Norwegian charging infrastructure manufacturer Zaptec has signed a framework agreement with energy company E.ON to distribute its products in 18 European countries. E.ON will initially distribute Zaptec products to residential customers through its digital channels in Sweden and Norway. In Sweden, the Zaptec Go wallbox will be sold immediately through E.ON as part of a […] More…

Hitachi Rail has started producing its latest train with a flexible drive concept that will run exclusively battery-electric in the future. Hitachi calls the Masaccio a “tribrid” because it can be operated flexibly via an overhead line, purely electric or as a diesel hybrid. Hitachi Rail produced the first 20 units of the Masaccio in […] More…

The Chinese car company SAIC is planning to build a plant for electric vehicles in Europe and is currently looking for a location. SAIC has joint ventures in China with Volkswagen and General Motors that produce electric cars, among other things. According to Reuters, the company is not yet giving any further details. SAIC is […] More…

Norwegian building materials supplier Optimera announced the procurement of 40 to 50 large electric trucks and other heavy electric vehicles over the next few years. Optimera has already put a first Volvo FH Electric into operation and will use it primarily for transporting building materials in the Oslo region. Based on the practical experience with […] More…

MG Motor has added a new top model to its MG4 electric series. The MG4 XPower has a 320 kW all-wheel drive, to which the front electric motor contributes 150 kW and the rear 170 kW. For the standard sprint from 0 to 100 km/h, MG quotes a duration of 3.8 seconds – not surprising […] More…

Fiat presents two new electric models, the 600e and the Topolino. Despite the similar name, the 600e is not related to the Fiat 500 electric – but to other Stellantis electric vehicles. Fiat may state that it is “the 500e’s big brother” (at least in the German press release), but that applies at most to […] More…

The Chinese electric car manufacturer Nio has opened a 1,500 square metre innovation centre in Berlin. As a European technology hub, the location in the German capital is to contribute to the development of new technologies and applications. We asked around on-site. The new Amazon Tower is just around the corner, as is the RAW […] More…

This year’s Tour de France, which started on 1 July, marks Skoda’s 20th anniversary as the official main sponsor of the world’s most famous cycling race. This year’s 209 support and organisation vehicles are almost entirely electric. 207 of the 209 Skoda models in use have electric or hybrid drives. The race director leads the […] More…

The Dutch construction company Jos Scholman will purchase 16 Opel Vivaro-e Hydrogen vehicles. The 16 fuel cell transporters will expand Jos Scholman’s hydrogen-powered fleet, which already consists of around 30 FCEVs, including cars, tractors and diggers. The Opel Vivaro-e Hydrogen, presented in mid-2021, will be mass-produced at the Hordain plant in France, along with the […] More…

Siemens will deliver metering services to three partners in the UK, namely Blink Charging, Be.EV and Evyve. These partnerships are set to fast-track the installation of more than 10,000 new EV charging points across the UK over the next four years and help bridge a gap in the market. The charge point operators say the […] More…

The Volkswagen Group and FAW-Volkswagen will invest an additional 800 million yuan (around €10 million) in its Chinese charging infrastructure joint venture, CAMS. The goal is to accelerate the development of fast charging stations in China. Volkswagen plans to install 17,000 CAMS fast-charging points in China by 2025. In context: in June 2023, the CAMS […] More…

EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies, the fuel cell joint venture between ElringKlinger and Plastic Omnium, announces an order for the supply of fuel cell stacks for a cruise ship. The order from an unnamed international cruise company involves the delivery of NM12 single fuel cell stacks for an initial cruise ship operated by a global shipping […] More…

Kentucky has become the first US state to require charging infrastructure providers to implement the Tesla charging system as a condition of receiving funding. The corresponding regulation in Kentucky went into effect last Friday. In addition to federal requirements for the competing Combined Charging System (CCS), Kentucky stipulates that Tesla’s so-called North American Charging Standard […] More…

In China, battery specialist WeLion has delivered its first semi-solid-state battery cells to electric car manufacturer Nio. Nio will use the cells in its 150 kWh battery pack and is aiming for the first deliveries of e-cars with these battery packs before the end of July. At a ceremony last week, the first delivery of […] More…

The governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham has announced a plan requiring vehicle manufacturers to provide an increasing number of electric models in the state over the next ten years. She will use an executive order to pass the measure. Once it has passed, the Advanced Clean Cars & Advanced Trucks rule will require […] More…

Battery materials company RecycLiCo (formerly American Manganese) has entered a 50-50 joint venture with Zenith Chemical Corporation to build a battery recycling plant in Taiwan. The first facility, estimated to cost $25 mn, is to process 2,000 metric tons per year of lithium-ion waste. The partners expect to convert the materials into valuable resources such […] More…

Argentina plans to start producing battery cells for electric cars in September 2023. The production plant, built by the state-owned energy research company Y-TEC, will use lithium carbonate extracted from Livent in northern Argentina. Nothing is known yet about the production capacity. “We will start to produce the first lithium-ion battery cells in the country,” […] More…

The VW brand announced an investment of one billion euros until 2026 for a product offensive in South America. Before the end of the year, the electric models ID.4 and ID. Buzz will be offered in Brazil on a subscription basis. By 2025, Volkswagen plans to launch 15 new electric and so-called flex-fuel vehicle models […] More…

Iveco has now completed the acquisition of the Ulm, Germany-based BEV and FCEV truck joint venture with Nikola, announced in May. Nikola Iveco Europe will be renamed EVCO (Electric Vehicles COmpany) as part of the acquisition. The definitive agreements with Nikola Corporation have been finalised “in accordance with the terms described on 9 May 2023”, […] More…

New registrations of electric cars in Norway continued to increase for the end of the first half of 2023. With 12,801 new electric cars, the result not only surpassed that of May, but also that of June 2022. The most popular model in Norway last month was the Tesla Model Y by a wide margin. […] More…