Xiaomi has announced it has bought a site, in Beijing, for $116m which it intends to utilise to expand its EV production capabilities, following strong demand for its debut sedan. This 131-acre site is situated close to its existing EV factory in the Yizhuang district. This is all part of the company's $10bn plan to become a major player in the EV market. Xiaomi has, so far, done very well, as it delivered 30,000 cars and is on course to hit its 2024 sales target of 100,000 vehicles as soon as November. Bear in mind Xiaomi is predominantly known as a successful smartphone maker. Whilst many of its domestic competitors are struggling, Xiaomi is successfully carving out its niche. It is important to remember these are very early days for the company and sustaining strong demand will be a challenge it will face later on.
Nottingham City Transport (NCT) has announced it has placed an order for 14 Yutong battery-electric single-deckers; eleven E10 models and three E12s. These buses are pencilled in to be delivered H1 26 and with this latest order, the municipal operator will have 62 Yutong’s operating in its area. These buses are partly funded by the ZEBRA scheme which was awarded to Nottingham City Council. 24 Yutongs are already operating in the area, with another 24 to be introduced in H1 25. The first batch of Yutong buses has been performing well, with NCT reporting an energy efficiency increase of 10%.
South Pasadena Police Department has made history by becoming America’s 1st law enforcement agency to replace all gasoline-powered vehicles with EVs. Enterprise Fleet Management helped acquire 10 Tesla Model Y and 10 Tesla Model 3s for the police force’s new EV fleet. There is also new EV charging infrastructure that has been installed at South Pasadena City Hall. The final part of this electrification project is to install solar-powered backup systems for essential city buildings, which are still ongoing. This shift to electrification is expected to save c$4,000 per vehicle annually on energy costs and additional savings on maintenance.
The European Commission has given state-aid approval for a €998m subsidy auction scheme put forward by the Dutch government, which seeks to support at least 200MW of new green hydrogen production capacity. The bidding process will be completed by the end of 2024 and tenders will be open to projects with a capacity of at least 0.5MW. The Dutch government is firmly behind this scheme as it will provide direct grants worth up to 80% of the upfront investment cost of projects, along with a variable premium over 5-10 years.
A consortium led by Zenobe has been awarded £41.7m in funding via ScotZEB 2. The consortium is made up of a mix of different-sized fleets that operate across Scotland. The consortium’s operators include D&E Coaches, Ember, Hairy Haggis, Maynes Coaches, McGills, NHS GGC, Premier Coaches, and Stagecoach. This funding (along with private investment) will help add more than 250 electric buses to Scotland’s fleet, resulting in a 40% increase in the nation’s electric buses by 2026. This is a significant achievement for Zenobe, as this funding will help expand upon the 110 EVs already supported by Zenobe in Scotland. Interestingly, this consortium has pledged to make its new charging infrastructure accessible to 3rd party fleet operators. We support and champion this decision, as this will help develop a nationwide rapid-charging network not only for buses but for coaches, and heavy goods vehicles as well.
The American Department of Energy has announced that it is segmenting up to $3.4m to help support R&D of clean hydrogen and fuel cell developments of 17 projects. This stems from the $52m Small Business Research and Development Grant. These projects will be part of the 2024 Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards. These initiatives are encouraging to see, as they are supporting an eclectic range of hydrogen-based projects.
Deals
Addionics, an Israeli battery technology company, has announced it has raised $39m in a Series B funding round, led by GM Ventures and Deep Insight. The startup has a presence in the UK, Israel, America, and Germany, and will use some of the capital raised to expand its teams in those locations. It will also use the funds to expand its manufacturing and commercialization efforts, as one of its end goals is to have a US-based giga-factory to produce its 3D Current Collectors. The startup intends to start supplying battery cells to car manufacturers for testing purposes by Q4 24 and is on track to deliver the product on a large(r) scale by 2027/2028.
Windrose, a Chinese electric truck startup, has signalled to the market it intends to raise $200m (mix of equity & debt) in a final round before it plans to IPO. Investors, such as SFPIM, PMV and Citigroup have already committed $50m each. The startup plans to build an assembly plant for its heavy electric trucks, in Europe from 2025. Rather ambitiously, Windrose is also building a final assembly plant in Georgia (USA) to serve American customers that have placed the majority of its existing order book of 6,400 trucks.
Alphabet has announced it is investing $5bn into Waymo, its self-driving car unit. On the Q2 earnings call, the company stated that this capital injection will allow the company to carry on building its autonomous driving offerings and capabilities. Interestingly, Waymo (to date) has completed 2 million journeys and provides 50,000 paid rides a week with its robotaxis, mostly in San Francisco and Phoenix. This investment commitment comes at a fascinating time, as Tesla (recently) announced it is postponing its plans to unveil its robotaxi, named CyberCab, from August to October this year.
Simple Energy, a Bengaluru-based electric scooter startup, has announced it has successfully raised $20m in its Series A funding round. The startup intends to use these funds to scale up the production of its 2 e-scooter offerings (Simple One and Simple Dot One), penetrate new markets, expand its presence across India, and drive new product development initiatives.