Cars

China has found a giant “tunnel” to introduce its cars into Europe without Europe. And it is facing Spain

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In 2007, when Morocco inaugurated the port from Tangier Med off the Spanish coast, many saw it as an ambitious logistical gamble. Less than two decades later, that port has not only become the largest of the Mediterranean and Africabut has begun to surpass historic European giants like Algeciras in traffic. What seemed like a regional infrastructure ended up becoming one of the main commercial gateways to Europe. A half-open door to Europe. Europe has been trying for years reduce your dependency China’s industrial sector and, more recently, protect its manufacturers against the avalanche of electric vehicles from the Asian giant. The tariffs imposed by Brussels, in fact, respond precisely to that objective. However, I remembered the weekend the financial times that, while attention was focused on Chinese ports and factories in the country’s interior, Beijing began to build a much closer alternative: an industrial network located on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The growing concern in Brussels does not arise because China is exporting more cars from its territory, but because it is transferring part of its production capacity to a country that enjoys privileged access to the European market. Map of the surroundings of Tangier, with Tanger Tech City (to the south), Tanger Automotive City and the port of Tangier Med Morocco as an industrial platform. It explained the means that the transformation is visible around Tangier and Kenitrawhere Chinese investments in tires, brakes, electronic components, battery materials and future gigafactories are multiplying. What is emerging are not simple isolated plants, but a supply chain increasingly complete capable of feeding the European electric car industry. Morocco offers practically everything you are looking for manufacturers: geographical proximity to Europe, competitive labor costs, renewable energy, tax advantages and an extensive network of trade agreements. For many Chinese companies, producing there is more attractive to continue manufacturing in China and then face the growing European trade barriers. The fear of Brussels. European concern does not lie solely in foreign investment. What is worrying is the possibility that Morocco will become in an indirect way so that products backed by Chinese capital, technology and subsidies enter Europe with much more favorable conditions. The European Commission already has detected cases in which components manufactured with Chinese financial support end up benefiting from preferential agreements. The challenge is to distinguish where it ends an authentic Moroccan industrialization and where a strategy designed to circumvent tariffs begins. Put another way, the more complex supply chains become, the more difficult it becomes to answer that question. Beijing’s geographical advantage. If you like, China too. has understood that geography can be as important as technology. Off the Spanish coast is a country connected by trade agreements with Europe and the United States, equipped of modern ports and increasingly integrated into global production chains. From the Chinese perspective, installing factories in Morocco does not mean abandoning Europe, but rather get even closer to her. Instead of shipping finished products from thousands of miles away, companies can manufacture components and vehicles a few hours of the main European markets. The strategy reduces costs, limits commercial risks and makes the application of protectionist measures difficult. A battle for European industry. What happens in Morocco reflects much broader economic competition. Europe tries to protect an industrial base that consider strategicas China looks for new ways to keep its huge manufacturing capacity running despite increasing Western restrictions. The result is that North Africa is becoming a space increasingly disputedwhere the interests of Brussels, Rabat and Beijing intersect. For Morocco, investments mean jobs, infrastructure and growth. For China, they represent a privileged platform next to the gateway to the European market. And for the European Union they constitute a uncomfortable question: If Chinese production can be installed just on the other side of the Mediterranean, to what extent are tariffs really capable of slowing its advance? Image | Adam Cle, The Spanish Monkey In Xataka | China and Europe do not trust each other when it comes to electric cars. And someone is taking advantage of it: Türkiye In Xataka | The Chinese auto industry is moving to colonize Africa and Latin America. Also to be your springboard

