Tesla had to roll back its ‘Full Self-Driving’ free trial in China after a policy change brought more scrutiny to software updates for advanced driver assist systems.

Last month, Tesla launched a first version of its “Full Self-Driving” FSD package in China for owners with the latest “Hardware 4.0”, or “HW4”, vehicles.

The automaker made the system available through a free trial this month to try to encourage people to buy the system through an over-the-air software update.

However, Tesla halted the program this week.

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Grace Tao, Tesla’s Vice-President in charge of the Chinese market, announced on Weibo:

“Dear car owners, the application of Tesla’s intelligent assisted driving function in China has received widespread attention. Thank you for your support and feedback.

According to the requirements of the latest ‘Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Access, Recall and Online Software Upgrade of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Products’, the team is completing the approval of the 3.0 and 4.0 hardware corresponding to the intelligent assisted driving software.

All parties are actively promoting the relevant process, and once it is ready, it will be pushed to everyone as soon as possible.

We are looking forward to it, so please be patient and thank you again for your understanding and trust.”

She is referencing the newly introduced ‘Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Access, Recall and Online Software Upgrade of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Products’, a new set of rules to more closely regulate software updates in connected vehicles, especially regarding advanced driver assist (ADAS) features, like Tesla’s FSD.

The new set of rules includes a requirement that automakers “submit detailed technical information” before deploying a software update to their fleet over the air.

Based on the Tesla executive’s comment, it sounds like Tesla is going through this requirement now.

The new rules also strengthen recalls related to software updates and ADAS features and require automakers to report crashes involving those features.

Grace Tao mentioned Tesla is working on both HW3 and HW4 approval. In China, Tesla had only launched the new ADAS features based on its Full Self-Driving package on HW4 vehicles, which are equipped with a more powerful computer and better camera.

In North America, Tesla FSD is also available on HW3 vehicles, albeit with different, less-performing software.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently admitted that HW3 vehicles will not be able to achieve the promised unsupervised self-driving and will need to be retrofitted with more powerful computers.

Global energy demand spiked in 2024, driven largely by surging electricity use, according to a new report released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Electricity consumption jumped by nearly 1,100 terawatt-hours – a hefty 4.3% increase – nearly twice the annual average growth of the past decade.

This dramatic rise was largely fueled by the electrification of transportation, record-breaking global temperatures that ramped up cooling needs, coupled with increased industrial activity, and growing energy demand from data centers and AI applications.

Renewables were the real stars in meeting this rising energy need, according to the IEA’s latest edition of the Global Energy Review. The world installed roughly 700 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable power capacity last year, marking the 22nd consecutive record-setting year. Renewables, together with nuclear power – which saw its fifth-highest growth in three decades – accounted for a massive 80% of the global electricity supply increase. Together, renewables and nuclear reached a milestone, covering 40% of total global electricity generation for the first time.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol highlighted the key takeaway: “What is certain is that electricity use is growing rapidly, pulling overall energy demand along with it to such an extent that it is enough to reverse years of declining energy consumption in advanced economies.” He also emphasized the positive shift: “The strong expansion of solar, wind, nuclear power, and EVs is increasingly loosening the links between economic growth and emissions.”

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Among fossil fuels, natural gas saw the largest increase, up by 115 billion cubic meters (bcm), or 2.7%, driven primarily by rising electricity demand, compared with an average of around 75 bcm annually over the past decade.

EV sales surged by over 25% in 2024, now making up 1 in every 5 cars sold globally, and this had a notable impact on oil demand, which grew modestly, at just 0.8%. Oil notably fell below 30% of total energy demand for the first time ever, 50 years after it peaked at 46%.

Coal, despite increasing by 1%, slowed its growth significantly compared to previous years, with intense heatwaves in China and India accounting for over 90% of this rise.

Meanwhile, emissions data painted an encouraging picture: CO2 emissions in advanced economies fell by 1.1% to to 10.9 billion tonnes in 2024 – a level not seen in 50 years, even as their economies have tripled in size. Record temperatures contributed significantly to the annual 0.8% rise in global CO2 emissions to 37.8 billion tonnes. But the rapid adoption of clean energy technologies since 2019 is now preventing 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 annually – the equivalent of 7% of global emissions.

Dr. Birol summed it up: “From slowing global oil demand growth and rising deployment of electric cars to the rapidly expanding role of electricity and the increasing decoupling of emissions from economic growth, many of the key trends the IEA has identified ahead of the curve are showing up clearly in the data for 2024.”

Read more: Tripling renewables globally by 2030 is doable, says new IEA report

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We already know that BMW closed off 2024 with a banner year for its electrified “i” models – but it took a while for the larger picture to become clear. Not only is BMW succeeding with EVs, the Bavarians are outselling their two closest competitors combined. (!)

First things first – we need to look at the numbers: BMW sold delivered 368,523 units to customers globally, representing a nearly 12% growth in EV deliveries for the brand year-over-year (YoY). Perhaps more EVs made up fully 16.7% of the brand’s 2,200,217 unit total for 2024.

Arch-rival Mercedes-Benz, despite their highly publicized EQ branding and bespoke electric vehicle platforms, could only move 185,059 of its lozenge-shaped EQ models in 2024 (down a staggering 23% from 2023, which could be attributed to the cancellation of several German EV incentive programs if it weren’t for its competitor’s growth).

Over at Audi it’s more of the same, with the four rings brand moving 164,480 EVs in 2024 (7.8% less than the 178,429 units they managed to move in 2023).

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Neither of the Bavarians’ German rivals’ EVs cracked 10% of their companies’ overall sales, either – which begs the question: what gives? Are BMW’s electric vehicles really that much better than Audi’s and Mercedes’, or is something else driving the Ultimate Driving Machines’ successful growth in the electric vehicle segment?

BMW is setting, exceeding expectations

The 2025 US Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Ownership Study from J.D. Power tells us that more people are more satisfied with their EV experience than last year – and (in the US, at least) the EV owners who are the most satisfied with their rides can be found behind the wheel of the BMW iX, followed closely by the BMW i4.

The reason BMW is consistently pulling ahead comes down to education. “First-time EV buyers are receiving minimal education or training,” explains Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power. “Dealer and manufacturer representatives play the crucial role of front-line educators, but when it comes to EVs, the specific education needed to shorten the learning curve just isn’t happening often enough. The shortfall in buyer education is something we’re seeing with all brands.”

When an average car buyer is told, “this car can add 200 miles of range in 20 minutes” by an enthusiastic salesperson, they’ll expect that to be the case whenever they connect to a public charging station. And why wouldn’t they? If their entire fueling experience has been with gasoline, it’s highly unlikely that they’ve every thought about kW or kWh or amps or volts or what any of those things have to do with one another.

BMW dealers fully explain these things as part of their standard delivery practice through the company’s Genius program. Cunningly cribbed from Apple’s Genius Bar playbook, BMW (and, by extension, Mini) offers the best EV customer training in the car business. “With that in mind,” I wrote, when BMW’s second consecutive J.D. Power win came to light, “it’s hard to imagine this going down any other way.”

This advice applies everywhere

I stand by that, but what do you think? Is this a question of customer service, are BMW’s new EVs really the best in the business, or is Audi’s “expensive Volkswagen” business model simply not viable in 2025? Scroll down to the comments and let us know what you think makes the electrified BMW’s the Ultimate Selling Machines.

On your way there, check out a few of these great deals on new BMW EVs:

Original content from Electrek; source links throughout.