China is rich in rare earth elements and has dominated global rare earth mining and production since the 1990s. Its neighbor, Myanmar, is also a country rich in rare earth elements. In 2012, China’s Central Government implemented a strategy to shift away from mining and to focus instead on the... Read more →

HIF USA, affiliate of HIF Global, the world’s leading eFuels company, and the Japanese energy company Idemitsu Kosan, signed a letter of intent to negotiate a sale and purchase agreement for eMethanol from the HIF Matagorda eFuels facility currently in development in Texas (earlier post), and to study the joint... Read more →

Fraunhofer researchers, TS ELINO GmbH and Salzgitter AG are working on converting an existing steel mill to climate-neutral production methods. The aim is to produce steel by the direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen, which would completely replace coke as a reducing agent. The hydrogen required for this method... Read more →

Scientists at the University of Pretoria (UP) are leading a study of natural hydrogen gas discovered under the Earth’s surface in Mpumalanga (geologic hydrogen)—a potential source of renewable energy that could contribute to the national energy budget and help address the energy shortage in South Africa. Mpumalanga is a province... Read more →

NETZSCH Pumps USA will showcase its complex fluid pumping solutions for lithium battery manufacturing at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC), to be held later this month in San Diego. Both the NEMO Progressing Cavity pumps and PERIPRO Peristaltic pumps have the ability to transfer complex slurry fluids and provide... Read more →

Infinium and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst announced a $75-million project equity investment commitment to support Infinium’s Project Roadrunner, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions. Project Roadrunner will convert waste CO2 and renewable power into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other low-carbon fuels. This first-of-a-kind commercial-scale Power-to-Liquids (PtL) eFuels facility... Read more →

Rio Tinto and Giampaolo Group have completed a transaction to form the Matalco joint venture (earlier post), combining the strengths of North America’s largest primary and secondary aluminum producers to meet the growing demand from manufacturers for low carbon materials. Following the receipt of all regulatory approvals, Rio Tinto has... Read more →

The US Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released proposed guidance on the clean vehicle provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Since the IRA was enacted, nearly $100 billion in private-sector investment has been announced across the US clean vehicle and battery supply chain. The Inflation... Read more →

GreenGo Energy has filed an application to Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Mines in Mauritania for the development of one of the world’s largest green energy parks: Megaton Moon. Megaton Moon is planned for a staged implementation process to reach 60GW/190TWh of hybrid solar and wind generation and 35GW electrolysis... Read more →

Hitachi Energy recently unveiled the HyFlex demonstration unit, its Hydrogen Power Generator in Gothenburg, Sweden, in an event held with Hitachi Energy’s technology partner, PowerCell Group. HyFlex is an integrated and scalable plug-and-play generator for temporary or permanent installation, where power grid connections are impractical, and diesel generators are not... Read more →

The modified glider at the center of Airbus UpNext’s hydrogen contrail-studying experiment, Blue Condor, made its first hydrogen-powered flight over Nevada on 8 November. The flight was the company’s first to use hydrogen as the sole fuel source, and it kicked off a test campaign that will conclude in a... Read more →

BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. and Mercedes-Benz Group China Ltd. reached an agreement to establish a 50:50 joint venture in China to operate a high-power charging network and to provide Chinese customers with premium charging services. Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz will apply the expertise gained from global and Chinese charging operations,... Read more →

Forum Mobility, a leading freight electrification provider, announced a new heavy-duty truck charging depot in the Port of Long Beach. This new depot will provide high-speed charging infrastructure for hundreds of drayage trucks per day, supporting the transition of the state’s drayage fleet to zero-emission. Drayage carriers are already reserving... Read more →

Tesla hosted its highly anticipated Cybertruck delivery event at the Texas gigafactory. Cybertruck was unveiled in November 2019. (Earlier post.) The Cybertruck is currently planned to be offered in three model variants (listed in order of availability): Cybertruck production line. Dual-Motor AWD (All-Wheel Drive). Coming in 2024, the AWD Cybertruck... Read more →

Volvo Cars announced that it is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions per car by 75% by 2030, compared to a 2018 baseline. This is in addition to its ambition to become climate-neutral by 2040, and to reduce CO2 emissions per car by 40% between 2018 and 2025. During the first... Read more →

