Factorial Energy, the US developer of solid-state battery cells for electric cars backed by Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Hyundai-Kia, has begun construction of a new development and production facility.
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In the USA, Highland Electric Fleets have coordinated a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) programme with technology partners Proterra, Thomas Built Buses, Rhombus and Synop with electric school buses.
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Boston wants to replace its entire fleet of more than 700 school buses with electric vehicles by 2030, starting with 20 buses taking kids to school during the next school year. The move is part of the city’s Green New Deal, which includes converting much of its vehicle fleet, not only school buses.
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FedEx has ordered 120 electric trucks from Xos. These are to be deployed in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Texas and delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 2022.
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Several US American states have launched initiatives to support the electrification of their traffic. Massachusetts and Delaware extended their subsidy programmes, while Ohio is angling to introduce one. California extended traffic benefits to include those driving used EVs.
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California is joining with seven other US American states to develop an action plan to put “hundreds of thousands” more emissions-free trucks and buses on roads and highways. The California Air Resources Board announced the initiative.
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Beyond September this year, the state government of Massachusetts will not be continuing subsidies on the purchase of electric cars and motorbikes. As electric vehicles get more popular and funds low, state lawmakers have decided to discontinue the program.
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VW’s diesel-gate subsidiary Electrify America announced the collaboration with nine additional companies to host more than 30 fast EV charging stations across the U.S. More than 20 of these will be located in California with another six states being added.
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A123 Systems has announced their investment in Ionic Materials. The startup is working on a polymer for solid-state batteries and recently found a trustee in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance as well.
Read moreScooter sharing floats: German Floatility has convinced Singapore to launch a pilot with its solar-powered stand-up scooters at its development partner Autodesk. Their staff will kick about the facility on the partly 3D-printed, three-wheeled and self-balancing EVs, that come with custom-built docking stations to charge. Another pilot is due to start in Vienna in the coming weeks, when tourists will be asked to float around town.
hardwarezone.com.sg, electrive.net (Austria pilot, in German)
Swapping a battery in India shall become most easy as Sun Mobility plans to work together with various OEMs to integrate their solution into electric cars, buses but also scooters and rickshaws. So far, only Ashok Leyland is on board but further steps are to be announced later this year.
ndtv.com, business-standard.com
Hybrid bus order: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) expects the delivery of 345 new buses of which 156 will be diesel-electric and 175 CNG. Overall, they will replace a third of the fleet with cleaner options once they arrive next month and shall make the system more reliable, esp. in winter.
bostonglobe.com, metro.us
Ballard scores again: The fuel cell specialist received an order from the SunLine Transit Agency for five FCveloCity systems to power hydrogen buses in Palm Desert, California. The 150 kW systems are expected to be shipped in 2017 and Ballard here works with ElDorado National and BAE System.
greencarcongress.com, ariva.de
It is the first time opportunity charging is implemented in the UK. Eight electric Volvo buses will be delivered to Harrogate, where they are to enter service in 2018. The 7900 Electric models will be charged automatically via an overhead mast and pantograph using the common interface OppCharge. The latter has spread to twelve countries already, unifying charging for vehicles of various makers.
automotiveworld.com
Green drive at Vattenfall: The Swedish utility flipped the switch this January to electrify its entire fleet. Over the next five years, 3,500 vehicles in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany will be replaced by electric alternatives. They will cover all areas, from passengers over technical support and maintenance.
vattenfall.com
Charging India: 1,200 EV charging stations shall come to India’s main roads, according to the government’s latest push to go electric. It also includes 200 fast-chargers. A pilot project is to start in Nagpur for the electrification of commercial vehicles.
indiatoday.in
Meanwhile, National Grid is to install 1,200 EV charge points as well but only in Massachusetts over the next three years. They are to cover 140 locations at work-places as well as multi-dwellings and include fast-chargers. The proposal is pending approval by the state’s Department of Public Utilities.
nationalgridus.com
Tritium goes Torrance: Australian infrastructure provider Tritium that makes the Veefil station has set foot into California. It is its first oversea facility and is located in Torrance, from where it is to offer customer service, local manufacturing and R&D in the Americas. Regional partners wanted!
reneweconomy.com
2,000 new chargers for the UK: British charging infrastructure provider Chargemaster has completed the takeover of Elektromotive and its subsidiary Charge Your Car (we reported). Chargemaster wants to also invest 15m pounds in 2,000 new EV chargers in the UK.
