Researchers in China report using air oxidation–water leaching to recover lithium selectively from spent LiFePO4 (LFP) material, in which the high leaching efficiency of lithium and the good separation effect of lithium and iron were achieved simultaneously. An open-access paper on their work is published in the RSC journal Green... Read more →

The FCH2RAIL project, already launched in January 2021, is developing emission-free bi-modal trains, which combine normal track use and emission-free rail travel without overhead lines. The FCH2Rail consortium is developing a Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Pack and integrating it into a demonstration bi-modal train. (Earlier post.) Toyota has built, tested... Read more →

Cellforce Group (CFG)—the joint venture between Porsche and CUSTOMCELLS (earlier post)—has partnered with PPG, a global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. PPG will supply cathode binder systems which are free of N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) solvent, to the Cellforce Group. NMP, which is widely used in electrode manufacturing, has been... Read more →

According to the US Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), for the 2021 model year, the median driving range of all-electric vehicles (EV) was 234 miles while the median range for gasoline vehicles was 403 miles. Although this is a sizeable difference, VTO noted, EV ranges have been... Read more →

EV Metals Group plc (EVM) launched the Australian Lithium Alliance, a strategic initiative to partner with Australian companies to accelerate exploration, development, mining, processing and production of lithium minerals. The strategic initiative will be implemented by Australian Lithium Alliance Pty Limited (ALA), a wholly owned subsidiary of EVM, through joint... Read more →

bp and EnBW have been awarded a lease option off the east coast of Scotland to develop a major offshore wind project to be known as Morven. The award was made in the highly competitive ScotWind leasing round, the results of which were announced by Crown Estate Scotland. The approximately... Read more →

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH has launched a new Ethernet bridge IC—the TC9563XBG—intended for use in automotive zonal-architecture, infotainment, telematics or gateways as well as industrial equipment. The new bridge IC incorporates two 10 Gbps Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC) supporting a number of interfaces including USXGMII, XFI, SGMII, and RGMII.... Read more →

Yamaha Motor will supply Subaru Tecnica International Inc. (STI) with hyper-EV electric motor units (earlier post) for the STI E-RA EV the company is developing for future motorsport. The STI E-RA is being developed by STI with the aim of gaining experience and practice in new technologies in the world... Read more →

Wabtec Corporation announced an order from BHP Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) for two FLXdrive battery locomotives (earlier post). The deal builds momentum in the market for the world’s first 100%, battery-powered locomotive and supports the Australia-based natural resource company’s plan to decarbonize its rail network. Earlier this month, Rio... Read more →

MINI increased worldwide vehicle sales by 3.3% to 302,144 units 2021. Sales of MINI models with electrified drive systems climbed by 64.3% to 53,243 vehicles—around 18% of total worldwide sales in 2021. MINI Electric & MINI Cooper SE Countryman The winner of the year was the fully electric MINI Cooper... Read more →

Kia has revealed the all-new next-generation Niro. Based on the third generation platform, the new Niro benefits from a larger body that realizes class-leading interior space and storage capacity. The all-new Niro features a trio of state-of-the-art electrified powertrains, including hybrid electric (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric (BEV)... Read more →

bp and the Ministry of Energy and Minerals in Oman signed a Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) and a Renewables Data Collection Agreement which will support the potential development of a multiple gigawatt, world-class renewable energy and green hydrogen development in Oman by 2030. As part of the agreement, bp will... Read more →

In its latest report, Tech, Media, & Telecom (TMT) Predictions 2022 – Thematic Research, data and analytics company GlobalData predicts that Tesla and China are set to maintain their dominance in the EV sector. GlobalData also suggests that the lithium shortage will not affect all players equally. In the short... Read more →

thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers recently signed a supply contract with Shell for the large-scale project Hydrogen Holland I in the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Under the contract, thyssenkrupp nucera—formerly thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers—will engineer, procure and fabricate a 200 MW electrolysis plant based on their large-scale 20 MW alkaline... Read more →

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, announced a long-term, strategic alliance with Waymo Via that will advance efforts to integrate commercial autonomous driving technology in transportation and logistics, with ultimate plans to complete fully autonomous transport in Texas in the... Read more →

