Nikola Motor presented its fuel cell trucks Nikola Two for the USA and Nikola Tre for Europe at a customer event. Besides, a jet-ski and an off-road vehicle went on display, but Nikola relies on rechargeable batteries instead of fuel cells for these EVs.
Read more
Atlis Motor Vehicles from Arizona is working on a fully electric pickup truck. Their first model boasts four electric motors and three battery variants for ranges between 480 and 800 km. A small series is to hit by 2020.
Read more
Google subsidiary Waymo has won approval to open a commercial ride-hailing service with autonomous cars. No human driver will be on board when the fleet starts to pick up passengers in Phoenix, Arizona. It is the first such service in the USA.
Read more- ADVERTISEMENT -
Nikola Motor announced plans to set up shop in Arizona to make its H2 semi truck. A new factory will be build close to Phoenix from 2019 with production to start 2 years later. The start-up earmarked 1 billion dollars and says it will create 2,000 jobs.
Read moreAirBnB a la Daimler: The carmaker is looking to start off a peer-to-peer carsharing service in German and the U.S. next month, allowing people to rent out their leased Mercedes or Smart to others. It is part of Daimler’s new strategy CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric), which it announced at the Paris Auto Show last week.
autocar.co.uk
Fuel cell in China: 12 fuel cell buses from Ballard Power Systems will hit the road in the Chinese city of Foshan. The delivery is part of a deal between Ballard and the cities of Foshan and Yunfu, according to which the OEM will deliver a total of 300 H2 buses to the two cities (we reported).
greencarcongress.com
Supercharging Tesla taxis: The EV maker has set a Supercharger with 12 stalls at the Montreal-Trudeau airport in Canada for taxi company Taxelco’s fleet of Tesla Model S. It is therefore the largest privately owned Supercharger. Because it is privately owned, capacity is capped at 60 kW, instead of the regular 120 kW.
electrek.co
Electric delivery: UPS has begun operating 50 hydraulic hybrid delivery trucks from Lightning Hybrids in the Chicago area. The vehicles were first trialled in 2014, and feature a patented parallel hydraulic hybrid system that has no electric batteries. Instead, braking energy is stored in hydraulic pumps and used to power the wheels.
greencarcongress.com
Charging Arizona: The Salt River Project (SRP) and EVgo are installing five fast-chargers with both CCS and CHAdeMO in the towns of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe in the U.S. state of Arizona. SRP also offer a price plan for EV drivers, while providing incentives for business that invent in chargers for the public and/or employees.
azbusinessdaily.com
SM!GHT draws international clientele: One year after introducing its multifunctional street lights, which can also be used to charge EVs, German utility EnBW is happy with its success. More than 85 German cities and municipal utilities already opted for the solution, while enquiries have also arrived from Prague, Stavanger (Norway) and Caloundra (Australia).
enbw.com (in German)
Coming to Canada: AZRA Networks will be investing 40m dollars over the next 18 months to deploy 8,000 electric charging points and get the Renault Twizy on the road in Canada. This will be Renault’s first 100% electric vehicle in the country and will be available for lease at 99 dollars per month.
greencarcongress.com, twizycanada.com
BYD bids: BYD put in a bid for the “2016 Shenzhen Eastern Bus Co., Ltd. Solution to Upgrade 3,024 Battery Electric Buses Project,” and was named first ranked supplier. It appears that Shenzhen is not only planning to purchase 3,024 electric buses, but that BYD will be providing the majority.
autonews.gasgoo.com
Arizona upgrades: More than 2,100 traditional cars, SUVs, and trucks in the Arizona Public Service will be replaced with electric vehicles. ATVs and bucket trucks will also be replaced, but a completion date for the project has not yet been set.
bizjournals.com
Gone in a Blink: Blink is ending its free Level 2 Charging under Nissan’s “No Charge to Charge” programme. The abrupt announcement comes without any further details. Inside EVs suspects the change may be related to the company’s pending insolvency. Blink is, however, still offering free access to its fast chargers.
