Governor Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) have underlined their support for the new Midtown Manhattan Bus Terminal project by committing c$2bn to help with project costs. The project is expected to cost c$10bn however New York has committed 40 years of tax revenue which equates to c$2bn. This will be a massive project, as it replaces and expands on the existing 73-year-old terminal and is pencilled in to be completed by 2032.
Ballard has announced that it has secured $40m in funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to help develop its Texan gigafactory. The DOE funding comes from its Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis, Manufacturing and Recycling Programme, as this gigafactory is expected to produce 3GW of fuel cells (c20,000 fuel cell stacks) when it becomes operational. Furthermore, Ballard has announced it will be investing c$160m towards the factory between 2024-2027. The USA has been rapidly ramping up hydrogen funding opportunities as it tries to lay the foundations for hydrogen assets to be a viable option from 2030 onwards.
Suffolk County Council has been awarded £5.9m, by the Local Electric Vehicle (LEVI) fund, in the second wave of allocating funding. This will materially help the Council hit its target of installing 2,000 new standard chargers along with 40-60 rapid charging stations by 2030. A further £1.4m is to be used to develop the region’s existing EV infrastructure. It has become apparent that ramping up domestic EV infrastructure will be of critical importance, and we predict we will see far more private and public investment throughout 2024 in this space in the UK.
FOR:EV, an Edinburgh-based EV charging infrastructure company, has announced it will be rolling out EV charging infrastructure at 4 sites in Scotland. All 4 sites will be run by Cedarwood Asset Management and David Samuel Asset Management. The sites will have a combination of dual charging points and rapid chargers and all the sites are pencilled in to be completed by the end of the year. FOR:EV are an interesting company, as it is the only private charging point operator in Scotland and is backed by the Scottish National Investment Bank.
Amazon has added 67 new electric Rivian vans to its warehouse in Bellingham, thus illustrating again how progressive and proactive Amazon is in procuring and electrifying its fleet. Bear in mind that Amazon owns a c17% stake in Rivian and thus the vans are designed to suit the needs of its drivers and the delivery service sector. For example, there are automatic side doors, a large screen with maps and a 360-degree camera view. Amazon, to date, has deployed c10,000 Rivian vans globally, however, this number will increase exponentially in the coming years as we approach 2030-2035. Interestingly, at the Bellingham site, Amazon has installed level 2 chargers, which are less expensive than DC chargers to streamline costs, as the vans come back to the warehouse at night.
The California Energy Commission (CEC) will make a $16m funding program available, next month, to help support and develop commercial hydrogen (re)fuelling infrastructure in California. This program will be called the Energy Infrastructure Incentives for Zero-Emission Commercial Vehicles (EnergIIZE) and will be administered by CALSTART. This will help deploy hydrogen fuelling infrastructure for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and equipment at a reduced cost. Depending on projects meeting certain criteria, applicants could unlock $3-4m per project.
Nissan and Honda are in the midst of exploring a potential strategic partnership, to help accelerate both their electrification goals. Bear in mind, in Japan Toyota is the largest carmaker with Nissan and Honda, both 2nd and 3rd. However, Toyota has seen an unexpected resurgence in its hybrid models resulting in strong sales. In terms of EVs, Nissan has had a fast start compared to the other 2 aforementioned OEMs however the rise and adoption of cheaper Chinese EVs has made it hard for Nissan and Honda to gain more traction in the EV consumer sector. However, the OEMs have signed a MoU and are launching a feasibility study to assess where synergies and opportunities may lie if they were to collaborate. This study will focus on seeing if there are any synergies in automotive software, EV core components, and complementary products.
Deals
Packfleet, a UK-based all-electric package delivery startup, has raised $10m in Series A funding round. This round was led by General Catalyst and Voyager, with Creandum also participating. It currently has a fleet size of c130 electric vans however package delivery volumes grew 5-fold last year, as the last mile sector continues to grow. Packfleet has been growing at a steady pace and will use this capital to increase its fleet size and expand its operations.
Telo, an EV mini-truck OEM, has raised $5.4m via a strategic investment which was led by Neo, with Spero Ventures also participating. This capital will be used to support virtual vehicle safety validation and development towards a road-ready model. The start-up also announced Marc Tarpenning (co-founder of Tesla) will be joining the board, which will strengthen market sentiment over their market strategy and enhance company leadership.
Joyride, a micro-mobility software provider, has announced it has raised $5.2m in a Series A funding round, which was led by Yamaha Motors. Investors such as Urban Innovation Fund, Proeza Ventures and Two Small Fish Ventures also participated. This startup’s platform focuses on merging fleet management and the Internet of Things (IoT) to offer solutions such as branded user applications, backend management tracking software, and automated operational tools. Interestingly, the capital raised will be used on R&D for proprietary technology to (further) penetrate the OEM space by offering hardware-software solutions that will help generate new recurring revenue streams.