Nottingham and Connected Energy have launched a large-scale vehicle-to-grid (V2G) demonstrator project. Installation of solar panels, battery storage and 40 bi-directional EV chargers complete the CleanMobilEnergy pilot at Nottingham City Council’s Eastcroft Depot.
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The ‘Wireless Charging of Electric Taxis’ (WiCET) project funded by the British government started a few days ago. At a taxi rank in Nottingham, nine converted electric and hybrid taxis now charge via induction pads with 10 kW. The trial is the first of its kind in the UK and has taken some time.
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The new Toyota Proace Electric is joining a new city electric vehicle initiative that lets businesses test zero-emission vans before deciding on a purchase. The Electric Van Experience (EVE) funded by Highways England, in this case, sees Nottingham City Council take delivery of nine Toyota e-vans.
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The British government-owned company Highways England is handing £9.3 million to local authorities to encourage businesses with diesel van fleets to convert to electric. The scheme works by offering the businesses a free trial of electric vehicles for two months.
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Following a successful ‘try before you buy‘ loan scheme for electric vehicles in Nottingham, DriveElectric the offer could “act as a blueprint for cities across the UK”.
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The British government announces an investment of 3.4 million pounds for tests on wireless charging of electric taxis. Specifically, ten e-taxis from Nissan and LEVC are to be equipped with appropriate hardware and inductively charged in Nottingham for six months.
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Adding Budapest to the map: The Hungarian capital will see the installation of 250 EV charging spots in and around the city. The Ministry of economy has earmarked 600m forint (about 1.9m euros) to support the measure.
hungarytoday.hu
First electric Park&Ride service: Nottingham, will open the UK’s first all-electric Park & Ride service in January, featuring 13 electric buses from BYD. The buses will travel along the Eco Expressway, which gives priority to electric vehicles.
westbridgfordwire.com, transport-network.co.uk
Red Leaf for police: The Avon and Somerset Constabulary in the UK has taken delivery of two bright red Nissan Leaf. It was not said how the electric cars would be used.
fleetworld.co.uk
E-carsharing for hotspots: The city of Los Angeles has paved the way for an e-carsharing initiative for disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The operator BlueCalifornia is a subsidy of French Bolloré. The city, state and company have invested millions in the projects that will start out with 100 EVs and 200 charging stations.
patch.com
Charge and fly: The Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, will count 100 EV chargers by the end of the year. 46 have already been installed at the international and park-ride parking garage. More stations will be added in the airport’s domestic parking areas.
ajc.com
More interoperability with NeMo: The EU-funded project Hyper Network for electro-Mobility (NeMo) unites 19 partners from eight European countries, working to improve interoperability of electric mobility services. The project will continue for three years.
.itsinternational.com
ChargeNow update in Asia: BMW now offers ChargeNow in Japan. Drivers of the Bavarian’s electric and plug-in hybrid models can plug in at some 14,000 NCS network locations across the country. Meanwhile, BMW partnered with GreenTech in Malaysia, giving its customers access to the ChargEV network with 95 locations.
japan.ahk.de (Japan; in German), carlist.my (Malaysia)
DriveNow starts in Milan: The carsharing scheme from BWM and Sixt will be available in Italy’s second biggest city from October 19th. A total of 480 BMWs will be made available. An additional 20 BMW i3 will join the fleet in the coming months.
newfleet.de, biztravel.fvw.de
EV incentives prolonged: The U.S. state of Delaware will renew its incentive programme for cars with alternative drivetrains when it runs out at the end of the month, as well raise the rebate from 2,200 to 3,500 dollars for battery-powered vehicles. Moreover, the state will foot half the bill of a private charger and even 75 percent of the cost for an EV charger in a commercial environment.
delmarvanow.com, delaware.gov
Preferential lanes: Nottingham kicked off works for a six-mile Eco-Expressway. It will see an extra lane in both directions that is reserved for electric vehicles only. Electric buses will be allowed to use the lane as well.
bbc.com, nottinghampost.com
Multicity loses electric edge: The previously all-electric carsharing scheme added 100 petrol-powered Citroën C1 to its fleet in Berlin. With 250 Citroën C-Zero, the offer is still mostly EV, but citing customers’ “growing mobility needs,” Berlin seems ready to abandon its role as the capital of electric mobility.
autoflotte.de
Plug-in sales increased by 135 percent in China this year compared to the first 7 months of 2015. As the country supports a switch to green transport, another 430,000 more new energy vehicles are expected to arrive in 2016. BYD leads the sales with Tesla remaining the best-selling foreign EV.
electriccarsreport.com
Hovering taxi pods: New Delhi is launching a pilot project with electric pods that almost hang like gondolas above the tracks on the road. The system will transport some 30,000 commuters per day at around 60 kph. 16 stations are planned along the 13 km route. The Indian government will announce the successful bidder for the project next month.
mashable.com
Green harbour: BYD has kicked off the Green Omni Terminal project at the Port of LA. The undertaking is funded by the California Air Resource Board and includes a 2.6 MW storage system for solar energy that is then uses to charge two Chinese-build electric trucks. The goal is to have the terminal run on renewables only.
ngtnews.com
Infineon boosts EV segment: The chip manufacturer is looking to buy U.S. company Wolfspeed, which makes compound semiconductors and power-management chips, for 850m dollars. The goal is to strengthen its position as a leading supplier of power and RF power solutions in the electric mobility sector.
