Ahead of the next round of negotiations, Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo has provided further details on the planned savings in the Volkswagen Group. The Board of Management allegedly wants to close up to three plants, downsize all others, divest core areas and implement massive salary cuts. This would also affect electric car production. Read more…

Xpeng Aeroht, the flying car business of Chinese electric car manufacturer Xpeng, has begun construction of a production facility in Guangzhou. This will produce an electric vertical take-off aircraft as part of the so-called Land Aircraft Carrier and is expected to have an annual capacity of 10,000 units. Read more…

The solid-state battery specialist and Volkswagen partner QuantumScape has started producing small quantities of its first B-type cells – and has thus achieved its most important goal for 2024, according to its own statements. Meanwhile, long-standing CEO Jagdeep Singh is preparing to leave the company. Read more…

The latest $5.6 billion investment pioneered by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, seeks to expand Waymo’s service across major US cities, in a move to expand Waymo’s ridership. Read more…

Daimler Truck and the Volvo Group are getting serious with their joint venture for the development of a software-defined vehicle platform: both sides have now contractually finalised the establishment of the joint company. If the authorities give the green light, the joint venture is expected to get underway in the first half of 2025. Read more…

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The Chinese battery manufacturer SVOLT will not be building two factories in Saarland after all. Instead, the company is discontinuing its operational business in Europe. SVOLT had already cancelled its plans for a factory in Brandenburg in May. Read more…

Hyundai’s performance division N presents the RN24 technology carrier, which is intended to demonstrate the future possibilities of high-performance electric cars. Read more…

The collaboration between Rapido and IndoFast Energy promises to facilitate the deployment of 10,000 Piaggio electric three-wheelers with swappable batteries across India. Read more…

In an attempt to facilitate green public transportation in India, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) Chennai has ordered 500 units of the Switch EiV12 bus model. These buses are to operate for 12 years. Read more…

Mercedes-Benz and BMW have launched the construction of fast-charging parks in China with their joint venture Ionchi. The first seven locations have now been put into operation. By the end of 2026, a total of 1,000 fast-charging locations with a total of 7,000 charging points are to be built in 100 Chinese cities. Read more…

Freevoy from CATL is designed to meet the demands of the charging capacity requirements of EREVs (extended range electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) enabling over 280 kilometres of range on 10 minutes of charging. Read more…

More electric vehicle chargers are to be installed in the English city of Plymouth. The Council is allocating £2.415 million of funding obtained from the government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund to install. Read more…

Electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Quantron has been struggling with a financial bottleneck for several months. Some employees of the commercial vehicle manufacturer from Augsburg are reportedly waiting for their wages. However, according to the management, a new investor deal is imminent. Read more…

The mining group Eramet is putting the construction of its planned recycling plant for electric car batteries in the north of France on hold together with Suez. The partners cite the ‘lack of a ramp-up of battery factories’ as the reason, which means that the basis for recycling is virtually missing. Read more…

After the Chinese battery manufacturer SVOLT declared in September that it would not realise its cell factory in Brandenburg, insiders are now reporting that the planned production of modules and packs in Saarland has also been cancelled. The background to this is said to be a fundamental decision in China. Read more…

The Chinese government is apparently exerting pressure on its car manufacturers to stop their expansion in the EU due to the trade conflict with the European Union over electric cars. This is said to involve, for example, the search for possible European plants in order to avoid EU tariffs by investing in Europe. Read more…

Automotive supplier ZF has found a successor for Stephan von Schuckmann: Former Umicore CEO Mathias Miedreich will become the new Board of Management member for the Electrified Powertrain Technologies division from 1 January 2025. Read more…

Volkswagen’s US car brand Scout has presented its first two models as concept cars. Contrary to the original plan, the Terra pickup truck and the Traveler SUV will not only be launched on the market as pure BEVs, but also with an additional combustion engine as a range extender. Read more…

The Bavarian air taxi developer Lilium has announced that it will file for insolvency proceedings for its two most important operating subsidiaries “in a few days.” Around a week ago, the German government had refused to grant the startup state aid. Read more…