Vauxhall has confirmed prices for the Astra Electric with prices starting from £39,995 OTR. In addition, the hybrid Astra Sports Tourer GSe is now available to order, starting from £43,250. The Astra Electric is available in two trim lines from launch; sporty GS and top-of-the-range Ultimate. The prices for the first fully electric Astra will […] More…

Volkswagen has presented the key points of the planned savings programme for the core brand VW in order to increase its profitability and generate money for investments in the transformation to e-mobility. One of the goals: The brand is to achieve a return on investment of 6.5 per cent by 2026. This target return is […] More…

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is ready to spend up to $60 mn to establish an Advanced Battery R&D Consortium as the DoE sees “substantial R&D” is required for new or alternative battery chemistries that can achieve lower cost and use more abundant materials. The consortium shall join key players to address critical battery […] More…

In a pilot project, users of electric vehicles in Germany may soon have the freedom to apply their own tariffs and energy mix at public charging stations. The collaboration between four key players could decouple the operators from pricing at will. The project sees transmission system operator 50Hertz, renewable energy provider LichtBlick, IT startup decarbon1ze, […] More…

The EU Parliament has adopted new rules for the design, manufacture and recycling of all types of batteries sold in the EU. Battery manufacturers will thus be subject to stricter environmental and due diligence requirements if they want to sell on the European market. With 587 votes in favour, nine against and 20 abstentions, MEPs […] More…

Volkswagen continues to turn the Greek island of Astypalea into a full-blown lab for future mobility. The latest update reports that practically every new car registered on the island in the Aegean sea is electric. And that is just private vehicles. Volkswagen Group and the Greek government agreed in November 2020 to establish a “pioneering […] More…

The new Recirculate project aims to create new business models for the repair, reuse and recycling of second-life batteries. Eleven companies are involved in the €4.9 million EU-funded project, which started this month. The consortium will work for three years to create more advanced dismantling and sorting technologies for battery recycling and a marketplace for […] More…

The Düsseldorf Rheinbahn is ordering 20 battery-electric buses from the Dutch manufacturer VDL, including 15 articulated and five solo buses. Delivery of the first vehicles is scheduled for mid-2024. The number of electric buses at Rheinbahn increases to 30 with the new order. The 20 new VDL buses are expected to operate from the depot […] More…

In Europe, parking service provider Parkopedia and eMobility service provider Plugsurfing want to make it even easier for drivers to pay for charging. They aim to do this directly in the vehicle itself. As part of a cooperation, Parkopedia wants to integrate Plugsurfing’s Drive API into its in-vehicle payment system. By using Parkopedia’s data, electric […] More…

NHS Shetland in Scotland has rolled out a fleet of new electric vehicles. A total of 24 MG4 Electric cars have been phased in to replace the former Mazda 2 fleet. This expansion will take the NHS Board’s total electric car fleet to 35. NHS Scotland aims to become a net zero health service by […] More…

The all-electric Renault 5 will be the first Renault vehicle equipped with a bi-directional charger. The associated V2G service will be available from the launch of the Renault 5 in France and Germany in 2024 and in the UK in 2025. Renault is coordinating the introduction of bidirectional charging through its mobility brand Mobilize. In […] More…

The machinery and plant manufacturer Dürr announces the acquisition of the automation specialist BBS Automation at a price between 440 million and 480 million euros. Dürr intends to grow in the field of electromobility, among other things, in this way. The transaction is expected to be completed in autumn 2023. The exact purchase price depends […] More…

At a technical workshop, Toyota gave details of its electrification strategy. Although the company continues to keep its technology open, it is aiming for ranges of up to 1,000 kilometres for BEVs from 2026 through improved batteries, before up to 1,500 kilometres should be possible shortly afterwards thanks to solid-state batteries. Japanese manufacturers have previously […] More…

The Northern European public transport operator Keolis has been awarded a ten-year contract to operate and maintain bus routes around Stockholm. Eighty per cent of distances undertaken by the company will be covered by electric buses; the remaining vehicles will be biodiesel buses. The contract comes from the Stockholm Regional Transport Authority Trafikförvaltningen and has […] More…

UK building materials supplier Nicholls & Clarke is going to include nearly 100 electric cars from Hyundai in its fleet. The Ioniq 5s and Ionic 6 electric vehicles will be the company’s first EVs. The company says its managers and sales representatives will drive Ioniq 5s, while employees at the director level will also have […] More…

Siemens is launching the e-Line OnBoard series, a particularly quiet charging pantograph for electric buses, suitable for charging powers of up to 600 kW. The pantograph charger can be used for occasional charging for a short time with high currents or for charging at the depot with lower currents. That said, the system is more […] More…

The Chinese manufacturer BYD is launching five electric cars on the French market. BYD has teamed up with four large dealer networks for sales – and that is just the beginning. BYD dealers will be supplied with the first vehicles as early as this month, and sales will begin shortly after. BYD wants to open […] More…

Ford has opened its ‘Electric Vehicle Center’ in Cologne. The Ford plant in Cologne-Niehl was converted for the production of electric cars with an investment of two billion US dollars. The annual production capacity will be 250,000 electric cars in the future. The US carmaker will start producing the all-electric Ford Explorer in Cologne this […] More…

Volkswagen is aiming to bring a new production process for electric car batteries into large-scale production. A dry coating is to reduce the energy consumption in the production of battery cells by 30 per cent and lower the costs of electric cars by several hundred euros per vehicle. German publication Spiegel revealed the car-making giant’s […] More…

The E1 racing series for electrically powered racing boats initiated by Formula E founder Alejandro Agag will start its premiere season in January 2024, about a year later than last announced. Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has now been set as the venue for the first race. The events will each take place over two days […] More…