BRIEFLY: Renault, Norway, Mainstream Buyers & more | 03 Mar 2026
Mar 04, 06:14 PM
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➤ RENAULT CHIEF ATTACKS “FAKE” PHEVS, EYES RANGE EXTENDERS
➤ NORWAY’S EV SHARE RECOVERS AND HITS 98%
➤ NORWAY PASSES ONE MILLION BATTERY-ELECTRIC VEHICLES
➤ EV UPTAKE SPREADS BEYOND WEALTHIER EARLY ADOPTERS
➤ QUANTUMSCAPE UNVEILS PRODUCTION LINE IN CALIFORNIA
➤ KIA UK SETS EV2 FIRST DRIVE WEEKENDS
➤ BMW TEASES FOUR-MOTOR ELECTRIC M3 AT NÜRBURGRING
➤ ROYAL ENFIELD SETS 2026–2027 EV AND ICE PUSH
➤ NEXT POLESTAR WILL BE SPORTIER AND ON CHINESE PLATFORM
➤ ITALY LAUNCHES FIRST OFFICIAL ELECTRIC PORSCHE CLUB
It's EV News Briefly for Tuesday 03 March 2026, everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.
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RENAULT CHIEF ATTACKS "FAKE" PHEVS, EYES RANGE EXTENDERS
Renault CEO François Provost has condemned short-range plug-in hybrids from German and Chinese manufacturers as "fake PHEVs" that discourage regular charging and undermine consumer and regulatory confidence in electrified vehicles. Renault is exploring range-extender EV (EREV) technology for its next-generation electric platform — underpinning models like the Scenic successor — where a combustion engine acts only as a generator for trips up to 1,000km, and Provost is pushing for EREVs to be explicitly permitted for sale in the EU and UK beyond the 2035 all-BEV mandate.
Renault CEO François Provost has condemned short-range plug-in hybrids from German and Chinese manufacturers as "fake PHEVs" that discourage regular charging and undermine consumer and regulatory confidence in electrified vehicles. Renault is exploring range-extender EV (EREV) technology for its next-generation electric platform — underpinning models like the Scenic successor — where a combustion engine acts only as a generator for trips up to 1,000km, and Provost is pushing for EREVs to be explicitly permitted for sale in the EU and UK beyond the 2035 all-BEV mandate.
NORWAY'S EV SHARE RECOVERS AND HITS 98%
Norway registered 7,272 new passenger cars in February 2026, with BEVs accounting for 7,127 of them — a 98.01% market share — as the market began to stabilise after a turbulent end to 2025 driven by expiring VAT exemptions. OFV Director Geir Inge Stokke compared the post-surge normalisation to the period following the 2022 VAT reform, with diesel, petrol PHEVs, hybrids, and pure petrol cars dividing up the remaining 2% between them.
Norway registered 7,272 new passenger cars in February 2026, with BEVs accounting for 7,127 of them — a 98.01% market share — as the market began to stabilise after a turbulent end to 2025 driven by expiring VAT exemptions. OFV Director Geir Inge Stokke compared the post-surge normalisation to the period following the 2022 VAT reform, with diesel, petrol PHEVs, hybrids, and pure petrol cars dividing up the remaining 2% between them.
NORWAY PASSES ONE MILLION BATTERY-ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Norway's battery-electric passenger car fleet has crossed one million, with 951,300 BEV passenger cars and 50,300 BEV light commercial vehicles (LCVs) on the road, representing 32.4% of all passenger cars in the country's 2.94 million-strong fleet. Oslo leads with a 48.9% BEV share in its passenger car fleet and is expected to crack 50% before summer, while rural Finnmark trails at 12.2%, and the Norwegian EV Association's Christina Bu says the LCV transition — currently at just 9.7% — urgently needs to accelerate.
