14 Mar 2025 | Audi A6 e-tron introduced to the US, Xpeng Unveils Improved 2025 G6 and G9 SUV models and Kia EV3 GT Spotted In Spy Pics
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Experience limitless customization. Boost your creativity and efficiency with AI tools for every part of your business journey. Scale up with built-in SEO, e-com, and scheduling features. Put more of you in your business. Go to Wix.com and do it all yourself. Welcome back to EV News Daily. Coming up today, the Audi A6 e-tron is launched in the US. Xpeng unveils the improved G6 and G9 SUV models. And

And Kia's EV3 GT is spotted in spy pics. Plus, stay tuned, because later in the show, I'll tell you which highly anticipated electric sports cars are delayed for two years because of the Northvolt battery bankruptcy issues. Well, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you're listening around the world. Welcome to EV News Daily, your trusted source of EV information. It is the last day of the working week, Friday, 14th of March. I'm Martin Lee, and I go through every EV story...

So you don't have to. Well, Patreon supporters get the episodes ad-free. You can be just like them by clicking on a link in the show notes. We'll start with news of Audi unveiling the 2025 A6 e-tron for the US market. The sedan version, sadly no wagon coming from you. For you, rather. That's a real shame because that's...

I mean, that's the looker when you come to this car and the practical version as well. But at least this is a lift back as well. So you get lots of, you haven't got a small sedan opening at the back. But either way, it's the German automaker's newest electric sedan. It does start at $67,195 for the rear wheel drive base model. That's still 375 horsepower, by the way, but you can go up to 456 horsepower. That's the

all-wheel drive e-tron. And there is the S6 version as well. If you fancy spending $79,995, that is all-wheel drive, 543 horsepower. Amazing. Now, what's interesting is the Audi A6 shares its name with the combustion-powered sedan. They are entirely different models. Audi, just shifting up how it changes its names a little bit, it used to be that the

EVs were the even numbers and combustion stuff was odd. And so, not odd, it's the odd numbers, but also it's a bit odd if you buy a combustion car. Also, the electric A6 e-tron costs about $8,000 more than the conventional A6. Now, that uses a 94.4 kilowatt-hour battery pack usable, 100 kilowatt-hours gross. And what about EPA range? Well, rear-wheel drive version is...

achieving an EPA range of 392 miles that's 631 kilometers with the optional ultra package the all-wheel drive version doesn't actually lose too much more 342 miles and the S6 does have the shortest official EPA range you do pay for that performance with a hit on how far you can go 324 miles or 522 kilometers

So, yeah, very similar to if you are keeping track of like the Porsche, use the platform as well. It's premium platform electric. So 270 kilowatts DC fast charging, 10 to 80 in 21 minutes. That's all the goodness. It arrives this summer in the U.S.

Let's talk Xpeng. Xpeng has launched the new models of its G6 and G9 SUVs. G6 has three versions, starts at $24,400 equivalent. That's down 11% from the outgoing model. That's incredible. Here's a brand new car. Oh, we made it 11% cheaper. It received over 5,000 orders in the first seven minutes of release.

Back on June 29th, 2023, very popular car. It is a great family size as well. It's a 2.9-metre wheelbase. It's 4.8 metres long, almost. And so it's a little bit longer than its predecessor, but only by about 5mm or 0.2 inches. But what's impressive is the G6 uses an 800-volt architecture. It'll do 10 to 80 in 12 minutes.

In 12 minutes. Now, the outgoing one did 10 to 80 in 20 minutes, and that was more than impressive. But this new version with the high voltage architecture and a high C-rate battery will do 12 minutes, 10 to 80. Wow, that G6 update is absolutely huge. All three variants have a single motor, rear-wheel drive setup, 218 kilowatts of power, 0 to 62 miles an hour, 6.4 seconds.

The G9 also comes in three versions as well, but that starts at $34,000, equivalent about 10 grand more. And it doesn't get as much of a price reduction, but it's still cheaper than the outgoing one. It's still 5%, 6% cheaper than the outgoing one. This, like the G6, uses advanced charging technology, 10 to 18 in 12 minutes, dual chamber air suspension as standard.

