Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has increased its Powerwall price by $500. The home battery system now costs $7,500. With few ready-to-install competitors and increasing government incentive credits, the unit is in high demand.

High demand:

• Tesla launched the Powerwall and its associated Powerpack in 2015.
• The company has installed over 100,000 home battery packs.
• Tesla increased the price of the Powerwall from $6,500 to $7,000 in October last year.
• Tesla also charges $1,000 for the Gateway and $3,500 installation cost.

Audi (NSU.DE) has revealed more details about its EV joint venture with FAW in China.

• In October 2020, Audi and FAW signed a memorandum of understanding during the German-Chinese Automotive Conference in Changchun, China.
• Audi AG and Volkswagen Group China will acquire a 60% stake in the company, with FAW controlling the remaining 40%.
• The German automaker produces EVs in four Chinese jurisdictions: Changchun, Foshan, Tianjin, and Qingdao.
• The joint venture's new sales arm, FAW-Audi Sales Co. Ltd, will sell the locally produced Audi EVs.
• Audi aims for EVs to account for one-third of all of its sales to China.

Microsoft invested in General Motors' (NYSE:GM) autonomous vehicle startup Cruise during its latest $2B funding round. According to the partnership deal, Cruise will use Microsoft Azure for its cloud-computing services.

• Note: General Motors acquired Cruise in 2016 for $1B. The company subsequently raised about $7B in funding during 2018 and 2019. This month's raise lifts Cruise's valuation to $30B (up from $19B in 2019).

Competitors:

• Google raised funds for its autonomous vehicle unit Waymo at a valuation of $30B last year.
• Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) acquired autonomous driving technology startup Zoox in a $1.2B deal last June.
• This month, Hyundai (005380.KS) announced that the company is in talks with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to manufacture autonomous electric cars.

GM has been testing its Ultium battery system within its Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle.

• In January, Cruise showed off its new vehicle, intended for ride-hailing usage.
• GM said the vehicle's battery packs would power five interchangeable drive units and three motors.
• The Ultium battery within the Cruise Origin has been tested in a fleet of autonomous Chevrolet Bolts used by Cruise Automation.
• Ultium is a joint venture between GM and battery manufacturer LG Chem.
• Ultium will power a series of vehicles from competing automakers, including Honda (7267.T).

A version of this story first appeared in Inside Business.

Buenos Aires-based e-commerce retailer MercadoLibre (MELI.BA) has announced plans to increase its EV fleet from 70 to 1,000. The company announced $1.1B of bonds to fund the expansion.

• MercadoLibre currently has an estimated 10,000 standard delivery vans operating in Brazil alone.
• The company's bonds worth $700M began trading on Jan. 7 and will be callable in 2031.
• According to Andre Chaves, senior VP at MercadoLibre, the company aims to increase its electric fleet by at least 14 times to 980 vehicles.

South Korean automaker KIA teased seven new EV models that will launch by 2027.

• KIA changed its logo and dropped "Motors" from its name earlier this month.
• The company is focusing on EV growth, mobility solutions, "lifestyle branding," and purpose-built vehicles.
• The models will be named simply Kia EV1 through Kia EV7.

SPI Energy (NASDAQ:SPI) subsidiary EdisonFuture and automotive design company Icona Design announced the beginning of a collaboration to design a range of EVs. Shares of SPI rallied 15% immediately following the announcement.

New vehicles:

• SPI's all-electric vehicles for both passenger and commercial applications will be manufactured and sold by EdisonFuture and its Phoenix Motorcars subsidiary.
• Under the collaboration, Icona will design new products, including pickup trucks and last-mile delivery vans. Icona has released a prototype image of an autonomous minibus.
• The prototypes will use an all-electric crossover platform. New materials will include solar-paneled surfaces, lightweight materials, and a new electric drivetrain architecture.
• SPI Energy's Phoenix Motorcars also appointed an early Tesla employee, Edmund Shen, as its new VP of Product Management.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) renewed its contract with Canada-based Advanced Battery Research group.

• Tesla also appointed a new head of the group: Jeff Dahn, a pioneer of lithium-ion battery cells.
• Dahn's R&D team has been filing patents covering battery technology for Tesla over the last few years.
• Dahn has been working on a new battery cell pack that he hopes could reach 1M miles of range.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) will produce its BrightDrop EV600 in its CAMI manufacturing plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. The $800M investment to begin production is subject to ratification of a tentative 2021 agreement between Unifor and the government. Note: We covered General Motors' (NYSE:GM) launch of BrightDrop from CES 2021 earlier this week.

Canada's largest EV factory:

• If ratified, General Motors' $800M investment will convert CAMI into Canada's first large-scale EV manufacturing plant.
• GM hopes to deliver the EV600 in late 2021.
• GM introduced BrightDrop to focus on enterprise and delivery customers.
• Initial products from the BrigthDrop program include the EP1 Electric e-pallet software and the EV600 light commercial vehicle.
• GM Canada is currently engaged in talks with the Ontario and federal governments regarding its new investment.

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