Japan’s MK Group has added 35 BMW electric cars in its taxi divisions in Tokyo and Kyoto. In the Japanese capital, the company is now using 20 BMW i7s, while in Kyoto a further ten BMW i7s and five BMW iXs have entered service.
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Isuzu, Toyota, Hino, and the Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation have announced they would jointly plan and develop light-duty fuel cell electric trucks for the mass market. The vehicles are to be introduced from January 2023 and used by the partners at distribution sites in Fukushima and Tokyo.
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Japanese carmaker Subaru wants to become more competitive in the all-electric vehicle segment and is therefore planning to build a $272 million e-mobility research and development centre near Tokyo.
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Traton and Hino are intensifying their cooperation in the field of electromobility. As part of their strategic partnership, the commercial vehicle subsidiaries of Volkswagen and Toyota have signed a joint venture agreement to speed up development for products with battery and FC technology.
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Nissan has introduced a fully electrically powered ambulance. The Nissan EV Ambulance is based on the company’s NV400 van and was developed as part of the ‘Zero Emission Tokyo’ initiative.
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With a concept that looks like out of a Transformers movie, the Japanese manufacturer Kubota provides a glimpse into the future of agriculture. The company claims to be a pioneer in introducing smart technologies in farming.
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The planned battery joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic will be called Prime Planet Energy & Solutions. According to Panasonic, the JV, in which Toyota will hold 51% and Panasonic 49%, is to be established on 1 April 2020.
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Luxury EV maker Automobili Pininfarina is expanding its global dealer network with the Sky Group in Japan. At the launch event in Tokyo, the company specifically stressed the importance of the Japanese market, but also of Asian markets in general for sales of its upcoming electric hypercar.
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Toyota is developing a dedicated mobility vehicle especially for the Toko Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020. The battery-electric six-seater APM (Accessible People Mover) should bring athletes and officials as well as visitors to the games.
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Toyota has presented the cornerstones of their mobility concept for the incoming 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo. The autonomous e-Palettes will be used, as well as the Toyota Concept-i BEV as well as a variety of FCEVs such as the Mirai and the Sora bus.
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It looks like 2040 will be the year that finishes fossil-fuel powered vehicles off for good. Japan has now joined the growing circle of countries to set that deadline. Tokyo though wants to work with substantial incentives rather than penalties.
Read more2020 Olympics powered by H2: Toyota and Honda plan to have at least 6,000 fuel cell vehicles on Japan’s roads by 2020. Tokyo is reportedly ready to spend 45.2bn yen on FCV subsidies of which 1m is reserved for Tokyo residents and 35 hydrogen charging stations. By 2025 , their number shall grow to 80 refuelling stops with the addition of 100,000 hydrogen vehicles and 100 fuel cell buses.
forbes.com
Electric bus pleases: CoMO Connect from Columbia, Missouri, ordered another five electric buses with charging stations from BYD in a lease-to-own agreement over the next 12 years. The lease is valued at about 3.6m dollars. The new buses will join an existing fleet of four.
columbiamissourian.com
Funding for electric buses is to go Porterville, as the Californian town receives 9.5m dollar through the Air Resources Board. The money is earmarked for nine electric buses by GreenPower and charging infrastructure. Deliveries will to start in autumn next year.
recorderonline.com
County charging: 240,000 dollars will be reserved for fostering electric and hybrid vehicles in Sonoma County, California, via an incentive scheme. Meanwhile, six EV charging stations are to be installed for staff and students on the campus of Sonoma State University.
sonomastatestar.com
Rent a fuel cell car: Austrian Tirol offers fuel cell vehicles for hire for testing reasons. One day with a hydrogen car costs 40 euros including insurance. There is one hydrogen charging station in Western Austria.
tirol.gv.at (in German)
BYD takes on Brazil: Rio de Janeiro wants to implement an e-carsharing next year and BYD will deliver some 300 electric cars for the scheme. Until 2018, the Chinese manufacturer plans to invest 400 million dollars in Brazil, starting with a battery factory in Sao Paolo, which will open in July.
thebricspost.com, china.org.cn
Sharing the i-Road in Tokyo: In addition to Toyota City and Grenoble, the three-wheeler will now conquer the Japanese capital. Until the end of September, the all-electric city cars can be hired near a shopping centre and be dropped off at one of five central points in Tokyo.
