The Indian energy provider Tata Power plans to expand its network of smart EV charging points in India from the current approx. 170 now to over 700 by end of the financial year under the subsidiary brand name of Tata Power EZ Charge.

The Californian city of Pasadena is opening the Marengo Charging Plaza at 155 E. Green Street. The Plaza is now home to a total of 44 chargers including 24 Superchargers installed by Tesla and 20 fast chargers installed by the City of Pasadena.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has launched a joint Vehicle-to-Grid project with Engie EPS at its Mirafiori plant in Turin. In the first phase, 64 bidirectional charging points will be installed, which will grow to include capacity for over 700 electric vehicles in the final stage.

Australian fast-charging station manufacturer Tritium has launched its Plug and Charge solution. The technology leverages the ISO15118 standard and enables an electric vehicle and charger to communicate. Payments are authorised directly from the driver’s account without the need for a card or RFID tag.

With over 14,000 DC charging stations installed, the Swiss ABB group is among the biggest suppliers of charging infrastructure. The market is developing quickly and will continue to change at a rapid pace in the coming years.

The UK-based Liberty Global Ventures and Zouk Capital have announced a joint venture partnership named Liberty Charge. The partnership will roll out on-street charging points for electric vehicles in residential areas across the UK.

Tesla has apparently equipped the Model 3 and probably also the Model Y with bidirectional charging capacities. However, there are now some doubts about the corresponding report that makes the claim.

Melanie Lane is the new CEO at NewMotion and already took over the position on the 1 April from Sytse Zuidema, who held the position for the past five years. Based in the Netherlands, Lane is responsible for the strategy and further growth of the specialist for charging infrastructure.

The UK utility Octopus Energy launched a new roaming charging service, which will allow EV drivers to access multiple charging networks with one account. Unaffiliated customers can also use the Electric Juice Network scheme.

EnBW and Smatrics found Smatrics mobility+ GmbH. The joint venture aims to operate the largest charging network in Austria and, above all, to expand high power charging. All Smatrics charging stations will be transferred to the new operating company.

The British Department of Transport (DfT) has set new targets for the expansion of ultra-rapid charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The plans envision the construction of at least six HPC sites along motorways by 2023.

The Swiss company Huber+Suhner has presented a liquid-cooled charging cable system which is designed to enable continuous charging with 500 A even at very high temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius. With a voltage of 1,000 volts, charging capacities of up to 500 kW are conceivable.

In the UK, Western Power Distribution (WPD) has just released the details of its updated EV strategy. In order to enable the faster rollout of charge points across the UK, WPD is focussing on making the connection process easier for charge point operators.

ABB has agreed with Norway’s largest food wholesaler ASKO and its owner NorgesGruppen to supply the charging infrastructure for its growing fleet of electric vehicles.

China has set a national standard for wireless charging of electric vehicles based on WiTricity technology. The inductive charging specialist has worked closely with the GB standards committee on several technical issues, including efforts for harmonisation.

EV powertrain developer Lightning Systems has just announced Lightning Mobile, a mobile DC fast charger for electric vehicles. The mobile fast charger can be quickly deployed to provide fast roadside charging to support the operation of electric fleet commercial vehicles.

The joint venture Charge4Europe, founded by Innogy and the mobility service provider DKV, has now joined Gireve. The French roaming platform combines more than 86,000 charging points from different networks throughout Europe and has already formed a cooperation with Hubject.

ABB has received an order from Jönköping in Sweden to supply ten 450 kW pantograph rapid chargers. The installation is scheduled for the first half of 2021 with operation starting by mid 2021.

The British EV charging startup Urban Electric Networks has announced the completion and results of the trial of their UEone prototype on-street charging hub in Oxford. According to the company, the test of its retractable chargers has proven “a big success”, a fact that the council’s survey confirmed.

Fastned opened its first fast-charging station in Amsterdam this weekend. The Dutch company claims “hundreds of electric cars can be charged per day at this station” and that the design would allow the addition of more fast-chargers in future.

Gridserve has secured a million-pound loan from Hitachi Capital that is to help construct over a hundred large charging parks in the UK by 2024. A yet undisclosed amount will go towards the company’s first planned site in Essex.

After first giving us his polarising observations on how not to make it in the business of charging infrastructure in last week’s guest contribution, the mobility consultant and former Hubject CEO Thomas Daiber now delivers the five biggest Do’s for growth and lasting success.

In Germany, applications for funding for the development of charging infrastructure can be submitted again with immediate effect and all online. An important exception for customer parking spaces is new.

According to latest insider information, charging infrastructure operator Allego is cutting a significant number of jobs. The offices in the Benelux countries and Germany are particularly affected.

The CHAdeMO Association has presented the new CHAdeMO 3.0 protocol, which was jointly developed with the China Electricity Council (CEC). According to the organisation, the charging standard will enable DC charging with a capacity of “over 500 kW”.

The energy supplier Fortum has signed an agreement to sell a majority stake of its public charging station operator Fortum Recharge to Infracapital. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2020.

The Frankfurt-based European Electrical Bus Company (EEBC) now offers mobile high-voltage chargers for depots in four performance classes. With the four devices of the MDCC line, electric cars, electric buses and electric trucks can be charged via CCS with 22, 44, 75 or 150 kW.

SSE Enterprise was tasked with developing EV charging sites at London lock-up garages in a partnership with InfraTech Property Solutions (IPS). The hubs aim to combine fast-charging bays in pre-existing garage locations.

Deficient business models and a hardware-intensive struggle for locations: Looking back, the former Hubject boss Thomas Daiber sees the ramp-up of the e-mobility charging infrastructure as a permanent turning into dangerous dead ends.

FreeWire Technologies announced the successful closing of a $25 million Series B and venture debt financing round. The funding was led by existing investor BP Ventures, together with new investors ABB Technology Ventures and Energy Innovation Capital.