Tesla has had its trademark applications for the term ‘Robotaxi’ for its vehicles turned down by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), who said the term is too generic. The USPTO is still examining an application by Tesla to use ‘Robotaxi’ for its ride-hailing service that’s set to launch in June. Read more…

In the ALIKE project, Hamburger Hochbahn, Holon, the VW subsidiary Moia and other partners want to test around 20 autonomous electric shuttles in the Hanseatic city. A depot for the vehicles is to be built over the next few months. Read more…

Vineet Mehta, Director of Battery Technology and Drive Architecture at Tesla, has left the company after 18 years. As he announced on LinkedIn, he had his last day of work at Tesla on 2 May and will “take a break.” Read more…

The EU Parliament has given its nod to the softening of the CO2 fleet targets for 2025 requested by the Commission. The proposal received 458 votes in favour, 101 against and 14 abstentions. Now all that remains is for the Council to give its approval, which is probably a mere formality. Read more…

The US electric car manufacturer Lucid Motors achieved a turnover of 235 million US dollars in the first quarter. Lucid was able to reduce its net loss – and has also confirmed its forecast for the full year 2025. Read more…

The Chinese EV maker BYD and the metals group Tsingshan have announced that they will no longer be involved in the construction of lithium cathode plants in Chile, following a drop in lithium prices. The companies had previously announced separate plans to make multi-million dollar investments in the country. Read more…

Poland’s Ministry of Economic Development and Technology has offered the US EV battery recycling specialists, Ascend Elements, the equivalent of up to 290 million euros in funding to support the construction of a production facility for recycled cathode material in Poland. Read more…

The Chinese automotive group Geely has announced that it will delist its electric car subsidiary Zeekr from the New York Stock Exchange. Just one year after the successful stock market debut of Zeekr, Geely is planning to buy up the shares of the other shareholders and consolidate its automotive activities. Read more…

Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis has delivered the first of 30 new electric buses to Arriva London, which will operate them on Transport for London (TfL) routes across the city. They’ll initially be deployed on the SL6 Superloop route, which connects the outskirts of London with the city centre. Read more…

Legal resistance has formed in the USA against the Trump administration’s freeze on the nationwide allocation of new funding for charging infrastructure. California and 16 other states have now filed a lawsuit against the US government – with the aim of having Trump’s directives declared unlawful. Read more…

The British postal service is testing out two 19-tonne electric heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) to assess their performance compared to Royal Mail’s existing fleet of traditional trucks and lorries. The service is already set to deploy over 7000 small and medium-sized electric vans by 2027, but this will be the first time that it tests out larger electric vehicles. Read more…

Montreal is planning to install 11,000 new charging points for electric cars by 2030, both on roadsides, in publicly accessible car parks and on publicly accessible private property in the greater metropolitan area. Read more…

Volkswagen is recalling 5,637 ID. Buzz vans and temporarily halting further sales over a compliance issue with US safety laws. The issue is to do with the size of the long wheel base version’s third row of seats, which Volkswagen must now alter. Read more…

At Power2Drive, Phoenix Contact presented the second generation of its HPC charging connector CHARX connect professional with up to 1,000 kW charging power in boost mode. This was done via CCS, and not the new megawatt standard. The company is also presenting new CCS charging sockets, albeit with a lower output. Read more…

The Audi A6 – not the battery-electric A6 e-tron – is now available again in two plug-in hybrid versions. Compared to its predecessors, the battery is significantly larger, increasing the electric range on paper to up to 106 kilometres. Read more…

Uber has added more cooperation agreements for robotaxis to its recent slate of deals. After Volkswagen, Momentum and May Mobility, Uber has now inked separate deals with Chinese-American autonomous driving systems specialists Pony.ai and WeRide. Read more…

Foxconn and Mitsubishi Motors have signed a memorandum of understanding that provides for the development of an electric car model for the Japanese company by Foxconn and its production in Thailand. The model is due to be launched on the Australian and New Zealand markets in the second half of 2026. Read more…

Polestar has introduced battery state-of-health (SOH) certificates for secondhand Polestar 2 vehicles, in a bid to improve consumer confidence in the preowned EV market. The certificates will give customers transparency over a used vehicle’s battery health, capacity, and longevity. Read more…

Holon is driving forward the series production and market launch of its fully electric autonomous shuttle with a new top management team: Markus Schlitt took over as CEO and Managing Director of Holon on 1 May 2025. He succeeds Henning von Watzdorf, who is currently in talks about a new management role at Benteler. Read more…

Lion Electric, a Canadian manufacturer of electric school buses and other commercial vehicles, faces imminent liquidation after the Quebec government pulled the plug on a public bailout. If the company falls through, it would mark a huge setback for the province’s EV ambitions. Read more…