cars will beep (even) more starting in July

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For two years, since June 2024, all new cars have been beeping. They whistle a lot. It is the first disappointment that every driver experiences when they put aside their old car and decide to buy a new one. In Spain, where The average age of the vehicle fleet is 14.6 yearsbuying a new car is the closest thing to experiencing the jump into a black hole and moving into the future. And those who have had the opportunity to brand new car approved from 2022 or purchased as new from 2024 will have experienced that irritable feeling of checking that your new car beeps every now and then. The most obvious thing is with the intelligent speed assistant which, as I commented in this articleit can turn into hell. Now, starting July 7, 2026, every new car must have new driving assistance… or surveillance systems. Driver monitoring will be more proactive to alert the driver in case of distractions so that he can correct his behavior and thus avoid an accident. More surveillance, more beeps To understand all this, you have to go back a little before 2020. Then the European Union approved a project called Vision Zero with which we want to reduce by 50% the road fatalities registered between 2020 and 2030 with those who died between 2010 and 2020. The ultimate objective is to reach zero deaths in 2050. To carry out this ambitious aimthe European Union carried out the obligation to implement a series of safety systems with the aim of reducing accidents. This project has three phases, of which the first came with a huge battery of new systems. As stated in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2144From July 2022, all new cars approved they have to be equipped, among otherswith systems like smart speed assistantemergency braking or the reversing camera. And with the driver fatigue and distraction assistant. In the second phase, it was contemplated that from 2024 every new car had to be sold with the previous equipment, regardless of when the car had been approved. That is, if you buy a car right now, it will have to have these systems. And starting on July 6, 2026, the next phase begins. From the next day, every new registered car must have an even more advanced system to monitor driver distractions and fatigue. Yes, indeed, we are facing an advance of what is already known. What was mandatory until now was the system known as Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning o Drowsiness and Attention Assistant (DDAW) and from now on cars will have to have the new Advanced Driver Distraction Warning o Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW). What changes? The first system is more passive than active. The one known as DDAW which is mandatory at this time, analyzes whether or not the driver keeps his eyes on the road and warns when this does not happen. However, it bases its operation on small movements on the steering wheel and general control of the vehicle but, by itself, it is not clear whether we are looking at the mobile phone or simply looking at the rearview mirror repeatedly because we are going to merge onto a highway. The new ADDW system, as explained by our colleagues from Motorpassionis more proactive and it does monitor the movement of our eyes and head but it also has three areas mapped. If our eyes are distracted by something that has happened in a space where it is impossible to keep our attention on the road, such as the roof, the system will alert us. If, on the other hand, the system detects that we are looking at a window or at the central area, where the screen is located, it will allow a few seconds to pass. If the driver keeps his eyes on one of these spaces, the car will begin to beep and send sound and tactile signals (such as the vibration of the steering wheel). The system will activate automatically after six seconds as long as we move between 20 and 50 km/h. Once this threshold is exceeded, the warning will arrive after just 3.5 seconds. He problem with this type of assistants is that sometimes they are much more intrusive than we would like as drivers. We already commented in Xataka that if not well implemented, the speed assistant that works with sign recognition can be all hell. Especially in the city, where the streets constantly change boundaries, the warnings can become desperate. In our experience, the same thing can happen with fatigue detection assistants. If you bought a car after 2022, you may have noticed that your car may beep when, as we said, you are simply checking the rearview mirror to enter a very congested road. The objective of this new system is to be more careful and not fall into these false positives. However, some studies assure that this extensive security package can be too overwhelming for older drivers (who would also benefit the most) and? many others disconnect them Tired of the constant beeping. Some of them, such as speed assistant or distraction monitoring, They are activated with each new ignition and it is mandatory to move between the menus to disconnect them in the vast majority of cars. In addition, this decision by the European Union has also garnered some criticism for increasing the price of vehicles. Especially Daciawhich was the queen of offering the most basic car possible on the market, has complained bitterly about this but what cannot be denied is that part of the increase in car prices comes hand in hand with these new mandatory security improvements. Photo | Xataka and Mazda In Xataka | The industry has been filling cars with complex safety systems for years. The only problem is that we don’t use them

with cars prepared to take advantage of them

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The United States has been playing catch-up for some time when it comes to high-power chargers for electric vehicles, many of them capable of delivering 500 kW, 600 kW, and even one megawatt. The problem is that, right now, almost no electric car sold there can swallow such power. In Europe, however, we are starting to see cars that take advantage of this capacity. And although at the moment it is still somewhat testimonial, for the electric promises to be fulfilled, the infrastructure must accompany the innovation of these cars. Why is it important. For years, recharging has been the great brake on electric cars convincing the general public. The promise of charging as fast as you fill a tank of gas has been promised for some time, and now the technology is starting to live up to it. But a one-megawatt pump is of little use if the car you connect only accepts a fraction of that power. More fast charging in the US. According to collect InsideEVs, the company ChargePoint presented last month a 600 kW device that it described as “the fastest independent charger for electric cars in the world”, while the Swiss ABB announced 1.2 megawatt units and Kempower showed a charger with an MCS connector capable of delivering 1.2 MW. The Italian Alpitronic, for its part, is preparing chargers that provide up to 1,000 kW to trucks and 600 kW to passenger cars, and which will begin to arrive on American soil at the beginning of next year. Even Tesla, historically limited to 250 or 325 kW, is slowly rolling out its 500 kW V4 Superchargers. Few take advantage of it. As the same media points out, right now there are no electric cars for sale in the United States that accept more than 500 kW. He Tesla Cybertruck It has been seen charging at 500 kW, but its official specifications still indicate a maximum of 325 kW. The most capable models on the market or about to arrive, such as the Lucid Gravity, the Porsche Cayenne Electric or the BMW iX3reach 400 kW. The reason for such a rush. Loren McDonald, CEO and Chief Analyst at Chargeonomics, explains told InsideEVs that some of the high-powered Chinese cars could arrive in the United States in the next five years, so these chargers “shield” the facilities for when that happens. The idea, furthermore, is to distribute the load intelligently between several points according to what each car can absorb, so that a modest model and a high-end model can be plugged in at the same time without either wasting power. Who is really ahead?. China and Europe are setting the pace in this regard, with systems such as BYD’s 1.5-megawatt “Flash” stationsto which we were able to access first-hand with the presentation in Europe of the Denza Z9GT. More in China than in Europe, the difference is not so much in the raw power of the plugs as in the fact that manufacturers are releasing vehicles prepared to take advantage of it. In Europe we also have a long way to go to be able to take advantage of these capabilities in commercial passenger cars, but little by little we are getting to know more brands that want to join. And Spain, where is it? He latest Barometer of ANFAC Electromobility, corresponding to the first quarter of 2026, makes it clear that the priority here continues to be the basics, that is, having enough points and making them work. Spain closed March with 55,077 public access charging points, after adding 2,005 in the quarter, a growth that the report itself describes as lower than that recorded in the same periods of the previous three years. The quality problem. Beyond the total number, ANFAC data points to two weaknesses. The first, power: only 31% of the infrastructure exceeds 22 kW, far from the 55% objective that the association sets for 2026. The remaining 69% are low power points that require charging times of at least three hours. The second, reliability: ANFAC estimates that 17,073 points are out of service (24% of the total installed) due to breakdown, poor condition or lack of connection to the electrical network. If they worked, Spain would be close to 72,150 points. The high power, still testimonial. Chargers of 250 kW or more, those that truly allow recharging in minutes, There are only 2,469 units in all of Spain.. They grew by 309 during the quarter, and the report indicates that around 75% of high power points respond to projects by the automobile manufacturers themselves. The big obstacle, according to the association, continues to be administrative, since processing difficulties and, above all, access to the electrical distribution network keep many projects paralyzed. Cover image | myenergi In Xataka | The hydrogen fuel cell at 250º C that solves a decades-old problem: the constant need for water

