The German government is topping up the funding for private charging stations for electric cars in residential buildings by a further €300 million (US$349 million). The purchase and installation of the wall boxes are supported with a grant of €900 (US$1,050). A total of €800 million (US$932 million) in federal... Read more →

Royal Caribbean Group’s new class of ships known as ‘Project Evolution’, set to debut in summer 2023, will operate using a trio of power sources including a fuel cell system, battery technology and dual fuel engines using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the main fuel. This tribrid solution with the... Read more →

Volvo Trucks North America’s customers and carrier partners, Watsontown Trucking Company and Camrett Logistics, have placed orders for their first Volvo VNR Electric trucks. By the end of 2021, the Virginia-based fleets will utilize the zero tailpipe emission trucks to transport inbound parts and components daily to the Volvo Trucks... Read more →

New hydrogen production technology developed at the University of British Columbia (UBC) will be tested in a $7-million project between UBC, the government of Alberta and Alberta utility company ATCO. The technology developed by the UBC researchers—thermal methane cracking (TMC)—can produce up to 200 kilograms of hydrogen a day using... Read more →

Roskill reports that China-based cathode producer XTC New Energy Materials, a unit of Xiamen Tungsten, signed a supply agreement with Jingmen GEM, a subsidiary of GEM. Under this agreement, Jingmen GEM will supply 5-15 ktpy of cobalt tetroxide and 15-35 ktpy of lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) precursor materials... Read more →

Australia-based Mineral Resources (MRL, MinRes) announced a decision by the MARBL Lithium Joint Venture (MARBL), an unincorporated joint venture owned 40/60 by MRL and Albemarle Corporation, to restart operations at the Wodgina Lithium Mine (Wodgina), in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. MARBL expects Wodgina, which was placed on care... Read more →

China-based EV maker XPeng unveiled a series of technology innovations at its annual 1024 Tech Day, including the latest and most sophisticated version of its in-house developed advanced driver assistance system XPILOT 3.5 and XPILOT 4.0; the design of a new generation road-capable flying car; high-voltage supercharging technology; and robotic... Read more →

Elkem, a global leader in silicon-based advanced materials, will test the world’s first carbon capture pilot for silicon smelters at its plant in Rana, Norway. The project has received financial support from Gassnova CLIMIT and is a follow-up to the company’s recently launched climate roadmap to reduce emissions towards net... Read more →

A cross-industry group of European metals-producing and -using industries and their workers have issued a warning about the potentially catastrophic impact of the Chinese magnesium supply shortage. The group, which includes Eurofer, ACEA, Eurometaux, industriAll Europe, ECCA, ESTAL, IMA, EUWA, EuroAlliages, CLEPA and Metals Packaging Europe, issued an urgent call... Read more →

Plastics are on track to contribute more greenhouse gas emissions than coal plants in the US by 2030, according to new report by Beyond Plastics, a nationwide project based at Bennington College in Vermont. The New Coal: Plastics and Climate Change analyzes data from ten stages of plastics production, usage,... Read more →

Petroleum refining produces approximately 13% of US industrial greenhouse gas emissions and approximately 3% of all US emissions. While the US is seeking to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels rapidly, some demand will remain for petroleum refinery products in the coming decades. For the US to meet its current... Read more →

TotalEnergies E&P Angola has exercised an option for the 7th-generation drillship Maersk Voyager to drill the ultra-deepwater Ondjaba-1 exploration well in Angola’s Block 48. The Ondjaba-1 well will be drilled at a new world record water depth of 3,628 m (2.25 miles). The current world record is 3,400 m, set... Read more →

The first series-produced BMW i4 EV (earlier post) rolled off the production lines at BMW Group Plant Munich. The company’s home plant now manufactures all drive variants on a single assembly line. For the plant and team, the launch of the BMW i4 is a milestone on the road to... Read more →

Volkswagen of America announced that the ID.4 RWD electric SUV has earned a 5-Star overall safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which runs the government’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). NHTSA has provided consumers with vehicle safety information since 1978. The ID.4 RWD joins the 2021... Read more →

BorgWarner is the recipient of a $4.97 million US Department of Energy (DOE) Award for the development of a Scalable Ultra Power-dense Extended Range (SUPER) inverter. This research and development project is one of 24 university and industry-led projects that collectively were awarded $60 million in an effort to reduce... Read more →

