👋 Watts up? Volkswagen has just teased its latest entry-level electric vehicle, with a price tag of just €20,000. Volkswagen will be revealing a show car version of the EV next month, with production planned for 2027. Also, global offshore wind capacity has surpassed 80 GW, a record milestone which boasts a 15% increase from 2023. Learn more on these stories, and others, in todays issue.

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Data provided by Google Finance*

Volkswagen unveils new €20,000 entry-level electric model

🚗 At a works meeting in Wolfsburg, Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, outlined the future direction of the brand. We also received a first look at the design of Volkswagen’s upcoming entry-level electric model, which will be priced at around €20,000.

Volkswagen plans to unveil a show car version of the new EV in early March, with the production model expected to launch in 2027. Schäfer emphasised the company’s commitment to making electric mobility accessible to all, stating: “A key step in this is making e-mobility attractive for everyone – that is our brand promise.”

The new entry-level model, along with the production version of the ID. 2all, will be part of a family of compact electric vehicles, built on the next evolution of the modular electric drive platform. The first in this lineup, the ID. 2all, is set to launch in 2026 with a starting price of under €25,000.

Volkswagen has already established a strong position in the electric vehicle market. Since introducing the ID family in 2019, the brand has sold over 1.35 million ID models worldwide, including approximately 500,000 ID.3 units.

Also, electric vehicle sales in January increased by 42% compared to last year, accounting for more than a fifth of new cars registered.

UKBIC opens new advanced battery development laboratory

🔋 The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has opened its upgraded Battery Development Laboratory (BDL), enhancing its capabilities in battery material characterisation, cell analysis, and forensic activities. The new facility allows customers from around the world to analyse and test battery materials and cells.

The lab’s capabilities focus of five key areas:

• Characterisation - involves analysing martial properties, including crystal structure and elemental composition

• Chemical and physical processing - supports the preparation and handling of samples, including hazardous materials

• Forensics - allows for detailed investigations into cell failures, utilising thermal and optical cameras

• Electrochemistry - provides advanced electrochemical analysis on coin cells, single-layer pouch cells, and multi-layer pouch cells

• CT Scanner - enables non-destructive analysis to identify potential failure modes without dismantling cells

The BDL is the second part of a £74m upgrade to UKBIC, funded through the Faraday Battery Challenge by UK Research and Innovation. Richard LeCain, UKBIC’s CTO, noted: “Having this new on-site resource will ensure customers have a steady flow of data as they develop and scale new manufacturing processes, materials and chemistries as they head towards commercial production.“

Also, NIO has achieved a record-breaking 136,748 battery swaps in a single day, 8,000 of which belonged to Onvo, Nio’s sub brand.

Global offshore wind capacity reaches a record 80 GW

☀️ Global offshore wind farm capacity has now surpassed 80 GW, according to new data from RenewablesUK. The latest Offshore Wind EnergyPulse Insights report shows that capacity has reached 80.9 GW, marking a 15% increase from 70.2 GW in 2023.

A majority of this growth comes from just two countries, China and the Netherlands, who added 6.9 GW and 1.7 GW, respectively. This upward trend is expected to continue, as the number of offshore wind projects worldwide has grown from 1,461 to 1,555 over the past year. Additionally, new markets are emerging, with Indonesia, Chile, and Malta confirming their first offshore wind projects in 2024.

The offshore wind project pipeline includes developments from various stages, from early planning to fully operational farms. China remains as the global leader with a total capacity of 247 GW across 437 projects, followed by the UK, with a capacity of 96 GW across 123 projects. The US ranks third with 79 GW, Germany with 68 GW, and Sweden with 55 GW round out the top five.

Also, Digital Realty has joined two energy matching programs in Sweden and France. The programs aim to match Digital Realty’s power demand across 7 of its data centres using renewable energy.

Chinese automakers are closing the gap in software-defined vehicle development

🚀 Wards Intelligence’s latest software-defined vehicle (SDV) ranking shows that while Tesla is the overall leader, it has been overtaken in technological innovation by NIO and Xiaomi, which now hold second and third place. The SDV concept has proven to be more complex than initially expected, particularly for traditional Western manufacturers., however, progress is accelerating in China.

Xpeng and Rivian rank fourth and fifth, with both companies taking a software-first approach. In what Wards Intelligence refer to as the ‘Strong Contenders’ category, 67% of automakers are now actively commercialising SDVs, including companies like Zeekr, Lucid, and Leapmotor.

Assessing SDV progress remains a challenge due to varying definitions and a lack of standard benchmarks. To address this, Wards Intelligence conducts annual research using advanced statistical tools to identify key indicators of SDV development. This year’s ranking evaluated 27 automakers based on five key metrics:

• Financial strength

• Portfolio complexity

• Vehicle platform readiness

• Organisational readiness

• SDV performance

Maite Bezerra, Principal Analyst at Wards Intelligence, pointed out a significant shift in the industry, stating: “Notably, 62% of the automakers in the Leaders and Strong Contenders categories are either Chinese or Chinese-owned, highlighting China’s increasing dominance in the SDV segment.”

Also, continuing the theme, STMicroelectronics and HighTec EDV-Systeme have collaborated to advance safety within software-defined vehicles, utilising a system built with Rust.

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*As of 12:00am EST, on the same business day. Includes top movers from a curated list of companies we cover.