Tencent, Fisker, LTC, Kia, Turkey, China

Tencent acquires Tesla shares: Chinese internet giant Tencent has accumulated a 5% ownership stake in Tesla worth 1.8bn dollars. The technology specialist already got shares of EV start-ups like Future Mobility and NextEV but observers believe that perhaps the new investment is linked to Tesla’s plan to produce in China some day. News of Tencent’s investment led to the constellation that Tesla’s market capitalisation on Wall Street surpassed Ford’s for the first time.
usatoday.com, cnbc.com, electrek.co, electrek.co (Wall Street)

More than 700 km with one charge: Fisker confirms that its luxury EV EMotion hits the road in the course of this year with graphene-based batteries that allow for a 640 km range (we reported). But CEO Henrik Fisker now said, that this is by no means the end of the story: By 2019 he intends to extend the range to up to 700 km, and by 2024 Fisker wants to crack the 1,000 km benchmark, while reducing charging time significantly.
www.lifepr.de

New cash for extended plans: After opening its new UK plant in Ansty on Wednesday, the London Taxi Company (LTC) announces to additionally invest 25m pounds in order to build electric vans there as well. As reported, the company, which is owned by China’s Geely, originally put 300m pounds to mass produce 20,000 electric cabs with range extender every year and further details on the launch of their vans will follow.
europe.autonews.com

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Promising logo: With a mysterious “E” insignia logo Kia is currently on everyone’s lips. The logo appeared in a trademark application at the European Union Intellectual Property Office and suggests that the Korean carmaker may launch a sub-brand to realise its electrification strategy. So far, Kita is solely with its Soul EV on the electric vehicle market. But already by 2018, the manufacturer plans to release an electric version of its Niro.
www.autoguide.com

Electric buses made in Turkey: The Turkish companies Bozankaya and Karsan have signed a cooperation agreement as they seek to produce a considerable amount of electric buses in the province of Bursa. According to the paper, both partners intend to produce 900 models of Bozankaya’s E-Karat in the framework of a three-year contract.
dailysabah.com

China is pushing up the pace: 2016 China accounted for 43 percent of EV world production (870,000 electric vehicles), followed by Germany with 23 percent and the USA with 17 percent. This statistic is one among other key findings of McKinsey & Company’s current Electric Vehicle Index (EVI).
automotive-eetimes.com, automotiveit.com