News about electric vehicles

Nio's U.S.-listed shares rose nearly 1% overnight after the company reported that its third-quarter China sales surpassed BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi individually for the first time. Nio recorded 111,638 vehicles in China, versus 107,210 for BMW Group, 99,592 for Mercedes-Benz and 94,597 for Audi. Nio also outsold each German brand in eight provincial-level markets and 40 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. CEO William Li praised Tesla's Roadster demo, though Tesla says its single-seat Rocket version is invitation-only and not approved for public roads. For its Firefly brand, Nio plans a 60-kWh CATL battery on October 23 offering 560 km under CLTC, up from the current 42.1-kWh pack.

TMT Motors plans to launch a new lineup of commercial vehicles in Q4 2026, including electric trucks, electric vans and combustion-engine trucks. The G100P EV electric truck has a 990 kg payload and up to 300 km per charge, while the G230P REEV, an extended-range electric version, has a total range of up to 1,038 km. The company has not yet disclosed prices or commercial launch dates, and it targets at least 1,000 charging points operating by end-2026 through TMT-EGREEN. In the first half of 2026, TMT Motors booked net revenue of about VND 1,103 billion, down 11%, while after-tax profit rose 16.3% to about VND 64 billion. After six months, the company had completed about 30% of its full-year revenue plan and 29% of its profit target.

Tesla (TSLA) shares rose 1% overnight after Elon Musk said the Optimus robot and Cybercab robotaxi would account for most of the company’s value, following the recent unveiling of the flying Roadster. Morningstar calls the Roadster a “halo car” that could lift demand across Tesla’s lineup, with production expected in 2028 and fewer than 2,000 annual deliveries forecast. Musk claimed a peak speed above 0.5 Mach (about 400 mph), while AI researcher Yann LeCun dismissed the demo as impractical, estimating the compressed-air thrust would last less than 10 seconds. Reservations cost $50,000 for Performance and $250,000 for Thrust, but the car is not approved for public roads. Tesla reports earnings on Wednesday, after TSLA fell 7% last week.

The 2026 Paris Auto Show was bigger than past editions despite absences from BMW, MG and most Japanese OEMs, with Chinese brands such as BYD, Geely and XPENG showing affordable, tech-packed EVs. European carmakers are responding with faster EV development, sharper pricing and retro-inspired designs, including a revival of the city car segment that Chinese OEMs have largely avoided because EU tariffs squeeze its thin margins. The author singles out the new Smart #2, a two-seater with a 36 kWh LFP battery, a 290 km WLTP range and a 308-liter trunk, priced from 20,000 euros, and estimates it could sell around 40,000 units a year. The Citroën 2 CV revival, priced at 15,000 euros, will only begin deliveries in 2028, which the author sees as a drawback.

Energy security used to mean securing a constant flow of fuels that were burned and gone, but electrification shifts trade toward durable equipment such as solar panels, batteries and EVs that keep producing energy for years. The author argues this changes the nature of economic dependence, although supply chains remain international. Ukraine's grid synchronization with the Continental European power system after the 2022 invasion shows how interconnection can add resilience. Pakistan's distributed solar capacity was estimated at roughly 50 GW by the end of 2025. The State Bank of Pakistan estimates that reduced energy imports saved about $7.1 billion in foreign exchange over six years and could cut the 2026 energy-import bill by a further $5.2 to $7.8 billion. The IEA estimates the global EV fleet displaced about 1.7 million barrels of oil per day in 2025, with China accounting for roughly one million of them.

On October 15, Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy declared “flying cars are real” at a SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, where the second-generation Roadster was demonstrated climbing an inverted track, flipping through the air and landing softly before driving off. The car uses an underbody suction fan and compressed-air cold-gas thrusters to reach 0–60 mph in under one second. The Rocket version sits in a legal gray area, as its high-pressure gas tanks, aerospace-grade valves and protruding nozzles may conflict with NHTSA's federal motor vehicle safety standards, such as the requirement for crumple zones. Tesla's product page says the vehicle is “not approved for public road use,” and Musk said he is not sure it is legal in every jurisdiction; an NHTSA spokesperson said the manufacturer must ensure it does not defy federal standards and drivers must obey local traffic laws.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court order that allowed California Tesla customers to sue as a group over claims they were misled about full self-driving (FSD). The three-judge panel found too many individual questions, including what each buyer saw before purchase and whether all class members saw the website claim that vehicles sold from October 2016 onward had the hardware needed for FSD. The ruling is not on the merits and the false advertising case remains pending; plaintiffs allege customers paid extra for software that does not work, which Tesla denies. The article notes FSD matters to Tesla's business: about 55% of North American deliveries had an FSD subscription enabled at delivery and nearly 1.5 million customers pay for FSD worldwide. Meanwhile, free cash flow was negative last quarter as capital spending more than doubled, and automotive margins excluding credits fell from 19.2% to 16.3%.