by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. Among the variables included in my ongoing monthly monitoring of key transportation indexes is revenue passenger miles for domestic flying. That monitoring has shown a huge pandemic-related drop in flying during the spring of 2020 and a gradual rebound later in 2020 and in... Read more →

Swiss research intsitute Empa’s future mobility demonstrator, “move”, is investigating three paths for CO2 reduction in road traffic—electric mobility, hydrogen mobility and synthetic fuels—against the background of a rapidly changing energy system. All these concepts have advantages and drawbacks in terms of energy, operation and economics. In order to use... Read more →

FCC Medio Ambiente and Irizar will start production of the first 10 Irizar ie urban electric trucks to be used for collection of refuse. Production of these 10 units includes 4×2 and 6×2 of two and three-axle versions. The Irizar ie urban truck incorporates in-house technology developed by the Irizar... Read more →

China-based NIO received European Whole Vehicle Type Approval (EWVTA) for the NIO ES8, its smart electric flagship 3-row SUV. The EWVTA certification marks an essential foundation for NIO’s entry into Norway and the European market at large. The NIO ES8 S8 seats 6 or 7 (captain’s chairs or bench in... Read more →

The Port of Los Angeles and its partners rolled out five new hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) and introduced two hydrogen fueling stations. Under the $82.5-million Shore-to-Store (S2S) project, more than a dozen public and private sector partners have teamed up for a 12-month demonstration of the zero-emissions Class... Read more →

The European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) published a policy brief showing that delivery of large amounts of renewable hydrogen over long distances could be cost-effective. This finding is important because access to sufficient amounts of renewable hydrogen at low cost is essential for achieving a climate neutral Europe by... Read more →

German Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier and Federal Minister of Research Anja Karliczek, together with their Australian counterpart, Energy Minister Angus Taylor, have signed a letter of intent to establish a “Germany Australia Hydrogen Accord” to facilitate a green hydrogen supply chain between the countries. Germany is looking to... Read more →

Egypt is planning to invest up to $4 billion in a project to generate green hydrogen via electrolysis, according to a report in Arab News, citing the Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker. The project is currently in the feasibility studies stage, in consultation with the Sovereign... Read more →

The first half of 2021 has seen a tidal wave of announcements of new electrodeposited copper foil mill projects, as well as second- and third-phase expansions at existing mills, according to market consultancy Roskill. The majority of the projects are targeted at making copper foil for lithium-ion batteries to meet... Read more →

Canada-based NEO Battery Materials Ltd.—which intends to become a silicon anode materials supplier to the EV industry—entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Korean silicon powder manufacturer, Korea Metal Silicon Co., Ltd (KMS) to pursue strategic opportunities for the advancement of low-cost, scalable silicon anodes through leveraging the... Read more →

NVIDIA will acquire DeepMap, a startup dedicated to building high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles. Maps that are accurate to within a few meters are good enough when providing turn-by-turn directions for humans. AVs, however, require much greater precision. They must operate with centimeter-level precision for accurate localization, the ability of... Read more →

The Connecticut General Assembly has passed HB 6688, a bill that imposes a highway use tax (HUT) on every carrier for operating, or causing to be operated, certain heavy, multi-unit motor vehicles (Class 8-13) on any highway (i.e., not just limited-access highways) in the state. The bill now heads to... Read more →

Lexus announced the world premiere of the all-new NX, the first model of Lexus’ next-generation range. Under the “Lexus Electrified” initiative, the new NX accelerates the proliferation of electrified models by being Lexus’ first Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV); the NX is also offered as a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV).... Read more →

Norway-based battery cell maker FREYR AS and Alussa Energy Acquisition Corp., disclosed that FREYR is in negotiations with a major multinational industrial conglomerate (the JV Partner) potentially to develop battery production facilities in North America. This development was noted by FREYR Battery in its 9 June 2021 filing of a... Read more →

Soot particles from oil and wood heating systems as well as road traffic can pollute the air in Europe on a much larger scale than previously assumed. This is what researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) conclude from a measurement campaign in the Thuringian Forest in Germany.... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will reconsider the previous administration’s decision to retain the particulate matter (PM) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) (earlier post), which were last strengthened in 2012. EPA is reconsidering the December 2020 decision because it says that available scientific evidence and... Read more →

