Nobina Sverige AB, Scandinavia’s largest bus operator, has placed an order with MAN Truck & Bus for 22 MAN Lion’s City E buses. (Earlier post.) The buses will enter service in Malmö. Following on from the order for 17 fully electric MAN Lion’s City E buses placed by the Hamburg-Holstein... Read more →

The electric Solaris Urbino bus will be tested on the streets of Athens over the next two months by public operator OSY. The capital city of Greece conducts trials on electric technology in regular passenger traffic to prepare for the growing electrification of its public transport system. In the next... Read more →

Volvo Trucks North America announced the commercial introduction and sales start of its zero tailpipe emission, battery-electric vehicle to the North American market. The Class 8 Volvo VNR Electric truck model has a scheduled production start of early 2021. The Volvo VNR Electric offers the same state-of-the-art agility and visibility... Read more →

BMW Group will end its involvement in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship at the end of the coming season. BMW has consistently supported the Formula E project from the beginning, and has enjoyed victories and podiums with the BMW i Andretti Motorsport team. BMW Group has always used... Read more →

Testing electrified and autonomous vehicles in public passenger transit is the goal of the RABus collaboration project. In the cities of Mannheim and Friedrichshafen, RABus self-driving buses will be tested in regular urban road traffic. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will accompany project work by studying demand, acceptance,... Read more →

AUDI AG plans a total investment of approximately €35 billion, in spite of a difficult business environment, to 2025. Some €17 billion of that, amounting to half of the investment sum, is allocated to future technologies alone. Audi has earmarked approximately €15 billion for electromobility and hybridization, thus underlining the... Read more →

Phihong, a leading global supplier of OEM power solutions, has released its new Level 3 DW Series 30kW Wall-Mount DC Fast Charger as an easy-to-install, customizable solution for commercial fleet management, highway service stations, and parking garage applications, as well as EV infrastructure operators, service providers, and EV dealer workshops... Read more →

Li-Cycle Corp., North America’s largest capacity lithium-ion battery recycling company, announced that its Spoke 2 facility at Eastman Business Park (EBP) in Rochester, New York is now fully operational. The company’s Spoke 2 will produce an intermediate mixed battery material product (“black mass”, typically a mixture of lithium, manganese, cobalt... Read more →

Motiv Power Systems announced its newest generation of EPIC chassis for medium-duty electric fleets. The fifth-generation EPIC F-59 and E-450 chassis have reduced the total number of components in the electric powertrain by 30%, while also improving range, acceleration, and top speed. The fifth-generation EPIC chassis incorporate BMW’s commercially-proven, high-performance... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group has unveiled its new Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), a dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV) platform. Revealed online during an ‘E-GMP Digital Discovery’ event, the platform will serve as the core technology for Hyundai Motor Group’s next-generation BEV line-up. From 2021, the E-GMP will underpin a range of... Read more →

Effective immediately, Mercedes-Benz Bank, together with the insurance partner R+V/KRAVAG, is offering new insurance policies especially for electric vans. Customers thus profit from modules that have been specially adapted to the requirements and characteristics of electric vehicles. The full coverage insurance includes coverage for inductive charging plates, charging cables and... Read more →

Lucid Motors announced completion of the first phase of construction at the new Lucid AMP-1 (Advanced Manufacturing Plant) factory in Casa Grande, AZ, with the commissioning of production equipment and processes underway ahead of start of production for Lucid Air in Spring of 2021. Lucid designed the AMP-1 with a... Read more →

UK-based electrified powertrain engineering consultancy Drive System Design (DSD) announced a strategic expansion of its test facilities, adding two further test cells for high-performance hybrid axles and e-machines. The move reflects a growing demand for outsourced test capacity suitable for electrified powertrains, as the industry prioritizes its development in response... Read more →

Renault Trucks is broadening its all-electric lineup. There is a now wider choice of batteries for medium-duty electric vehicles: the Renault Trucks D and D Wide Z.E can now accommodate 66 kWh battery packs. Furthermore, the Renault Trucks Master Z.E. utility vehicle has just been released in a 3.5-tonne model.... Read more →

XL Fleet, a leading provider of vehicle electrification solutions for commercial and municipal fleets, has entered into a partnership with a commercial EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) supplier to begin the launch of its XL Grid division. XL Grid will provide charging infrastructure, energy storage and power solutions for electrified... Read more →

Audi will be competing in the famous Dakar Rally for the first time in 2022 with an innovative prototype. The alternative drive concept combines an electric drivetrain with a high-voltage battery and a highly efficient energy converter for the first time. Cross-country rallying will be the spearhead of the factory... Read more →