Norway's battery-electric passenger car fleet has crossed one million, with 951,300 BEV passenger cars and 50,300 BEV light commercial vehicles (LCVs) on the road, representing 32.4% of all passenger cars in the country's 2.94 million-strong fleet. Oslo leads with a 48.9% BEV share in its passenger car fleet and is expected to crack 50% before summer, while rural Finnmark trails at 12.2%, and the Norwegian EV Association's Christina Bu says the LCV transition — currently at just 9.7% — urgently needs to accelerate.
UPTAKE SPREADS BEYOND WEALTHIER EARLY ADOPTERS
Research from charging firm char.gy and think tank New Automotive shows that EV adoption in England, once closely tied to wealth as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation, has spread significantly into poorer areas by Q3 2024–2025, with growth rates converging across most neighbourhoods. Used BEV transactions surged 45.7% in 2025 to a record 274,815 units, lifting used BEV market share to 3.5%, and with more than two million plug-in vehicles now on UK roads, the main remaining challenge is delivering reliable, affordable on-street charging in the most disadvantaged communities.
Research from charging firm char.gy and think tank New Automotive shows that EV adoption in England, once closely tied to wealth as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation, has spread significantly into poorer areas by Q3 2024–2025, with growth rates converging across most neighbourhoods. Used BEV transactions surged 45.7% in 2025 to a record 274,815 units, lifting used BEV market share to 3.5%, and with more than two million plug-in vehicles now on UK roads, the main remaining challenge is delivering reliable, affordable on-street charging in the most disadvantaged communities.
QUANTUMSCAPE UNVEILS PRODUCTION LINE IN CALIFORNIA
QuantumScape officially inaugurated its Eagle Line — a highly automated solid-state battery pilot production facility in San Jose, California — on February 4, 2026, designed not for mass production by QuantumScape itself but as a scalable blueprint that licensing partners, including Volkswagen (which has invested over $300 million), can replicate at gigawatt-hour scale in their own plants. With roughly $850 million in liquidity but a history of burning over $100 million annually and Volkswagen having scaled back its involvement in 2023 after missed timelines, QuantumScape's strategy pivot toward licensing means the next 18–24 months are critical for securing a major customer agreement.
QuantumScape officially inaugurated its Eagle Line — a highly automated solid-state battery pilot production facility in San Jose, California — on February 4, 2026, designed not for mass production by QuantumScape itself but as a scalable blueprint that licensing partners, including Volkswagen (which has invested over $300 million), can replicate at gigawatt-hour scale in their own plants. With roughly $850 million in liquidity but a history of burning over $100 million annually and Volkswagen having scaled back its involvement in 2023 after missed timelines, QuantumScape's strategy pivot toward licensing means the next 18–24 months are critical for securing a major customer agreement.
KIA UK SETS EV2 FIRST DRIVE WEEKENDS
Kia UK will run First Drive Weekend events for the EV2 across nearly all 190 UK dealers from April 16 to June 27, 2026, offering structured 30-minute accompanied drives ahead of first deliveries expected later in the year. The EV2 is a compact SUV just over four metres long built on the 400V E-GMP platform, supporting 10%–80% DC rapid charging in around 30 minutes, with two battery options (42.2kWh and 61.0kWh) and an expected starting price of around £25,000 — potentially undercutting rivals like the Renault 5 and Ford Puma Gen-E after the UK's £3,750 plug-in vehicle grant.
Kia UK will run First Drive Weekend events for the EV2 across nearly all 190 UK dealers from April 16 to June 27, 2026, offering structured 30-minute accompanied drives ahead of first deliveries expected later in the year. The EV2 is a compact SUV just over four metres long built on the 400V E-GMP platform, supporting 10%–80% DC rapid charging in around 30 minutes, with two battery options (42.2kWh and 61.0kWh) and an expected starting price of around £25,000 — potentially undercutting rivals like the Renault 5 and Ford Puma Gen-E after the UK's £3,750 plug-in vehicle grant.
