A visit to the CES technology trade fair in Las Vegas confirmed an already growing impression: The car of the future is a bubble-like pod vehicle, and most exhibitors also agreed that these small shuttle buses will one day rule the city; and by the by, universal adoption of the electric drive is simply a […]
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US helicopter manufacturer Bell Helicopter presented a vertical take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL) with hybrid-electric propulsion for five passengers at the CES 2019 under the name Bell Nexus. Bell has been cooperating with Uber for their planned flying cab since 2017.
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Next to the Q3 earnings presented last night, in which it was shown that the Model 3 helped push Tesla to profitability for the first time, there have been further updates. These regard the Model Y and the ride-sharing plans, as well as Tesla’s stratgey for Europe and China.
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Uber needs their drivers to switch to electric cars in order to continue being able to drive through central London. Therefore the ride-hailing startup that is valued at over 70 billion dollars wants passengers to pay a surcharge.
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The Californian cities of San Francisco and Santa Monica have announced the license recipients for electric scooter sharing service: San Francisco has chosen Scoot Networks and Skip, while Santa Monica will be working with Bird, Lime, Uber and Lyft.
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The Japanese government is working on founding an industry consortium to realise electrified flying car technology. A total of 21 companies are said to be involved, including Uber, Airbus and Boeing.
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Denver aka the Mile High City, a name it owes both its location in the Rocky Mountains and its lax legislation of Cannabis, has got a new service in town. Uber-owned Jump Bikes hat let loose 250 e-bikes. Their number is to double next year.
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Bike sharing service Lime is on a roll as it not only expands in Europe but also wins investment from Google’s Alphabet and Uber. The latter is spending a “sizeable” amount to integrate the startup’s electric scooters into their app.
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Uber has launched their own EV subsidy scheme. They will pay drivers in the US an extra dollar per ride if they are driving an electric car. The pilot will run for a year in seven cities but is part of a larger effort to encourage EV adoption.
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The Indian government has been rethinking their FAME scheme designed to increase electric mobility. The new draft will channel funds away from grants for buying private electric cars and into EVs used by drivers working for shared mobility services such as Ola and Uber.
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Uber has not given up on Europe despite a ban of their ride hail service in many cities. Instead the firm tries to tie in with local authorities on a greener note. They want to launch electric bike sharing through their Jump subsidiary and also UberGreen, first in Berlin.
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The ride-share company Uber is working on the development of electric air taxis and announced their first research and development center outside of the USA, which will open in Paris in Fall this year.
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Uber has brought their latest flying cab design to their second annual Elevate conference in Los Angeles. The ride hail company hopes to be using their drone-like “flying car” for personal taxi transport as of 2023.
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General Motors and EVgo say they want to install “hundreds” of EV charging stations for use with GM’s Maven car sharing service. The growing numbers of gig drivers using the Chevy Bolt EV will now get a dedicated DC charging network across the States.
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The ride-share provider Uber has added a new tool to their case: electric ride-share company Jump Bikes, that is currently active in San Francisco and Washington D.C. The pedelecs are already available via the Uber app.
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Ride hailing app provider Uber has launched its EV-only suite in Romania’s capital. 20 Renault Zoe have become available to book in cooperation with charging infrastructure firm ElDrive. The service is available in selected European capitals.
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A draft for a new law in California may force ride-share programs such as Uber and Lyft to switch to all-electric fleet by 2028. The government aims to facilitate the process by offering subsidies valued at a total of 300 million dollars.
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The Uber of China, DiDi Chuxing has gathered 12 carmakers to set up an electric car sharing service together. The partnership includes BYD, local partners of Ford and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance among mayor others.
Weiterlesen
The ride share conglomerate is reportedly considering expanding into electric bicycles. In San Francisco a pilot project is to start offering the rental and sharing of ebikes in cooperation with the bike-sharing company Jump Bikes, whose 250 Pedelec electric bicycles can be rented through the Uber app.
Weiterlesen
With its versatile concept e-Palette put on display at CES, Toyota is giving an idea of its vision of future mobility. The adaptable vehicle – of course all-electric and autonomous – can be transformed into a lot of different vehicle types. An alliance shall help to develop the vehicle.
Weiterlesen
Ride-hailing provider Uber accelerates efforts to replace human drivers in its fleet and states that it will purchase 24,000 Volvo cars designed for autonomous driving between 2019 and 2021. The chosen model is obviously Volvo’s XC90 plug-in hybrid.
Weiterlesen
Uber has closed a cooperation deal with U.S. space agency NASA to realise tests of its “flying cars” also above Los Angeles. As reported, Uber extends its project called Uber Elevate in order to create a network for its planned on-demand service.