chargemasterplc.com
Electric commercial carsharing: The PSA Group is making 80 percent of Paris’ fleet of electric commercial vehicles available for the sharing service “VULe Partegés,” which is aimed primarily at business clients. The project kicks off with five stations with ten electric commercial transporters each.
businesswire.com, groupe-psa.com
Ukrainian police plugs in: As reported, the Ukrainian police is looking to electrify its fleet. Mitsubishi now says it will deliver no less than 635 Outlander PHEV in July.
greencarcongress.com, mitsubishi-motors.com
Diesel charge: Westminster wants to charge diesel cars an extra fee just for parking. During a trial period from April, drivers of diesel-powered cars and vans will have to pay 50 percent more than drivers of other vehicles. Westminster is the first council in the UK to introduce such a fee.
theguardian.com
Modernising Massachusetts’ grid: Utility Eversource wants to invest 400m dollars in the state, with 145m dollars earmarked for setting up energy storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Specifically issues like workplace charging, multi-unit dwellings, fast-charging along highways, and charging in disadvantaged communities will be addressed.
utilitydive.com
Reading tip: A newly passed law in Massachusetts prohibits EV charging stations from imposing inscription fees on drivers, hoping to make infrastructure more readily available. It also allows for the building code to be updated and require new homes and businesses to be pre-wired for EV chargers. Moreover, communities can dedicate parking spot for EVs only.
http://hanover.wickedlocal.com/news/20170106/massachusetts-eyes-lofty-electric-car-goal/1
Video tips: Tesla is getting some competition. And while it didn’t seem like anyone would get to drive the FF 91 (Faraday Future), Drive’s Alex Roy got to go for a ride-along in the back seat to test the autonomous parking/summoning feature and acceleration. Meanwhile, The Verge got to take the passenger seat in the Lucid Air. In both cases, the testers were impressed.
youtube.com via insideevs.com (Faraday Future), youtube.com via carscoops.com (Lucid Motors)
H2-powered taxi fleet: The announced pilot project involving hydrogen-powered taxis is ready to hit the road in South Korea. It will start out with a fleet of ten Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell taxis in the city of Ulsan and will be extended to another five cities in the first half of 2017.
yonhapnews.co.kr
Plug-in carsharing: Mevo kicked off in Wellington, New Zealand, featuring three Audi A3 e-tron. The fleet is to grow to 50 cars and 64 charging stations over the next year. After conquering the streets of New Zealand’s capital, the scheme will also be offered in Auckland.
stuff.co.nz
Funding EV adoption: The U.S. state of Massachusetts earmarked another 12m dollars for state-funded subsidies of electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell cars. A total of 25 vehicles can now qualify for rebates between 750 and 2,500 dollars on the purchase or lease.
mass.gov
BMW charges Australia: The automaker teamed up Scentre Group and will install a total of 40 EV charging stations at ten shopping centres in South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Plugging in will be free for all EV drivers.
evtalk.co.nz, mumbrella.com.au
Long electric buses for Vienna: The Austrian capital is looking to modernise its public transport fleet and kicked off a second tender. The result will be announced in spring 2017, and will for the first time include 12-metre buses with electric drivetrains. How many was not announced.
wien.gv.at (in German)
Kangoo Z.E. with H2 range-extender: About a year ago, three British companies came together to offer fleet operators a Renault transporter with fuel cell range extender (we reported). Some 32 models have already been sold, also because the REx adds an extra 400 km of range.
gasworld.com
Toyota Mirai international: Europcar UK has added the fuel cell vehicle to its fleets of its newly acquired Brunel chauffeur business, using money from the recently received Office of Low Emission Vehicles grant. Meanwhile, Toyota is looking to offer a few units of the Mirai in United Arab Emirates, now that Air Liquide has been charged with setting up a first H2 fuelling pump in Dubai.
fleetnews.co.uk (Europcar), albawaba.com (UAE)
EV quota for government agencies: The Massachusetts Senate passed a measure requiring a quarter of all new vehicles purchased for [some] government agencies to be electric by 2025. The new bill also lays the foundation for cities to dedicated parking stalls for EVs only.
wickedlocal.com
Kansas eyes EVs: Kansas City International Airport is looking to purchase four electric buses from BYD. A final decision, however, won’t be made until after Thanksgiving, so in the last week of November.
kansascity.com
Multi modal e-mobility: City2Share is a 5.8m euro research project of the German government that studies how electric cars and bikes can increase air quality and reduce noise levels in cities. Over four years, trials will run in Munich and Hamburg. There, sharing of autonomous EVs, wireless charging, rental pedelecs, and electric cargo bikes will be utilised. The project is led by a consortium of public and private partners that includes BMW, Siemens, UPS, DriveNow and TU Dresden.
