Aug 10, 2016 - 08:25 am

Luxembourg, GOFAST, Denmark, Apple, CarCharging.

Luxembourg selects provider: Engie Cofely Luxemburg and Powerdale have won the tender to install and operate 800 planned EV charging stations in the Grand Duchy. 200 will be erected each year from 2017 to 2020. Powerdale will deliver the public charging stations and internet application while Engie will handle service over twelve years. All five grid operators in Luxembourg are on board as is the public transport provider in order to offer a multi modal model to end users.
newswiretoday.com

Switzerland got fast-charging: The first 150 kW rapid charger of the GOtthard FASTcharge (GOFAST) network stands. The multi-standard outlet is located close to the southern entry of the Gotthard road tunnel that connects Italy and Switzerland. 150 stations are planned.
tio.ch (in Italian), gofastcharge.com (in German)

Danish drop electric cars: Municipalities in Denmark are buying less EVs since the central government has decided to phase back the registration tax for electric cars. The policy’s dire consequences were revealed by e.On, which found that EV sales shrank from 323 in Q1 2015 to 62 in Q1 this year.
cphpost.dk

Apple Energy: The IT giant can power homes as it gets the approval to sell energy into wholesale markets beginning this Saturday. The firm reportedly harvests sun rays on farms in Cupertino and Nevada and has recently shown interest in EV charging tech.
bloomberg.com, bbc.com

CarCharging expansion: The infrastructure provider says it built almost 100 new EV charging stations in various states like California, Florida, Hawaii, or Tennessee over the last two months. During that same period, CarCharging also restored another 400 stops on the Blink network.
marketwired.com

Aug 6, 2015 - 08:23 am

BMW, China, Smart, Toyota, Nissan, CarCharging.

BMW update: New BMW boss Harald Krüger is keeping up the electric vibe, as he plans a longer-range version of the i3, a stronger i8, and an all-electric SUV, writes German Handelsblatt. All three models should be presented to the board next month. That would mean that the Bavarian continues to move into an era of electric mobility – maybe not at warp speed, but consistently.
handelsblatt.com (paid content)

High-end support: China’s government will foster high-end manufacturers, including those making electric cars. The companies will receive financial support and are asked to acquire firms overseas.
reuters.com

Smart ED update: Buyers based in the U.S. will have to wait until 2017 to get the chance to buy the latest Smart ED. In Europe, the electric mini Daimler is due to launch one year earlier, in 2016. In the States, only the Smart fortwo is available.
autonews.com, autoblog.com

Low interest in the future: Toyota received up to 60 Mirai inquiries per day in the first ten days of its online ‘Request Portal.’ To that into perspective: When Nissan opened its pre-order portal for the Leaf, 2,700 customers managed to reserve an EV in the first 3 hours.
insideevs.com, transportevolved.com

Nissan update: The new 300-km range Leaf will be launched in Japan this year already. The increased range for the best-selling EV will be reached via battery upgrade.
yomiuri.co.jp (in Japanese)

New boss: CarCharging appointed Mike Calise as new CEO. Calise has longstanding experience in the EV sector and formerly headed North America EV Solutions at Schneider Electric. He also founded EVadvise that developed plans for large scale EV charging infrastructure.
cleantechnica.com

Jul 22, 2015 - 08:12 am

Kandi, Myles, London, Munich, Proterra, CarCharging.

Kandi signs another big deal: The Chinese carmaker will deliver 1,500 electric vehicles to the city of Luzhou in the southeastern region of the Sichuan province. The city will uses the cars to start its Micro Public Transportation (MPT) program before the end of the year.
nasdaq.com

EVs for hire: Hiring service Myles has opened 20 new locations in the city of Mumbai, India, allowing customers to rent cars hourly, daily, weekly or on a monthly basis. Myles has 34 car models in its portfolio, including electric vehicles.
indiatoday.intoday.in

Double-trouble in London: Some of the city’s hybrid double-decker buses, that have been on the road since 2012, have been experiencing battery performance problems. That meant the buses were diesel-powered 90 percent of the time. Transport for London admitted that earlier buses had battery problems, but said these batteries had been repaired or replaced at no cost to the taxpayer.
airqualitynews.com

