Here's the key electric mobility news for the week of October 12–18, 2026. The Paris Motor Show and the long-awaited Tesla Roadster reveal dominated the week, with BYD bringing nine-minute charging to Europe and a wave of new electric models...
Here's the key electric mobility news for the week of October 12–18, 2026. The Paris Motor Show and the long-awaited Tesla Roadster reveal dominated the week, with BYD bringing nine-minute charging to Europe and a wave of new electric models and concepts from European and Chinese brands.
Electric cars and SUVs
Tesla Roadster: Tesla unveiled the production version of its second-generation Roadster on October 15 near Waco, Texas. In the demo, SpaceX-developed cold-gas thrusters helped the car drive up an inverted ramp and then jump over five other Tesla vehicles. Musk said production starts in 2028. No price was announced, but reserving the thruster-equipped version requires a $250,000 payment. All three versions (Performance, Thrust and Rocket) offer 300 miles of range and a top speed above 230 mph.
BYD Atto 8: BYD's new seven-seat electric SUV is its first European model with Flash Charging, which takes the 115 kWh battery from 10% to 97% in nine minutes. European sales start in Q1 2027, with up to 653 km of range. BYD plans to grow its Flash Charging network to 3,000 European stations by the end of 2027.
Mercedes-Benz: Mercedes brought six premieres to Paris, including an all-new GLA and the electric VLE people carrier. The VLE seats up to eight and is rated at more than 700 km WLTP.
Smart, Citroën and Denza: Other Paris highlights included the Smart #2, presented as a spiritual successor to the ForTwo, and Citroën's electric 2CV successor. BYD sub-brand Denza unveiled its Z electric sports car, with three motors producing 880 kW and 0–100 km/h in under two seconds.
Peugeot concepts: Peugeot's rally-inspired E-T16 concept makes around 600 kW, and its RCZ Vision electric sports car concept produces 373 kW.
Xpeng G9L: The G9L's European price was revealed, starting at €74,600.
Price moves: Opel introduced a new base Astra Electric at €36,490, and a Renault 4 update includes a €1,810 price cut.
Policy and markets: France and Germany proposed a 90% CO₂ cut for new cars by 2035. In the US, 266,630 electric vehicles were sold in the third quarter.
Electric motorcycles
Zero DS world record: A Zero DS covered 436.5 km on a single charge, which Zero says makes it the new Guinness World Record holder for the longest electric motorcycle ride without a charging stop.
Electric trucks and vans
Hyundai Staria Cargo: Hyundai presented the Staria Cargo, a fully electric light commercial vehicle, at the Paris press day on October 12. It marks Hyundai's entry into the electric van market.
Citroën 2CV Fourgonnette: Citroën reimagined the 2CV Fourgonnette as a battery-electric van.
European fleets: Belgian logistics firm H.Essers is getting 20 electric trucks from Germany, and DHL Freight has put the SuperPanther eTopas 600 into daily operations.
Electric buses
Scania: Scania presented electric powertrains of up to 400 kW, in-house battery packs, new BEV and PHEV chassis, and a new Touring coach.
Daimler and Flix: The two tested the ELCH battery-electric coach demonstrator in Neu-Ulm, which targets more than 500 km of range.
German subsidy cuts: Germany's draft 2027 budget would cut e-bus subsidies from €403 million to €130 million, a 68% reduction. A PwC study says this could put around 1,000 jobs at risk and mean about 1,500 fewer electric buses by 2030.
Hanoi: Hanoi put 53 new VinFast electric buses into service on four routes, aiming to convert its whole fleet by 2030.
Bucharest: Bucharest secured €87.44 million in EU funding for 40 battery-electric buses, 45 trolleybuses and 10 trams.
Charging stations for electric vehicles
Fastned: Fastned reported €51.3 million in Q3 charging revenue and 65 stations under construction, almost double last year. It ended the quarter with 451 locations after opening 17 new sites.
Other deployments: Tesla expanded its Supercharger network along South Korean highways, and Wallbox installed 120 chargers at Montréal airport.
Bidirectional charging: Renault and EDF unveiled a bidirectional charging offering.
Batteries and accessories for electric vehicles
VW recall: VW is preparing a recall in Germany covering several thousand vehicles. Individual high-voltage cells in certain ID models failed quality checks, which in extreme cases could cause a fire. Affected models reportedly include the ID.3, ID.4, ID.7 and ID. Buzz built between 2023 and 2025, plus the Cupra Born. As an immediate safety measure, VW plans to cap charging at 80% via an over-the-air update.
Industry moves: Changan and CATL will expand their joint battery capacity to 75 GWh, BMW launched sixth-generation battery production in Shenyang, and Redwood will repurpose end-of-life batteries from Rivian vehicles.
Autonomous vehicles
Xpeng: Xpeng launched its own robotaxi brand, Yoyo.
Tesla in Europe: Tesla renamed "FSD (Supervised)" to "Tesla Assisted Driving" to help secure EU approval.
INIT: INIT is buying a majority stake in Norway's Applied Autonomy. Its xFlow platform handles monitoring, remote support and control of autonomous vehicles rather than the driving itself.
Humanoid robots
Agility Digit 5: Agility is betting on Nyobolt fast-charging batteries to push Digit 5 to 20-hour workdays.
Mind Robotics: Rivian's robotics spinoff Mind Robotics hired former Ford EV chief Doug Field as president.
NeodraDynamics: The Chinese company showed a 13-foot humanoid with 39 hydraulics, built for heavy industrial lifting.
The takeaway from Paris: Chinese brands are now competing head to head on charging speed and price, while European makers answer with a wave of electric concepts and cheaper entry versions.
