The EU should promote the use of green hydrogen and ammonia by ships as part of its upcoming maritime fuel law, major shipping industry players and environmentalists have told the European Commission. The FuelEU Maritime initiative will require ships carrying EU trade to progressively switch to sustainable alternative fuels. In... Read more →

The all-new Toyota Yaris (earlier post) has been named as the 2021 European Car of the Year. Selected by a jury of 59 automotive journalists from across Europe, the fourth-generation Yaris receives the award 21 years after the innovative first generation was named European Car of the Year in 2000,... Read more →

E10 gasoline blends (10% ethanol) will be introduced at gasoline stations across the UK in September 2021. Its introduction on UK roads could cut transport carbon dioxide emissions by 750,000 tonnes a year—the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road, or all the cars in North Yorkshire. It will... Read more →

Solaris has just delivered three Urbino 18 electric buses to Bonn. It is the first contract for the manufacturer with Stadtwerke Bonn Bus und Bahn (SWB). The three delivered Urbino 18 electric buses are fueled solely by power derived from renewable sources. The future is electric. We stick to our... Read more →

The European Commission proposed setting up 10 new European Partnerships between the European Union, Member States and/or the industry. The goal is to speed up the transition towards a green, climate neutral and digital Europe, and to make European industry more resilient and competitive. The EU will provide nearly €10... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is expanding its WeShare electric car sharing project to Hamburg later this week; the pilot project launched in Berlin in 2019. Due to the Corona pandemic, we are unfortunately only able to launch in Hamburg with a delay of around one year. We are all the more... Read more →

IDTechEx expects electric motorcycle sales in Europe to have grown at least 50% year-on-year in 2020, building on the momentum of recent years. (Although steep, the 50% growth is half that experienced in 2019 from the year before.) This growth is driven by continued policy support from governments alongside start-ups... Read more →

Ford committed today that by mid-2026, 100% of Ford’s passenger vehicle range in Europe will be zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid, and will be completely all-electric by 2030. Similarly, Ford’s entire commercial vehicle range will be zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid, by 2024, with two-thirds of Ford’s commercial... Read more →

Berlin start-up ELO Mobility and the Fraunhofer Institute for Transport and Infrastructure Systems IVI are jointly developing a new generation of city buses with hydrogen drive technology as part of the Go4City (G4C) project. The Go4City project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. The official... Read more →

After 2 years of research and confidential preparation, a group of 30 European energy players has launched HyDeal Ambition with the aim of delivering 100% green hydrogen across Europe at €1.5/kg before 2030. The production of green hydrogen generated by solar-driven electrolysis from the Iberian Peninsula will begin in 2022.... Read more →

In a common letter, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Transport & Environment (T&E) and the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) asked the EU climate, transport, industry and energy commissioners to use this year’s revision of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive (AFID) to require 1 million public charging points across the... Read more →

Air Liquide and Siemens Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the objective to combine their expertise in PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) electrolysis technology. They intend to focus their activities on these key areas: co-creation of large industrial-scale hydrogen projects in collaboration with customers; laying the ground for mass... Read more →

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a second Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to support research and innovation in the battery value chain. The project, called “European Battery Innovation” (EuBatIn) was jointly prepared and notified by Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy,... Read more →

A European consortium consisting of 25 organizations in the hydrogen sector has formed to define, develop and test the first European standard for fuel-cell modules for heavy-duty applications. The consortium—“StaSHH” (Standard-Sized Heavy-duty Hydrogen)—comprises 11 fuel cell module suppliers, 9 original equipment manufacturers and 5 research, test, engineering and/or knowledge institutes.... Read more →

Aluminum maker Constellium SE is in the advanced planning stages of an investment to increase its recycling capacity in Europe. This project will be focused on using recycled material to provide slabs for Constellium’s automotive and packaging businesses in Europe. This strategic initiative is expected to add a minimum of... Read more →

SK Innovation will initially invest US$1.148 billion in SK Battery Hungary (SKBH) to build its third European factory in Iváncsa, Hungary, with a production capacity of 30 GWh per year. This scale of output would supply batteries for approximately 430,000 cars based on 70 kWh per charging with a more... Read more →

At the first Hydrogen General Assembly, Germany’s Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer announced €24.4 million in funding for three projects developing fuel cell and battery-electric drives for commercial vehicles. We want to work towards zero emissions road logistics with alternative drives. That is why we are supporting companies in bringing... Read more →

