000 https://evne.ws/y0fsu

ANALYST THINKS AMERICANS WILL FORCE USA TO ADMIT CHINESE EVS https://evne.ws/0bcqt

TATA TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPING MULTI-POWERTRAIN PLATFORM FOR HONDA, BLOOMBERG REPORTS https://evne.ws/k4mjp

WHITBY MORRISON DELIVERS ELECTRIC ICE-CREAM VAN TO HOCKING'S OF DEVON https://evne.ws/5zbsm

It's ev.news Briefly for Thursday 13 August 2026, only todays headlines and nothing else, in just 4 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.
Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the ev.news Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/evnews

EARLY EV SWITCH CUT CO2 IN 92% OF UCSC SCENARIOS

A University of California Santa Cruz study published in Science modelled over 400 vehicle scenarios and found that in 92% of them, switching to an electric car as soon as possible cut more emissions than keeping the combustion car, with the roughly three-year manufacturing carbon debt offset after about 21,500 kilometres in the case of the BMW iX3. Scrapping the old car rather than selling it cut lifecycle emissions by up to 44%, because selling it simply passes the petrol burning to someone else, though coal-heavy grids weaken the case and the study measured carbon rather than cost.

EV VOLUMES FORECASTS 23.3M PLUG-IN SALES IN 2026, UP 7.8%
EV Volumes expects global light-vehicle sales to fall in 2026 on economic and geopolitical pressures while plug-in sales rise 7.8% to about 23.3 million, taking share to 25.7% as BEVs climb 17.2% to an 18.5% share and PHEVs drop 10.6% to 7.2%. America is the drag, with US EV sales down 32.9% to 415,968 and a further 15% contraction forecast for 2026, while Western and Central Europe supplies the growth at 1.9 million sales, up 29.7%.

JAGUAR REVEALS TYPE 01 INTERIOR BEFORE 6 OCTOBER NEW YORK UNVEILING
Jaguar has shown the uncamouflaged cabin of the Type 01, the four-seat GT leading its reinvention as an all-electric luxury marque, with a central spine splitting the interior into four single-seat compartments, a sparse dashboard carrying only a driver display and small touchscreen, and finishes in travertine stone and artisan textiles. Like the Polestar 4 it has no rear window or mirror, relying on a camera feed, and the car appears at Monterey Car Week this weekend in fresh camouflage before its New York unveiling on 6 October.

VW TO SHOW ELECTRIC ID. CALIFORNIA CRUISE AT CARAVAN SALON
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will give the ID. Buzz-based ID. California Cruise its world premiere at Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf from 28 August to 6 September, calling it the first fully electric California and the foundation of a family of electric campervans. Alongside it is a concept for the California Beach featuring an inflatable kitchen under 10kg developed with Stuff Bubble and a convertible bed module of roughly 200 x 134cm, removable kit that lets buyers trade equipment weight against range.

WAYMO HAS 684 FINISHED OJAI ROBOTAXIS WAITING AT MESA
A tracker counting Waymo's Mesa, Arizona site found 953 Ojai robotaxis, of which 684 are finished and idle without passengers, up from around 500 in early June, alongside 12 completed Hyundai IONIQ 5 robotaxis. The Zeekr-built, Magna-converted Ojai carries the sixth-generation Waymo Driver with 13 cameras and four lidars for under $20,000 per vehicle, and is intended to replace the ageing Jaguar I-Pace fleet across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

YASA WINS DRIVE35 GRANT FOR RARE-EARTH-FREE AXIAL FLUX MOTORS
Oxford axial flux motor maker YASA has won UK government funding through the DRIVE35 Demonstrate competition for Project Resilience, which pursues two rotor pathways built on its existing stator, one using magnets free of heavy rare earths and one removing rare earths entirely. The work addresses a concentrated and politically exposed supply chain, but risks heat performance, and runs across the Mercedes-Benz subsidiary's Oxford, Bicester and Welshpool sites, which employ more than 300 people.

AION UT HATCHBACK REACHES UK IN SEPTEMBER BELOW £30,000
AION opens UK order books in September for the UT, a sub-4.3-metre electric hatchback with a 201hp front motor, 7.3-second 0-62mph time, a claimed 268 miles WLTP and a 30-80% charge in 24 minutes, priced below £30,000 though no exact figure has been given. Designed at GAC's Milan studio and following the V SUV as AION's second UK model, it takes on the CUPRA Raval, Volkswagen ID. Polo and Renault 5 with no dealer network or badge recognition to lean on.

ANALYST THINKS AMERICANS WILL FORCE USA TO ADMIT CHINESE EVS
With Canada set to permit up to 49,000 Chinese-made EVs a year and Mexico already selling them, Automotive Foresight's Yale Zhang argues American buyers who can see cheaper cars a few hours away will pressure politicians to open the market despite the 100% tariff and connected-car security rules. Local assembly, joint ventures and technology sold under other badges could bypass import tariffs anyway, and Ford's Jim Farley has warned staff Chinese rivals could arrive within five to 10 years while Ford works towards a $25,000 EV.

TATA TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPING MULTI-POWERTRAIN PLATFORM FOR HONDA, BLOOMBERG REPORTS
Bloomberg reports that Tata Technologies is developing a platform supporting petrol, hybrid and electric powertrains across multiple vehicles for Honda, though neither company has confirmed the customer. Chief executive Warren Harris has referred only to a full vehicle programme won from an unnamed Japanese OEM in April, and India looks the likely market given Honda's pledge of ten models there by 2030 and Toshihiro Mibe's comments about using external development resources from 2028.

WHITBY MORRISON DELIVERS ELECTRIC ICE-CREAM VAN TO HOCKING'S OF DEVON
British converter Whitby Morrison has delivered what it calls the world's first fully certified electric ice-cream van to Hocking's of North Devon, built on a Mercedes-Benz eSprinter Chassis Cab with up to 274 miles of range, 10-80% charging in 34 minutes and a 4.25-tonne weight that keeps it within a Category B licence. Designed as an EV from the outset, it uses the company's ePower system to run the freezing equipment from the vehicle rather than a kerbside auxiliary engine, removing the noise from a trade that has traditionally announced itself by sound.