First H2 station with two systems: In Munich, the world’s first hydrogen filling station featuring two refueling technologies has gone online. Next to CGHT technology with 700 bar, it makes use of Cryo-compressed hydrogen storage technology (CCH2) with 350 bar, which is developed by the BMW Group. It offers up to 50 percent more hydrogen storage capacity than 700 bar tanks
automotiveworld.com, bmwgroup.com

Proterra sells e-buses in California: The cities of Stockton and Porterville each ordered two of Proterra’s Catalyst battery-powered buses. The purchase is funded by the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District and the buses will replace diesel-powered buses currently in use.
prnewswire.com, greencarcongress.com

Four chargers for Tennessee: CarCharging and the Hamister Group have installed four Blink EV charging stations at the Fairfield Inn & Suite and MainStay Suites Hotel in Tennessee. The chargers are available to anyone, as they accept payment with any major credit card.
prnewswire.com, cnn.com

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Jun 4, 2015 - 09:02 am

Car2Go & Flinkster, San Joaquin, CarCharging, Farnborough, Michigan.

Car2Go and Flinkster join forces: As of yesterday, subscribers of one of these carsharing schemes in Germany can also make use of the other. Together, the two services include 7,000 vehicles nationwide, including 750 electric cars. Flinkster is operated by Deutsche Bahn and Car2Go by Daimler.
wiwo.de, heise.de (articles in German)

Cash for chargers: The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District now offers companies and public facilities up to 6,000 dollars for the installation of a publicly accessible charging station. The initiative is part of the Charge Up! programme and limits funding to 50,000 dollars per applicant. The total amount earmarked for the measure is 2 million dollars.
thebusinessjournal.com, centralvalleybusinesstimes.com

CarCharging will offer a new feature for fleet managers using Blink EV chargers and Blink Network software. Drivers can now enter their mileage prior to charging, allowing fleet managers to monitor and analyze frequency of charging, energy consumption, and driving trends in a single platform.
stockhouse.com

Farnborough Airport goes electric: The airport in southern England has added three Renault Zoe to its fleet. The electric cars will be used as airside staff shuttles. This follows a similar move of Bristol Airport, which took delivery of a Nissan e-NV200 earlier this year.
nextgreencar.com

EVs and hybrids asked to pay up: The U.S. state of Michigan is considering raising registration fees for electric and hybrid cars, using the extra cash to fund road repairs. Proponents argue it would only be fair, since the drivers of these cars pay less in gas taxes.
autoblog.com

Apr 24, 2015 - 08:12 am

Clever, Toyota, CarCharging, Phoenix Cars.

Swedish charging network: Danish EV infrastructure provider Clever is to partner up with Swedish utility Öresundskraft. Together, they will set up the subsidiary Clever Sverige, which will offer EV charging solutions in Sweden. The network will be modelled after the Danish example with consistent access and payment. The first 35 fast chargers on Swedish soil will be erected already by this summer.
emobilitaetonline.de (in German), clever.dk (in Danish)

Hybrid appraised: Orange County Property Appraiser (OCPA) has purchased 30 new Toyota Prius vehicles for its staff members that travel the whole of Orange County appraising almost half a million parcels. The OCPA hopes to save carbon as well as money.
automotive-business-review.com

EV charging for real estate: CarCharging stroke a new deal in Eastern Tennesse as it came to an agreement with real estate firm Blue Ridge Realty for the ownership and operation of 16 Blink EV charging stations. They will be located at office buildings.
money.cnn.com

US Navy now V2G-ready: Phoenix Cars has deployed an electric ZEUS flatbed truck to the US Navy base in Port Hueneme, California. The truck is vehicle-to-grid-capable and will be used as a service vehicle to transport supplies and equipment for facility maintenance.
ngtnews.com

Jan 6, 2015 - 09:15 am

Gogoro, Tesla, Pennsylvania, Kandi, CarCharging.

