France is planning a new premium for older electric cars. The new subsidy of 1,000 euros, which Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari announced, is intended specifically for the purchase of second-hand battery-electric cars.

Volkswagen subsidiary Scania made a solar cell clad trailer to power a plug-in hybrid truck and is preparing testing in Sweden. In Germany, Fraunhofer LBF was looking at semi-trucks as well and developed a lightweight high-voltage battery system for heavy-duty EVs.

In Germany, Fraunhofer IKTS has just launched the research project called BattLife at the newly founded Battery Innovation and Technology Center BITC at Erfurter Kreuz. As part of the project, a digitised test centre for batteries and battery components will be established at BITC.

The sports car manufacturer Lotus will work with partners to develop a new lightweight architecture for electric vehicles as part of a project sponsored by the British government.

The EU is contributing over 54 million euros to several transport projects with alternative drive systems. Funding is being provided for projects in Spain, Italy and France so far. The scheme is a rolling call.

After the French government decided to increase its subsidies for electric cars and plug-in hybrids to up to 7,000 euros a few months ago, they will cut back subsidies again from 2021. At the same time, France is tightening the malus penalties for high CO2 emissions.

To help boost the burgeoning EV industry in India, the think tank NITI Aayog has issued a proposal detailing plans to offer incentives totalling up to $4.6Bn (€3.9Bn) by 2030 for companies manufacturing advanced batteries.

Starting on 28 September, the Scottish Low Carbon Transport Loan will be extended to include coverage for used electric vehicles. So far, the programme has provided over £85 million in funding to to help locals switch to ultra-low emission and electric vehicles.

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.

In Germany, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has launched the development of a fuel cell system for trucks in the 40-ton weight class. The company is cooperating with commercial vehicle conversion company Quantron.

Israel’s Ministry of the Environment has announced subsidies of 47 million shekels (around 11.7 million euros) for the purchase of 200 new electric buses by public transport companies. This is in addition to the 80 electric buses that have been subsidised to date.

The government of Hungary wants to replace half of the fossil-fuel-powered buses in the country’s largest cities with electric ones within the next ten years. While the Green Bus Programme comes as an order, help is also on the way.

The German government will support the financing of Northvolt’s battery cell factory in Sweden with a state guarantee of 443 million euros as part of the federal foreign trade promotion programme.

With the integration of a new Volvo FL Electric truck into the electric fleet of the ‘Oslo City Hub’ distribution centre, DB Schenker can now carry out its city logistics in Oslo without direct emissions. A further 23 electric vehicles are to follow by the end of the year.

A large vehicle-to-grid project with electric buses has now been launched at a bus depot in North London. The Bus2Grid project is testing V2G systems with an initial 28 electric double-decker buses with which more than 1 MW of energy can be fed back into the grid.

The successful sales of Tesla in South Korea could lead to a withdrawal of the state premiums there. After Tesla vehicles benefited from 43 per cent of all subsidies paid out in the first half of 2020, the South Korean Ministry of the Environment has now announced changes.

The English city of Birmingham has announced the establishment of 394 quick charge points to support the electrification of the taxi fleet. The fast chargers, which are to be installed in Birmingham starting this autumn over the next two years, will not only be accessible to taxis, but also to the public and local businesses.

Nissan and E.On have installed and successfully deployed 20 Vehicle-to-Grid chargers at Nissan’s European Technical Center in Cranfield, England. Now the two partners are looking for other companies that want to use V2G chargers.

VW’s luxury subsidiary Bentley has announced a three-year research project to improve the drive train of electric cars by means of a fully integrated e-axle without rare earth magnets.

South Korea has extended the electric vehicle subsidies until 2025 as they increased the budget. The support scheme, which would have expired in 2022, also include buying premiums for buses and trucks with battery-electric and hybrid drives.

New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced an extensive investment program for e-mobility. The ‘EV Make Ready’ initiative includes the construction of 50,000 AC and 1,500 DC charging stations in the US state by 2025.

In Croatia, the online application procedure for the new call for funding for electric and hybrid vehicles had to be cancelled after only two minutes because so many applications were received from private individuals that the 2020 budget for the funding programme of €2.9M was exhausted.

The Italian government is launching a series of measures to tackle the pandemic economic crisis, including a temporary increase in subsidies for electric and hybrid vehicles.

The eCharge4Drivers project is to conduct demonstrations across key cities in the EU to understand better consumers’ perspective on EV charging infrastructure. As one of 32 stakeholders, ABB will test new DC charging stations to EU standards.

Today the European Commission has adopted the EU Strategy for Energy System Integration and Hydrogen. The former tackles charging infrastructure and grids, while the H2 Strategy focusses on long-haul and heavy-duty vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure.

In Germany, the Innovation Premium that spells out the doubling of the federal share of the Environmental Bonus for electric vehicles has come into force. The amended funding guidelines for the Environmental Bonus were published in the Federal Gazette, thus making it official.

The EDAG Group has started a joint research project with Hexagon Purus to develop a hybrid system of hydrogen and battery storage for integration into car floors. The customer should then be able to configure the number of storage units individually.

The Polish Ministry of Climate Change announced a few weeks ago that it intends to promote the purchase of electric buses with two programmes with a total volume of 90 million euros. Both support programmes are to make it easier for municipalities and districts to purchase electric buses for passenger transport.

Another £900,000 were committed by Transport Scotland towards the eBike Grant Fund for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Round four of the grant programme is now available to assist the adoption of eBikes, eTrikes and electric cargo bikes in Scotland.

The Slovakian company InoBat Auto has provided further details of its planned research and production of electric car battery cells in cooperation with the US technology company Wildcat Discovery Technologies.