They are the only manufacturer of solid-state batteries for electric vehicles on an industrial scale – and yet they are hardly in the spotlight: French Bolloré subsidiary Blue Solutions developed and commercialised batteries with solid-state electrolyte years ago. Their most prominent customer is Daimler.

BYD has developed a driverless electric forklift together with Singapore-based ST Engineering. The two companies signed a cooperation agreement to broaden their joint activities in this field. That’s not BYD’s sole special vehicle innovation: The company also unveiled two new electric tug models.

Geely-owned London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) will bring its electric taxi with range extender to Paris. A permit for the black cab has now been granted by the Paris authorities. The French capital is expected to receive the model called TX in the first half of 2019.

Govecs acquires a new electric scooter model from Spanish motorcycle manufacturer Rieju in order to further develop and launch it under the name Flexy in the “mid-price segment”. Sales kick-off will follow probably already in the second quarter of 2019.

Ionity’s first high-power charging sites in Austria have now been put into operation in Mondsee (Salzburg) and Eisentratten (Carinthia). Both have been installed at sites of station service company OMV. Like it is the case for all Ionity charging stations, each charging point delivers up to 350 kW.

Kitty Hawk subsidiary Zephyr Airworks has signed a cooperation agreement with Air New Zealand as both partners want to work on setting up an air taxi service with self-flying electric aircrafts. We remember: About half a year ago, Kitty Hawk unveiled its electrically powered autonomous air taxi Cora.

The 60 kWh version of the Nissan Leaf will go into production in January 2019 and cost 5,500 US dollars (around 4,800 euros) more than the current 40 kWh version – that is at least what “CarsDirect” reports, referring to news derived from dealers’ documents.

After its first crowdfunding campaign back in 2016, Munich start-up Sono Motors launches its second round of financing in order to generate capital for the last development stage and production of the company’s solar electric car Sion, which is scheduled to start rolling off the lines in late 2019.

Renault has entered into a number of eMobility collaborations: Besides a three-point agreement with EDF on electric mobility and energy services, these include a cooperation with Total and Jedlix and Enel X. Furthermore, Renault now officially launched its EV sharing service Moov’in in Paris.

Hubject is cooperating with tech start-up ReCharge to enable EV drivers to access charging points in its network and to bill charging by simply plugging in the charging plug, thus, without having to use a RFID card or a smartphone app.

Nissan teams up with EDF Energy, the UK-based subsidiary of French utility EDF, to explore secondary use of old EV batteries. The first joint project will focus on creating a business model to reuse recycled batteries of the Nissan Leaf into commercial storage systems.

The preparations for Teslas Gigafactory in China are apparently progressing. As Bloomberg reports, Tesla is about to buy land for the factory for 145 million US dollars. A decision by the Shanghai city government to allocate the land to Tesla could already be made this month.

Chinese EV start-up Byton, led by former BMW-i manager Carsten Breitfeld, takes over FAW subsidiary Huali (Tijian) Automobile and thereby secures a production license for serial production of electric cars in China. Byton had already closed an investment agreement with FAW in summer.

Following its electric off-road vehicle B1, the US company Bollinger Motors now presents the B2 – a fully electric pickup truck with an open loading area. It shares many components with the B1, including the twin-engine all-wheel drive coupled with a 120 kWh battery.

BMW is pushing ahead with its electrical plans in China. First, the carmaker takes over the majority of the joint venture with local car manufacturer Brilliance, second, the joint venture announced that it would invest over 3 bn euros in new and existing plant structures in Shenyang.

French energy giant EDF intends to operate 75,000 charging stations in Europe by 2022 as it aims for a 30% market share in its main markets of France, Belgium, Italy and the UK. “We want to become the uncontested leader in electric mobility in Europe by 2022”, declares CEO Jean-Bernard Levy.

Goodyear draws attention to a new tire technology designed for EVs in Geneva. The EfficientGrip Performance with “Electric Drive Technology” features larger rubber contact patch on the road while reducing rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag and tire noise, according to the manufacturer.

Scotland’s national transport agency publishes specifications regarding the country’s plan to phase out the need for combustion-powered cars by 2032. In September it was Nicola Sturgeon, head of the Scottish government, who announced this ambition.

The RWTH Aachen University and partners are kicking off a project called UNICARagil to pool latest research findings in fields such as autonomous driving, connectivity and electric mobility. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is supporting the project with 23m euros.

Tata Motors brought its EVision concept to Geneva, a prototype of an electric-powered sedan, featuring two motors and promising a range of not less than 450 km. A serial version of the sedan could roll off the production lines by 2020.

Volkswagen has nominated Chinese battery specialist Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) as supplier to implement its ambitious electrification roadmap, according to “Caixin”. However, VW intends to add also other battery suppliers later on.

Pininfarina and the Hybrid Kinetic Group (HKG) are showing the electric-powered coupé HK GT Concept on display at the Geneva Motor Show. It is the fourth electric car concept to come out of the joint venture.

Lexus’ compact crossover UX has debuted at the Geneva Motor Show. The hybrid version of the model will be known as UX 250h. It comes with a new fourth-gen hybrid powertrain and will be available either with front-wheel or all-wheel drive.

Daimler has completed the acquisition of a stake in BAIC’s subsidiary Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV) as announced last year. The German carmaker owns now almost four percent of the Chinese specialist for EVs and PHEVs.

Norwegian ferry operator Fjord 1 has signed contracts for the construction of seven electric ferries with the Havyard Group. The ferries are scheduled to begin operation in early 2020 in Norway.

Audi, Italdesign and Airbus have introduced Pop.Up Next, an all-electric, fully automatic concept for horizontal and vertical mobility. Basically, the concept features a two-seater cabin that can be attached to either a car or a flight module.

At the Geneva Motor Show, Hyundai has revealed its newest concept car: the Kite. It has neither doors or windows, nor a roof, but is an all-terrain vehicle for two people, that can be quickly and easily converted into a jet ski with a single seat.
hyundai.news

RWE subsidiary Innogy and mobility service provider DKV are about to establish an e-mobility joint venture to offer Europe-wide services for commercial fleet operators. In an initial step, both companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding.

Just some days ago, Jaguar took off the wraps of its I-Pace, now known to feature a 90 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Due to information obtained by electrive.com, it is likely that this will not stay the only battery option.

With its autonomous mobility concept EZ-GO, Renault illustrates its vision of a robotaxi for urban areas. The prototype is currently attracting attention at the Geneva Motor Show. It follows on Renault’s autonomous Symbioz concept unveiled in 2017.