Feb 25, 2015 - 10:02 am

Delhi, E-Car Club, Dubai, SPIE & IBM, La Poste, Renault, Symbio FCell.

Delhi bets on e-bikes: Hero Electric is currently in talks with the Delhi government in order to offer 20 e-bikes at every metro station in the city. Moreover, manufacturer Ampere Vehicles will provide 50 e-bikes to a pizza delivery service in Delhi. The government will help fund the batteries and plans similar projects in the cities of Agra, Haridwar, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
indianexpress.com

E-Car Club expands: The UK’s all-electric car club wants to have more than 100 EVs available for hire soon. E-car club is poised to quadruple its fleet from 15 to 60 EVs and expects a further 50 to be deployed over the next six months across its locations in London, the South East, and the Midlands.
businessgreen.com, evfleetworld.co.uk

Dubai charges up: The United Arab Emirates’ biggest city kicks off construction of its charging infrastructure at the headquarters of Dubai Water and Electric Authority (Dewa). A total of 100 stations will be installed by April. Renault has already sold 75 Twizy there and plans to offer its Zoe soon as well.
emirates247.com

Charging cooperation in France: SPIE, an installation and maintenance specialist for EV charging stations, joins forces with IBM to offer a comprehensive installation, operation and management service for charging stations in France. The stations will be managed via IBM’s Electric Vehicle Enabled Platform (EVEP), which will forward statistics about usage and service requests to operators.
spie.com

Double the range: The French postal service will test the Maxity Electric by Renault Trucks for one year. It is fitted with fuel cell technology by Symbio FCell, which serves as a range extender. That allows the truck to go around 200 kilometres on one charge – doubling its usual range.
automotive-business-review.com, logisticsmanager.com

Feb 24, 2015 - 09:45 am

Tesla, Kia, Rolec EV & WF Senate, Air Products & Suzuki Shokan.

News from Tesla: The EV pioneer is building a new showroom combined with a service-centre and a row of Superchargers in Rocklin, California, with a massive array of photovoltaic solar cells to power the entire site. Meanwhile, Tesla hopes to be allowed to open as many as twelve of its stores in Texas.
greencarreports.com (California), wfaa.com (Texas)

Taking a back seat: Kia wants to refrain from bringing electric and hybrid vehicles to Australia, as long as there are no clear signs from the government. At the moment, there are no plans for subsidies, nor policies that would push for the development of charging infrastructure.
themotorreport.com

WF Senate and Rolec EV plug in: Electrical wholesaler WF Senate and Rolec EV announced a cooperation under which the former will distribute Rolec’s EV charging stations for the domestic and commercial sector.
voltimum.co.uk, pandct.com

H2 deal in Japan: Together, U.S. company Air Products and Japanese industrial gas company Suzuki Shokan want to push construction and operation of hydrogen filling stations for the material handling vehicle market in Japan. Talks with a number of “high-profile clients” are allegedly already taking place.
greencarcongress.com

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Feb 23, 2015 - 10:00 am

ELIPTIC, Iberdrola & BMW, Envision Solar, Texas, Hilton Head Island.

ELIPTIC stands for “Electrification of public transport in cities” and is combining research with demonstration. Under the lead of the German city of Bremen, 34 partners from all over Europe are to test the feasibility of electric mobility solutions in public transport. Electric buses as well as intermodal models combining electric car sharing and electric bikes are some of the topics to look at.
bundesverkehrsportal.de (in German), eliptic-project.eu (pdf)

Corporate i3 sharing: Spanish utility provider Iberdrola together with BMW and Alphabet is to start the countries first corporate EV sharing. About 350 Iberdrola employees in Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, and Valencia will get access to a fleet of electric BMW i3.
evwind.es, evfleetworld.co.uk

Solar on a trailer: Envision Solar now introduced a new trailer to tow its portable solar charging station EV ARC into position. The trailer is designed to easily transport the off-grid stations to customers.
renewableenergymagazine.com, envisionsolar.com

Texas scrapping scheme: The ‘AirCheckTexas Drive a Clean Machine Program’ has been reopened for a limited time. Motorists that hand in their old car receive a voucher of up to 3,500 dollars towards the purchase of an electric or hybrid vehicle. In 2014, 652 vehicles were replaced through the programme.
starlocalmedia.com

EV charger included: Hilton Head Island has come up with a new requirement asking every new development to include at least one electric car charging station. The new rule applies to multifamily as well as nonresidential developments.
islandpacket.com

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Feb 20, 2015 - 10:01 am

Cenex, Chargemaster, EVEN, OLEV, Tesla, Southern California Edison.

EV initiative for outer communities: British Cenex has secured funding to develop business plans to bring electric transport solutions to communities outside cities with the aim to include them commercially, environmentally and socially. The project is led by Cenex and will tackle the fringes in Poland, Spain, and Italy as well as the West Midlands and Scotland in the UK.
evfleetworld.co.uk

Charge point package: Chargemaster is offering British companies a package to get a 7-kW electric vehicle charge point installed for 995 GBP (1,533 dollars) excl. VAT. The charge point can be used by employees or the companies’ own fleet.
fleetnews.co.uk

EV concept store:EVEN has opened a ‘Concept Store’ for electric cars in Iceland’s biggest shopping centre. Models of Renault, Nissan, Tesla, and Kia are on display and for sale. However, this could be just the start as the company aims at opening 250 stores across Europe within the next few years.
autoblog.com

Late payment of the EV homecharger grant via the UK government’s OLEV scheme has caused outrage. SMEs are particularly concerned as waiting times of months instead of 30 working days disrupt their cashflow considerably. It is unclear if the scheme is to be continued beyond March 31, thus leaving infrastructure providers in the dark, too.
airqualitynews.com

Tesla Stores for all: In a letter to U.S. legislators, 10 organisations urge the States to allow Tesla to sell and service its electric cars directly. The alliance includes free-market groups, consumer-protection and environmental organisations, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
hybridcars.com

Demand response: Southern California Edison has started a pilot involving its employees and 80 charge points. The utility is to test charging at peak times and how to manage it via several tariff options.
ocregister.com, greentechmedia.com

Feb 19, 2015 - 10:02 am

Exxon Mobil, Portland, Go Ultra Low, Malta.

