Wright Electric, a partner of European airline easyJet, recently unveiled design concepts for the Wright 1, a 186-seat electric aircraft. Wright is building a 1.5 MW electric motor and 3 kV inverter. The company is in discussions with BAE Systems to develop flight controls and energy management systems. Wright plans to conduct ground tests in… Read more »
The Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) will purchase an electric fire engine from Austrian-based manufacturer Rosenbauer. Based on Rosenbauer’s Concept Fire Truck, the vehicle will be customized for the LAFD’s specific needs. The EV will have two batteries and a charge capacity of 100 kWh, allowing for about two hours of operation, according to… Read more »
The UK’s Royal Mail Group, the owner of one of Europe’s largest vehicle fleets, has signed a deal with electric utility EDF to deliver electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure. Under the 3-year agreement, EDF will provide charging points, associated maintenance and ancillary items such as signs, bollards and wheel stops. In the first phase, the company… Read more »
EV charging network ChargePoint has announced a collaboration with the National Association of Truck Stop Owners (NATSO) to greatly expand EV charging options across the US. The memorandum of understanding will help to establish public-private partnerships at off-highway fuel retailers across the nation. Over the next decade, ChargePoint and NATSO believe the project will deploy… Read more »
Saft, an affiliate of French oil and gas company Total, and Opel, a subsidiary of French automaker Groupe PSA, are establishing a joint venture called the Automotive Cell Company (ACC), which will create EV batteries starting in 2023. The project will begin with a phase of research and development, including construction of a €200-million (about… Read more »
Solaris is developing a new 15-meter electric bus. Called the Urbino 15 LE electric, the tri-axle bus will be built with Scandinavian markets in mind. The model will be offered with two or three doors, and will be available in class I for city operations and class II for intercity operations. The Urbino 15 LE… Read more »
The Volkswagen Group has partnered with MAN Truck & Bus on a pilot project that uses second-life batteries as stationary storage to support the charging of electric buses. At the bus depot of local transit operator VHH in the Bergedorf quarter of Hamburg, 50 battery packs, which were previously installed in VW Passat GTE plug-in… Read more »
A new YouGov online poll found that 52 percent of taxi and Uber customers in seven European countries are willing to pay 15-20 euro cents (16-22 cents US) more per kilometer for a ride in an EV. Sixty percent of people aged 18-24 said they were willing to pay the extra fee for an EV…. Read more »
BMW i Ventures will invest in Software Motor Company (SMC), a Silicon Valley-based company with experience with HVAC retrofit motors. SMC will use the funding to expand its product line and bring to market its full-stack Building Operating System (BOS) platform, designed to optimize energy and maintenance through intelligent automation. SMC says it has developed… Read more »
Audi will invest around €100 million ($109 million) to electrify one in ten parking spaces at its German plants by mid-2022. The German carmaker will install 4,500 charging points in Germany, including 3,500 at its main plant in Ingolstadt and 1,000 at its plant in Neckarsulm, and almost 100 each at plants in Brussels, Belgium… Read more »
