Power and automation giant ABB is supplying fast chargers to MAN Truck & Bus for its new e-bus R&D program. Volkswagen subsidiary MAN, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of heavy commercial vehicles, has announced that it will begin pilots of e-buses in 2018, and begin serial production by 2019. The company is developing e-buses at… Read more »
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Thai oil company partners with six automakers to develop EVs
Thailand’s state-controlled oil company PTT has signed contracts with local units of six automakers (BMW, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche and Volvo) to cooperate in developing EVs, and to build a network of 20 charging stations. Thailand is a regional auto industry production and export hub, and the sector accounts for 10 percent of GDP. The… Read more »
The inevitability of electric buses
Electric transit buses enter the fast-follower market stage as the leaders work to remove the last barriers to adoption. Q&A with Proterra’s Ryan Popple and ABB’s Daan Nap on the state of the market and charging standards in North America and Europe. With each passing year, more decision makers are realizing that city buses are an… Read more »
California awards $23.6 million for electrified drayage trucks at seaports
Drayage trucks, which move freight around inside and between port facilities, are a major source of air pollution, and an excellent candidate for electrification. The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been testing various electrified options for several years. Now the state of California has awarded $23.6 million to the South Coast… Read more »
Electric torque vectoring: Q&A with GKN’s Advanced Engineering Director (Full Interview)
Torque vectoring technology is generally defined as a vehicle’s ability to vary the power to each wheel. Quickly controlling the torque applied to the wheels independently of one another allows the driving characteristics of a vehicle to be improved in significant ways – more stability, more responsiveness and more agility. A conventional differential distributes the… Read more »
European electric bus manufacturers agree on open charging interface
As more European cities begin trials of battery-electric buses, a group of bus manufacturers and charging infrastructure providers has agreed to develop voluntary charging standards in advance of official regulations. The objective is to ensure reliability and compatibility across bus brands and charging systems. The European body CEN-CENELEC and the international standards organization ISO/IEC are… Read more »
2016 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron delivers performance and practicality
The selection of plug-in vehicles available to US buyers continues to grow steadily – it now stands at 27 models, with several more expected this year. The latest entrant to the market is the 2016 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, the German luxury brand’s first plug-in model available in the US. Every time a new plug-in… Read more »
GKN’s new torque-vectoring axle combines an electric motor and dual-clutch system
Engineering firm GKN Automotive recently demonstrated a new torque-vectoring electric drive system to customers at its Wintertest proving ground in Arjeplog, Sweden. Torque-vectoring technology provides the ability to vary the torque to each wheel, generating a yaw moment in the car. By controlling the power to each wheel separately, a vehicle can respond to inputs with more stability, more… Read more »
Tesla leads the pack as overall 2015 plug-in sales fall short
2015 was a year of retrenching and preparation for the future in the EV industry. US sales for the year were around 116,000, falling short of 2014’s figure of 123,000. The Tesla Model S grabbed and held the lead position, handily outselling all other plug-ins in the US with 25,700 deliveries. However, the big news… Read more »
Bob Lutz thinks Tesla’s in trouble
Since Tesla’s 2003 founding, there’s been a steady stream of articles explaining why it would soon go belly-up. The latest comes from a seemingly unlikely source: Bob Lutz, the “father of the Chevrolet Volt.” Back in the day, Lutz and Musk seemed like fellow travelers – the former GM exec said he would always be… Read more »