According to United Nations forecasts, two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050. To offer personal mobility to people living in places where space is at a premium, Schaeffler is working on technology concepts such as the Schaeffler Mover for which the technology group has developed... Read more →

Municipal transport operator MPK in Poznań, Poland and Solaris Bus & Coach signed a contract for the delivery of 21 electric buses: 15 articulated and 6 standard length. Pursuant to the agreement the whole order is to be completed by the end of February 2020. The total contract value is... Read more →

Porsche has commissioned a fully electric MAN eTGM (earlier post) for logistics operations at its Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen site. The truck is the first vehicle of this kind that has gone into series production in Germany. Both Porsche and MAN are members of the Volkswagen Group. The electric 32-tonne truck will soon... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board on Friday approved the Innovative Clean Transit regulation (ICT) (earlier post)—a first-of-its-kind regulation in the US that sets a statewide goal for public transit agencies to gradually transition to 100% zero-emission bus (ZEB) fleets by 2040. The ICT is part of a statewide effort to... Read more →

Hyundai has taken two out of the ten spots in the 2019 WardsAuto 10 Best Engine competition with the all-new 2019 NEXO FCEV fuel cell vehicle and 2019 Kona Electric CUV. (Earlier post.) This marks the tenth time Hyundai has earned a WardsAuto 10 Best Engine recognition since the awards’... Read more →

In 2016, ZF and Venturi formed a technology partnership for the FIA Formula E. For the fifth season of the championship, ZF has developed an electric driveline for Venturi that includes an electric motor as well as newly developed transmission and power electronics. New Formula E rules this year will... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved Electrify America’s plan to invest its second $200 million in California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure and education programs. In finding that Electrify America’s Cycle 2 California ZEV Investment Plan meets or exceeds all requirements of the 2.0L Partial Consent Decree, CARB moved... Read more →

In Germany, the FastCharge research consortium (earlier post) has presented a prototype for a charging station with an output of up to 450 kW in Jettingen-Scheppach, located near the A8 motorway between Ulm and Augsburg. The new charging station is suitable for electric models of all brands with the European... Read more →

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL), a leading global supplier and manufacturer of lithium-ion battery products for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage facilities, is renewing its commitment to the US market by opening its first North American sales and service facility. CATL has established partnerships with several US-based businesses... Read more →

Volvo Trucks will introduce all-electric Volvo VNR regional-haul demonstrators in California next year, operating in distribution, regional-haul and drayage operations. Sales of the VNR Electric in North America will begin in 2020. The Volvo VNR Electric demonstration units will be based on the proven propulsion and energy storage technology currently... Read more →

At CES 2019 in January, Honda will debut its Wireless Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) system, co-developed with WiTricity—a bi-directional energy management system that has the potential to reduce CO2 and create new value for customers. Honda’s V2G solution leverages WiTricity’s DRIVE 11 wireless charging platform, which creates a seamless and efficient two-way... Read more →

Bio-Hybrid GmbH, a company belonging to the Schaeffler Group, will present the near-production Bio-Hybrid (earlier post)—a new, modern form of personal urban mobility and means of transportation—at CES 2019. The variable and electrically assisted vehicles will be showcased in Las Vegas in the Cargo and Passenger versions. At the same... Read more →

The BMW Group is investing around €200 million in its Munich plant in preparation for series production of the BMW i4 electric vehicle, which will be manufactured at the company’s headquarters starting in 2021. The BMW Group is pursuing the strategy of producing fully electric vehicles together with plug-in hybrids... Read more →

Daimler will buy more than €20 billion (US$23 billion) of battery cells for electric drive vehicles by 2030, the company announced. The suppliers are already producing battery cells in Asia and Europe and are continuing to expand in Europe and additionally in the US. Daimler currently has battery cell supply... Read more →

Next-Battery, a start-up developing high energy-density Li-ion battery technology, has secured a strategic relationship with Lvchi Automobile Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd. LVCHI AUTO group is a whole value chain operation platform company that focuses on new electric vehicles (EV), with targeted annual production of more than 500,000 vehicles. The global... Read more →

The new electric car brand Aion S—recently unveiled at Auto Guangzhou 2018 by GAC NE, GAC MOTOR’s new energy vehicle arm—will be the first line of cars to adopt Nidec’s fully integrated traction motor system (E-Axle) (earlier post). The super e-car with a driving mileage of more than 500 kilometers... Read more →

