The Israeli start-up Ree Automotive has entered into a development cooperation with the US automotive supplier American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM). Together, the partners want to design a new electric drive system for the Israeli company’s platform.

EVR Motors presents an electric motor based on a new patented architecture. It is supposed to be less than half the size of conventional radial flux motors with similar performance and 10% lighter. The Israeli company is aiming for series production this year.

The design is vintage, the electric drive contemporary: The New 500 is Fiat’s farewell to the dogma that small cars must have an internal combustion engine. Our author Christoph M. Schwarzer considers the new Cinquecento far ahead of the electric car competition.

Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller is thinking aloud about a possible return of the Manta as an electric car. The feedback on the Manta GSe ElektroMOD study presented as a rendering in March had been so “overwhelming” that Opel’s market research would certainly play through a potential series version.

Tesla has allegedly already completely sold out its production capacity for the second quarter. According to a US media report, Elon Musk has now told employees this – about two months before the end of the quarter.

The Canadian electric utility vehicle manufacturer Lion Electric has selected the city of Joliet in the state of Illinois as the location for its production facility in the USA. At the same time, Lion Electric announced its IPO.

Solar electric car start-up Sono Motors has agreed with MAN Truck & Bus to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of integrating its solar technology on MAN’s eTGE electric van.

The US manufacturer Workhorse will use CATL batteries for its electric delivery vehicles in future. Workhorse now signed an agreement to this effect with Coulomb Solutions, the North American distributor of commercial vehicle battery systems from the Chinese manufacturer.

ABB has won a contract from the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) in Thailand to install more than 120 fast-charging stations for electric cars across the country by the end of this year. These will be 50 kW columns.

Electrify America is releasing the third instalment of payments for e-mobility initiatives in California. The 200 million dollars are part of an 800-million contribution the Volkswagen subsidiary was ordered to pay following the diesel scandal over emission fraud.

Motorway service station operator Moto has confirmed plans to install ultra-rapid EV chargers at all its UK sites. The installations will form part of the Electric Highway, which is among the oldest fast-charging networks in the UK.

The Mobility House has a new add-on module called “grid-friendly charging” for its ChargePilot energy management system. TMH says the feature enables grid operators to intelligently control multiple charging stations and help charge point operators save money.

The British chemical company Johnson Matthey has opened a “Battery Technology Centre” near the English city of Oxford, which is to play a key role in the development of battery materials of the future. The new battery technology centre expands existing battery technology and testing capacities.

Valmet Automotive has signed a third customer contract within a short period of time for the production of battery systems at its plant in Uusikaupunki, Finland. The customer is an unnamed “well-known car manufacturer”.

Fraunhofer IFAM is working with partners on a new approach to increasing the range and comfort of fuel cell-powered trains. The central idea here is to effectively utilise the fuel cell waste heat for temperature control of the vehicle interior.

Nikola Motor announced a new major order to potentially deliver a total of 100 BEV and FCEV trucks to Total Transportation Services. At least, a corresponding letter of intent has now been signed with the logistics company.

Canada’s province of Québec wants most pupils heading to class in yellow electric school buses by 2030, Premier François Legault announced. The province’s 2030 Plan for a Green Economy unveiled last autumn contains the target in some detail.

Keolis has been awarded a ten-year contract worth €150 million to run electric buses in Gothenburg, Sweden. The contract with the Västraffik transport association is due to take effect in June 2022 and involves replacing the city’s biogas and biodiesel buses.

The US government wants to provide 73 billion dollars to electrify public transit buses, delivery trucks and other vehicles in the country. In total, the ‘Clean Transit For America Plan’ calls for replacing more than 155,000 commercial vehicles, from buses to vans.

The US state of New York is following California’s example and ensuring that only zero-emission passenger cars and light commercial vehicles may be sold from 2035. By 2045, all new medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles in the US state are also to be electric.

Govecs presented a new edition of its Flex electric scooter model especially for use in the sharing sector. The Flex 2.0 comes with a self-developed drive train and a choice of one or two batteries. In addition, Govecs is aiming to set up urban sharing charging stations in cooperation with Swiftmile.

Tier Mobility has launched its service in Kraków, Poland and says it is the 100th city where it made its e-scooters available. Other light electric vehicles are also coming in as the Berlin-based start-up increases its multimodal share.

Bye Aerospace has announced an all-electric aircraft with room for up to seven passengers plus one or two pilots. The aircraft, called the eFlyer 800, is said to have already received deposits from customers, however, it remains to be seen when delivery will take place.

UPS subsidiary Flight Forward announces it will procure ten vertical take-off and landing, electric airlifters from US manufacturer Beta Technologies. The agreement also includes an option to procure 150 additional eVTOLs.

XALT Energy is contributing the batteries for New Zealand’s first all-electric ferry. The 19-metre vessel with a capacity of 135 passengers will be part of the fleet of ferry operator East by West Wellington Harbour Ferry Service and will cover daily water routes in the bay off Wellington.

ABB has won an order from Spanish shipbuilder Astilleros Gondán to supply all-electric power solutions for ten all-electric local ferries. The vessels are scheduled to enter service on the River Tagus between 2022 and 2024.

Israel’s battery developer StoreDot wants to improve its fast-charging batteries in space. To do so, the company struck an agreement with NASA, StoreDot and the Israeli Electric Company for the first space-based battery research initiative.