Exxon Mobil might be having its very own energy revolution as it plans to install EV chargers across the United States, Bidness Etc reports quoting inside sources. Construction could start already this year and while nothing is confirmed yet, such a step by a multinational oil company would certainly send out a strong signal.
bidnessetc.com

Electric cab fleet: Portland, Oregon, soon might see an all-electric taxi fleet. To start with, two Teslas, ten Nissan Leafs and some electric vans are on the shopping list. At a later date, the company plans to successively expand its fleet to 50 vehicles, most of them Teslas.
bizjournals.com

Audi, Mitsubishi, and Volkswagen are to “Go Ultra Low” as they just joined the UK government’s initiative of the same name. Fellow campaigners are BMW, Nissan, Renault, and Toyota who all pledged to promote the benefits of electric vehicles to the British public.
businessgreen.com, nextgreencar.com

Malta to include businesses in EV scheme: Transport Malta, together with the island’s Ministry for Transport is now giving a credit of up to 4,000 euros (4,560 dollars) for electric vehicles to businesses and NGOs as well. Private persons remain eligible for the grant.
timesofmalta.com

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Feb 18, 2015 - 10:36 am

Sri Lanka, Dundee, France, Alphabet UK, California.

Island-wide EV charging: Sri Lanka’s Power & Energy Ministry plans to install a nationwide network of charging centres, which will be found at gas stations, supermarkets and also households. A tariff for off-peak charging was also proposed. When the stations could be set up has not been said though.
lankabusinessonline.com, dailynews.lk

Dundee does it better: The Scottish city is pretty cued up on EVs as it only tripled charge points (we reported) and its cab companies like 203020 are too. Already operating a fleet of ten electric taxis, the firm is to replace its complete fleet of 60 diesels with electric cars this year. The city supports the move financially and will make all charging stations accessible.
thecourier.co.uk

It looks like EVs in France might indeed be in for a good year as sales crossed the 1,000-unit line for the first time this January. 1,069 BEVs and PHEVs were sold, most of them homemade as Renault’s Zoe (297) and Kangoo Z.E. (200) take the top two positions followed by Bolloré’s Blue Car (120).
ev-sales.blogspot.co.uk

Charge before you buy is a new programme by Alphabet UK. Together with EDF Energy, the company is offering short-term leasing of charging stations which can be tested for up to three months.
evfleetworld.co.uk, businesscar.co.uk

Critical Californians: Taxpayer advocates are criticising the Golden state as it purchased 20 Ford Fusion Hybrids and other cars worth 540,000 dollars over the last 18 months. The Fusions are reserved for members of the Senate who say that the acquisition was part of normal procedure to swap cars with more eco-friendly vehicles.
latimes.com

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Feb 17, 2015 - 10:38 am

USPS, Tesla, UK, Kansai International Airport, Nissan.

Massive electrification? United States Postal Service plans to replace its entire fleet of 180,000 vehicles due to high maintenance costs and the need for more cargo space. It is thus asking carmakers to bid on a commercial van with low running costs. 25,000 to 35,000 dollars per vehicle are on the table, that means an investment of up to 6.5 billion dollars. We think: Going electric is the right way!
autonews.com, hybridcars.com

Supercharger update: Tesla says it had installed 125 new Superchargers in the fourth quarter of 2014, bringing up their number to 380 worldwide. Another 1,600 ‘Destination Chargers’ are placed at hotels and popular destinations in the States and Asia and the initiative is to be expanded to Europe from Q2.
files.shareholder.com (pdf, p. 2)

Successfully incentivised: Since the British government introduced its ULEV scheme in 2010, more than 25,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids were bought with the 5,000-pound grant. A lot more are to come, it seems, as in January alone nearly 2,000 EV buyers took advantage of the credit.
fleetnews.co.uk

Fuel-cell forklifts in Japan: Kansai International Airport will start replacing its fleet of forklifts with hydrogen fuel-cell models, starting next week. The fuel-cell forklifts come from Toyota and can operate for eight hours on a single charge of hydrogen. Eventually, all 400 forklifts will be replaced.
ajw.asahi.com

Communal charging in France: Nissan France together with Borne Recharge Service is now offering a charging service for people living in collective housing complexes. The all-inclusive offer supports customers from the planning stage to the installation and amounts to 1,790 euros (about 2,000 dollars).
newsroom.nissan-europe.com (in French)

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Feb 16, 2015 - 10:41 am

Japan, TEN-T, Tampa Bay, Scotland.

More EV charging points than filling stations: Nissan says that with 40,000 chargers for electric cars installed in Japan (including private ones), the country now counts more charging points than petrol stations (34,000).
electric-vehiclenews.com, bloomberg.com (video)

EU supports deployment of quick chargers: The European Union’s Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) scheme is funding the project with eight million euros. The aim to set up a total of 155 rapid-charging stations along major European corridors.
kfz-betrieb.vogel.de (in German)

Faster chargers for Tampa Bay: Nissan plans to build up seven new fast-charging stations around the Tampa Bay area. The first one has already been installed, the six other fast chargers should be up and running by the end of March.
tampabay.com

Charging demand in Scotland is low, recently published figures by the RAC foundation suggest. In August of last year, 45 percent of the country’s 482-unit ChargePlace Scotland were not even used once. Although, the around 1,100 EVs clocked 2,885 individual charging sessions with the busiest station being the one at Janet Brougham House, a care home in Dundee.
bbc.co.uk, stv.tv

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Feb 13, 2015 - 09:58 am

Japan, Proterra, Indianapolis, Beijing, Puget Sound.

