US American electric truck manufacturer Orange EV has announced it will establish its new corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations in the Turner Logistics Center, an industrial park under construction in Kansas City.
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Orange EV, a manufacturer of electric trucks in the USA, has closed a $35 million institutional funding round led by S2G Ventures and CCI. The fresh funds should support and accelerate the company’s growth and allow it to scale its manufacturing and develop new technologies.
Read moreFuel cell taxis: The Société du Taxi Electrique Parisien (STEP) has received another batch of fuel cell taxis, taking delivery of 60 Hyundai ix35. The company had put its first five FCVs into service almost one year ago (we reported), and plans to increase its fleet to include several hundred FC vehicles in the next five years.
greencarcongress.com
E-Carsharing in London: The London boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham have a new e-carsharing scheme in place. Blue City now offers five EVs for hire that can be booked for 30 minutes and left at any charger in any of London’s 20 boroughs signed up to Source London. The fleet will be extended to 25 vehicles in spring.
hammersmithtoday.co.uk
Ukraine borrows cash for e-mobility: The country has asked the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a 200m euro loan in order to invest in and modernise its transport infrastructure in 20 municipalities. The money will also be used to purchase electric buses.
eib.org
Montreal extends charging network: The Canadian city has commissioned 50 new charging points, after adding another 50 to its network in August. The city’s goal in to have a total of 1,000 place to plug-in by 2020.
greencarcongress.com
Heavy-duty e-truck at a discount: Orange EV announced that through the New York State Electric Vehicle Voucher Incentive Fund, it can now offer its T-Series pure electric terminal truck at a 150,000 dollar discount. Vouchers can be requested until the end of the year.
government-fleet.com, wasteadvantagemag.com
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Teheran clears the air: To fight air pollution, the Iranian capital will implement a low emission zone from September. In the beginning, all cars with a valid plaque can enter, but regulations are said to tighten in 2017. The LEZ replaces the alternating driving bans for vehicles with even or odd license plate numbers.
tehrantimes.com
Lidl plugs in: The supermarket chain has set up 20 EV charging stations at its locations in Germany. While it operates internationally, the company says it has no central plan to push EV infrastructure, but that every country can decide itself which measures to take.
electrive.net (in German)
Let the sun shine: California has renewed its one-year contract with Envision Solar for another 12 months. It now plans the delivery and installation of solar-powered EV chargers at local government agencies and organisations.
yahoo.com
Water taxi electrified: The world’s first hybrid water taxi has gone into service in Rotterdam. Powered by a Torqueedo system, it can reach a top speed of 25 kph and has room for 12 passengers.
taxi-times.com, torqeedo.com
Voucher-approved truck: Orange EV announced that its battery-electric terminal truck has qualified for subsidies in California. Companies and organisations can therefore save between 95,000 to 120,000 dollars.
greencarcongress.com
Electric test route: The Chinese Transport Bureau will set up a specialty line on the Macau peninsula for a month, to test two electric buses – one each from TCM and New Era. During the trial period, the buses can be ridden for free.
macaudailytimes.com
Model E family? Ford had fought long and hard to keep that name from Tesla. Now it looks as if it could be used for a whole model series, including crossovers rather than just electrified variants. Meanwhile, Ford is doubling its Silicon Valley presence in a push for autonomous cars – something that goes well together with electrification. At the moment Ford operates a fleet of 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid and plans to triple that number next year.
greencarreports.com (Model E), electriccarsreport.com (autonomous)
Tesla poaches again as it hires former Apple employee David Erhart. He joined the EV maker’s executive team as Senior Director of Reliability and Test. A Berkeley graduate, the chemical engineer first worked for Motorola and Medtronic before starting at Apple.
electrek.co
Electric terminal truck: Orange EV opened its order books for the all new T-series. The electric terminal truck can work 24/7 shifts in various environments, be it rail, retail or waste management. Orders placed within YE 2016 receive priority and a free telematics system.
greencarreports.com
New Tesla flagship: Boston is the next destination to get a decent Tesla store. It is located in the Prudential Tower that is powered by wind and solar energy only. Our guess is it might feature a few power walls and SolarCity panels once it opens this autumn. Meanwhile, Tesla triangulates Texas where it opened its third ‘Tesla Service Plus’ centre in Austin. The state still prohibits direct sales.
electrek.co (Boston), electrek.co (Texas)
Chevy Volt review: Michael Harley tried the 2016 Volt on his 100 mile highway commute and still got 88 MPG. He was however used and apparently rather attached to the Volt predecessor and so his reviews reads as if one has to expect a big “but” anytime. But – he was happy with the ride.
