This year, coach building specialist, MCI, is offering 100% battery electric versions of its best-selling coach models for tour, charter and employee shuttle application, the 35ft, J3500 model and the 45ft, J4500 coach model, according to JP Pelletier, VP Engineering MCI NFI Group - Coach Business, announcing this during a presentation at the Busworld Academy North America held during the ABA Marketplace 2020 in Omaha earlier this year.

“At Navistar we are power agnostic, we offer diesel (Cummins), gasoline (PSI), gas (PSI) and in the near future, electric powered vehicles,” stated Gary Horvat,  Navistar, Vice President eMobility.

“The buzz word right now is zero emissions, and whenever someone talks about zero missions, we go straight to battery electric, but that is not the only option,” were some of the opening remarks made by Jeff Madura – Van Hool, Director of Public Sector Sales, North America in a presentation on Van Hool’s role on new technologies.

While hydrogen still has less of a market share than many other alternative fuels, it has some compelling advantages as a fuel: It offers zero emissions, especially for heavy-duty vehicles that require fast fill times and a lot of on board energy storage, stated Erik Bigelow, Center for Transportation and the Environment.

For heavy duty and medium duty vehicles, natural gas makes a lot of sense, stated Daniel Gage, president, Natural Gas Vehicles for America in his compelling presentation at the Busworld Academy at the ABA Marketplace 2020 event held in Omaha, Nebraska, USA in January 2020.

At what proved to be two days of very high-level seminars earlier this year by speakers from around the world on various subjects associated with public passenger transport and mobility at ABA’s Marketplace 2020 convention in Omaha - organized by Busworld Academy together with the American Bus Association - Busworld announced it was taking the partnership a major step further in 2021 with the launch of the first Busworld North America exhibition.

January 2020 saw Hap Seng Trucks Distribution Sdn Bhd and Daimler Trucks Asia launch a new heavy Fuso truck, the Mitsubishi-Fuso FJ1828R on the Malaysian market.

February saw UD Trucks appoint Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery Co Ltd, as its exclusive importer and distributor of trucks, parts and aftermarket services in Saudi Arabia following the termination of a similar agreement with the Rolaco Group.

Technology partnership manufacturer, Pinnacle Industries Ltd, has partnered with Phylion Battery Company Ltd to establish a lithium-ion battery assembly facility in Maharashtra.

Electric power conversion specialist, Equipmake Ltd has opened a factory in Snetterton where it plans to design and manufacture fully-integrated electric bus chassis for an increasingly international customer base.

Colorado-based Lightning Systems, a developer of zero-emission drivetrains, has raised USD41m in equity, debt and working capital funding from existing and new investors.

Bus assembly, repair and service group, Terus Maju Services Sdn Bhd has launched the TMS bus chassis on the local market, which is in fact supplied by Chinese bus manufacturer, Zhongtong Bus Holding Company of Liaocheng, Shandong Province.