The first production model of the new Ford Explorer has rolled off the production line in Cologne – and was also handed over directly to the first customer at the Cologne Electric Vehicle Centre. The second electric model from Cologne is due to follow this year. electrive provides insights into Ford’s all-electric production on the Rhine. Read more…

Kia aims to increase vehicle sales in Europe to 800,000 units by 2028, of which up to 85% are to be electrified. The company will launch a raft of new electrified models in Europe later this decade to achieve this goal. Read more…

The Dutch semiconductor manufacturer NXP and the German supplier ZF are cooperating on EV inverters based on silicon carbide. This should not only enable 800-volt electric cars to go further, but also to be produced more cheaply. Read more…

Polestar has joined forces with Zaptec to offer home charging solutions to its European customers. The Zaptec Go wallbox, including installation and support, is now available for Polestar customers in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. Other countries are to follow. Read more…

In September 2023, Tesla launched a shuttle train service to and from the premises of its German factory in Grünheide, which can be used by anyone – but runs on diesel. This earned the manufacturer a lot of malice. Now the switch to battery-powered trains is on the horizon. Read more…

Nissan has begun demonstrating an electric car prototype equipped with self-developed automated driving technologies on public roads in Yokohama, Japan. The prototype vehicle is a Nissan Leaf equipped with 14 cameras, ten radars and six LIDAR sensors. Read more…

The European EV charging and smart energy management platform provider Last Mile Solutions has announced its operational expansion into the United Kingdom. Read more…

Tesla has scheduled a five-day shutdown at Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg. The company has communicated that it is a normal part of the production operation and nothing out of the ordinary. Read more…

Select, a subsidiary of Laing O’Rourke, has partnered with energy storage specialist Zenobē to help provide clean power for construction sites by converting second-life batteries and transforming them into portable energy storage devices. Read more…

Milence, the electric truck charging joint venture between Daimler Truck, the Traton Group and the Volvo Group, has just announced its third charging hub in Sweden. This third location creates greater cover for trucks along Sweden’s main logistics routes. Read more…

Smart plans to expand the #1 line-up with new entry-level trims in Europe soon. This revision will make the EV more accessible to customers on a low budget. Read more…

British bus retrofitting company Equipmake has secured a successive contract with Golden Tours, which specialises in London sightseeing and UK tourism. Equipmake is to repower a further ten Volvo B5 London Tour Buses, using its in-house developed Zero-Emission Drivetrain (ZED). Read more…

Dacia has officially opened the order books for the Spring in the UK. It can be ordered online or from an official retailer. Deliveries of the electric SUV are planned to start later this year. Read more…

CharIN presents the API protocol Open Plug & Charge Network Communication (OPNC), which improves the plug & charge functionality of charging infrastructure and its interoperability. It is intended to be a decisive step towards global standardisation. Read more…

Neural Concept, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), has developed an AI software platform that it says reduces the development time of an electric vehicle from four years to 18 months. Neural Concept has now attracted new investors. Read more…

Northern Irish public transport operator Translink is currently receiving the first of a total of one hundred electric buses that it has ordered from Wrightbus, another Northern Irish company. Read more…

The French roaming platform Gireve has raised 20 million euros in fresh capital, which will be channelled into the expansion of the platform and the development of new services. In addition to existing investors, the US investment platform Partech has joined as a financial backer. Read more…

The conversion specialist Pepper Motion is being sold to a strategic investor from Turkey. The sale of the Denkendorf-based company was preceded by insolvency in self-administration, as has been publicised. It is unclear what will become of the recently advertised plans for India. Read more…

The Finnish company Fortum Battery Recycling has signed a preliminary agreement and a letter of intent with the Japanese trading group Marubeni to jointly establish a sustainable recycling chain for lithium-ion batteries, focussing on the recycling of graphite. Read more…

The US Coast Guard has approved its very first hydrogen-fueled vessel to enter commercial service. It will now undergo a six month trial period. Read more…