The factory is expected to come on stream in 2025 with an initial annual capacity of 500 electric buses. The Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan has committed to purchasing 200 electric buses from BYD every year from 2025 to 2028.

The manufacturer says it is looking to take on fast-rising competition from Chinese and European manufacturers in the emerging global market for zero-emission commercial vehicles, including hydrogen-powered trucks and buses.

The company will use the funds to add automation capabilities to the production lines by introducing robots. This will increase the production capacity of its Zielona Góra factory, in order to meet the growing demand for EV chargers in Europe.

At this year’s Busworld Turkey, held between 29-31 May at the Istanbul Expo Center, I met with Şikar and Ünlü to discuss the past, present, and future of Maxion Wheels’ business activities in the country. While much of our conversation revolved naturally around the bus and coach industry, I learned a lot about wheel production for all segments, including light vehicles and trucks. Moreover, we talked in depth about what has made Turkey such an attractive location for industry, and why it will continue to be a good place to do business despite the ongoing currency crisis.

The workshop caters for both ICE and e-vans of all brands, including the repair of batteries. Thirty new jobs have been created along with the installation of eight EV chargers for customers.

This will create a network of green hydrogen production facilities for various purposes (international shipping, trucking etc). This aligns with California’s plans to cut CO2 emissions by two million tonnes annually and reach carbon neutrality by 2045.

Creating 200 new jobs, the plant is responsible for producing the Global Scalable Brake Control (GSBC) and Global Scalable Air Treatment (GSAT) products that enable automated driving.

June saw Knorr-Bremse open a new manufacturing plant in Dalian in China’s Liaoning province, as it looks to increase its share of the local market for commercial vehicle braking systems.

The company was previously occupying a shared facility with Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars. The new premises was already home to Daimler Truck UK’s parts logistics centre with a 140,000-square-foot warehouse. 

There were many companies at the latest ACT Expo presenting variations on the theme of what one might call “Electric-Fleet-as-a-service” – that is to say, a contractual relationship where the operator has the upfront costs and hassles of switching to an electric fleet taken out of its hands by a “turnkey” service provider. One such company I spoke with was Revolv, whose CEO, Scott Davidson, feels that terms such as “X-as-a-service” and “turnkey” have been diluted through overuse. “Our product is performance,” he said.

This expansion will boost its annual capacity of light truck and passenger tyres to 18 million annually by 2027. This will help the company service growing demand in the Asia Pacific market.

Almost one year on from pilot production, May 2024 saw VWCO in collaboration with Volkswagen Argentina start series production of four truck models and a bus chassis in Argentina.