Italy’s bus maker Rampini has won a tender from the procurement agency Consip to supply up to 280 zero-emission buses. The contract will come into force this June, allowing public administrations to buy a Rampini e-bus with or without specific adaptations. Specifically, this concerns the Ramoni Eltron model, an 8-metre battery-electric bus. Configurations include two […] More…

Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a battery cell joint venture by Stellantis, Total and Mercedes-Benz, inaugurated its first factory in France. However, the “Grand Opening” of the ACC Gigafactory in Billy-Berclau/Douvrin in the Hauts-de-France region is not synonymous with commissioning, which will take place later this year. ACC says it has a production area of more […] More…

Amsterdam’s public transit operator GVB is extending smart charging technology across its depots in the Dutch capital. Using technology by  The Mobility House, GVB will charge its growing electric bus increasingly intelligently before the year’s end. In concrete terms, GVB targets intelligent charging over 159 electric buses at 190 DC charge points equipped with the […] More…

Tesla continues opening its formerly proprietary charging network to third-party EVs. The latest market is Canada, where the government expects to see 750 Tesla Superchargers becoming publicly available by the end of 2025. The news can be found in a Government of Canada announcement on grants for over 3,000 new chargers in Ontario. Jonathan Wilkinson, […] More…

Japanese battery startup PowerX unveils the design of a large electric ship to be completed by 2025. Vessel ‘X’ will be the first in a line of “Battery Tankers” and is scheduled for field tests in 2026. The zero-emission tanker measures 140 meters and will carry 96 containerised ship batteries with LFP cells on board, […] More…

Italian automation specialist Comau, part of the Stellantis Group, is developing a fully automated system for sustainable battery recycling and second-life reuse as part of the EU’s Flex-BD project. Flex-BD is a robotic system that automates the entire process of dismantling used electric vehicle batteries with a highly flexible, repeatable and standardisable process, according to […] More…

Mercedes-Benz has started selling its EQE SUV in China. About half a year after its market launch in Europe, four versions of the new electric model are available there from 486,000 yuan (about €64,000). The EQE SUV thus costs about half as much as the EQS SUV, which launched on the Chinese market in February. […] More…

Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturers Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus and Hino Motors are planning to merge and cooperate in commercial vehicle development, procurement and production – also with a view to electrification. Daimler Truck and Toyota, which own the above-mentioned brands, plan to equally invest in the listed holding company of Fuso and Hino. Details […] More…

The Volkswagen Group is allegedly planning a battery factory for electric cars in Indonesia. Citing Ikmal Lukma, Secretary of the Indonesian Ministry of Investment, local media report that Volkswagen intends to invest around €4.7 billion in the factory. Construction is to begin this year. The location has already been determined but has yet to be […] More…

Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution have announced a joint venture to produce battery cells for electric cars in the USA. The Korean companies will invest over $4.3 bn and hold the JV equally. The selected site is the state of Georgia which is no stranger to Hyundai. Hyundai and LGES will use the […] More…

SAIC appears to be taking up solid-state battery development again. Local news outlets now see the first series EV with the new technology rolling off the assembly lines in China in two years. CN EV reports from a recent SAIC investor survey that the company announced plans for a solid-state battery model for 2025. More […] More…

Volvo Cars steps into the smart home business with an investment in an energy company based in Montreal, Canada. The Swedish car manufacturer has chosen to support dcbel’s R&D endeavours through its venture capital arm, the Volvo Cars Tech Fund but the technology may tie in well into Volvo’s own V2X efforts. “Home Energy Management […] More…

Daimler Buses will also produce its eCitaro electric bus in France in the first quarter of 2024. The German manufacturer will invest around 50 million euros in the French location of Ligny-en-Barrois by 2030 for this purpose. Since Daimler is planning to produce electric buses alongside diesel buses, the German bus maker has acquired three […] More…

Natilus, a developer of autonomous cargo aircraft, has entered into a strategic partnership with ZeroAvia. Specifically, Natilus wants ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric powertrain to help its Kona cargo drone lift off. The companies inform that ZeroAvia’s ZA600 will be the sole hydrogen-electric propulsion source offered for the novel Kona short-haul feeder UAV. The drone is Natilus’ first […] More…

British charge point operator Osprey Charging has opened what it says is the largest ultra-rapid EV charging hub in the South West of England. The company has also opened a charging hub in Essex. The 16-bay charging station is located at Salmon’s Leap, Buckfastleigh, on the A38 Devon Expressway. The site boasts 16 chargers, each […] More…

US manufacturer Blue Bird is expanding its production capacity for electric school buses. The ‘Electric Vehicle Build-up Center’, now open on site of the company’s primary US production facility in Georgia, will enable the company to increase its capacity to 5,000 electric school buses annually. Blue Bird considers the new centre’s opening an important milestone […] More…

French platform for charging locations and services Chargemap is cooperating with Allego. As part of this collaboration, Chargemap will update its app with real-time information about Allego’s charging stations. Electric car and van drivers will be able to charge at all publicly accessible charging stations on the Allego network, check their availability in real-time and […] More…

The payment specialist CCV and Bender, a supplier of charging controllers, will jointly implement open payment systems at EV charging stations throughout Europe. Their targets include installing around 300,000 open-loop terminals, including in the UK, over the next few years. CCV has won the tender of Bender Group, and ebee smart technologies, a subsidiary of […] More…

It is official – LG Electronics is entering the EV charging business. After the move leaked earlier this year in March, the South Korean company presented a new product portfolio comprising four models. LG Electronics launched two AC chargers delivering 7 kW as wall boxes or charging pillars. Two DC stations are capable of outputting […] More…

The Irish company Cool Planet Group will convert around 8,500 diesel-powered mining trucks into electric vehicles over the next three years. The order is reportedly worth around 50 million euros. According to the Irish Times, the order comes from a “world-leading mining company”, the name of which has not been disclosed.  Much of the refitting […] More…