Toyota's plug-in hybrid PHV (photovoltaic hybrid vehicle) might have an upgrade. Recently, Sharp, Toyota and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in Japan worked together on a new Prius PHV project. They upgraded the demo car to 34% ultra-high conversion efficiency PV panels. They plan for the demo car to go on public road trials by late July. ...  more

Battery electric vehicles (BEV) have been on the agenda of most auto makers. However, recently during BMW's NextGen event in Munich, BMW executive and board member Klaus Fröhlich surprisingly expressed to reporters that EVs are overhyped. "There are no customer requests for BEVs. None." ...  more

German battery firm Akasol has announced plans to invest 2 million euros for the construction of a factory near Detroit to produce automotive batteries for electric trucks and buses. The factory’s projected annual capacity is estimated at around 400 MWh.  ...  more

In order to alleviate its exclusive reliance on Panasonic, Tesla is conducting R&D on its automotive batteries for in-house production, thereby lowering its production costs and raising manufacturing flexibility, according to inside sources. ...  more

Ever since Gogoro Inc. and Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co. Ltd. announced that they formed a strategic partnership in 2018, consumers in Taiwan have been waiting in eager anticipation to see what sparks of innovation will come from the collaboration between the two companies. After months of speculations, Yamaha finally unveiled the EC-05, its first e-scooter jointly developed with Gogoro, at a press conference on June 27. ...  more

Rockwell Automation, a leading solutions and services provider to the automotive industry, has opened a new 8,000 square-foot Electric Vehicle (EV) Innovation Center at 111 North Market Street in San Jose, California, within its Information Solutions development facility. ...  more

United Renewable Energy Co., Ltd. (URE), a leading PV power firm in Taiwan, will roll out a hydrogen-fueled motorcycle in Q4, announced Hung Chuan-hsien, chairman, at the shareholders' meeting on June 16. ...  more

East Japan Railway Company will develop hydrogen fuel/lithium battery train, dubbed as "FV-E991," which is scheduled for test run in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2021 before formal launch by 2024, according to a news release of the company. ...  more

In a joint venture with Gogoro, Yamaha Taiwan is scheduled to roll out an e-scooter in Aug. 2019. ...  more

Taiwan’s Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd. (KYMCO) held a press event on 5 June to introduce its electric scooter (e-scooter) charging network Ionex 2.0 and four new models of e-scooters. ...  more