Saturday, 8 August 2026

NIO is granting its sub-brand Firefly access to its battery swapping network, according to CleanTechnica.

CleanTechnica reported that Firefly is the youngest of NIO's sub-brands, and that it is now getting access to the swapping stations.

Separately, the company has begun rolling out its 5th-generation battery swapping stations, according to the same report.

The third quarter of 2026 is the window XPENG has set for its arrival in the Philippine market, CleanTechnica reported.

The carmaker's approach in the country rests on artificial intelligence, advanced driver assistance, and vehicles defined by their software features, according to the same report.

CleanTechnica named the recently launched L03 and the premium X9 among the models that could open the lineup.

Huawei expanded its position in the electric vehicle sector through July, scaling sales across its smart vehicle alliance while embedding automated driving software into major automotive manufacturing groups in China, according to CleanTechnica.

The company does not assemble cars under its own badge. CleanTechnica reported that Huawei instead operates as a Tier 1 supplier, selling systems and software into partner carmakers rather than competing with them at the showroom.

That structure ties Huawei's automotive revenue to the delivery volumes of its alliance partners rather than to a single branded model line. The automated driving software integration described by CleanTechnica runs into major Chinese vehicle manufacturing groups, placing the supplier relationship at the software layer as well as the hardware layer.

A stake sale that would hand JSW Group a 51 per cent holding in Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Pvt. Ltd. (SAVWIPL) is under discussion, Autocar Professional reported, as cited by electrive. Talks between the Volkswagen Group subsidiary and the industrial conglomerate cover local electric vehicle production and platform development in India, according to Indian media reports summarised by electrive.

Autocar Professional put the discussions in their final stages, with a non-binding memorandum of understanding possible by early October. Electrive, citing the same Indian reporting, said a joint venture could be formally constituted by the end of 2026 or in early 2027.

JSW Motors has a greenfield plant under construction some 40 kilometres away from the SAVWIPL factory at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra.

SAVWIPL had trimmed its own electric spending before the partnership talks became public. Its planned outlay on a dedicated EV platform for locally built models fell to roughly USD 700 million from USD 1 billion, Bloomberg reported in November 2025.

Volkswagen's ID. ERA 5X electric SUV appeared in a filing with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Electrek reported, marking the first pure battery-electric vehicle built on the carmaker's new Compact Main Platform (CMP) in China.

The CMP architecture beneath the ID. ERA 5X uses a 155 kW electric motor supplied by United Automotive Electronic Systems, according to Electrek. Cells come from CATL in a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry, the same report said.

Dimensions in the MIIT filing put the SUV at 4,560 mm long and 1,896 mm wide, with a body height of 1,630 mm, per Electrek. The wheelbase measures 2,815 mm.

The CMP designation separates this model from Volkswagen's earlier electric architectures, and the ID. ERA 5X is the platform's first all-electric entry, Electrek said.

The French metropolitan region of Nice Côte d'Azur has converted 86 charging stations once reserved for Renault's car-sharing subsidiary Mobilize into a public charging network, according to electrive.

The handover follows the shutdown of the Mobilize Share service at the end of June 2026, part of a wider restructuring at Mobilize, electrive reported.

Electrive puts 80 of the 86 charging points inside Nice itself, an addition the outlet describes as a 20 per cent expansion of the city's publicly accessible charging network.

The stations now sit under 'Prise de Nice', the official public charging infrastructure network serving battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles across the Nice Côte d'Azur metropolitan area, per electrive.

Xiaomi opened pre-orders in China for two large range-extender SUVs under a new brand line, SkyNomad, unveiled in Beijing on July 30, electrive reported.

The launch marks Xiaomi's second vehicle series. Reservations for the two models have already passed 100,000, according to estimates by Chinese media cited by electrive.

Pricing splits the range by seat count. The seven-seater N90 Max carries a pre-order price of 299,900 yuan, while the five-seater N70 Max is listed at 259,900 yuan, per electrive.

The N90 Max runs a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup with a combined output of 310 kW and reaches 100 kph from a standstill in 5.9 seconds, according to electrive.

Its battery is a 76 kWh ternary pack supplied by CALB, rated at 464 km of electric range on the CLTC cycle. Xiaomi quotes a combined range of up to 1,705 km with a full fuel tank, electrive reported.

Buyers of the smaller N70 Max choose between a 52 kWh lithium iron phosphate pack and a 76 kWh nickel-cobalt-manganese pack. The model reaches up to 505 km of purely electric range under the CLTC cycle, according to electrive.

The range-extender layout pairs a battery with an on-board combustion engine used as a generator, which is why the N90 Max total of 1,705 km sits far above its 464 km battery-only figure.