The Charged

Exide Energy Solutions completed Phase I commissioning of its lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility at Devanahalli, Bengaluru, with 6 GWh of annual nameplate capacity across NCM cylindrical and LFP prismatic cells for mobility and stationary-storage applications. Reported Phase-I investment is approximately ₹6,000 crore (~US$626 million). Management had previously indicated initial utilisation of only 25–30%, so the 6 GWh figure represents installed capacity rather than immediate annual production. The milestone is significant for India's effort to reduce dependence on imported cells and establish domestic cell manufacturing.

JSW Group launched AMPSTAR through JSW Greentech, entering India's electric commercial-vehicle market with buses and trucks. Vehicles will be produced at a 90-acre Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar facility with stated capacity of 15,000 vehicles annually. The portfolio covers approximately 150–500 kW power configurations, while JSW plans outright purchase, leasing and Battery-as-a-Service models supported by charging and after-sales services. The 15,000-unit figure represents manufacturing capacity rather than existing annual production or confirmed orders.

Indian battery-materials company Lohum is seeking nickel-mine acquisitions in Indonesia and the Philippines as it targets 10,000 tonnes/year of nickel capacity within 18 months, compared with roughly 1,000 tonnes currently recovered from recycled material. Lohum also plans to raise ₹10 billion (~US$104 million) in equity and ₹20 billion (~US$209 million) in debt over 12–18 months. The company is developing a 5,000-tonne/year cathode-active-material plant in Uttar Pradesh and recycling capacity in Sharjah. The mine acquisitions and financing remain targets rather than completed transactions.

Mahindra said its Charge_iN public charging network has expanded to 50 locations and 200 live charging points. Its Sajgaon location on the Mumbai–Pune Expressway became the first site commissioned under Mahindra's collaboration with HPCL. Mahindra is targeting 250 stations and approximately 1,000 charging points by December 2027. The milestone shows OEMs increasingly partnering with oil retailers and corridor-site owners to build intercity fast-charging infrastructure.

The official PM E-DRIVE dashboard, updated September 25 using Vahan records through September 23, displayed 966,393 electric two-wheelers, 5,138 e-rickshaws/e-carts and 234 e-trucks in its FY2026-27 dataset. It also displayed 651,594 e-2W e-vouchers at the relevant processing stage. The figures underline the very different maturity levels within India's EV market: electric two-wheelers are already operating at substantial scale while subsidised heavy electric trucks remain at an early stage.

India's Unified Bharat e-Charge initiative is intended to simplify charging across networks, but early usage data reported during the week showed only 9 completed charging sessions from 148 attempts during the cited period. The government was reported to be considering adding Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm beyond BHIM to improve payment accessibility. The wider PM E-DRIVE programme allocates ₹2,000 crore for charging infrastructure and targets 72,300 chargers by March 2028. The early data highlights that interoperability requires reliable payments, software integration and charger availability—not merely a common interface.

ChargeIndia launched an aggregation platform providing access to 40+ charging-point-operator networks, more than 25,000 charging points and over 1,200 cities, with UPI-based payments. The proposition addresses one of India's charging-market frictions: users often need separate apps and payment accounts for different CPO networks. The development is commercially relevant because aggregation and roaming could become an important software layer between EV drivers, fleets and increasingly fragmented charging infrastructure.

Tata Power EZ Charge commissioned a charging hub at Malad in Mumbai with eight charging bays and four chargers, comprising one 120 kW charger and three 60 kW units. Tata Power reported a broader footprint exceeding 6,500 public and captive charging points, alongside approximately 1,200 e-bus charging points. The site itself is relatively small, but the network figures reinforce Tata Power's scale in India's charging market.

Geely unveiled its fifth-generation smart charging station with 2,250 kW peak output, integrating vehicle, battery, charger, cloud, grid and storage management. Geely reported test charging from 10% to 70% in 4 minutes 30 seconds and to 97% in 8 minutes 40 seconds alongside its Ultra Short Blade Battery. These are manufacturer-reported test results rather than independently established real-world averages. The launch shows that charging power and battery charge acceptance are becoming central competitive parameters in China's EV market.