WeiterlesenUber electrifies UK fleet: In less than two years, Uber wants drivers to have at least a hybrid if not all-electric car if they offer their services in London as UberX. By 2025, they must have an EV in order to do so and the app-based company has thus set up its Clean Air Fund. The aim is to have an 100% electrified fleet by 2022 on the Isles. Uber drivers will receive up to 5,000 pounds to buy such a car and are also offered money if they scrap their diesel. To refinance the measure, fares will increase.
engadget.com, venturebeat.com
FCV sharing in Hamburg: CleverShuttle is a ride sharing service partially owned by Deutsche Bahn and active in Berlin, Leipzig and Munich. Now Hamburg has gotten into the app and here, hydrogen vehicles, namely ten Toyota Mirai collect passengers going into the same direction, just like Uber Pool. Another ten FCV shall follow before the year’s end, co-funded with 200,000 euros through the NIP scheme (National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Tech.)
hamburg.de (in German)
Charging for cabs: Wolverhampton plans to install a minimum of 24 charging points in the city centre over the next three years. The stations will firstly be used by electric taxis that the council wants to introduce thanks to a government grant of 478,000 pounds.
expressandstar.com
1m for 15 EV charging stations: The state of Washington will spend 1m dollars to help install 15 EV charging stations along some of the busiest highways.
seattletimes.com
India’s rapid electrification continues and is still state-driven. The Ministry of Power and New and Renewable Energy plans to buy 15,000 electric buses over the next 15 months and also purchase 50,000 three-wheeled EV by November. Bloomberg’s report relies on a principal advisor to the ministry.
bloombergquint.com
Click tip: Tesla is working on special delivery centres to manage the increasing demand for its Model 3 reportedly. The first such centre has now opened in Californian Culver City and is anything but small.
electrek.co
Video tip: The future is near and will see autonomous electric boats hover above the Seine in Paris as reported. This video shows the so-called SeaBubbles in action for the first time albeit still a prototype.
theverge.com
Uber triples electric fleet in London: The car hailing service is to add another 100 Nissan Leaf to its existing fleet of 50 electric cabs in the British capital. Uber, that usually acts as digital agent for private drivers, said so far the climate-friendly taxis had been requested over 35,000 times. To keep them going, the company also plans to set up a network of fast-charging stations as a lack of infrastructure is what keeps most people from buying electric cars, according to a study by the Energy Saving Trust.
cityam.com, engadget.com
Now it is clear what the 100m euros the grocery webstore Picnic received recently will be used for: the company plans to buy 2,000 electric vehicles, build 5 new warehouses and 70 distribution centres as well as employ 2,000 new employees this year alone in the Netherlands. Until now, Picnic used the ‘E-Worker’ van from French firm Mega, now rebranded Goupil, but the model has been discontinued. Plus, its 110 km range is not sufficient for rural areas so it may well be Picnic will shop for its new electric carriers elsewhere.
cleantechnica.com, logistiek.nl (in Dutch)
The Dutch mail service PostNL follows Picnic albeit unknowingly in its electrification attempts by adding zero emission delivery vans to its fleet through Voltia. After a successful pilot, PostNL is now employing an electric Citroen Jumper and two Nissan eNV200 Maxis to achieve its goal of decarbonising its entire operation eventually.
driveev.net
Smart EV charging: AeroVironment and eMotorWerks partnered up to integrate eMotorWerks’ JuiceNet smart-grid platform into AeroVironment’s line of consumer and OEM EV charging solutions. The aim is to provide increased charging capabilities to customers and electric demand load aggregation for utilities.
insideevs.com, greencarcongress.com
BMW Australia has opened 40 EV charging bays at 10 selected Westfield malls in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Use of the stations is free of charge and they can be located via the ChargePoint app.
practicalmotoring.com.au
Serious dreaming: Uber means it. The ride sharer is indeed working to build a network of flying electric cars (Will it be called haili?). It has now onboarded Mark Moore, an expert from NASA. He will lead development at Uber Elevate, where he will look into finding functioning VTOLs realistically.
bloomberg.com, theverge.com
EV cab in Mexico: Giant Motors is to cooperate with Moldex as they strive to make an electric car in Mexico. The model shall serve as taxi in Mexico City. A prototype is due for presentation at the end of this year and manufacture and sales shall start by 2018 already.
forbes.com
Hybrid chemical tanker: Norwegian Rederiet Stenersen AS ordered two chemical tankers with hybrid drive. The propulsion system comes from WE Tech, while Canadian Corvus Energy is to supply the Li-ion batteries called Orca ESS. Delivery of the first vessel is scheduled for Q2 this year.
electricvehiclesresearch.com
EcoTrain: Recuperation now exists in hybrid trains thanks to research by Deutsche Bahn and institutes in Dresden and Chemnitz. Of eight tested train concepts, the best was a diesel-electric series hybrid concept. It entails a brake control system by Knorr-Bremse that recovers energy from braking. The aim is to save up to 30% in fuel and DB scheduled 13 Desiro trains to utilise the concept.
