Valeo eAcess e-drive to power Toyota APM e-shuttles at major summer 2024 sporting event

Valeo eAcess e-drive to power Toyota APM e-shuttles at major summer 2024 sporting event

French tier 1 supplier Valeo has announced that it will be part of a major international sport event through its 48V eAccess technology, which will power Toyota APM electric shuttles in Paris this summer.

The APM was specifically designed by Toyota to offer a safe and efficient mobility solution to athletes and officials during the major sport event in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.

The e-shuttle will again be at the heart of the transport solutions during the next sports event in Paris to ease mobility for all within the sports sites. This is a completely new version, more adapted to the European environment, it can embark 6 persons including the driver and has been designed for very flexible use. The foldable seats enable the transport of people in wheelchairs. The vehicle is also available in a relief version, developed to provide medical assistance, enabling the transport of a stretcher and medical staff.

Christophe Perillat, Chief Executive Officer, Valeo said: “We are delighted that Toyota has chosen Valeo eAccess technology to power the APM electric shuttles. This confirms the relevance of Valeo’s strategy when it comes to exploring ever more sustainable and affordable technologies. Valeo will contribute with their technologies to make this major sporting event more sustainable, while providing spectators and delegations with a mobility experience adapted to the Parisian environment.”

Toyota chose Valeo eAccess Belt 14, all-in-one solution (motor, inverter, reducer) offering the possibility to the vehicle to operate up to 20kmph with a gross vehicle mass of 1390kg.

Valeo’s 48V eAccess combines a 48 Volts 13.5 kW generator, coming from the 48V electrical propulsion platform which has already reached sufficient maturity to become a standard equipment for the automobile market, combined with a gear reducer and an innovative ribbed elastic belt to create a full eDrive propulsion system.

This all-in-one solution is a unique automobile powertrain transmission system in the automotive industry landscape and shows the Valeo expertise and its capacity to propose a modular approach for the quickly-growing market of light powertrain vehicles.

It has the possibility to reach speed up to 100kph and an electric autonomy average of 100km, the Valeo’s 48V eAccess is also matching the noise, vibration & harshness (NVH) high-performance standards and registers in a medium and long-term strategy to reduce the environmental footprint impact of the automotive industry (end-of-life recycling, recycled material cover).

The eAccess technology is already powering the urban car Citroen Ami and also other applications such as the three-wheelers from Atul Auto in India. The 48V Valeo expertise in electric motors for small mobility is also available on two-wheelers markets and the latest addition to this is the BMW e-motorbike CE02.

Toyota plans to provide 250 vehicles for the major sport event to take place in Paris next summer.

 

Nawgati Launches Aaveg Pro Fuel Retail Platform At PDAP AGM 2026

Nagwati

Nawgati has announced the launch of Aaveg Pro, an integrated operations platform for petroleum dealers, at the Petrol Dealers Association Pune (PDAP) Annual General Meeting. The system is designed to digitise fuel station management within the Indian retail ecosystem.

Aaveg Pro serves as a digital operating system to replace manual workflows in fuel retail. The platform consolidates several critical station functions into a single interface:

  • Sales and Inventory: Features include shift-level nozzle reconciliation, live inventory tracking and stock variation control.
  • Financial Accounting: The system supports VAT, GST, cess and surcharge handling to maintain audit-ready records and real-time balance sheet visibility.
  • Fleet and Credit Management: Dealers can manage digital fleet contracts, consolidated invoicing and credit risk monitoring.

The platform is designed to integrate with existing station infrastructure, such as dispensers, CCTV systems, fuel storage compressors and vehicle-tracking systems, to provide operational oversight.

Vaibhav Kaushik, Co-Founder & CEO, Nawgati, said, “The launch of Aaveg Pro reflects our continued commitment to building solutions that solve real operational challenges for fuel dealers. Fuel retail in India still relies heavily on fragmented and manual workflows across accounting, stock monitoring, reconciliation, and customer credit management. With Aaveg Pro, we are bringing these critical functions onto one integrated platform so that dealers can operate with greater visibility, control, and efficiency.”

Aalaap Nair, Co-Founder, Nawgati, said, “Aaveg Pro has been built specifically for the day-to-day realities of fuel retail operations in India. From shift-level reconciliation and stock tracking to consolidated fleet invoicing and live financial reporting, the platform is designed to reduce complexity and improve decision-making at the station level. Our goal is to help dealers move away from manual processes and adopt a smarter, more scalable way of running their businesses.”

Mahindra’s Charge_iN Partners HPCL To Expand EV Charging Network

Charge_iN - Mahindra

Charge_iN by Mahindra and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) have signed a strategic agreement to develop electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at HPCL retail outlets across India. The collaboration aims to utilise HPCL’s national fuel station network to increase the availability of public charging points for electric four-wheelers.