Ukraine has been left without thousands of drones. An error classified them as electric cars, and the Treasury has fried them with taxes

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During World War II, the United States Army created entire systems classification and emergency purchases because normal bureaucracy was too slow to keep up with the pace of war. Eight decades later, Ukraine has discovered the same problem from the opposite side. Drone warfare crashes into bureaucracy. Ukraine has been transforming the front into a war laboratory automated where ground drones have become essential to transport ammunition, evacuate wounded or attack Russian positions without exposing soldiers. The problem is that, while kyiv was trying to accelerate this military revolution, the bureaucracy has ended up mistakenly classifying these unmanned vehicles within the same tax category than electric cars. When an old exemption for EVs expired on January 1, drones began paying a 20% VAT. The result has been devastating: according to the industry, the army could have bought some 5,000 additional drones only in the first half of 2026 if that tax had not come into force. Thousands of drones lost at the worst moment. They counted on Insider that the impact has been especially serious because it has arrived at a critical phase of the war. Ukraine is increasingly relying on autonomous systems to compensate for human and material attrition against Russia, to the point that Zelensky claimed that his forces carried out more than 22,000 missions with ground drones in just three months. kyiv wanted to acquire 50,000 units this year, but the new VAT skyrocketed costs, froze public contracts and left manufacturers whole for months. no state orders. Some companies drastically reduced production to survive, while others tried to reclassify their robots as armored vehicles to avoid the tax burden. A trapped military industry. The chaos also reflects how the military technological revolution is advancing faster than the laws themselves. Ground drones were so new within European and Ukrainian commercial standards that they did not even there was a category clear to classify them. When a former tax exemption for electric vehicles expired, the system automatically absorbed these military robots into the same regulations. The Ministry of Defense suddenly found itself with insufficient budgets and paralyzed purchasing processes because, technically, essential weapons for the front had no longer been considered. exempt military equipment tax. Manufacturers like Tencorecreator of the popular TermIT dronethey spent up to five months without public contracts and had to survive thanks to volunteer organizations that directly supply military units. In a war economy where many companies literally live from order to order, three months without state purchases is equivalent to little less than a heart attack industrial. The big problem is not just making weapons. The episode reveals something deeper about the evolution of modern warfare. For years, drones, artificial intelligence and automation have been talked about as the future of combat, but Ukraine is discovering that the bottleneck is not always in the technology. Sometimes it is in the administrationin legislation or in bureaucratic systems designed for peacetime. Russia and Ukraine are immersed in a race of constant adaptation where every month counts and where losing half a year due to tax procedures can have direct effects on the front. The sector itself calculates that the tax exemption would save about 200 million dollarsa gigantic figure for an industry that still depends on precarious financing and accelerated production. The problem is that even if Parliament now corrects the law, the damage has already been done: delayed contracts, lost capacity and thousands of drones that never made it to the battlefield when they were needed most. The paradox of the war of the future. The story perfectly summarizes one of the great contradictions of this war. Ukraine has become the country that has integrated autonomous systems the fastest in real combat and has built an ecosystem with more than 280 companies and 550 models different from ground drones. However, that same ecosystem remains dependent on sluggish state structures, legacy regulations, and legal frameworks unable to keep pace with military innovation. While the front is filled with robots that transport ammunition, evacuate wounded or attack Russian trenches without a human driver, the State continued to administratively treat them as if they were simple electric cars. The irony could not be more brutal: one of the most technologically advanced wars of the century lost thousands of combat machines not due to lack of industrial capacity or due to Russian attacks, but because the Treasury decided to apply the same tax treatment than to a civil electric vehicle. Image | x In Xataka | A Ukrainian stork has managed to outwit a Russian drone in flight. The video is the best clue about who will win the war In Xataka | Ukraine has been terrorizing Russian soldiers with its heavy drones for years. Now they are literally giving it back.