knorr-bremse.de
3,000 EV charger by 2020: British InstaVolt received 12m GBP from Zouk Capital. With the addition of government funds, the infrastructure provider plans to erect 3,000 EV charge points in Great Britain before the decade’s end.
insidermedia.com, businesscloud.com, zouk.com
Uber with Tesla in Madrid: The taxi service launched a Tesla fleet with licensed drivers in Madrid. The 20-strong electric fleet was introduced after the Spanish city banned Uber until March because of its unlicensed drivers. Its expansion is restricted still.
theverge.com
Upcycling: Austrian operator A1 has opened its 25th electric vehicle charging station reutilising a public pay phone booth in the centre of Herzogenburg. E-cars, e-scooters or e-bikes can be recharged for free.
telecompaper.com
VW in Rwanda: Volkswagen signed a MOU with the Rwanda Development Board to build a production plant in the country. The plan includes a concept for app-based mobility solutions such as car sharing and ride hailing with electric cars in the mid-term.
rnanews.com
BMW is to enter the Formula E, as it revises its international motor sport strategy. Close cooperation for engineering and procedures with Team Andretti is set for the next two years. Season 2018/2019 will see its own BMW team however, given the electric racing series remains as strong as it is. The German carmaker hopes to increase battery capacity in particular.
autocar.co.uk, electricautosport.com
Flying Uber taxis? Hailing a passenger drone via app may be a reality in just ten years time, the ride-hailing service Uber reckons. It is looking into vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft, which would most likely fly electrically. Details remain scarce though.
recode.net, ibtimes.co.uk
Speeding up H2 developments: Volkswagen is to accelerate its fuel cell development, which currently resides at Audi. Partner Ballard Power Systems broke the news. This also means a tighter schedule for series models under the HyMotion label due by 2019.
greencarcongress.com
To prove autonomous driving, Renault is constructing a driving demonstration zone with two partners in Chinese Wuhan. By November, a first self-driving EV will run up and down a 2 kilometre test track.
just-auto.com
EU funded V2G research: Five European cities, namely Amsterdam, Hamburg, Oslo, Leicester, and Belgian Leuven, will take part in the SEEV4-City EU project. It looks at storage of excess solar power in batteries of electric cars and bi-directional charging. Amsterdam University (HvA) takes the lead in the research effort that is funded with 2.5m euros from the EU Commission over three years.
hva.nl (in Dutch)
Electric buses for Luxembourg: Volvo will deliver four electric buses to Sales-Lentz. The public transport provider from Luxembourg will put the Volvo 7900 Electric into service in the town of Differdange by mid-2017. Sales-Lentz already operates 36 hybrid buses by Volvo.
businesswire.com
PHEV unlimited: California removed the cap on green stickers, which entitle plug-in hybrids to use the HOV lane. The state will resume handing out access to the carpool lane until Jan 1, 2019 when the scheme ends. White stickers for electric cars were never limited.
greencarreports.com
ChargePoint takes over the charging network in Hampshire and Cornwall. The 51 chargers thus become integrated into the firm’s GeniePoint Network that allows for easy access. ChargePoint also wants to grow the number of fast-chargers in the region.
fleetnews.co.uk
All-electric Uber: Singaporean start-up S Dreams started an EV fleet to be booked via Uber. BYD is on board and will deliver the first six of 30 e6 by next week. By 2018, the fleet shall be a 1,000 electric cars strong. S Dreams pays its drivers a fixed revenue but collects all fares.
straitstimes.com
Pre-pay the Supercharge: It becomes more and more evident that Tesla will charge those opting for the Model 3. The MyTesla pages ask for credit card payment, while an in-depth look at the CCS section reveals “supercharger-payment” and “supercharger credits in kWh” sections.
ev.network, insideevs.com
Uber electric: More than 50 Nissan Leaf and BYD e6 will soon be available to hail via the Uber app in London. A trial has already started. By autumn, another British town is to profit from the offer and the ride hailing service says “hundreds” of electric taxis shall be bookable by 2017.
businessinsider.de, engadget.com, metro.co.uk
4m euros for 1,000 EV chargers: The Hungarian Ministry of Economy opened a 3.9m euro fund for EV charging infrastructure. The Eastern European country aims for a 1,000 stations and has asked towns and communities with at least 15,000 residents to apply.
kormany.hu (in Hungarian) via emobilitaetonline.de (in German)
Electric airport shuttle: Sydney Airport launched its first electric bus. It is the first of five Blu Emu buses to follow before the years’ end. They replace an ageing diesel shuttle fleet. Delivered by Carbridge in a JV with BYD, the Toro model can carry up to 70 passengers. Meanwhile, Perth is testing the autonomous electric RAC Intellibus that transports up to 11 guests at an average speed of 25 kph.
airport-world.com, sydneyairport.com.au, zdnet.com
