Stellantis has made a €50-million equity investment in lithium producer Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd. and extended the original binding lithium hydroxide offtake agreement (earlier post) to 2035. With the resultant 8% shareholding, Stellantis will become the second-largest shareholder in Vulcan. The equity investment will go towards Vulcan’s planned production expansion... Read more →

A group of leading German companies along with Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) has released a green hydrogen roadmap, outlining a set of recommendations for government and industry, to meet the ambitious target of importing large amounts of green hydrogen from Australia to Germany. The Green Hydrogen Taskforce, created earlier... Read more →

Ford in Europe has chosen its plant in Valencia, Spain, as the preferred site to assemble vehicles based on a next-generation electric vehicle architecture. Pending product approval, the Valencia plant could produce the electric and connected vehicles beginning later this decade. Ford is also moving forward with a $2-billion conversion... Read more →

A new analysis by European environmental NGO Transport & Environment finds that Europe burns more than 17,000 tonnes of rapeseed and sunflower oil every day—the equivalent of 19 million 1-liter bottles. This has contributed to spiralling food price rises as well as empty supermarket shelves in the wake of Russia’s... Read more →

Enel X, Enel's subsidiary dedicated to innovative products and services, together with EV maker Arrival, have entered into a partnership to test the battery-electric bus in Italy. The aim is to foster the growth of electrified public transport globally through increasingly high-performance and competitive solutions. The tests will be carried... Read more →

The Abfallentsorgungs-Gesellschaft Ruhrgebiet mbH (AGR), a waste management company in Herten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, has put a converted DAF CF 340 hydrogen fuel cell truck into operation as part of the EU-funded HECTOR (Hydrogen Waste Collection Vehicles in North West Europe) project. The aim of the project, which involves seven... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. and Toyota Motor Europe N.V. (TME) announced the expansion of their existing partnership with an agreement for a new large-size commercial van, including a battery electric version. The new vehicle marks the third body type under the agreement, completing a full LCV line-up, with compact-, mid- and now... Read more →

Nippon Shokubai and Arkema are joining forces to launch feasibility studies and establish a joint venture for the construction of an industrial plant for the production of LiFSI (Lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide) ultrapure electrolyte salt, a key component of battery cells for electric mobility. Ultrapure and high performance LiFSI electrolyte salts, a... Read more →

Madrid’s Municipal Transport Company (Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid - EMT) has awarded another order to Irizar e-mobility, this time consisting of 90 buses. This latest order means that EMT Madrid will now have a total of 175 zero-emissions Irizar buses in its fleet. The zero-emissions Irizar vehicles will... Read more →

GVB, the public transport company of Amsterdam, is further expanding its electric fleet with 84 new generation VDL Citeas. These vehicles, based entirely on an electric powertrain, will be deployed from 2023 onwards. The framework contract includes an option for a further 130 new VDL Citeas, which in the coming... Read more →

Air Liquide, CaetanoBus and Toyota Motor Europe have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of developing integrated hydrogen solutions. This will include infrastructure development and vehicle fleets to accelerate the expansion of hydrogen mobility for both light- and heavy-duty vehicles. The partnership reflects the shared ambition of the... Read more →

The European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted this week, with 46 votes in favor, 40 against and two abstentions, a position on proposed rules to revise the CO2 emission performance standards for new cars and vans in line with the EU’s increased climate... Read more →

EMT, the public bus operator in the City of Madrid, has ordered 60 Urbino 12 electric buses from Solaris, featuring high energy batteries and pantograph charging which will ensure high operability in all kinds of conditions. The contract value is more than €30 million. EMT Madrid intends to turn 25%... Read more →

UK Transport Minister Trudy Harrison announced more than £200 million (US$244 million) of government funding will be injected into an extensive zero-emission road freight demonstrator program. The 3-year comparative programme will begin later this year to help decarbonize the UK’s freight industry with initial competitions for battery-electric and hydrogen-fuel-cell technology... Read more →

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton and European electrolyzer manufacturers last week met in Brussels to discuss how to increase industry’s capacity to produce electrolyzers used to produce clean hydrogen. The Commissioner and 20 industry CEOs signed a Joint Declaration whereby industry committed to a tenfold increase of its... Read more →

Arrival, inventor of a new method of design and production of electric vehicles (EVs) by local Microfactories, announced that its Arrival Bus (earlier post) has achieved EU certification and received European Whole Vehicle Type Approval (EUWVTA). Arrival successfully completed all required system safety testing to achieve EUWVTA. This major milestone... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group and SEAT S.A. will invest €10 billion, together with their partners in the Future: Fast Forward project, in the event of a positive resolution of their application to PERTE VEC. (earlier post) In March, the Group said it would invest €7 billion. Last week, the 62 national... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Mobility and BMW Group intend to sell their car-sharing joint venture SHARE NOW to Stellantis. The three companies recently signed an agreement to this effect and agreed not to disclose the details of the transaction. It is also subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities. SHARE NOW... Read more →

