Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Hutchison Ports Pakistan will deploy 20 more e-trucks in October and take delivery of 50 additional units before the end of 2027, according to Electrek.

The e-truck referenced is the Westwell E-Truck S1 terminal tractor, Electrek reported.

The wider USD 76 million investment covers new electric material handlers, two electric remote-controlled quay cranes, 17 electric remote-controlled rubber-tired gantry cranes and 40 e-trailers, per Electrek.

The expansion follows operating experience with the terminal's first electric tractors. Electrek reported that those units covered more than 450,000 km over the last year, and that the operator was satisfied with their performance.

Quay cranes and rubber-tired gantry cranes handle container transfers between ship and yard, while terminal tractors move containers within the yard. Electrifying all three equipment classes at one site shifts the terminal's fuel demand onto the electricity supply serving the port.

Two Wabtec FLXDrive battery-electric locomotives are hauling iron ore for BHP in the Pilbara region of Australia, running between the Jimblebar mines and BHP's Port Hedland operations, according to Electrek.

The units reached Port Hedland in November and went into service on those routes, Electrek reported. The publication described them as Australia's first purpose-built battery-electric locomotives delivered new.

BHP said it expects to be one of the first mining companies globally to run side-by-side evaluations of battery-electric heavy haul locomotive technologies from two suppliers within the same operating environment. That framing sets the Wabtec machines against a second supplier's equipment under identical duty cycles, grades, and ambient conditions on the same iron ore network.

Heavy haul is among the harder duty cycles to electrify with batteries, given train mass and the length of the run between pit and port. Comparing two suppliers on one network gives the operator performance data that vendor specifications alone cannot settle.

Renault has added an entry-level version of the electric Renault 5 pairing an 80 kW motor with a 36.5 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, rated for a WLTP range of up to 305 kilometres, according to electrive.

The LFP variant charges at up to 6.6 kW on alternating current and up to 80 kW on direct current, electrive reported. The battery and motor combination sits below the existing pack sizes in the line-up.

Both larger batteries gained range in the update. The Urban Range with the 40 kWh pack moves from 312 to 315 kilometres on the WLTP cycle, a gain of three kilometres. The Comfort Range with the 52 kWh pack improves from 410 to 430 kilometres.

Pricing came down at the same time. Renault cut prices across all Renault 5 variants by EUR 1,710 in Germany. The German entry point is now EUR 26,290 for the Evolution 120 Urban Range, according to electrive.

Renault will show the revised model range at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, which runs from 12 to 18 October.

Waymo has moved its Zeekr-built "Ojai" robotaxis out of free testing and into regular paid passenger service in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, according to electrive. Riders booking through Waymo's ride-hailing app in those three cities will initially be assigned either an Ojai or one of the Jaguar I-Pace vehicles already in the fleet.

A company spokesperson told electrive that roughly 300 Ojai robotaxis are in service now, and that Waymo expects thousands more to arrive in the US by the end of 2026.

The vans arrive from Zeekr without connected vehicle technology, electrive reported, and Waymo installs its autonomous driving system in Arizona.

The fleet has room to grow beyond the three launch cities. The Nevada Department of Transportation has approved Waymo to run a commercial robotaxi service with up to 1,000 vehicles in Clark County, according to electrive.

Swedish mining company LKAB has put two 120-tonne battery-electric Scania trucks into service at its Malmberget iron ore mine, according to electrive. The vehicles work at depths of up to 1,250 metres and have already moved more than 100,000 tonnes of iron ore since entering service, electrive reported.

Each truck carries a 624 kWh battery, according to electrive.

The deployment sits inside a wider fleet target. By 2027, LKAB aims to electrify 30% of its mining fleet and to extract and handle at least five million tonnes of material per year without local emissions, electrive reported.

On the road freight side, electrive reported that Einride's battery-electric trucks will cover 832,000 kilometres annually for Lidl in Sweden. That figure marks a possible increase from 474,000 kilometres, a rise of 76%, according to electrive.

Einride and Lidl have worked together on electrifying logistics in Sweden since 2020, with the cooperation so far concentrated mainly on the greater Stockholm area, electrive reported. The new volume includes longer routes beyond that base.

Delhi has put 200 new electric buses into public transport service, electrive reported. The batch splits into 112 nine-metre vehicles and 88 twelve-metre vehicles, according to the specialist outlet.

The smaller nine-metre units account for the majority of the batch, a size class suited to narrower city streets where full-length buses struggle. The twelve-metre buses make up the remaining 88, per electrive.

Alongside the urban deployment, the city started an interstate electric bus service running to Karnal, in the neighbouring state of Haryana, electrive reported.

The deployment sits inside a larger fleet target. Delhi is working toward a total bus fleet of 7,500 vehicles by March 2027, of which 5,800 would be electric, according to electrive. That would leave electric units as the dominant share of the fleet rather than a supplementary tier.

BYD Malaysia and Bus Cap have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Shenzhen, China, to explore a jointly developed new energy commercial vehicle platform, according to electrive.

The two companies are weighing a local assembly and manufacturing plant for electric buses in Perak, Malaysia, along with related ancillary activities, electrive reported. Neither the platform's scope nor the plant plan has moved beyond the exploratory stage described in the MoU.

Bus Cap listed on Bursa Malaysia in June 2026, debuting on the ACE Market as the country's first pure-play bus builder, according to electrive.

Suzuki has unveiled the e SKY, its first battery-electric passenger kei car, carrying a reference driving range of 310 kilometers, according to CleanTechnica.

CleanTechnica reported that Suzuki released preliminary information on the model on Aug. 24.

The 310-kilometer figure is described as a reference range rather than a certified rating, per CleanTechnica. The e SKY marks Suzuki's entry into battery-electric passenger vehicles in the kei class, the smallest regulated passenger car category, according to the same report.

The United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has issued regulatory certification to the Dubai VDX vertiport, clearing the site to work toward commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing operations across the emirate, Electrek reported.

The terminal covers 3,100 square meters and is built to serve up to 170,000 passengers per year, according to Electrek.

Two dedicated landing pads sit at the facility, alongside high-powered DC fast charging equipment for the service's electric aircraft, Electrek reported.

Skyports is building the vertiport network with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Electrek describes VDX as the first and primary Skysports transit hub within Dubai's planned air taxi network.