Volkswagen has unveiled further details about its battery factory in St Thomas, Canada. It will be PowerCo’s largest cell factory to date, create 3,000 jobs, and produce up to 90 GWh of battery cells per year. The Volkswagen Group is investing up to €4.8 billion until 2030, which, according to a statement published by the […] More…

At the Shanghai auto show, Toyota presented two new BEV concept models that the Japanese carmaker plans to bring to market in China in 2024 together with its local partners. In addition, the bZ3 electric sedan has now officially gone on sale. Specifically, these are the bZ Sport Crossover Concept, which will be produced and […] More…

The Australian federal government has announced plans to invest $70 million in grant funding for charging infrastructure to be administered through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The new grant funding follows the release of the National Electric Vehicle Strategy (NEVS) and will be made available to Australian businesses, local governments and councils, as well […] More…

Barely two months after abandoning its solar car project, Sono Motors may be facing more trouble over the project’s financing. Capital magazine questions the “community funding” approach the German startup had resorted to and says reimbursements remain outstanding in some cases. Said “community fundings” had seen around 21,000 private individuals advancing almost 44 million euros […] More…

Hexagon Purus has signed a multi-year supply contract with Panasonic in North America. Panasonic will deliver battery cells for use in electric trucks. Even before the first delivery, Hexagon Purus is investing several million to secure production capacity. Under the supply agreement, Hexagon Purus will make an upfront payment of around $43 million (€39.3 million) […] More…

Taiwan’s micro-mobility company Gogoro has partnered with Italy’s Enel X to combine thousands of battery swapping stations into one virtual power plant. The partners claim the VPP already holds 1,300 ‘GoStations’ with another 1,200 scheduled for network deployment shortly. By mid-2023, Gogoro and Enel expect the VPP to incorporate all 2,500 stations in Taiwan with […] More…

Iveco Group has opened its plant in Foggia, Italy, which will manufacture battery and fuel cell buses, among other products. The inauguration of the new plant comes eight months after the foundation stone was laid. Iveco announced a little less than a year ago that it wanted to manufacture buses in Italy again. Now, up […] More…

Smart has presented the exterior and interior design of its second electric model since the brand’s revamp. The Smart #3 is an all-electric SUV coupé that will be launched in the first European markets from the end of this year. As a coupé offshoot of the Smart #1, the design of the new model is […] More…

Einride has launched in the UK and enters the market with a mighty partner. PepsiCo will use Einride electric trucks to carry Walkers’ wares between plants in Leicester and Coventry, but that is just phase one. Throughout the three-year partnership, PepsiCo expects Einride to expand the electric truck fleet and for the EVs to cover […] More…

Geely’s Chinese premium electric brand Zeekr will also be launched in Europe later this year. The two models will initially be offered in Sweden and the Netherlands this year. Zeekr announced that the European models will be the Zeekr 001 and the new Zeekr X model. As reported, the latter is a compact car with […] More…

Aral is accelerating the expansion of its HPC network in Germany. By the end of this year, the German oil company, now owned by BP, wants to double the ultra-rapid charge points from today’s 1,500 to 3,000 and invest up to 100 million euros for this purpose. “With our expansion targets for this year, we […] More…

CATL is showing novel ‘Condensed Battery’ technology at Auto China in Shanghai, which claims an energy density of 500 Wh/kg at the cell level. The Chinese battery giant considers it suitable for electric aircraft but also envisions use in road vehicles, with series production to start this year. Officially referred to as “Condensed Matter” battery, […] More…

The Chinese electric car manufacturer Xpeng has presented its fifth model, the G6, at Auto China in Shanghai. For the premiere of the model, the company does not spare superlatives – and hints that the Model Y competitor will probably not only be available in China. The coupé-like E-SUV, which is intended to rival the […] More…

Scania and Northvolt have unveiled their jointly developed battery cell for heavy electric trucks. In validation tests, the prismatic lithium-ion cell has demonstrated a service life equivalent to a truck’s whole lifetime, a fact which the partners consider “outstanding”. In technical terms, the new cell with a capacity of 157 Ah can drive a truck […] More…

Volkswagen will invest around one billion euros to establish a new R&D centre for fully connected electric cars in Hefei, China. The Group announced the project at the Shanghai Auto Show today and set ambitious targets for the ‘100%TechCo’ unit charged with accelerating innovation locally. The project, also referred to as a “new company” in […] More…

In the new revoLect project, the PEM Chair at RWTH Aachen University is working with seven partners from science and industry to develop technologies and components that will help to produce lithium-ion batteries more efficiently and conserve resources. The long title of the joint project is “Highly efficient electrodes with ultralight fabric-based current collectors for […] More…

Italy’s antitrust authority has opened an investigation into Enel, the country’s biggest utility, for possibly abusing its dominant position in charging stations for electric vehicles. The investigation concerns all of Enel’s EV charging business and could also have repercussions for Volkswagen. The Volkswagen Group launched a joint venture with Enel X only at the end […] More…

Volta Trucks has started series production of the all-electric 16-tonne Volta Zero truck at contract manufacturer Steyr Automotive in Steyr, Austria. The Swedes also announce that they are now accepting new orders. Prototypes of the Volta Zero were already rolling off the production line in 2022 for design verification and production validation. So now production […] More…

ScottishPower and the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HiTrans) have agreed to boost the EV infrastructure across western Scotland through 24 new rapid charging stations. The Scottish utility will manage the installations with a focus on underserved areas and with external funding. ScottishPower will supply Raption 50 chargers with 50kW charging capacity and says the […] More…

The US state of New York has earmarked $8.3 million in funding for a total of 255 charging stations that will be installed in some 70 municipalities. The state is also looking to provide more EV chargers for agancy fleets in the coming years. 28 of the above-mentioned stations will be DC fast-chargers, though the […] More…