ŠKODA AUTO has started manufacturing battery systems for all-electric vehicles based on the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electrification Toolkit (MEB) in Mladá Boleslav. This makes the car manufacturer’s main plant the only production facility for MEB battery systems in Europe outside Germany. Around 250 employees will soon be assembling more than... Read more →

Air Liquide, CaetanoBus and Toyota Motor Europe have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of developing integrated hydrogen solutions. This will include infrastructure development and vehicle fleets to accelerate the expansion of hydrogen mobility for both light- and heavy-duty vehicles. The partnership reflects the shared ambition of the... Read more →

The Cobalt Institute’s Cobalt Market Report 2021, prepared by CRU, confirms the role of cobalt as one the key commodities of the green future, due to the rapid growth of the lithium-ion battery market and a strong global uptake of electric vehicles. In 2021, the cobalt market showed unprecedented demand... Read more →

Kobe Steel will launch “Kobenable Steel” and become Japan’s first provider of low-CO2 blast furnace steel products with significantly reduced CO2 emissions during the blast furnace ironmaking process. The company plans to start selling the new products this fiscal year. Kobenable Steel is based on the KOBELCO Group’s CO2 Reduction... Read more →

Genesis Motor America announced the start of sales of its first electric vehicle, the GV60 (earlier post). The Genesis GV60 enters the US market with a number of available world-first automotive features, including Face Connect and a Crystal Sphere. These innovative features enable drivers to be even more connected with... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz will work with Sila, a next-generation battery materials company (earlier post), to incorporate Sila's silicon anode chemistry in batteries which are optionally available for the first time in the upcoming electric Mercedes-Benz G-Class. This will add another innovative cell chemistry to the Mercedes-Benz battery portfolio. The innovative high-silicon anode... Read more →

BMW i Ventures announced a lead investment in the Series A-1 financing round of Vancouver-based Mangrove Lithium. The company has developed a modular platform producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate from diverse input streams and assets to improve the sustainability profile of lithium. BMW i Ventures is joined by existing... Read more →

Standalone Swedish premium electric vehicle manufacturer Polestar has released its second Annual Review and Sustainability report, highlighting progress towards its ambitious climate goals. In 2021, Polestar reduced greenhouse gas-emissions per car sold by 6% through its focus on increased efficiency and use of renewable energy. Polestar is targeting a truly... Read more →

Infinitum Electric, creator of the air-core motor (earlier post), announced $80 million in Series D funding to scale motor production to meet increasing demand. Infinitum Electric will use the investment to integrate vertically and automate production of its motors for the commercial and industrial market segments, and complete development and... Read more →

Hyundai Motor America (HMA) and Kia Motor America (KMA) are recalling certain 2022 Ioniq 5 and 2022 EV6 vehicles, respectively, because a software error in the Shifter Control Unit (SCU) may disengage the parking mechanism, which can allow the vehicle to roll away. For the Ioniq 5, drivers are recommended... Read more →

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released its early estimate of traffic fatalities for 2021. NHTSA projects that an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year—a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 fatalities in 2020. The projection is the highest number of fatalities since 2005 and... Read more →

EAVX, a subsidiary of JB Poindexter & Co (JBPCO), and REE Automotive, an automotive technology leader and provider of electric vehicle platforms, announced that the companies’ new fully electric walk-in van (WIV) prototype will begin customer evaluation this summer. The Class 5 vehicle marks the debut of the EAVX body... Read more →

Modine Manufacturing Company, a diversified global leader in thermal management technology and solutions, announced the general availability of its suite of EVantage Thermal Management Systems for commercial EV chassis. Leveraging more than 100 years of thermal expertise, Modine, which put radiator systems in the Model T, produces complete EV thermal... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that the application process is now open for communities of all sizes to apply (DOT-SS4A-FY22-01) for $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2022 funding to help them ensure safe streets and roads for all and address the national roadway safety crisis. The Safe Streets... Read more →

Cadillac announced ordering information, pricing and EPA-estimated range for the battery-electric 2023 LYRIQ RWD. Cadillac also announced a special charging offer, designed to simplify the charging experience for LYRIQ customers. Ordering for the 2023 LYRIQ RWD and AWD models will open on 19 May, with RWD deliveries expected starting this... Read more →