Sunwoda announced plans to build a megawatt-charging ecosystem around its 15C battery technology, targeting 10,000 MCS charging stations by the end of 2027 together with renewable-energy infrastructure. The company reported that its battery could charge from 10% to 70% in five minutes and 10% to 97% in nine minutes under specified conditions. The 10,000-site figure is a future deployment target, not an existing network. Alongside Geely's announcement, it indicates an escalating Chinese competition around megawatt-class charging.

NIO opened an off-grid battery-swap station at Xingxingxia in Xinjiang using solar generation and battery storage rather than a conventional grid connection. The site forms part of NIO's 3,605 km Silk Road route, planned around 33 swap stations. As of September 23, NIO was reported to operate 4,109 swap stations in China, including 1,060 highway stations, alongside 5,301 charging stations. The project demonstrates a potential infrastructure model for remote corridors where conventional grid connection is costly or slow.

Volkswagen opened presales for the ID. UNYX 09, its second jointly developed EV with Xpeng, at a starting price of RMB199,900 (~US$29,800). Reuters reported that the vehicle was developed in approximately 24 months, around 30% faster than Volkswagen's previous development cycle, and uses CATL batteries. The programme illustrates Volkswagen's increasingly China-specific development strategy and willingness to use local technology partnerships to shorten vehicle-development cycles.

NIO disclosed definitive agreements under which Geely would contribute Yiyi Power plus RMB640 million in cash for a 30% interest in NIO Power, implying a post-money valuation of approximately RMB16 billion. NIO would concurrently acquire a 10% interest in Geely's Haohan Energy. This is a reporting-window boundary case: NIO's securities announcement is dated 27 September, while the broader public partnership announcement and ceremony were dated September 28. It should therefore be labelled explicitly rather than treated as an unqualified September 27 event.

ACEA data released during the week showed EU battery-electric registrations increasing 62.7% year on year in August, giving BEVs 27.7% of new registrations, versus 17.8% in August 2025. During January–August, 1,641,333 BEVs were registered and BEVs represented 21.7% of the EU market. Chinese-owned manufacturers also continued expanding their European presence. The data provides one of the week's clearest demand signals, although it represents August registrations released in September rather than September sales.

CATL began trial cell production on the first two production lines at its Debrecen battery facility after receiving the required operating permits. The lines are being used to configure, optimise and validate manufacturing processes before commercial series production. The complete site is planned for 100 GWh of annual capacity, potentially making it CATL's largest manufacturing base outside China. Crucially, 100 GWh is planned eventual capacity; the week's milestone was trial production on two lines, not operation of the entire plant.

Volkswagen battery subsidiary PowerCo pushed the expected production start at its St. Thomas, Ontario cell factory from 2027 to 2029. PowerCo cited changes in EV demand, technology and Volkswagen's long-term strategy, while construction continues. The project has been reported at approximately C$7 billion (~US$4.95 billion). The development illustrates the difference between construction progress and commercial-production timing as North American battery manufacturers adjust capacity ramps to demand.

Nth Cycle announced a binding term sheet with Glencore covering feedstock supply and product offtake for its planned Project SHIELD battery-materials refinery. Nth Cycle said the arrangement has a projected 10-year value exceeding US$1 billion. The structure links access to feedstock with a long-term buyer for recovered/refined products, potentially reducing two major commercial risks for recycling and critical-material projects. The $1 billion figure is the projected value over 10 years rather than upfront financing or completed revenue.

GM and Cirba Solutions processed 80 end-of-life EV batteries into black mass and subsequently more than 12 metric tonnes of cathode-active material. The CAM contained 100% recycled nickel, cobalt and manganese, passed qualification requirements, and was used by Ultium Cells to manufacture new cells. GM said customer-bound Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC EVs containing these cells rolled off production lines during September. The project remains a pilot rather than a fleet-wide shift to recycled cathode materials.

