▲ Picture source BYD official, the same below

Developed to meet the specific needs of Coca-Cola FEMSA’s operations in Mexico, the electric cargo truck is said to have a chassis that can accommodate up to 14 low-bed pallets and meets the safety standards of bottlers and Coca-Cola. The vehicles are battery-powered, with a charging time of 1.5 to 2 hours, and can accommodate 8, 10 or 12 pallets.

The partnership’s electric trucks will undergo a six- to eight-month pilot starting in October 2023 and will operate on different routes in the Valley of Mexico in accordance with testing requirements designed by the Coca-Cola FEMSA Transportation Committee.

BYD Mexico and Coca-Cola FEMSA have been working together since March 2021 to develop trucks equipped with 14 low-bed pallets to provide electric logistics solutions for the beverage industry. To date, Coca-Cola FEMSA has 26 BYD electric vehicles in Mexico, including forklifts, vans, light trucks and sales vehicles.

The public information was informed that the FEMSA company was founded in 1890, headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, is a well-known beverage company in Latin America, owns 47.9% of the shares of the world-renowned Coca-Cola bottling company CocaCola FEMSA (The Coca-Cola Company shareholding 28.1%), mainly to help Coca-Cola produce a variety of beverages for Coca-Cola.

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Daimler has launched the Mercedes-Benz eActros, which can haul 22 tons of cargo around 500 kilometers on a full charge. MAN, a brand of Traton SE, is showing off a 40-ton electric truck that can be charged quickly. Volvo is offering visitors a test drive of its electric truck.

The key question executives in the electric truck space must answer, however, is how long it will take their heavy-duty electric vehicles to get from the showroom to the highway. High battery prices and a nearly non-existent truck charging network remain significant obstacles, with transport companies weighing whether it is worth continuing to invest heavily amid Europe’s unprecedented energy crisis and a slowing global economy.

BloombergNEF analyst Nikolas Soulopolous said: “There are already a lot of electric trucks on the market, but their adoption has been slow, especially in Europe. Capacity is still ramping up slowly and there is not enough suitable public The charging network is available and truck batteries are still expensive.”

Still, pressure to transition to electrification in the trucking industry remains. European companies operating in urban areas need to comply with stricter truck regulations as cities work to improve air quality. Electrifying heavy-duty vehicles will be key to combating climate change, as they produce about a quarter of EU road transport emissions.

Europe wants the industry to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new trucks by 30 percent by 2030, and most manufacturers are betting that batteries, rather than hydrogen fuel cells, will be the dominant technology to achieve this. However, most European countries do not have similar measures compared to the US plan to offer a $40,000 subsidy to buyers of electric heavy-duty trucks.

Traton, a Volkswagen Group brand, has pledged to eliminate fossil fuels for half of its trucks by 2030. Its Scania brand this year delivered an 80-ton electric truck to forest company SCA, which is using it to transport timber in northern Sweden. Last week, Volvo began mass production of heavy-duty electric trucks and said it has sold more than 2,600 battery-powered trucks.

“For some use cases, especially shorter urban mileages, the total cost of ownership of battery-electric trucks could soon fall to that of diesel vehicles,” said BloombergNEF analyst Solobolos.

Currently, the mass production schedules for electric trucks vary by major manufacturers, as they are still struggling to increase production capacity and obtain enough parts. Daimler’s eActros won’t hit series production until 2024, and MAN’s trucks won’t start production until 2025.

Nikola, which plans to unveil the fuel cell Tre FCEV Beta at this week’s auto show, has delivered just a few dozen trucks and may now be distracted by the criminal fraud trial of its founder, Trevor Milton. Tesla has delayed production of its electric truck, the Semi, several times.

Volvo, Traton and Daimler plan to spend 500 million euros ($498 million) over the next five years to build at least 1,700 charging stations for heavy-duty electric vehicles in Europe. Daimler has also launched a similar project with the US company BlackRock, which is working to improve batteries and speed up charging.

Romed Kelp, a partner at consultancy Oliver Wyman, said: “Europe needs a fairly dense network of high-speed truck charging to facilitate wider adoption of long-distance battery-powered electric trucks. First, the right locations need to be identified, But it is unclear whether the energy infrastructure in some of these locations is ready to handle the surge in demand.”

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With these additions, Volvo Trucks has six electric truck models worldwide – the industry’s broadest range of electric trucks.

This is a milestone that proves we are leading the transformation of the industry. It is less than two years since we first demonstrated our heavy-duty electric trucks. Now we are increasing production and delivering these outstanding trucks to customers throughout Europe and later to customers in Asia, Australia and Latin America,” said Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks.

