Carrie Hampel

Toyota and Nikola fueling station spinoff Hyroad are joining forces to scale hydrogen-powered transportation with integrated fueling, vehicles, and logistics support in Southern California. Toyota Motor North America and Hyroad Energy will collaboratively deploy 40 new hydrogen fuel cell Class 8 trucks in the region.

While the production of electric cars is being pulled back in the US, there is nothing as certain as death and taxes, and making that final journey in silent luxury has retained consistent appeal. General Motors is providing a rear-wheel-drive Liriq platform for hearse applications. In Florida, Wolf Coach Builders is offering the all-electric Cadillac Lyriq in two hearse formats.

Blink Charging is teaming with Emobi to connect its portfolio of fleet and public charging infrastructure into Emobi's unified roaming and JustPlug ecosystem. The partnership is intended to provide seamless roaming and an automated charging experience to one of the largest electric car charging networks in North America.

Brisbane-based shipbuilder Aus Ships Group is building an electric ferry in collaboration with Swedish marine and industrial engine manufacturer Volvo Penta, which is due to be commissioned by the end of the year. Further down Australia's east coast, the New South Wales government has given, another Australian shipbuilder the green light to begin building a trial 24-metre battery electric ferry later this year.

UK electric vehicle charging provider Pod Point, a subsidiary of EDF, has announced the acquisition of EO Charging. The newly acquired company is a specialist provider of EV fleet charging and end-to-end depot charging software solutions, and entered administration a few weeks ago.

Solar plays an outsized role in skills and employment, as the largest growing employer in the energy sector worldwide. pv magazine looks at an investigative report into a European skills provider and digs further into the challenges of training workers for the solar industry.

Drivers of electric cars and motorcycles in Vietnam will soon benefit from the fifteenfold expansion of Southeast Asian ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab's electric-vehicle charging network, from about 400 ports at present to more than 6,000 by 2028. Nearly half of the planned charging ports will be located in the capital, Hanoi.

Janus Electric, the Australian diesel-to-electric truck conversion specialist, has scored new orders from four California-based fleets with 67 truck conversions, bringing the Australian company's total North American conversions on order to 112, with contracts worth AUD 45 million (approx. US$ 31.5 million).

In the United Kingdom, Moto Hospitality has opened its new "ultra-rapid" charging hub with charging bays with capacities of up to 400kW at its Exeter charging site. This launch significantly expands the existing electric car and truck charging infrastructure at the service station, which is now reported to be the largest electric vehicle charging hub in the country.

The cost gap between those able to charge an electric vehicle at home and those who cannot will grow even wider after the UK Government announced a cut to VAT