Green Fleet Roundup: Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Siemens

Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi have agreed to work together to promote the installation of chargers for electric-powered vehicles in Japan. Previously, each automaker assessed possible locations for charging facilities on its own. Now, the companies say they have agreed to work jointly under the common understanding that the charging infrastructure has public value and that enhancing it should be done quickly during the limited period that the Japanese government subsidies for installation of EV chargers — 100.5 billion yen for fiscal year 2013 — are available.

Evatran says it has logged more than 1,500 hours of charging time on its Plugless L2 wireless charging systems installed across the US through its Apollo Trial Program, which follows EV drivers as they use the Plugless system on their own Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs. Participants include Google, Hertz Rent-a-Car, Duke Energy, Clemson University, SAP, SPX Service Solutions and others. More than 15 installations are now complete, with the final installations slated for mid-August.

BMW i Ventures has made an investment in Chargemaster, the UK provider of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. In addition to this investment, Chargemaster and BMW i have entered into a cooperation agreement whereby Chargemaster will provide a range of E-mobility services. Both parties will carry out joint electric vehicle marketing activities and will work together to promote the advancement of EVs and E-mobility services.

California-based designers Synthesis Design + Architecture and Volvo have invented a solar-powered pavilion that unfurls from the car trunk and can be deployed to recharge an EV wherever there is UV, Wired reports. The team says it plans to launch the project in Rome in September.

Siemens and the Vietnam Motors Industry Corporation are launching the first hybrid bus (pictured) with a combined electric/diesel drive in Hanoi. The buses consume up to 50 percent less fuel and reduce exhaust emissions by the same amount, Siemens says.

MetLife, an official partner of the Energy Department’s Workplace Charging Challenge, has installed electric car charging stations at company offices for employees to power up their plug-in electric vehicles during the workday. With 32 charging stations at 14 US facilities across 10 states, MetLife says it has the most widespread workplace-charging program of any non-PEV industry company currently participating in the Workplace Charging Challenge.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has five new Nissan Leaf electric vehicles and a charging station at its Northampton, Mass. location. The EVs are in addition to the hybrid vehicles already available throughout Northampton and the surrounding area.