The California Energy Commission held a public hearing on proposed amendments to the state's EV-charger reliability regulations. Among the issues is treatment of Megawatt Charging System chargers, including proposed exemptions from specified requirements. California's existing regulatory framework includes a 97% uptime requirement for applicable publicly funded DC fast chargers as well as reporting and data requirements. This week's development was a regulatory hearing/proposal stage—not final adoption.

Ceer, backed by Saudi Arabia's PIF and Foxconn, unveiled its first two EVs at King Abdullah Economic City, including sedan and SUV programmes. Saudi sales are targeted for early 2027, with another five mainstream models planned between 2028 and 2030. Reuters reported Foxconn supplying electrical architecture, BMW engineering involvement and development of a local supplier ecosystem involving companies including Lear and Benteler. The vehicles were unveiled during the week but have not yet entered commercial sales.

South Korea announced a battery technology roadmap combining lower-cost sodium-ion technology with high-performance solid-state cells. Government R&D spending is planned at approximately ₩400 billion (~US$295 million) for 2027–2031, while private companies plan around ₩8 trillion (~US$5.9 billion) in R&D and facilities through 2030. Sodium-ion development targets 160 Wh/kg in 2027 and 220 Wh/kg by 2030, while solid-state development targets 400 Wh/kg technology by 2028 and commercialisation around 2030. These figures are planned investments and technical targets, not current commercial capacity.

The Philippine Department of Energy reported 66,685 electrified vehicles sold during January–August 2026, comprising 20,716 HEVs, 29,649 PHEVs and 16,320 BEVs. Against approximately 270,124 total vehicle sales, the department calculated electrified penetration of roughly 24.7%. The composition matters: only 16,320 of the 66,685 vehicles were BEVs, so the 24.7% figure should not be presented as pure battery-electric penetration.

PwC reported approximately 206,000 electrified-vehicle sales in Thailand during H1 2026, representing 47% year-on-year growth. Electrified vehicles accounted for approximately 53% of Thai vehicle sales, compared with 32% in H1 2024, while BEV volumes increased around 84%. In the same ASEAN-6 dataset, Vietnam recorded about 127,000 xEV sales and Indonesia 114,000; Chinese OEMs reached approximately 16% regional market share. The underlying sales period is H1; the relevant event this week was publication of the findings.

Kinetic completed an electrification upgrade at its Sunshine West bus depot in Melbourne, increasing charging capability from 24 to 66 zero-emission buses, with infrastructure headroom reportedly supporting 82 vehicles. Three overhead gantries provide 38 initial charging points, expandable to 54, alongside two fast chargers and managed charging infrastructure. The project is significant because depot power management and charger utilisation are becoming major constraints as public-transport fleets electrify at scale.

Australia's energy-market regulator released a draft rule intended to support the Commonwealth's A$40 million (~US$27 million) Accelerating EV Charging Program. The programme targets approximately 14,000 chargers, focusing on regional charging blackspots and dense urban locations where households lack off-street charging. The distinction is important: the 14,000 figure represents a targeted future rollout enabled by a proposed regulatory change, not chargers already installed.

Bentley unveiled the Torcal SUV as its first fully electric production model, bringing the Volkswagen-owned luxury marque into the BEV market. The development is strategically relevant as a test of EV demand in the ultra-luxury segment, where affordability is less important than performance, design and brand positioning. It is primarily an OEM product-strategy milestone; no meaningful sales-volume impact can yet be inferred from the launch.

Orennia data reported by Reuters estimated average overnight residential EV charging at approximately $1.56 per gasoline-gallon equivalent, compared with about $4.43/gallon for gasoline nationally. EV charging costs ranged from approximately $1.14/gallon-equivalent in Wyoming to $3.45 in Hawaii. The figures reinforce the potential operating-cost advantage of home-charged EVs but also show that electricity tariffs materially change EV economics by location. This comparison should not be treated as representative of public DC fast-charging prices.