The German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has commissioned the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to plan a pilot plant for the production of electricity-based (electrofuel) renewable kerosene for aviation. By switching to electricity-based kerosene, we can save millions of tons of CO2 emissions in air traffic. But... Read more →

The H24All project, led by a consortium of fifteen partners, has presented an application for European Green Deal funding to develop Europe’s first 100 megawatt (MW) alkaline electrolyzer plant, which will be connected to a Repsol industrial site. The consortium aims to pave the way for a new and competitive... Read more →

Norwegian-based broad energy company Equinor, gas transmission system operator OGE and steel producer thyssenkrupp Steel Europe have concluded their joint feasibility study started in October 2019 and will continue their cooperation on the topic going forward. The three partners’ goal was to evaluate the possibility to supply thyssenkrupp Steel’s Duisburg... Read more →

A new study by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has found that there are currently 6.2 million medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles on the EU’s roads, the average age of which is 13 years. Almost 98% of all these trucks run on diesel, according to the 2021 Vehicles in... Read more →

The FLITE (Fuel via Low Carbon Integrated Technology from Ethanol) consortium, led by SkyNRG and with LanzaTech as the technology provider, will build the first-of-its-kind LanzaJet Alcohol to Jet (AtJ) facility. The facility will convert waste-based ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a scale of more than 30,000 tons/yr.... Read more →

Supporting Nissan’s goal of achieving 50% electrified sales in Europe by 2024, the new Nissan Qashqai will not only be available with a 1.3 DiG-T gasoline engine equipped with mild hybrid technology, but also e-POWER, Nissan’s non-plug-in series-hybrid electric powertrain in its European debut. The e-POWER system for New Qashqai... Read more →

As of the beginning of 2021, Audi has converted its European vehicle range to the level of the Euro 6d emission standard. All models included in the currently valid sales program comply with the strict limits of the Euro 6d-ISC-FCM standard. Currently, 193 models are certified according to the new... Read more →

Brasov, Romania has ordered 25 Solaris Trollino 18 trolleybuses. Solaris will supply the articulated, low-floor and zero-emission trolleybuses to the customer within 12 months. The value of the contract amounts to about €19 million. In July 2020, Solaris completed deliveries under an earlier order for 26 vehicles of this type.... Read more →

As the European Union is about to unveil new targets for sustainable aviation fuel in 2021, a group of major European aviation companies—including KLM, Easyjet, Air France, International Airlines Group—as well as research organizations and environmental groups are calling for a more stringent policy approach to sustainability and the sector’s... Read more →

Groupe Renault and Plug Power Inc. have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) to launch a 50-50 joint-venture based in France by the end of the first half of 2021, targeting more than 30% share of the fuel cell-powered light commercial vehicle (LCV) market in Europe. Bringing complementary and competitive... Read more →

Bus manufacturer Solaris has joined the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, an initiative led by the European Commission. The aim of the Alliance is to scale-up, by 2030, the production and deployment of hydrogen as a fuel produced by means of low-emission technologies and renewable energy sources. The European Clean Hydrogen... Read more →

The EU says it could be self-sufficient in EV batteries by 2025. However, despite Europe’s fast-expanding capacity of Li-ion battery production, its cathode materials production capacity is struggling to keep up. Roskill’s analysis suggests that by 2025, Europe will still have to import 56% of the cathode materials used for... Read more →

In 2020, e-mobility became more popular in Germany, despite a 20% decline in registration numbers in the year of the COVID 19 pandemic. Alternative drives (battery-electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell, gas, and hydrogen) took up around a quarter of all new light-duty vehicle registrations in Germany in 2020,... Read more →

Current Direct, a new €12-million research and innovation project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, is proposing an innovative lithium-ion cell optimized for waterborne transport, using novel manufacturing techniques allowing for a consistent cost reduction compared to the current market prices. Additionally, a swappable containerized energy storage system... Read more →

Solaris has completed the delivery of 90 Urbino 12 electric buses for Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG). This was one of the biggest contracts for battery-powered buses in Europe and the largest one for the manufacturer in Germany so far. Berlin now has a total of 123 electric Solaris buses in its... Read more →

Battery anode company Talga Group Ltd completed an A$25-million (US$19-million) placement to fund the Electric Vehicle Anode (EVA) pilot plant as part of the development of the Vittangi Anode Project located in northern Sweden. Combining a scalable battery anode production facility with integrated graphite mining operations, the project will be... Read more →

