Thursday, 13 August 2026

Chevrolet is pulling out of China after 21 years of selling vehicles there, according to CleanTechnica.

The US-based automaker's decision comes after what CleanTechnica described as a steep fall in sales and an erosion of the brand's competitiveness in the Chinese market.

CleanTechnica characterized the position as one in which Chevrolet had become uncompetitive to the point that departure was the conclusion the automaker reached.

Australia's plug-in vehicle penetration rate regressed slightly in July 2026, ending three months of slow but steady gains, according to CleanTechnica.

The specialist outlet put the Australian car market at almost 108,000 vehicles for the month.

CleanTechnica characterised the preceding stretch as slow but steady progress in the plug-in share, making July the break in that run rather than a reversal of trend on its own.

General Motors and LG Energy Solution will restart battery cell output at their Ultium Cells joint venture plant in Ohio after a pause of around seven months, electrive reported.

Production at the site in north-eastern Ohio resumes next Monday, and around 1,400 people are expected to work there again, according to Reuters as cited by electrive. Most of the temporarily laid-off workers are set to return.

The partners stopped cell production at the plant in January 2026, citing declining demand for EVs. Demand expectations weakened after the US tax credit of USD 7,500 for new EVs ended in September 2025.

The restart lands alongside a shift in LG Energy Solution's product mix toward stationary storage. The company plans to lift its global production capacity for energy storage systems to more than 60 GWh by 2026, with more than 80% of that capacity in North America, per electrive.

GM's own battery joint venture footprint is narrowing at the same time. Samsung SDI acquired GM's stake in the joint venture for a battery cell factory still under construction in Indiana earlier this week, Reuters reported.

Ford's Fathom electric pickup will start at $28,350 when it reaches buyers in early 2027, according to Electrek. Ford said the truck is on track to enter production at its Louisville Assembly plant in Q1 2027.

The plant is being retooled under a $5 billion investment that Ford says will create 4,000 new jobs and fund equipment for the UEV platform, per Electrek.

The production changes are aggressive on part count. Electrek reported that the UEV method cuts the number of parts from 146 needed to build the current Maverick down to two for the Fathom. Ford said the UEV Production System will let it assemble the Fathom 40% faster than current vehicles at the plant.

Wiring is one of the places where the redesign shows up on the line. Ford's Bryce Currie said the Fathom's wiring harness is more than 4,000 feet shorter and 22 pounds lighter than the harness in the company's first-generation electric SUV, making it much easier to install, according to Electrek.

On software, the Fathom will be the first vehicle with Apple Maps integrated directly into the navigation system, Electrek reported.

Menzies Distribution Solutions has begun running three 42-tonne Scania battery-electric trucks commercially in the UK, according to electrive. They are the first of ten battery-electric heavy goods vehicles the logistics operator plans to field through the eFREIGHT 2030 project under the UK government's Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme.

The remaining seven vehicles in the ten-truck deployment will include models from DAF and Renault Trucks, electrive reported.

Each Scania pairs the manufacturer's S-series sleeper cab with a 450 kW electric powertrain. MDS expects each truck to cover around 250 miles per shift, and will initially assign them to packaging and other relatively lightweight loads, according to electrive.

To support that duty cycle, MDS has invested in on-site charging at Wakefield rated for 1 MW charging capability. The operator plans to charge the trucks twice during each 24-hour operating cycle, electrive reported.

Voltempo leads eFREIGHT 2030 and acts as its charging infrastructure partner. It supported MDS on technical requirements, the grid connection and engagement with the local distribution network operator, according to electrive.

Hybrid cars are now the hottest segment on the new car market worldwide, according to a new Bloomberg report cited by CleanTechnica.

The technology behind that shift is not new. CleanTechnica describes hybrid drivetrains as a 30 year old technology, made popular by the Toyota Prius.

The Bloomberg claim, as relayed by CleanTechnica, is framed as a worldwide market observation rather than one confined to a single region.

China's new energy vehicle exports reached 553,000 units in July, up 145 per cent year-on-year, while domestic NEV sales fell 2.8 per cent to 1,008,000 units, according to electrive.