Morrow Batteries (Morrow) and IBU-tec advanced materials AG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development and qualification of large-scale supply of European LFP (Lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO4) cathode material to Morrow Batteries’ planned lithium-ion battery cell facility in Eyde Energy Park, Arendal, Norway. IBU-tec would supply up... Read more →

Umicore and Automotive Cells Company (ACC)—a joint company between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies together with its subsidiary Saft—have signed a long-term strategic supply agreement for EV cathode materials in Europe. Umicore will supply ACC’s future large-scale European battery plants with next-generation high-nickel cathode materials out of its greenfield production plant... Read more →

Volkswagen and bp have launched a strategic partnership that will boost the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) across Europe, unveiling their first charger in Dusseldorf, Germany. The partnership aims to transform access to EV charging in key European markets by rapidly building a fast-charging network across Europe by 2024 and... Read more →

IVECO, a brand of Iveco Group N.V. and Eni signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to explore potential cooperation on sustainable mobility initiatives in the commercial vehicle sector in Europe and accelerate the decarbonization of transport. IVECO and Eni aim to define an integrated sustainable mobility platform for commercial fleets... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) first quarter sales volume of 284,506 vehicles showed a marginal change of -1% year-on-year while outperforming the total market, which declined by -14%. Across the same period, TME achieved its best first-quarter market share of 7.6%, an increase of +1% point year-on-year. The strong demand for... Read more →

Two pan-European projects—the ZEFER (Zero Emission taxi Fleets for European Rollout) and H2ME2 (Hydrogen Mobility Europe) projects, both funded by Europe’s Clean Hydrogen Partnership—have deployed 100 hydrogen taxis in Copenhagen with app-based taxi company DRIVR. The Toyota Mirais run on green hydrogen from renewable energy, following the installation and opening... Read more →

Hylane GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of DEVK Versicherung, one of Germany’s largest motor insurers, has purchased 18 fuel-cell-electric trucks from Hyzon Motors, with deliveries expected to begin in late 2022. Under Hylane’s sustainable mobility model, fleet owners can deploy Hyzon vehicles in their operations through a rental agreement with... Read more →

Ford Pro is now shipping the first production units of its all-electric E-Transit van to customers across Europe from the Ford Otosan factory in Kocaeli, Turkey, a milestone that closely follows the start of deliveries to US customers from Kansas City Assembly Plant in February. Following strong early demand for... Read more →

In the new environment of energy insecurity intensified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting response from the West, the UK government has released a new British Energy Security Strategy that sets out how Great Britain will accelerate the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, while supporting... Read more →

Germany is awarding some €600 million to transport companies for the purchase of climate friendly buses. Around 1,700 buses will be procured by the transport companies with this tranche of funding from the new “Directive on the Promotion of Alternative Drives of Buses in Passenger Transport”. Around 1,400 are battery-electric;... Read more →

A consortium of shipping stakeholders aims to develop demonstrators for two-stroke and four-stroke marine engines running on ammonia fuel. The Ammonia 2-4 project seeks to advance viable concepts for ammonia fuel. The project is coordinated by technology group Wärtsilä, with participation from naval architects C-Job, classification society DNV, ship owner... Read more →

From June 2022, there will be a new tariff system for the approximately 300,000 charging points in the Mercedes me Charge network in Europe. Mercedes me Charge will offer three new charging tariffs tailored to individual driving performance. Mercedes me Charge offers customers access to more than 850 charging point... Read more →

The Jeep is ending the sale in France of non-electrified internal combustion engines (ICE) on all the Renegade and Compass ranges; the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee being already only available in 4xe plug-in hybrid versions. e-Hybrid versions of Renegade and Compass replace ICE engines, including diesel versions. Customers can... Read more →

IVECO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Enel X, the Enel Group company dedicated to developing and selling innovative energy services and solutions for the electrification of consumptions and mobility. Under the terms of the non-binding MoU, IVECO and Enel X plan to explore a possible collaboration that will... Read more →

Germany’s Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr (BMDV) has awarded around €160 million to support the electrification of public transport in Hamburg and the surrounding area. The recipients of the funding are Hamburger Hochbahn AG and Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein GmbH (VHH). These are the first funding notices to be awarded to transport... Read more →

Transit operator Miejski Zakład Komunikacji in Grudziądz, Poland signed a contract for the delivery of 17 Solaris electric buses. The contract covers not only the delivery of the vehicles, but also of the charging devices, including pantograph chargers. The buses and the charging infrastructure will be delivered to the city... Read more →

