Investment is for initiatives in two primary locations: The Randon branded semi-trailer and railway wagon assembly plant in Caxias do Sul and the Motion Control manufacturing facility, also in Caxais do Sul, which operates under the Frasle Mobility brand name.

The new factory, construction of which is expected to be completed by the end of the year for start of operations in the first quarter of 2025, is to supply driveline components to the truck and bus chassis produced by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil.

T&BB decided to delve into the reasons for this sales success story by interviewing the top management of Stuart Beeton, Head of Sales & Marketing and Peter Murphy, Managing Director of Isuzu Truck UK.

Earlier this month at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC in Birmingham, T&BB spoke to Greg Ethridge, the Chief Financial Officer of American EV manufacturer, Canoo Inc who confirmed that the company had indeed purchased manufacturing assets (robotics and machinery equipment) from now defunct, Arrival Ltd. The manufacturing assets are set to be shipped by sea to the Canoo manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City, in the U.S.A.

The facility houses 65 DC 180kW fast chargers with a capacity to charge 200 electric HGVs a day. Einride claims that this is the largest electric HGV charging station in North America.

Longstanding investors in the vehicle connectivity firm include Cummins, Daimler Truck North America, and Paccar.

The unconfirmed sums are to be invested into InoBat’s R&D and Gigafactory in Voderady, Slovakia, set to come online in Q4 2024.

Volvo NA has not divulged the location of the newly announced plant in Mexico, but it will reportedly cover 1.7m square feet when it is opened for production in two years’ time.

Electric vans developed under the joint venture, called 'Flexis SAS', will be serially manufactured at Sandouville, where Renault has produced over a million mid-sized vans (‘Trafic’) since it opened ten years ago.

As part of the agreement Isuzu states it will make a substantial investment in the local Nagoya-based autonomous driving technology company.

BP Pulse has acquired the 21-acre Ashford International truck stop in Kent with plans to electrify the site with twenty-megawatt chargers in Q1 2026. This acquisition signifies BP’s long-term plan - creating a European-wide EV charging network.

Having announced its ‘E-Mobility kit’ in 2023 – a portfolio of advanced electric drives, auxiliary components and complete systems for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles – ZF says it plans to ramp up production from 2025 to meet demand.