WEX integrates three more CPOs with its EV charging network

EV charging provider WEX has expanded its EV charging network through integrations with Greenlane, Synop and QuickCharge by Integra Energy. The new collaborations expand charging access for commercial fleets in both public and depot charging scenarios while enabling payment through WEX EV solutions.

Greenlane’s charging locations are now accessible through the WEX EV En Route network. Greenlane currently operates a commercial vehicle charging hub in Colton, California, with more than 40 fast chargers for medium- and heavy-duty EVs, and plans to expand its network across Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas.

“For fleet operators managing dynamic freight networks, charging can quickly become one of the biggest barriers to scale, so they need dependable, publicly accessible charging infrastructure,” said Greenlane CTO Raj Jhaveri. “Through our integration with WEX EV, fleet operators can access Greenlane’s growing network of high-power charging locations using payment solutions they already trust.”

Synop is an EV charging software and energy management platform that supports more than 900 commercial charging depots in North America and Europe. Synop has joined the WEX EV En Route charging network, expanding charging access and simplifying payments for fleet customers while providing operational insights that support WEX’s depot charging strategy. Synop’s platform helps fleet operators manage charging operations, energy costs, grid participation and coordination with distributed energy assets.

“Fleet operators need charging solutions that connect infrastructure, energy and grid management and driver experiences into a single ecosystem,” said Gagan Dhillon, CEO and co-founder of Synop. “By integrating with WEX EV, we’re making it easier for fleets to access charging, manage costs and scale electrification programs.”

QuickCharge by Integra Energy is a cloud-based EV charging software platform that offers real-time charger visibility, diagnostics, payment integrations and enterprise fleet management tools. Through its integration with WEX EV, fleet drivers can charge at participating QuickCharge locations using their existing WEX payment credentials.

“By integrating WEX technology into QuickCharge, fleet drivers can charge at hundreds of QuickCharge locations using the payment tools they already rely on,” said Max Schynoll, Product Development Manager at QuickCharge. “This integration simplifies the charging experience for commercial drivers while giving fleet operators confidence that their teams can access charging without additional apps, accounts or operational complexity.”

“Fleet electrification requires a charging experience that is as seamless and dependable as traditional fueling,” said Sarah Booth, Senior Director, EV and Connected Fleet at WEX. “These additions strengthen our ability to help fleets charge wherever they operate while giving them payment simplicity, operational insights and network access.”

Source: WEX

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i-charging introduces Eichrecht-certified distributed EV charging solution

Portuguese EV charging infrastructure company i-charging has achieved Eichrecht certification for its e-flow distributed DC fast charging solution.

Eichrecht is Germany’s calibration law governing the accuracy, transparency and traceability of measuring instruments used for billing purposes, including electricity meters at EV charging stations. An Eichrecht-certified charger guarantees that the amount of energy delivered—and therefore the amount billed to the customer—is measured accurately. Eichrecht has become a benchmark for billing-accurate, consumer-transparent charging across Europe.

Distributed charging architectures, which feature power cabinets that serve multiple charging dispensers are increasingly common. i-charging’s distributed solution combines the e-flow user unit with multiple satellites, each capable of delivering up to 800 A.

i-charging introduces Eichrecht-certified

This approach allows all user-facing functions required for compliant charging—including meter visibility, authentication, charging information and payment interaction—to be located in an accessible position through the e-flow control unit, while the satellites can be installed independently where they best support the charging operation.

The solution is suited to applications where direct access to the charging dispenser is impractical, such as overhead charging systems, gantries and other infrastructure layouts designed for commercial fleets and heavy-duty vehicles.

“As charging infrastructure evolves, flexibility is becoming just as important as power,” said Pedro Moreira da Silva, CEO of i-charging. “This certification demonstrates that operators no longer need to compromise between regulatory compliance and infrastructure design. By separating the user interface from the dispenser while remaining fully Eichrecht-compliant, we are enabling new charging configurations that were previously difficult to implement, particularly for commercial vehicle and fleet applications.”

Source: i-charging

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Nokia joins Avanci EV Charger program, streamlining the process of licensing cellular tech

Telecom giant Nokia has joined the Avanci EV Charger program as a licensor.