automotive-business-review.com, toyota.co.uk
One charge fits all: EVTEC presents its new charging station called espresso&charge with a total charging capacity of 180 kW. The station supports all DC and AC standards (CHAdeMO, CCS, Type2 Mode3). Up to four cars can be charged at the same time.
andcharge.com
Clean Energy Vehicle Programme renewed: British Columbia, Canada, has earmarked 7.5 million Canadian dollars for incentives for battery-electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Extra cash will be used for incentives for charging infrastructure and public outreach.
newcardealers.ca, autoblog.com
Green fleet: London’s car service Addison Lee will launch Addison Lee Eco, which it claims will be the biggest green car service in the city. Its fleet will consist of 350 hybrid vehicles. The company says it wants “to remain at the forefront of sustainable development within the industry.”
fleetnews.co.uk
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Tokyo steps up H2 investment: The Japanese capital wants to pour 45.2 billion yen (385 million dollars) in the construction of hydrogen stations and subsidies for fuel cell vehicles until the Olympic Games in 2020. Tokyo hopes to count 6,000 FCVs and 35 H2-fuelling stations by the end of the decade.
electriccarsreport.com, eco-business.com, autonews.com
Shanghai e-carsharing: Following a successful trial year, the Carsharing scheme featuring 350 Roewe E50 is officially under way. The Shanghai Municipal Government wants to successively increase the number of electric cars to 2,000 and also include the Zinore 1E in its offering.
noodls.com, cri.cn
Electric taxis against fine dust: In order to circumvent an EU procedure and related penalties due to fine dust pollution, the German city of Stuttgart is putting in place new green initiatives. According to Mayor Fritz Kuhn, measures could also include a funding programme for electric and hybrid taxis.
swp.de, swr.de (Articles in German)
EV charging rules: Germany seeks to make the preferred CCS standard mandatory in addition to any other quick charging standards being offered, as well as a fall-back type2 fast charging outlet. Transport Evolved thinks, this is a move other countries could follow.
transportevolved.com
Traveling electric in Australia: As an EV owner, road trips are often planned based on where one can charge. As it turns out, that is not necessarily a negative thing, as the excursions of Mat Peterson, one of the first Tesla Model S owners in Australia, show. He drove some 3,000 kilometers with his Tesla in just three weeks and has some beautiful stories to tell.
gizmodo.com.au
BMW i parking: The Bavarians invest in Parkmobile to widen their BMW i ParkNow service. The partnership will allow American users to search for, reserve and pay for parking, with access to 2.7 million garage and on-street parking spaces. European launch is planned in the near future.
therakyatpost.com
Hydrogen town: The Tokyo government plans to supply electricity and hot water to the Athletes’ Village for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games through hydrogen energy. Hydrogen will also be used to power fuel cell buses to transport athletes and others during the event.
fuelcellsworks.com, ibtimes.co.uk
Electric sightseeing: Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, will launch a tourist service with electric cars in April, according to the local Department of Transport. The chauffeur service with ten all-electric eight-seaters follows the successful start of a similar service in Hanoi.
tuoitrenews.vn
New stickers for PHEVs: With the beginning of the new year, California has released another 15,000 green stickers that allow plug-in hybrid cars to access HOV lanes. Initially, the number was limited to 40,000, but demand urged the government to hand out of what is now a total of 70,000.
carsdirect.com, autoblog.com
Workplace charging welcome: A new law in California prohibits commercial landlords from restricting the installation of EV charging stations on their premises. Conditions of approval can be made on “reasonable” grounds if they not generally obstruct the installation.
natlawreview.com
Tesla is wowing the UK with a new and pretty shiny underground Supercharger station in London. The Californian carmaker is expanding beyond the Big Smoke though and has just opened a Tesla Store in Knutsford, Cheshire in the Northwest of England.
gas2.org (London, with pictures), electriccarsreport.com (Cheshire)
EVs for Orange: Renault-Nissan closed a deal with French telecommunication giant Orange to deliver 200 Renault Zoe and Kangoo Z.E. as well as Nissan LEAF and E-NV200 by 2015. Orange already has 30 Renault Twizy and plans to use the new arrivals mainly in internal carsharing.
greencarcongress.com, nissan-global.com
Electric Carabinieri: The Italian police acquired 23 Electric Vehicles (formerly known as i-MiEV) from Mitsubishi’s Italian distributor. The electric cars will serve mainly in locations with cultural-historical value.
autosieger.de (in German), gazzetta.it (in Italian)
More H2 for Japan: After Toyota recently started construction of its first public hydrogen station (we reported), Iawtani has announced another one. This first out of 20 planned H2 stations will be located at the Tokyo Tower and is set to be operational by March 2015.
