Volvo Trucks North America Inc of Greenboro, North Carolina, in announcing the supply of a Volvo VNR Electric to Quality Custom Distribution - the first zero-emission, battery-electric truck to be deployed in QCD’s fleet of more than 700 vehicles – has also announced production of the Class 8 electric truck slated to begin in early 2021 at the company’s New River Valley manufacturing plant in Dublin, Virginia.

Bus builder, Blue Bird Corporation of Fort Valley, Georgia has voiced its support for the newly introduced 'Clean Commute for Kids Act of 2021.' The Act provides purchase assistance for electric school buses and is authorised to provide funding of up to USD2.5bn a year for districts, allowing affordable purchase of electric school buses. 

The Department of Energy in the United States of America has announced availability of USD100m, over four years, regarding the SuperTruck 3 programme and additional funding for low greenhouse gas vehicles.

ROCSYS, Grivix GmbH and VDL Enabling Transport Solutions are working together to develop a robotic charging solution for Heavy Duty Charging under the grant-funded Eurostars project, Autocharge.

A new multi-billion Euro Digital Europe Programme has been given approval by the European Council (EC) to proceed. The programme is aimed at boosting digital transformation by providing funding for rolling out cutting-edge technology in crucial areas such as artificial intelligence, supercomputing and cybersecurity. With a budget of EUR7,588m, the programme is scheduled to run for the period 2021-2027, starting retroactively from January 1, 2021.

Alexander Dennis Ltd of Larbert, part of NFI Group, has secured a further 172 electric bus orders through the Scottish Government’s award of GBP40.5m in funding to bus operators through a second round of the Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme.

A European Union consortium consisting of 25 leading organisations in the hydrogen sector has been established to define, develop and test the first European standard for fuel cell modules for heavy duty applications.

Paris-based Forsee Power, producer of smart battery systems for electro-mobility markets, has secured a loan of EUR50m from the European Investment Bank (EIB) taking finance borrowings in 2020 and to date to EUR105m for investment and in support of its growth into new electromobility markets and geographies.

FPT Industrial is leading a Swiss-funded project aimed at reaching European CO2 emission targets* in 2025 and 2030 by making use of alternative fuels and e-fuels* as possible paths to addressing these challenges.

Horiba MIRA Ltd has invested GBP1.5m installing a new Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory and Battery Abuse Facility at its Nuneaton Proving Ground.

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority in December 2019 said it was looking to cancel its THB20bn new bus purchase plan, as the country’s economy continued to slow sharply in the fourth quarter of the year.

The UK government has pledged GBP5bn to be spent on bus services and to encourage cycling over the next five years, which includes the introduction of at least 4,000 new zero emission buses.