Iveco Group has announced plans to acquire Nikola’s electric truck joint venture in Europe, established in 2019. The deal will cost Iveco $35 million and will effectively buy out Nikola from the European markets. Nikola says it will focus on its US activities.
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The Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) in Germany and the Dutch institute TNO of the Holst Centre have agreed to jointly develop lithium-ion batteries for the European automotive industry.
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Mercedes is investing heavily to make its production network fit for the new platforms introduced from 2024. According to a German media report, the manufacturer will start converting its plant in Rastatt this summer. It is where Mercedes will build its first model based on the Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA).
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Stuttgart Airport is continuing with the electrification of its manoeuvring area with the finalise! project, funded by the German government. The electric fleet will grow by more than thirty heavy-duty vehicles – including a 52-ton refuelling vehicle with electric drive.
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The Finnish energy company Fortum has started recycling traction batteries from electric vehicles in Germany. The recycling plant in Finland is also scheduled to start commercial operation in a few weeks.
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Mercedes-Benz has laid the symbolic foundation stone for the announced battery recycling factory in Kuppenheim. For the first stage of the plant – mechanical dismantling – commissioning is to start at the end of this year. Talks with the public sector about further expansion are still ongoing.
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Daimler Buses is turning its plant in Mannheim, Germany, into a centre of competence for electric city buses. From 2024, the plant will focus entirely on producing electrically powered city buses and become more involved in component production.
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The Finnish supplier Valmet Automotive has started series production of battery systems in Kirchardt in Baden-Württemberg. Announced almost two years ago, the plant near Heilbronn now manufactures high-voltage systems for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids and is the company’s first German battery plant.
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The automotive supplier Mahle has now equipped its climatic wind tunnel in Stuttgart with a DC fast charging system. The test engineers can charge electric vehicles there with up to 350 kilowatts – under all climatic conditions, even in extreme heat.
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In order to shorten development time, Porsche Engineering is testing electric drives in real-life as well as in a virtual environment. According to Porsche, these test methods are specifically adapted to the requirements of high-voltage technology.
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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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Dutch electric bus manufacturer Ebusco has received a new order from Germany. Public transport operator Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH (SWEG) has ordered ten electric solo buses and ten charging units from the Dutch manufacturer. The vehicles are to be used in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
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In Germany, Audi’s main plant in Ingolstadt will only produce electric cars from 2028. This means that the electric A6 successor will probably be built at the main plant rather than in Neckarsulm.
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The location has now been chosen for the German battery cell factory planned for Cellforce Group, the battery joint venture between Porsche and Customcells. The industrial park lies across the districts of Reutlingen-Nord/Kirchentellinsfurt in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
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Daimler has confirmed plans to build a battery recycling factory in Kuppenheim, Germany. Although rumours about a planned battery recycling plant were abound before, the German automaker had given no indication of the location for the plant or further details until now.
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Audi is setting up a centre of excellence for the development of batteries for future electric cars at its Neckarsulm plant. A battery technical centre is to go into operation by 2023 at the latest, where prototypes for new batteries will be researched and tested.
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Customcells announces the completion of a financing round in which the battery specialist brings three new shareholders on board. Among them Porsche. The move comes just a short time after the joint founding of a battery joint venture with Porsche and can be seen as a push towards large-scale production.
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Lithium supplier Vulcan Energy has signed a long-term supply contract with Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution (LGES). What’s special: Vulcan Energy wants to extract its lithium from thermal water in the Upper Rhine Graben.
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BMW and Daimler are dovetailing their Free Now and Share Now offerings. The vehicles of the Share Now car-sharing service can be booked in France, Germany, Spain and Italy via the Free Now multi mobility platform from the end of July onwards.
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The logistics specialist Dachser wants to deliver to the city centres of at least eleven European metropolitan regions without emissions by the end of 2022.
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Daimler Truck and the Volvo Group have presented the fuel cell joint venture strategy, Cellcentric, founded on 1 March 2021. For this purpose, the company plans to establish one of the largest series production of fuel cell systems in Europe.
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Leclanché has presented a new 65 Ah pouch cell for purely electric or hybrid buses and trucks, which should provide higher ranges and longer operating times than the company’s current 60 Ah cell. It is manufactured at the German site in Willstätt.
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Finnish supplier Valmet Automotive has announced battery assembly in Germany. Battery systems are to be assembled in Kirchardt in Baden-Württemberg from 2022. The company already operates two similar plants in Finland.
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Shortly before the world premiere on 15 April 2021, Daimler has started battery production for its EV flagship Mercedes EQS. As part of the Untertürkheim site, the Hedelfingen plant section is responsible for battery system production for the EQS, followed by systems for the upcoming EQE model.
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ElringKlinger announced a major order for cell contact systems. Names were not disclosed, but the Group will supply the German plant of a global battery manufacturer starting in the first half of 2022, which will produce battery systems there for the series platform of a German premium OEM.
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A dispute over the electric campus at Mercedes seems to have been settled and Daimler has now announced that it will build the ‘Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems Campus’ in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. The main plant is to be focussed on electric vehicles, which included the production of lithium-ion cells.
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Mercedes-AMG is building a modern test centre for the development of electrified high-performance drives and electrical components at its headquarters in Affalterbach. The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new ‘Technikum’ took place on Thursday.
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Deutsche Bahn has ordered electric buses from the Chinese manufacturer BYD for the first time for its bus transport division DB Regio Bus. Initially, five electric 12-metre BYD buses will go into operation at DB Regio Bus in Ettlingen, Baden-Württemberg, this year.
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Mercedes-Benz is supplying three units of the new all-electric eCitaro G articulated bus to Switzerland. They will be used by the Eurobus transport company to provide a fast connection between two university locations of the ETH in Zurich.
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After two years of construction and a total investment of more than 20 million euros, TÜV SÜD opened the new Centre for Mobility and Powertrains near Stuttgart today. Besides combustion engines, they also offer emission testing for hybrid and electric vehicles there.
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