Carrie Hampel

Kenyan electric bus solutions startup BasiGo has secured US$3 million worth of equity funding to scale up production of electric buses for Kenya and Rwanda.

The Climate Group reports that 231,000 vehicles in corporate fleets that have joined the EV100 initiative, switched to electric vehicles over the last 12 months, up 57 per cent from last year.

In the Swiss research project, "TEC-OFF", partners from science and industry are collaborating to investigate intelligent and bidirectional charging using the example of parcel delivery company DPD's electric transporters in Basel. The findings should help solve gaps in electricity supply at peak times, as well as stabilising the grid.

The Ethiopian government has now almost tripled its targets for imports of electric vehicles after having reached its 2030 targets in under two years.

Chinese air taxi startup Autoflight has announced the first delivery of its five-seater eVOTL Prosperity to a customer in Japan. The unnamed customer is currently developing plans for eVTOL demonstration flights at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka.

In Germany, electric scooters have been banned from public transport in Bavaria for safety reasons. Bans come into force this month in Munich and Augsburg.

Siemens has revealed a functional and tested prototype for megawatt charging (MCS) for trucks called the Sicharge megawatt charging system.

The US government has launched a grant scheme called the 'Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program', amounting to almost one billion dollars for the transition off polluting fuels for heavy-duty vehicles and school buses. The new grant program will support the procurement and operation of these vehicles, as well as the necessary charging infrastructure and operator training.

At Auto China in Beijing, CATL has presented its new Shenxing Plus LFP battery designed to give electric cars a range of more than 1,000 kilometres. The battery with durable lithium iron phosphate cells is also said to be very quick to charge.

Daimler Buses is changing its battery supplier to battery system manufacturer BMZ Poland. The two companies have agreed on a strategic partnership for the development and supply of the next generation of electric bus batteries. Daimler Buses customers can expect the new “NMC4” batteries from the "middle of the decade".