Audi has improved the RS Q e-tron rally car once again. (Earlier post.) Ahead of its third outing in the Dakar Rally, the rally car with its electric drivetrain featuring a high-voltage battery and energy converter has received multiple innovative upgrades. The new ideas make the RS Q e-tron safer,... Read more →

Kohler Engines unveiled its new Kohler Direct Injection Hydrogen (KDH) engine, an internal combustion engine running on hydrogen, at the recent 2023 Agritechnica tradeshow. This move aligns with Kohler Engines’ ongoing commitment to develop technologies with reduced environmental impact as well as the evolving landscape of the engine industry, which... Read more →

Among the top 10 Li-ion battery cell suppliers globally, CATL is dominating in Q3 2023 with a sales-weighted average pack size (in kWh) nearly 50% larger than the group average and total deployment onto roads (in GWh) more than triple the group average, according to Adamas Intelligence. LG Energy Solution... Read more →

The Riverside, California City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday (11/28) to finalize an agreement with the all-electric autonomous shuttle company Ohmio to move its international headquarters from New Zealand to Riverside and manufacture the vehicles there. The company is touring multiple potential sites in Riverside for its facility. Ohmio also... Read more →

Chevrolet’s Tahoe and Suburban—the industry’s best-selling large SUVs—launch late next year with new designs, a more powerful diesel engine option available later in production and new technology enhancements designed to provide greater confidence and security behind the wheel. 2025 Tahoe Z71 (left) and 2025 Suburan High Country (right) The refined,... Read more →

Cleantech start-up, CAPHENIA, has commissioned MAN Energy Solutions to build a Plasma Boudouard Reactor (PBR). This will form the core of CAPHENIA’s first production plant, ‘GERMANY I’, located at Industriepark Höchst in Frankfurt am Main, Germany where the company will produce its first renewable fuels in 2024. The CAPHENIA PBR... Read more →

Consumers are buying electric vehicles in growing numbers, but poor reliability remains an issue, according to the latest Annual Auto Reliability Survey data from Consumer Reports (CR), the nonprofit research, testing, and consumer advocacy organization. Electric pickups in particular are the least reliable category of vehicles. On average, new EVs... Read more →

Following unprecedented price increases in 2022, battery prices are falling again this year. The price of lithium-ion battery packs has dropped 14% to a record low of $139/kWh, according to analysis by research provider BloombergNEF (BNEF). This was driven by raw material and component prices falling as production capacity increased... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation have unveiled the Universal Wheel Drive System (Uni Wheel). Uni Wheel is a functionally integrated wheel drive system that improves available space inside an electric vehicle (EV) by moving the main drive system components to the vacant space within the wheel hub. In doing... Read more →

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced $100 million is now available for zero-emission school buses under the $4.2-billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022. The New York School Bus Incentive Program (NYSBIP) provides funding to make clean buses and the associated charging infrastructure more... Read more →

Connecticut’s Governor Ned Lamont and Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) withdrew from consideration by the state’s Legislative Regulation Review Committee (LRRC) the proposed Advanced Clean Cars II regulations that would have aligned the state with California ZEV regulations. (Earlier post.) The Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) regulation... Read more →

EVgo Inc., one of the US’ largest public fast charging networks for electric vehicles (EVs), today announced it will install new fast charging stations in the Midwest in an expanded partnership with Meijer, a regional grocery retailer. The new EVgo stations will be built in Ohio and feature up to... Read more →

Neste and ENOC Group, a leading integrated global energy player, have agreed to collaborate to explore the possibilities of supplying and purchasing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Dubai and the wider Middle East North Africa (MENA) region in the coming years. By leveraging the expertise of Neste as the world’s... Read more →

US coal-related CO2 emissions decreased by 7%, or 68 million metric tons (MMmt), in 2022 relative to 2021, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This decrease was largely due to an 8% decline in coal-fired power generation because of retiring coal-fired generating capacity. Changes in electricity generation sources... Read more →

Toshiba Corporation has developed a new lithium-ion battery using a cobalt-free 5V-class high-potential cathode material that significantly suppresses performance-degrading gases produced as side reactions. This battery can operate at a wide range of applications, from power tools to electric vehicles. Cobalt and nickel are widely used to stabilize the cathodes... Read more →