forbes.com
Pace maker: Rio has one more sensation that appeared in the velodrome. The pace for the keirin, a Japan inspired high-speed bicycle race, is set by an electric motorbike made in Germany. The Elmoto reaches up to 37 mph and thus serves as perfect derny to get the human riders up to speed.
foxnews.com
Mirai offspring on the way? The Toyota Mirai could be just the start of a whole fuel cell vehicle family, according to chief engineer Yoshikazu Tanaka. Autocar reports there are already plans for estate, hatchback, MPV and SUV models with Mirai technology in Toyota’s drawer. In the U.S., Toyota already received some 1,900 order requests for the Mirai within only two months after its launch.
autocar.co.uk (FCV family), leftlanenews.com (order requests)
Tesla Q3 outlook: Tesla has delivered 11,580 vehicles in the third quarter of 2015, including the first Model X handovers. That’s around the same number as that of the second quarter, but 49 percent up from the same period last year. Meanwhile, U.S. customers can now upgrade their Model S for 7,500 dollars from “Insane” to “Ludicrous” mode for an even speedier acceleration.
forbes.com, teslamotors.com (deliveries), insideevs.com (upgrade)
BYD’s big investment plans: The Chinese car and battery manufacturer is planning to generate 15 billion Yuan (2.36 billion dollars) through the issue of new shares. The raised capital is set to be used, among other things, for the production of improved batteries and the development of electrified cars.
wantchinatimes.com
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Hybrid patent trial: Hyundai and Kia lost a patent trial and were ordered to pay 28.9 million dollars. A U.S. federal jury found the carmakers guilty of using hybrid engine technology patented by Paice LLC in their vehicles. The Korean companies pledged to appeal.
bloomberg.com, autoblog.com, yonhapnews.co.kr
Orange expands: Orange EV, a U.S. manufacturer of commercial EVs, announced it will move to a larger facility and hire more staff due to high demand. Moreover, the Missouri Technology Corporation is investing 150,000 dollars in Orange EV.
truckinginfo.com
New Volt drive review: Sebastian Blanco tested the new Chevy Volt and calls it a “no-compromise EV”. The plug-in hybrid will become available in eleven U.S. states this autumn and starts at 33,995 dollars. It now seats five instead of four passengers and is more fuel efficient.
autoblog.com
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Electric bike-sharing in Qatar: Students and staff at the Qatar Foundation in Education City will have access to the pedelecs, providing them transportation around campus. Initially, 60 units will be placed at 19 stations. Before beginning to pedal, the user must pass a cycling test.
gulf-times.com
Orange EV gets stamp of approval: The company’s T-series electric terminal truck has qualified for the Drive Clean Chicago programme with cash subsidies ranging from 45,000 to 75,000 dollars. Orange EV strips diesel trucks of its core and electrifies them. According to the manufacturer, the e-trucks can haul the same load as its diesel-run cousins, while saving 90% in fuel costs.
chargedevs.com
No more Tesla taxi in Copenhagen: Although Drivers and customers loved the smooth ride, the Model S was not able to compete with the normal taxis in terms of costs and reliability, according to Carsten Aastrup director of 4×48 TaxiNord. The Tesla will have to leave the taxi fleet after only one year of operation.
politiken.dk (in Danish)
Lorry levies in the UK had been introduced in April this year. The new regulation wants foreign lorries to pay levies when using UK roads. These amounted to 17 million pounds (28.4m dollars) in the first four months. The money raised is the equivalent of funding to operate 140,000 street lights for a year. Or it would be enough to pay the incentives for some 3,400 new electric vehicles, says FleetNews.
fleetnews.co.uk
Commercial EV: Orange EV presented its T-Series, a terminal truck used to move cargo in ports and other distribution centres. The short-haul drayage is a perfect playing field for electrification as it implies short ways and multiple charging opportunities. Orange EV also offers conversions.
chargedevs.com, orangeev.com
Electric pedestrian pods: British engineering office RDM Group has become the manufacturing partner for the Low Carbon Urban Transport Zone (LUTZ) Pathfinder project, which will see electric powered pods used in Milton Keynes by 2015. In a first step, RDM will work with Oxford University’s Mobile Robotics Group (MRG) to create three two-seaters with a top speed of 7 mph.
design.automotive-business-review.com, miltonkeynes.co.uk
Integrating EVs and renewables: The University of California, Riverside (UCR) started its ‘Sustainable Integrated Grid Initiative.’ Its smart-grid test bed includes four megawatts of solar panels, two megawatt-hours of battery energy storage, 27 EV charging stations, one electric trolley bus and energy monitoring, management and control tools.
greencarcongress.com, ucrtoday.ucr.edu
