Punch Powertrain PSA e-transmissions, the joint venture between the French PSA Group and the Belgian transmission manufacturer Punch Powertrain, has now been established following official approvals. The company started operations on 17 September.

The French government presented a national hydrogen strategy. It provides for an investment of 7.2 billion euros by 2030 and a hydrogen production capacity of 6.5 GW by 2030. At the same time, a national H2 committee will be established.

Less is more. That’s the Citroën Ami in a nutshell. The all-electric four-wheeler with its 75-kilometre-range targets a young, urban group of buyers who simply want to get from A to B. We tested it and wondered whether the little friend is also suitable for fleet use.

The European BATTERY 2030+ project is gaining momentum as the research initiative launches seven projects with a total budget of 40.5 million euros from the EU’s Horizon 2020 program this September.

Peugeot is working on a new mini-SUV below the 2008 model, which will replace the compact 108 and will feature a purely electric drive. Unconfirmed reports expect the new Peugeot e-1008 to launch in late 2021 or early 2022.

The new Citroën C4 which PSA presented in June together with its all-electric offshoot ë-C4 is available to order in France with immediate effect. Prices for the all-electric variant start from 28,600 euros after subsidies.

The French automotive group PSA with its German subsidiary Opel and the French energy group Total with its subsidiary Saft have now signed an agreement to set up the Automotive Cells Company (ACC) joint venture.

Electric kick-scooters are again causing an uproar. In Belgium, a man was filmed riding a scooter on a motorway. In England where electric kick-scooters are being trialled, teenagers have also been caught on the motorway while others are doing things like riding them inside shopping malls. 

Verkor has announced its intention to produce battery cells for electric cars on a gigawatt scale in Europe, among other things. The newly founded French company relies on well-known partners and is already looking for a site for the factory.

Lime, Tier and Dott were granted permission to operate in Paris, while all other operators will have to pack up and go: The three e-scooter suppliers were able to prevail in a tender. They will each receive a two-year contract, during which they will be allowed to use 5,000 electric scooters in the city.

Renault has announced that it will accept orders for the all-electric Twingo Z.E. in Europe from mid-August. The small electric car may even be available for order in Germany earlier than in its home market France.

The UK-based electric car subscription service Onto (formerly Evezy) has ordered 1,100 Renault Zoe. The first units were already delivered. A pilot project for electrification is also being launched in a small village in the Pyrenees.

In France, Gaussin engineering, a company that designs, assembles and sells products and services in the transport and logistics field, has announced a firm order for 150 fully electric automotive trailer movers from its distributor Blydd.

The Dutch bicycle subscription provider Swapfiets has announced that it will also offer its service in London, Milan and Paris before the end of the year and will include other electric vehicles in its product range in addition to bicycles.

Daimler plans to sell its plant in Hambach, France, where they build the Smart electric vehicles. In 2018, Daimler had announced that the factory would also make a compact model of the electric car brand EQ, presumably the EQB.

Groupe Renault has created a new subsidiary called Elexent to help other companies find solutions for charging their fleets of electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles. A branch office in France is already operational.

A commercial made by the e-bike manufacturer VanMoof has been prohibited from broadcast on French television because of the ads depiction of a melting car. The self-regulating body responsible, the ARPP, argue that aspects of the film “discredit the automobile sector […] while creating a climate of anxiety.”

The electric car rental company UFODrive has launched a fleet management software for electric cars. The Luxembourg-based company already rents electric vehicles in various European cities and now also offers the new software ‘eMobility Fleet Manager’.

PSA is accelerating its push into commercial electric vehicles: Citroën has now announced that it will also launch the compact van Spacetourer as a BEV called the ë-SpaceTourer by the end of the year.

The PSA Group has recently decided to produce the next generation of the Peugeot 3008 at the Sochaux site from 2022. Meanwhile, French media report that the new 3008 will come in a plug-in hybrid version as well as a purely electric offshoot.

The PSA Group and the Belgian transmission manufacturer Punch Powertrain have signed an agreement to set up a second joint venture and expand their strategic partnership in the field of electrification. This will focus on transmissions for HEV and PHEVs – also for other manufacturers.

The Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché is entering into a partnership with the Eneris Group operating from Poland, as well as strategically repositioning itself. Several joint ventures in Europe are to be established for this purpose.

After alliance partner Nissan, Renault has also presented its restructuring program. The savings plan provides for the elimination of two billion euros in fixed costs. The strategy includes cuts in personnel.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a massive increase in support for the French car industry. The head of state is thus reacting to the crisis at PSA and Renault – the main reason being the slump in sales due to the Corona crisis.

Gaussin and Total have developed what they say is the world’s first purely electrically powered refuelling truck for aircraft. The prototype comprises two tank trailers, each with a capacity of 30 tons of fuel, and is expected to go into service at the end of this year.

Renault is now officially launching a fleet of 500 electric Zoe in Paris as part of the Zity e-car sharing service. Renault already presented the car-sharing offer at the end of February, but due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, the service was temporarily suspended.

Aiways is now supplying the car rental company Filippi Auto in Corsica with several hundred units of its battery-electric SUV U5 as part of the Electrify Corsica project. Filippi Auto is Aiways’ first major customer in Europe.

The latest CAM data for the electric car sector from Jan to April 2020 paints an uneven development. The study notices a strong increase in electric vehicles sales in Europe in general, the UK in particular, with an increase in PHEV cars in Germany.

After VoltAero announced the maiden flight of a prototype of its hybrid-electric aircraft study in March, the French start-up is now following up with the specifications of the final variants. Now VoltAero is offering three versions of the hybrid aircraft called Cassio.

The joint venture Charge4Europe, founded by Innogy and the mobility service provider DKV, has now joined Gireve. The French roaming platform combines more than 86,000 charging points from different networks throughout Europe and has already formed a cooperation with Hubject.