The Austrian police are testing a total of 23 electric cars in four federal provinces for their suitability in police service. The pilot project will start in the fourth quarter of 2023, but the 20 police stations in Salzburg, Lower Austria, Vienna and Tyrol have already taken delivery of the electric cars.
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A contract between Vienna public transport operator Wiener Linien and the Polish bus manufacturer Solaris for the delivery of ten hydrogen buses has apparently fallen through.
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The drive specialist Hofer Powertrain has opened a location for the development of electric drives in Vienna. The new branch, located near the Vienna Exhibition Centre, was officially opened a few weeks ago.
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The Austrian Post has put its 3,000th electric vehicle in service. This also marks the kick off for the “Green Vienna” initiative, as the postal service plans to deliver all letters and packages with zero emission in the Austrian capital by 2025. By 2030, it wants to make deliveries across the country zero emission.
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The Terra 360 fast-charging station with a maximum power of 360 kW, which was introduced by ABB last year, has now also been installed and is in use in Austria and England.
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In Austria, the Vienna public transport operator Wiener Linien has signed contracts with Daimler Trucks for 60 battery-electric buses and Solaris for ten hydrogen-electric buses.
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The City of Vienna will no longer procure any new petrol or diesel vehicles for the municipal fleet from 2025 at the latest. Possible exceptions apply to certain special vehicles for which no CO2-free alternatives are available by then.
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Berlin-based startup Dance is now rolling out its premium subscription service for e-bikes to Hamburg, Munich, Vienna and Paris. In addition to expanding into new markets, Dance is adding another e-bike model and electric mopeds to its product range.
Read moreIn Vienna and Graz, the ‘eTaxi Austria Project’ is starting a large-scale test run to test a new type of charging-pad charging technology over the next two years. With the Easelink system, electric taxis can charge with a connection to a charging pad at the taxi rank. The approach holds much promise for fleet operators.
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Austrian utility Wien Energie has completed the largest roll-out of public charge points in Vienna to date. On behalf of the City of Vienna, the company has been expanding the charging network to 1,000 stations over more than three years.
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Vienna’s exclusive electric car-sharing Eloop is gearing up for growth. New investors pumped a seven-digit sum into the small business to include more Tesla cars into the fleet. Expansion across the DACH region is also on the cards.
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The young Dutch e-scooter provider Go Sharing announces plans to offer its services outside the Netherlands as the start-up launches in Vienna. The Austrian capital now has 200 e-scooters available to use in a pay-as-you-go model.
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Vienna Airport is building its fleet of electric ground vehicles. The Bison E620 is a tow tractor from Goldhofer that can tow and push aircrafts weighing up to 260 tons, i.e. large aircrafts such as the Boeing or Airbus jets.
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Energy supplier Wien Energie has purchased 48 Kia e-Niro electric cars for its sales staff. This means that a total of around 70 e-cars are now on the road for Wien Energie and thus the majority of the car fleet of around 100 cars.
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The construction of 1,000 public charging points for electric cars in Vienna that started in early 2018 is now on the home stretch. According to Wien Energie, almost 800 green electricity charging points have been set up to date, and another 50 will be added in September in several districts of Vienna.
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Not only humans but horses too are hit by the coronavirus crisis although only indirectly. Vienna’s iconic horsedrawn carriages, the Fiakers, have come to stand utterly still with no guest sharing the ride. Now, they could be replaced for good.
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In Austria, Viennese public transport operator Wiener Linien will launch tenders for 62 purely battery-electric buses and ten hydrogen fuel cell buses next year. The first vehicles included in the tender are to be put in passenger service from 2023. By 2027 at the latest, a total of 82 buses should have alternative drive systems.
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The Danish electric car sharing provider GreenMobility plans to start operations in Vienna with 400 electric vehicles in the second half of 2020. Against this background, GreenMobility has signed a letter of intent with the Austrian Automobile, Motorcycle and Touring Club.
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Vienna is famous for its horse-drawn “Fiaker” carriages. Now the electric utility company Wien Energie is introducing a similar-but-different specimen that lacks one very visible detail: the horses.
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A newly founded Technical Committee of the international electrotechnical standardisation organisation IEC will develop uniform standards for electric pedal scooters, monowheels and electric kick scooters starting in autumn this year.
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Austria’s largest automobile association ÖAMTC has rolled out their own electric scooter sharing. People in Vienna can now rent 150 light electric vehicles with another 15 being available in Graz. The ‘easy way’ service works via mobile app.