ajw.asahi.com
Saving money is the motivation for Chivas Brother to electrify more of their fleet. The British company currently operates ten EVs and seven hybrids and sees savings of up to 1,600 pounds (2,600 dollars) per car and year already. The switch has been accompanied by advice from the Energy Saving Trust.
fleetnews.co.uk
New charging policies: CarCharging Group has now introduced kilowatt-hour (kWh) pricing on parts of its Blink network. Before, customers where charged for the time it took for the EV to charge rather than for the energy consumed. However, not all states in the U.S. permit the kWh-based pricing.
transportevolved.com, electriccarsreport.com
Discounted home charger: Schneider Electric offers its EVlink 30-Amp Generation 2.5 Level 2 charging station for 499 dollars this month to customers of Home Depot. The code to claim the 100-dollar discount is “EVLINKSUMMER”.
greencarreports.com
Is it time for a new Volt? At least that is what the U.S. sales figures for June could stand for. While the Nissan Leaf with 2,347 units is in its sixteenth straight month of record sales, Chevy only sold 1,777 Volts, which is 34% down from the 2,698 sales in June 2013. Still, last month was the strongest of this year for the Volt so far.
greencarreports.com, green.autoblog.com
ZAP finds bulk buyer in China: The California-based EV manufacturer has signed a strategic partnership, as well as a purchase agreement with China’s Xinri Electric Vehicle Company. The latter wants to sell 1,000 of ZAP’s URBEE via its distribution network in China – per month!
hybridcars.com,online.wsj.com
Japan to charge its capital: Starting in December, companies Mitsui Fudosan and NEC Corporation will install 125 charging points at the Tokyo Midtown, which is one of the most recognised high-rises in the Japanese capital. It is home to numerous apartments, offices, as well as shops and even hotels.
greencarcongress.com, japancorp.net
Venson Automotive to electrify South Yorkshire: The company is helping some 80 businesses in that part of the UK to switch from gas to green, encouraging employees to lease electric vehicles for their commute to and from work. The scheme is supported by Sheffield City Council and could be adopted by others is successful.
fleetnews.co.uk, fleetworld.co.uk
Light-weight e-bus: Proterra presented its new 40-foot all-electric transit bus at the American Public Transportation Association Bus and Paratransit Conference this week. The Proterra Solution weighs less than any other transit bus available today, says the company.
greencarcongress.com
Tesla Q1 results: Along with its report for the first quarter of 2014, Tesla Motors released some interesting details. It built 7,535 Model S and builds 700 vehicles a week. In June, the UK will get their first right-hand Model S, followed by Japan and Hong Kong. In 2014, we will see at least 200 new Superchargers, the first Model X prototypes and the groundbreaking of the Gigafactory.
greencarreports.com, files.shareholder.com (shareholder letter)
For the racetrack: Rumours say that McLaren considers building a limited number of a track-only version of its super hybrid, the McLaren P1. It would follow Ferrari’s LaFerrari XX, which is said to have lapped the Nürburgring in just 6:35 recently.
autoguide.com
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Electromobility powered by Siemens: Siemens is presenting its drivetrain solutions for electric and hybrid cars on “Vehicle Show Electromobility” in Bad Neustadt a.d.S on May 10th and 11th. Find Siemens at the fairground of the demo city for electromobility and take a ride with an electric car.
www.siemens.com/electriccar
The chain is dead: ContiTech acquires electric bike specialist Benchmark Drives. Since 2012, both companies have been developing and selling the belt-driven Conti Drive Systems. ContiTech aims to boost sales and convince manufacturers “once and for all, to use the timing belt instead of the conventional chain.”
pressebox.com
Unlikely merger: VL Automotive, the company that plans to convert hybrid Fiskers into V8 sports cars, has merged with WM Greentech, a company originally founded to import low-speed electric vehicles from China. What will Bob Lutz, father of the Chevy Volt, chairman of Via Motors and co-owner of VL Automotive come up with next?
transportevolved.com, green.autoblog.com
Japanese FCV for Olympians: For the Olympic Games in 2020, Tokyo plans to use fuel-cell vehicles to shuttle the 15,000 athletes and exhibit the country’s advanced technologies. With Honda and Toyota bringing their first mass-produced H2 cars to the market by 2015, and having scheduled some 100 filling stations, this should be a no-brainer.
the-japan-news.com