Honda, Nissan and Toyota announced to jointly support the Japanese government’s efforts of promoting the installation and operation of hydrogen filling stations. Toyota says the specifics, including investment amount and the number of stations to be deployed, will be “determined at a later date.”
wsj.com, autoblog.com, toyota.co.jp

28 new electric Proterra buses: Six of the ten recent winners of Federal Transit Administration´s grants will use their funds to purchase 28 Proterra electric buses and seven charging stations, bringing Proterra’s total number of orders to 97 buses from 14 different transit agencies in North America.
greenvillebusinessmag.com, chargedevs.com

BlueIndy thwarted: The future of Bolloré´s electric car sharing in Indianapolis is uncertain after state regulators denied a 16 million dollars rate increase to Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) to pay for charging stations. IPL now has 20 days to accept or appeal the commission’s decision.
indystar.com, ibj.com, sunherald.com

Mobile chargers for Beijing: The Chinese capital plans to introduce portable electric car chargers in April to benefit those who find it difficult to install charging facilities in housing complexes where they live. So far, the city has built 1,500 charging stations for private users.
cri.cn

Home charger rebate: EV drivers in the Puget Sound region in the state of Washington can qualify for a 500-dollar rebate when installing one of the most common level 2 chargers at their home. The offer is good for the first 5,000 applicants and includes plug-in hybrids.
insideevs.com, pse.com

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Feb 12, 2015 - 09:27 am

Volkswagen, Jeju, Beijing, U.S. charging stations, Tetherow Resort.

Volkswagen charges up: Volkswagen of America will invest ten million dollars in charging infrastructure across the States until 2016. This includes the recently reported 100 fast charging stations with BMW and ChargePoint and also adds charge spots at Volkswagen dealers in America. Together with the announcement, VW urged the U.S. government to further invest into EV infrastructure.
electriccarsreport.com, greencarcongress.com

Jeju welcomes EVs: The South Korean island is to invest 300 billion won (about 270m dollars) to install charging infrastructure to feed a desired 50,000 electric vehicles by 2017. The announcement did not go unheard, as carmakers are lining up for the International Electric Vehicle Expo (IEVE) on Jeju this March.
koreaittimes.com, businesskorea.co.kr

Beijing to double infrastructure: There are currently about 6,800 so-called new energy vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) on the Chinese capital’s streets. To grow the EV market, the local government intends to double the number of available charge points from currently 1,425 before the year’s end.
china.org.cn

Mapping U.S. charge posts: The DoE’s Alternative Fuels Data Center issues a detailed map listing all public and private U.S. charging stations. The map is segmented in states with California boasting the highest number of charge spots: 7,173 of a total of 36,345.
afdc.energy.gov via ecomento.com

Golf & Charge: Tetherow Resort, a luxury golf resort in Bend, has installed two Tesla fast charging stations and one 40-amp station. The stations are available to guests and members of the golf club.
bizjournals.com, ktvz.com

Feb 11, 2015 - 09:39 am

California, Georgia, Tritium, Hai Phong.

California charges ahead: Utility provider PG&E asked state regulators for permission to build no less than 25,000 public charging stations in the Golden State, quadrupling the number of chargers currently installed. If approved, PG&E will set up 25,000 level 2 chargers and 100 DC quick chargers within about five years. The cost would be shared by all electric customers as a contribution to helping the state meet its clean air and climate goals.
greencarcongress.com, plugincars.com, forbes.com

Georgia gets charging: Athens-Clarke County is set to install eight new charging stations in publicly accessible locations, while the University of Georgia added two more chargers on campus. This comes as a bill was introduced that, if passed, could put an end to the state’s tax credits for electric car buyers.
onlineathens.com

Tritium plugs in Brisbane: The company opened its first Veefil fast-charger in the Australian city. The charging station is located at a Brisbane BMW dealership, but can be used by any electric car free of charge. It is also Tritium’s first charger installed on its home turf.
cleantechnica.com, reneweconomy.com

EV for tourists: Vietnam’s third largest city Hai Phong will launch a pilot project next week, driving around tourists in electric vehicles. In its initial stage, 30 small electric buses that can carry eight to 14 people will take visitors to all the top attractions at a leisurely speed of 25 to 30 kph.
tuoitrenews.vn

Feb 10, 2015 - 09:33 am

BAIC & Foxconn, Hubject, LangstreckE, Glasgow, SUNY.

Electric car sharing in China: BAIC Motor and Foxconn have started an electric car sharing service in Beijing. It starts with 1,000 units of the BAIC E150EV and is to be followed by Tesla´s Model S, the BYD e6 and Zinoro 1E at a later date. Maybe even a Foxconn EV will join the rental service in the future as the electronics company had revealed plans to enter the electric car market with an EV below the 15,000-dollar-mark (we reported).
chinadaily.com.cn

New Hubject features: The Berlin-based joint venture will present its newly developed NFC access solution for charging stations operating within the intercharge network together with direct payments via credit card at the E-world energy & water trade fair in Essen, Germany this week.
hubject.com (PDF)

Long-range commuting: Another project of Germany’s showcase regions has delivered results. The ‘LangstreckE’ (long range) project, undertaken by BMW, Chemnitz Technical University, and the city of Leipzig, saw 75 commuters using 15 BMW ActiveE over three months each. All users were able to cover most of their drives (91 percent) with the electric cars.
bmwblog.com

Go green, Glasgow: The Scottish city has now approved a ten-year transport strategy that also includes a “Low Emission Zone” feasibility study. Furthermore, Glasgow council plans to expand its current network of 64 EV charge points, adding another eight by March 2015 and expanding further in future.
airqualitynews.com

Campus charging: The State University of New York (SUNY) has installed six EV charging stations at the New Paltz campus. The charge points are to be used by students, visitors, and staff, who will pay one dollar per hour for the first four hours, and five dollars per hour thereafter.
midhudsonnews.com

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Electric mobility in 2015: It has been said that there are more events about electric mobility than there are electric cars on the road. And the same seems to be true for 2015. In our calendar section, we have listed the most important trade shows, conferences, workshops, driving events and seminars for you.
electrive.com/calendar (Please send additional information to contact@electrive.com)

Feb 9, 2015 - 09:02 am

Electric buses, Washington, London, Bolloré, Valladolid, Xiamen.

