BMTA partners with Nakhonchai Air to open Thai EV bus factory for 1,520 buses

LG Electronics will supply its integrated cockpit solution for Renault Group's New Trafic E-Tech Electric, the automaker's first mass-produced commercial vehicle built on a software-defined vehicle architecture and winner of the International Van of the Year award. The solution combines the instrument cluster and infotainment system into a single control platform for the cockpit domain, presenting driving information such as vehicle speed, RPM and warning indicators alongside navigation and media playback in a more consistent and intuitive way across the vehicle's displays. LG said the integration helps automakers cut production costs through component simplification and system optimization, and supports over-the-air software updates central to SDV design. The two companies have a long-standing relationship: LG was named an outstanding supplier by Renault Group in 2014, 2017 and 2020, and the pair developed an Android-based automotive infotainment system in 2021. Eun Seok-hyun, president of the LG Vehicle Solution Company, said LG will continue to advance the core technologies and solutions needed to support the mobility industry's transition to SDVs, and LG plans to expand partnerships with major global automakers across North America, Asia and other key markets.

Daimler Truck laid out what it says Europe needs to move battery-electric and hydrogen trucks from early adopters into mainstream fleets, including public megawatt chargers, truck-ready hydrogen stations and road tolls that reward zero-emission vehicles, with CEO Karin Rådström making the case at the company's Media Night in Hanover, Germany, ahead of IAA Transportation 2026. Mercedes-Benz Trucks held about 38% of Europe's market for locally CO2-free medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the first half of 2026, and customers have driven the eActros 600 more than 160 million kilometers since series production began at the end of 2024. Heavy-duty battery-electric trucks took 2% of Europe's market in 2025, and Daimler Truck estimates about 35% of new trucks would need to run on batteries or hydrogen by 2030 to meet EU CO2 targets. Europe has fewer than 2,000 public truck charge points today, most of them standard CCS chargers, and Rådström said it needs 35,000 megawatt charging points by 2030, along with 1,000 hydrogen stations, up from around 187 today, most of which supply only 350 bar. On cost, she pointed to CO2-based road tolls, saying the toll difference between a diesel truck and an electric truck in Germany comes out to about 33 to 35 cents per kilometer, but only 13 of the EU's 27 member states have adopted CO2-based tolls. Dachser chief development officer Stefan Hohm said the German logistics provider has 25 emission-free delivery areas in Europe and more than 200 battery-electric trucks on the road, including more than 160 Mercedes-Benz Actros models, out of a fleet of more than 15,000, and called grid access and capacity the main pain point. The eActros Lowliner opened for orders Sept. 15, with series production at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth, Germany, set for the second quarter of 2027, and a small series of 100 Mercedes-Benz NextGenH2 fuel-cell trucks enters customer operations from the end of 2026 with Dachser as the first customer. Daimler Truck is asking the EU for an early review of its heavy-duty CO2 regulation, whose 2030 target calls for a 43% cut in CO2 emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles compared with 2019, and puts the cost of falling short at about €120 million in penalties for each percentage point Mercedes-Benz Trucks misses.

Chatpol Sriprathum, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Absolute Public Company Limited, or EA, disclosed that the company targets sales of 100 million baht from its palm oil extract business, BIO-PCM, within the next three years, after continuously rising demand from its main customers in the construction materials business in South Korea and Japan. The company began recognising revenue from PCM products last year. The PCM business still accounts for a relatively small share of sales compared with its energy business group, which generates revenue in the billions of baht. Meanwhile, the company's core business structure remains roughly 60-70% power plants, followed by the electric vehicle, or EV, business. As for the earnings outlook, it is expected to grow by leaps and bounds over the next three years, as new projects become clearer from 2027, spanning the power plant business, the biodiesel plant, and EV car sales to the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, or BMTA, which will begin delivering vehicles from the first quarter of 2027. The Maha Sarakham 1 and Khon Kaen wind power plant projects will gradually begin commercial operation in 2028-2029, while the waste-to-energy plant in Phuket, with a generating capacity of 8 MW, will be completed in the second to third quarter of 2027. In addition, the company is interested in joining the auction under the new PDP plan, focusing on wind power plants and solar farms, and is also interested in joining the auction for community power plant and community solar projects.