Electreon, a provider of wireless and in-road electric vehicle (EV) charging technology, signed an agreement of cooperation with Israel public transportation company Electra Afikim. As part of the agreement, Electreon will provide Electra Afikim with wireless charging infrastructure that will enable simultaneous charging of 30 buses, 24 hours a day.... Read more →

A research team from Tokyo Tech has used an alumina-supported, iron-based compound to develop a catalyst that can efficiently convert CO2 into formic acid (HCOOH) with ~90% selectivity. An open-acess paper on the work is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. An et al. A wide-spread soil mineral, alpha-iron-(III) oxyhydroxide,... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced the second round of its Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE), tripling the amount of allocated funding from the previous round for equipment used in agriculture, airport, railyard, port, construction, and marine operations. The project is administered by CALSTART, a national clean... Read more →

At the recent ACT Expo in Long Beach, California, Cummins debuted its 15-liter hydrogen engine. This engine is built on Cummins’ new fuel-agnostic platform, where below the head gasket each fuel type’s engine has largely similar components, and above the head gasket, each has different components for different fuel types.... Read more →

The Board of Directors of Renault Group unanimously approved the signing of agreements to sell 100% of Renault Group’s shares in Renault Russia to Moscow City entity and its 67.69% interest in AVTOVAZ to NAMI (the Central Research and Development Automobile and Engine Institute). The closing of these transactions is... Read more →

VERBIO recently officially launched the first cellulosic RNG plant in the US. The VERBIO Nevada (Iowa) Biorefinery began producing renewable natural gas (RNG) on an industrial scale in December 2021. The facility is on track to achieve full-scale production of 7 million ethanol gallons equivalent (EGE) of RNG annually by... Read more →

Using new analytical methods, the research group “CritMET: Critical Metals for Enabling Technologies” led by Michael Bau, Professor of Geochemistry at Jacobs University in Bremen has studied the distribution of germanium and gallium in iron-manganese crusts from the deep sea. The results have now been published in two journals: Geochimica... Read more →

In 2010, researchers from the Beijing Institute of Technology proposed a new combustion system for diesel engines: the Double Swirl Combustion System (DSCS) (Li et al. 2010). Within the DSCS, the Double Swirl (DS) chamber is one of the most noticeable factors in the new system. The configuration of DS... Read more →

Asahi Kasei has developed a system to calculate the carbon footprint of products (CFP) for the synthetic rubber and elastomers products Asadene, Tufdene, Asaprene, Tufprene, Asaflex, Tuftec, and S.O.E. with CFP data provision to customers scheduled to begin in June 2022. CFP visualization is achieved utilizing the DEEP (Data Exploration... Read more →

Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC), a subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber, will be supplying YOKOHAMA tires to about 18 cars competing in the 100th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb to be held on 26 June. The supplied tires will include the first provision of YOKOHAMA’s ADVAN A052 street sports tires made from... Read more →

Canada-based battery materials company Euro Manganese (EMN) reported that the first shipment of the components of its demonstration plant to be sited in Chvaletice, Czech Republic is underway from China, where the components of the plant are being assembled. The first consignment was shipped on 30 April 2022 and the... Read more →

Last week, US Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.-44), Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Congressman Donald McEachin (D-Va.-04), and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.-07) led 61 of their colleagues in both the US Senate and House of Representatives in sending a letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to... Read more →

A research team in China has developed a new type of electrolyte for high-energy Li-ion batteries with a self-purifying feature that opens a promising approach for electrolyte engineering for next-generation high-energy Li-ion batteries. A paper on their work is published in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science. Conventional LiPF6/carbonate... Read more →

The European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted this week, with 46 votes in favor, 40 against and two abstentions, a position on proposed rules to revise the CO2 emission performance standards for new cars and vans in line with the EU’s increased climate... Read more →

UK-based Clean Air Power has demonstrated a Freightliner Class 66 locomotive running on hydrogen to reduce its carbon emission output. Clean Air Power achieved this by fitting the Class 66 with its precision injection technology, allowing the two-stroke diesel locomotive to run on a combination of diesel, biogas and hydrogen.... Read more →