Carla Westerheide

Co-founder and long-standing Virta CEO Jussi Palola is stepping aside at the turn of the year. The charging infrastructure veteran will remain with Virta as Chief Innovation Officer. Christian Girardeau will take as CEO in January.

Automotive group Stellantis will launch a range-extended version of the Ram 1500 Ramcharger before the purely electric variant. The latter was initially planned to hit the road in the first half of 2025.

The state of New York has received an additional $28.5 million in government funding to install fast-chargers along major travel corridors in the US state. Some 21 million dollars had already been made available.

The US Department of Energy has awarded the American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) a grant of $144 million to build a lithium-ion battery recycling plant. The location will be able to process 100,000 tonnes of battery materials per year.

Just days before Christmas, Volkswagen and the labour union IG Metall have reached a compromise, ending the ongoing wage dispute. By 2030, 35,000 jobs are to be cut, and VW will reduce production capacity in Germany by more than 700,000 vehicles—including electric cars.

Automotive supplier Eberspaecher has opened a new production plant in Przylesie, Poland. There, the company primarily manufactures thermal management systems for electric city buses and coaches.

In the Netherlands, fuel cell specialist zepp.solutions has signed a cooperation agreement with the Dutch Aerospace Centre NLR. The goal is to develop a new type of FC system and, based on the latter, realise a manned flight with liquid hydrogen in 2026.

Lilium urgently needs a buyer in the wake of its insolvency. Last week, there were reportedly still several interested parties. However, it has now emerged that the air taxi specialist has made almost all of its 1,000 employees redundant. Operations are to be discontinued.

Honda and Nissan are currently considering a merger that goes far beyond the agreed cooperation on software-defined electric cars. It would also involve a

Nio has unveiled its new global EV brand, Firefly, and its first model with the same name. The compact electric car can be pre-ordered at prices starting at around 20,000 euros. The new Nio flagship ET9 has also officially launched - but is priced a few price categories above.