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DAILY: BMW Upgrades iX1 & iX2, Norway’s Cold Weather Test and America Adds Plugs | 30 Jan 2026
Plus, stay tuned because later in the show I’ll tell you about the latest from that tiny truck company Slate who gave us an update this week.
On EV News China today we’re talking about: BYD Rolls Out God’s Eye 5.0, Battery Makers Turn To Sodium and China Scrubs Online Attacks
BMW TWEAKS INVERTERS FOR EXTRA RANGE
BMW’s smallest electric SUVs now go a bit further. The iX1 and iX2 gain silicon carbide inverters, the same efficiency upgrade already fitted to the Mini Countryman.
The new inverters cut losses when they turn DC from the battery into AC for the motors, so more energy reaches the wheels. BMW puts the gain at roughly 40 kilometres of extra range. Yet the official WLTP figures stay put at 461 km for the iX1 eDrive20 and 474 km for the front-drive iX2.
The change looks modest next to Mini’s Countryman update. Mini paired its own silicon carbide inverters with friction-optimised wheel bearings, some aerodynamic tweaks and a small rise in usable battery capacity from 64.6 kWh to 65.2 kWh. BMW has announced no matching battery changes for the iX1 or iX2.
Attention now turns to the new iX3, due on 7 March on the Neue Klasse platform. Here the hardware story runs deeper. Optional 22 kW AC charging cuts the time for a full charge of the 108 kWh battery to just over five hours for drivers with access to three-phase power. Vehicle-to-Load arrives too, with up to 3.7 kW available for external devices.
COLD HURTS EVERY POWERTRAIN, NOT JUST EV BATTERIES
Lucid’s Air Grand Touring again went furthest in Norway’s El Prix range trial. In the Winter 2026 test, run by the Norwegian Automobile Federation and Motor.no, the sedan managed 520km at temperatures below –30°C, the best result among 24 electric models.
The figure sits a long way from the car’s official 960km WLTP range, a deviation of 45.8%. But rivals fared no better in percentage terms. Mercedes-Benz’s CLA covered 421km, almost 100km less than the Lucid, and 40.6% short of its 709km claim. The route mixes urban streets, motorways and rural roads, with all cars starting fully charged. Lucid’s European boss, Lawrence Hamilton, calls it the world’s largest real-world EV evaluation.
Driving at the speed limit at -24 degrees counts as punishment for any car, electric or not. At that point the question is not whether an EV will lose range, but how badly every powertrain will suffer.
Many observers treat cold-weather results as a verdict on batteries alone. They forget that dense, freezing air, stiff tyres and thickened lubricants drag down efficiency in petrol, diesel and electric cars alike. Cabin heating simply makes the penalty more obvious in EVs, because the driver watches the range estimate fall in real time.
The laws of physics do not grant exceptions by propulsion type at -24 degrees. Aerodynamic drag at motorway speeds rises as air thickens. Rolling resistance climbs as rubber hardens. Oil in gearboxes and bearings flows more slowly. Engines, motors and inverters all run below their ideal temperature bands and need more energy to reach them. In an EV the energy cost appears directly in kilowatt-hours; in an internal-combustion car it hides in a fuel gauge.
Yet the narrative often pins blame on batteries alone when a winter test shows a larger-than-expected range loss.
https://bit.ly/3NMVu9F
ELECTRIFY AMERICA ADDS TESLA PLUGS, BACKS BOTH STANDARDS
Electrify America will add J3400 plugs to its fast-charging networks. Its stations will offer the North American Charging Standard (NACS) alongside the Combined Charging System (CCS), turning one of America’s biggest non-Tesla networks into a dual-standard operation.
The shift matters more for future car sales than for today’s charging stops. Most big carmakers selling in North America plan to fit NACS ports to new battery models from 2026. Without matching plugs in the ground, those cars risk falling between ageing CCS hardware and Tesla’s still-closed software ecosystem.
Electrify America plans to thread the needle rather than pick a side. It will keep installing CCS across its sites while it adds NACS cables to existing and new hardware. That supports current CCS-only owners and the carmakers that backed the standard, while giving a clear hedge to those pivoting to NACS. The firm says the change will not affect its pricing, its kilowatt-hour-based billing where allowed, or its membership tiers.