In its leap to electric cars, Europe fears total dependence on China. Your solutions arrive (quite) late

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The rope tightens. This time it is Europe that pulls to its side. Or, at least, that is what he wants according to what is stated in Financial Timeswhere we read that the European Union wants to force car manufacturers to reduce their level of dependence on China. Now, forcing them to buy fewer components from their suppliers. A new goal. It is, according to Financial Timeswhat the European Union wants to impose on companies in key sectors such as automobiles, industrial machinery or the chemical sector. In the newspaper’s information we read that European institutions are looking for tools to put pressure on their own companies. In the information, which is attributed to two European officials familiar with this project, the objective is to put a limit on the percentage of components that can be supplied to a single country. That is, if a company wants to manufacture a product in Europe, it could not buy all of its components (or the vast majority) from China. To distribute the purchases. If the project goes ahead as we read in the British media, a company could only buy between 30 and 40% of its components from the same country. It is sought that, at least, the origin of the parts that, in this case, make up a car is from three suppliers and from at least three different countries. This would not be much of a problem if it were not for the fact that the 30-40% barrier could not be overcome. “Gradually dependent”. “In many areas we are gradually becoming dependent on China’s exports,” the words are from a senior European Union official consulted by the newspaper. According to Financial Timesthe organizations are very aware of the extent to which a stoppage of Chinese factories or exports can damage the European economy. In fact, last summer some factories had to stop or saw their production compromised after China put greater impediments to export of products in which rare earths are used such as the magnets in electric car motors. Just a few months later, The Nexperia crisis once again set off the alarms of possible interruptions in the supply chain since a good part of the chips used by the European industry uses components from this company. They are not key products for its operation but without them, a car cannot be sold because They are essential for auxiliary but basic functions How to raise and lower the car window. 1 billion. That is what, according to Financial Timesthey calculate in the European Union that we lose to China. 1,000 million euros of deficit in the trade balance. 1,000 million. Diaries. The figure has been floating for two years now. and the automotive industry is one of those that has suffered the most. According to the European Union, they have achieved this with a doped industry, which has led to the lifting of tariffs on electric cars arriving from China. And the Chinese manufacturers have wanted to land abroad on our continent but also the Europeans have wanted to manufacture in China because it was cheaper. Spain? According to Anfac dataIn Spain we have a deficit in our trade balance of 5,000 million euros annually if we talk about components. As the second largest car producer in Europe, our auxiliary fabric is not enough and we need to buy components worth 16,893 million euros when exports exceed 11,525 million euros. There is no data on the origin of these imported components but we do know that The second country that exports the most cars to Spain is China. Last year, 9.2% of cars purchased in our country from outside our borders arrived from China. Very far, yes, from the German 26%. The problem is that despite importing cars worth almost 2.7 billion euros, China does not appear among the 10 countries to which we export the most cars and we barely place 658 million euros in exports to all of Asia. The game of balance. Yet the European Union is discovering that perhaps it has arrived late to the trade battle. Yes, it has lifted tariffs on electric cars sold from China but the country’s tentacles reach deep into vehicles made in Europe, producing all kinds of cheap components but also producing key technology such as semiconductors or batteries of electric cars. China is aware that it can squeeze European industry but it also needs our trade to export all the cars that are already surplus there. It is no coincidence that Europe has not imposed tariffs on cars arrived with combustion engines and? have negotiated with China the possibility of lifting trade barriers to electric cars. The Band-Aid. Until now, a very important part of the components used in European cars had their origin within the borders of the European Union itself. However, China’s weight has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2024, China has already become the main exporter of cars to Europe and the weight of its components within the cars manufactured here is increasingly greater, which reduces the competitiveness of our exports, according to this report BBVA. This imbalance is doubly worrying because the European Union is trying to reduce Chinese dependence now that it is seeking to make the definitive leap to the electric car, a technology where the Asian country dominates the supply chain. In recent months, Europe has tried to curb dependence promoting mineral mining on our soil or battery production but Chinese dependence remains evident. Photo | Michael Fourset and Sou Jest In Xataka | Japan has been charging a 0% tariff on foreign cars for half a century. It will be very difficult for you to find one on the street.