The Avanci EV Charger program offers manufacturers of EV chargers a single license covering essential 4G, 3G and 2G cellular patents from more than 50 licensors. Licenses are available at published rates paid once for the lifetime of each charger, and cover products ranging from home chargers to multi-outlet public charging systems.

Avanci explains that its EV Charger program was created in response to demand from EV charger manufacturers for a more efficient approach to licensing cellular technologies. Nokia contributes a portfolio of “standard-essential” patents for cellular connectivity.

“The rapid expansion of connected EV charging infrastructure makes efficient access to cellular technologies increasingly important,” said Mika Viertiö, Head of IoT Licensing Program at Nokia. “By joining the Avanci EV Charger program, we can make Nokia’s innovations more readily available through a streamlined licensing solution that supports both technology companies and manufacturers.”

“Nokia’s participation demonstrates the continued growth of the Avanci EV Charger program,” said Marianne Frydenlund, Vice President of Avanci IoT. “Each new licensor increases the value of the program for manufacturers and the growing participation from licensors and licensees demonstrates the momentum we’re seeing behind the program.”

Source: Avanci

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Iberdrola bp pulse selects Driivz software to manage its EV charging network in Spain and Portugal

Driivz, a Vontier company, supplies software to EV charging operators. Iberdrola bp pulse, a collaboration between oil giant bp and Spanish electric utility Iberdrola, operates EV charging sites on the Iberian Peninsula.

Now Iberdrola bp pulse has selected Driivz to manage and optimize its network of 2,500 DC fast chargers. The Driivz software platform will provide Iberdrola bp pulse with analytics across its network, delivering real-time visibility into charger availability, uptime, hardware performance and charging patterns.

Iberdrola bp pulse says it will use Driivz’s API-first architecture and energy management platform to support future capabilities including vehicle-to-grid integration and smart coordinated charging.

“This migration is a strategic decision to build our operation on foundations that allow us to grow, innovate and deliver reliability,” said Federico Artes, Technology and Operations Director of Iberdrola bp pulse for the Iberian Peninsula. “In a business where every charger is a revenue-generating asset, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. This partnership will translate into a more reliable network for drivers, a more efficient operation for our team and a smarter grid asset for the energy ecosystem.”

“Networks of this complexity—spanning multiple markets, vendors and customer segments—require a platform built around data and operational intelligence,” said Shiri Levi-Laor, CEO of Driivz. “That’s what Driivz delivers.”

Source: bp pulse

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Mercedes-Benz starts production of the electric C-Class at its expanded Kecskemét plant

Mercedes-Benz has opened two new production halls at its Kecskemét plant in Hungary and begun building the new all-electric C-Class there. The company says it is the first time the site has manufactured a battery-electric core model.

The expansion took the plant’s footprint from 200 to 440 hectares. Alongside the bodywork and assembly halls, Mercedes-Benz built a second press shop, a new paint shop and a battery assembly facility. The company invested around €1 billion in the site, and says Kecskemét will be the largest automotive production site in Hungary. More than 5,000 people work there.

Body parts and the drive batteries for the electric GLB and C-Class are produced on site, which Mercedes-Benz describes as a local-for-local approach. The plant runs a dual production model: the existing hall builds combustion and battery-electric vehicles flexibly on a single line, and the newly built hall is geared to fully electric vehicles. Mercedes-Benz says that lets it adapt production volumes to market demand.

Digital production in the new halls is built on MO360, the company’s production data platform, which Mercedes-Benz says links production, quality and supply chain data across its sites. The company says Kecskemét is also the first of its plants where it has created a complete digital replica of an entire assembly hall.

That “Digital Factory Twin,” built in NVIDIA Omniverse, simulates individual production steps and tracks process flows across the manufacture of the electric C-Class before they run on the real line, according to Mercedes-Benz. The company also says its MO360 Vision System supports quality control with camera-based applications and can detect defects on the vehicle in real time.

A 240,000 m² open-space solar park west of the plant has a capacity of 27.4 MWp. Together with rooftop arrays on the new battery assembly, body-in-white and final assembly halls, on-site photovoltaics reach 42.3 MWp, which Mercedes-Benz says covers around 25% of the plant’s annual energy requirement. The new paint shop cuts energy consumption by around 20% compared with the existing facility and CO₂ emissions by around 80%, according to the company.

