Shell is a player the EV charging infrastructure industry in Germany, where it currently operates more than 2,400 charging points.
Now the oil giant is working with Amazon to help charge the retail giant’s electric heavy-duty trucks at dedicated truck charging hubs in Hannover, Kirchheim and Koblenz. Amazon currently operates some 45 electric heavy-duty vehicles in Germany.
The new hubs are designed for the demands of heavy-duty fleets. They feature liquid-cooled, bookable chargers that deliver up to 400 kW of power.
Amazon’s partners will also use Shell’s Home-away-from-Home model at selected sites. This system allows fleet operators to reserve charging slots at public charging sites in advance, enabling schedulers to coordinate charging stops with route planning and legally mandated driver rest periods.
The collaboration builds on Shell’s existing fuel service relationship with Amazon. Access and payment are handled through the Shell Card, giving fleet customers access to Shell’s charging network for heavy-duty vehicles in Germany, which currently includes around 150 charging points.
“Amazon’s use of Shell’s high-power truck charging hubs shows how we can help fleet operators electrify heavy-duty transport in a practical way,” said Melanie Falkenstern, Head of Fleet Solutions DACH at Shell. “Our focus is on providing reliable, high-power charging in the right locations, with simple access and payment through the Shell Card. Services such as Home-away-from-Home add another layer of certainty by helping fleets plan charging around their operations.”
“As we continue to integrate electric trucks into our transport network, reliable access to high-power charging is essential. Working with Shell gives us additional charging options on key routes in Germany, while the ability to reserve charging slots helps us plan routes, charging stops and driver rest periods with greater confidence,” said Andreas Marschner, Vice President of Worldwide Sustainable Operations at Amazon.
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Fast-charging G CELLS from Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) have run 489 charge and discharge cycles without measurable capacity loss, according to test data collected by the Battery Innovation Center of Indiana (BIC) and current as of September 4, 2026. The 1 Ah pouch cells were charged and discharged within six minutes for each cycle, at a 10 C rate in both directions.
BIC built the test cells itself, using graphene materials that GMG developed, manufactured and supplied from its Brisbane Battery Development Centre. The work falls under a joint development agreement between GMG and Rio Tinto.
GMG’s product page describes G CELLS as graphene aluminum-ion cells that use no lithium or rare earth materials, and says they are designed to be interchangeable with lithium-ion battery applications.
A lithium titanate oxide (LTO) cell put through the same profile fell to 86% of its original capacity within 64 cycles. GMG puts the difference at more than seven times the cycle life under identical testing.
Internal resistance of the G CELLS measured around 5 mΩ, against up to 30 mΩ for the LTO cell. Lower resistance means less resistive heating at a given current. The G CELLS ran 4° C above ambient during testing, and the LTO cells ran 19° C above it.
GMG reports specific energy lower than it has previously reported. The company describes the cells as unoptimized and expects to bring the figure back to around 50 Wh/kg at the same charge rate after further optimization.
Voltage stayed close to flat across roughly 80% of the discharge, which GMG says makes constant-power discharge easier to control.
“Having built and scaled battery manufacturing for the world’s largest lithium-ion producer, I know how rare it is to see this combination of fast-charge durability and thermal control this early in a cell’s development,” said Bob Galyen, GMG Director and former Chief Technology Officer of CATL. “There is clear further work ahead on some of the energy density optimisation and further scaling of the cell size, but the fundamentals being demonstrated here are the right ones to be solving first.”
As the DC fast charging market matures, it’s becoming apparent that distributed charging systems are best for some applications, while all-in-one chargers are the best fit for others. EVSE manufacturer Alpitronic offers both options.
In 2025, Alpitronic unveiled its HYC1000 distributed charging system, which features a Power Cabinet with eight 125 kW Power Stacks that deliver a total charging power of up to one megawatt. The system can distribute this power in 62.5 kW increments to as many as eight outputs. Alpitronic now specifies the efficiency of the Power Cabinet at up to 98.2 percent, an improvement over the original quote of 97.5 percent.
The Power Cabinet was originally launched with three dispenser options:
The MCS Dispenser has an MCS plug (maximum 1,500 A, 1,000 kW) and an optional CCS plug (600 A, 600 kW).
The HP Dispenser has a CCS plug (1,000 A, 1,000 kW).
The EV Dispenser offers up to two CCS plugs (600 A, 600 kW).
Now Alpitronic has added the new Depot Dispenser, specifically designed for charging e-bus and e-truck fleets at depots, to its lineup.