which cars can circulate and which rest on May 23

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A new Saturday Today No Circula day is launched this weekend, a measure coordinated by the Environment Secretariat of Mexico City (SEDEMA) whose objective is to mitigate pollution levels in the Valley of Mexico. Those who plan to travel in their private vehicles must carefully verify the last digit of their license plate and the verification hologram before going out on the street. It is worth remembering that this ordinance not only restricts mobility in the 16 municipalities of CDMX, but its obligation extends to various metropolitan municipalities of the State of Mexico. The program operates in: Atizapan of Zaragoza Coacalco de Berriozábal Cuautitlan Cuautitlán Izcalli Chalco Chicoloapan Chimalhuacan Ecatepec de Morelos Huixquilucan Ixtapaluca Peace Naucalpan de Juárez Nezahualcoyotl Nicolas Romero Tecámac Tlalnepantla de Baz Tultitlan Chalco Valley Also, remember that if your route passes through any of these locations, the Saturday No Circulation Day also applies. Which vehicles and license plates are affected by Hoy No Circula Saturday? The objective is to reduce the volume of cars in circulation to reduce polluting emissions; However, Saturday sessions operate under particular guidelines that complement the rules in force from Monday to Friday. Not all units must stop on the same weekend: the hologram, the completion of the license plate and whether Saturday corresponds to an even or odd week will determine which driver must leave their car parked and who has the option of transiting. Likewise, it is mandatory to consider that the Saturday Hoy No Circula does not remain active during the entire day. The hours of application go from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., so outside of that period—during the night and early morning—the regulations do not limit road traffic, unless the authorities dictate an environmental contingency or another extraordinary measure with added restrictions. For the specific date of May 23, 2026it is established that as we are talking about the fourth Saturday of the month, it is the vehicles with hologram 1 and license plates whose ending is an even number that will have to suspend their activities and not circulate for the duration of the program. If your car has these characteristics, it will be mandatory to keep it motionless until the regulatory deadline ends after 10:00 p.m. In contrast, those cars that have a 0 and 00 hologram retain the authorization to move freely under the guidelines of Today No Circula Saturday. Meanwhile, the units identified with hologram 2 cannot circulate under any circumstances on Saturdays. Apart from the previous categories, it is necessary to take into account that there is a list of exempt vehicles that enjoy the benefit of circulating without being compromised by the restrictions current. These include: Electric, natural gas or hybrid technology vehicles Units registered with plates for people with disabilities All those intended for urban public transport services (including funeral services) Those dedicated to school or passenger transportation Those assigned to public security and/or civil protection Motorists who do not comply will face significant financial penalties. The fine for violating the program ranges from 20 to 30 times the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA), which is equivalent to approximately 1,924.40 pesos at the minimum and up to 2,886.60 pesos at the maximum. Along with the direct monetary impact, the potential retention of the unit in a warehouse and the setbacks linked to clearing the corresponding procedures with the authorities are contemplated. In short, if you plan to make trips in your car this Saturday through CDMX or through the suburban municipalities of the State of Mexico that are included in this regulation, it is advisable to carefully check before starting what hologram your vehicle has, what the ending of your license plate is and if the calendar shows an even or odd week. Photo | Sunira Moses In Xataka | The countries that pollute the most in the world, gathered in a detailed graph

22% of the electric cars we buy in Europe are produced in China. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