ATP30 Public Company Limited, or ATP30, a provider of employee shuttle services in the industrial estates of eastern and central Thailand, said it has adjusted its route plans and fleet management to maintain continuity of service to customers after flooding forced the temporary closure of some routes in Prachin Buri and Rayong provinces, which fall within its service areas. The company assessed the impact as short-term only and said it would not significantly affect overall operations, noting it can switch from electric buses to diesel buses on routes limited by water levels. Chief Executive Officer Piya Techakul said the company continues to prioritise risk management alongside creating business opportunities. In addition, on 18 September 2026, an extraordinary shareholders' meeting approved an expansion of the company's business objectives to formally accommodate the sale of electricity from its commercial Solar Roof & Smart Charger charging stations, building on the infrastructure the company has invested in and uses to support ATP30's own EV fleet. The company plans to open its first commercial charging service in Nakhon Nayok province in October 2026, with a power output of 120 kilowatts across two chargers, before expanding charging stations to other potential areas such as Saraburi, Lopburi, Chonburi and Rayong provinces within 2027, in order to improve asset utilisation and create opportunities for additional revenue.

Harbinger has received an order from FedEx for 2,000 all-electric trucks, a deal valued at more than $300 million, the Garden Grove, California-based manufacturer announced Wednesday. The trucks are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2027 and will run in FedEx pickup and delivery operations across the United States and Canada, with all 2,000 due in about 18 months. Harbinger calls the purchase one of the largest binding orders for electric medium- or heavy-duty trucks in history, and co-founder and CEO John Harris told Bloomberg News that the company recently finished building its 1,000th vehicle. FedEx placed an initial order for 53 Harbinger electric trucks in November 2025, a mix of Class 5 and Class 6 models, while co-leading Harbinger's $160 million Series C, and FedEx senior vice president of safety and transportation Paul Melander sits on Harbinger's board. The new trucks will replace conventional vehicles one for one, and FedEx is working toward an all-electric parcel pickup and delivery fleet by 2040. Harbinger estimates each truck cuts fuel costs by an average of $20,000 a year versus the diesel vehicle it replaces, which would save about $40 million in fuel a year across the 2,000-truck fleet, or $800 million over 20 years, and avoid more than 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the vehicles' operating lives.

The environmental campaign group Transport & Environment, or T&E, in Brussels, Belgium, has published an analysis report stating that electric vehicle users in Europe pay on average only half as much per kilometre for charging as they do for diesel. The report calls on Europe to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, opposes any reduction in fuel taxes, and recommends targeted support measures for low-income households, alongside windfall taxes on energy companies to fund public transport and vehicle scrappage programmes. The analysis found that diesel drivers must pay 32 euros more, or about 1,216 baht, to fill a full 50-litre tank compared with the start of 2026, with about 16 euros, or roughly 610 baht, of that increase caused by higher refinery profit margins, which the European Central Bank estimates rose from about 0.10 euros, or roughly 3.8 baht per litre, in February to 0.41 euros, or about 16 baht per litre, during the period around 14 September. The analysis is based on average diesel consumption of 6.9 litres per 100 kilometres for a diesel car and electricity consumption of 20.2 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometres for a battery electric vehicle, with electricity priced at 0.343 euros, or about 13 baht per kilowatt-hour. Meanwhile, T&E's study, published on Monday 28 September, found that battery electric heavy trucks have a lower total cost of ownership than diesel heavy trucks in six of the nine main European Union markets, and those six markets account for 46 percent of new heavy truck sales in the European Union.