A French consortium comprising Alstom, EasyMile, Equans, Keolis, Renault Group and StatInf, is about to launch a fleet of autonomous minibuses. The project dubbed Mach2 includes level 4 autonomy, without a human driver onboard, and is a first in Europe.
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The start of the first fuel cell trains in the Taunus network is apparently bumpy. According to a report, only two of the six H2 trains that were recently scheduled to run in the Taunus region can currently be used – due to technical problems.
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Alstom has received a further order from Irish Rail, locally known as Iarnród Éireann (IE), for 18 more battery-electric trains under an existing framework agreement. It is part of a greater plan to procure up to 750 electric rail cars for the new regional DART+ network set to open in the Dublin area in 2025.
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In the German state of Lower Saxony, the world’s first network with hydrogen fuel cell trains in passenger service has now gone into operation. On the route between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude, 14 hydrogen-powered Coradia iLint regional trains are now in operation, replacing 15 diesel trains.
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French manufacturer Alstom and Deutsche Bahn are now taking passengers onboard Alstom’s first fully approved electric train since this weekend in Baden-Württemberg. Further testing will start in Bavaria on 5 February and run throughout early May on all routes.
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Île-de-France Mobilités, the entity responsible for organising public transport in the Paris metropolitan area, is awarding a contract to a consortium of Van Hool, Kiepe Electric and Alstom to build a fleet of 24-metre-long, all-electric, double-articulated buses.
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A battery-electric train by Alstom has completed its maiden voyage on a rail route in Saxony, Germany. The prototype train developed together with TU Berlin started on a roundtrip in the city of Chemnitz. Electric trains of this type are scheduled to go into passenger service from December 2021.
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The partners of the GUW+ model project are dedicated to the re-use of batteries from electric city buses and will now realise a stationary energy storage system in a rectifier substation of the ÜSTRA based on batteries that were previously used in eCitaro city buses.
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Alstom has received its first orders for hydrogen trains in France. On behalf of four regions, the state railway company SNCF has ordered the first twelve trains developed by Alstom to run on both overhead lines and hydrogen. The order is worth almost 190 million euros.
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Bombardier will convert five of its diesel-hybrid trains to purely electric operation through a combined battery and overhead line operation by 2023. Bombardier was recently acquired by the Alstom group and supplied the hybrid trains it will also now convert for the French railway company SNCF.
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A group of 25 companies and organisations from the hydrogen sector have formed a consortium called ‘StasHH’ to develop and test a European standard for fuel cell modules for heavy-duty applications for the first time.
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Alstom will build six fuel cell trains for FNM, a transport company operating in the Italian region of Lombardy. The contract also includes an option for eight additional FC trains. In the meantime, Alstom’s Coradia iLint fuel cell train has completed a three-month test run in Austria.
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The US company Cummins has announced the opening of a new plant in the German city of Herten, which will initially focus on the assembly of fuel cell systems for Alstom hydrogen trains. The plant is scheduled to start operations in July 2021.
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Alstom’s hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint, has passed as entirely operational in the Netherlands.
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In Germany, on behalf of two transit agencies, Alstom will manufacture, supply and maintain eleven Coradia Continental battery-electric trains for regional transport on the Leipzig-Chemnitz line by 2032. The order volume is worth around 100 million euros.
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Akasol will supply battery systems for more than 40 hydrogen trains of the type Alstom Coradia iLint, which were ordered from Alstom by the regional public transport company of Lower Saxony and the Rhine-Main transport association.
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Alstom shows a ground-based recharging system for electric buses, further development of its SRS system for trams. The prototype now presented in the Spanish city of Málaga is equipped with a 200 kW charger that charges a twelve-metre electric bus from Linkker.
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The French company Forsee Power will equip 34 electric buses from Portuguese manufacturer CaetanoBus with its battery systems. The buses are to be delivered to London from the first quarter of 2020, where they will serve two electric bus routes.
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Alstom has received another order for its all-electric Aptis bus. The Toulon region in south-eastern France has ordered twelve Alstom tram-style buses, the first of which will be delivered at the end of this year.
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The German train operator RMV through its subsidiary Fahma has ordered 27 fuel cell trains from Alstom. The French manufacturer is to deliver the Coradia iLint 54 vehicles before the planned timetable change in 2022/2023.
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Alstom announced another order for its fully electric Aptis bus with a tram design. After the Strasbourg transport company CTS had ordered twelve units in March, the Paris public transport operator RATP is now ordering 50 units of the electric bus.
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The Parisian public transport operator RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) intends to procure up to 800 electric buses by 2024 in order to replace existing diesel buses and combat smog in the greater Paris area in the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games.
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Alstom has received its first order for their fully electric Aptis bus in tram design. The Strasbourg transport company CTS has ordered a dozen of the 12-metre buses, which have three doors and are to be charged overnight in the depot.
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In cooperation with Eversholt Rail, the French group Alstom has presented the design of a new hydrogen train for the British market. The H2 train, which was developed under the code name Breeze, is the conversion of an existing train.
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A hydrogen fuel cell train built by Alstom has taken up regular service in Germany – a world first, the company claims. They had tested the Coradia iLint since 2017 and the train is now ready to carry passengers across Lower Saxony as a regular service.
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The decision has fallen: the French battery manufacturer Forsee Power will be delivering the lithium-ion batteries for Alstom’s electric bus Aptis. Serial production is slated to begin in early 2019.