In support of the Danish initiative to promote the production and development of green e-methanol (earlier post), Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) is partnering with Circle K Denmark, Aalborg University, and Fonden Green Hub Denmark to collaborate on a 15-month test and demonstration trial for green e-methanol fuel and... Read more →

In Europe, Honda has unveiled the all-new Civic e:HEV, the 11th generation of its iconic global compact car. The all-new hybrid Civic features Honda’s e:HEV powertrain technology as standard, and completes the brand’s mission to electrify all its mainstream European models by the end of 2022. Honda’s e:HEV (hybrid electric... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group will apply to Spain’s Electric Vehicle PERTE program after the Spanish government announced it will open the call for applications on 1 April 2022. The Group’s ‘Future Fast Forward’ program would include a total investment of more than €7 billion together with external suppliers along the entire... Read more →

Stellantis, TotalEnergies/Saft and Mercedes-Benz have finalized the agreement to bring Mercedes-Benz onboard as a new, equal partner of Automotive Cells Company (ACC). (Earlier post.) The partners have committed to increase ACC’s industrial capacity to at least 120 GWh by 2030. By then, its French (Billy-Berclau/Douvrin) and German (Kaiserslautern) plants will... Read more →

Solaris will deliver 30 articulated Urbino 18 buses to Dortmund at the end of 2022. This investment by public transport operator Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG in electric Urbino buses is a component of the city’s long-term strategy to reduce environmental pollution and noise in the urban area. The buses will be... Read more →

Northvolt intends to establish a battery gigafactory in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. With an annual potential production capacity of 60 GWh, Northvolt Drei will deliver a supply of sustainably produced lithium-ion batteries to the European market, sufficient for some one million electric vehicles. The new gigafactory increases Northvolt’s pipeline of... Read more →

Ford Motor Company and the Volkswagen Group are expanding their e-mobility partnership. (Earlier post.) Ford, which just announced plans to introduce another 7 EVs in Europe by 2024 (earlier post), plans to produce an electric model for the European market based on the MEB platform. The automaker will also double... Read more →

Ford will offer a new generation of seven, all-electric, fully-connected passenger vehicles and vans in Europe by 2024. The announcement builds on the recent creation of the Ford Model e business unit focused on the design, production, and distribution of electric and connected vehicles (earlier post). With its extended range... Read more →

Europe has become the fastest growing region for new electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion battery capacity outside of China, according to Benchmark Minerals. Just three and a half years ago, Benchmark’s lithium-ion Battery Gigafactory Assessment (September 2018) reported Europe’s battery cell capacity to be at 120GWh by 2030—enough cells for 2.2... Read more →

Mazda Motor Europe unveiled its new crossover SUV, the CX-60. The CX-60 is the first of Mazda’s Large Product group models, and offers (European specification model) e-Skyactiv PHEV, Mazda’s first plug-in hybrid system featuring a 2.5-liter in-line four-cylinder Skyactiv-G gasoline engine with a 100 kW electric motor and a 355V,... Read more →

France-based global energy company TotalEnergies’ Normandy platform has successfully started production of sustainable aviation fuel1 (SAF). This new site complements the biojet fuel production capacities of La Mède biorefinery (Bouches-du-Rhône) and the Oudalle plant (Seine-Maritime). This move enables TotalEnergies to meet demand from its customers and respond to French legislation,... Read more →

Hyundai Motor is integrating green energy into Charge myHyundai. Using the e-mobility service provider Digital Charging Solutions’ (DCS) green charging option, the company will ensure that, for every charge undertaken by customers via its pan-European integrated public charging service, the equivalent amount of energy is fed back into the grid... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has started transporting new cars by cross-channel rail services between its Valenciennes Vehicle Logistics hub in France and Toton (UK). This launch signals the first phase of its Pan-European plan to move a larger share of vehicles by rail freight in line with its ambition to... Read more →

GZM Metropolis (an association of municipalities in the Silesia region in Poland) has signed a contract for the delivery of 32 new Solaris electric buses along with charging infrastructure—11 pantograph chargers and 16 plug-in chargers. GZM Metropolis will welcome 27 Urbino 12 electric and 5 articulated Urbino 18 electric vehicles... Read more →

In 2021, a large share of Europe’s supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) originated in the United States, Qatar, and Russia. Combined, these three countries accounted for almost 70% of Europe’s total LNG imports, according to data by CEDIGAZ, reported by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The United States... Read more →

The all-electric Volkswagen e-up! small car can now be ordered once again. To date, more than 80,000 of this model of vehicle have been sold around the world, and in Germany it was in second place in 2021 for all-electric vehicles with the most new registrations. The vehicle had turned... Read more →