The Depot Dispenser features a compact housing measuring 600 × 400 × 250 mm. Depending on the configuration, this dispenser weighs up to 35 kg, excluding the charging cable. It can be wall-mounted, pedestal-mounted, or installed on a crossbeam or under the depot ceiling. The charging cable is available in lengths of 2.0, 5.5, and 7.5 m. (The extra-long cable is suitable for overhead mounts.)
The Depot Dispenser features a CCS connector and operates at voltages ranging from 150 to 1,000 V. Alpitronic specifies a peak current of 400 A, enabling the stated 400 kW—though this is only achievable with vehicles operating near 1,000 V. This places the Depot Dispenser on par with the uncooled cable of the EV Dispenser, which also supports 400 A.
For the Depot Dispenser, Alpitronic has omitted the touchscreen commonly found on its larger charging stations. Instead, a status LED indicates charging status. Authentication is provided via RFID. Optional card readers and a QR code reader allow operators to enable charging for both their own fleets and for guest vehicles. A legally compliant DC meter is also offered as an option.
The Depot Dispenser will initially launch in Europe, and other markets will follow.
“With the Depot Dispenser, we address the specific requirements of a depot,” says Philipp Senoner, CEO of Alpitronic. “For fleet operators, the focus is not on providing the maximum possible power at every charging point. What matters is charging vehicles reliably, economically, and in line with their operational and dwell times. This is exactly the flexibility we provide with our charging portfolio.”
Archer Aviation, BETA and Macquarie Capital have collaborated to launch America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways (ACES), and have set a goal to electrify up to 250 air taxi sites at America’s largest airports and metro areas over the next decade.
The consortium’s current project is to expand interoperable electric aviation charging infrastructure in Texas at key facilities such as airports and FBOs (fixed-base operators, which provide support services to general aviation operators at public-use airports).
ACES plans to create a shared infrastructure model under which multiple operators can use the same chargers. This approach will enable infrastructure operators, OEMs and investors to join in building a unified network rather than competing proprietary charging systems.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is conducting pilots in cooperation with the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), which is designed to accelerate the safe deployment of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles in the National Airspace System.
ACES will collaborate with t TxDOT to identify locations where eVTOL operators expect to fly, and prepare the needed infrastructure. The agency has highlighted plans for regional test flights connecting the Texas Triangle (Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston) and rural communities with air taxi networks. BETA, Archer and other OEMs plan to conduct electric air taxi test flights in Texas in the coming months.
“Texas is preparing the way for America to lead the world in commercializing the next generation of aviation technologies, and infrastructure is how that push becomes real,” said Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer. “ACES plans to put interoperable chargers where eIPP operations will take place, built on an open standard the whole industry can use. That’s the foundation Texas needs to set the region up for passenger air taxi flights across the Texas Triangle as part of the final phase of the Texas eIPP pilot.”
“Aircraft are only useful if you have the infrastructure in place to support them,” said Kyle Clark, founder and CEO of BETA Technologies. “ACES is about making sure that infrastructure is interoperable, reliable, and ready where operators need it. Texas gives us a great opportunity to put that work into practice alongside TxDOT and show how shared charging infrastructure can support real operations today.”
The updated PHEV model of Volvo’s best-selling SUV now has more than twice the e-range.
The 2028 Volvo XC60 T8 plug-in hybrid model will offer a singular distinction: the longest electric range of any PHEV sold in the US. Its e-range will be 78 miles, up from 36 miles for the 2026 model. Volvo dubs it the first-ever long-range PHEV. The XC60 five-seat crossover SUV is the company’s most popular model globally, with 2.7 million sold to date. For the 2028 model year, Volvo has freshened the design and comprehensively updated the electric-drive components. The new models are to arrive at US dealers early in 2027.
In 2021, Volvo said it would offer only battery-electric vehicles by 2030. That hasn’t happened, as EV adoption rates have varied hugely across the globe, policies and politics have changed, and US shopper concerns over EVs kept sales below projected levels. Volvo Cars then said in 2024 its gasoline models would receive a round of updates to stay on the market longer than initially planned—with the new goal for 2030 being 90 percent battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models.
So the larger XC90 and the midsize XC60 have been updated to keep them current even as their model life lengthens. Volvo will continue to offer gasoline-only powertrains (albeit with “mild hybrid” enhanced start-stop systems) in them as well as PHEVs. Meanwhile, the newer 2027 Volvo EX60 and two-year-old EX90 offer battery-electric counterparts to the XC60 and XC90 two- and three-row SUVs respectively.
Charged was invited to London for the global unveiling of the updated XC60. While we weren’t able to drive the revised PHEV, we interviewed executives Akhil Krishnan, Volvo’s global head of product management for the 60 series, and Frank Vacca, director of vehicle product line planning for the Americas at Volvo Cars USA.
