The logistics & delivery corporation UPS plans to spearhead a project to explore the way Artificial Intelligence systems can optimise charging electric vehicle fleets and integrate onsite renewables to reduce emissions and energy costs.

Audi promises 30 electrified models by 2025, 20 of which will be BEVs. Audi USA has now provided further details of the four platforms on which these electric cars will be built. More information has also been revealed on the upcoming PPE architecture being developed jointly with Porsche.

Toyota and BYD have completed the formation of their announced joint venture to jointly develop BEVs and their batteries. The joint venture, called BYD Toyota EV Technology (BTET), is based in Shenzhen and is scheduled to start operations in May.

BMW Brilliance has begun construction of a new production facility on the existing Chinese plant site in Tiexi, a district of Shenyang in Liaoning Province. With the new plant, BMW Brilliance (BBA) intends to double production capacity at the site.

The Chinese electric car and battery manufacturer BYD has published its preliminary results for the 2019 fiscal year. At just under 121.8 billion yuan, sales were on a par with the previous year, but profits slumped by 42 per cent to around 1.6 billion yuan.

In addition to its fully electric models in the ID. series, VW is also planning to roll out further plug-in hybrid versions of the combustion engine series. Before the end of this year, VW plans to present PHEV variants of the Arteon and Tiguan.

Apparently Chinese EV manufacturer GAC is testing a system to perfume the upcoming Aion LX “with the healing aroma of traditional Chinese medicine”.

Allego, ChargePoint and EVBox have formed the ‘ChargeUp Europe’ e-mobility alliance to accelerate the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Europe.

The Swedish fuel cell specialist PowerCell has received an order from Bosch for fuel cell stacks with a total value of around one million euros. The order specifies PowerCell’s S3 type fuel cell stacks.

The Chinese electric car start-up Aiways will be taking pre-orders from European customers for its fully-electric SUV U5 from the end of April. Aiways intends to announce the required down payment for the European advance sales markets later this month.

General Motors is postponing the 2021 launch of the revised fully-electric Chevrolet Bolt by one year due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The new Chevy Bolt will therefore not be offered until model year 2022.

The Chinese government has announced that it will extend state subsidies and tax breaks for New Energy Vehicles (BEV, PHEV and FCEV) by two years until the end of 2022. Originally, the subsidies were to be terminated at the end of this year.

Last year, Volkswagen’s subsidiary Electrify America submitted a formal proposal to the Unicode Consortium to introduce an EV with a charging station as an emoji for smartphone keyboards. Now a new proposal has been published.

With the impressive Porsche Taycan, German engineers have shown all their skills. It proves that continued inaction is the highest risk for German domestic brands. At the same time, outdated vehicle designs remain electric top sellers.

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, not only are the production lines in most electric car plants at a standstill but now first effects on charging infrastructure are becoming apparent. This concerns both the production of charging points and the maintenance and distribution of the pillars.

The vehicle manufacturer Liebherr, in cooperation with Designwerk and ZF, have developed the first fully electric truck mixers with a drum holding ten or twelve cubic metres on a five-axle chassis. The first applications are planned for autumn 2020 at the customers Holcim and KIBAG in Switzerland.

BMW of North America will release the 330e and 330e xDrive on the US market on 20 May. Prices for the plug-in-hybrid sedans in the States start at $44,550 for the 330e and $46,550 for the 330e xDrive.

The US charging system developer Momentum Dynamics, which specializes in wireless charging for electric vehicles, is cooperating with the North American vehicle manufacturer GreenPower Motor. They aim to integrate Momentum Dynamics’ inductive charging technology into GreenPower’s EV Star shuttle bus and to distribute it in the USA, Canada and Europe.

Due to the coronavirus crisis, the electric kick scooter rental company Lime has largely ceased operations, and sales have therefore shrunk sharply. According to a media report, this could even call the future of the company into question.

A large high power charging park was opened on the A7 Autobahn in Germany on Friday. Twenty electric cars can be charged simultaneously at a mix of columns from Ionity and Tesla.

Despite commitments to e-mobility by Ford and General Motors, the two largest US American carmakers intend to produce only about 320,000 electric vehicles in North America by 2026, which is only about five per cent of the combined vehicle production of both manufacturers there.

The Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation (MFTBC) announces the intention to start series production of fuel cell trucks “by the end of the 2020s”. The Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer, which belongs to the Daimler Group, is also presenting the concept of the eCanter F-CELL.

The British automobile manufacturer MG Motor UK announced that they will supply up to 100 of their fully-electric small SUVs to health agencies across the UK. Another MG ZS EV found its way into a taxi fleet in the North Fife area.

Audi is planning an assembly plant for electric car battery packs near its plant in Ingolstadt. The cells for this are to continue to come from LG Chem. The Korean battery manufacturer also received a loan from the EIB for the expansion of the plant in Poland to what they say will be the world’s […]

Alleged software problems with the VW ID.3 development have been treading the rumour mill recently. Now a spokesperson officially confirmed the issues, while insider information reflects a more dire reality.

In the Czech Republic, a thief who had stolen a Tesla Model S was caught trying to charge the car at a third-party Tesla service centre in Prague with a left over range of only 5 km.

Mercedes-Benz subjected the EQV to an endurance test in Arjeplog, Sweden. The electric V-Class proved its operational capability under extreme conditions at temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius, icy roads and deep snow.

Denmark’s first fuel cell buses went into operation this month in Aalborg. The three Van Hool A330s with technology from Ballard are used on lines 17 and 72 and were co-financed by the EU project 3Emotion.

In Sweden, electric cars and plug-in hybrids achieved a market share of 24.3 per cent in February. The background to the new car registration boom is primarily a change in the Swedish subsidy system, which came into force at the turn of the year.

Servicio de Transporte Eléctricos (STE) has launched a tender for 50 battery-powered trolleybuses for use in Mexico City, which ends on 21 April. These will not be the first trolleybuses in the Mexican capital.