The G9 offers two single motor rear wheel drive options and a dual motor all wheel drive variant for this. If you want it again, a bit more power on this as well. Both updated models also come with their new AI smart driving system with two NVIDIA drive R and chips. Told you that recently about Volvo, including those as well. But that was on a top of the line Volvo. These are 25 grand cars and they're coming with the latest features.

self-driving technology and the latest driver assistance systems. Ciao, Peng.

He Xiaopeng, the chairman, saying that deliveries will probably double this year compared to what they did last year. And Xiaopeng on a real roll right now as well. Talking about being on a roll, well, Kia's EV3 is still my crush. I still think it's the perfect car. I still think it's just in so many good specs, good trims, big battery, small battery.

everything's dialed in on it. It's a great family car, not too big, not too small. Goldilocks car, isn't it? It's a bit like a Golf. Like for generations, the Volkswagen Golf was just the perfect car. You could take the family on holiday, but you could drive it on your own. You could do trips to the DIY store to go get some supplies at the weekend. Oh, it just did it. And the Kia EV3...

is that new car for me. It's just the perfect price, low 30s in terms of the price. And now they're going to go upwards in terms of performance and go GT version because we've seen spy shots. It'll launch in the US in 2026, a high performance version of it as well. And it will have, if we think with the recent sightings in Northern Sweden and some of the other rumors suggesting,

An all-wheel drive system, an extra drive unit compared to the front-wheel drive GT line. They do the GT lines, but they're not GTs. We've seen lime green brake calipers like the EV6, G6s.

GT and the front seats have some stitching some lime green accents as well on the GT label on the headsets so the dashboard covered in cloth during testing we don't get to see that but you know three screen setup like the GT line physical drive selector on the steering column the exterior will be more aggressive looking it'll obviously have the big battery pack because you want lots of

to draw some power from it. So that's the 81.4 kilowatt hour pack. And by adding an extra front motor, which will be less powerful, you would think, then that's, although it would reduce the driving range slightly, maybe 360 miles compared to GT line, that's going to give you well over 300 horsepower on quite a small vehicle, which is just brilliant to see. Now, well, let's talk about Skoda.

revealing plans for their seven-seat electric car next year. It's a midsize SUV for families needing three rows. It'll fill a gap in the market where seven-seat EVs are rare. Or you look at really big models like the Kia EV9, and that gets a little bit pricey. The new SUV will sit above the ENIAC, and then beneath the ENIAC is the LROC. So an electric option...

To the Kodiak, I'm thinking, because that's a combustion car, aligning with Skoda's goal to grow its electric vehicle line-up

Scott's first vehicle, the ENIAC, was the fourth best-selling EV in Europe last year. And I see loads of them around. And they're actually a really practical car. They want to double their ambitions, they say. Though for their battery electric vehicle sales this year, had 35,000 orders for the Elrock, which is, again, just a perfectly sized, small family urban vehicle. Just brilliant. And Scott is on a roll right now. Their sales are up 7% last year.

operating margins up as well from 6.7% heading towards 10% there at the brand. So, Skoda doing good stuff for the Volkswagen mothership. Now, Zika is a car we'll talk about before we take a little break. And the Zika 007, which won't be called the 007 because they don't want to

James Bond, who is owned by Amazon these days. Jeff Bezos owns James Bond, bought it from the Broccoli's. And so they don't really want Amazon knocking on the door. So they won't be called the Zika 007 when it's not in China. But the GT version of that and the estate version, which again, talking of wagons and estates, that's the looker, my friend. That's the looker.

and it's the more practical version. It's just fantastic. They've now shown off the interior pictures in China. So it's got a massive panoramic roof, head-up display, and at its domestic launch,

After its domestic launch, rather, they will sell it in Europe. So we talk about it because it's going to be a European car like the Xpengs. And there's a lot of China stuff we could talk about. In fact, there's so much China stuff we could talk about. But if you can't get it, or at least the potential to get it in the West, try and filter it out of the podcast because it's interesting, but ultimately you can't buy that. Sales in China start mid-April. 007 GT has the same size and specs as the 007 sedan, but...

