These funds are to be used for supplying and operating electric buses under the Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model in multiple states across India in a phased manner.

At Euro Bus Expo 2024, T&BB spoke with a new name in the turnkey electrification sector: VEV Services Ltd of London, incorporated two years ago and starting business at the beginning of last year.

Addiante is a joint venture company of steel maker, formed by Gerdau SA of Porto Alegre, and Randoncorp of Caxias do Sul, set up in 2022, specializing in the leasing of heavy vehicles, implements and machinery.

The funding is to be used to support deployment of 350 fully air-conditioned, 9-metre electric buses across eight cities in Uttar Pradesh.

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 were many companies at the latest ACT Expo presenting variations on the theme of what one might call “Electric-Fleet-as-a-service” – that is to say, a contractual relationship where the operator has the upfront costs and hassles of switching to an electric fleet taken out of its hands by a “turnkey” service provider. One such company I spoke with was Revolv, whose CEO, Scott Davidson, feels that terms such as “X-as-a-service” and “turnkey” have been diluted through overuse. “Our product is performance,” he said.

Volvo on Demand is the company’s own interpretation of the ‘Truck-as-a-Service’ concept, providing the customer with everything he needs to operate an electric vehicle.

The company says it is introducing “a suite of comprehensive ownership solutions” for its entire line of battery electric vehicles.

Depot360 provides a comprehensive service, from initial consultation to depot design, construction, commissioning, and management.

Amanda Figg is now AAG’s new Chief Technology Officer. Figg is tasked with leveraging data and new technologies to unlock new business opportunities as well as better support AAG’s existing customers.

The Commonwealth Development Bank (CBA) of Australia has agreed to an USD 80 million electric school bus finance package with Australian distributor GoZero, to fund the replacement of diesel school buses starting in Sydney.

AAG is heading into the bus and coach rental market, so T&BB set up an interview with Martyn Bellis, Commercial Director of Bus & Coach at AAG, to get a better understanding of the company’s strategy to double its turnover in bus and coach from GBP500m currently to GBP1bn in the next three years!