Volkswagen Group of America opened a large electric vehicle charge park at the Innovation and Engineering Center California (IECC) – Silicon Valley Campus. In addition to 11 existing charging stations on campus, a total of 51 new charging stations are now fully operable on the property and accessible to the... Read more →

The Product Development group at ArcelorMittal Tailored Blanks (AMTB) has developed a novel floor ring which integrates battery and occupant protection in battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The concept enables OEMs to integrate BEV powertrains in existing body architectures for internal combustion engine (ICE) models. The floor ring concept integrates passenger... Read more →

Lotus Engineering is launching a pilot containerized battery testing facility to assess energy storage solutions for the booming EV sector. It will allow Lotus Engineering to carry out various battery cell, module and pack characterization tests, performance evaluations, and component and lifetime testing under controlled conditions. Early feasibility study support... Read more →

Volkswagen Group Components is the central supplier for the first models of the new Volkswagen ID. family and numerous other Group brand models based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). Volkswagen Group Components contributes around 40% of the overall added value of the first fully electric SUV by the... Read more →

Audi is now enabling faster charging with alternating current (AC). Effective immediately, e-tron 55 and e-tron Sportback 55 customers can order a second on-board charger that doubles the power from 11 kW to as much as 22 kW at appropriate charging terminals. This option will follow for the e-tron 50... Read more →

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is focusing on electromobility and with the ID. BUZZ brings its classic, the Bulli, to the road as a fully electric version. KUKA is responsible for the planning, delivery, assembly and commissioning of a fully automated body shop system for the underbody of the all-electric ID. BUZZ.... Read more →

ŠKODA AUTO has begun series production of the electric ENYAQ iV at its main plant in Mladá Boleslav. The battery-electric SUV is the first ŠKODA series production model based on the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electrification Toolkit (MEB). (Earlier post.) The ENYAQ iV is ŠKODA’s first series-production model that was designed... Read more →

Renault Trucks has delivered the first of twenty electric 26-tonne Renault Trucks D Wide Z.E. vehicles to Feldschlösschen, a subsidiary of the Carlsberg Group. We are proud to see our pioneering work with electric trucks, which began several years ago now, finally paying off. We are the first company in... Read more →

Audi has presented the new e-tron FE07 that has been developed by Audi Sport, with a new Audi MGU05 motor-generator unit. The electric racing car, with an all-new electric powertrain that was developed in-house for the first time, will make its debut on the race track during the test in... Read more →

SEAT has invested more than €30 million in recent years to create the most advanced powertrain test center in southern Europe. The facilities are equipped with nine multi-energy test benches, which enable different types of tests to be carried out on internal combustion, electric, hybrid and CNG engines, with the... Read more →

At the beginning of October, series production for battery-electric city buses started successfully at the MAN plant in Starachowice, Poland, beginning with the Lion’s City E in the 12-meter solo version. The first customer vehicles are now rolling off the assembly line for the Hamburg Holstein transport company (VHH). The... Read more →

Nissan launched the all-new Note compact car in Japan, with sales planned to begin 23 December. The new Note will come exclusively with Nissan’s e-POWER electrified powertrain (earlier post). As the company’s best-selling model in its home market, the car continues to play a key role in the Nissan NEXT... Read more →

The Volkswagen 2021 ID.4 electric SUV 1st Edition and Pro models officially have an EPA-estimated 250 miles of range on a single charge. The EPA-estimated fuel economy for city driving is 104 MPGe; highway driving is rated at 89 MPGe, and combined city/highway at 97 MPGe. The first models to... Read more →

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is starting high-volume production of its DIAvent pressure compensation component for the first time for use in a Chinese passenger car: the new ARCFOX α-T electric car from the Chinese manufacturer Beijing Electric Vehicles (BJEV). In 2017, Freudenberg introduced the innovative pressure compensation element DIAvent. In batteries... Read more →

MAHLE has commissioned a test bench for electric drives in Stuttgart/Germany. This equipment will be used to develop and test e-axles and e-drive units for a wide range of electric and hybrid vehicles. The first test on a unit was successfully performed on behalf of a customer just a few... Read more →

Solaris has delivered an electric Urbino 12 school bus to the commune of Gręboszów in Poland. The purchase of the eco-friendly vehicle was subsidized by the NFOŚiGW (the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management) as part of the “Kangaroo: A Safe and Environmentally Friendly Way to School” program.... Read more →

Ebusco, supplier of electric buses & chargers and Rocsys, supplier of EV charging automation, will provide a fully automated charging solution at bus depots. The innovative Rocsys robotics solution ensures that the CCS plug of the depot charger is plugged into the bus automatically and 100% correctly. As a part... Read more →

