The price of steel charged by producers in Brazil in the last 12 months has increased by almost 100%, according to Norberto Fabris, president of ANFIR - National Association of Manufacturers of Road Implements.

The National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers of São Paulo, SP, which represents the vehicle manufacturing sector in Brazil, has asked the Brazilian government to postpone the implementation date of stricter Proconve 8 (Euro VI) emission rules from diesel engines in commercial vehicles, which were adopted in 2018 and are scheduled for implementation in 2022.

Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus exported 180 units to Uruguay in the first quarter this year, some 291.3% higher than in the same period of 2020. In March it sold 100 vehicles, which VWCO suggests was the largest volume it has ever sold in a single month.

According to data from the National Association for Sustainable Mobility (ANDEMOS) of Bogotá, the Colombian commercial vehicle market ended the first quarter of 2021 with total sales of 6,856 heavy commercial vehicles.

According to data released by the National Automotive Association of Chile (ANAC) based in Santiago, sales of commercial vehicles in the first quarter of 2021 grew by 30.1% over the same period last year.

Data collated and analysed by ANFIR (National Association of Manufacturers of Road Implements) of São Paulo, reveals that, despite the pandemic, the market for road implements (trailers and truck bodywork) in the first quarter of 2021 finished with substantial growth.

Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles, trucks and buses of 10.5t gvw and above, in Argentina rose by 63.1% in the first quarter of 2021 to 3,984 units compared with 2,443 units sold in the same period of 2020.

Truck manufacturers and environmentalists have joined forces to push for the deployment of 11,000 charging points for electric trucks across the EU by 2025, rising to 42,000 by 2030.

A European Union consortium consisting of 25 leading organisations in the hydrogen sector has been established to define, develop and test the first European standard for fuel cell modules for heavy duty applications.

A group of Japanese companies in December 2020 established the Japan Hydrogen Association, an association dedicated to the promotion of a global hydrogen-based eco-system.

Solaris Bus & Coach SA has joined a consortium including battery system manufacturer and supplier to Solaris, and power generation and energy distributor, TAURON Polska Energia SA to implement a project titled ‘Second Life ESS’ aimed at creating a prototype system to store electric energy based on used bus batteries.

Solaris Bus & Coach SA has joined the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance. Its aim is to scale-up, by 2030, production and deployment of hydrogen as a fuel, produced by means of low-emission technologies and renewable energy sources.