Transport for London, through its Better Bus Partnerships programme, has made £30m worth of funding available to help improve bus infrastructure and operational improvements in 3 (yet to be named) boroughs. Another £50m of funding, for all boroughs, has been announced that focuses on delivering road safety improvements, as part of the Mayor’s Vision Zero goal. The Better Bus Partnerships programme focuses on improving journey times, better management of roads, reducing delays to buses, and improvements to stops/stations.
Xpeng has established project houses, in Guangzhou and Hefei, for engineers in partnership with Volkswagen (VW) to accelerate the development process of new EV architecture. To recap, in 2023, Xpeng and VW formed a partnership, when VW bought 4.99% of Xpeng for c$700m, with the ambition to jointly launch 2 VW branded EV models by 2026. The aforementioned houses aim to help both parties begin production for jointly developed architecture such as the configuration of electronic components, modules, and networks to be used in their EVs by 2026.
First Bus announced that 32 of its Wrightbus StreetDeck double-deckers will be repowered to battery electric buses by NewPower UK. In the coming months, these repowered buses will be deployed in Aberdeen, Leeds, Leicester, Norwich and Portsmouth. To recap, NewPower states that the conversion can extend the vehicle’s lifespan by up to 10 years, with each bus completed in as little as 3 weeks. We champion this immediate solution as it helps bus operators, such as First Bus, become fully electric by 2035. The repowering process includes removing the engine, gearbox, fuel tank, radiator and other components before installation of batteries and the electric drive system.
The Spanish Government has announced it will be allocating €2.3bn towards 4 new subsidy programmes, including €1.2bn for renewable hydrogen hubs. Of the €2.3bn, €750m will focus on building out supply chains for green technologies, including manufacturing sites for wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, heat pumps and electrolysers. The remaining €350m will be directed towards supporting community energy schemes and the installation of renewables, especially in agricultural areas.
Ursula von der Leyen won a second 5-year term as European Commission President. Since re-election one of the key areas/initiatives that she has committed to carry on championing is the Green Deal strategy for hydrogen and clean energy. The Green Deal strives to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Furthermore, by 2050, green hydrogen should be a key technology, with around 25% of the EU’s renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen.
Arriva London has announced it has placed an order for 51 Volvo BZL Electric Double Deck buses, which will be deployed from Arriva’s Tottenham garage to operate on the (newly contracted) 341 and 243 routes. These new buses, which are pencilled in to be delivered in 2025, will be powered by Volvo’s 200kW electric driveline and equipped with 5 lithium-ion batteries, providing a total energy storage capacity of 470kWh.
Starbucks has announced it will be teaming up with Mercedes Benz High-Power Charging to add DC fast chargers at 100 Starbucks locations. These Starbucks will be along the Interstate 5 corridor, which is a 1,400-mile West Coast thoroughfare between Canada and Mexico. Mercedes has invested c$1bn into its charging network and has set itself an ambitious goal of setting up over 2,500 high-powered chargers in 400 hubs by 2027. This team-up also benefits Starbucks as it has a target to cut carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.
Deals
itselectric, a Brooklyn-based EV charging startup, has announced it has raised $6.5m in a Seed round, which Failup Ventures and Uber Technologies led. Investors such as Halogen Ventures, The Partnership Fund for NYC, Pulse Fund, Newlab, Gratitude Railroad, Tale VP, Equity Alliance Fund, LACI Impact Fund, and The Helm also participated. This startup has identified the ride-hailing sector to go after, as states such as New York and California have mandated all rideshare drivers have to transition to zero-emission vehicles by 2030. The majority of the funding will be used to help rollout its EV charging solution across 7 cities in the USA this year.
Carwow, an online car buying and selling marketplace, has announced it has secured $52m in investment from the likes of Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel and Balderton. A significant amount of the investment will be used to expand and enhance its position in the UK. Since its inception, in 2009, the company has helped more than 10m customers and in 2023 its platform facilitated the purchase of cars worth nearly £3bn.
Peak Energy, an energy-storage startup, has announced it has raised $55m in a Series A funding round, led by Xora Innovation. It will use the capital to develop and scale up production of sodium-ion batteries, with a goal of opening a US factory by 2026. One of the hot sub-sectors in the EV sector, that is gaining a lot of investment, is alternative EV batteries that do not use/focus on lithium-ion technology. Sodium-ion batteries, in theory, have a longer cycle life and are safer than lithium batteries. Interestingly, this startup sources its sodium ions from natural rock salts and brines, such as soda ash, that are easily available and cheaper than lithium.