insidedevs.com
Touring Tampa: The city of Tampa, Florida, is investing 560,000 dollars in a free electric shuttles in the downtown area, aiming to cut down on unnecessary drives and cars. The shuttle service could begin operating in mid- to late summer and will include nine low-speed EVs that can be hailed on the street or arranged via an app.
tampabay.com
- ADVERTISEMENT -
The Latvian charging network gets the go ahead with the government approving a plan to erect 235 EV charging stations by 2022. EU regional develoment funds will provide 7.09m of the needed 8.34m Euros needed in funding.
lsm.lv
Free to charge: Nissan expands its No Charge to Charge promotion to Salt Lake City. Leaf drivers benefit from up to two years of complimentary public charging in the city that also grants electric cars free two-hour parking and HOV lane access.
electriccarsreport.com
Rental Twizy: 26 of Renault’s electric quads roam New Forest in Britain. The rental fleet was deployed in 2013, but is now under new management from Hire A Twizy – for 49 pounds a day. The operator plans to launch a similar programme on the Isle of Wight.
dailyecho.co.uk
Electric airport: Ground equipment at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, will be electrified. The Federal Aviation Administration will provide a one million dollar grant via its Voluntary Airport Low Emission (VALE) programme to fund the undertaking.
kpho.com
OMV looks into hydrogen: The Austrian energy corporation is looking to invest about 20 million euros into further developing hydrogen technology. In 2012, OMV opened its first H2-station in Vienna and another one is set to follow in Innsbruck this year. Furthermore, the company is part of an initiative that aims at erecting 400 public hydrogen stations in Germany by 2023.
kurier.at (in German)
Plug-in only: The Arizona Department of Transportation redefined access to the HOV lanes. Whereas before Toyota Prius, Honda Civic hybrids and Honda Insights were eligible, now only plug-in hybrids and range extended models are allowed to use the extra lanes on the road.
azdot.gov (full list) via azcentral.com
MEA for business: The My Electric Avenue project extended its scope to enclose trials at the workplace. In the North East of the UK, Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) became one participant. The company has now six chargers on its premises to be used by 13 employees who leased the Nissan Leaf privately.
bdaily.co.uk
Sales of used EVs double: Experian Automotive reports an increase in the purchase of used electric and hybrid cars in the UK. In the first quarter of this year, EV sales rose by 47.10% while used hybrids were bought 24.16% more often than in the same period in 2013.
fleetnews.co.uk
Charging design flaw? Like with most multi-system charging stations, at Ecotricity’s stations only one charge unit can be used at a time. That means that EVs with standard AC chargers (Type 2 with 3.7 kW) keep others with AC 43 kW or CHAdeMO and CCS from fast charging. Reason enough for some frustration.
transportevolved.com
Electric ride-sharing: GM turned to Google to set them up with a ride-sharing at the internet giant’s HQ in Mountain View, California. The programme includes 30 Chevy Spark EV which Google employees can lend to go to meetings or even to drive home with. GM hopes to gain insights with what it calls his “learning pilot.”
detroitnews.com, greencarreports.com
EV incentives for all: In an updated proposal found by Silicon Beat, it looks like the California Air Resources Board (CARB) renounced its plan to exempt EVs that costs more than 60,000 dollars from its incentives (we reported). This means all future Tesla buyers can take a deep breath and apply for their 2,500-dollar rebate.
siliconbeat.com via green.autoblog.com
Two premieres in two states: The Arizona Office of Tourism has now issued the state’s first ‘Electric Vehicle Travel Guide’ designed to provide locations of all charging stations and combining them with sightseeing opportunities in the state. Meanwhile, Nissan opened a public charging station in New Orleans, the first of its kind in the city.
hybridcars.com (Arizona), greencarreports.com (New Orleans)
Clean energy island: Canary Island El Hierro wants to still all is energy demand autonomously and from renewable sources by the end of the year. Furthermore, all 6,000 vehicles currently on the island will be electrified by 2020, allegedly with the help of Renault-Nissan.
expatica.com, green.wiwo.de (in German)
