Electra Commercial Vehicles Ltd, a company established in 2017 to convert medium and heavy trucks to be fully battery electric, has announced it is to fit a real-time battery monitoring system to all its vehicles as they come off the production line in Blackburn.

Microvast GmbH - a subsidiary of fast charging traction battery producer, Microvast Inc - says it plans to build a battery and e-powertrain R&D/production plant in Ludwigsfelde for the EMEA market.

Mercedes-Benz AG is investing more than one billion Euros to establish a global battery production network for Mercedes-Benz Car operations.

Gearing up for increased future demand of its ultra-high energy batteries, Akasol AG in the last three months has announced several major investments to automate battery production at its two factories in Europe and in the USA.

CV builder, MAN Truck & Bus SE, operator Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg Holstein and automotive giant, Volkswagen AG are involved in a joint research project to evaluate the potential of ‘used’ or ‘second-life’ batteries as a way of storing electricity.

The Competence Center for Emission-Free Mobility has now been the pilot factory for vehicles with alternative drive systems for 25 years, the automotive giant, Daimler AG, announced last month.

FPT Industrial, the powertrain division of CNH Industrial, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with battery producer, Microvast, aimed at an industrial and commercial co-operation to enable FPT Industrial to design and assemble battery packs in-house, at its facility in Turin, which would be then be offered on CNH Industrial vehicles and to third-party customers.

Nikola Corporation has released details of its new battery technology, which is claimed to have a record energy density of 1,100 watt-hours per kg on the material level and 500 watt-hours per kg on the production cell level.

Battery producer, Akasol, which recently opened a new European HQ in Darmstadt, said its future flagship high-energy battery AKASystem AKM CYC, will be produced at Darmstadt, with start of production in 2021 and at its new US headquarters in Detroit starting in 2022 as part of a recently agreed production order from a global commercial vehicle manufacturer.

At Battery Show Europe 2019, Akasol AG presented a wide portfolio of new options for battery cells.

Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation have concluded contracts for business-integration and for a new joint-venture company for automotive battery R&D and manufacture.

Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation, global manufacturer of petrochemicals, fertilisers, industrial polymers and metals, headquartered in Riyad, has taken a majority stake in Black Diamond Structures LLC, a nanotechnology company from Austin, Texas, established in 2014.