Battery-swapping for scooters: Gogoro from San Francisco wants to build up a battery-swapping system for electric scooters and is backed with 150 million dollars. At the CES, the start-up presented its electric ‘Smartscooter’ which it hopes to sell especially in Asian cities.
bloomberg.com, forbes.com, businessinsider.com

Robot charging “for realz:” Elon Musk took to Twitter once more to inform the world about Tesla’s planned charging system that in his words “automatically moves out from the wall & connects like a solid metal snake.” That is as much info as you get from 140 characters.
golem.de, engadget.com, twitter.com

Pennsylvania extends subsidies: The state’s Alternative Fuel Vehicle Rebate program will be continued until June 30, 2015, or until the 500 vehicle benchmark is reached. EVs with batteries with a capacity of 10 kWh or more can receive 2,000 dollars while PEVs with smaller batteries are eligible for a 1,000-dollar rebate. A 500 dollar rebate is available for electric motorcycles and scooters.
portal.state.pa.us

Chengdu follow-up: After Kandi delivered 1,000 EVs to the leasing company ZuoZhongYou in Chinese Chengdu (we reported), another 4,000 electric cars could follow before the year’s end – given demand grows fast enough.
globenewswire.com

Fresh money for CarCharging: The operator of the Blink charger network has closed an offering and raised net proceeds of up to 6 million dollars with current institutional shareholders. The money will be used to expand the charging network in the U.S. as well as to strengthen the company.
greencarcongress.com, electriccarsreport.com

Dec 12, 2014 - 09:11 am

BlueBUS, The Mobility House, CarCharging, Zenith, Derby.

France electrified, again: Bolloré’s subsidiary BlueBUS has taken order of 12 electric buses to be delivered to the public transport providers in the Ile-de-France region, STIF und RATP. The 12-metre buses are said to have a range of up to 180 km (111 miles) and go into service by late 2015 or the beginning of 2016. There might be more to come as a total of 40 million euros (50m dollars) could be invested in electric buses serving in the region.
leparisien.fr (in French)

Prepaid charge card: The Mobility House launches its ChargeCard, a prepaid card that can easily be topped up. It is valid at 2,400 charge points in Germany as well as in the Austrian cities of Vienna and Salzburg. Payment is being taken for kWh, not charging time. The card can be ordered online.
mobilityhouse.com, youtube.com (both in German)

Blink app: CarCharging has started a new app that enables users to remotely start charging at Blink stations. In a next step, the Blink App is to include payment options and become available to use with other charge points from GE and SemaConnect which are part of the CarCharging network as well.
prnewswire.com

Zenith’s electric vans are now eligible for the Drive Clean Truck program in Chicago. Effectively this brings down the price to 46,884 dollars via the program’s voucher. After the 7,500-dollar federal incentive the Zenith EV costs less than 40,000 dollars which puts it on par with its petrol-powered competitors.
baystreet.ca

Low carb car club: Derby city council is to start a car club for its residents with ten hybrid and electric cars by the end of next year. The cars will be available for hire on a pay-as-you-go basis but can also be “blocked” for longer periods by businesses hiring the vehicles for their employees.
derbytelegraph.co.uk

Nov 26, 2014 - 09:18 am

CarCharging, Nissan, Ubitricity, Bradford, Sydney.

High performance charging: CarCharging will enhance the performance of its Blink Level II commercial EV charging stations. TE Connectivity is to supply a new cord set able to provide the maximum unit amperage of 30 Amps. Former owner of Blink stations, Ecotality used 24 Amps.
prnewswire.com

Free charging for Leaf: Nissan is to extend its No Charge to Charge program to Atlanta this coming Black Friday. New buyers of the Leaf, including those who got theirs on or after November 1st, will be able to charge their EV free of charge for two years.
electriccarsreport.com, puregreencars.com

Lamp post charging pilot: German start-up Ubitricity has begun with the installation of its charging sockets in Berlin street lamps. If the ten pilot charge spots in the German capital prove successful, the solution could be rolled out nationwide and eventually go global.
uatoday.tv

EV-friendly tourism: Bradford Council is now offering hotels, B&Bs, and campsites in the region 499 pounds (780 dollars) for the installation of a wall-mounted EV charge point. The grant is part of the West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan.
thetelegraphandargus.co.uk

Electric airport shuttle: A six month trial with an electric bus by BYD has begun at Sydney International Airport. Operated by Carbridge Pty Ltd., the electric bus will be used as an airport passenger shuttle and is the start of the planned electrification of the airport’s entire bus fleet.
electric-vehiclenews.com

Nov 5, 2014 - 09:18 am

Efacec, Plug-in car grants, Cotswold, CarCharging, Mysore.

