Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) for the government of India, has announced it plans to implement a ‘Star Rating’ system for tyres, which will be based also on standards set by the European Union; ‘Tyre Labelling’ standards set under the regulation UNECE R 117.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) had issued draft notification amendments to mandate installation of fire detection and alarm systems in all new school and intercity buses throughout the vehicle, which now includes the passenger compartment in addition to the engine compartment.

Switch Mobility Ltd of Sherburn-in-Elmet, a developer of electrified buses and light commercial vehicles, has announced the creation of two subsidiary companies to support its global expansion plans.

While the European market is growing at a phenomenal rate – the European electric bus market is forecast to grow from 2,114 units registered in 2020 to more than 12,760 units in 2030 - the market in Asia really accounts for the lion share of the electric city bus market, stated Rueben Scriven - Senior Analyst at Interact Analysis, during an on-line presentation at the Sustainability Bus conference last month.

Truck, bus and trailer builder, Ashok Leyland Ltd of Chennai, has launched its 4-axle (14-wheeler) 8x2 DTLA (dual-tyre-lift-axle) AVTR 41201 truck, which offers an additional 5-tonne payload compared with its standard 8x2 truck models.

Apollo Tyres Ltd of Gurugram, has launched Abhimanyu, a new cross-ply (or bias) tyre for steer axles in CVs.

Truck giant, Tata Motors Ltd of Mumbai, has launched its new variant in M&HCV segment – the Tata Signa 3118.T1 – a 3-axle 6×2 rigid truck with a gross vehicle weight (gvw) of 31 tons featuring a 12.5t dual tyre lift-axle.

Sterling and Wilson Pvt Ltd (SWPL) of Chennai - a Shapoorji Pallonji Group company and one of India’s leading engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies - has announced that it is diversifying in the electric mobility segment in India through an agreement with Italian electric charging infrastructure company, Enel X of Rome, Italy, a subsidiary of the Enel Group.

Apollo Tyres Ltd of Gurugram, has received approval with ISO/IEC 17025 for wet grip and coast-by (run by) noise tyre tests on its track situated in Oragadam, Chennai, which is supported by the Global Automotive Research Centre (GARC) of Chennai to introduce tyre labelling and certification tests in India.

Swiss energy company, ABB Ltd of Zurich, Switzerland and Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com Inc company based in Bangalore, are to collaborate on joint development of a cloud-based digital solution for the real-time fleet management of electric vehicles. The solution aims to optimise the efficient use of electric vehicles and speed up the electrification of transport fleets.

Electric truck developer, Tevva Motors Ltd of Chelmsford, UK has successfully raised USD12.5m (GBP9m) in capital finance in a funding round that it states was over-subscribed.

Following a 12-month review of its UK and European operations, Manchester-based MWheels Ltd in the UK has rebranded as The Wheel Hub and Wheel HUB GmbH in Germany.