They've given it a new sporty steering wheel and gear shifter and all the tech and toys inside that you get inside a Chinese car. They've improved the front seats. The driver's seat has speakers in the headrest. Like I said, that massive panoramic roof. It actually sits on the PMA2 Plus architecture, which is very modular and nice.

will be either a rear-wheel drive version with one electric motor or a wheel drive version for 475 kilowatts of power. That's 637 horsepowers. Holy bazookas! The base model has a 75 kilowatt LFP pack from CATL, so it's about the best of the best. And the big pack is 100 kilowatt hour with an NMC chemistry, so loads of range, very fast charging, and that just GT estate power

version looks so so good we'll take a quick break and when we come back we'll talk about one company that could save north vault's bacon now that they declare bankruptcy in sweden and european ev owners can save money by going electric but well you know that's how how do evs help i'll tell you in a moment stick around back in a sec it's time to turn your daydream into your dream job

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all right welcome back to the podcast if you like your podcast ad free strip out the ad save even more time you can do that if you check out the patreon page at p-a-t-r-e-o-n.com slash ev news daily now scania plans to buy north vault's battery pack division even after north vault declared bankruptcy scania telling reuters yesterday the company is interested in acquiring the swedish battery makers north vault known for producing ev batteries filed for bankruptcy on wednesday

That's a challenge for Europe, and it does hand somewhat of an advantage to the Asian manufacturers. I did a whole separate bonus podcast about Northvolt going under about 24 hours ago. Check it out in your feed if you're interested. Scania could be one possible source of an acquisition. Now, EV sales are surging globally. All the numbers are coming in for February, even though we're only 14 days into March. RoMotion, a research firm,

reported that global EV sales, 1.2 million in February, that's a 50% increase on February of 2024. So...

It's a global number. And yeah, I think I'd be pretty happy with 1.2 million EVs sold. The data manager there is Charles Lester and saying, and I quote, it's been a solid start to the year for EV sales globally with a 50% bump in February compared to the previous year. Much of the growth continues to come from China, which is seeing a pure electric renaissance this year compared to the E-rev phase.

the extended range hybrids of 2024. Well, despite high tariffs, their domestic brand BYD shows no sign of slowing down their home and international expansion. Now here in Europe, BEVs are popular, 29% increase year on year. And,

February to February, France's weight tax on plug-in hybrids is affecting sales there of plug-in hybrids. In North America, the region is steadily growing, 20% up, and American drivers bought 30% more electric vehicles than last year as they take advantage of remaining IRA tax breaks. A snapshot of EV sales, like I say, around the world globally, year-to-date,

That's Jan and Feb. I'm going to add these together. Jan and Feb, 2.4 million EVs were sold, and that's 30% up. China is 1.4. EU and the wider EFTA in UK zones is 0.5 million. That's up 20%. USA and Canada, 300,000, up 20%. Rest of the world, 200,000, up 35%.

So we start 2025 with some really, really good figures for electric vehicles because, you know, there has been a wobble in 2024 and that opened the door for lots of headlines. I see them all the time now. Oh, the EV transition is slowing down or if the newspaper or website has another agenda, it's...

You know, EV sales in decline. Well, they're absolutely not. And so 2.4 million units, up 30% in the first two months of the year. Great story. Now, a study by Euroelectric and EY shows that EV owners in Europe could save up to 2,900 euros every single year if you use smart charging. Now, of course, we need this to be fully grid integrated. And we've been talking about this for years.

I've been talking about this, I think, since this podcast began. And that is, hey, use your car to support the grid. Smart tariff, safe money. Smart charging LED TV batteries store the energy. Vehicle-to-grid means you can use the batteries to sell back to your electricity provider. It's just not being done at scale yet. It's not being like, right, here's the EV. Here's the home charger that you need. Here's the tariff from all the electricity companies. We're all set up and ready to go.