HPCL currently operates over 24,400 retail outlets and has installed more than 5,400 charging stations under its HP e-Charge brand. The new stations established through this partnership will exclusively feature 180 kW dual gun chargers, designed for high-speed charging.

The deployment is intended to support the transition to green transportation in India, currently the third-largest automotive market globally. The agreement focuses on building an ultrafast charging network to improve reliability and reduce charging times for EV users.

The partnership aligns with the government's objective of strengthening public EV infrastructure. By integrating chargers into existing fuel stations, the companies aim to provide a platform for nationwide expansion and seamless access for drivers.

Bijliride Announces Expansion To 25 Cities Via Franchise Model

Bijliride

Electric mobility startup Bijliride has detailed plans to expand its franchise network to more than 25 Indian cities. Operating under a Franchise Owned–Franchise Operated (FOFO) model, the company aims to onboard 30 franchise partners by March 2027 and scale its fleet to between 10,000 and 15,000 electric two-wheelers within the next 18 months.

The expansion the startup claims is projected to drive 150 percent growth in fleet operations. Bijliride has identified several urban mobility markets for this phase, including:

  • Tier 1 Cities: Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata.
  • Emerging Hubs: Hyderabad clusters, Jaipur, Patna, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Kochi.
  • Logistics Centres: Nagpur, Indore, Surat, and Visakhapatnam.

The strategy targets demand from logistics operators, gig economy platforms and urban commuters.

Under the FOFO structure, local partners own and manage the fleets while Bijliride provides the technology infrastructure. This includes real-time vehicle tracking, battery management protocols, and rental management systems.

The partners have to commit to a minimum of 50 electric two-wheelers to begin with, an initial investment of around INR 1.4-1.6 million, with a projected breakeven in approximately 15 months under stable fleet utilisation. The startup also assists partners with driver onboarding and connects fleets with demand from local delivery businesses and gig platforms.

Shivam Sisodiya, CEO and Co-Founder, Bijliride, said, “Electric mobility demand in India is growing rapidly, particularly among gig workers and last-mile delivery operators. At this stage, our focus is disciplined scale. The FOFO model allows us to grow responsibly by partnering with local entrepreneurs who understand their markets while leveraging our technology platform and operational systems. This structure enables us to expand faster while ensuring fleets are managed efficiently on the ground.”

Donut Battery’s Test Results Highlight It As A Battery And Not A Supercapacitor

Donut Battery’s Test Results Highlight It As A Battery And Not A Supercapacitor

It’s been sometime that Donut Lab has been working on producing a battery that will address the challenging needs of EVs better than other batteries have been able to do. Claiming to be the world’s first solid-state battery ready for production vehicles measured in independent testing conditions, the company has released its third test result that dispels any suspicions that the battery would be a supercapacitor rather than a battery.
The results measure the properties of its solid-state battery, evaluating its ability to retain charge when not in use. Available for download on its site, the third and most recent test follows two other tests that looked at charging speed (the test was conducted by Technology Re) using two passive cooling configurations and evaluation of capacity performance of the battery cell in hot conditions (by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland). 
The test measuring the battery’s ability to retain charge even when not in use was carried out using a simple research setup. It was connected at room temperature to the research laboratory’s battery tester, which repeatedly measured the cell voltage every 10 seconds. Like the previous test that measured battery performance at very high temperatures, this test also began with a 1C capacity test, demonstrating that the cell was precisely the same as the other test examples.
 
After the capacity test, the battery cell was charged to approximately 50 percent charge and left connected to the battery tester for ten days. The cell was then discharged to measure the remaining energy capacity. The results show that the battery cell voltage stabilises during the first 10 hours after charging. Over the next nine or so days, the voltage curve continues to stabilise. A capacity test at the end of the test period confirmed that the voltage drop corresponds to the amount of energy in watt-hours.
The Donut Battery behaved in the test exactly as a battery should. If the test had been performed with a supercapacitor, the charge would have fallen linearly much faster during the same time period.
“Since we unveiled the Donut Battery, there has been a lot of speculation and theories about whether it is a supercapacitor. In all its simplicity, this test proves that it is a battery. Supercapacitors charge and discharge quickly, but they also lose their charge quickly when not in use. The Donut Battery behaves like a battery and can maintain a charge for significantly longer,” confirmed Ville Piippo, CTO, Donut Lab.
After the third test mentioned above, Donut Lab has carried out a special test to measure battery performance in a battery pack using the Verge TS Pro motorcycle that charges in less than ten minutes, making it the world's fastest-charging electric motorcycle.