Photos courtesy of Volvo.
One bigger battery, two models
While the XC60 design and PHEV powertrain are updated for 2028, the larger three-row XC90 received its design update two years ago, for the 2025 model year. Both models are built on the company’s earlier SPA1 architecture, meaning the PHEV updates to the XC60 will also be used in the larger car’s T8 powertrain for the 2028 model year.
Both get longer ranges for their T8 (PHEV) versions, using identical battery packs with 41.2 kilowatt-hours of energy capacity (37.9 kWh usable)—up from 18.8 kWh (14.7 kWh usable) in their predecessors. In the larger, heavier XC90, the electric range is projected at 73 miles—again, more than double the 33 miles of its predecessor. The packs use a new generation of higher-capacity nickel-manganese-cobalt cells from Chinese battery giant CATL, though Krishnan noted unlike the EX60, the pack uses conventional modules rather than that EV’s cell-to-pack structure.
A redesigned floor pan for both cars let Volvo redesign and move the battery pack from a vertical orientation inside the tunnel between the seats to a flat, thin pack entirely under the cabin floor. Ground clearance is unchanged at about 9 inches, and a benefit of the relocated pack is the far smaller hump in the floor in front of the rear middle seat. The tunnel still has to accommodate a driveshaft to the rear wheels for all-wheel-drive gasoline models, plus a wiring harness, but the difference is noticeable.
Photos courtesy of Volvo.
EV lessons for PHEV motor
Unlike some hybrid SUVs, the XC60 and XC90 are “through-the-road hybrids”: the gasoline engine powers the front wheels and an electric motor powers the rears. Use of one or the other power source, or both, is controlled by software that builds on more than a decade of Volvo PHEV experience.
Part of the increase in e-range comes from an entirely new rear motor. It’s smaller but provides far more power (from 107 to 130 kW, or 143 to 174 hp), though torque remains unchanged at 228 lb-ft. “We designed and developed our own electric motors for the EVs,” Krishnan explained. “The XC60 [PHEV] has an in-house motor, built in Sweden, which applies a lot of those learnings and lessons.” The result is far better electric acceleration—a point Vacca also stressed, suggesting the T8 would provide the best and fastest performance of all XC60 variants. Volvo quotes its 0-to-60-mph acceleration time at 4.5 seconds.
As before, drivers can choose the standard drive mode or Performance, Hold (to retain battery charge), or Charge (using the engine to recharge the battery) modes. As before, there’s a strong detent in the accelerator so drivers don’t accidentally kick on the engine if the car still has charge in the battery. While Volvo says battery power alone is sufficient to cover the vast majority of standard driving, flooring the accelerator switches on the engine to provide maximum power (339 hp combined) for getting out of emergency situations.
Despite the larger pack, the XC60 T8 retains its J-1772 Level 2 port for charging. It doesn’t offer fast charging, so Volvo saw no need to convert to a NACS port during a mid-cycle refresh. Time for a full recharge from 0 to 100 percent is quoted at 5.7 hours on a Level 2 charging cord.
Design updates across the revised 2028 XC60 range include all-new sheet metal and lights forward of the firewall, a redesigned tailgate and rear lamps, and new wheels. Other changes include upgraded safety features due to an expanded suite of no less than 18 sensors—5 radars, a new front-facing camera, and 12 new ultrasonic sensors covering the entire perimeter—and the addition of Google Gemini natural-language interaction (which can be retrofitted to 2021 and later XC60s). One missing feature: The age of the SPA1 platform prevented the addition of wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Owners still have to plug in their phones or other devices to access them through the central touchscreen.
But will they get plugged in?
Vacca said the Sino-Swedish company’s plug-in hybrids have historically made up 25 to 35 percent of its US sales in model lines that offer them. The elephant in the room, of course, is the open question of whether owners actually plug them in—or if they’re simply the buyers who want the top-of-the-line version of the model they’ve chosen, whether it happens to have a plug or not.
Historically, carmakers that sell PHEV models in the US have declined to share any data on plugging-in behavior—if they even gather it in the first place. There’s no incentive for them to do so, since until recently, they got emissions credits for selling the car regardless of whether it was ever plugged in. Toyota recently released a limited set of data suggesting that a substantial portion of its PHEVs are plugged in at least weekly, but more data is obviously required.
