The last Tesla Roadster (VIN2500) to leave the Fremont production lines is now on re-sale. Registered in December 2012 and a collector’s piece from the start, the owner, in a very Swiss move, wants to see 1.39 million francs (about €1.28).

The aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel and the charging station supplier Green Motion want to jointly design the future charging of electric aircraft in line with EASA guidelines.

Switzerland’s second public H2 station has now gone into operation with the opening of Avia’s first hydrogen filling station in St. Gallen. By the end of 2020, five more filling station sites are to be built on the Lake Constance – Lake Geneva axis.

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.

Hyundai has now delivered the first ten units of its fuel cell truck XCIENT to Switzerland. A further 40 are to follow this year, and a total of 1,600 of the H2 trucks are planned for the Swiss market by 2025. Hyundai is also working on an H2 tractor with a 1000-km range.

EU states as well Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland subsidise fossil fuels with at least 137 billion euros annually, as research from Investigate Europe shows. Germany is the biggest contributor with fossil fuels subsidies of at least 37 billion euros annually.

Battrion has jointly developed a battery cell prototype with the construction technology group Hilti. The developed battery is expected to offer a significant increase in performance compared to commercially available lithium-ion battery cells.

Last year, the Swiss Federal Roads Office (ASTRA) awarded five bidders the contract for the construction of rapid charging stations at 100 Swiss rest stops. The first of these fast chargers has now been opened on the A2.

From December DPD will be using an electric truck from Designwerk in Switzerland with a range of up to 760 kilometres. The 680 kWh battery on board is allegedly the largest truck battery in Europe and the first in the world to be used commercially in this form.

The Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché is entering into a partnership with the Eneris Group operating from Poland, as well as strategically repositioning itself. Several joint ventures in Europe are to be established for this purpose.

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.