evfleetworld.co.uk
Electric scooter sharing: Stuttgart started an electric scooter sharing. Stella-Sharing includes 15 e-scooter by Emco and is operated by the town’s utility. Registration can be done online and the two-wheelers can be booked via app. The batteries will be swapped and provided by a fleet of cargo pedelecs from VeloCarrier. The fleet shall be extended to 75 electric scooters by March next year.
stadtwerke-stuttgart.de (in German)
Group buy: In Canadian Québec a buying group for the Nissan Leaf has already gathered 3,000 followers and counting. It is even more astonishing as it was organised privately. The reservations can be made without posting a deposit.
cleantechnica.com, surveymonkey.com (reservation, in French)
A free shuttle programme debuted in San Diego this Tuesday. ‘Free Ride Everywhere Downtown’ (FRED) is a partnership between the city of San Diego, Civic San Diego and the Downtown San Diego Partnership. 15 all-electric 5-seaters are running daily and can be hired free of charge via app.
kpbs.org, nbcsandiego.com, thefreeride.com (FRED)
Electric school bus: Three communities in Massachusetts, namely Cambridge, Amherst, Concord and Acton-Boxborough, will start a pilot with an electric yellow school bus and charging station each. Comes autumn, the eLion bus funded by the DoE will pick up kids.
bostonglobe.com
EV charging at the Ritz-Carlton: The luxury hotel brand plans to install EV charging stations at all its locations worldwide. Ritz Carltons in the U.S., Barcelona, Chengdu, and Shenzhen already are equipped with two chargers each and more will follow.
luxurydaily.com, ariva.de
Wash & Charge: Tesla is about to enter into a partnership with Eco Green Auto Clean, which uses less than a cup of water to clean a car. EV drivers could then have their car polished while supercharging. The service is already tested at the Fremont facility. If rolled out, it would be subscription based.
electrek.co
Charge sharing commercialised: Private charging stations could soon be made available to the paying public. A new software by The Mobility House, has.to.be, and ICU enables owners to charge other EV drivers per charge. Currently, the service only works for ICU stations in Germany and Austria.
mobilityhouse.com (in German)
CSI comes electrically: Crime scene investigators in West Yorkshire started a one year trial of two Peugeot Partner EV. The electric vans have been converted to fit the force. Peugeot has provided both the electric vans as well as charging facilities for free.
itv.com
Playing the premier league: Leicester City players were presented with 19 BMW i8 as a premium for becoming the British masters. The move is surprising – pleasantly, probably – as initially the price was a Mercedes B class ED for each footballer. An upgrade in glamour but downgrade for the environment.
motoringresearch.com, autoexpress.co.uk
Zooming around town: Middleboro in Massachusetts will lease four Chevy Volt. Another three electric cars may follow in the future but the council hopes for prices to fall further first.
959watd.com
EV charging open to all: E.on has opened a true eco station in the Czech Republic. Tesla’s Supercharger can be found there together with chargers of all kinds. Gathered are two DC fast-charging chargers, one for CHAdeMO, and a CCS charger, plus a few level 2 chargers. The stylish charge stop is located in Humpolec along the E50, which connects Prague and Brno.
electrek.co, thecountrycaller.com
France prepares for EVolution: All new buildings will have to be ready to install EV charging facilities. The law will come into effect by 2017 and regards residential housing as well as offices and public services. If more than 40 parking lots are to be build, 75 percent will have to be pre-wired.
avere-france.org (in French)
Plug-in behaviour: Ford has analysed the behaviour of thousands of its plug-in vehicles via its app. The study found that workplace charging could increase the electric vehicle miles travelled (eVMT) substantially. The eVMT decreased in the winter but not in California thus pointing to geographic location playing a role in charging and driving habits.
electricvehiclesresearch.com
Charge along Mass Pike: Massachusetts’ Department of Transportation (MassDOT) plans to install fast-charging stations at six service plazas that run along the famous highway from Boston. The first of up to twelve 50 kW chargers shall stand by autumn. MassDOT also looks into hydrogen infrastructure.
bostonherald.com
Duty call: A BMW i3 has entered the Austrian police force in the town of Watten as an emergency car. The German carmaker has been rather successful marketing its police version of the electric car, which also serves in Milan, London and Bavaria.
