Five fleet operators in London will participate in a pilot program to evaluate Ford’s new Transit Custom plug-in hybrid van, starting this fall. The project, supported by Transport for London, features a 12-month test of 20 new Ford Transit Custom plug-in hybrid vans. London’s Metropolitan Police will deploy 5 of the vans: one marked for… Read more »
Oregon legislators are considering a bill that would establish a $1-million fund to provide a $250 incentive to automobile sales staff who sell electric vehicles to Oregon residents (it exempts sales at exclusively electric dealerships). The bill (HB 2514) addresses two interrelated issues, according to its sponsor, Representative Phil Barnhart. First, $250 would be a… Read more »
Sendyne’s new SIM100 isolation monitoring safety device is designed to detect potential electrical hazards in electric and hybrid vehicles. The SIM100 module can unambiguously detect the electrical isolation state of a high-voltage system while the system is operating and experiencing large voltage variations. The SIM100 detects both resistive leakages and capacitively stored energy. High-voltage battery… Read more »
Howard County Transit, a division of the Regional Transit Authority of Central Maryland, has taken delivery of three 35-foot BYD K9S battery-electric buses – the first electric transit buses in the state, according to BYD. An inductive charging station will be installed on the Green Line in downtown Columbia to allow the buses to top… Read more »
Scare stories about a looming lithium shortage are just that. As informed observers keep pointing out, lithium is not a consumable fuel, it’s easily recycled, and batteries don’t really use all that much of it. Be that as it may, there is a scramble going on to secure supplies of the light white stuff, especially… Read more »
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to demo a battery-electric BYD Class 8 yard truck for several weeks. The truck has a 10-hour operating range on a charge, and will replace one of the legacy diesel yard trucks that currently operate at the Port Authority’s Red Hook facility in Brooklyn. Yard… Read more »
Like musicians, car brands of middling stature in their home markets sometimes become big stars in other regions, and such is the case with Buick in China. The Middle Kingdom is by far the largest market for Buicks in the world, apparently due to the fact that it was the favored brand of Pu Yi,… Read more »
Spicer SmartConnect AWD Disconnect Technology Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) is showcasing technologies from its Spicer Electrified portfolio of integrated motor, control, and e-drive technologies, as well as thermal management products for electric and hybrid vehicles, at Auto Shanghai 2017. On display is Dana’s new Spicer electric motor-driven gearbox, which is engineered to deliver better acceleration… Read more »
Electronics giant ABB has won a contract to provide electric bus charging infrastructure for a fleet of Volvo 7900 12-meter electric buses that will serve Harrogate, a historic spa town in northern England. ABB will supply three HVC 300P charging stations and an electric substation. ABB says this project will be the first in the… Read more »
One of the most interesting questions in the automotive world right now: How seriously are the incumbents taking the threat from our favorite California startup? One answer might be found at a recent event near Munich, where an image of Elon Musk appeared on a screen as a narrator ominously intoned, “We’re in the midst… Read more »