This month, our focus shifts to Europe, where the European Union (EU) has rolled back its CO₂ targets.

Wrightbus’ ‘Streetdeck Hydroliner Gen 2.0’ was developed over four years as part of a project which was 50% funded by a grant from the Advanced Propulsion Centre.

In early 2023, a new name was introduced to the commercial vehicle industry: “Accelera by Cummins”. It was the result of eight separate acquisitions made by parent company Cummins Inc over a period of as many years, all of them connected, albeit in different ways, to zero-emission technology. Naturally, Cummins wished to differentiate its new purchases from its ongoing engine business, and it is not the only legacy manufacturer to attempt a rebrand for its electric vehicle products (a la General Motors’ “Brightdrop” and Shyft Group’s “Blue Arc”). But it also aims to weld its acquisitions together into a single, cohesive unit capable of delivering “end-to-end electric solutions”. Molly Hale – who is the marketing communications manager for Accelera – explained: “There was this belief that we needed to have an identity all our own, to go to the market and explain the depth of the commitment and the depth of the investments in these technologies.”

The aim of the project is to convert, rather than replace, current engines on the road, which would negate the need for “significant investment in supply chain manufacturing and assembly infrastructure”.

Research expected to open up new markets for KGM.

The vehicle in question – a battery electric ‘Enviro100’ which has been retrofitted with Fusion’s ‘CAVstar’ automated driving system – is now being tested in order to calibrate and fine tune the self-driving system before it is put into service.

These 85 low- and zero-emission trucks make up almost 10% of the retailer’s total fleet.

Perrone will supply four Ford ‘E-Transit’ vans, which will be converted to carry passengers and retrofitted with its ‘TONY AV’ kit, allowing them to drive autonomously.

Together with the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, Wabash will develop a refrigerated truck body/trailer solution made with composite materials and installed with lightweight solar panels.

Zhija, established in 2016, is understood to be the first company in China to be awarded a licence to carry out heavy-duty autonomous truck trials on the country’s open roads.

The Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer says it produced a new transmissions system on its main assembly line using some remanufactured parts from old gearboxes.

Part of its ‘Eckstreme’ series of twin-deckers, the new trailer sits on three axles and weighs about 450 kilograms less than previous iterations in the range.