Xpeng Inc., a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle company, announced its next-generation autonomous driving architecture at Auto Guangzhou 2020. The company is incorporating lidar as a new hardware component for its next-generation autonomous driving architecture, significantly improving the vehicle’s high-precision object recognition performance. The new hardware architecture is a combination... Read more →

Proterra announced that Broward County Transit (BCT) has agreed to purchase 12 40-foot Proterra ZX5 battery-electric transit buses with 660 kWh of onboard energy and the DuoPower drivetrain. With Broward County’s purchase, Proterra has now sold more than 1,000 battery-electric transit buses in North America. Introduced in September, the Proterra... Read more →

DHL is piloting four BYD Class 8 battery-electric trucks in the Los Angeles market, just in time for the peak holiday shipping season. Equipped with a comfortable air-ride cab and air suspension, the trucks have more than enough power and torque to operate at 82,000 lbs. combined weight. DHL plans... Read more →

Yachts de Luxe (YdL) of Singapore has placed a commercial 10-year worldwide contract with OXIS Energy valued at $5 million to build the world’s first luxury boat to be powered by Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) battery cells and battery systems technology. The objective is to achieve a range between 70 and 100... Read more →

General Motors announced that Factory ZERO, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, the company’s all-electric vehicle assembly plant, is the first automotive plant in the US to install dedicated 5G fixed mobile network technology. Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband service is operating now at Factory ZERO, with its exponential increases in both bandwidth and... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced that the application period is now open for the “Zero-Emission Drayage Truck and Infrastructure Pilot Project.” (GFO-20-606) Eligible applicants to this competitive solicitation include local air districts, California-based public entities, and California-based non-profit organizations. The total funding... Read more →

Nuvve Corporation, a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology company, and Lion Electric, an original equipment manufacturer of all-electric heavy-duty vehicles based in Québec, are collaborating to launch vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology as a standard feature of Lion’s zero-emission school buses. Lion recently launched LionA, an all-electric mini school bus, on top of an... Read more →

In a brief describing the suspension of the new ID.4 electric SUV, Volkswagen noted that the ID.4 uses the new, networked Vehicle Dynamics Manager (VDM) introduced with the new Golf. In front-wheel drive Golfs, the VDM coordinates and activates the functions of the electronically controlled front-axle locking differential (standard in... Read more →

General Motors Co. Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said that the company will offer 30 all-electric models globally by mid-decade; 40% of the company’s US entries will be battery electric vehicles by the end of 2025. Barra also announced an increase in GM’s financial commitment to EVs and AVs (autonomous... Read more →

South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), in collaboration with Pukyong National University and Chosun University, has embarked on a joint research project to develop the next-generation of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). This project was selected for the first-half 2020 Samsung Research Funding Program for Future... Read more →

The BMW Group is speeding up the shift towards electromobility and strengthening its global network for production of electrified vehicles. The company is investing €400 million in a new vehicle assembly at the main plant in Munich. The new assembly in Munich will be built on the site currently used... Read more →

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the government will accelerate the ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles, bringing it forward by ten years to 2030, as part of a “Green Industrial Revolution.” The sale of hybrid cars will be allowed until 2035. Johnson announced the... Read more →

Broader collaboration among key stakeholders and a new generation of finance solutions will be needed to electrify trucks and buses at scale by 2050, according to a report released today by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), MJ Bradley and Vivid Economics. To ensure and accelerate the transition, we must move beyond... Read more →

The California Center for Jobs & The Economy has released an updated report (earlier post) on vehicle sales and the progress of ZEV sales in the state for Q3 2020. The report is based on sales data from the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA). The data show total new... Read more →

California electric utilities are teaming up with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to offer the California Clean Fuel Reward (CCFR), a point-of-sale price reduction of up to $1,500 for the purchase or lease of any eligible new Battery Electric or Plug-in Hybrid vehicle (BEV or PHEV) from a participating... Read more →

The MINI brand presented the MINI Vision Urbanaut—a digital concept vehicle intended to provide an example of MINI’s possible future directions. MINI sees its future self primarily as an enabler of and companion for unforgettable times—what we might call ‘MINI moments’. The MINI Vision Urbanaut uses three curated MINI moments—“Chill”,... Read more →

ChargePoint, one of the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging networks, now works with Apple CarPlay, taking another step towards making the transition to electric mobility more seamless for drivers. This new integration brings essential EV charging data inside the vehicle, allowing drivers to easily access charging information directly from... Read more →