Fast chargers for Belgium an the Netherlands: Portuguese company Efacec will deliver 60 of its fast-chargers QC45 to Dutch EV infrastructure provider Allego. The chargers will be installed at resting areas along Dutch and Belgium motorways in cooperation with EcoCare.
Info sent by email

Who get grants in the UK? There is some confusion about the definition of who the owner of a plug-in vehicle is, some criticise. It is the fleet manager who leases the car, or the leasing company who will receive government funding? Malcolm Pearson, group fleet director at Stoke-on-Trent based Holdcroft Motor Group, now called on the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to clarify.
fleetnews.co.uk

Cotswold District gets two fast-chargers: The two electric vehicle charging points will be operational within weeks and cost four pounds (6.40 USD) to use. The UK district hopes the stations will provide a link between already existing infrastructure.
fleetworld.co.uk

CarCharging has signed an agreement to operate and service 19 Blink charging points across seven locations in the city of Plano, Texas. The plug-in possibilities in question are all Blink Level II EV chargers.
carcharging.com

Eight e-buses for India: Originally, the city of Mysore had planed to operate three electric buses by Chinese manufacturer BYD, but now decided to add another five. If the proposal gets the nod from the Ministry of Urban Development, the eight electric buses are expected to run on Mysuru roads next year.
thehindu.com

Oct 6, 2014 - 08:24 am

Gnewt Cargo, The New Motion, CarCharging, Tesla, Delaware.

55 electric Renault Kangoo will now serve at Gnewt Cargo, which takes care of 5,000 deliveries a day in London. This was made possible by a deal with myHermes and with support of Alphabet, which was able to deliver the vans in just one month.
fleetnews.co.uk

Europe on one card: Hubject and charging infrastructure operator The New Motion (TNM), which already has roaming agreements with networks such as Ladenetz or Smatrics, have now announced their partnership. That means that TNM customers now have access to all 3,000 intercharge-connected charge points, like charging stations from RWE for example.
hubject.com (PDF)

CarCharging takes over Houston charging network: The former signed an agreement with the Texan city to buy and operate Houston’s 70 Blink Level 2 charging points. These had originally been put in place by ECOtality. The agreement also includes the installation of another 20 charging stations in the Houston metropolitan area.
electriccarsreport.com

70 Superchargers in Europe: Tesla reports that over the past week, it added seven of its fast-chargers across the continent – one each in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as two in each France and the UK. That brings the total number of Superchargers worldwide up to 207.
green.autoblog.com

Power plant on wheels: The University of Delaware’s electric fleet is generating cash by selling power back the grid. The nine electric vehicles are interconnected, forming a virtual power plant. The total storage capacity is around 100 kWh, which is the minimum required for such a project. According to utility provider NRG Energy, each vehicle could generate around 110 dollars per month.
online.wsj.com

Sep 4, 2014 - 08:47 am

Renault-Nissan, Mitsubishi, Tokyo, Chivas, CarCharging, Schneider.

EVs for Orange: Renault-Nissan closed a deal with French telecommunication giant Orange to deliver 200 Renault Zoe and Kangoo Z.E. as well as Nissan LEAF and E-NV200 by 2015. Orange already has 30 Renault Twizy and plans to use the new arrivals mainly in internal carsharing.
greencarcongress.com, nissan-global.com

Electric Carabinieri: The Italian police acquired 23 Electric Vehicles (formerly known as i-MiEV) from Mitsubishi’s Italian distributor. The electric cars will serve mainly in locations with cultural-historical value.
autosieger.de (in German), gazzetta.it (in Italian)

More H2 for Japan: After Toyota recently started construction of its first public hydrogen station (we reported), Iawtani has announced another one. This first out of 20 planned H2 stations will be located at the Tokyo Tower and is set to be operational by March 2015.
ajw.asahi.com