Funding for electric buses: The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced a total of 55 million dollars in grants to put more battery-electric and fuel-cell buses into service across the country. Ten projects in the states of California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas were selected to receive a share of the grants.
greencarcongress.com, fta.dot.gov

Washington pushing EV ownership: Lawmakers in Washington state plan to encourage more drivers to turn to electric cars. A new bill would renew the sales tax exemption until 2021, but only for the first 45,000 dollars of an electric car’s purchase price – bad news for Tesla.
autoblog.com

London´s cabbies call for transformation package: The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) and Clean Air in London (CAL) are urging London’s mayor Boris Johnson to implement an eight-point plan to encourage private hire and taxi companies to use electric vehicles. The package includes further incentives as well as 500 rapid charging points exclusively for use by private hire vehicles and taxis.
evfleetworld.co.uk, cleanair.london

Bolloré wins backing for charging network: French Bolloré Group said on Friday it will invest 150 million euros (172m USD) to roll out an charging network across France, after the plan won government backing. Bolloré plans to install 16,000 new chargers nationwide in the next four years (we reported).
reuters.com, europe.autonews.com

European cooperation: The German metropolitan region of Lower Saxony teams up with the Spanish city of Valladolid to jointly promote electric mobility. As a first step, a VW e-Golf is tested by the Valladolid city council. More electric cars (the locally produced Renault Twizy as well as EVs from Volkswagen) will go on Valladolid´s streets later as part of a project funded by the EU´s Smart City project.
metropolregion.de (in German)

Xiamen goes all-electric: 30 BYD e6 pure electric taxis were put into service in the Chinese city of Xiamen, with another 60 e6 taxis to follow soon. The Xiamen Public Traffic Plaza-Station will set up more than 50 charging poles in the city, 20 of which have already been put into service.
whatsonxiamen.com

Feb 6, 2015 - 09:42 am

Shenzhen, Tesla, Switzerland, Crosspoint Kinetics.

Shenzhen charges up: The Chinese metropolis plans to invest 5 billion RMB (about 800m USD) on developing the market for so-called new energy vehicles. 1,800 charge points for electric cars are announced to be installed in Shenzhen this year alone. Independently, Tesla announced it will begin installing free charging stations at customers’ homes in 2015.
gasgoo.com (Shenzhen), zdnet.com (Tesla)

California readies funding: The California Energy Commission announced the availability of up to 1.3 million dollars in Zero Emission Vehicle Readiness funding. The money is meant to support new and existing planning efforts for the installation of infrastructure for PEVs and FCEVs.
greencarcongress.com, hybridcars.com

Swiss e-mobility confederation: Alpiq, Siemens, Swisscom and Zurich are developing a Switzerland-wide access and accounting system for EV charging stations. It is expected to be available from mid-2015 and most of the existing charging stations can be retrofitted with the system.
alpiq.com

Leasing for retrofit hybrid: Crosspoint Kinetics offers a leasing program for commercial fleets. Fleet operators can choose to retrofit their existing fleet with the Crosspoint electric hybrid system or order it to be installed on new vehicles. Fleets may apply their fuel savings toward paying for the lease.
ngtnews.com

Feb 5, 2015 - 09:19 am

Great Britain, Germany, Seoul, Connecticut.

Councils cued up on EVs: A survey by Intelligent Car Leasing among 412 councils in Great Britain found that one third of authorities had at least one electric vehicle in their fleet. Scottish communities are particularly well electrified with Dundee taking the lead as its fleet is 38 EVs strong.
intelligentcarleasing.com via fleetpoint.org, transportevolved.com

German Greens pro EV incentives: German car buyers could get grants worth 5,000 euros (5,672 USD) for EVs and 2,000 euros (2,270 USD) for hybrids if a new proposal by the Green party will make it through parliament. The subsidies could be financed through a new fund fed with taxes collected from cars which emissions exceed the European limits.
thelocal.de

Phone booths to charge points: Korean KT Linkus together with electric car sharing company Han Car and the city of Seoul has started a pilot project to turn disused phone booths into EV charging stations. Three have undergone the transformation already and more could follow suit.
koreabizwire.com

Crossing Connecticut in hybrids: The state will put 48 diesel-hybrid buses by Nova, New Flyer and Gillig into service for its new express bus system CTfastrak, which is scheduled to start in March. All buses are equipped with hybrid technology from Allison Hybrid and will serve across Connecticut.
greencarcongress.com

Feb 4, 2015 - 09:58 am

Ebee, Google, My Electric Avenue, Duluth, Telefonix.

Berlin charging lights for Chengdu: Berlin-based Ebee Smart Technologies has signed a cooperation agreement with Chinese Rongchen Investment to form a joint venture in Chengdu. The JV is to adapt Ebee´s technology for turning street lights into charging points. First installations in public and semi-public spaces are set for this year.
ebeesmarttechnologies.de

Google to go Uber? A report by Bloomberg suggests that the internet company plans to set up its own ride-hailing service, most likely in conjunction with its driverless car project. So maybe we will see the small self-driving electric Google cars on the roads soon.
bloomberg.com

My Electric Avenue exceeds its targets as more than 200 participants take part. Initially, only ten neighbourhoods with ten people each leasing a Nissan Leaf were to be recruited. The initiative aims to see if a “charge cluster” poses a problem for the grid and how to manage peak loads.
automotiveworld.com, autovolt-magazine.com, youtube.com

Minnesota electrifies: The Duluth Transit Authority (DTA) will receive a 6,343,890-dollar grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The money is intended to buy six electric buses by Proterra to replace six diesel buses. Covered as well is the cost for the erection of two fast-charge stations on route.
kdal610.com, wdio.com

PowerPosts: Telefonix, manufacturer of PowerPost commercial EV charging stations, now installed ten such stations at Melink Corporation’s energy-efficient HQ in a suburb of Cincinnati. Melink offers free charging during the day and sees the installation as an important step towards workplace charging.
electriccarsreport.com

Feb 3, 2015 - 09:30 am

Hanover, Amman, Lviv, Minnesota, Orlando.