Volvo provided results from a survey of 884 US drivers, of whom 287 owned PHEVs. In that group, 64 had Volvo PHEVs; 112 owned premium PHEVs; and 111 owned mainstream PHEVs. Remarkably, every single PHEV owner responded to a question asking how often they charged the vehicle. The Volvo drivers had the highest rates: 69 percent at least daily: 47 percent once a day, 22 percent more than once daily. Another 22 percent said they charged “every few days” or once a week, meaning only one in 10 charged less than weekly or never. For other premium PHEVs, charging rates were lower across the board. But the mainstream PHEV owners were fairly close to the Volvo results. Make of this what you will.
A 2020 report from the International Council on Clean Transportation showed European PHEVs with electric-only ranges of 80 km (50 miles) and up covered far more miles on electricity. More critically, proposed EU rule changes for 2027 will cut the “utility factor” for 70-km (43-mi) PHEVs—effectively the percent of time they run only on electricity, with zero tailpipe emissions—from 54 percent to 33 percent. This reflects years of real-world studies showing PHEVs’ tailpipe emissions were up to five times higher than assumed. The change means PHEVs with less than 100 km (62 mi) of battery range no longer clear the bar to be considered “low-emission vehicles”.
Volvo clearly got the message. But for Volvo USA, Vacca stressed the T8’s “satisfying” performance (“fantastic to drive”) and its position as the top-of-the-line flagship trim in the XC60 lineup. More generally, he lauded PHEVs for their “perceived sort of freedom” for those buyers “not ready to commit to a pure electric experience.” The theory is that plug-in hybrids act as the training wheels toward battery-electric vehicles.
Of course, that only happens if owners plug them in—rather than using them simply as “hybrids” offering better performance and fuel economy. As always, we await data from vehicle telematics.
No affordable pure EVs
Along with the 2028 XC60, Volvo also showed an updated XC40 compact crossover SUV. That model’s battery-electric version, now called the EX40, has also been refreshed—but it won’t come to the States. Reporters saw it at a preview in London, but it remains forbidden fruit.
Having withdrawn both its subcompact EX30 and the compact EX40, Volvo is left with no battery-electric models under the EX60’s starting price of $59,800. Vacca acknowledged that gap in the company’s EV lineup for North America. He declined to comment on future product—pro forma in the auto industry—but suggested the company is well aware that it needs a more affordable EV. “Stay tuned,” he said.
The 2028 Volvo XC60 T8 will go on sale in the US early next year. Pricing will be announced closer to that date. Plug-in hybrid versions are to be exported from Sweden, but with Volvo adding XC60 production to the EX90 assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, the plug-in model should join gasoline versions stateside in the future. US production of gasoline XC60s models is expected to start late this year or in January 2027, with XC60s coming from both Sweden and South Carolina until full production is reached. “Eventually, at some point, we’ll introduce the plug-in hybrid [to Charleston], yeah,” Krishnan confirmed.
Volvo provided airfare, lodging, and meals to enable Charged to bring you this first-person report.
German chemicals maker WACKER’s new ELASTOSIL LR 3822 is a liquid silicone rubber developed for connector seals and sealing elements in the cooling circuit of EV traction batteries. The cured elastomer continuously releases silicone oil from its surface, and WACKER describes it as the first oil-exuding product that also resists coolant.
That oil bleed leaves a lubricating film on the molded part, and WACKER says the film eases machine assembly. Silicone rubber has a comparatively high coefficient of friction, and dry seals are correspondingly hard to feed, position and press home on an automated line.
Samples stored for 1,000 hours in a glycol-water mixture at 125° C retained most of their mechanical properties, according to the company. Compression set after that exposure measured 44%, which WACKER says leaves sealing elements enough resilience to maintain a consistently high level of sealing performance in the seal groove. The product page rates the grade’s compression set in contact with coolant fluids as extremely low.
Compression set records how much of its original thickness a rubber part recovers after prolonged compression. A seal that takes a permanent set in a hot glycol-water circuit loses the contact pressure that keeps the joint tight. Groove designs rely on the elastomer staying squeezed against both sealing faces for the life of the pack.
The cured rubber can be stretched by 270% without cracks or damage, and it stays elastic at temperatures as low as -45° C. WACKER also describes the material as durable and tear-resistant. Hardness is Shore A 60, which the company says is a specification commonly used in the sealing segment.
The grade is a paste-like two-component compound mixed 1:1. WACKER’s product page puts pot life for the mixed components at a minimum of three days at room temperature. The page also lists reduced volatile content, short curing times and easy pigmentability. The material is supplied in 20 kg pails and 200 kg drum kits.
The product page also names battery coolant connectors, molded automotive seals and radiator-system gaskets among the applications, and the announcement adds weather packs as another possible use.
