In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Tesla shareholders potentially starting to wake up, Xpeng targeting the European market, VW going cheaper with its EVs, and more.

Tesla opened two new markets in less than 24 hours, launching in Latvia and Uruguay in back-to-back announcements this week.

The dual entry completes Tesla’s expansion across all three Baltic states and gives the automaker its third market in South America — two very different markets that show how the company is chasing growth wherever it can find it.

Tesla fans have spent years begging the company to build an e-bike. Tesla just launched a bike — and it has no motor, no pedals, and it’s for toddlers.

The new “Balance Bike for Kids” sells for $225 on Tesla’s online shop, and it’s aimed at children aged 2 to 5.

Tesla shareholders have flooded the company’s Q2 2026 earnings Q&A portal with questions, and the most-upvoted ones tell a bleak story: retail investors are now demanding that Elon Musk explain why the company keeps missing its own short-term goals.

The tone has shifted from asking about Tesla’s grand vision to asking why almost none of it is showing up on schedule — on robotaxi, “Full Self-Driving,” and Optimus.

Xpeng launched its new L03 electric SUV-coupe in Europe this week with a starting price of €34,990 — undercutting the Tesla Model Y by roughly €3,400 in Germany and by around $10,000 in Norway.

The pricing puts a well-equipped 4.65-meter electric SUV directly under Tesla’s best-seller in its highest-volume segment, and deliveries start in the fourth quarter.

Miami-based startup Chip Motors has unveiled Chip, an electric “life utility vehicle” that starts at $15,000 and tops out at 25 mph.

The boxy, open-air four-seater is a low-speed vehicle aimed at short daily trips, and it lands in one of the fastest-growing corners of the EV market.

XPeng used the global launch of its new L03 in Munich to announce that the electric SUV coupe is the first vehicle from any Asia-Pacific automaker to ship with Google Maps’ Auto SDK built in.

The integration replaces XPeng’s overseas navigation stack with Google Maps data and, more importantly, feeds map data into its NGP and XPILOT ASSIST driver-assistance systems outside China.

CATL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dutch energy company Alfen to deploy 5 GWh of its Tener Sodium energy storage systems across Europe, one of the largest sodium-ion commitments the region has seen.

The batteries are rated for 15,000 cycles and a 25-to-30-year service life — the pitch that sodium-ion’s longevity, not its energy density, is what wins grid storage.