u/psychoDuckTune

Samsung Wallet now supports Digital Key for VW EVs, so a Galaxy phone can lock, unlock and start the car with UWB or NFC. Only works on cars built after April 27 with ID. software 6.0.1 though, so check before you get excited.

Cupra's slowly turning into an actual EV brand. Went from one EV (Born) to three in five years: Raval for entry-level, Tavascan as the SUV, and now a flagship Tindaya confirmed for production to replace the top of the range.

Went through the actual longest-range EVs you can order in Europe right now. Chinese brands might be crushing it at the lower end of the market, but they're nowhere to be found at the top of the range charts.

BMW finally ditched Samsung for EVE Energy on the i3's battery cells, and the motor is still built in house at their Austrian plant.

It seems that every major EV maker is now building a humanoid robot, and Europe is further ahead in this race than you might expect.

A system that fights the driver's own evasive move should be an automatic fail, not just a lower score.

Spain's new Auto+ EV scheme gives you up to €4,500, but here's the catch: build the exact same car outside the EU instead of inside it and you lose €1,125 of that grant purely based on where it was assembled.

Went digging into what actually breaks on EVs, and it's basically never the battery or motor. Real culprits are boring stuff like central locking actuators, charge flap motors, suspension arms and a dead 12V battery,

Went looking for EVs that hit both under €40k AND 500km+ WLTP, turns out there are more than expected once you check country by country.

Electric cars feel like a 21st century idea, something that started with the Tesla, but that's not true. The electric car is older than the Ford Model T, older than the traffic light, and older than some of the countries currently building them.

Went through the numbers on VW's new ID.Cross vs Leapmotor's B03X. Leapmotor actually wins on vehicle warranty (4 years vs VW's standard 2) and comes with more kit on the base trim, though VW still leads on the range.

China just fired the starting gun on the next battery generation race by taxing lithium cells while exempting sodium-ion and solid-state. Europe is watching from a position of near-total import dependency and is realistically two to three years behind.

Chinese EVs often have features in China that never make it to European versions, and OTA updates arrive months later if at all. This Zeekr incident in Kazakhstan suggests the software gap might be bigger than people realise.

Several Chinese EV brands are genuinely winning in Europe. Others have quietly retreated, never really arrived, or are fading without anyone noticing.

Several car brands claim to have self-driving technology. None of them actually do, and none have reached the hard-to-get Level 3. Here's what the levels actually mean and why the jump from L2 to L3 is harder than it looks.

Volkswagen just launched the ID.Cross and for the first time in a while, they have a real answer to the Chinese brands crowding into this segment. Not a knockout punch, but a solid car at a price that finally makes sense.

Xpeng announced it's bringing its FSD alternative to Europe in early next year. Problem is, Tesla has been trying to get FSD approved across the EU for months and keeps hitting the same regulatory walls Xpeng will face too.

Changan Nevo Q05 is coming to Europe, a compact SUV with CATL batteries, 3C fast charging and a claimed 540-litre boot.

No WLTP range or pricing yet, and that boot figure seems suspiciously large for the car's size, likely measured floor to roofline.

Not long ago, €25,000 barely got you anything in the EV world. Now you can choose from cars like the MG4 Urban with up to 416 km of range, the Leapmotor B03X with 133 kW charging, the Hyundai Inster, the Renault 5, and several others. And if you can wait a little longer, even more options are just around the corner.

Xpeng L03 just launched in Europe. Starts at €34,990 in France and €35,600 in Germany, which puts it a few thousand euros below the Tesla Model Y in most markets. 520 km WLTP, 102-litre frunk, 20-minute 10-80% charge.

EDIT: Actually, the boot size is 367 litres, or 539 litres if measured from the floor to the roof. My original figures came from a mix of Xpeng's Chinese website, European website, and official LinkedIn profile, and unfortunately none of them were particularly transparent about how the measurements were taken. Sorry for the confusion.