Show #761   Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Monday 27th April 2020. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.   Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.     BMW IX3 OFFICIAL IMAGES ALLEGEDLY LEAKED ON INSTAGRAM "BMW has yet to officially reveal the model, though that could happen soon now that official images of the iX3 have allegedly leaked online. The iX3 in the new images is identical to the crossover in the older leaked photo. The grille, headlights, front fender vent, lower fascia, and the sharp crease down the side all match. Even the blue accents are there." says Motor1.com: "BMW’s trademark chunky taillights are here as is a neat iX3 badge, though BMW hadn’t been trying to hide either. Blue accents in the lower bumper are a stand-in for the missing tailpipes, purposefully drawing attention to its all-electric powertrain. The iX3 will use a 74-kilowatt-hour battery with the single electric motor making 286 horsepower (210 kilowatts) and 296 pound-feet (400 Newton-meters) of torque, and it’ll power the rear wheels. It’ll have an estimated range of 273 miles (440 kilometers) in Europe’s forgiving WLTP test. Its U.S. EPA range doesn’t matter for now, as BMW said last month that it has no plans to bring the iX3 to the U.S. market."   https://www.motor1.com/news/414987/bmw-ix3-official-images-leaked/   BMW X8 M RUMORED TO BE A PHEV "Trademark documents posted online a couple weeks ago revealed to us that the BMW X8 M could be on the horizon. Today, a report from Car claims the X8 M will be a PHEV." according to Autoblog "Markus Flash, head of BMW M division, indicated last year that if it brings plug-in hybrid tech to M cars, it’d be with the larger, heavier ones. He’s talking about crossovers like the X5 M, X6 M and potentially, the X8 M. Car’s report claims the X8 M PHEV would make about 750 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque. BMW would use its 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 in concert with an electric motor to reach those sky-high power numbers. Introducing the first M PHEV as the most powerful M car ever doesn’t sound like the worst of ideas to swat the doubters aside."   https://www.autoblog.com/2020/04/27/bmw-x8-m-phev-rumor/   2020 AUDI A6 AVANT GETS PLUG-IN HYBRID POWERTRAIN IN EUROPE "Audi added the A6 Avant to its growing range of plug-in hybrid models. The plug-in hybrid system is built around a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 252 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque; it's the same turbo four that powers the electrified variants of the A7 and Q5" reports Autoblog: "It joins forces with an electric motor connected to a 14.1-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack to send 362 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque to the four wheels. Audi quotes a 5.7-second zero-to-62-mph time, and a 155-mph top speed, though the latter figure drops to 84 mph when the turbo four is off."   31 miles of all electric range.   https://www.autoblog.com/2020/04/27/audi-a6-avant-e-quattro-phev-europe/   TESLA’S SOFTWARE AND FULL SELF-DRIVING INFRASTRUCTURE HAS VOLKSWAGEN ‘WORRIED’ "Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess is worried about Tesla’s lead in self-driving and software. In an internal Volkswagen e-mail that leaked this past weekend, Diess discussed Tesla’s impressive system for improving its vehicle’s self-driving capability. Diess seemed to admit that Tesla’s full self-driving infrastructure is far superior to any other mainstream automaker today." writes Teslarati: "Diess said: “What worries me the most is the capabilities in the assistance systems. 500,000 Teslas function as a neural network that continuously collects data and provides the customer a new driving experience every 14 days with improved p