Albemarle Corporation, a leader in the global specialty chemicals industry, announced its intent for strategic investments in China in support of the expansion of its lithium conversion capacity. The company recently signed investment agreements with the Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial Park in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone (Jiangsu province),... Read more →

Benchmark Minerals reports that China’s ongoing energy shortage, which has seen local governments enforce intermittent power cuts since July 2021, has begun to affect domestic anode and cathode production as several producers were forced to scale back production in late Q3. Hunan and Inner Mongolia are among the most affected... Read more →

Every year, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) posts an Annual Crude Average carbon intensity calculation, using the the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimator (OPGEE) Model. Crude oil from California, Alaska and 11 countries account for 95% of the volume supplied to California in any given year. Source: CARB... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. and Samsung SDI have entered into a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture to produce battery cells and modules for North America. Targeted to start in 2025, the plant aims to have an initial annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours, with the ability to increase... Read more →

INOVYN, a subsidiary of INEOS, plans to upgrade existing production at its Runcorn Site so that it can supply compressed fuel-cell quality hydrogen to mobility and power generation sectors. This is part of more than €2 billion investment in green hydrogen announced by INEOS earlier. (Earlier post.) INOVYN, which has... Read more →

Reaction Engines has joined the Project Fresson consortium (earlier post) led by Cranfield Aerospace (CAeS). Project Fresson aims to accelerate the journey to zero-emissions passenger-carrying aircraft through using hydrogen fuel cell technology and Reaction Engines has been selected to provide its thermal management technology (earlier post) for fuel cell cooling.... Read more →

Daimler officially started operations of its new “R&D Tech Center China” in Beijing. With an investment of 1.1 billion RMB (US$172 million), the company is further strengthening its R&D footprint and technological capabilities in the world’s biggest car market. The fully-fledged R&D center focuses on major technological trends, tailor-made innovation... Read more →

Grupo Segura, a leader in the design, development, and manufacture of metallic components for automotive applications, recently completed an R&D project which will help it meet demand from OEMs for cold stamped solutions. Together with ArcelorMittal, Grupo Segura studied how the latest ultra high strength steels (UHSS) for cold forming... Read more →

system Gentherm, a developer of innovative thermal management technologies, and Datang NXP Semiconductors Co., Ltd. (DNS) are together developing a new cell connection system, integrating the electronics for the battery module control for the global automotive market. This first-of-its-kind cell connection system will combine the single-cell monitoring integrated circuit (IC)... Read more →

SPARKZ Inc., a battery startup with exclusive licenses to produce domestic cobalt-free lithium batteries (earlier post), has won a grant for $2.6 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to extend its development into solid-state batteries. CEC funded the full amount possible for the first phase of the grant and... Read more →

The all-new 2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid pickup—the first standard hybrid pickup in the US—is now officially the most fuel-efficient hybrid pickup with an EPA-estimated rating of 42 mpg city. The 2.5-liter hybrid has an EPA-estimated rating of 37 mpg combined, 33 mpg highway and an EPA-estimated range of more than... Read more →

Electrify America today announced an agreement with Polestar—the electric performance car brand from Sweden—to provide new and existing drivers of the all-electric Polestar 2 fastback with no-cost 30-minute charging sessions on the US’ largest open ultra-fast DC charging network. Charging benefits for 2021 and 2022 Polestar 2 owners will be... Read more →

Hydra Energy, the Hydrogen-as-a-Service (HaaS) provider for commercial fleets looking to reduce emissions and costs with limited risk and no up-front investment (earlier post), has delivered its first hydrogen-converted, heavy-duty truck to paying fleet customer Lodgewood Enterprises. Hydra offers a proven hydrogen-diesel, co-combustion retrofit approach; the retrofitted engines can run... Read more →

Volkswagen is taking a further step in the direction of fully networked factories. A local 5G campus network is now available at its main plant in Wolfsburg that initially covers the main production development center and the pilot hall. The pilot project will test whether the 5G technology meets the... Read more →

Automotive Tier 1 supplier Gestamp has signed an agreement with ArcelorMittal to start using XCarb green steel certificates for the production of automotive components, as part of a sustainability strategy aimed at achieving decarbonization in all of its operations. Gestamp products cover the areas of body-in-white, chassis and mechanisms. With... Read more →