Tesla-Gigafactory, BYD, Honda, BMW.

Billions for battery factory: Tesla has now released more details on its Gigafactory plans. The factory is said to employ 6,500 new workers and to ensure the supply of cells and batteries (35 GWh in cells and 50 GWh in packs) for up to 500,000 cars a year by 2020. This will cut today’s battery costs by at least 30%, Tesla says. With Tesla investing 2 billion dollars itself, made possible by a new convertible notes offering worth 1.6bn dollars, other partners are still to be announced. Rumours say Panasonic and Toshiba could be two of the partners to join up and fund the project with 1bn dollars each. Regardless what rumours say, Elon Musk has kept most of his promises to this day and that’s why investors are once again putting their money where his mouth is and help Tesla’s shares to reach just another all time high.
gigaom.com, teslamotors.com (Gigafactory-PDF), green.autoblog.com, forbes.com (stock price)

Boost for BYD: The all-electric e6 is now officially listed as eligible for EV incentives in the Chinese capital Beijing. The same goes for the Denza EV. Also, after BYD’s Qin plug-in hybrid has been listed in Shanghai, the company shares soared 9%.
just-auto.com, usa.chinadaily.com.cn

Insight to be discontinued: Honda has announced to discontinue production of its hybrid model Insight altogether in February due to low demand. Furthermore, the Japanese carmaker confirmed that the Fit EV will only be produced 1,100 times with production coming to a halt in autumn.
bloomberg.com (Insight), transportevolved.com (Fit EV)

Flexible financing for BMW i3: BMW Group Financial Services has created the ‘OwnersChoice with Flex’ for buyers of the electric i3. The aim of the new offer is to give the customer the means to own a new i3 but at the same time offers end-of term options including the optional return of the car.
hybridcars.com