Technical detail stays thin. Electrify America has not published the rated power of its future NACS connectors, or said when every station will offer both plugs as standard. Nor has it committed to adopting Tesla’s software stack. It will instead rely on its own app, membership system and plug-and-charge support where cars allow it.
https://bit.ly/4bsWr0S
AMENITIES NOW TRUMP KILOWATTS FOR UK EV DRIVERS
Two-thirds of EV drivers now choose public chargers for their amenities, not their kilowatts. That, at least, is the claim from Attenda, a charge-point software firm, whose latest survey suggests that 66% of users pick locations based on facilities such as toilets, seating, free Wi-Fi or refreshments.
This matters for anyone planning to build or fund charging hubs. Hardware and headline charging speeds no longer suffice. Attenda says 67% of existing EV drivers would be more likely to use charging stations co-located with shopping centres, while 73% would favour locations with “comfortable seating areas” to work or relax during a session. The firm argues that hubs which feel like modern service areas, not car parks with cables, will pull in more repeat users.
Evidence from the same research supports the case. Some 72% of respondents say they would be more likely to use a site with free Wi-Fi. A further 69% would favour chargers with on-site food and drink options.
EV DRIVERS TURN CHARGERS INTO RETAIL GOLDMINE
Nine out of ten electric-car drivers buy something while they charge. That simple habit is starting to reshape the economics of forecourts.
The figure comes from a survey by Forecourt Trader, which polled EV motorists at public charging sites. It suggests the charging bay now doubles as a retail channel. Drivers stay longer than petrol users and, unlike at home, cannot walk to their own fridge. For site owners, the sales margin on a coffee or snack still beats that on a kilowatt-hour.
Forecourts still face hard sums: grid upgrades cost money, charger uptime must improve and pricing must look fair next to home tariffs and rival networks. Yet the survey undercuts the idea that public charging stands apart as a low-margin utility. It looks more like the new anchor tenant for roadside retail.
FORD’S CHINA BATTERY GAMBIT FACES WASHINGTON HEAT
Ford’s $19.5 billion write-down and cull of several electric-vehicle models has not ended its China troubles. It has instead drawn fresh scrutiny in Washington of its battery tie-up with CATL, China’s biggest cell maker.
John Moolenaar, the Republican who chairs a House committee, has written to Jim Farley, Ford’s boss, about the firm’s revised plan to repurpose existing U.S. battery plants to make lithium iron phosphate cells and grid-scale storage systems using CATL technology. The facilities in Kentucky and Michigan, once aimed at EVs, will now turn out energy storage system batteries, with initial capacity promised within 18 months. Ford insists the products will qualify for tax credits and says expanding LFP output “here in the United States” is an investment in energy security and “American workers”, bringing “thousands” of high-skill jobs.
Politicians wants to know how. His letter asks if Ford has updated, expanded or otherwise altered its original licensing terms with CATL to cover the new focus on energy storage systems and data centre markets, and whether the shift tracks new eligibility restrictions under last year’s law on foreign entities of concern. He also presses Ford on whether it plans a joint venture with BYD, another Chinese champion, warning that China has “already shown in recent months that it will weaponize the auto supply chain” and that any tie-up with BYD would deepen “a serious vulnerability”.
The row comes as Ford readies a $3 billion CATL-based battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, due to start production this year and to supply cells for a $30,000 midsize EV truck.
GM TURNS ON OTTAWA OVER CHINA EV TARIFF DEAL
General Motors has picked a public fight with Ottawa. Mary Barra, its boss, has attacked Canada’s new tariff deal with China, saying it undercuts efforts to build a strong North American manufacturing base just as Detroit carmakers cut jobs north of the border.
Canada this month agreed to let up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles enter each year at a 6.1% tariff, in return for lower duties on farm exports. Ms Barra told staff the decision risks “protecting jobs and national security” in North America and called it “a very slippery slope”, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Politicians in both countries echo her concern. Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, has called the deal an attack on Canada’s auto industry and warned it could strain vehicle trade with the United States, Canada’s biggest export market.
America’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has said the accord could complicate this year’s renegotiation of the USMCA trade agreement. The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, predicted Canada would “look back at this decision and surely regret it”.
The row comes as GM presses ahead with 750 layoffs at its Oshawa plant, with a further 1,500 jobs expected to go across the supply chain, despite earlier delays due to strong demand for the Chevrolet Silverado built there. GM has also halted BrightDrop van production at CAMI Assembly, affecting over 1,000 posts. Both factories sit in Ontario.