New hybrid buses in Germany: Üstra, Hanover’s public transport authority, has bought seven hybrid articulated buses. The transport company thus stocked up its hybrid fleet to 36, all from Solaris. Another 26 from MAN are to follow in 2015. Üstra will then have replaced about half of its fleet with hybrid buses.
busfahrermagazin.de, uestra.de (articles in German)

Jordan to get electric cabs: Al Moumayaz Taxi in the Jordan capital Amman plans to replace 400 cabs with 300 hybrid and 100 electric cars successively. The taxi company is a contractor of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) that welcomes the move and just extended the company’s contract.
zawya.com

Ukrainian electric cabs: Start-up Shooter.ua has started an electric taxi service in Lviv with cheaper tariffs for electric rides. The project in the Western-Ukranian city uses four Renault Fluence Z.E. in a move to showcase the technology. The company also plans to install infrastructure.
kyivpost.com

Low cost EV charging: Minnesota’s largest utility provider Xcel Energy plans to offer a 43% discount to consumers that charge their EVs at night. Via a separate electric meter, energy would cost 3.3 cents per kWh. If the rate is approved by state regulators, the tariff could be rolled out in about six months.
startribune.com

Three Nissan Leaf have joined an existing electric fleet of the city of Orlando, which now has a total of six electric cars marking a long-term commitment to sustainable transport, according to officials.
myfoxorlando.com

Feb 2, 2015 - 09:31 am

Alphabet, Tesla, TPRES, Battery swapping, Japan.

Alphabet expects record sales in 2015: Alphabet UK has surpassed 1,000 EV orders. The company expects orders to double in 2015 and with one fifth of the total amount of orders from 2014 already having been placed in January, Alphabet is confident that the number will be even higher than predicted.
fleetnews.co.uk

Driving a Tesla in the UK: Thanks to the carmaker’s network of Superchargers in the country, range anxiety is turning into “range curiosity.” There are total of 30 charging stations with 75 charging points, making it easy to Tesla drivers to roam the country. Another six Superchargers are planned for 2015.
ibtimes.co.uk

Traffic-to-power: The University of Illinois has entered into an agreement with New Energy Innovations to optimize the TPRES (Traffic Powered Renewable Energy System). Air pumps are built into the roads and when cars drive by or park on them, their weight is converted to energy. Maybe that energy could even be used to power electric cars on the go.
greencarcongress.com

Battery-swapping under construction: Tesla’s first battery swapping station in Northern California is not quite ready yet, despite communication from the carmaker suggesting otherwise. But pictures show, that the shovels have yet to be put away. And so far, batteries can only be swapped by appointment.
hybridcars.com, autoblog.com

EV sales in Japan: A total of 2,513 electric and plug-in hybrid cars were sold in Japan in December last year, almost half of them were Nissan Leafs (1,195). A total of 14,177 of the 32,403 plug-ins sold in 2014 in Japan were Leafs, followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (10,064).
ev-sales.blogspot.co.uk

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Electric mobility in 2015: It has been said that there are more events about electric mobility than there are electric cars on the road. And the same seems to be true for 2015. In our calendar section, we have listed the most important trade shows, conferences, workshops, driving events and seminars for you.
electrive.com/calendar (Please send additional information to contact@electrive.com)

Jan 30, 2015 - 09:34 am

Van Hool, Siemens & Volvo, eMio, Car2go, Georgia, San Diego.

EU supports H2 buses: Belgium bus OEM Van Hool has signed an agreement with the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), which is financing the deployment of 21 fuel cell buses. These will be powered by Ballard Ballard FCvelocity-HD7 modules.
greencarcongress.com, ballard.com

E-Buses and chargers for Sweden: Siemens and Volvo have signed a deal, saying they will work together to supply electrified bus systems to cities. In 2015, Volvo will deliver hybrid and all-electric buses to the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg, while Siemens will set up fast-chargers there with a charging capacity of up to 300 kW.
volvogroup.com

Electric scooter sharing in Berlin: Berlin-based start-up eMio will kick off its electric “Share-a-Scooter” programme in the German capital in March. Following the testing phase, 200 electric scooters will be up for sharing in the centre of Berlin. The two-wheelers can be booked per app and are free floating.
emio-sharing.de, emo-berlin.de (articles in German)

New electric Smarts for San Diego: Carsharing provider Car2go is renewing and increasing the size of its fleet in the Californian city, bringing in 400 new electric Smarts. These will replace 350 models from 2010. According to the company, it counts over 33,000 customers and over 1 million trips in San Diego since the scheme launched in 2011.
timesofsandiego.com, cnn.com

“Get Current” will be the name of a new initiative launched in Georgia, USA. Utility provider Georgia Power Co. has earmarked 12 million dollars that it will spend on erecting 50 new public charging stations, as well as on subsidies for the installation of private chargers.
bizjournals.com

San Diego wants cleaner cabs: The U.S. city launched a 360,000 dollar incentive programme to get taxi drivers to switch from petrol to hybrid. Taxi owners will receive up to 4,000 dollars for the purchase of a new hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle and will also pay reduced airport fees.
kpbs.org

Jan 29, 2015 - 09:13 am

HyTEC, Toyota, Georgia, Cork, Mountain View, Los Altos.