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Ford certifies retrofit: XL Hybrids, Motiv Power Systems and Lightning Hybrids have one thing in common – they are all certified to upfit Ford vans with hybrid powertrains. Ford calls its programme eQVM through which it enables commercial customers to buy hybrid variants but keep the original powertrain warranty.
greencarcongress.com, electriccarsreport.com, trucks.com
Smart Energy Island: The remote Isles of Scilly are to become more energy efficient through the Hitachi-led project Smart Energy Island (SEI). An intelligent energy system that includes electric cars and home batteries shall help to reduce energy costs by 40 percent by 2025. To meet 40% of the islands energy demand from renewables and to convert 40 % of the isles’ 1,253 vehicles to electric or low carbon are other goals to be achieved within the timeframe. Systems for the 10.8m GBP scheme come from Moixa.
renewableenergymagazine.com, smartislands.org
Fuel cell train on track: Alstom successfully trialled the Coradia iLint fuel cell train at 80 kph at its own test track in Salzgitter, Germany. More extensive trials are to follow in Germany and Czech Republic in the coming months before the first passengers will aboard the train. It will run on the Buxtehude–Bremervörde–Bremerhaven–Cuxhaven (Germany) route beginning of 2018. Alstom already holds signed letters of intent for 60 trains from German states.
greencarcongress.com, alstom.com
Hydrogen trishaw: Linde is to present fuel cell bicycles at the Shell Eco-Marathon. The prototype H2-Bike has a 100 km range at speeds of up to 25 kph. In Singapore, Linde has transformed these bikes into HY!cycles – complete with sidecars inspired by the city state’s iconic trishaws.
gasworld.com
New Leaf on sale in 2017: Nissan will launch the 2018 Leaf this September with sales opening before the year’s end. Owners whose lease is about to end will receive an offer to extend the lease for up to three month free of charge until the launch of the next-gen EV. Specifications however, are yet to be delivered but a 60 kWh battery is certain.
autoblog.com, insideevs.com
Nio reveals self-driving EV: Nio, formerly known as Next EV and for its electric hyper car EP9, has brought an electric and autonomous car to the SXSW conference. The Nio Eve is primarily a vision but parts may make it into mass produced autonomous EVs in the States by 2020.
electrek.co, forbes.com, nio.io
1.8bn for Detroit Electric: Chinese Far East Smarter Energy Group poured 1.8bn dollars in the EV maker. 370m were earmarked for Europe alone, where the electric roadster SP:01 is to be build in England. Next in the pipeline is an electric SUV (2018) and an electric sedan before the decade’s end.
greencarcongress.com, electrek.co, autocar.co.uk
The order books opened for the new electric Smart range. Prices for the Fortwo and Forfour ED start at 21,940 and 22,600 euros respectively before incentives. Deliveries are set to begin in June.
motor1.com, daimler.com
Berlin will replace Brussels in the Formula E and will thus host a double-header ePrix this summer. The Berlin ePrix will take place at the former Tempelhof Airport as before but the track layout has been completely redesigned.
electricautosport.com, fiaformulae.com
eBus based on tram design: Alstom and NTL presented a prototype of the Aptis electric bus. Its design borrows from streetcars with equipment including a pantograph for charging mounted on the roof. The 12m EV offers space for up to 95 passengers. Power output is at 180 kW and top speed 70 kph. Aptis shall be tested from April in and around Paris.
metro-report.com, newtl.com
Swedish EV offensive? Volvo seems to be planning a whole series of electric car models. At least that’s what the designations P5, P6, P8, P9, and P10 suggest, which Volvo recently trademarked in Europe. Each of the applications are for “vehicles and conveyances; Electric vehicles” and suggest that just like Volvo’s XC90 PHEV bears the designation T8, future electric models could bear the P. Of course that’s all speculation.
swedespeed.com, carscoops.com, carsuk.net
New Mitsubishi SUV: The Japanese announced the world premiere of its new compact SUV for the Geneva Motor Show. While Mitsubishi is keeping details about the drivetrain under wraps, a product presentation from last year suggests a PHEV variant.
paultan.org, motorauthority.com
Alstom invests in EasyMile: Alstom invested 14m euros in company EasyMile, maker of the autonomous electric shuttle EZ10. The two companies agreed to join their know-how to develop integrated solutions for public transport in cities. It seems the next rail transport giant realises that autonomous shuttles should not be underestimated.
greencarcongress.com
SHW Automotive loses big order: The Aalen-based supplier says it lost a 100m euro deal it was awarded last year (we reported). It had been named system supplier of electrical ax gear pumps to the unnamed “the world’s leading manufacturer of all-electric vehicles” – many speculated Tesla. But it seems that the pumps are not compatible with the vehicle’s requirements. SHW Automotive will now take legal action.
reuters.com, autonews.com, presseportal.de
E-power on two wheels: India has a new supplier of electric two-wheelers. Company Okinawa Electric Scooters just unveiled its first electric scooter Ridge, adding that it will launch two more models before the end of the year. Apparently, electric motorbikes are also on the agenda.
indiatimes.com
40m dollars for better batteries: Korea’s government and industry will invest a total of 43bn won (38.4m dollars) to double the energy density of EV batteries to 300 Wh/kg by 2020. If the 230 reseachers on the project are successful, 400 km on one charge would be well within range.
koreajoongangdaily.joins.com
3.3m dollars for lighter e-motors: NanoXplore from Canada receives 3.3m dollars in funding from the government to commercialise lighter and more efficient components for electric motors. Graphen utilised instead of metal shall do the trick.
greencarcongress.com
Hydrogen train: Alstom presents the first serial fuel cell passenger train. The Coradia iLint has a range of 800 km. Li-ion batteries recover energy from braking, while Alstom offers H2 infrastructure with partners. The train will first hit the rails in Lower Saxony, Germany.
greencarcongress.com
Ilika is to work with Johnson Matthey to develop protected anodes for lithium sulfur batteries. The three year project is led by Johnson Matthey and funded by Innovate UK and the EPSRC. 365,133 GBP (475,000 dollars) of the grant will be allocated to Ilika.
greencarcongress.com
