Ride-hailing company Uber is expanding its Uber Green service with electric and hybrid cars in North America. After launching in 15 cities last September, Uber has announced plans to make the service available in 1,400 more cities and towns.

Seat has started series production of its Seat Mó eScooter 125 electric scooter with e-motorcycle manufacturer Silence. The electric scooter is already being used in sharing applications in Barcelona and the e-scooter will also be available in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Sweden in the first quarter of 2021.

Digital Charging Solutions (DCS) and Lexus Europe are launching a new charging service for Lexus drivers under the label “Lexus Charging Network”. The service is available in Norway, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain and Italy.

The new company i-charging from Portugal launched its mighty range of Blueberry charging stations at a virtual press event last night. The Porto-based vendor claims the chargers are designed to deliver 50kW to up to 600 kW through modular set-ups.

Iberdrola is expanding their plans to build charging infrastructure for electric cars: The Spanish energy provider plans to invest 150 million euros over the next five years in the installation of 150,000 charging points in households, companies and cities, as well as on motorways and main roads.

Iberdrola and Avia have agreed to install more than 500 fast chargers for electric-cars at over 100 service stations in Spain and Portugal. The new fast chargers mark the extension of an existing partnership between the two companies from last year. Previously, Iberdrola installed 48 fast chargers at Avia stations at 24 locations in Spain.

The electric bus manufacturers Rampini and CaetanoBus have agreed to include each other’s models in their own respective ranges. This saves them having to develop their own models and allows them to present a wider range of models in their respective markets.

The bus maker Irizar and the charging infrastructure provider Ibil have concluded a cooperation agreement to give EV batteries a second life. Ibil will use spent batteries from Irizar’s electric buses as stationary energy storage.

The Chinese electric car brand Byton has now started production of the pre-production series of its first M-Byte model at its Nanjing plant. The manufacturer says it already has 50,000 reservations for the EV worldwide.

The Nissan Charge App developed by Nissan and Plugsurfing enables electric car drivers to charge at over 100,000 charging points throughout Europe. The service that includes navigation and charge management first launches in Italy and Germany before successively covering other markets.

Uber clients in Europe may now book Lime e-bikes straight through the Uber app. The cooperation started in the US and is currently being rolled out across the continent. Prague, Warsaw and Stockholm are among the first wave of European markets with other capitals to follow suit.

The all-electric Mini Cooper SE can now be reserved in a total of twelve European countries; These are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

At the EVS32, the Portuguese charging infrastructure manufacturer Efacec presented the second generation of its QC45 fast charger, which, according to Efacac, offers considerable improvements in hardware and software.

The Swedish sharing provider Voi Technology has now presented its expansion programme for Europe. It includes 150 cities and municipalities and is associated with the roll-out of a number of improved electric scooters and e-bikes.

BYD has delivered the 15 electric buses ordered last year for the Spanish city of Badajoz. The public transport operator Tubasa has further already put them into operation. In the near future, BYD will also deliver eight electric buses ordered by Tusgsal for use in the city of Badalona near Barcelona.

Renault has launched the first large-scale bi-directional charging pilot projects in Europe, starting in Utrecht, the Netherlands and on the Portuguese island of Porto Santo. Similar projects will follow in five more European countries with the aim to develop services and gather learnings for future harmonisation.

The EV100 initiative of the Climate Group organisation has received four new members, namely the Swiss Post, Austrian Post, Portugal’s EDP and Meridian Energy from New Zealand. They all pledge to further electrify their service fleets by 2030.

After announcing plans to add electric scooters to their portfolio a month ago, MyTaxi revealed the location of their pilot: Lisbon. People in the Portuguese capital can rent a scooter from a fleet of hundreds. For Daimler, this may open a whole new venture labelled Hive.

The Portuguese bus manufacturer CaetanoBus will receive fuel cell systems from Toyota. The first demonstration buses by CaetanoBus with Toyota’s FC technology are scheduled to roll off the assembly line within slightly more than a year.

The high power charging network Ionity will cooperate with the Spanish Compañía Española de Petróleos to outfit their petrol stations with up to 100 HPC charging points in Spain and Portugal. The first chargers will go into operation by the start of 2019.

The public transport company Carris from the Portuguese capital Lisbon has put out an open order for 15 electric buses and their charging infrastructure. Up to 11.7 million euro are being offered, and bids are being accepted until the 16th of May.

China’s BYD has got a deal in Portugal, where operator SMTUC ordered 8 electric buses. The contract follows successful trials in the town of Coimbra. While it is a first for BYD to deliver to Portugal, the firm says orders in Europe amount to 400 to date.

The French are coming to Portugal and carry the electric car sharing service emov as their baggage. 150 C-Zero are to take to the streets of Lisbon this April and shall be free to roam even beyond the capital’s centre.

Renault and EEM launched the ‘Smart Island’ project, that will give EV batteries a sweet second life on the Madeira archipelago. The French manufacturer is cooperating with utility Empresa de Electricidade da Madeira to convert Porto Santo island into a smart grid. On a small scale first.