bmwblog.com via carscoops.com
Best practice: Green energy enabler GP Joule set up a company fleet with 15 BMW i3. The electric cars can be charged on company grounds at eight charging stations with 20 charge points. The energy comes from renewables. GP Joule’s move is part of an initiative with partners Alphabet, hySOLUTIONS and Öko-Institut that aim to integrate 450 EVs in fleets in the Hamburg region.
gp-joule.eu
Fusion station: Hyundai completed the installation of its first fusion station that provides energy for fuel cell and electric vehicles at the same time. It took Hyundai’s Gwangju Creative Economy Innovation Center (GCEIC) five months and various fuel cell studies will follow. A second station will be installed within the coming six months.
koreabizwire.com, businesskorea.co.kr
Italy sharing the Leaf: Italian Bari started an electric car sharing service. For now, 30 Nissan Leaf can be booked per day, per kilometre, as well as a “free flow.” The city hopes the fleet to be just a starting point and would like to see it grow to 300 or 500 EVs in the future.
corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it (in Italian)
Incentive increase: Massachusetts tops up its MOR-EV programme with an additional two million dollars. Since the introduction in 2014, the scheme has offered rebates for 1,606 plug-in vehicles.
automotive-business-review.com
Wireless expansion: The initial 3.2m dollars investment by VIE in wireless charging provider Evatran turns out to be just the starting point for a 10m dollar Series B Raise that might lead to a third round of funding. Evatran aims at global expansion.
greencarcongress.com
BYD’s buses highly sought after: Shanwei has begun operating 300 of BYD’s eight metre long K7 buses. The Chinese city even wants to increase the number of electric buses to 1,810 by the end of next year and 3,010 by the end of 2019. The city of Wuhan has meanwhile ordered 74 BYD K7.
byd.com
Cost-covering from mid-2016: Charging infrastructure provider Fastned has covered operating costs for the coming three years with new and extended credits. The company reports a monthly growth of more than ten percent throughout 2015 and expects first rapid-chargers to pass break-even by the middle of this year.
newswire.com
Massachusetts incentivises: The U.S. state spent some 2.5m dollars on rebates for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles as part of the Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV) programme in 2015. The scheme kicked off in June 2014 and since offered a total of 3.8m dollars in rebates for 1,606 vehicles.
boston.com
Elm EV expansion: The British company has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise 200,000 pounds to further develop its product range and expand its business internationally. Elm EV is one of only a handful companies certified to install rapid chargers in the UK and has worked with i.e. Nissan in doing so.
businessgreen.com, fleetnews.co.uk, seedrs.com
More BlueIndy: After a difficult start, the electric carsharing scheme in Indianapolis could see more EVs being added to its fleet and expand outside of the metro area. New chargers are already being set up. BlueIndy currently consists of 50 EVs, but Bolloré hopes to at one point expand to include 500 electric cars.
theindychannel.com (with video)
150 electric scooters to share: The Berlin-based start-up eMio will roll out the second stage of its electric scooter sharing service in Berlin. Funded by the VC Fonds Technologie, as well as by two private investors, 150 electric scooters will be available by the end of July. 20 of the emco scooters are already on the street. eMio also plans to expand into other German and southern European cities.
intellicar.de (in German)
Social rebates: Low income buyers in California are now eligible for an extra 1,500 dollar rebate when buying an EV, while incentives for high income buyers are scrapped. People earning less than 48,000 dollars a year (singles) or 73,000 dollars (family of four) are eligible for 4,000 dollars for BEVs, 3,000 for PHEVs and 6,500 for FCVs. People earning more than 340,000 dollars annually will no longer receive any funding.
hybridcars.com
Tesla big(ger) in Japan: Eight new service centres will open in Japan this year, the electric carmaker announced. Until now, Japanese Tesla drivers relied on the country’s only service station located in Yokohama.
nikkei.com
Eco juice: A new WattTime software helps eMotorWerks’ charging station called JuiceBox choose the greenest power to charge an electric car. The programme analyses the grid in real time to identify when the cleanest electricity is available and schedules charging sessions accordingly.
greencarreports.com
Electric city fleet: New Bedford in Massachusetts has leased ten Nissan Leaf, allowing it to retire ten older cars. The electric vehicles will be used by Health Department inspectors to travel around the city. The local government also plans to erect more charging stations.
southcoasttoday.com, wpri.com
Twizy for Lyon: The all-electric two-seater by Renault is now being offered as part of Bolloré Bluely carsharing scheme in the French city. A total of 30 are ready for use. Until the end of the year, Bolloré wants to have a total of 110 Twizy to join its Lyon fleet and Bluecub Carsharing scheme in Bordeaux.
