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14 stories in the last 7 days
The latest EVs news, distilled by AI into sharp ~100-word summaries covering electric vehicles, autonomous driving and the future of transport. ByteBrief scans dozens of tech sources and surfaces only what matters, updated hourly. Tap any story for the full brief, or open the original source.
California EV sales reached 19.1% of new vehicle sales in Q2 2026, a 3.3 percentage point increase quarter over quarter. The California Energy Commission reported 86,857 new zero-emission vehicles sold, with 75,597 being full battery-electric. The rise occurred after the federal EV tax credit expired and amid rising gas prices from the Iran conflict.
Geely Galaxy will debut the Cruiser 700, a rugged plug-in hybrid SUV, on July 24 in Hangzhou. The tri-motor system delivers 830 kW (1,113 hp) and 800 mm wading depth. Sales returned to growth in June after five months of declines.
Li Auto registered Xinchuang Zhihe (Shanghai) Technology Co Ltd on July 13 with 100,000 yuan capital for chip design. The move could spin off its in-house Mach M100 chip business, following Nio's GeniTech subsidiary model. The 5 nm chip delivers 1,280 TOPS and is mass-produced on L9, L8, L6 models.
China's plugin vehicle market share reached a record 63% in June, driven by a 42% crash in pure petrol car sales. BEVs alone hit a record 43% share with 685,000 sales. The overall auto market dropped 23% year over year to around 1.6 million units.
China's heavy EVs, with 60 percent of new cars exceeding 16 feet and some weighing three tons, are damaging roads. Fuel-tax revenue is declining, creating an annual shortfall of up to 300 billion yuan ($44 billion) for road upkeep. Beijing is considering a mileage-based road user charge and trimming EV tax concessions.
Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles in Q2, beating estimates with 25% year-on-year growth, but the stock fell. Rivian's R2, now in production, targets Tesla's core $45,000 to $60,000 SUV segment where Model 3 and Model Y generated over 96% of 2025 sales. Tesla raised its 2026 capex forecast to $25 billion.
Honda is canceling the Prologue and Acura ZDX EVs, leaving the fourth-largest US automaker without an electric vehicle. The company plans to launch 15 new hybrids by March 2030, primarily in North America, with the first due next year.
Seoul National University's SafeDrive model generates multiple driving trajectories, scores each for safety using sensor data, and picks the safest path. The research, led by professor Jun Won Choi, earned a CVPR 2026 highlight paper, the first Korean end-to-end autonomous driving paper to do so. SafeDrive has been integrated into the EAD reference model backed by Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Chery's Exeed brand launched the Exlantix ES sedan in China with the Falcon 700 driver-assist system using an Nvidia Orin-Y chip, 11 cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars, one LiDAR, and three millimeter-wave radars. Pricing starts at 179,900 yuan ($26,500), undercutting Tesla's $39,000 Model 3. The BEV Max offers 534 miles of range from a 100.2 kWh battery.
Ford will reveal a $30,000 electric pickup truck in 2027, built on its new Universal Electric Vehicle Platform. The smaller-than-Maverick truck aims for efficiency and profitability after Ford took a $19.5 billion writedown on EV investments in 2025 and discontinued the F-150 Lightning.
Ford's upcoming midsize electric pickup, starting around $30,000, was spotted charging at a Tesla Supercharger. The vehicle features a native NACS port, eliminating the need for an adaptor. It is set to launch in 2027 and will be built on Ford's new Universal EV Platform with LFP batteries.
Replit published telemetry on its Self-Driving Company model, showing a 5.8x increase in code contributions, nearly tripled output per engineer, and 30% faster code reviews. Agents replaced a seven-figure SaaS contract. Employees reported feeling promoted as AI handled routine tasks.
Genesis is evaluating a smaller, more affordable electric vehicle to expand its customer base, according to Genesis Europe managing director Peter Kronschnabl. The potential model would likely use the Hyundai IONIQ 3 platform. Genesis will not chase short-term opportunities, viewing its growth as a marathon, not a sprint.
Rivian's first OTA update for the R2, version 2026.24.40, adds Pet Comfort, Gear Guard, Launch Mode, and Garage Door control. The update also includes quality of life improvements and fixes for embarrassing bugs.