The split widened across all powertrains. electrive reported that exports of passenger cars of every type climbed 81 per cent year-on-year to 1.043 million vehicles in July, against domestic sales of 1.541 million units, down 23.6 per cent.

Combustion-engine models carried the sharpest domestic decline, falling 45.7 per cent year-on-year, per electrive.

Factory output kept expanding despite the softer home market. NEV production hit 1.576 million units in July, a rise of 26.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to electrive.

Over the first seven months of the year, Chinese plants turned out 9.014 million NEVs, close to 10 per cent above the same period a year earlier, electrive reported.

The July production figure of 1.576 million NEVs exceeded the combined total of domestic NEV sales and NEV exports for the month, which stood at 1,008,000 and 553,000 units respectively.

Leapmotor has entered Indonesia with two SUVs launched at once, the B10 and the C10, both offered as locally assembled models from the first day of sales, according to electrive.

Assembly runs through PT National Assemblers, a subsidiary of Indomobil Group, which builds both vehicles from imported knocked-down kits at a plant in Purwakarta, West Java, electrive reported. Sales and after-sales fall to PT Indomobil National Distributor, another Indomobil Group subsidiary appointed as Leapmotor's local distributor.

Pricing sits at 499 million Indonesian rupiah (EUR 24,225) for the B10 in a single trim, according to electrive. The larger C10 is listed at 618 million Indonesian rupiah (EUR 30,002), also in one trim and one drivetrain variant.

The B10 uses a rear-mounted motor rated at 160 kW paired with a 67.1 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, giving a range of 516 kilometres on the NEDC cycle, electrive reported. The C10 carries a 165 kW rear motor and a 69.9 kWh LFP pack, with an NEDC range of 478 km. The heavier, longer-range-on-paper split between the two models is therefore a function of pack size against vehicle class rather than a difference in battery chemistry.

Indonesia becomes Leapmotor's fourth market in the ASEAN region, after Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, according to electrive. The company's year-to-date sales stood at 457,754 units at the end of July, an increase of 68.42% year-on-year.

Several charging network operators in Hungary have temporarily restricted their services because of high nationwide strain on the power grid, electrive reported.

One cause sits on the Danube. Hungary's only nuclear power plant, at Paks, is running at a fraction of its capacity because it lacks cooling water from the river, according to electrive.

MOL has responded by throttling its fast chargers. Since the beginning of August, the operator has limited the output of its MOL Plugee units to a maximum of 100 kW during the affected evening window, electrive reported.

Metro has gone further, switching off rather than slowing down. The retailer deactivates the charging stations at all of its stores via software daily between 16:00 and 22:00.

A third operator is using price instead of hardware. EV.app temporarily charges 420 forints, roughly EUR 1.16, per kWh for sessions started during evening peak hours, a step electrive describes as an effort to push drivers to charge at other times.

The measures share a common target: the evening peak. Metro's shutdown window opens at 16:00 and closes at 22:00, while MOL's power cap applies between 17:00 and 22:00. EV.app's surcharge is tied to the same evening peak hours rather than to a fixed technical limit.

The restrictions are framed as temporary by the operators concerned. Paks remains the pivot: until Danube water allows the plant to lift output from its current reduced level, the pressure that prompted the caps stays in place.

Ford is recalling 86,543 Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles after determining that a rear side quarter window glass trim piece can come off while the vehicle is in motion, according to Electrek.

The action covers certain Mustang Mach-E units built across model years 2023 to 2025, Electrek reported. The defect concerns the glass trim on the rear side of the vehicle, which could fall off during driving.

Ford has logged 219 reports of loose or detached trim pieces, per Electrek. No accidents or injuries tied to the recall have been reported.

The automaker estimates that only 1% of the recalled vehicles actually carry the defect, according to Electrek. That leaves the population of affected cars far smaller than the 86,543 units drawn into the campaign.

Letters notifying owners of the risk are expected to be mailed on September 10, 2026, Electrek reported.