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Austrian utility Wien Energie has begun the expansion of its network of public chargers in Vienna. Another 1,000 EV charging stations are scheduled for installation until 2020.
Read moreSelf-driving shuttles in Vienna: If someone has mastered the sweet life, it is the Austrian capital and so it may not come as a surprise that its public transport may soon be autonomous and electric. From 2018, Wiener Linien wants to try out two mini buses from French Navya, with up to eleven real passengers. The pilot ‘auto.Bus Seestadt’ is supported by AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology), TÜV Austria and Siemens AG Österreich as well as traffic safety institutions. If no major disruptions occur, the shuttles will enter service from 2019.
orf.at (in German)
GM embraces Gig Economy: Maven Gig is a new option for GM’s car sharing service. It now allows users to hire a Bolt for 229 dollars a week and to use it to pick up passengers through Uber, Lyft and other hail-ride apps. San Diego is the first testing ground before Maven Gig will move on to congest Los Angeles and San Francisco later this year.
carscoops.com
EV sales incentives: Oregon may pay car dealers 250 dollars per electric car they sell to residents of the state. The bill under consideration would set aside a 1m dollar fund.
chargedevs.com
Home to Tesla, the City of Fremont decided to require solar panels and EV charging wiring for all new housing developments. California aims to to have homes built to a “zero net energy” level by 2020.
eastbaytimes.com
Swindon tries hydrogen: Two Toyota Mirais and one Hyundai iX35 have been delivered to three businesses in Swindon. They build a car pool for employees of Arval, Nationwide and The National Trust as part of the town’s Hydrogen Hub project.
fleetnews.co.uk
E-mobility in Danube region: EU project eGUTS (Electric and Green Urban Transport Systems) has launched and unites 22 partners in the search for standards that foster electric transport across the Danube region. Eight cities will share feasibility studies in the form of pilots that will look at charging infrastructure, electric car sharing, parking policies as well as develop and test the eGUTS app. The EU funds the project with 1.5m euros until June 2019.
oe-journal.at (in German), interreg-danube.eu (project website)
Diesel is not welcome in cities any longer with the latest example being Vienna and Liverpool. The Austrian capital is currently marking areas and districts, where diesel vehicles will be banned once fine particle pollution hits high levels. Meanwhile Liverpool wants to ban diesel entirely from 2022. The city looks to create a “clean air zone” which will result in restrictions on diesel vehicles on all roads and also could involve refusing to offer new licenses to diesel cabs.
kurier.at (Vienna, in German), liverpoolecho.co.uk (Liverpool)
New York to launch EV rebate: The state of New York plans to start its own incentive scheme this April. Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles will thus be eligible for an up to 2,000 dollar rebate. It took the state some time as the money was already earmarked last year.
electrek.co, nbcnewyork.com, usnews.com
5m dollars for EV charging infrastructure have been made available in the Bay Area. The 2017 funding cycle of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is calling on businesses, nonprofits, and public agencies to install electric vehicle charging stations through the “Charge! Program” that wants to establish a network for public use.
sfexaminer.com
EV credit cut off: Utah’s House of Representatives has decided against extending the state’s tax credit for electric vehicles in a vote that could have seen an extension until 2022. The measure failed by a very narrow margin of 37-38.
utilitydive.com
IKEA charges Norway: The furniture company announced that it will equip all of its stores in Norway with fast-chargers, starting with its location in Slependen. IKEA has already launched similar initiatives in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and the U.S.
gas2.org
Vienna plans 1,000 chargers: The installation of the first 500 will start mid-2017 in the 2nd and 16th district of the Austrian capital. Over the following two years, the network will then grow step by step to reach 1,000 units. How much it will cost to plug in is still being discussed. But EVs will not have to pay a parking fee while charging.
wien.orf.at, vienna.at (articles in German)
Last mile innovations: With project SMILE (Smart Last Mile Logistics), Hamburg is looking to become a European model region for sustainable and clean package deliveries. Businesses and the city of Hamburg presented a number of intelligent last mile delivery systems, including the use of electric vehicles. The proposals will now be implemented step by step.
verkehrsrundschau.de, hamburg.de (articles in German)
New kind of pump: ITM Power is installing the UK’s first hydrogen fuelling pump at an existing petrol station. The Shell station is located along the M40 in Beaconsfield and will go into service early 2017.
fleetnews.co.uk
Green fleet: Panasonic says it was able to cut its fleet’s emissions by 37.5 percent in the UK since 2008. The company employs 19 plug-in and ten pure hybrids in the country, which together make up about 20 percent of the fleet. Another three PHEVs have already been ordered.