The first successful trial delivery of advanced cellulosic ethanol marks the start of the long-term cooperation between OMV, the integrated, international oil, gas and petrochemicals company headquartered in Vienna, and AustroCel Hallein GmbH. The Hallein-based bioethanol plant has an annual capacity of up to 35 million liters (9.2 million gallons... Read more →

All of the EU’s member states but two have failed to show how they will slash air pollution to comply with the emissions limits set out in the EU’s National Emission Ceilings Directive, according to a new report from the European Environmental Bureau (EEB). The EEB report—National Air Pollution Control... Read more →

Toyota Caetano Portugal (TCAP), the joint venture of Toyota Motor Europe (TME) and Salvador Caetano, strengthened its strategic alliance with CaetanoBus and Finlog by becoming the direct shareholder of the two Portuguese companies. The enhanced strategic alliance with bus manufacturing and sales company CaetanoBus, and Finlog, a passenger car financial... Read more →

BYD has begun delivery of Europe’s largest single order for electric buses to Keolis Nederland BV, the Dutch subsidiary of global public transport provider, Keolis. An initial 246 BYD low-floor eBuses—part of a total order for 259 vehicles —are now with Keolis Nederland and entered service on 13 December on... Read more →

Europe’s truck manufacturers have concluded that by 2040 all new trucks sold need to be fossil free in order to reach carbon-neutrality by 2050. It will be possible to meet this target provided the right charging/refueling infrastructure is built and a coherent policy framework is put into place, including comprehensive... Read more →

Daimler Truck AG, IVECO, OMV, Shell and the Volvo Group have committed to work together to help create the conditions for the mass-market roll-out of hydrogen trucks in Europe. The partners signed a collaboration agreement—H2Accelerate—under which the participants will work together to: Seek public support to fund early pre-commercial projects... Read more →

FCA Italy S.p.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., and ENGIE EPS, and Italian technology player in energy storage, hydrogen and e-mobility, have been awarded with 25 MW of capacity in the context of the tender process held by the Italian grid operator Terna. The innovative grid service,... Read more →

The European Commission is proposing modernizing EU legislation on batteries; this would be the first initiative delivered among the actions announced in the new Circular Economy Action Plan. Batteries that are more sustainable throughout their life cycle are key for the goals of the European Green Deal and contribute to... Read more →

Equinor and RWE have joined the NortH2 project, which aims to produce green hydrogen using renewable electricity from offshore wind off the coast of Netherlands of about 4 gigawatts by 2030, and 10+ gigawatts by 2040, kickstarting the hydrogen economy in Northwest Europe. NortH2 was launched in February 2020, with... Read more →

To maximize the opportunities for hydrogen in Europe, Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has established a Fuel Cell Business Group to oversee its hydrogen activities across the region. Based in Brussels, the group will strengthen the business case for hydrogen and support its introduction into mobility and other fields, making it... Read more →

Toyota announced that it will preview a new mid-sized battery-electric SUV based on the forthcoming the e-TNGA platform for its European Battery Electric line-up. Further details are to be announced in the coming months. At this stage, only a stylized silhouette and details of the platform architecture have been released.... Read more →

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 →

Operator Transdev has signed a contract with Solaris Bus & Coach to supply two hydrogen buses. The vehicles will roll out onto the streets of the Swedish city of Sandviken in autumn 2021. Solaris Urbino CNG (in yellow and red), operating X-Trafik Gävle—the hydrogen buses in Sandviken will have the... Read more →

Cummins, in conjunction with European Hydrogen Week, shared new research showing that more than half of the United Kingdom (UK) commuters would be willing to travel to work on a train or bus powered by hydrogen to lower their carbon footprint and reduce emissions. Nearly half of commuters in Belgium... Read more →

Most Europeans living in cities are still breathing air that is dangerous to their health, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA) in a new report; governments are not doing enough to cut toxic emissions at source, campaigners warn. Data show that harmful emissions, especially from farming and domestic heating,... Read more →

Australia and Germany have released national hydrogen strategies to help grow the development of renewable hydrogen as a clean source of energy. UNSW Sydney will lead a consortium of Australian research and industry partners, who will work together with partners in Germany to test the feasibility of a renewable energy-based... Read more →