In the USA, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced $1.66 billion in grants that will benefit transit agencies, territories and states to modernise their bus fleets and facilities. The agency has released a list of 150 projects that will receive funding.
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Ford and powertrain testing specialist AVL UK have teamed up to build a functional Transit FCEV prototype, which will be used to research the suitability of hydrogen powertrains in the commercial vehicle sector.
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VDL Bus & Coach has received orders from three transport companies in Germany for a total of twelve Citea SLF-120 Electric. Nine of the electric buses will go to Kraftverkehrsgesellschaft Braunschweig, two to Verdener Verkehrsgesellschaft and one to Stadtbus Goslar.
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Ford has presented the electric version of its Transit van model scheduled to go on sale in late 2021. The base price in the USA is expected to be below 45,000 dollars. In Europe, the “electric workhorse” is scheduled to be launched in spring 2022.
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Ford has announced a number of investments to build out several US plants to produce electric models and components. The Van Dyke transmission plant will also build electric motors in future and in Kansas City, Ford will invest 100 million dollars in manufacturing capabilities for the e-transit.
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Optimal Electric Vehicles and Proterra have just announced a new partnership to leverage Proterra’s battery technology and charging systems for the development of the industry’s first all-electric S1LF low-floor cutaway shuttle bus for the North American market.
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As a mobility partner of the Cologne Carnival in Germany, Ford is electrifying the entire fleet of parade floats at this year’s Monday procession. Of the 55 carts used, 25 Transit custom plug-in hybrids are exclusively electric, the remaining 30 are mild-hybrid versions.
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It seems that Ford has been getting more orders for the PHEV version of the Transit Custom than they expected and have temporarily stopped taking orders in Europe.
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Ford renegotiated its union contract last week in the USA, and the key points have just been leaked. These concern planned investments in individual plants as well as decisions on which models to electrify.
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Ford has opened the order books in Europe for the plug-in hybrid variants of its Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom models. While transit is intended to score as a delivery van, the Tourneo, according to Ford, can be used as a business shuttle or family car.
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Ford has published the results of its London fleet tests, in which a total of 20 Ford pre-series vehicles with plug-in hybrid drives were used by various companies.
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At a special event in Amsterdam, Ford presented its European electrification strategy and announced a total of 16 new electrified vehicle models, most of them with hybrid drives, including mild hybrids, full hybrids and plug-in hybrids. These cover the entire range from personal to commercial vehicles, including an SUV in 2020 and a fully electric […]
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Ford is planning on restructuring their business in Europe, in order to improve their competitiveness as well as profitability. As part of this effort, Ford Europe has announced that beginning with the new Focus, each model series would receive an electric version in future.
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Ford will be providing ten Transit PHEVs for use by municipal enterprises based in Cologne, starting next spring. The project will analyse how hybrid vehicles can help achieve the city’s pollution targets. Similar fleet tests were undertaken by Ford in London and Valencia.
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The lines at Ford’s factory in Cologne have begun rolling in order to make the largest electric van in the StreetScooter line-up, the Work XL. Based on the Ford Transit and equipped with EV technology by DP/DHL, they expect to activate the first 1,000 units this year.
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Ford has taken the wraps off their Transit Custom PHEV at the IAA Commercial Vehicles. The van is now ready to go serial and Ford aims to start volume production in the second half of 2019.
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Engineers from the Otto-von-Guericke university in Magdeburg in cooperation with the ambulance specialist Ambulanz Mobile have developed the first ambulance running on a hybrid system. A prototype was presented at the RETTmobil fair in Fulda.
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The U.S. carmaker has been running fleet tests with its Ford Transit Custom PHEV in the UK since last year and is now ready to undertake a similar effort in Spain. Here, Ford will team up with the city of Valencia in an effort to curb air pollution.
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The developer has taken to showing off their electrified Ford Transit, made as a part of the eQVM project, on a road trip in the USA. First deliveries are planned after the trip and will commence in New York and Los Angeles.
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Akasol lands big deal: The German battery specialist will deliver Li-ion battery systems for the entire e-bus fleet of an unnamed North-European manufacturer. According to Akasol, the deal is worth hundreds of millions of euros and includes the delivery of 4,500 battery systems until 2023.
press-n-relations.com, energate-messenger.de (in German)
New Autopilot with restrictions: Tesla began with its over-the-air update of its Autopilot software last week. However, the new Autosteer function designed to keep the Tesla in its lane on highways, will only work at speeds below 45 mph. Restrictions could be dropped once the carmaker collected enough data about the systems safety. Also, the cameras of some cars will need to be readjusted following the update.
theverge.com, insideevs.com
Ford Transit electrified: Companies New Eagle and Inventev from Michigan presented an electrified version of the Ford Transit. The retrofit kit used is also available for other utility vehicles. The companies want to kick off selling the EV from early 2018.
chargedevs.com, neweagle.net
Hyperloop copycat: Eight Korean research organisations want to work together to come up with a similar high-speed train system. This one will be called Hyper Tube Express (HTX) and is said to enable people to travel at speeds of up to 1,000 kph in Hyperloop-like tunnels or tubes.
greencarcongress.com