Vertical Aerospace, developer of the VA-X4 eVTOL aircraft (earlier post), announced investments from American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell and Rolls-Royce, who have invested in the PIPE and are part of Vertical’s strategic partner ecosystem; Microsoft’s M12, 40 North and Rocket Internet SE have also invested in the business. Commercial partnerships and... Read more →

Ten leading German corporations are jointly founding the Quantum Technology and Application Consortium (QUTAC). The goal of the newly founded consortium is to identify, develop, test, and share applications for quantum computing and to identify funding needs. Specifically, applications for the technology, chemical and pharmaceutical, insurance and automotive industries are... Read more →

Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL), a subsidiary of NFI Group Inc. (NFI), unveiled its first electric three-axle double deck bus for North America. The Enviro500EV CHARGE is the North American all-electric version of the world’s best-selling double deck bus, and is produced by NFI subsidiary Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL). An electric... Read more →

Northvolt announced the signing of a $2.75-billion private placement to finance further battery cell production capacity and R&D efforts in order to meet the increasing demand of customers engaged in the transition to decarbonized, electric solutions. The private placement was co-led by new investors AP funds 1-4, via the co-owned... Read more →

OneD Battery Sciences is introducing its SINANODE process. SINANODE seamlessly integrates into existing manufacturing processes to fuse silicon nanowires onto commercial graphite powders, tripling the energy density of the anode while halving its cost per kWh, according to the company. The higher energy density increases battery range while nanowires shorten... Read more →

NanoGraf, an advanced battery material company (earlier post), has enabled what it says is the highest energy density 18650 cylindrical lithium-ion cell in the world—one that provides a 28% longer run time than traditional cell chemistries. Aided by funding from the US Department of Defense and others, NanoGraf’s team unveiled... Read more →

ATLIS Motor Vehicles (ATLIS), a start-up developing an electric medium- to heavy-duty truck platform (XP platform) which will be both the base for its own Atlis XT pickup and a standalone product for third-party vehicle builders, announced the production of the AMV battery cell at its headquarters in Mesa, Arizona.... Read more →

Schlumberger New Energy and Panasonic Energy of North America, a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, have entered into a collaboration agreement for the validation and optimization of the innovative and sustainable lithium extraction and production process to be used by Schlumberger New Energy at its Neolith Energy pilot... Read more →

Oberon Fuels, producer of clean-burning dimethyl ether (DME) transportation fuel, has begun production of the first renewable DME (rDME) in the United States, and the only current commercial production of this in the world. Because rDME’s properties allow it to store and transport renewable hydrogen cost-effectively, this milestone unlocks Oberon’s... Read more →

Plug Power plans to build a green hydrogen production plant in Camden County, Georgia, to serve customers across the southeastern United States. The announcement affirms Plug Power’s continued commitment to establish the first North American green hydrogen supply network, as the Camden County plant extends Plug Power’s service coverage across... Read more →

EV sales are set to rise faster than ever, but governments aiming for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 must do more to spur their adoption, according to BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) latest annual Electric Vehicle Outlook (EVO). Achieving that goal will require decisive further policy action on all fronts, from accelerating electric... Read more →

Conventional Li-ion batteries work by cationic redox, when a metal ion changes its oxidation state as lithium is inserted or removed. Within this insertion framework, only one lithium-ion can be stored per metal ion. Lithium-rich cathodes, however, can store much more. Researchers attribute this to the anionic redox mechanism—in this... Read more →

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Florida International University have demonstrated the first real-time measurement—using lab-based methods—of free radical particles reacting under cosmic conditions, prompting elementary carbon and hydrogen atoms to coalesce into primal benzene rings. The researchers say that their... Read more →

Oshkosh Corporation’s Fire & Emergency segment unveiled the Volterra platform of electric vehicles with the introduction of two new trucks under the Pierce Manufacturing and Oshkosh Airport Products brands. Oshkosh Corporation has been developing electric products and equipment since the mid-1990s when the Company’s JLG Industries business launched its first... Read more →