fleetnews.co.uk
Long electric buses for Vienna: The Austrian capital is looking to modernise its public transport fleet and kicked off a second tender. The result will be announced in spring 2017, and will for the first time include 12-metre buses with electric drivetrains. How many was not announced.
wien.gv.at (in German)
Kangoo Z.E. with H2 range-extender: About a year ago, three British companies came together to offer fleet operators a Renault transporter with fuel cell range extender (we reported). Some 32 models have already been sold, also because the REx adds an extra 400 km of range.
gasworld.com
Toyota Mirai international: Europcar UK has added the fuel cell vehicle to its fleets of its newly acquired Brunel chauffeur business, using money from the recently received Office of Low Emission Vehicles grant. Meanwhile, Toyota is looking to offer a few units of the Mirai in United Arab Emirates, now that Air Liquide has been charged with setting up a first H2 fuelling pump in Dubai.
fleetnews.co.uk (Europcar), albawaba.com (UAE)
EV quota for government agencies: The Massachusetts Senate passed a measure requiring a quarter of all new vehicles purchased for [some] government agencies to be electric by 2025. The new bill also lays the foundation for cities to dedicated parking stalls for EVs only.
wickedlocal.com
Kansas eyes EVs: Kansas City International Airport is looking to purchase four electric buses from BYD. A final decision, however, won’t be made until after Thanksgiving, so in the last week of November.
kansascity.com
Tesla fan Bjørn Nyland shows us how to recharge a Tesla Model S without ever plugging in at a charging station. The “trick” is to hook it up to and trail it behind its big brother, the Model X. But considering the possible damages, it may not be the most economical way to fill the battery.
insideevs.com (with video)
Indianapolis’ electric carsharing scheme BlueIndy will have to relocated chargers if store owners can proof they are losing money because of the stations’ current location. Meanwhile, the city wants 45,000 dollars a year to make up for lost revenue from parking stalls. Someone doesn’t seem to have grasped the concept here…
indystar.com
Solar home charging: BMW partners with Loxone to introduce solar charging stations with smart home integration in the DACH region, as well as the UK, the Netherlands and Czech Republic. The so-called E-Mobility Starter Kit is said to be open to any EV manufacturer and costs 599 euros with solar charging already installed. The Wallbox Pro will cost an additional 2,200 euros.
wiwo.de (in German)
Zero-emission delivery: Austria’s postal service is adding more electric vehicles to its 1,111 strong fleet, bringing the number to 1,300. In Vienna alone, 90 EVs will be added to enable a 100 percent emission free delivery of mail and newspapers by the end of the year.
ots.at (in German)
6,000 EV charging stations will be erected in Beijing this year. The 5,880 smaller EV charging stations will supply urban areas while another 14 large stations will go up at service stops along highways, utility Beijing Electric Power announced.
chinadaily.com.cn
Electric bus in Bangkok: An electric bus by BYD is to serve in the Thai capital during a three month trial. If successful, Bangkok will replace 200 of its 3,183 conventional buses with electric ones, and plans to eventually electrify the whole fleet.
automotiveworld.com
H2 for Fukushima: The nuclearly devastated Japanese prefecture turns to hydrogen production from renewable sources. The ‘Fukushima new energy society initiative’ will produce enough energy to power about 10,000 fuel cell vehicles, which will also be used during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
the-japan-news.com, japantimes.co.jp
Vienna calling: The Austrian capital is moving forward with its plans to introduce 250 all-electric taxis by 2017 (we reported), investing a total of three million euros in subsidies. The first 120 taxis running on electricity are scheduled to hit the streets of Vienna in March 2016 and can be charged free of cost for one year. 50 taxi drivers have registered for the scheme up to now.
orf.at, heute.at (articles in German)
Seattle electrifies: Five new trolley buses by New Flyer have hit Seattle streets yesterday. In addition, King County Metro Transit is also testing battery-electric buses. If tryouts succeed, Metro has an option to buy no less than 200 e-buses from Proterra to replace diesel-fueled buses.
seattletimes.com
Inductive charging in Texas: Texan city McAllen has purchased two electric buses. They are expected to arrive at the end of the month and will be the first ones in Texas to be charged wirelessly.
valleycentral.com, insideevs.com
Mission accomplished: Tanger Outlets has completed its planned installation of charging stations at 23 U.S. locations. ChargePoint Networks has developed and will maintain the charging network.
pennlive.com
