Last year Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus announced plans to allocate BRA110m million (USD27m) to make the necessary adjustments at its Resende (RJ) plant to tailor its production lines to begin assembling electric trucks as soon as 2020.

Hyundai Motor Company has developed a remote monitoring system for electric bus fleets that provides real-time information such as vehicle location, battery levels and other key data.

Tata Motors Ltd has been awarded a contract to supply 300 electric buses by Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd, a subsidiary of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, which has responsibility for operating the BRTS buses.

Small and medium-duty bus builder, Volare SA, a subsidiary of Marcopolo S.A., is planning to intensify export sales to countries in Africa.

Volkswagen Trucks and Buses presented at the NTU National Seminar, held in Brasilia at the end of August, the first 15m city bus with second directional front axle in the country.

BMB Mode Center Ltda, the vehicle modification specialist for Volkswagen Trucks and Buses, has just completed 18 years of operations, manufacturing some 135,000 custom-built bodies in that timeframe.

Bus manufacturer, Otokar, used the UITP Congress in Stockholm last month to launch its first full-sized electric bus.

Volvo Bus Corporation announced at UITP in Stockholm an all-electric articulated bus with space for up to 150 passengers for market introduction from this autumn.

With its first electric bus orders having taken place to Strasburg last December, series production has started for Alstom’s purpose-designed full electric 12m Aptis city buses at its two factories near Alsace.

Pailton Engineering, the steering system manufacturer, has invested in a low volume production cell specifically for small batch orders and pre-production sample manufacturing.