bloomberg.com, infineon.com
Speeding up EV adoption: A new research project at the University of Nottingham is looking to develop power electronics to benefit the UK’s automotive sector and help speed up the development and adoption of electric and hybrid cars. Led by an EPSRC Challenge Network in Automotive Power Electronics, the project is funded with 830,000 pounds.
nottingham.ac.uk
Copenhagen soon fully charged: Utility E.ON says it will install an additional 100 EV charging stations in the Danish capital. The network will thus include 600 stations at 125 locations by September. Copenhagen claims to become a carbon-neutral city by 2025. Outside the city, however, only 1,000 EV charging stations can be found in the country.
thelocal.dk
Paris is testing Solaris: Parisian public transport provider RATP is testing the Urbino 12 electric bus by Solaris over the coming months. The testing is part of Paris’ plan to electrify its 4,500-strong bus fleet by 2025. Further testing of buses from other providers will follow (we reported).
eurotransportmagazine.com
Malacca goes e-bus: The historic Malaysian city is putting two electric buses into service this August. They will first serve tourists hopping on and off to visit the city’s sites. The fleet will grow to 40 electric buses before the end of the year.
nst.com.my
Amman sun-charged: The capital of Jordan announced plans to install about ten solar-powered EV charging station this year already. They will be set up by Net Energy, a company owned by a Jordanian entrepreneur based in the Silicon Valley. An agreement with Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has been signed.
albawaba.com
Campus charged up: The University of Nottingham acquired nine Kangoo ZE. The electric Renault vans will be used by staff members and make up about 15% of the fleet. Public EV charging stations have been installed on campus with more being planned.
impactnottingham.com
Electric buses for Austria: Holding Graz plans to electrify its entire bus fleet with the help of Chinese CSR. The latter builds buses with supercaps which are fast-charged within seconds at every second stop. Testing will begin in 2016 and if successful, Graz could see electric buses only.
steiermark.orf.at (in German)
New BYD orders: After a long bidding war, BYD won the contract in Californian Long Beach for the delivery of ten electric buses with options for 50 more. In total, the Chinese manufacturer hopes to sell about 200 electric buses in the States this year. Across the pond, another order over 13 electric buses has been placed by British Nottingham.
bloomberg.com (Long Beach), insideevs.com (Nottingham)
Free EV loan: Chargemaster is offering businesses in Milton Keynes electric cars for free. Two Nissan Leafs and a Renault Zoe are available to borrow for two weeks at a time and can be charged at over 200 charge points in the city for free.
mkweb.co.uk
Basel charged up: The utility of the Swiss city of Basel, IWB, plans to install 20 charging stations by the end of 2016. Four have already been set up in Basel and one in the neighbouring community Riehen.
iwb.ch (in German)
Smart kickstart: eMotorWerks says it has delivered over 3,500 JuiceBox charging stations and expects volumes to double this year. The company started trading its low-cost charging station kit in late 2013 after a successful crowdfunding campaign.
marketwatch.com
The “Berliner Modell” from now on will serve as blue print for all EV charging stations to be installed in the German capital from July 2016. The first of its kind has now been inaugurated. The design is uniform, energy comes from renewables and the stations can be operated with a charge card by The New Motion that works regardless of the provider.
stadtentwicklung.berlin.de, be-emobil.de (both in German)
EV incentives in Oregon? The state officials are thinking about a bill that would offer EV buyers a so-called “cash on the hood” incentive of up to 3,000 dollars. Hybrid vehicles would become eligible for a 1,500-dollar grant. Legislation could start this October and would be in effect until 2022.
greencarreports.com
Nottingham is pondering a low-emission zone, at least for heavy vehicles. Furthermore, the city proposed a network of EV charge spots as well as incentives for rental EVs and local businesses to go electric. All would be part of Nottingham’s bid for the government’s Go Ultra Low initiative.
nottinghampost.com
Toyota hybrids in York: Rental and leasing provider Autohorn from York has placed an order for more than 60 Toyotas, including the Yaris Hybrid and for the first time also the Prius Plug-in. The company has bought nearly 200 Toyota hybrids in the past three years.
fleetnews.co.uk
Toyota PHEVs for Dubai: Al-Futtaim Motors, exclusive distributor of Toyota in the UAE, has handed over three Toyota Prius PHEV to Dubai Municipality. The latter will test the cars to see if more could be bought to join the fleet in the future.
albawaba.com, automiddleeast.com
CHAdeMO is spreading: The Japanese fast-charging standard can now be found all-over the globe. A total of 3,500 stations have been installed in Japan (1,967), the U.S. (554) and Europe (1,020), according to the CHAdeMO Association. At the same time, the organisation is calling for multi-system chargers.
chargedevs.com, chademo.com
Nottingham going green: After receiving another 1.5 million pounds (2.5m dollars) of the British government’s Green Bus Fund, the City Council will purchase 11 more electric buses. Eight are already in operation while a fleet of 50 is planned in Nottingham.
businessgreen.com
E-bus trial in Bavaria: Munich’s public transport authority MVG is currently testing the Solaris Urbino e-bus on its line 153, most-frequented by students. The polish midi-bus follows a trial with an electric bus made by BYD, which could not reach the promised range of 250 kilometres in Bavarian winter conditions. While MVG is giving a positive outlook for e-buses in the future, it critizies that they are still way more expensive than diesel-powered coaches.
sueddeutsche.de (In German)
Charger Fixation: With free charging becoming more widely available, a new problem arises: EV drivers, who plug-in and park for free despite their batteries being (almost) full. Whether limiting charging times or the introduction of charging fees can fix this condition has yet to be seen.
ocregister.com via greencarreports.com