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One in five electric cars purchased in Europe are Chinese. Chinese of origin, but it does not mean that their manufacturers are Chinese. However, it is a fact that does not explain the entire story. Chinese companies continue to gain ground in Europe and tariffs are clearly not slowing down their expansion. 22%. The data is brought Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in a report explaining how much ground Chinese manufacturers are gaining in Europe. According to them, 22% of the electric cars that have been purchased in Europe between January and April 2026 come from China. The figure is striking because it grows compared to the 19% that was registered last year. But, above all, because it grows by 27% compared to the same period in 2025. In the first four months, 400,000 electric cars from China were sold in Europe. Chinese and non-Chinese. As we said, the data includes all the electric cars that we have bought in Europe arriving from China. This is relevant because the European Union imposed tariffs to the cars that came from there alleging that the Chinese manufacturers are financially doped and that they do not compete on equal terms. But those trade barriers They also prevailed over European manufacturers who bring their cars from China. Tesla also suffers from it with every Tesla Model 3 sold in Europe. The consequences of these policies have been especially harmful for Seat SAwith a Cupra Tavascan that has barely been sold and that has had to eat the tariffs to be able to have a competitive price. Duty? As we pointed out, the European Union already imposed a 10% tariff on all cars that arrive from China to our market. Defending that many of the brands that came to play on price, They imposed new specific trade barriers for each brandpunishing more those who, in their opinion, had received the most aid from the State or had collaborated the least with the investigation. Rodhium Group shows that they have had a limited deterrent effect over time. When they were lifted in October 2024, China had exported 44,000 electric cars to Europe in a single month. Immediately, the figure plummeted but in February the same sales level was reached again in Europe. But, in addition, the number of plug-in hybrids has skyrocketed. While the sale of purely combustion cars from China has grown, the plug-in hybrid has experienced brutal growth, going from 7,000 units in October 2024 (when the tariffs were applied) to 26,000 units in February 2026. Among the best sellers. In addition to these general market figures, some Chinese manufacturers have managed to make a breakthrough in the markets where they have the most hope. They collect in Autovista24 that BYD was the fourth company in Europe that sold the most electric cars between January and March 2026. Its market share in this space reached 6.8% and is only surpassed by Volkswagen, BMW and Tesla (the latter with 7.3% and BMW with 7.4%). BYD is also, of course, the one that is growing the most, marking 154.7% more sales than last year in the same period. Among the 10 best-selling electric cars in Europe, the Leapmotor T03 It also sneaks into the list. If we look at plug-in hybrids, BYD has the best-selling model. The BYD Seal U is the car with this mechanic that has placed the most units on the market between January and March 2026 with 21,494 units. He is followed by Jaecoo 7 with 17,434 units. And BYD manages to place Atto 2 as the tenth best-selling plug-in hybrid in Europe. The market share. In global terms, S&P Global points out that in 2025 the market share of Chinese manufacturers in Europe was 5.8%. But Automotive News points out that last March, when Chinese manufacturers broke their export record to Europe in terms of volume, the market share already shot up to 9.41%. If we talk about quota, the record from December 2025 (9.48%) still stands. The vast majority of analysts assure that these figures will continue to grow over the years. In S&P Global They believe that by 2035 the market share of Chinese manufacturers will reach 15.5%. Because? What we are seeing, according to analysts, is the tip of the iceberg. BYD is a good reflection of how China has discovered a loophole through which to enter Europe. The brand came with the idea of ​​bringing only electric cars, it tried the BYD Seal U in its plug-in hybrid version and has discovered that it is a success. The Chery Group has not hesitated to bet on this technology. Geely has also come up with a plug-in hybrid upon arrival. And the same thing happens with Deepal, from Changan. These cars have no tariffs and it allows them to gain market share because they can push their prices much higher. In addition, it allows them to give a relatively easy exit to cars that are overproduced for the Chinese marketwhich has slowed down and is beginning to see itself unable to assimilate more growth in its sales. Without forgetting that more and more companies are looking for produce in Europe or Türkiye to skip tariffs. BYD will manufacture in Hungary and in this last country. The Group Chery already operates in Barcelona. Leapmotor will also do it in Spain and everything indicates that the number of models will increase destined for our country. Xpeng already uses factories in Austria. And one fact: S&P Global It anticipates that 44% of the Chinese cars we buy in 2035 will be manufactured in Europe or Türkiye. Photo | In Xataka | The plug-in hybrid is China’s Trojan horse: we looked at the electric car and its great weapon was the combustion engine