Series production of Volvo’s heaviest electric trucks will begin at the Tuve plant in Gothenburg, Sweden, followed by a plant in Ghent, Belgium, next year. Volvo produces electric trucks on the same production lines as conventional trucks, resulting in increased production flexibility and efficiency. The batteries are supplied by Volvo Trucks’ new battery assembly plant in Ghent.

Demand for electric trucks is growing rapidly in many markets, with one driver being the need for transport buyers to move to fossil-free transport in order to meet their sustainability goals. Volvo Trucks’ electric portfolio covers about 45 percent of all goods transported in Europe today. (According to Eurostat’s “Road freight by distance” (2018), 45% of goods transported by road in Europe travel less than 300 km.)

“We have sold around 1,000 heavy-duty electric trucks and over 2,600 electric trucks. We expect sales to increase significantly in the coming years. By 2030, at least 50 percent of the trucks we sell worldwide will be electric,” commented Roger Alm.

Volvo Trucks’ six electric truck model range covers a wide range of applications such as urban distribution and waste disposal, regional transport and construction work.

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Cedar Park, Texas-based Hyliion will also pay $15 million in cash for General Electric’s assets, as well as related intellectual property and some of the 3D printers needed to manufacture the generators.

Image credit: Hyliion

The deal will commercialize the invention of GE Additive, the 3-D printing division of General Electric Group that was created through an acquisition prior to the arrival of current CEO Larry Culp. The division is housed in GE’s aerospace division.

Currently, several electric vehicle startups are looking for partners to increase their respective chances of survival in the currently depressed market. Not long ago, Canoo reached an agreement with Walmart to sell its electric cars to the latter, while Nikola announced that it had acquired battery startup Romeo Power.

Hyliion is one of a number of electric vehicle-related startups that completed their IPOs through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). As of Aug. 24, the company’s stock price was down about 40% this year and it has fallen about 90% since its IPO in October 2020.

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According to Collider, Loschelle previously held the position of chief financial officer (CFO) at Volkswagen Group of America for less than five years.

He joined Nicola as president in February 2022 and has already achieved some notable accomplishments, including making a significant impact in driving the series production of the Tre all-electric vehicle and achieving development milestones for the Tre fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV).

Prior to joining Nicola, he was CEO of Opel, leading the company to sustainable profitability and overseeing its transformation into a leading electric vehicle brand.

According to foreign media reports, Locherer will succeed Mark Russell as CEO and immediately join Nicola’s board of directors, while Russell, Nicola’s current CEO and president, will retire on Jan. 1, 2023. Although Russell will retire from the CEO position, he will remain a member of the company’s board of directors.

Russell, 59, joins Nicola as president in 2019 and succeeds Nicola founder Trevor Milton as CEO in 2020. Milton is reportedly accused of lying about the company’s situation and deceiving investors.

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Original title: Tesla Semi to receive up to $40,000 in subsidies

Last week, the U.S. Senate’s announcement of the Reducing Inflation Act of 2022 sparked concern in the auto industry about federal electric vehicle tax credit reform, which would bring back incentives for Tesla and GM electric vehicle buyers. There are other elements of the bill that relate to electric vehicles. For example, a section related to “commercial clean vehicles,” which is expected to apply to electric trucks, would provide incentives of up to $40,000 for commercial clean vehicles weighing more than 14,000 pounds.

The bill indicates that the amount provided will not exceed $7,500 for qualified commercial clean vehicles (A) with a gross weight of less than 14,000 pounds and $40,000 for qualified commercial clean vehicles that are not in category (A). This may be primarily to encourage sales of electric semi-trailer trucks such as the Tesla Semi, Daimler Freightliner Cascadia, or even hydrogen fuel cell trucks such as those produced by Nikola.

For example, the Tesla Semi has a starting price of $150,000, and at that price point, electric trucks already cost more per mile to operate than the diesel trucks that currently dominate the trucking industry. The $40,000 incentive, however, would bring the starting price of the Tesla Semi down to $110,000 and would make the cost per mile of this electric truck more competitive. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, if passed, would be an incentive at the federal level, but there are also some incentives for commercial electric trucks in U.S. states, such as California.

However, such incentives are primarily driving demand, and demand is no longer an issue for electric trucks such as the Tesla Semi. Tesla is reported to have a backlog of orders for thousands of Semi’s. Currently, the main issue facing electric trucks is increasing production, including electric semi-trailers and the required batteries. It is reported that each type of electric semi truck requires 5 to 10 times more cells than a regular electric car.

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