French quickies: Auxerre is home to France’s first Tesla Supercharger and the station will not be lonely for long. Tesla plans to erect up to 25 more Superchargers across the Grande Nation until the end of this year. Meanwhile, Tesla’s Supercharger homepage lists 32 locations in Europe including latest openings in Denmark and Sweden. tesla-mag.com (in French), teslamotors.com (list of superchargers)
Borderless charging: Smatrics and The New Motion announced their international cooperation. From now on, users of both systems will be able to charge their EV at about 1,000 charge points throughout Austria, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Until September, Smatric customers can use the charging stations free of charge. smatrics.com, thenewmotion.de (both in German), smatrics.com (list of stations)
Bhutan means EV business: The country is on course to become the kingdom of EVs as the latest plans far exceed the goal of 2,000 electric cars in its streets. Instead, prime minister Tshering Tobgay is thinking of making Bhutan an EV-only land and has already been to Japan to talk to Nissan and Mitsubishi about his ambitious plan. green.autoblog.com
Mitsubishi in Mongolia: The Japanese manufacturer has just donated two electric cars to the administration of Ulaanbaatar to bring a cooperation for importing electric cars to Mongolia on the way. The authorities will try the cars first before eventually signing an import agreement with Mitsubishi. mongolnews.mn
EVs for Summerside: The Canadian city of Summerside purchased three electric vehicles for its electric department. The two Nissan Leafs and one Ford Focus Electric will also be made available in a car-share programme open to the public when the EVs are not used by the department. journalpioneer.com
Recharge at gas stations: Israeli gas station provider Paz Oil and Nissan importer Carasso agreed to strategically cooperate and install nine fast charging stations at Paz outlets. The chargers are paid per use and while being described as “universal” the stations will obviously not help former Better Place customers, since the Renault Fluence Z.E. is not capable of fast charging of any kind. transportevolved.com, globes.co.il
Slovak battery swap: GreenWay has opened its first battery swapping station in the capital Bratislava last week. The service is for GreenWay’s rental vans, currently the electrified Citroen Jumper, but could be expanded nationwide or even to other countries. The battery swap itself is quite simple and anything but automatic: a forklift brings the new pack and extracts the old one from behind the driver’s cabin. cleantechnica.com, oekonews.com, greenway.sk/en
Another buzz for Bhutan: Just after introducing the Nissan Leaf (we reported) prime minister Tshering Tobgay announced the launch of Mahindra’s e2o and Reva later this week. He is also hoping for an electric bus trial with British Ashok Leyland and is eyeing Tesla, which Tobgay says he wants to “encourage.” eco-business.com
Tango for New Zealand: 15,000 of the Commuter Car’s Tango might soon be driving around Auckland. The project Microcar wants the city to buy the cars and then lease them to its commuters for 55 dollars per week instead of using the money for building new streets. green.autoblog.com
Hydrogen for Hamburg: The German city’s minister of finance, Frank Horch, expressed strong interest in making Hamburg a hub for fuel cell technology at a meeting with Toyota’s Katsuhiko “H2” Hirose. Before, Horch had written a letter to the Japanese carmaker suggesting a fleet of 200 H2 cabs. Hamburg currently features three hydrogen fueling stations with another two scheduled for this year. abendblatt.de (in German)
Nissan Leaf goes Bhutan: Prime minister Tshering Tobgay now officially teamed up with Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. The Japanese carmaker is supposed to deliver “thousands” of Leafs as cabs and for public fleets together with the infrastructure. greencarreports.com, green.autoblog.com (with video)
EV salary sacrifice works: Since leasing company Tusker included electric cars into its ‘SalarySacrifice4Cars’ (SS4C) scheme three months ago its customer base has grown by 250%. The strong growth is partly due to the introduction of the BMW i3 but also because Tusker has been promoting EVs for some time now and encouraged their employees with four chargers at their Hertfordshire office. fleetnews.co.uk
E-taxis for Bhutan: Mahindra will launch its Verito Electric in Bhutan by September this year. The Indian market will have to wait as the company does not want go ahead without government incentives for EVs being finalised. In Bhutan, the Verito will have to compete against the Nissan Leaf to be used to electrify the kingdom’s 5,000-strong cab fleet. economictimes.indiatimes.com via indianautosblog.com
Charging charges: The West Coast Electric Highway in Washington State with its plenty DC quick-chargers will not be free to use any more. From April 1, 2014 users will have to pay to fill up their electric cars. The operator AeroVironment is expected to introduce two tariffs: a monthly flat rate at 19.99 dollars and a pay-per-charge fee. transportevolved.com
Long distance chargers: In a new research project, the University of Delaware and the state of Delaware will install new fast charging stations to enable longer electric trips. The 16 kW stations will be strategically placed at key locations in Delaware and not more than 50 miles apart. The researchers want to monitor station usage and track emission reductions. greencarcongress.com
BYD taxis in Rotterdam: Following a successful trial, the Dutch Rotterdam Taxi Centre (RTC) will put two BYD e6 into service as electric cabs. RTC plans to extend its fleet of all-electric taxis to 25 within the next 18 months. cities-today.com
Mahindra goes UK: According to ‘Bussinessworld’, Mahindra wants to introduce its latest electric car, the Halo, in the UK by 2016. It also plans on relaunching the Reva and bringing it back to London later this year. businessworld.in via indianautosblog.com
Long distance chargers: In a new research project, the University of Delaware and the state of Delaware will install new fast charging stations to enable longer electric trips. The 16 kW stations will be strategically placed at key locations in Delaware and not more than 50 miles apart. The researchers want to monitor station usage and track emission reductions.