The US Maritime Administration (MARAD)—the US Department of Transportation agency responsible for the US waterborne transportation system—launched a 16-month study exploring low-carbon options for shipping on the Great Lakes. The study group, led by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) in partnership with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)... Read more →

Chevron New Energies, and Mitsui Oil Exploration (MOECO) signed a Joint Collaboration Agreement to explore the technical and commercial feasibility of advanced geothermal power generation in Japan. Building on Chevron and MOECO’s long-standing relationship, the new collaboration will study geothermal resource potential across Japan and will evaluate the effectiveness of... Read more →

A new $10.95-million research center, led by Michigan Engineering and funded by the US Department of Energy, will focus on understanding an emerging branch of science involving mechanical and chemical phenomena that affect advanced battery designs. The University of Michigan (U-M) and eight partner institutions will explore the use of... Read more →

Umicore last week inaugurated its carbon-neutral production facility for cathode active materials (CAM) for electric vehicles in Nysa, Poland. This makes Umicore the first company in Europe with a complete circular and sustainable battery materials value chain. The gigafactory will supply battery materials to Umicore’s car and battery cell customers... Read more →

The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team recently concluded a trial in the use of biofuels in 16 Mercedes Actros Gigaspace race trucks for the final three races of the European season. As part of the drive to further reduce CO2 emissions and achieve verified Net Zero by 2030, the trial was... Read more →

Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Washington (UW) have developed a simple way to isolate a pure magnesium salt, a feedstock for magnesium metal, from seawater. The new method flows two solutions side-by-side in a long stream. Called the laminar coflow method (LCM), the process... Read more →

Cummins revealed its fourth-generation hydrogen fuel cell engine at IAA. Designed to meet the duty-cycle, performance and packaging requirements of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses, the fuel cell technology is available in 135 kW single and 270 kW dual modules. 135 kW fuel cell system Scania in Europe and... Read more →

Rio Tinto and Shougang Group, one of the world’s top 10 steel producers, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote research, design and implementation of low-carbon solutions for the steel value chain. The MoU’s focus areas include low-carbon sintering technology, blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF)... Read more →

Sakuu, developer of the first 3D printed solid-state battery (earlier post), entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japan’s NGK Spark Plugs CO., LTD. (NGK), a global leader in electrochemical materials and a tier-one industrial automotive supplier. Under the MOU, NGK will co-develop and provide ceramic materials for Sakuu’s... Read more →

Rolls-Royce is releasing mtu rail engines for use with sustainable fuels. With synthetic diesel fuels of the EN15940 standard, CO2 emissions can be reduced by up to 100% compared to fossil diesel. Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO or renewable diesel), which is already commercially available today, reduces CO2 emissions by up... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems announced an order for 14 x 200 kW fuel cell modules from Siemens Mobility GmbH, a leading supplier in the development of alternative drives, to power a fleet of seven Mireo Plus H passenger trains. Delivery of the 14 fuel cell modules is expected to start in... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) released the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge Roadmap outlining a government-wide strategy for scaling up new technologies to produce sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) across the US airline industry. The Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge is a US government-wide approach to work with industry... Read more →

Elli, the Volkswagen subsidiary that manages all activities related to charging and energy for the Group in Europe, the Elia Group and its start-up re.alto signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Berlin. The MoU underscores the signatories’ shared vision of integrating electric cars into the electricity system. Over the... Read more →

LG Energy Solution (LGES) signed separate partnership agreements with three major critical mineral suppliers in Canada. The latest arrangements to secure lithium and cobalt from Snow Lake Resources Ltd., Electra Battery Materials Corporation and Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. are in line with LG Energy Solution’s strategic vision to reinforce its... Read more →

The 2031 Li-ion battery gigafactory pipeline capacity has soared past the 7TWh threshold in Benchmark Minerals’s latest Gigafactory assessment. This milestone comes just four months after the ten-year pipeline exceeded 6 TWh in April. BYD last month announced a 30 GWh gigafactory in Yichun, China, tipping the pipeline capacity for... Read more →

