Akasol supplies Goldhofer with its AKASystem 15 OEM PRC 50. The battery system will be used in all of Goldhofer’s Phoenix E towbarless aircraft tractors, which the company is now producing in series. Akasol has also appointed a new chief financial officer. As reported, an electric aircraft tug of the Phoenix E type has been […] More…

In Germany, WeShare, Volkswagen’s all-electric free-floating car-sharing service, has renewed its Berlin fleet and added the all-electric ID.4 to its range of vehicles. Initially, around 100 ID.4s will be successively added to the fleet. The carmaker’s car-sharing service reports it is also moving forward with the replacement of the Berlin e-Golf fleet with the new […] More…

Cree, a manufacturer of silicon carbide semiconductors, has renamed itself Wolfspeed. Under the new name, the company has also entered into a cooperation agreement with General Motors. The agreement provides for the development and supply of silicon carbide semiconductors for GM’s future electric cars. Cree had increasingly focused on silicon carbide semiconductors in recent years […] More…

In Israel, ElectReon, a company specialising in inductive charging of electric vehicles, has signed a 5-year contract with the Dan Bus Company. The contract provides for an expansion of the wireless charging network for public electric bus lines in Tel Aviv and the wider area. The establishment of the network will enable the inductive charging […] More…

UK electric truck manufacturer Tevva has secured a £4.2 million (just under €5 million) grant from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) to develop the next generation of medium-duty electric trucks with fuel cell range extenders and gross vehicle weights between 7.5 and 19 tonnes. Only a few days ago, Tevva unveiled a 7.5-tonne truck as […] More…

According to a media report, Norway’s new government is planning a luxury tax on expensive electric cars. Specifically, the future cabinet plans to impose a 25 per cent value-added tax on the portion of the purchase price that exceeds 600,000 kroner (about 60,000 euros). According to a Reuters report, the introduction of the tax is […] More…

Renault is working on a new all-electric SUV model to be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 2022 and launched in 2023, according to a British media report. The new Renault BEV is to use the Alliance CMF-EV platform. As the magazine Auto Express reports, citing information from development board member Gilles Le Borgne, […] More…

The Chinese car company Geely wants to list its Swedish passenger car subsidiary Volvo Cars on the Stockholm stock exchange before the end of this year. New shares are expected to raise gross proceeds of around 25 billion Swedish kronor (2.5 billion euros). Geely wants to remain the largest shareholder. It is still only a […] More…

ABB has entered into a collaboration with Epiroc and Boliden, a mining equipment manufacturer and mining company from Sweden. The trio is working to develop and demonstrate a trolley truck system on a test track at the Kristineberg mine in northern Sweden. The system will be based on Epiroc’s zero-emission mine transport vehicle Minetruck MT42 […] More…

Tesla is now claiming that their employees who had migrated to Rivian were “caught red-handed” stealing core technology for next-generation batteries from Tesla. This is an expanded ongoing lawsuit that began last year when Tesla took Rivian to court for allegedly stealing trade secrets about poaching employees. A California state court judge in San Jose […] More…

In the UK, Westminster City Council (central London) and its waste contractor Veolia have unveiled a 60 strong fleet of new and ‘upcycled’ electric vehicles. This means that street cleaning services in London’s famous West End are now completely fully electric. The new electric fleet is made up of electric refuse collection vehicles  (e-RCVs) to […] More…

Hitachi and Hitachi Astemo are developing a compact and lightweight in-wheel drive system for electric vehicles that combines motor, inverter and brake in one unit. Hitachi Astemo plans to use the drive system in its electric vehicle product range. Hitachi Astemo (short for “Advanced Sustainable Technologies for Mobility”) is a joint venture between Hitachi Automotive […] More…

NASA has selected two US companies to support its Electric Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD). It is about the development of electric aircraft engines in the megawatt class. The contracts will go to GE Aviation and MagniX. With the EPFD programme, NASA wants to develop electric propulsion technologies that could be used in US passenger aircraft […] More…

Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen have announced the beginning of Hy24, “the world’s largest investment platform focused exclusively on clean hydrogen infrastructure”. Hy24’s first fund is expected to have a volume of 1.5 billion euros. The investment platform is being set up by Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen as a joint venture. According to a statement by […] More…

The commodities group BHP and the Toyota-Panasonic joint venture Prime Planet Energy & Solutions have agreed on a memorandum of understanding on the supply of nickel. The material is to come from BHP’s new production facility in Western Australia. The third signatory to the memorandum of understanding between BHP and the battery joint venture established […] More…

The German aggregate plants of Mercedes-Benz are starting production of central components for the battery-electric eActros. These include the e-axle and the battery packs, which will be manufactured and assembled at the Gaggenau, Kassel and Mannheim locations. The components that are entering serial production in the German plants will then be used in the series […] More…

The Belgian national postal operator Bpost is procuring 1,200 electric vans to be delivered by the end of 2022. According to a Flemish media report, the first 400 of the electric transporters have already been ordered, with the tender for the remaining 800 to follow at the end of this month. According to the Flemish […] More…

The first production vehicles of the new Multivan presented in June have rolled off the production line at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. This is the first time a Multivan with a plug-in hybrid has been produced at the Hanover plant. As reported, the new Multivan is based for the first time on the VW Group’s MQB […] More…

The Stellantis brand Jeep has announced a new generation of the Grand Cherokee SUV, which will also be offered as a plug-in hybrid for the first time. A new platform makes this possible. The model is to be offered in North America in early 2022 and in other markets later in the year. Like Jeep’s […] More…

Spanish authorities and Nissan have started talks with Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motors about a possible takeover of Nissan’s Barcelona plant. Great Wall could move into the largest of the three plants in Barcelona. However, the negotiations are said to be explicitly non-exclusive as yet. Overall, the future of the Zona Franca, Montcada i Reixac […] More…