Taiga Motors, a developer of electric off-road vehicles, has announced plans to build a mass-production assembly facility in Shawinigan, Québec. The first phase of construction is scheduled for completion in 2022, and the company expects to begin production of electric snowmobiles and personal watercraft immediately. Taiga expects its new facility to increase production capacity to… Read more »
In 2018, Swiss rail vehicle manufacturer Stadler began a research project to develop a battery-powered train designed to operate on non-electrified or semi-electrified lines. Now the Flirt Akku (akku is the German term for a battery), which carries its batteries on the roof, has covered some 15,000 km in pure battery operation, and has demonstrated… Read more »
EV startup Rivian has announced that South Korean battery giant Samsung SDI will supply cells for its vehicles. The automaker, which plans to begin production of an electric pickup and an SUV this year, has been working with Samsung throughout the process of developing the new cells. Rivian’s vehicles are aimed at the outdoorsy set,… Read more »
Details of the Biden administration’s $174-billion proposal to boost EV adoption are slowly beginning to leak out. According to a Transportation Department email message seen by Reuters, the plan calls for $100 billion in new consumer rebates, $15 billion to build 500,000 new charging stations, $20 billion for electric school buses, $25 billion for zero-emission… Read more »
The Swappable Battery Consortium for Electric Motorcycles, a joint project of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, has reached an agreement to standardize swappable batteries for electric motorcycles in Japan. Since its 2019 inception, the Consortium has been formulating standards for mutual-use swappable batteries and their replacement systems, in order to encourage the adoption of electric… Read more »
Hino Trucks, a subsidiary of Toyota, is accelerating the production timeline for its suite of battery-electric vehicles. The new Class 4-8 electric trucks are now slated to go into low-volume production in Q4 2022 and full production by the end of 2023. The company originally planned to have its BEV range in production by 2024,… Read more »
Chevrolet’s upcoming Silverado electric pickup truck will be built at the company’s Factory Zero assembly plant (the former Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, now retooled for the exclusive production of battery-electric vehicles). GM plans to deliver more than 1 million electric vehicles globally by 2025. Thanks to its new Ultium Platform, along with modern virtual development tools… Read more »
It’s been a long haul for electric trucks—pilots have been going on for over a decade, but fleet operators are just beginning to put in serious orders. Battery costs are often cited as a barrier to faster adoption, but a new analysis concludes that a lack of appropriate policies around adoption incentives, charging infrastructure, and… Read more »
ZeroAvia is developing hydrogen-fueled powertrain technology to replace conventional engines in commercial aircraft. The company has successfully completed flight tests of electric aircraft in the US and in the UK, and expects to achieve commercialization for its hydrogen-electric powertrain as early as 2024. (See our interview with CEO and founder Val Miftakhov, who makes a… Read more »
Everybody wants to get into the EV racket—Chinese hopefuls include search engine provider Baidu, e-commerce giant Alibaba and ride-hailing app DiDi Chuxing. Even vacuum cleaner vendor Dyson set out to suck up some coins from the electric carpet before conceding that it couldn’t see a way to commercial viability. The latest entrant to the crowded… Read more »