BMW TEASES FOUR-MOTOR ELECTRIC M3 AT NÜRBURGRING
BMW M has released camouflaged footage of the electric M3 prototype — codenamed ZA0 — lapping the Nürburgring, featuring a unique four-motor all-wheel-drive setup with a front-motor decoupling mode for rear-wheel-drive capability that doesn't appear on any other Neue Klasse model. The ZA0 uses a bespoke battery pack with more than 100 kWh of net energy capacity not shared with regular i3 variants, with production targeted for March 2027 — well after the standard i3 sedan, which entered pre-series production at BMW's Munich plant in February 2026.
BMW M has released camouflaged footage of the electric M3 prototype — codenamed ZA0 — lapping the Nürburgring, featuring a unique four-motor all-wheel-drive setup with a front-motor decoupling mode for rear-wheel-drive capability that doesn't appear on any other Neue Klasse model. The ZA0 uses a bespoke battery pack with more than 100 kWh of net energy capacity not shared with regular i3 variants, with production targeted for March 2027 — well after the standard i3 sedan, which entered pre-series production at BMW's Munich plant in February 2026.
ROYAL ENFIELD SETS 2026–2027 EV AND ICE PUSH
Royal Enfield is launching its first electric motorcycles under a new sub-brand called Flying Flea, starting with the minimalist urban C6 in 2026 and followed by the scrambler-inspired S6 in 2027, both sharing a common battery architecture that signals a modular platform approach. The brand is also developing an electrified Himalayan adventure bike, pushing its EV ambitions beyond city commuting into a segment that demands tougher performance credentials around weight, range, and durability.
Royal Enfield is launching its first electric motorcycles under a new sub-brand called Flying Flea, starting with the minimalist urban C6 in 2026 and followed by the scrambler-inspired S6 in 2027, both sharing a common battery architecture that signals a modular platform approach. The brand is also developing an electrified Himalayan adventure bike, pushing its EV ambitions beyond city commuting into a segment that demands tougher performance credentials around weight, range, and durability.
NEXT POLESTAR WILL BE SPORTIER AND ON CHINESE PLATFORM
Polestar will replace the Polestar 2 in 2027 with a lower, sportier saloon that will be meaningfully longer than today's 4.6-metre car — potentially rivalling the BMW 3 Series — with UK pricing expected to start just below £50,000. The new model shifts to a Geely Holdings group-wide platform shared with Volvo, Lotus, Lynk&Co, and Zeekr, developed at "China speed" in a 30-month cycle versus the typical five-to-seven-year European timeline, with software-defined vehicle capability and advanced central computing at its core.
Polestar will replace the Polestar 2 in 2027 with a lower, sportier saloon that will be meaningfully longer than today's 4.6-metre car — potentially rivalling the BMW 3 Series — with UK pricing expected to start just below £50,000. The new model shifts to a Geely Holdings group-wide platform shared with Volvo, Lotus, Lynk&Co, and Zeekr, developed at "China speed" in a 30-month cycle versus the typical five-to-seven-year European timeline, with software-defined vehicle capability and advanced central computing at its core.
ITALY LAUNCHES FIRST OFFICIAL ELECTRIC PORSCHE CLUB
Registro Italiano E-motion has become the world's first Porsche club built exclusively around battery-electric vehicles, earning official recognition from Porsche after beginning life as a pandemic-era chat group for Italian Taycan owners in 2021. The club's inaugural tour brought together 131 participants and 73 vehicles — a mix of 42 Taycans and 31 Macan Electrics, including two Taycan Turbo GT Weissach models — on a multi-day Alpine drive from Porsche Experience Center Franciacorta in northern Italy to the Hans Peter Porsche Traumwerk museum near Salzburg, Austria.
Registro Italiano E-motion has become the world's first Porsche club built exclusively around battery-electric vehicles, earning official recognition from Porsche after beginning life as a pandemic-era chat group for Italian Taycan owners in 2021. The club's inaugural tour brought together 131 participants and 73 vehicles — a mix of 42 Taycans and 31 Macan Electrics, including two Taycan Turbo GT Weissach models — on a multi-day Alpine drive from Porsche Experience Center Franciacorta in northern Italy to the Hans Peter Porsche Traumwerk museum near Salzburg, Austria.