Yet Detroit still leans on Canada: Ford, GM and Stellantis sold over 700,000 vehicles there last year, and by mid‑2025 GM made about 30% of vehicles entering the US market in Mexico and Canada.
Ms Barra also complains that Chinese makers enjoy high tariffs and technology curbs that keep rivals out at home. Yet GM sold nearly 1.9 million vehicles in China last year, almost 30% of its global 6.2 million, with new energy vehicles making up more than half of Chinese sales.
400KW CHARGERS RAISE THE BAR IN AUSTRALIA
The first 400kW chargers now running in Australia are the country’s fastest public EV plugs. No other operational public hardware offers a higher stated power rating.
The figure also sets a new benchmark for rivals. Network operators that have just finished rolling out 350kW hardware must decide whether to sweat those assets or spend more capital to match 400kW.
Car makers face pressure too. Only a handful of current models can use anything close to that rate, and then only in a narrow state-of-charge window. The gap between what the post on the forecourt promises and what the vehicle can use may grow before it shrinks.
BYD TOPPLES MITSUBISHI IN AUSTRALIA’S PHEV MARKET
BYD’s Shark 6 has become Australia’s best-selling plug-in hybrid, shifting 18,073 utes last year and pushing Mitsubishi’s Outlander off its decade-long perch. The Chinese pick-up needed 12 months to beat 12 years of Outlander PHEV sales.
Since its launch in 2014 Mitsubishi has sold 16,949 Outlander plug-in hybrids in Australia. BYD cleared that in a single year with a single model. The speed of the shift shows how fast Chinese brands now move from entrant to leader.
The reshuffle will not stop at utes. BYD’s Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid SUV is lining up to push the Outlander PHEV into third place. Mitsubishi sold 4,110 Outlanders last year. BYD sold 9,055 Sealion 6s over the same period, taking that model’s running total to 15,253 and out-selling the plug-in pioneer by roughly four-to-one.
TECH JOURNALIST MKBHD SAYS TESLA ROADSTER IS ‘COOKED’
Tesla will stop building the Model S and Model X next quarter. Elon Musk says the space at Fremont will go to Optimus robot production, with a long-term goal of one million units a year.
But the retreat from two key models comes as Musk again talks up a car that does not yet exist: the second-generation Roadster now almost 10 years overdue. Replying on Twitter to tech journalist Marques Brownlee, who said that “Oh Roadster is so cooked” after the discontinuation news, Musk pushed back and said the car “will be incredible”.
On Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings call he backed away from the previous promised Roadster launch date of April and instead told analysts it will “hopefully” debut the vehicle which is the lone exception to a future line-up of fully autonomous vehicles. It was only in November, at Tesla’s Annual Shareholder Meeting, he fixed 1st April 2026 for a demonstration event.
He has since called the new Roadster “something special beyond a car”, and on a podcast said the demo would be “unforgettable”, “whether it’s good or bad”.
The Roadster programme has been in gestation for nearly a decade. Tesla’s first Roadster ran from 2008 to 2012. The second-generation version was first shown in 2017, when Tesla began taking $50,000 deposits for a $200,000 base car and a $250,000 Founders Series; production is now pencilled in for mid-to-late 2027, some 12 to 18 months after the planned demo.
In December Tesla posted three roles tied to the Roadster, including a Technical Program Manager and a Manufacturing Engineer in Fremont, the latter charged with battery equipment from concept to launch.
SLATE AUTO BETS BIG ON FACTORY BEFORE FIRST TRUCK
Slate Auto has yet to sell a single truck. Yet the electric-vehicle start-up already promotes its factory refit in Indiana like a firm further along the curve.
In its latest video update, Slate walks viewers through the reconfiguration of its manufacturing plant, chosen as the launch base for its flagship electric truck. The former facility, now in mid-overhaul, sits at the centre of the company’s bet that it can scale fast once production begins.
The firm uses transparency as a tool. Regular dispatches from the factory floor aim to reassure suppliers, would-be customers and investors that work goes on even without a product on the road. In a market where many EV newcomers stumble between prototype and volume manufacture, each visible step in readying an assembly line counts more than another glossy design render.
The current update focuses on stripping and rearranging plant infrastructure, mapping the layout for truck assembly, and laying the groundwork for future tooling. The message is less hype, more proof that heavy industry, not just software, must back any serious attempt to enter the truck market.
For now, the only thing rolling out of the plant is video.
https://bit.ly/46crKJD
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