Renault has partnered with southern Europe’s first High Power Charging network, E-VIA FLEX-E. The network aims at charging with 150 – 350 kW just like Ionity, only that this time, it is the South of Europe that is to be connected by the year’s end. Partners include Nissan and Enel among others while funding comes […]

A new factory opened in the north of Portugal, where charging-infrastructure producer Efacec is planning to increase capacity to 3,800 fast-charging stations made per year with more to come. An investment of 2.5m euros made it possible and the expansion to the States is in the cards.

Gogoro spices up electric scooter: The manufacturer has presented an update of its electric scooter which is part of the sharing scheme Coup. The free-float service is available in Berlin and reportedly about to be applied in Paris. The Gogoro 2 comes with 6.4 kWh swappable battery just as the original, but shall allow smoother torque and more control. Its launch is scheduled for July in Taiwan before it will enter other countries by late 2017.
theverge.com, engadget.com

Charging infrastructure for the Algarve: Portugal’s South shall soon attract both local as well as travelling EV drivers by offering 32 EV semi-fast charging points. They are part of a pilot kicked-off by the country’s government and executed by Mobie.E. Two charging stations each will stand in all the Algarve’s 16 municipalities and the network is supposed to go live within two months.
theportugalnews.com

Chargemaster to supply black cabs: The London Taxi Company has chosen Chargemaster as official supplier for charging equipment for its new range-extended electric taxis. As reported, LTC cabs will hit the roads of Britain’s capital later this year before their international launch in 2018.
chargemasterplc.com

Big hybrid bus order: Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has ordered 55 hybrid buses from New Flyer. The contract includes the supply of 47 Xcelsior diesel-electric series buses for 51m dollars and an option for up to eight additional buses in 2018.
greencarcongress.com, newswire.ca

Electric delivery: New Zealand’s supermarket chain Foodstuffs is getting cash from the government to test the use of electric delivery vans at its locations. 28 Nissan e-NV200 will be imported for the task in 2018. The installation of public EV chargers at the market’s locations is also in the cards.
scoop.co.nz

Field testing bi-directional charging: Nissan is working with Newcastle University on a project using electric cars that feed electricity back into the grid. The first ten V2G charging points have been installed on the university’s campus and at Nissan’s research centre in Cranfield. The tests are part of a larger project, in the course of which Nissan plans to install a total of 100 V2G chargers on the Iles.
chroniclelive.co.uk

Banking on dieselgate: The U.S. state of Connecticut is getting 50m dollars in financial penalties from VW following the scandal, and is now considering where to invest. The Connecticut Public Interest Group proposed the installation of more than 100 EV charging points and the purchase of dozens of electric buses.
ctpost.com

Electric Portugal: More than 4,000 electric vehicles were roaming the streets of Portugal last year, and the country expects to crack the 5,000-EV milestone this year. In the coming weeks, 14 fast-chargers will be installed in Portuguese cities and along the motorways.
theportugalnews.com

Renault pro combo: The French carmaker will offer CCS Combo charging with 22 kW AC and 100 kW DC on all its models in Europe. This leaves Nissan, Mitsubishi and Kia as sole CHAdeMO supporters on the continent. Despite the partnership, Renault’s EV programme director Eric Feunteun made clear that “the Combo 2 standard, which was imposed in Europe, will be our standard.”
insideevs.com, automobile-propre.com (in French)

60m state aid: Portugal’s plan to fund green buses with 60m euros has found approval with the EU commission. The country plans to replace old buses with low emission models, incl. hybrid, electric, CNG, and H2, and to supply respective infrastructure. The EU cohesion fund will bear 85 percent of cost.
europa.eu

Merger aftermath: Tesla and Panasonic will work ever closer together should Tesla merge with SolarCity. If approved, the battery partnership would include residential storage batteries for which it would make photovoltaic cells and modules in Buffalo, New York.
asia.nikkei.com, forbes.com, tesla.com

Supercharger pit stop: The state of New York saw Superchargers going up at gas stations. Tesla works with QuickChek in Kingston and the cooperation might be expanded to further locations in the area.
electrek.co, greencarreports.com

EV share funding: Green Commuter receives a 250,000 dollar state tax credit in California to advance its EV sharing with Model X. Also the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) in Tennessee granted the firm 750,000 dollars as it reportedly set up 20 Nissan Leaf to hire.
financial.de (California), chargedevs.com (Tennessee)

Gas-guzzler ban? Oxford is looking to only allow electric vehicles in its city centre by 2020, thus effectively banning all petrol and diesel cars. By 2035, the proposed policy could be enforced across the whole city. Only one council member voiced his objection. The vote is due on September 8th.
oxfordtimes.co.uk

Electric travel in Japan: Nissan and the Japan Travel Bureau initiated EV sharing in the country’s rural areas. Until the end of August, 1,622 new charging stations will be installed for relaxed travel. The stations in Matsunoyama are powered by electricity from local hot springs.
greencarreports.com, nissan-global.com, youtube.com (video)

Tesla recharged: Charging a Model S in the Big Apple just became easier, as Tesla installed a dozen destination chargers with another 12 to follow. Also, Manhattan will soon see its first Supercharger. In Australia, things are moving fast with three more rapid-chargers being installed between Sydney and Melbourne.
wsj.com (New York), cnet.com (Australia)

Liberation from Lisbon: The Portuguese government is opening the market for charging stations, previously in the hands of the monopolistic consortium MOBI.E. The latter has been found “inefficient” in regards to the installation and operation of a public charging network.
theportugalnews.com