Optibus and Stoneridge’s software offerings will be made available by Volvo Bus to pilot customers in selected markets this year.

Domestic sales of bus and coach chassis during January to June of 2024 fell by 21.7%  to 8,860 units, down from 11,322 in the same period of the previous year.

Production of bus and coach bodies in Brazil saw a 4.9% increase in the first six months of this year to 10,851 units from 10,336 units.

Dr Weir will lead the company’s expansion into Europe and North America, according to Zenobē.

Using biomethane in its gas engine, CO2 emissions can be reduced by up to 95% compared with current diesel engines, FPT Industrial states.

June saw Knorr-Bremse open a new manufacturing plant in Dalian in China’s Liaoning province, as it looks to increase its share of the local market for commercial vehicle braking systems.

Stagecoach has ordered another 244 ADL vehicles, 180 Enviro400EV double-deckers and the single-decker 54 Enviro200EVs (10.9m and 11.7m versions). This is the first order for Alexander Dennis’s new integral single-decker.

Now, in an attempt to plug the hole in the budget sheet by producing more buses and therefore fulfilling orders, the company is re-introducing the use of contract manufacturing through assembly partners in China to aid the main factory in Deurne.

The consortium claims that the lithium-ion battery enhanced with Niobium, is an unprecedented innovation in the global automotive industry, offering ultra-fast charging capabilities to achieving full charge in just 10 minutes.

On its website, Spheros is promoting thermal management products for various applications, including buses, refrigerated vehicles, and e-mobility.

At the latest Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, held between 20-23 May at the Las Vegas Convention Center, we spoke to several firms that offer support to operators looking to switch their fleets to electric vehicles. One of the firms we spoke with was Zenobē, a London-based “charging-as-a-service” company with considerable experience already in the passenger transport segment. There is a bewildering number of charging providers in the market, and it can be difficult to tell them apart and assess their individual merits. Now that Zenobē is expanding to the American market, we decided this would be a good time to find out what makes it different from the competition.

There are some ideas that seem so obvious upon their introduction that one wonders why somebody did not think of it earlier. A hands-free charger that automatically plugs into an electric vehicle and unplugs from it when finished surely qualifies as a not-so-obvious obvious idea. It makes perfect sense – given the potential dangers of handling high-voltage equipment, and also given the prospect of driverless vehicles – to develop chargers that do not require a human to operate them. After speaking to Erin Galiger – who is director of the North American market for Dutch tech firm Rocsys – at the latest ACT Expo, I learned that hands-free chargers have several more applications than I had initially expected.