Weekly Roundup: 15th-21st February

• BRT Peshawar becomes first in subcontinent to get Gold Standard Service award

• Tesla reaches a million mark on 4680 battery cells production

• Volkswagen & Huawei partner up for an autonomous unit 

Achievements

BRT Peshawar gets Gold Standard Service Award, 1st in subcontinent

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service in Peshawar has received the Gold Standard Service award, a first for South Asia. The transit system was award for providing passenger-oriented, environment-friendly facilities to Peshawar. Read more about this story here.

Tesla has produced 1M new 4680 battery cells

Tesla is celebrating the production of one million next-generation 4680-cells at the new factory, as announced by Elon Musk. The cell is said to produce six times the power and five times the energy capacity while significantly reducing the cost. Check out the complete story here. 

Expanding Market

Hertz expands EV commitment with new investment in Ufodrive

Electric car rental company, UFODrive has raised $19 million in Series A funding and secured a new partnership with car rental giant Hertz. The funding round was co-led by Hertz and Certares. Read the full story here. 

Volkswagen in talks with Huawei on autonomous driving unit

Volkswagen is in talks with Huawei to acquire the latter’s autonomous driving unit. The potential merger involves technology systems VW is not yet proficient in, and the company is pursuing new partnerships to increase its self-sufficiency in software. Check out the complete story here.

An Electrified Future

Nissan to make two new EV models, invests $500M

Nissan Motor Co. will build two battery-electric vehicles at a plant in Mississippi.  The new vehicles will mark the maker’s biggest move in the growing market of EVs. The plug-in models will begin production in 2025, and one will be under the name Nissan and one will be for Infiniti. Check out the complete details of this story here. 

Volta raises $260M to begin EV trucks production

Volta Trucks raised $260 million in Series C, valuing the company over $490 million. As per the company, it’s pre-order book for Zero truck line stands at over €1.2 billion. Here’s the complete story.

In Other News

US probes 416,000 Tesla vehicles over unexpected braking issue

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is opening a formal investigation into 416,000 Tesla vehicles over reports of unexpected brake activation tied to its driver assistance system Autopilot. The evaluation covers 2021-2022 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in the United States after the agency received 354 complaints. Read the complete story here.

About Us

This week in Transport is a weekly round-up of  everything happening in the transportation world; from sustainable transport initiatives to expansion plans, and implementation of an intelligent transport system. Watch this space for more sector news!