Higer imports buses to South America via a JV in Brazil.

Earlier this month at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC in Birmingham, T&BB spoke to Greg Ethridge, the Chief Financial Officer of American EV manufacturer, Canoo Inc who confirmed that the company had indeed purchased manufacturing assets (robotics and machinery equipment) from now defunct, Arrival Ltd. The manufacturing assets are set to be shipped by sea to the Canoo manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City, in the U.S.A.

February saw PepsiCo take delivery of its first electric heavy-duty truck in Brazil; a semi-heavy rigid (15t ≤ gvw up to 40 tons) P25 6x2 Scania truck, produced in Sweden, which is to be used for internal logistics goods distribution operations between PepsiCo’s four factories* in the state of São Paulo.

According to the latest agreement, the companies plan to co-develop electric heavy-duty trucks (both battery-electric and fuel-cell electric) for the European market.

Siemens has launched the 400kW DC SICHARGE D fast charger for the electric HGV market. The charger allows for up to four vehicles to be charged simultaneously using only one grid connection, optimising space and delivering financing savings for Charge Point Operators (CPOs).

Using EasyMile’s autonomous driving technology and Rocsys’ ‘ROC-1’ hands-free charger, the two companies plan to completely automate the process of recharging a self-driving electric vehicle.

Autocar Chairman, Andrew Taitz said that setting up hands-free charging at terminals would improve efficiency and therefore boost productivity in yard operations.

The planned charging station will be located near Varberg, a settlement which lies between the cities of Gothenburg and Malmö and is reportedly a popular stop-off point for hauliers.

The facility houses 65 DC 180kW fast chargers with a capacity to charge 200 electric HGVs a day. Einride claims that this is the largest electric HGV charging station in North America.

The 60 GWh gigafactory, called ‘Northvolt Drei’, is being built in the town of Heide in Schleswig-Holstein.

Longstanding investors in the vehicle connectivity firm include Cummins, Daimler Truck North America, and Paccar.

“The 5,000 Hydrogen Vehicle Challenge”, a government programme which supported the development of the fuel station, says the opening of the station on Highway 2 marked a “significant milestone” in its project to put 5,000 hydrogen or dual fuel vehicles on the road in Alberta province.