On 15 December, the new BMW iFE.18 and the BMW i Andretti Motorsport Team will contest their first race in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Ad Diriyah (KSA). At the heart of the car, which was developed for Season 5, lies the drivetrain: the Racing eDrive01. Drivetrain components:... Read more →

Volvo Buses is participating in a research project in which used electric bus batteries are used as solar energy storage units. Batteries from electric bus route 55 in Gothenburg, Sweden are being used for solar energy storage in a second-life application. This is part of a research project in which... Read more →

eMotorWerks, a subsidiary of the Enel Group’s new advanced energy services business line Enel X, and LO3 Energy, a company that facilitates local energy marketplaces through blockchain-based services, have launched a partnership to use JuiceNet’s smart-grid control technology for a series of microgrid + EVs projects with the joint goal... Read more →

Automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler predicts that in 2030 some 30% of all newly registered passenger cars will be fully electric and 40% will be propelled by hybrid powertrains—i.e., 70% of all passenger cars will be using at least one electric motor as a source of propulsion. At CES 2019,... Read more →

In total, the Volkswagen brand will invest more than €11 billion in e-mobility, digitalization, autonomous driving and mobility services from 2019 to 2023, of which more than €9 billion (US$10.2 billion) will be spent on Volkswagen’s electrification offensive. The brand currently has two fully-electric cars in its program. This number... Read more →

BMW is providing the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis with ten battery-electric, BMW i3 models for 18 months. Eight of the pre-owned vehicles will be available soon for UC Davis faculty and staff to rent through the campus’s UC Drive program, which is managed by the Fleet Services... Read more →

Audi plans to spend approximately €14 billion (US$15.9 billion) in electric mobility, digitalization and autonomous driving from 2019 until the end of 2023. This includes investments in property, plant and equipment as well as research and development expenditure. Overall, the company’s total projected expenditure for the planning period of the... Read more →

Leading gear and drive solutions provider Oerlikon Graziano, together with Vocis, will show its latest hybrid and electric technologies at the forthcoming CTI Symposium 2018 in Berlin. Heading the product line-up will be H-RAM, the company’s hybrid rear axle module, which will also be detailed in a technical presentation. H-RAM... Read more →

A new European Joint Research Center (JRC) analysis on the deployment of electric vehicles (EV) in Europe concludes that although the sector evolved significantly between 2010 and 2017, progress is still small to be characterized as full-scale commercialization. In 2010, electric vehicles still represented a niche market. Since then, the... Read more →

Ford will begin commercial trials of the plug-in hybrid Transit Van in Cologne, Germany. This will extend to a third European city research into the use of plug-in hybrid electric vans that run solely on electric power for most city trips. From spring 2019, Ford, supported by the City of... Read more →

In Tokyo, Nissan unveiled the new Nissan LEAF NISMO RC, an electric race car with more than double the maximum power and torque output of its predecessor. The car, which was developed by Nissan’s racing arm, NISMO, with its race technology know-how, will officially debut on 2 December at the... Read more →

Rivian, an electric vehicle manufacturer, unveiled two “Electric Adventure Vehicles”—the R1T, an all-electric pickup and the R1S, an all-electric SUV—at events surrounding the LA Auto Show this week. The R1T, a 5-passenger pickup truck, made its debut at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles on 26 November and the R1S,... Read more →

Project partners thyssenkrupp System Engineering GmbH, IAV GmbH, Daimler AG and the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS are developing bipolar Li-ion batteries and processes for their fabrication in the EMBATT-goes-FAB project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. With the EMBATT battery, the... Read more →

The 2019 Kia Niro EV made its North American debut at the LA Auto Show. Energy and power for Niro EV comes from a liquid-cooled 64 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery packaged under the floor of the vehicle to allow for minimal passenger space intrusion. Combined Charging System (CCS) DC fast-charge... Read more →

Audi is presenting the battery-electric e-tron GT concept four-door coupé as a show car at the Los Angeles Auto Show. A volume-production counterpart is set to follow in around two years. The e-tron GT is Audi’s third electric vehicle, following the Audi e-tron SUV and the Audi e-tron Sportback slated... Read more →

The BMW Group unveiled the BMW Vision iNEXT concept at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The BMW Vision iNEXT represents a building block for the future of the BMW Group, encompassing technology, design and new ways of thinking that are set to filter through across the company and its brands.... Read more →

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) unveiled the e-Evolution Concept vehicle at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show, marking the vehicle’s North American debut. A technical prototype, the e-Evolution Concept incorporates the strengths of a sport utility vehicle (SUV), electric vehicle (EV), and the ability to integrate new systems for... Read more →