The United States this past week convened Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) partners and key minerals-rich countries to discuss priorities, challenges, and opportunities in responsible mining, processing, and recycling of critical minerals. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken opened the meeting, held in New York City on the margins of the... Read more →

GM Ventures, the automaker’s investment arm, has made a strategic investment in Lithion Recycling’s Series A financing round, supporting a new GM-Lithion strategic partnership agreement to pursue a circular battery ecosystem using Lithion’s advanced battery recycling technology. This collaboration between GM and Lithion will focus on: Validation of Lithion’s recovered... Read more →

General Motors will invest $760 million at its Toledo, Ohio propulsion manufacturing operations to prepare the facility for production of drive units that will be used in future Ultium-based battery electric trucks, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV and GMC HUMMER EVs. Toledo Propulsion Systems will be GM’s... Read more →

Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive (BFDA), the joint venture of Daimler Truck Holding AG and Foton Motor, celebrated the first locally produced Mercedes-Benz trucks with an inauguration ceremony at its new state-of-the-art production site in Huairou, Beijing. The new facility covers an area of more than 400,000 square meters and provides... Read more →

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and four national laboratories have devised a way to make lithium-ion battery cathodes without using cobalt. In a paper published in Nature, the scientists describe how they overcame thermal and chemical-mechanical instabilities of cathodes composed substantially of nickel by mixing in several other... Read more →

Topsoe will deliver technology to HIF Global’s (HIF) planned eFuels facility in Texas. (Earlier post.) The plant will produce carbon-neutral fuel—enough to decarbonize more than 400,000 vehicles annually. eFuels are produced by combining green hydrogen made from renewable power and recycled carbon dioxide. HIF’s facility in Texas will help remove... Read more →

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Washington State University have developed a a process by which lignin can be selectively converted to jet-range aromatics at unprecedented carbon yields, providing a path toward a 100% drop-in sustainable aviation... Read more →

The Electrification Coalition (EC) launched the Electric Freight Consortium (EFC), a forum for collaboration between the EC, private-sector partners and industry leaders representing a broad cross-section of the freight transportation sector that will accelerate freight electrification at scale. The EFC will complement its freight policy and pilot work by creating... Read more →

Toyota Motor North America and Kenworth Truck Company said they have proven the capabilities of their jointly designed heavy-duty, Class 8 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) as a potential zero-emissions replacement of diesel-powered trucks with the completion of their operations in the Zero- and Near-Zero Emissions Freight Facilities (ZANZEFF) “Shore... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) released draft guidance for a Clean Hydrogen Production Standard (CHPS), developed to meet the requirements of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), Section 40315. The CHPS is not a regulatory standard, and DOE may not necessarily require future funded activities to achieve the standard. However,... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) opened applications for a $7-billion program (DE-FOA-000279) to create regional clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) across the country. Projects funded under this funding opportunity are expected to include a Community Benefits Plan. Matching the scale-up of clean hydrogen production to a growing regional demand is... Read more →

The European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, a second Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to support research and innovation, first industrial deployment and construction of relevant infrastructure in the hydrogen value chain. The project, called “IPCEI Hy2Use” was jointly prepared and notified by thirteen Member States:... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board today approved a statewide plan for attaining the federal health-based standard for ozone, typically experienced as smog. The 2022 State Implementation Plan Strategy identifies the state’s control strategy for meeting the federal 70 parts per billion, 8-hour ozone standard over the next 15 years. The... Read more →

Amtrak has pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the Amtrak Network by 2045. Amtrak plans to take the following actions: Achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across Amtrak’s network by 2045: Begin with efforts to increase energy efficiency, followed by the implementation of renewable fuels and energy. Reduce diesel... Read more →

Nissan Motor has jointly developed a technology with Tohoku University’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences that inactivates viruses using catalyst active species for aerobic oxidation. The technology has potential applications for inactivating viruses by oxidizing, denaturing and degrading proteins and other substances on the virus surface. With oxygen in the air... Read more →