greencarcongress.com, renault.com
Massachusetts pushes EV sales: The U.S. state has earmarked an additional two million dollars for its Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV) program. It offers a discount of up to 2,500 dollars to those who buy or lease an electric vehicle.
electriccarsreport.com
How much could you save? Hawaiian electric companies have launched an online tool that estimates, how much money a person could save by driving electric. The EV Bill Savings Estimator also takes into account off-peak charging rates.
chargedevs.com
Apartment solution: Irish companies Carra, EC Charging, Electro Automation and Smartcharge have all received 25,000 euros in funding to bring EV charging infrastructure to apartment blocks. A viable solution could receive another 200,000 euros to develop a prototype.
siliconrepublic.com
Toshiba bus hits the road: The company’s first electric bus has begun operating in the city of Kawasaki in Japan, along the Kawasaki Municipal Hospital route. The bus is equipped with vehicle-to-grid technology and can be used as a power source in the event of an emergency.
azocleantech.com, toshiba.co.jp
A total of 10,800 FCVs, 640 FC buses, and 110 H2 fuelling stations in eight North-Eastern states until 2025 are outlined in the ‘2015 Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Development Plans’ by the Northeast Electrochemical Energy Storage Cluster in the USA.
greencarcongress.com
Flash charging: Imagine a robotic arm reaching out from a bus’ roof for 15 seconds of ultra fast charging and then moving on with up to 133 passengers. That becomes reality with Geneva’s TOSA project. EPFL scientists developed a mathematical model to minimise infrastructure and costs of the TOSA e-bus system even further, to be able to integrate it into the Swiss city’s public transport system by 2017.
phys.org, youtube.com (video)
CARB dashboard online: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) published the results of a survey looking at who buys plug-in vehicles and why. For example, 70% of all 83,000 Californian EV buyers have taken advantage of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP).
energycenter.org (dashboard), chargedevs.com
H2 centre in South Tyrol: Bolzano opened Italy’s first hydrogen centre at a location, where H2 is being produced from renewable sources. From July, the centre will be home to a rental station for ten Hyundai FCVs as part of the HyFive project.
alvolante.it (in Italian)
Outsourced EV rebates: Massachusetts turned to the Californian non-profit ‘Center for Sustainable Energy’ to manage its new ZEV incentive programme, worth two million dollars. The ‘Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles’ (MOR-EV) scheme will provide up to 2,500 dollars for the purchase or lease of electric cars.
insideevs.com, sfgate.com
EV incentives in Massachusetts: Governor Deval Patrick announced plans to start offering rebates for electric car and plug-in hybrid purchases similar to those in California. Buyers could thus get 2,500 dollars at the point of sale. At the same time, Massachusetts will continue to provide funding for institutions and businesses in its existing EV programme.
greencarreports.com
Highway Code update: RightDriver.co.uk has found that almost 65% out of 1,056 driving instructors would like to see hybrid vehicles included into the standard UK driver’s guide. More than a third believe that specifically all-electric vehicles belong into the Highway Code while 68% wish to see more information on alternatively-fuelled vehicles in general.
thegreencarwebsite.co.uk
Charging for charging: Just ahead of the launch of new tariffs for charging at Polar Network stations in the UK today, the company seemed to have lowered its prices. However, customers are still indignant with some considering boycotting the network altogether.
transportevolved.com
Leafs for bus company: The Hamburger Hochbahn company has acquired eleven electric Nissans. The Leafs will be driven by mechanics and supervisors in the German city of Hamburg. There, they will certainly catch some attention as they bare the slogan “Wenn ich groß bin, werde ich ein Hochbahn-Bus” (“When I grow up, I will be a Hochbahn bus”). The company already has 36 alternatively-fuelled buses in its fleet.
newstix.de (in German)
Massachusetts plans massive investments in its Clean Vehicle Project. The initiative includes the construction of new public charging stations and the introduction of more than 200 vehicles powered by alternative fuels in private and public fleets. Furthermore, eight electric school busses with V2G capability are planned to put in service. Overall grants are 15.5 million USD (11.4 million euros).
greencarcongress.com, mass.gov
Free charging when flying: NRG eVgo offers free electric car charging at their new Park & Charge point located at Los Angeles Airport (LAX), USA. Coupons can be downloaded until February 16 and are redeemable until March 31.
electriccarsreport.com, hybridcars.com, evgonetwork.com (Coupon)
Duty free EV imports: The Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia will exempt electric cars from import duties. The removal of the 19 percent import tax will stay in place from February 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015. It is believed that this will increase the import of EVs at least tenfold.
ev.com