Kia Motors unveiled the new Soul EV, a completely new iteration of Kia’s award-winning electric compact crossover, at the LA Auto Show. The new Soul EV has a new liquid-cooled lithium-ion polymer 64 kWh battery pack with Combined Charging System (CCS) DC fast-charge as standard equipment. The Soul EV is... Read more →

Spain-based SEAT, a member of the Volkswagen Group, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Volkswagen Group China and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., Ltd (JAC) to advance e-mobility in China. Under the agreement, all parties will leverage their technology and product strengths to develop a battery electric vehicle platform for... Read more →

Working with Fermata Energy, a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems company, Nissan North America is launching a new pilot program under the Nissan Energy Share initiative which leverages bi‑directional EV charging technology to partially power its North American headquarters in Franklin, TN, and its design center in San Diego, CA. Bi-directional charging... Read more →

Audi, Airbus and Italdesign are presenting for the first time a flying and driving prototype of “Pop.Up Next”. This innovative concept for a flying taxi combines a self-driving electric car with a passenger drone. In the first public test flight, the flight module accurately placed a passenger capsule on the... Read more →

At the Los Angeles Auto Show, Volkswagen is showcasing two electric concepts. The I.D. BUZZ CARGO,in its auto show debut, is an electric panel van concept based on the MEB toolkit that offers up to 340 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. The electric Cargo e-Bike concept, in its... Read more →

General Motors on Monday outlined a series of major restructuring steps that it said would accelerate its transformation for the future, building on the strategy it laid out in 2015 to strengthen its core business, to capitalize on the future of personal mobility and to drive significant cost efficiencies. These... Read more →

Battery electric cars emit less greenhouse gases and air pollutants over their entire life cycle than petrol and diesel cars, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report. Promoting renewable energy and circular economy—including the shared use of vehicles and product design that supports reuse and recycling—will help maximize the... Read more →

ADEME, France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency, carried out a study with IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) on the dynamics of lithium supply and demand, based on different scenarios for the electrification of the global car fleet by 2050. The lithium market continues to grow; in 2015, the market grew by... Read more →

Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co., Ltd. will deliver 100 full electric buses to Chile. Having sent more than 20,000 vehicles to Latin America over the past 15 years, Yutong has become the leading Chinese bus supplier on the continent. The 100 full electric buses will be used by Buses Vule and... Read more →

MIT researchers have demonstrated that an aircraft with a 5-meter wingspan can sustain steady-level flight using ionic-wind propulsion. The aircraft has no moving parts, does not depend on fossil fuels to fly, and is completely silent. The researchers describe their proof of concept for electroaerodynamic (EAD) airplane propulsion in a... Read more →

The provincial government has put British Columbia on a path to require the sale of all new light-duty cars and trucks to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by the year 2040. The government will introduce legislation next spring to phase in targets for the sale of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). This legislation... Read more →

King County Metro, the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle, will soon begin testing long-range battery-powered buses that can travel more than 140 miles on a single charge, the latest milestone toward a zero-emission fleet. The latest models can travel nearly six times... Read more →

FedEx Corp. will add 1,000 Chanje V8100 electric delivery vehicles to its fleet. (Earlier post.) FedEx is purchasing 100 of the vehicles from Chanje Energy Inc and leasing 900 from Ryder System, Inc. The purpose-built electric vehicles will be operated by FedEx Express for commercial and residential pick-up and delivery... Read more →

New York State announced a series of broad-scale initiatives to encourage the purchase and to increase the convenience and accessibility of electric vehicles (EV). EVolve NY to Install Charging Stations along Major Corridors and JFK Airport. In the initial roll-out of its $250-million EVolve NY initiative, NYPA will deploy up... Read more →

BASF and the Research and Development Center of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd. (GAC R&D Center) introduced three co-developed electric concept cars at Auto Guangzhou 2018, featuring futuristic designs that address the diverse needs of China’s drivers. The three two-seat concept electric cars are designed by GAC R&D Center, with... Read more →

Over the coming five years to the end of 2023, the Volkswagen Group will be spending almost €44 billion alone on the e-mobility, autonomous driving, new mobility services and digitalization in its vehicles and at its plants. This represents approximately one-third of total expenditure for the 2019-2023 planning period and... Read more →

Schaeffler has begun volume production of transmissions for the electric drive in the Audi e-tron, marking a milestone for its E-Mobility business division. Developed and produced in plants in Herzogenaurach and Bühl, the product promises maximum driving pleasure while providing a high level of comfort and optimum noise performance. The... Read more →