BASF and Stena Recycling have signed an agreement on purchasing black mass. The deal is part of a broader collaboration between the two companies to establish a value chain for battery recycling for Europe’s EV battery market. Read more…

France not only has a reformed subsidy scheme for electric vehicles since the beginning of the year. A penalty tax, the so-called “malus ecologique” for polluting and heavy combustion vehicles, has also been increased to keep said vehicles off the road. Read more…

In a new round of funding, the US government has awarded a total of almost one billion dollars to 67 applicants for the procurement of “clean” school buses and their infrastructure. Read more…

The BMW Group sold a total of 376,183 all-electric vehicles in 2023. That is 74.4 per cent more than in 2022, with the BMW core brand achieving even stronger growth thanks to several new models, while Mini only saw a slight increase. Read more…

Kia presents its future “Platform Beyond Vehicle” (PBV) strategy at CES 2024. The focus is on modular electric cars and integrating software solutions, robotics and autonomous driving. The Concept PV5 presented in Las Vegas previews the first PBV series model. It will launch in 2025. Read more…

Bosch has been trialling automated parking with partners for a while now. Now the concept is to be expanded to include the automated charging of electric cars. Bosch and VW software subsidiary Cariad are now testing the system in two multi-storey car parks. Read more…

Evergrande New Energy Vehicle, the electric car division of the Chinese property group Evergrande, is now facing a second investigation into a manager. This time, the focus is on Liu Yongzhuo, the company’s president. Read more…

Hyundai Mobis North America Electrified Powertrain and UL Solutions have announced plans to join forces to improve the safety and performance of electric car batteries. The companies state that the new collaboration aims to help increase the safe, widespread deployment of electric vehicle battery technology. Read more…

The BT Group (British Telecommunications) is launching the first pilot project to convert its distribution boxes for broadband and telephone cables into charging points for electric cars. The goal is to examine the potential of repurposing up to 60,000 street cabinets. Read more…

New car registrations reached 1,903,054 units in the UK in 2023. Battery-electric cars make up 16.5 per cent of the market share, and plug-in cars another 7.4 per cent. Read more…

The EU Commission has approved the German government’s funding for Northvolt’s battery cell factory in the North of the country under state aid law. Northvolt received the funding decision for the factory at the beginning of December 2023 – it was subject to approval, which the EU has now granted. Read more…

Chinese manufacturer Higer Bus delivered the first large batch of electric buses to Pakistan in January. This involves 160 vehicles, which are to be used in the capital Islamabad. Read more…

Chinese manufacturers Yutong and BYD have been awarded the contract for two electric bus tenders for the Italian cities of Bari and Taranto. This involves a total of 144 electric buses for the two cities in Apulia. Read more…

Stellantis is apparently looking for a location for its fourth European battery gigafactory – in addition to the three factories planned by the Automotive Cells Company (ACC) joint venture in France, Germany and Italy. One country is probably the favourite for the factory. Read more…

WiTricity will be presenting a solution for the inductive charging of electric golf carts and other light vehicles for the first time at this week’s CES in Las Vegas. The system is expected to be available from summer 2024. Read more…

Hyundai wants to patent its version of a solid-state battery system in the USA. The Korean car manufacturer is cooperating with the US company Factorial Energy on the development. Read more…

Vinfast has appointed its founder and most prominent financial backer Pham Nhat Vuong as its new CEO. The Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer has also confirmed plans to build a production facility in India. Read more…

Geely has launched its Galaxy E8 on the Chinese market, marking the first battery-electric vehicle from the series. It is aimed at the “mainstream plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicle markets.” By 2025, seven models are to be included in the series. Read more…

Honda could build an electric car plant in Canada and even produce its own batteries there, Japanese media reports. It would be the carmaker’s second production facility in North America. Read more…

The electric delivery van has lived through many ups and downs. After B-ON, which owns the vehicle formerly known as Streetscooter, filed for insolvency in Germany in September, its initial founder Günther Schuh has again taken over the reins. Read more…