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) is one promising approach to converting methane and carbon dioxide into chemical feedstock or syngas. However, DRM needs a stable and highly active catalyst for its commercialization. Metal-supported zeolites are widely used for this purpose, due to their microporous structure and chemical stability. In particular,... Read more →

Nuro has introduced its third-generation electric autonomous delivery vehicle. This new vehicle improves on the previous design and is ready to be produced at scale, the company said. The new vehicle is approximately 20% smaller in width than average passenger cars, giving bicyclists and pedestrians more room to maneuver alongside... Read more →

Hyzon Motors reported that it delivered 87 fuel-cell-powered heavy-duty vehicles in 2021 under commercial sales agreements. Eight dump trucks that were deployed under trial leases in Foshan, a UN Hydrogen Demonstration City in China, are not included in the 87 vehicle deliveries. The 2021 shipments exceeded the forecast of 85... Read more →

Chile’s Ministry of Mining awarded China-based BYD a contract to extract up to 80,000 tons of metallic lithium. BYD won the contract—one of two awarded by the Ministry—with an offer of $61 million. The other lithium extraction contract, also for 80,000 tons, went to Chile-based Servicios y Operaciones Mineras del... Read more →

BHP, a world leading resources company, has invested US$40 million into Kabanga Nickel in Tanzania. The money will be used to accelerate the development of the Kabanga Nickel Project—the world’s largest development-ready nickel sulfide deposit. In parallel, BHP has invested US$10 million into Lifezone Limited to advance the roll-out of... Read more →

Talon Metals Corp., through its US subsidiary Talon Nickel (USA) LLC, entered into an agreement with Tesla for the supply and purchase of nickel concentrate to be produced from the Tamarack Nickel Project in Aitkin County, Minnesota. The execution of the agreement follows an extensive and detailed due-diligence period performed... Read more →

Battery Resourcers, a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery recycling and engineered materials company, plans to open a commercial-scale, lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Covington, Ga. When the 154,000-square-foot facility is fully operational in August 2022, it will be North America’s largest battery recycling facility with capacity to process 30,000 metric tons... Read more →

Indaba Renewable Fuels will build two greenfield refineries in California and Missouri to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) utilizing Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology. The facilities are expected to begin production of SAF in 2024, with a capacity of 6,500 barrels per day at each location. Topsoe will also provide its H2bridge... Read more →

LanzaJet, a sustainable fuels technology company and renewable fuels producer, has secured financing for its Freedom Pines Fuels plant in Soperton, Georgia (earlier post), through the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. The Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund has made a $50-million investment to support the construction of LanzaJet’s (and the world’s) first... Read more →

Blue Biofuels, Inc. reports that it has achieved full conversion ( 99% + ) of king grass cellulosic material to water soluble sugars on a repeatable basis. This conversion occurs with a reaction time of less than one minute. This achievement was accomplished with the company’s upgraded 4th generation CTS... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), in collaboration with the Algae Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, announced a new AlgaePrize competition for high school through graduate students studying at a US-based high school, college, community college, university, and/or graduate school. Student teams will compete... Read more →

Lexus will debut the NX PHEV OFFROAD Concept and hydrogen-engined ROV (Recreational Off highway Vehicle) Concept at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2022 held at Makuhari Messe (Chiba City) this weekend. The NX PHEV OFFROAD Concept is based on Lexus’ first PHEV model that went on sale in November 2021, the... Read more →

Albemarle Corporation, a global leader in advanced lithium materials, and 6K, developer of microwave-controlled plasma technology, signed a joint development agreement (JDA) to explore the use of 6K’s patented UniMelt advanced, sustainable materials production platform (earlier post) to develop novel lithium battery materials through potentially disruptive manufacturing processes. Albemarle is... Read more →

Researchers at MIT have identified, quantified, and modeled a major reason for the poor performance of electroreduction processes to convert CO2 to fuel or other useful chemicals. The findings could spur progress on developing a variety of materials and designs for electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion systems. A paper on their... Read more →

CALSTART has released a new report, Zeroing in on ESBs, an inventory of electric school buses (ESBs). As of September 2021, there were 1,738 ESBs funded, ordered, delivered, and deployed across the US. In total, there are some 480,000 school buses in the US—more than 95% powered by diesel. While... Read more →