Volkswagen to build 6 electric vehicle battery factories in Europe
German multinational automotive manufacturing company Volkswagen is planning to become the world’s biggest electric car maker by building six battery factories in Europe and global investments in charging stations. VW already has agreements for two of the sites and is exploring options for another four plants for a total capacity of 240 gigawatt-hours by the end of the decade.
The manufacturer has the most comprehensive electric vehicle plan in the industry which will add about 50 purely battery-powered vehicles to its lineup by 2030. VW will also invest 400 million Euros ($477 million) by 2025 to build out much-needed charging infrastructure in Europe after the region overtook China in EV sales last year.
Fast-charging in Europe is set to grow five-fold to 18,000 stations, and in North America, VW is adding 3,500 stations for this year and 17,000 points in China by 2025. The carmaker aims to double its share of deliveries that are fully electric year.
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Mondelez to reduce plastic use in packaging by 2025
Chicago-based multinational confectionery company Mondelez has said it wants to reduce its use of virgin plastic in rigid plastic packaging by at least 25% – or by 5% in its overall plastic packaging portfolio – by 2025. The company is aiming to reach its target by eliminating plastic material, increasing its use of recycled content and adopting re-use models for its product portfolio.
Mondelez invest more than $30 million a year in technology, resources and recycling infrastructure. Between 2019 and 2025, they expect to spend around $300 million toward plastic sustainability efforts. Despite there being no federal framework for plastics recycling, the company have called for a federal recycling scheme in the US for flexible plastic films and other plastics, as experts foresee usage to grow to billion of units by 2023.
The company is close to reaching its earlier goal to use 5% recycled content by weight in all of its plastic packaging, and to design all packaging for recyclability by 2025. 94% of its packaging is already designed to be recycled, but targeting its use of new plastic puts them in step with announcements by other large food and beverage manufacturers such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé.
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Amazon to build largest warehouse in Australia’s history
Amazon’s anticipated robotics fulfilment center in Western Sydney is set to be completed by the end of this year. The center is the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere and is the largest to ever be built in Australia.
The warehouse will span 200,000 sqm across four levels, the equivalent of 24 rugby league fields. More than 1,400 people have worked on the construction of the site to complete the building’s shell, with 300 additional contractors starting to begin the installation of the conveyer belt and robotics equipment.
Once fully operational, the fulfilment center will house up to 11 million items and will be equipped with the most advanced Amazon Robotics technology on the market. Utilizing advanced technology, the robotics will enhance the efficiency of their operations. The robotics facility will be Amazon’s second fulfilment center in Western Sydney and their fifth in Australia.
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Have a nice weekend!