Hydrogen spreads: The Hydrogen Transport in European Cities (HyTEC) consortium will create a third centre in Oslo after opening H2-vehicle deployment stations in London and Copenhagen. Newly on board is Hyundai which promised to deliver eight of its ix35 Fuell Cell to the new location this year.
gasworld.com, renewableenergyfocus.com

Toyota big in England: Co-wheels Car Club is to acquire 80 cars from the Japanese carmaker for its national fleet. At 40 locations across the UK, members of the club will be able to rent the Toyota Aygo, Yaris Hybrid and Prius Plug-in 24/7.
fleetnews.co.uk, hybridcars.com

Georgia to axe EV incentives? The EV role model in the south-east of the States might put a homemade stop to its fast growing electric car sales. A new bill is looking to cut the 5,000-dollar state tax credit by July, 1st. Similar attempts to stop the EV goodness have so far failed to pass the state’s senate.
transportevolved.com, ajc.com

Successful campaigning: In October 2014, Cork started its ‘Drive4Zero’ campaign to promote electric cars. According to a dealer, the promotion prove a success as he expects to sell 20 Leaf and Zoe this month – more than the total EV sales in 2014. Cork’s EV sales are expected to grow fivefold this year.
eveningecho.ie

School yard charging: The Mountain View-Los Altos High School District stroke a deal with Green Charge Networks from Santa Clara to set up four electric vehicle charging stations for free. Two 240-V-Chargers each will be located at Mountain View and Los Altos high schools.
mv-voice.com

Jan 28, 2015 - 09:27 am

Kansas City, DHL Express Italy, SAIC, Ormskirk, Hawaii, Air Liquide.

The Clean Charge Network in the the Greater Kansas City region will comprise more than 1,000 ChargePoint stations. Kansas City Power & Light Company, which receives support from Nissan and companies at host locations, will erect and operate the network, letting EV drivers charge for free in the first two years. The installation of the stations began in late 2014 and will be completed this summer.
electriccarsreport.com, businesswire.com, chargedevs.com

Electric parcel delivery in Italy: DHL Express in Italy puts 50 Nissan e-NV200 electric vans to work as part of Deutsche Post DHL’s global GoGreen campain. They will be used for deliveries starting in Milan and Rome with other cities like Florence, Verona, Bologna, Naples, Salerno, Bari and Catania to follow.
automotiveworld.com, logisticamanagement.it (in Italian)

Major SAIC deal: Battery charging supplier STGCON New Energy Technology Company from Shanghai has ordered 1,000 electric and plug-in hybrid cars from the Chinese carmaker SAIC Motor Corp. STGCON will use the Roewe E50 and Roewe 550 cars to set up a car hiring business. Along with the deal, both companies agreed to build charging stations in major Chinese cities.
oemol.com

Electric milk float reloaded: Grimshaw Lane Dairy in Ormskirk is now using four Nissan e-NV200 for their daily deliveries of fresh milk. According to manager Andrew Brown, his business is already saving 900 pounds on diesel each month with the electric vans – named Tilly, Bovine, Ermintrude and Daisy.
nissaninsider.co.uk

Charger or charged: A senator in Hawaii wants to fine owners of public parking lots with 100 or more parking stalls with up to 20,000 dollars if they do not install at least one charging point. A law requiring chargers to be set up in public parking lots was passed three years ago, but due to the lack of penalties, it has been nearly impossible to enforce.
bizjournals.com

New H2 filling station in France: Air Liquide opened a new hydrogen fuel station in Laint-Lô in the Manche department. It will at first cater to ten local vehicles and later to an additional 30 from nearby areas. As a reminder, this is the same area in France that will receive 40 Renault Kangoo Z.E. with fuel cell range extenders (we reported).
gasworld.com, airliquide.com

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Electric mobility in 2015: It has been said that there are more events about electric mobility than there are electric cars on the road. And the same seems to be true for 2015. In our calendar section, we have listed the most important trade shows, conferences, workshops, driving events and seminars for you.
electrive.com/calendar (Please send additional information to contact@electrive.com)

Jan 27, 2015 - 09:01 am

Symbio FCell, London, Nova Bus, Electric Circuit.

Electric Kangoo with fuel cell: As part of a project lead by the Conseil Général de la Manche, Symbio FCell has delivered the first five Renault Kangoo Z.E. with fuel cell range extenders. Another 35 will follow soon. The Symbio FCell technology supposedly nearly doubles the vehicle’s range.
businesswire.com, greencarcongress.com

Testing electric black cabs: The first range-extended Electric Motorcabs have now gone on trial in London. They are powered by two electric motors and a small combustion engine used to recharge the battery pack or provide power directly to the motors. Metrocab has announced that there will be no price premium over the current diesel-powered black cabs.
dailymail.co.uk

Hybrid bus testing in Quebec: The hybrid bus from Nova Bus has been successfully tested in Montreal already and will now have to hold up against rough winter climate and topography in Quebec City. The bus can switch from diesel to diesel-electric and even run in full-electric mode.
montrealgazette.com

Canadian Electric Circuit continues to grow: During the Montreal Auto Show, the Electric Circuit announced more charging stations to come. While 125 new charging stations were promised during the first few days, Hybrid Cars has made a list of the other smaller announcements.
hybridcars.com

Jan 26, 2015 - 09:22 am

VW & BMW, NRG eVgo, Bosch, Stuttgart, Utah.

