The prototype, dubbed ‘Alumotor’, is a synchronous reluctance motor which does not require rare earth metals or cobalt in order to work.

At the plant inauguration, MAN announced that it would invest a further EUR150m to kickstart production of battery modules, i.e., assembled battery cells which are installed in the packs.

Made for incorporation in an air conditioning system in a passenger car or commercial vehicle, the radial fan is 15% more efficient and 60% quieter than a conventional design, according to Mahle.

These 12-metre electric city buses will be built in New South Wales and feature a stainless steel chassis and aluminium side panels.

According to a Volvo spokesman, the market has been negatively impacted by “uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs”.

Production and sales of the OptiLock range will be transferred to a location in Nieuwerkerk aan den Ijssel in the Netherlands.

Locations affected by the measures include Gilching, Hengersberg, Neubrandenberg, and Utting, in addition to the headquarters.

In the next several years, Siemens will establish a “Global AI Manufacturing Technologies Research and Development Center for Battery Production” which will initially focus on electric vehicle battery production.

At the event, the company announced that it plans to commence commercial availability of the propane-powered stripped chassis in the second quarter of 2026.

The Israeli company successfully raised USD36.4m from offering its shares to a group of strategic investors, which “strengthens [the company’s] cash position ahead of planned vehicle deliveries”.

Readers of Truck & Bus Builder will be accustomed by now to news stories reporting the demise of yet another electric vehicle startup. Particularly in Britain and in the USA, several new companies in receipt of millions of dollars of investors’ money – either through venture capital funding rounds or the stock market – have faltered in the past year, reducing their business activities to a fraction of their original scope or ceasing to trade altogether. Yet, in late 2024, while all of this was going on, a small British firm successfully raised a sum of GBP17.3m from investors who could justifiably have refused to cough up a single penny towards yet another electric vehicle proposition. Bucking the trend, Sunswap Ltd is showing that a new entrant can bring out a product that is economically as well as environmentally sustainable.

The group - including the DAF, Kenworth, and Peterbilt truck brands - achieved total revenues of USD33,663.8m in 2024.