ABB has signed an MoU with Hydrogène de France (HDF) to jointly manufacture megawatt fuel cell systems for powering shipping vessels. The two partners want to optimise the production of large systems in order to be able to build fuel cell power plants in the megawatt range for ships.

InnoEnergy is investing around three million euros in e-bility, the manufacturer behind the German electric scooter brand Kumpan Electric. The goals of the cooperation are the further development of e-bility’s product and service range and faster market launch in other European countries.

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, not only are the production lines in most electric car plants at a standstill but now first effects on charging infrastructure are becoming apparent. This concerns both the production of charging points and the maintenance and distribution of the pillars.

The vehicle manufacturer Liebherr, in cooperation with Designwerk and ZF, have developed the first fully electric truck mixers with a drum holding ten or twelve cubic metres on a five-axle chassis. The first applications are planned for autumn 2020 at the customers Holcim and KIBAG in Switzerland.

BMW has activated the eDrive Zones digital service for the first PHEV models. This is intended to allow cars to automatically switch to electric mode when entering a certain zone, such as inner cities.

The Swiss construction company Suncar HK has announced the completion of a small series of ten new battery-electric excavators, developed in cooperation with Huppenkothen Baumaschinen AG.

Before the end of this year, Chinese manufacturer Byton will be accepting advance orders from European customers for its first electric model M-Byte – for a reservation fee of 500 euros. Byton has also revealed some details on the planned distribution and charging service.

Seventeen partners want to turn the so-called Rhine-Alps corridor stretching from Rotterdam to Genoa into a purely hydrogen-based transport route – by water, road and rail. The RH₂INE project stands for ‘Rhine Hydrogen Integration Network of Excellence’.

Faurecia has just received a major order from Hyundai for hydrogen storage systems for fuel cell vehicles. The French company will supply the entire system including 10,000 tanks for the 1,600 H2 trucks that Hyundai plans to launch on the Swiss market.

Renault Trucks has signed a contract with the Carlsberg Group for the supply of 20 purely electric 26-tonne Z.E. trucks. The electric trucks are to be delivered to the brewery in Feldschlösschen, Switzerland this year.

The Swiss energy group Alpiq is now launching its electric mobility subscription service Juicar in Germany and Italy. Juicar has been on the market in Switzerland since August 2018. In Germany the subscription is now available nationwide in cooperation with the fleet operator Arval.

Everything was to be so simple – one price for everyone charged per kWh at all stations within the Ionity high power charging network. Only it wasn’t that simple, as mobility service operators got exclusive deals to charge differently – to much dismay and a competitor’s delight.

Following the decision by the City of Basel to purchase 20 electric refuse collection vehicles, the Swiss commercial vehicle maker Futuricum prevailed in a tender. The Designwerk brand will deliver the first twelve garbage trucks starting at the end of 2020.

The US-American startup Lucid Motors has now opened European reservation books for the first model Lucid Air. The startup says it will officially unveil the Tesla-like debut car in New York in April. Deliveries in Europe are scheduled to begin at the end of 2021.

Gotthard FASTcharge (GOFAST) recently opened one of Switzerland’s largest fast-charging parks at a service station, using eight Nissan Leaf batteries as a buffer. “Fake news” of a diesel generator being used circulated so stubbornly on social media, however, that GOFAST now took counteraction.

The German car industry has “decided” to recognise Tesla’s achievements. VW congratulated Tesla in a newspaper ad on its choice of Model 3 as “Swiss Car of the Year 2020” but promises that the competition will become stronger next year with the ID.3.

Over the past few months, one of the largest Swiss fast charging locations has been built at the Würenlos service station. It was built by Gotthard FASTcharge (GOFAST). The site offers 20 charging spots and up to 300 kW charging capacity. More than 300 charges per day are possible.

Following the Polestar 1 PHEV model, Polestar will also be offering the all-electric Polestar 2 in Switzerland starting next year. It will be the seventh European market for the first BEV from Sweden.

The Australian city of Brisbane wants to procure 60 electric buses. The vehicles will be built by the manufacturers Hess from Switzerland and Volgren from Australia and will be quickly charged with ABB flash charging technology.

German and European car manufacturers are currently fully committed to the battery and still very hesitant regarding the fuel cell. Toyota is doing it the other way around. Hyundai wants to develop both technologies in parallel. A closer look at what the Koreans have in mind.

Volvo Trucks have just announced the start of sales for their Volvo FL and Volvo FE electric trucks in selected European markets, namely Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. Serial production is planned for March 2020.

ABB has inaugurated a production facility for energy storage systems used in railways, electric buses and electric trucks in the Swiss city of Baden. The new plant will assemble standardised battery modules from battery cells.

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.

The Microlino saga continues as the (cloned) cabin scooter presented by Artega at the IAA under the new name Karo, has now been explicitly banned by interim injunction, following two previous injunctions.

The plans of the Swiss manufacturer Fox Automotive to produce a new version of the Mia electric car are becoming more concrete. Fox Automotive has set up a subsidiary in Hungary for this purpose, which will be headed by Ekkehard Philipp as CEO.

By 2025, Hyundai intends to bring a total of 1,600 fuel cell trucks onto the Swiss market and has just released details. The first 50 Hyundai H2 XCIENT will be delivered to Switzerland next year. 

The Swiss charging station network evpass has joined forces with the oil companies and pit stop operators Tamoil, AVIA and Oel-Pool to set up a network of ultra-fast charging stations for electric cars in Switzerland under the name evpass Express.

Seat has published the price for the Mii electric for Germany. The small electric car of the Spanish Volkswagen subsidiary will be available at a basic list price of 20,650 euros and is, therefore, cheaper than the sister models of the Škoda and VW brands.

The industrial gases group Linde has acquired a ten per cent stake in Hydrospider AG. Hydrospider specialises in generating “green” hydrogen by using power from a hydroelectricity station in Switzerland.