Kecskemét sits in a European production network for the Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA) platform, alongside the Rastatt plant in southern Germany. Mercedes-Benz will be able to build the electric GLC at Bremen or Kecskemét depending on demand, and a more compact version of the G-Class will be produced exclusively in Kecskemét.

Source: Mercedes-Benz Group

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Chroma’s 8000 EV & EVSE test system covers ISO 15118-20 and liquid-cooled charging

Test equipment maker Chroma has introduced the Chroma 8000 EV & EVSE automated test system (ATS), which the company says is built for simultaneous multi-connector testing of DC EV supply equipment (EVSE), EV charging compatibility validation and liquid-cooled high-current charging tests.

Paired with the Chroma 80713 EV & EVSE simulator, the system supports testing against both ISO 15118-2 and ISO 15118-20 requirements, which Chroma says lets users perform interoperability and communication protocol validation across both versions of the standard.

Chroma describes ISO 15118-2 as the mainstream DC fast charging communication framework, applicable to compatibility testing for mass-produced EVs and charging stations. ISO 15118-20 extends it with support for Plug & Charge, wireless power transfer, bidirectional power transfer and Megawatt Charging System (MCS) applications.

ISO 15118-20 also adds Dynamic and Scheduled charging modes, which allow a charging strategy to be adjusted to grid conditions, and its support for bidirectional power transfer lets an EV feed electricity back into the grid. Communication security moves to Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3.

Higher DC fast charging power means higher currents, which raise the thermal load on the cable, the connector and the power modules behind them. Liquid cooling carries that heat away more effectively than air cooling.

Chroma says the 8000 ATS supports stable, long-duration high-current testing, and that its power switching design helps reduce the risk of test interruptions, making it suited to validating liquid-cooled charging connectors, high-power modules and MCS applications.

According to Chroma, its AC/DC charging test platform switches between power sources and loads to simulate charging scenarios, and dynamic data analysis and charge recording and playback functions let users monitor test results in real time and replay a charging session for validation.

Source: Chroma

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Graphite One chooses engineering firm to procure graphite production equipment

Graphite One has executed an engineering contract with a battery anode production facility engineering firm and advanced development of its manufacturing site in Conneaut, Ohio.

The company aims to establish 25,000 tonnes per year of domestic synthetic graphite capacity by the fourth quarter of 2028.

To that end, Graphite One has signed an engineering contract to de-risk and optimize the Ohio facility manufacturing systems for commercial-scale production.

The company has engaged a global engineering and production line integration provider to support the design and integration of the manufacturing equipment for the site.

The contract is a step forward in the company’s strategy to build a fully integrated, US-based graphite supply chain capable of supplying battery-grade graphite materials for EVs, energy storage systems and defense applications.

The engineering team will provide production line integration services, including equipment interface design, process integration, production flow optimization and operational readiness planning.

The Ohio facility is intended to produce active anode materials (AAM) from materials mined at the company’s Graphite Creek deposit in Alaska.

The company has secured the site, which offers direct rail access, Great Lakes shipping access and existing high-capacity electrical service, through an agreement with a subsidiary of CN Railway. It has completed geotechnical drilling and has started the environmental assessment and permitting process, which it aims to complete in the first quarter of 2027.

The strategy includes mining at Graphite Creek, transport via the Port of Nome, processing into advanced graphite and anode materials in Ohio and a potential co-located recycling facility to recover graphite and other battery materials, subject to project financing.

Graphite One plans phased development of the project, targeting an initial capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year of active anode material (AAM) finishing and blending operations in the fourth quarter of 2027, expanding to 25,000 tonnes per year of synthetic graphite and graphitization output in the fourth quarter of 2028.

“The execution of this engineering contract and the advancement of our Conneaut site represent important steps in building what we believe can become one of North America’s leading domestic sources of synthetic graphite AAM,” said Anthony Huston, President and CEO of Graphite One. “With the site secured, critical infrastructure advantages in place, engineering activities underway, and a clear phased development strategy, we now have a defined, de-risked path toward establishing 25,000 tonnes per year of synthetic graphite capacity by the end of 2028.”

Source: Graphite One

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