The yellow school bus is going green in Quebec. Local firm B3CG Interconnect, a manufacturer of harness assemblies and electromechanical components, has partnered with battery supplier EnerDel to develop and manufacture traction batteries for Canadian school bus producer Lion Bus, which recently won a project from the Quebec Ministry to develop an all-electric school bus…. Read more »
General Motors has announced that it will invest $449 million to upgrade manufacturing processes at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly and Brownstown Battery Assembly plants. “These investments will help the next-generation Chevrolet Volt build on its position as the leader in electrified propulsion,” said Gerald Johnson, GM North America Manufacturing Vice President. The Hamtramck facility (affectionately known… Read more »
Electrovaya Inc. has announced that the KF Hisarøy electric cable ferry has now been sailing between Mjånes and Hisarøy in Norway daily for six months, with flawless operation over the wintry seas. The KF Hisarøy, which is built to carry 49 passengers and 6 cars, operates approximately 10 round trips per day between the mainland… Read more »
French retailer Carrefour has been testing what it claims is the world’s largest all-electric truck under actual operating conditions for the past 18 months, to rave reviews. The 16-ton refrigerated delivery truck was developed by Renault Trucks, and is based on a Midlum vehicle chassis. It has a 103 kW electric motor and two lithium-ion… Read more »
The European Parliament has voted to make “acoustic vehicle alerting systems” mandatory for all new electric and hybrid cars starting in 2019 (the US has required similar systems since 2011). British MEPs and advocacy groups for the blind were among those lobbying for the new rule. “Quiet electric cars could become a common sight on… Read more »
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has posted final modifications to its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Regulation for public comment. The ZEV rules require automakers to sell a certain number of zero-emission (battery-electric or fuel cell) vehicles in California. It also provides for automakers who don’t sell enough ZEVs to purchase excess credits from other… Read more »
60 Minutes aired an absorbing profile of Elon Musk last week, which included some good interviews and a fair amount of objective information about our favorite automaker. However, there was one segment that caused much laughter and head-shaking in the EV community. A video of a Model S on the road was accompanied by the… Read more »
The number of plug-in cars on the road has increased at an annual rate of more than 100% over the last three years, according to an analysis by Germany’s Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW). At the beginning of 2014, there were 405,000 plug-ins (EVs and PHEVs) registered worldwide, compared to 200,000 in… Read more »
The DOE is encouraging auto suppliers to step forward for a share of $16 billion in low-interest financing that’s still available under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. Congress created the ATVM program in 2007, and it famously lent about $8.4 billion to Ford, Nissan, Tesla and Fisker. Although the program hasn’t approved… Read more »
Daimler has agreed to acquire Evonik’s shares of Li-Tec Battery GmbH and Deutsche ACCUmotive GmbH, making Daimler the sole owner of the two companies. In recent years, Daimler and Evonik have worked together to develop industrial series production of lithium-ion battery cells for EVs. The two companies produce the batteries used in the current model… Read more »
