The EU Commission has apparently drawn up initial proposals for an economic and climate protection package in the transport sector worth up to 100 billion euros. Among other things, the plans outline a purchase premium for ‘cleaner cars’. There is apparently still some dispute about which cars should be included.

The British Department of Transport (DfT) has set new targets for the expansion of ultra-rapid charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The plans envision the construction of at least six HPC sites along motorways by 2023.

Initially, Poland had planned start spending a lavish purchase premium of 8,600 euros for low-cost electric cars from December. Then the country postponed the subsidy indefinitely for a short time. Nevertheless, e-car registrations are rising – a placebo effect?

The Leipzig transport authority (LVB) has ordered their first electric buses for use in regular service and awarded the contract to the Dutch manufacturer VDL Bus & Coach. They are to supply 21 e-buses to Saxony by the end of this year.

Spain’s government is working on the new edition of its eMobility subsidy program MOVES for 2020, and although the details are not to be officially published until the end of May (beginning of June at the latest), some information has already been leaked.

The Maltese government is providing 3.5 million euros in subsidies for the changeover to cleaner vehicles. Grants are to be given to anyone who de-registers and scraps their old combustion engine, while grants of between 400 and 6,000 euros are available for electric vehicles ranging from pedelecs to cargo bikes and cars.

The Chinese government has now also extended purchase premiums until the end of 2022. However, the conditions have changed, which should cause particular concern for German premium manufacturers. Tesla is also affected.

In England, Oxford City Council has received the first six electric vehicles ordered as part of its Energy Superhub Oxford project. A further 27 battery-electric vehicles, including cars, a street sweeper, an excavator and mix of different sized vans, should be delivered over the next 3-4 months.

The Chinese government has now officially confirmed that it will exempt New Energy Vehicles (BEV, FCEV and PHEV) from the 10 per cent purchase tax in 2021 and 2022. Rumours to this effect had already been in circulation since the beginning of this month.

The Ducktrain is a new innovation from RWTH Aachen University. The Aachen-based company DroidDrive is developing an electrically driven articulated train consisting of trailers that are to swarm out autonomously in the delivery area. A first prototype has now started testing.

The manager of the UK Treasury’s Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund has announced a second close valued at £80m.  The support comes from the Church Commissioners for England group with HM Treasury matching, as was announced by the fund management company Zouk Capital.

The government of the South Korean capital Seoul is promoting the purchase of 700 electric taxis this year. The subsidy amounts to 18.2 million won (about €13,600) per electric taxi. A new feature is that electric cars from foreign manufacturers are also eligible for funding this year.

China’s two largest power utilities, State Grid and China Southern Power Grid, are investing heavily in the expansion of charging infrastructure. State Grid plans to provide 2.7 billion yuan this year alone, and China Southern Power Grid plans to provide 25.1 billion yuan within four years.

In the research project ARTEMYS funded by the German government, research institutes and industrial partners are working on the development of materials and production technologies for solid-state batteries. The new battery should also be able to do without polymer components.

In the USA, the city of Joplin in Missouri has made a formal bid for Tesla’s new Gigafactory. In Germany, Tesla’s Giga Berlin is making progress with local infrastructure.

An electric bus with a replaceable battery is being developed as part of a Polish research project. The bus manufacturer Autosan and the National Centre for Research and Development and the Lukasiewicz-PIMOT consortium are carrying out the project.

A few days ago, a 27-tonne fuel-cell-powered truck from VDL started its first practical application in the Netherlands. The EU-funded H2Share project will gather practical experience in different regions of North-West Europe.

With immediate effect, the financial advantage for the private use of electric company cars (benefit-in-kind, or BIK tax) no longer applies in Great Britain. The measure announced last year has now come into force.

Starting as of this month, the USA has stopped subsidizing General Motors’ only electric model to date, the Chevrolet Bolt. General Motors is the second carmaker after Tesla to reach the limit of cars sold.

The European large-scale research initiative Battery 2030+ presents its roadmap to inventing the green batteries of the future. The Fraunhofer R&D Center for Electromobility at the Fraunhofer ISC in Wuerzburg coordinates the project that defines three key areas.

The Chinese government has announced that it will extend state subsidies and tax breaks for New Energy Vehicles (BEV, PHEV and FCEV) by two years until the end of 2022. Originally, the subsidies were to be terminated at the end of this year.

Denmark’s first fuel cell buses went into operation this month in Aalborg. The three Van Hool A330s with technology from Ballard are used on lines 17 and 72 and were co-financed by the EU project 3Emotion.

Government agencies in the US state of New York are providing more than 24 million dollars from the Diesel-Gate Volkswagen funding pot to help operators to replace diesel-powered vehicles with new battery-electric buses.

The Serbian government is introducing purchase premiums for electric and hybrid vehicles, including electric mopeds and motorcycles. The budget for the grants is one million euro this year.

Within the framework of the FutPrInt50 research project coordinated by the University of Stuttgart, an international consortium aims to identify and drive forward technologies that will enable the commercial use of a hybrid-electric aircraft with up to 50 seats by 2035/40.

In order to stimulate the weakening sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, four Chinese cities are now temporarily offering their own purchase premiums for electrified vehicles produced in China by certain manufacturers.

Stagecoach Manchester has launched 32 all-electric double-decker buses, the first to arrive in the Greater Manchester area. The fleet will serve the 111 and 43 routes connecting Manchester city centre and the airport as well as five hospitals and three universities.

In a move resembling the new PiCG policy, the UK Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has confirmed the continuation of all three charging infrastructure schemes. The extension, however, comes with reduced grants but also some broader terms, e.g. the inclusion of charging for larger electric motorbikes.

In Germany, Cologne-region public transport operator Regionalverkehr Köln (RVK) has increased its fuel cell bus fleet with hydrogen buses from Solaris. From 2021, 15 Solaris hydrogen fuel cell buses will be successively integrated into RVK’s fleet.

The British government has extended its subsidies for electric cars but is again reducing the subsidy amount. For other electric vehicles, such as vans, trucks, taxis or motorcycles, the subsidy has been extended but the subsidy rates remain the same.