German fast-charging system crosses the pond: Together, VW and BMW want to set up a network of 100 rapid-charging stations, featuring the Combined Charging System (CCS). The stations will be set up along Interstate 95 from Boston to Washington D.C. and routes between San Francisco and Portland, as well as between Los Angeles and San Diego. ChargePoint has signed on as a partner.
nytimes.com, transportevolved.com

NRG eVgo expands across U.S.: The fast-charging network is currently established across ten local U.S. markets and plans on expanding into another 15 in next two years. The charging infrastructure provider is i.e. eyeing major corridors from San Diego to Seattle and from Miami to Boston.
greencarcongress.com

Second life for EV batteries: Bosch has joined BMW and Vattenfall in an energy storage project in Hamburg, using old batteries from BMW ActiveE and i3 models to form a 2 MW energy storage unit (we reported). Now you can read up on all the project’s details in English.
electriccarsreport.com

Stuttgart focuses on intermodal transport: The Association for the Stuttgart Region wants to use future fundings specifically for “intermodal points of transportation” instead of evenly pouring it into all projects part of the “model regions for sustainable transport” initiative. Until the end of the project in 2016, the association still has 3.5 million euros to spend, 4 million have already been used up.
stuttgarter-zeitung.de (in German)

EV initiative in Utah: Business based in the U.S. state such as 3form, Backcountry.com, Black Diamond, Cubiscan, Ken Garff, Lancer Automotive Group, Packsize and Vivint have formed the “Leaders for Clean Air” initiative. They agreed to install EV chargers at their locations and have set themselves the goal of erecting a total of 2,000 Level 2 charging stations in Utah.
ksl.com

Jan 23, 2015 - 09:35 am

Siemens, Australia, Z-Tech, CHAdeMO, ZEB Pilot House.

Smart carsharing software: Siemens is developing a service for predicting the availability of carsharing vehicles at a given location at specific times. The forecasting tool will be incorporated into the integrated SiMobility Connect mobility platform, which links carsharing firms, public transport companies, taxis, and bike-rental services.
greencarcongress.com, siemens.com

Fast-chargers for Australia: Western Australia (WA) might be the first region in the country to get a network of fast-chargers. The stations would be purchased and installed by RAC, but be owned and maintained by the respective councils.
abc.net.au

Z-Tech gets its first EVs: Z-Tech Control System has added two Nissan e-NV200 to its fleet, which it will use to serve a contract with Transport for London to maintain pumping systems on the London Underground. Moreover, the company is offering free charging at its locations in London and Cambridge.
fleetnews.co.uk, cambridgenetwork.co.uk

CHAdeMO declared European standard: CHAdeMO is not ready to give up on the old continent, getting the CENELEC, a European official standardisation organization, to recognize the technology as a European standard for DC charging. How that will play out in the field remains to be seen.
chademo.com

Zero-emission home: The ZEB Pilot House in Norway is a 200 square meter energy efficient house with a striking design that thanks to its solar panels will produce enough energy to be self-sufficient and to enable its residents to power an electric car.
transportevolved.com

Jan 22, 2015 - 09:39 am

Bosch, Bergen, Norway, Maidstone, California.

Bosch joins energy storage project: Since 2013, BMW and Vattenfall are giving old EV batteries a second life as storage units for renewable energies in Hamburg. Bosch now joins the project an will be responsible for the system integration and system control. The batteries come from ActiveE and i3 models and will form a 2 MW battery for a virtual power plant.
heise.de, autohaus.de, autoservicepraxis.de (articles in German)

Record charging facility: Norway has begun operating the largest rapid-charging station in the world, featuring a total of 14 fast-charging points. And that´s not all: The station in Dannmarksplass in Bergen is said to get another ten chargers as well as a hydrogen filling station.
transportevolved.com, youtube.com (Video)

EV sales in Norway: Electric cars remain popular in Norway with the Nissan Leaf taking second place among all models in 2014 (4,781 sales). The Tesla Model S earned 5th position (4,040). Volkswagen sold 2,971 units of the e-Up and 2,018 units of the e-Golf in Norway last year.
insideevs.com

New UK Supercharger: Located in Maidstone, Kent, the newest Supercharger addition could be seen as a gateway to the rest of Europe, as it gives easy access to the Eurotunnel.
electriccarsreport.com, hybridcars.com

Hydrogen now for sale in California: The Cal State L.A. Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility is now the first fueling station to sell hydrogen, rather than giving it away for free. It recently received a certification known as California Type Approval that allows it to sell hydrogen by the kilogram.
greencarreports.com, greencarcongress.com

Jan 21, 2015 - 09:07 am

Tokyo, Shanghai, Stuttgart, Germany, Australia.

Tokyo steps up H2 investment: The Japanese capital wants to pour 45.2 billion yen (385 million dollars) in the construction of hydrogen stations and subsidies for fuel cell vehicles until the Olympic Games in 2020. Tokyo hopes to count 6,000 FCVs and 35 H2-fuelling stations by the end of the decade.
electriccarsreport.com, eco-business.com, autonews.com

Shanghai e-carsharing: Following a successful trial year, the Carsharing scheme featuring 350 Roewe E50 is officially under way. The Shanghai Municipal Government wants to successively increase the number of electric cars to 2,000 and also include the Zinore 1E in its offering.
noodls.com, cri.cn

Electric taxis against fine dust: In order to circumvent an EU procedure and related penalties due to fine dust pollution, the German city of Stuttgart is putting in place new green initiatives. According to Mayor Fritz Kuhn, measures could also include a funding programme for electric and hybrid taxis.
swp.de, swr.de (Articles in German)

EV charging rules: Germany seeks to make the preferred CCS standard mandatory in addition to any other quick charging standards being offered, as well as a fall-back type2 fast charging outlet. Transport Evolved thinks, this is a move other countries could follow.
transportevolved.com

Traveling electric in Australia: As an EV owner, road trips are often planned based on where one can charge. As it turns out, that is not necessarily a negative thing, as the excursions of Mat Peterson, one of the first Tesla Model S owners in Australia, show. He drove some 3,000 kilometers with his Tesla in just three weeks and has some beautiful stories to tell.
gizmodo.com.au

Jan 20, 2015 - 10:35 am

Austria, Częstochowa, China, Budapest, Utah, Cincinnati.