Saving money is the motivation for Chivas Brother to electrify more of their fleet. The British company currently operates ten EVs and seven hybrids and sees savings of up to 1,600 pounds (2,600 dollars) per car and year already. The switch has been accompanied by advice from the Energy Saving Trust.
fleetnews.co.uk

New charging policies: CarCharging Group has now introduced kilowatt-hour (kWh) pricing on parts of its Blink network. Before, customers where charged for the time it took for the EV to charge rather than for the energy consumed. However, not all states in the U.S. permit the kWh-based pricing.
transportevolved.com, electriccarsreport.com

Discounted home charger: Schneider Electric offers its EVlink 30-Amp Generation 2.5 Level 2 charging station for 499 dollars this month to customers of Home Depot. The code to claim the 100-dollar discount is “EVLINKSUMMER”.
greencarreports.com

Aug 15, 2014 - 08:32 am

Ford, CarCharging, South Africa, Des Moines, Germany.

Ford is setting up solar charging car park in Michigan. The station which is being erected together with DTE Energy will offer recharging for 30 electric vehicles and roofed shelter for 360 cars. The solar car port is part of DTE’s ‘SolarCurrents’ Program and is expected to generate 1.13 million kWh annually.
electriccarsreport.com, businesswire.com

Shop & Charge: The CarCharging Group has agreed on a partnership with the mall “Legends at Sparks Marina” and “Outlets at Sparks” close to Reno, Nevada, to set up charging stations for diners and shoppers. The stations will be financed with the help of utility provider NV Energy.
greenpowertrain.automotive-business-review.com

BMW i3 in South Africa: The South-African branch of BMW will get the first electric and hybrid BMW’s in March 2015. To get ready it is working with the ‘National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa’s’ (Naamsa’s). Eleven BMW dealerships will feature chargers while another 60 public stations are planned.
techcentral.co.za

E-motorbike police: The Des Moines Police Department is testing an electric Zero to join their fleets of Harleys and Kawasakis. While the latter are for representative purposes the electric motorbike from Zero would actually go into police work. The purchase has already been approved, but the department needs to find the money still. Sell a petrol one maybe?!
desmoinesregister.com

Germany creates new incentives for electric cars: The country has proposed a new draft law, allowing electric vehicles to use bus lanes. A model that has worked well to increase the use of EVs in Norway, though plug-ins there are also exempt from import taxes. The German government hopes to put one million EVs on the road by 2020, a goal that experts still think is unrealistic.
thegreencarwebsite.co.uk

Aug 13, 2014 - 08:21 am

Singapore, South Korea, Newcastle University, LAX, CarCharging.

BMW i charging in Singapore: Greenlots is the partner of choice for BMW in the Asian city state. The provider will install wallboxes for customers of the i3 and is also supposed to erect public charging infrastructure. 30 charging stations are said to be service in Singapore by the end of this year.
chargedevs.com, greencarcongress.com

South Korea’s ministry of environment has erected six fast charging stations along three of the the country’s motorways. By 2017, 600 charging stations shall be available to Korean EV drivers. The government’s goal is to have 200,000 electric cars on on the roads by 2020, however, only 1,871 have been registered to date.
koreatimes.co.kr

Electric food supply: The event caterer of Newcastle University will now deliver the buffet using its newly acquired Ligier Flex L3. The electric compact quad comes with a payload of 400 kilos and has a top speed of 25 mph with a range of 35 miles per charge.
thegreencarwebsite.co.uk

Charge & fly: At Los Angeles airport (LAX) another 14 EV charging points have been installed bringing up the total number to 52. While charging is free, regular parking rates apply. The stations have been funded by the “Charge UP L.A.!” programme.
dailybreeze.com

Less amps for home charging: CarCharging, which acquired the Blink network in Florida, is decreasing the current output of its domestic level 2 charging stations from 30 amps to 24 amps. The move serves to address safety concerns due to the possibility of overheating charge cords. Replacement parts will be made available but at the cost of the owners.
transportevolved.com

May 23, 2014 - 08:52 am

Ecotricity, Tesla, My Electric Avenue, CarCharging, ClipperCreek, TNM.