Volkswagen has hope to make electric cars cheaper: sodium batteries

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Sodium-ion technology It has been promising for years without ever taking off. Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese company in which Volkswagen is its largest individual shareholder, has just taken the most serious step to date: for its own brand of sodium batteries to have a product ready to be manufactured at scale. An evolution is urgently needed. Lithium-ion batteries They have been dominating for decades the energy storage and mobility sector but they have an underlying problem that more and more companies want to tackle: lithium is a geographically concentrated resource, with fragile supply chains and dependent on a few countries. Sodium, on the other hand, is one of the most abundant elements on the planet. If sodium-ion technology reaches competitive energy densities and can be manufactured on a large scale, the game changes. And that is precisely what Gotion has in mind. Production-ready batteries. At its 15th Global Technology Conference, the company introduced the Gnascent brandwhich groups three versions of sodium-ion battery designed for specific applications, not a single multipurpose cell. The brand already has production lines ready in Tangshan and Hefei, China, and they are on the order of gigawatt-hours. Three versions. Each Gnascent variant targets a different niche: High energy: reaches 261 Wh/kg, 60% more than conventional sodium batteries. It is designed for light electric vehicles and drones for commercial use, where weight is a critical factor. Power: with 162 Wh/kg, it supports discharge at temperatures down to -50 °C. Its target market is commercial vehicles and equipment in extreme cold regions, where the performance of lithium batteries drops dramatically. Energy storage: with 180 Ah per cell and more than 20,000 useful life cycles, it maintains 88% of its capacity at -40 °C. The company claims to have passed penetration tests with 8 mm nails and heating to 400 °C without ignition. It can become a serious option for network installations and industrial use. What your technology is about. Just like account The company, Gnascent is backed by more than 90 patents covering cathode materials (sheet oxides, polyanions and sodium-manganese-iron pyrophosphate), hard carbon anodes and electrolyte additives. On the other hand, its anode-less design reduces material costs while increasing energy density. Who is behind. Gotion High-Tech, founded in 2006 and headquartered in Hefei, has Volkswagen Group as its largest shareholder. At the end of 2025, the company had a cumulative production capacity of 400 GWh and 20 manufacturing bases spread around the world. Just like share According to CarNewsChina, in the Chinese market it is the third supplier of batteries for electric vehicles, only behind CATL and BYD, with a share of 6.6%. Who climbs it first and best?. Gotion is not the only one on this path. CATL and BYD too are accelerating their own sodium ion programswhich points to a broader strategy in which this chemistry is the protagonist and ends up becoming a real alternative to lithium. And now what. For the moment, Gotion wants to enter the large-scale energy storage segment through Gnascent. That is electrical networks, industrial facilities or residential use, complementing with smaller markets such as two-wheeled vehicles. It only remains to be seen if the strategy ends up being given the green light and if more companies choose to consider this option in the near future. Cover image | Gotion High-Tech and Volkswagen In Xataka | Putting pistachio in everything has a limit. Or not: Córdoba already makes batteries with its shells

which cars can circulate and which rest on May 9

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This Saturday the Hoy No Circula Saturday scheme comes into force again, the mechanism with which the Environment Secretariat of Mexico City (SEDEMA) limits the circulation of certain cars to help control pollution in the Valley of Mexico. Once again, those who plan to use their vehicle should carefully review the finish of the license plate and the verification hologram before putting a wheel on the street. The restrictions do not only apply to the 16 municipalities of CDMX, but also extend to various metropolitan municipalities of the State of Mexico. The program is also valid in: Atizapan of Zaragoza Coacalco de Berriozábal Cuautitlan Cuautitlán Izcalli Chalco Chicoloapan Chimalhuacan Ecatepec de Morelos Huixquilucan Ixtapaluca Peace Naucalpan de Juárez Nezahualcoyotl Nicolas Romero Tecámac Tlalnepantla de Baz Tultitlan Chalco Valley Also, keep in mind that, even if you only cross one of these demarcations during your journey, the Today No Circula Saturday scheme also applies to you. What cars and license plates does Hoy No Circula Saturday affect? The central objective of the program is to reduce the number of vehicles in circulation to reduce emissions, but on Saturdays it is governed by particular criteria that complement what is established from Monday to Friday. Not all drivers rest on the same weekend: the type of hologram, the last digit of the license plate and whether Saturday corresponds to an even or odd week are the factors that determine who can go out and who must leave the car parked. It is also key to consider that Hoy No Circula Saturday does not operate 24 hours a day. The application schedule goes from 05:00 to 22:00so outside of that period —that is, during the night and early morning— the program does not limit the circulation of vehicles, unless an environmental contingency or another extraordinary measure is activated that imposes additional restrictions. For May 9, 2026, the calendar indicates that it is the third Saturday of the month, so it is classified as an “odd week.” In this scenario, cars with hologram 1 whose plates end in an odd number are the ones that must remain off the road while the program is in effect that day. If your car falls into that category, you must keep it stored until after 10:00 p.m. On the other hand, vehicles that carry hologram 0 and 00 retain the possibility of circulating without restrictions within the Today No Saturday Circula scheme, while those with hologram 2 are prohibited from circulating on any Saturday. In addition to the previous cases, it is important to remember that there is a set of exempt vehicles that can travel without being affected by these rules. Among them are: Electric, natural gas or hybrid technology vehicles Units with plates registered in the name of people with disabilities All those intended for urban public transport services (including funeral services) Vehicles used for school or passenger transportation Those assigned to public security and/or civil protection duties Those who decide to ignore the provisions of Hoy No Circula risk receiving a considerable financial penalty. The fine for failing to comply with the program ranges from 20 to 30 times the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA), which represents a minimum of close to 1,924.40 pesos and a maximum of approximately 2,886.60 pesos, in addition to the possible immobilization of the vehicle and the time that will have to be invested to resolve the offense before the competent authorities. These penalties are directly linked to compliance with the rules of Hoy No Circula Saturday. In conclusion, if you are going to travel by car this Saturday through CDMX or through the suburban municipalities of the State of Mexico contemplated in the program, the most prudent thing to do is to check before starting the engine which hologram your vehicle has, what the ending of your license plate is and if the calendar indicates an even or odd week. Hoy No Circula Saturday focuses on removing the most polluting vehicles from the streets, but it also forces us to better organize trips and evaluate mobility alternatives when the car has to stay at home. Photo | Osmany M Leyva Aldana In Xataka | The countries that pollute the most in the world, gathered in a detailed graph