The largest e-fleet in Austria: The Austrian postal service is further electrifying its fleet, acquiring another 59 Nissan e-NV200 and 20 Mercedes Benz E-Vito. In total, the company now employs 862 EVs. With the new vans, the Austrian postal service will use EVs for parcel delivery for the first time.
oekonews.at (in German)

Częstochowa goes hybrid: Representatives of the Polish city´s municipal transport company have signed a contract with Poland’s Solbus to receive 40 gas-electric hybrid buses by November 2015. According to a local paper, these are the first gas-electric buses on Polish roads.
eltis.org

China completes fast-charging route: The country has finished installing 50 rapid-chargers between Shanghai and Beijing, each spaced 50 km apart on a 1,260 km stretch. Each station is equipped with four 120 kilowatt chargers that are able to charge eight electric cars at the same time.
wantchinatimes.com, cntv.cn

Budapest begins operating its first Volvo diesel-electric bus and another 27 hybrid buses are said to join the fleet of the Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK) soon. All 28 buses are planned to remain in service until 2023. 25 of these will run on a daily basis.
hungarytoday.hu

Utah pushes for greener cars: The Utah Department of Environmental Quality has awarded a total of 700,000 dollars in grants and low-interest loans, in order to support electric and other alternative drive vehicles. Salt Lake City intends to use a 200,000 dollar grant to install 25 charging stations,
kuer.org, fox13now.com

Cincinnati gets garage with chargers: This is the city’s first public parking garage offering EV drivers the possibility to charge while attending other business. There are a total of six spaces reserved for charging and 62 EVs are registered with the city’s incentive programme.
bizjournals.com, wcpo.com

Jan 19, 2015 - 09:30 am

Electric Circuit, AeroVironment, Mexico City, Fellbach, Mahindra.

Nissan contributes to Electric Circuit: The carmaker will help finance the installation of 25 out of 50 fast charging sites that are to be added to the Electric Circuit across Quebec over the next two years. Also adding to the network, restaurant chain Les Rôtisseries St-Hubert wants to install fast-chargers at all 100 of its locations. It already has 28 chargers.
montrealgazette.com, theglobeandmail.com (Nissan), montrealgazette.com (Restaurant)

App-controlled charging station: AeroVironment introduces TurboDock, a charging station featuring Level 1 and Level 2 charging, that is controlled through a smartphone app. When configured for 12 amp or 16 amp charging, TurboDock provides twice as many chargers with the same electrical service required for a 30 amp charging, making it a good solution for commercial and workplace settings.
electriccarsreport.com, autoblog.com

Charging in Mexico City: Together with BMW, Schneider Electric and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Walmart wants to set up four EV charging stations at its locations in the Mexican capital. The charge points are said to be compatible with most electric cars sold in the country. BMW launched its i-series there in September.
evfleetworld.co.uk, vanguardia.com (in Spanish)

Fellbach City Council goes electric: The German city now has eight electric cars in its nine-car fleet. The switch followed a cost and environmental analysis by Fraunhofer IAO, which found out that in 98 percent of cases, the fleet vehicles are used to make trips of well under 100 km. The Fellbach fleet now consists of seven VW e-up as well as one larger electric vehicle used by the sorting office.
iao.fraunhofer.de

NEMMP gets under way: As the first pilot project of India’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), Mahindra is providing four Maxximo electric to drive tourists to and from the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The eight-seater can go up to 65 kph and up to 100 km on one charge.
indianautosblog.com

Jan 16, 2015 - 09:31 am

BMW, Tesla CHAdeMO adapter, Belgium, California, Switzerland.

BMW joins journey planer: BMW’s i brand not only stands for electric cars, but also connected mobility. To strengthen that aspect, the carmaker joins Moovit, provider of a smartphone app that gives real-time information about all sorts of mobility options, including public transport, taxis and carsharing.
car-it.com (in German), gigaom.com (background)

It’s finally here: Tesla’s long awaited CHAdeMO adapter will finally go on sale this month. Available for 450 dollars, it allows Model S drivers to charge at CHAdeMO rapid-charging stations. Though with a continuously growing the Supercharger-network, some ask if there is really a need for the adapter, especially in the U.S.
transportevolved.com

Pedelecs increase market share: A study at the Belgium’s bike dealers concluded that e-bikes held a 23 percent of the bike market share in 2014, gaining on city bikes that hold 25 percent.
bike-eu.com

California ready to invest: The U.S. state has earmarked 18 million dollars for clean energy projects. Twelve million dollars have been reserved for the development of charging infrastructure for electric cars, bio gas and the construction of additional hydrogen filling stations across the state.
greencarcongress.com

Swiss launch charging station database: LEMnet and the association e’mobile have combined their databases, after previously providing separate maps showing the chargers. The new interactive plan currently lists 1,000 chargers, including 70 DC fast-chargers.
e-mobile.ch (in German)

Jan 15, 2015 - 09:46 am

UK, Electric Highway, Renault Zoe, Supercharger.

Police, fire fighters to go electric: A five million pound government scheme in the UK aims to increase the use of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV). Now, police, fire fighters and NHS could apply for grants to electrify parts of their fleets. Some 200 plug-ins are expected to hit the road amid this next phase of the scheme.
businessgreen.com, fleetnews.co.uk

Rapid-charger in Cornwall: As of Friday, Britain’s South will also be connected to Electric Highway. The fast-charger at the Cornwall Services site in Victoria has a Type 2, as well as a CHAdeMO connector. For members of the Electric Highway, charging is free.
evfleetworld.co.uk

Zoe sets record at home: A record total of 1,182 Renault Zoe were registered in France in December, bringing the number of total sales there to 5,970. That is an increase of 8.3 percent compared to 2013 and means, more than half of all EVs sold in France last year were Renault Zoe.
insideevs.com, generation-nt.com (in French)

Supercharger vs CHAdeMO: The former wins 884 to 776 in terms of charging points in the U.S. However, there are still more CHAdeMO stations, as Superchargers generally count more connectors. Moreover, Tesla has another 500 so-called destination chargers (not Superchargers), located at hotels or other points of interest.
cleantechnica.com (charge points), insideevs.com (destination chargers)