The Fraunhofer IKTS has opened a branch office called the Battery Innovation and Technology Center (BITC) in Germany at Erfurter Kreuz. The location of the battery research centre is not a coincidence of course.

Initiated by the Port of Rotterdam Authority and AirLiquide, several European companies have joined forces to provide a hydrogen corridor for fuel cell trucks in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. They target 1,000 trucks by 2025.

The Southampton City Council has taken delivery of 24 Renault Kangoo ZE vans, which will be used in the upkeep of the city and contribute to its goal of 90 per cent of its fleet to be zero-emission by 2030.

The California Energy Commission has granted funding of around 2.6 million euros to CleanSpark and ReJoule. The companies will use the funds to advance their research into the second-life of batteries, the latter delivered by Ford.

As the UK fast-tracks the e-scooter trials, the new regulation just being tested could lead to a more generous classification of light electric vehicles than applied across the EU. It could see not only e-scooters but also light electric mopeds without type-approval being allowed.

The relative newcomer in the electric vehicle space, Rivian, has raised another 2.5 billion dollars in its latest round of funding. Existing investors BlackRock and Amazon chipped in again with others joining in this time, among them the fund of George Soros.

The South Korean company Caris and Yuzhmash of Ukraine have signed an agreement for the construction of 5,000 electric buses and 7,800 charging stations. The Ukrainian state space agency also played a part in the contract.

Honda has taken a one-percent stake in CATL as the company seeks a stable supply of battery cells and also closer cooperation in the areas of development and research as well as recycling and second-life approaches.

Volta Trucks, a start-up with offices in Sweden and the UK, is working on the prototype of an all-electric 16-ton truck. The Volta Zero, due for launch later this year is to use hi-tech organic materials developed together with the European Space Agency, ESA.

Tesla appears one step closer to building Giga Texas, a facility destined to make the Cybertruck. A state’s school district approved numerous tax breaks, which make the construction near Austin seem more and more likely.

The Norwegian police is asking Tesla drivers in the town of Sandefjord, close to Oslo, to come forward. Not to help with an accident but to hand-in any footage from the Tesla cars’ cameras to assist in the search for a suspected assassin.

The eCharge4Drivers project is to conduct demonstrations across key cities in the EU to understand better consumers’ perspective on EV charging infrastructure. As one of 32 stakeholders, ABB will test new DC charging stations to EU standards.

Jump’s bright red e-bikes return. The new owner Lime was last caught scrapping many of the electric bikes after taking over the service from Uber. London is now the first city in Europe where e-bikes are making a comeback, and more cities are to follow.

Royal Mail is testing a prototype version of LEVC’s new range-extender electric van, the VN5. The postal service is one of 25 businesses taking part in the British trial, which will last until Q4.

The Polish Ministry of Climate Change announced a few weeks ago that it intends to promote the purchase of electric buses with two programmes with a total volume of 90 million euros. Both support programmes are to make it easier for municipalities and districts to purchase electric buses for passenger transport.

The ChargeNow charging service operated by Digital Charging Solutions for the BMW Group was renamed BMW Charging and Mini Charging respectively as of 1 July. Digital Charging Solutions (DCS) continues to operate the services.

The manufacturer Voxan Motors, which belongs to the Venturi Group, presents its electric high-speed motorcycle Wattman, built to set a new world speed record for electric two-wheelers on Bolivia’s legendary salt lake in 2021. And, the machine’s key spec is indeed impressive.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council has set the course for the third Formula E generation. From the 2022/23 season onwards, the cars will be more powerful and recuperate better. FIA has also appointed several suppliers to make standard components for the next-gen racing cars.

Daimler plans to sell its plant in Hambach, France, where they build the Smart electric vehicles. In 2018, Daimler had announced that the factory would also make a compact model of the electric car brand EQ, presumably the EQB.

Madrid is expanding the fast-charging station network as they add twelve new DC chargers, bringing the number of rapid charging points in the Spanish capital to 45. The aim is to increase the system to 150 DC-units in 2023.

Volvo Cars, with its Polestar and Lynk & Co. brands, has entered into a strategic partnership with Waymo. They aim to integrate Waymo’s technologies for autonomous driving into a new electric vehicle platform for ride-hailing services.

AddÉnergie Technologies has been selected to supply more than 100 fast-charging stations to Hydro-Québec’s Electric Circuit network following a recent call for proposals. The contract will see AddÉnergie deliver its newest chargers over a two-year term.

The English city of Leeds has taken delivery of 122 Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric vans. The city will use 102 in its services and will make the remaining 20 available to local companies as part of a new test programme called EV Trials Scheme.

Nissan has announced a collaboration with Chinese company Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery to develop next-generation batteries for its e-Power vehicles jointly. The negotiations also include a production system to ensure a stable supply capacity for the shared cells.

Maxus, formerly LDV and a British brand of China’s SAIC, is now taking orders for the E Deliver 3, its first compact electric van, in the UK. The E Deliver 3 had debuted as EV30 before the Maxus re-brand and is expected to arrive in September.

NOW GmbH, the new National Centre for Charging Infrastructure in Germany, is inviting tenders for the construction and operation of the largest rapid charging network yet to be built in the country. As if to say, the market has failed, now the state does the talking.

From December DPD will be using an electric truck from Designwerk in Switzerland with a range of up to 760 kilometres. The 680 kWh battery on board is allegedly the largest truck battery in Europe and the first in the world to be used commercially in this form.

In time for the on-sale of the VW ID.3 electric car, Volkswagen is launching the wall box ID.Charger. It is available to order online for clients in eight European countries, and the basic version costs 399 euros – without installation.

The electric speedboat of Sweden’s Candela is the world’s first electric hydrofoil, according to the company, and as the (old) concept is still both wondrous and curious enough, they’ve now published a 40-min virtual cruise. Also note, Candela is ready to deliver.

Evum Motors, the spin-off of the TU Munich for the commercialization of the all-electric commercial vehicle aCar, is back with some news. Sales of the limited edition ‘First Mover’ will start this Tuesday with Evum taking orders through their website online.