LG Energy Solution will invest approximately KRW 7.2 trillion (US$5.5 billion) to construct a battery manufacturing complex in Queen Creek, Arizona. The complex will consist of two manufacturing facilities—one for cylindrical batteries for electric vehicles (EV) and another for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pouch-type batteries for energy storage systems (ESS).... Read more →

Following months of promising test results, battery researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are recommending that the solid-state battery industry focus on a technique known as isostatic pressing as it looks to commercialize next-generation solid-state batteries. In an open-access focus review paper for ACS Energy Letters,... Read more →

The results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of greenhouse gas emissions and primary energy demand of the cars tested by Green NCAP in 2022 show that the current and continuous trend towards larger and heavier cars, significantly increases the negative impact on climate and energy demand. This drives not... Read more →

Porsche will manufacture the future all-electric version of the fourth-generation Cayenne at Volkswagen Slovakia’s multi-brand location in Bratislava. After the Taycan (since 2019), the Macan (in 2024) and the 718 (middle of the decade), the Cayenne will become the sports car manufacturer’s fourth model line with an all-electric powertrain. Prototype... Read more →

Archer Aviation and United Airlines plan to launch the first air taxi route in Chicago, between O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Vertiport Chicago. Vertiport Chicago, North America’s largest vertical aircraft take off and landing facility, is located in the Illinois Medical District near the Chicago Loop. This site was selected... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä and WEC Energy Group have successfully tested the capabilities of a Wärtsilä engine running on 25 vol% hydrogen-blended fuel. The tests, which were completed in October 2022, were conducted at WEC Energy Group’s 55 MW A.J. Mihm power plant in Michigan using an unmodified Wärtsilä 18V50SG... Read more →

Amprius Technologies, developer of the Silicon Anode Platform for batteries, has verified a lithium-ion cell delivering energy density of 500 Wh/kg, 1300 Wh/L, resulting in unparalleled run time. At approximately half the weight and volume of state-of-the-art, commercially available lithium-ion cells, the new battery cell delivers potential industry-disrupting performance with... Read more →

PowerCo, the new battery company of the Volkswagen Group, and Belgian circular technology group Umicore have obtained full regulatory approvals for their joint venture announced in September 2022. The partners can now swiftly proceed to prepare for large-scale industrial production of cathode active materials (CAM) and precursor materials (PCAM) in... Read more →

The city of Moscow has signed a contract for 1,000 electric buses from KAMAZ. There are also plans to purchase another 200 electric buses from GAZ Group, said Maksim Liksutov, the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport. The vehicles will come to the capital over the next 2 years. Moscow... Read more →

The Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached provisional political agreement on green shipping fuels regulations. The main objective of the FuelEU Maritime initiative, as a key part of the EU’s Fit for 55 package, is to increase the demand for and consistent use of renewable and low-carbon... Read more →

Alkegen has begun commercial production of its silicon fiber anode material platform, SiFAB. The company’s new SiFAB production line is an extension of its established large-scale manufacturing facility in New Carlisle, Indiana. SiFAB features micron-sized silicon fiber with an engineered structure that enables higher energy density through a nanoporous fiber... Read more →

Albemarle Corporation plans to locate its previously announced lithium hydroxide Mega-Flex facility in Chester County, South Carolina. (Earlier post.) Plans for the facility include an initial investment of at least $1.3 billion to help meet the surging demand for domestic and international electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries. The term Mega-Flex... Read more →

Cirba Solutions announced today a phase I investment of more than $300 million into a lithium-ion electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling facility in South Carolina. With more than 30 years of experience, Cirba Solutions has paved the way for a sustainable closed-loop battery supply chain. The company is investing more... Read more →

Amogy Inc., a developer of emission-free, energy-dense ammonia power solutions (earlier post), announced a $139-million Series B-1 fundraising. The round was led by SK Innovation, joined by other global investors including Temasek, Korea Zinc, Aramco Ventures, AP Ventures, MOL PLUS, Yanmar Ventures, Zeon Ventures and DCVC. SK Innovation had already... Read more →

For Europe, Ford revealed the new all-electric Explorer—the first in a series of new electric vehicles from Ford. The mid-size crossover, engineered and built in Germany, uses Volkswagen’s MEB platform (earlier post) and has seats for five across two rows. Ford and the Volkswagen Group announced an expanded e-mobility partnership... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a set of reports—Pathways to Commercial Liftoff—that provide guidance for bringing advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen and long-duration energy storage into the commercial mainstream. The reports conclude that by 2030, cumulative investments must increase from approximately $40 billion to $300 billion across the... Read more →

