Ford Motor Co, based in Dearborn, Michigan, USA, SK On Co Ltd, based in Seoul, South Korea, and Koç Holding, based in Istanbul, Turkey, have signed a memorandum of understanding for a new joint venture in Turkey. The proposed JV would lead to the creation of one of the largest commercial vehicle electric battery facilities in the European region.

Cummins Inc, based in Columbus, Indiana, has announced that its new Hydrogen Fuel Cell Systems Production Center in Herten, Germany, is now operational. The facility has an initial annual production capacity of 10MW for fuel cell system engineering and assembly.

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation, based in Kawasaki City, Japan, has unveiled the next generation eCanter test vehicle. Prior to the official launch, the test vehicles are destined to undergo a total test distance of over 1 million km, which includes testing in severe hot and cold climates both domestically and abroad.

Paris-based Keolis Group has announced the creation of a wholly owned subsidiary, called Hove, for the design and deployment of digital tools to assist shared mobility. The digital product offering is targeted at public transport authorities and is based on the analysis of mobility data, aiming to improve the understanding of public mobility within a local region. Created out of a merger between Kisio Digital and the Kisi Services & Consulting data team, the new company brings together 110 mobility data staff from the Keolis Group.

Grzegorz Patynek, CEO and Co-founder of digital monitoring start-up CO3* (a software supplier for transport and logistics) explains to Truck & Bus Builder how the logistics industry must adapt to take advantage of new technologies.

Allison Transmission Inc, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, has unveiled a new 96,000-square-foot facility at its headquarters. The centre features enhanced technology development and validation capabilities, and will also consolidate teams from multiple locations into a single facility.

BAE Systems Inc, headquartered in Endicott, New York, has announced it is to supply the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transport Authority (SEPTA) with up to 340 Series-ER hybrid electric drive systems for its new fleet of low emission transit buses.

General Motors Company’s subsidiary BrightDrop Inc, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, has rebranded its electric product range. It’s delivery vehicles, first dubbed the EV600 and EV410, have been renamed the Zevo 600 and Zevo 400, respectively.

BYD has recieved an order for 200 Class 8 battery electric trucks from Swedish technology firm Einride. The order represents the largest of its kind for BYD outside of Asia, with all 200 vehicles set to be deployed in Einride's US operations. The BYD 8TT trucks are assembled at the firm's plant in Lancaster, California.

Engineers at the Swedish firm evaluated the pre-conditioning and thermal stability of the battery, defrosting and demisting, and traction performance in difficult climatic conditions.

Virtual Vehicle is an open OEM platform developed by Platform Science which enables access to real-time vehicle data and third-party applications directly from the vehicle onboard telematics.

Sales revenues for the group increased by 17.5% over 2020, while reported earnings were EUR1.9bn, a 9% margin.