Fill your boots, my friend. And that's just not, it's still in its trial phases and things like that. But we need clear pricing signals. I think Octopus, well, I say Octopus are doing it the best. I only have experience of Octopus, but I pay half hourly pricing. It doesn't tend to go wrong. We just need the electricity companies, the car makers, the OEMs, the...

Charger makers to be way more integrated in 2025. It's just, it feels like we're slow walking away, dragging our feet because I think all of us as EV drivers just are ready to go. Let's have cars that can do it and charges that can do it. We just want to start helping the grid, support the grid, absolutely.

And of course, with a little bit of energy trading, maybe even save a bit of money ourselves as well. That'd be very cool. Right. Amazon is expanding its diverse EV fleet globally. Amazon aims for net zero carbon emissions by 2040. It's quite a long term goal. These vehicles are designed for specific locations. They say when they go electric to support Amazon's fulfillment network goals.

So, for instance, in New York City, they've gone for electric cargo bikes in two-, three-, or four-wheeled models. In India, for instance, they've gone for two-wheeled electric vehicles, and 80% of Amazon's deliveries there are made with electric power.

The company uses three-wheeler deliveries in other places as well. And in US and Europe, Amazon is partnering with companies like Rivian to use the electric vans that don't require special licenses. So Amazon today talking about how they're introducing light and medium-duty box trucks now for larger items. And for container and trailer transport, Amazon also saying they're now using the electric heavy-duty trucks and semi-trucks that are on the market. Their biggest fleet, they said, was the Californian fleet with nearly 50 trucks.

of those middle-mile operations, which is great. Obviously, Amazon is vast and sprawling and what have you, and they've got so much work to do, but it's always good when they share their progress.

Here in the UK, UK Power Networks has released a new guide to help design and install EV charge point hubs by tackling the challenges of the grid. The guide highlights the need for land consents before applying for grid connections. That can impact the timeline. It's a DNO, Distribution Network Operator. The DNO handles about 100 EV charging hub connection requests per year. Some need...

Three megavolt connections or MVA of power. That is like building an estate of 2,000 new family homes. And it's just for a charging hub. So this is significant. And they're saying, look, here's a new guide. We want charging hubs to be going through licensing and all of that sped up the connections process.

in, you know, weeks rather than many, many, many months. That's a great thing. Word on UK Power Networks offering a complete service as well to manage that final connection to the local electricity grid. And finally, finally, Porsche has delayed the launch of the electric 718 or 718 Boxster and Cayman models until 2027. And there's a reason they plan to reveal these new EVs by the end of this year.

I gather, using Northvolt as the cell supplier. So clearly that didn't work out very well. Thanks, Northvolt. Oliver Bloom, CEO of Porsche and VW Group, of course, telling Automobile Vodka that getting high-performance cells for the electric 718 series has become more difficult recently. Porsche is working on alternative solutions. They're also working on the electric Cayenne, which they seem to have prioritised because that is still on target for a 2025 reveal.

And that will still use PPE. So premium platform electric like the Macan. The K1 project, which is meant to create an all-electric seven-seater SUV at Porsche's flagship plant.

and is not going to be around in 2027. It will come, but it'll be pushed back a little bit. Just goes to show the enormous difficulty that supply chains in EV world can have sometimes. That's your podcast for today. Thanks for listening as always. Love to have your company. Look forward to speaking to you over the weekend as well as we continue our coverage.

over the weekend. Until then, have a good one. See you soon. And remember, there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid. Oh yeah. This is the sound of my husband loving me enough to get a CPAP for his sleep apnea. So we can sleep together.

Good sleep is a turn-on with a ResMed CPAP. Simply air. It works overnight for that desirable, well-rested feeling. Learn more at loveisintheair.com. Results may vary. See website for details and important information. Oh, yeah. This is the sound of my husband loving me enough to get a CPAP for his sleep apnea so we can sleep together.

Good sleep is a turn-on with a ResMed CPAP. Simply air. It works overnight for that desirable, well-rested feeling. Learn more at loveisintheair.com. Results may vary. See website for details and important information. This is the sound of my husband loving me enough.

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