The Department of Energy announced $14 million in funding (DE-FOA-0002946) to support and to optimize the production of affordable biofuels and biochemicals while significantly reducing carbon emissions. The Topic Areas in the 2023 Conversion Research and Development (R&D) funding opportunity seek to address the following R&D needs: R&D on gasification... Read more →

SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, introduced two new LNP THERMOCOMP compounds that offer the potential to improve signal gain performance vs. ceramics in second-generation automotive global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antennas. The new products, LNP THERMOCOMP ZKC0CXXD compound and LNP THERMOCOMP ZKC0DXXD compound, help enable the design... Read more →

ExxonMobil recently announced the successful startup of its Beaumont refinery expansion project, which adds 250,000 barrels per day of capacity to one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes along the US Gulf Coast. (Earlier post.) Supported by the company’s growing crude production in the Permian Basin, the project is... Read more →

Volvo Trucks and mining company Boliden are joining forces to implement electric truck transport in underground environments. The Swedish mining group Boliden is becoming one of the first in the world to start using battery-electric trucks for heavy underground transport starting 2023. In mining environments, the electric trucks can deliver... Read more →

Infineon Technologies and Delta Electronics are expanding their long-term cooperation from industrial to automotive applications. Infineon and Delta signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will deepen their joint innovation activities to provide more efficient and higher-density solutions for the fast-growing market of electric vehicles (EV). The agreement covers a wide... Read more →

NVIDIA announced that BYD will extend its use of the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin centralized compute platform in a broader range of its NEVs. The enhanced partnership expands BYD’s use of DRIVE Orin (earlier post) across the multiple models in its next-generation Dynasty and Ocean series of vehicles, bringing safe and... Read more →

China-based Dongfeng Motor (DFM) has launched two new passenger cars powered by ProteanDrive Pd18 in-wheel motors. The two models were showcased at a ceremony in Wuxi, held by DFM and Weifu Electric Drive Technology (WFDT)—the joint venture between Weifu and Protean Electric (earlier post). Unveiled at the event was the... Read more →

BMW i Ventures announced a co-lead investment in the $16.1-million Series A round for startup DeepDrive. DeepDrive has developed a cost- and resource-efficient dual-rotor motor, extending the range of electric vehicles. Other investors include UVC Partners, Bayern Kapital with Wachstumsfonds Bayern, and Continental’s Corporate Venture Capital Unit. The company is... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group has developed an automatic charging robot (ACR) for electric vehicles (EV). The ACR for EVs is a one-arm robot capable of plugging a cable into an EV’s charging port and removing it again once charging is complete. The ACR will help to make EV-charging easier and more... Read more →

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption has accelerated faster than many predicted. Globally, EV sales doubled in 2021 and jumped 55% in 2022 to account for 13% of all vehicles sold. If this trend is to continue, however, the eMobility ecosystem must collaborate around ‘Six essentials for mainstream EV adoption’, according to... Read more →

Based on comparison tests between a Tesla Model Y and Kia Niro full hybrid, independent emissions testing company Emissions Analytics (earlier post) is suggesting that at present full hybrids are the win-win, do-no-harm option for decarbonizing transportation, while BEVs are a win-lose option, hampered by a “vexatious” trade-off between CO2... Read more →

Supply chain disruption and rising material costs are causing the global automotive industry to re-evaluate lean manufacturing principles, according to a new survey commissioned by ABB Robotics. Shifting from ‘just-in-time’ to ‘just in case’ strategies, manufacturers are holding more stock to protect against unplanned disruptions. Produced in partnership with Automotive... Read more →

A research team led by Profs. CHEN Wei and WEI Wei from the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed novel graphene/silicon carbide (SiC) catalysts for efficient CO2 photoelectroreduction to ethanol (C2H5OH). The results were published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The composite catalyst,... Read more →

EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies GmbH (EKPO), an entity fully consolidated within the Group of majority shareholder ElringKlinger AG, and operated in partnership with French automotive supplier Plastic Omnium, which holds the remaining ownership interests, secured a contract from a global automotive manufacturer to supply mass-produced bipolar plates for the carmaker’s... Read more →