In Norway they have asked themselves which are the best electric cars at -30ºC. And the answer is clear: Chinese cars

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A test that has already become indispensable for the industry. The Norwegian Automobile Club has been carrying out a simple test since 2020: they take the most representative electric cars on the market, fully recharge them and put them to the test. All at the same time and along the same route. Objective: discover if someone is lying. A simple test in theory. But it provides a lot of information for the buyer of an electric car. And although the WLTP cycles have been improved and now they show consumption in urban cycles and outside of it, the truth is that the buyer of the electric car needs one piece of information: the consumption on the road at the maximum legal speed allowed. And in the city, the consumption of electric cars is usually very low. Furthermore, the impact of total autonomy is less relevant because either the car is charged at night or access to the chargers is easier than in the middle of a road. That’s why he test carried out by the Norwegian Automobile Clubthe NAF for its acronym in the local language, is so important because they get the cars moving and take them on the road on a route that begins in Oslo and extends for more than 400 kilometers. The final intention is to glimpse what real autonomy these cars have and its difference with the figure recorded by the WLTP cycle. “They lie”. We will put it in quotes. And when companies design their cars, they obviously think about the consumption that a car will have in real situations but, of course, They take into account how the approval tests are carried out to get the best possible result. He Dieselgatewhere Volkswagen and other brands in the group used specific software when homologating their cars to achieve better consumption figures on paper that were then not met in practice, is the best-known case. But without cheating, it may pay off for a manufacturer to prioritize the lowest possible consumption in the city even if it later suffers from a slightly higher consumption on the highway. Or that the car behaves worse in extreme cold conditions, as is usually found in these tests. This very low urban consumption can lower the final average figure and distort the car’s real mileage, which is why these real road tests are interesting. How are they tested? In the test, the Norwegians examine the car’s behavior on a route that starts from Oslo towards the north of the country and which almost always runs on national roads. On the route, which you can see in this linkstarts at sea level and ends at about 750 meters above sea level. Along the way there are two large studs. In the first one you exceed 500 meters in height, then you descend slightly and climb again until you exceed 1,000 meters in height. Subsequently, you descend until you stay at the aforementioned 750 meters high. The test is also done in winter and summer conditions to get even more information from the cars. The driver stops when it detects a loss of power in the car but it doesn’t drain the battery all the way. This seeks to know to what extent the car is capable of moving at full capacity. In a year like this with very low temperatures, the first driver who abandoned noticed a loss of power when the car still had 11% autonomy left. And among the data published, the association also includes the weather along the route, specifying the minimum and maximum temperature or whether the sky remained clear or it snowed. This time record temperatures were reached, the warmest occurred in Oslo where the thermometer read -8ºC and the coldest was recorded while passing through Høyeste with -32ºC. The best. With this way of working, this Norwegian association has published its data. They take into account the deviation from the declared WLTP figure but also the percentage (doing 500 kilometers and deviating by 100 km from the expected range is not the same as doing 300 kilometers and deviating those same 100 km). Taking this into account, their data says that the best cars were the Hyundai Inster and the MG IM6, which performed 29% less than the expected range. The cars that deviated the least from the expected figure were the following: Hyundai Inster: distance traveled 256 km, WLTP distance 360 ​​km, difference 104 km KGM Musso EV: distance traveled 263 km, WLTP distance 379 km, difference 116 km Voyah Courage: distance traveled 300 km, WLTP distance 440 km, difference 140 km Changan Deepal S05: traveled distance 293 km, WLTP distance 445 km, difference 152 km MG IM6: traveled distance 352 km, WLTP distance 505 km, difference 153 km The worst. The data tells us one thing but it is also important to contextualize it. For example, they point out that the Lucid Air was the electric car that deviated the most from its expected autonomy (49%) but it was also the one that traveled the most kilometers (520 kilometers) so it was exposed the longest to temperatures below -30ºC. In fact, This same car was one of those that obtained the best figures in the last summer test. Last year, the organizers point out, the Polestar 3 broke the record in a winter test, stopping at 537 kilometers. However, they point out that in that same mountain pass where freezing temperatures have been reached this year, the thermometer that time marked a much more pleasant temperature of 8ºC. With all this, the cars that deviated the most from the expected figure were the following: BMW iX: distance traveled 388 km, WLTP distance 641 km, difference 253 km Tesla Model Y: distance traveled 359 km, WLTP distance 629 km, difference 270 km Volvo EX90: distance traveled 339 km, WLTP distance 611 km, difference 272 km Mercedes CLA: distance traveled 421 km, WLTP distance 709 km, difference 288 km Lucid Air: distance traveled … Read more

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