UK lawsuit against Tesla: Ecotricity has accused Tesla of a “smash and grab” tactic with regards to the ‘Electric Highway’ the utility provider has erected along Britain’s motorways. According to Ecotricity, it has helped Tesla to design its UK Supercharger network but is now being threatened by the company in an attempt to take over. Tesla refused to comment as the lawsuit at the High Court is now pending.
transportevolved.com

Superchargers in Down Under: Meanwhile, Tesla confirmed plans for a Supercharger network in Australia but not before early 2015, Tesla CTO JB Straubel said in a blog post. Superchargers in Down Under will use the same connector as European Model S.
valuewalk.com, teslamotorsclub.com (Tesla blog)

My Electric Avenue expanded: The British ‘My Electric Avenue’ project now includes two business fleets. Slough Borough Council in Berkshire and Your Homes in Newcastle both will lease Nissan Leafs for the next 18 month for selected employees to use and will also install charge points at their business premises.
fleetnews.co.uk

CarCharging to integrate Nissan stations: The charging provider has teamed up with Gridscape Solutions to develop a software, which will integrate Nissan’s DC Fast Chargers with the Blink Network. In an effort to expand consumer awareness of the electric car market, CarCharging and Nissan initially deployed 48 Nissan-branded quick chargers.
greenpowertrain.automotive-business-review.com

Smart grid enabled charger: ClipperCreek launched its ETL listed utility smart-grid connected charging station, the CS-40-SG2. It has been developed jointly with Itron and includes an embedded revenue grade sub-meter and a variety of smart grid communications options.
hybridcars.com, electriccarsreport.com

The future of parking: The New Motion (TNM) teamed up with Swiss start-up ‘parku’ to ease access to park and charging opportunities for EV drivers. TNM offers about 12,000 parking spaces for EVs which will now be available to book through the parku app. The app furthers enables payment and access to car parks.
dmm.travel (in German)

May 21, 2014 - 08:48 am

BlueIndy, ABB, Tesla, BMW/CarCharging.

BlueIndy introduced: Indianapolis’ new carsharing initiative was presented to the press and public last weekend. The electric carsharing system by French Bolloré Group will become the biggest in the USA with 500 EVs, 1,000 charging stations and 200 service stations to be implemented within the next eight months.
puregreencars.com, greencarreports.com

ABB in China: The Swiss company plans to invest more than two billion dollars into the Chinese market within the next ten years. Apart from energy projects in about 100 cities and the set-up of the ABB industry center, some of the money will go into charging infrastructure. The latter is connected to ABB’s cooperation with Denza for which it produces DC wallboxes (we reported).
chinadaily.com.cn

British Superchargers to arrive: Tesla announced its plans to place Supercharger stations along an “electric highway” stretching from Dover and Bristol to the M25, and north along the M1 motorway. British Model S drivers will thus be able to cross the whole island with just one break.
telegraph.co.uk

BMW to cooperate with CarCharging: Infrastructure provider CarCharging will inform BMW i drivers about all Blink charging station locations in the U.S. through BMW’s ConnectedDrive in-vehicle navigation system and the BMW i Remote app. It will also provide real-time infos on the use status.
electriccarsreport.com

Apr 10, 2014 - 08:23 am

CarCharging, GE, CARB, France.

E-roaming made in USA: The states discover interoperability with the CarCharging Group (Blink) and GE (WattStation) allowing consumers easy access to each others stations. At the same time, GE has opened its electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) Connect software platform to app developers.
automotive-business-review.com (cooperation), electriccarsreport.com (apps)

CARB’s new ZEV regulations might be bad news for Tesla as rules for zero emission credits changed. While the maximum number of credits one vehicle can gain went up (7 to 9), it is now harder to qualify as the EV in question needs to be capable to refuel to 95% within only 15 minutes and battery swapping does not count.
chargedevs.com, green.autoblog.com

EVs in France: Last month a total of 1,130 plug-in cars were sold in France with the Renault Zoe (279 units) being the most famous model. On second and third position were the Renault Kangoo Z.E. (195) and the Bolloré Blue Car (194), whereas the Tesla Model S only found 25 buyers in March.
ev-sales.blogspot.co.uk