The BMW Group and Daimler AG are pooling their mobility services to create a new global player providing sustainable urban mobility for customers. The two companies are investing more than €1 billion (US$1.13 billion) in total to develop and more closely intermesh their offerings for car-sharing, ride-hailing, parking, charging and... Read more →

Researchers from Drexel University and Trinity College in Ireland have shown that two-dimensional titanium carbide or carbonitride nanosheets—MXenes—can be used as a conductive binder for silicon electrodes produced by a simple and scalable slurry-casting technique without the need of any other additives. The nanosheets form a continuous metallic network, enable... Read more →

In Germany, testing by ADAC (Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil-Club eV) has found that all the Euro 6c and 6d-Temp vehicles that have been measured on the road to date meet much stricter requirements nitrogen oxides (NOx) than required by the EU. In the test, the cars were not only significantly below... Read more →

The new Audi SQ5 TDI diesel features a powerful V6 engine with a mild hybrid systems and an electric powered compressor to ensure that maximum torque is available to the sporty SUV at just above idle. The 3.0 V6 TDI engine delivers 255 kW (347 hp) and 700 N·m (516.3... Read more →

Air Liquide, Idex, Société du Taxi Électrique Parisien (STEP), and Toyota are teaming up through a joint-venture called HysetCo, the first company devoted to the development of hydrogen mobility in the Paris region. This collaboration represents a milestone in the emergence of a hydrogen-based society in France and in the... Read more →

Ford Motor is investigating possible concerns in its emission testing procedures. Kim Pittel, group vice president, Sustainability, Environment & Safety Engineering, said that in September, employees raised a concern through regarding the analytical modeling that is part of Ford’s US fuel economy and emissions compliance process. Ford said that as... Read more →

Hydrogen suppliers & fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) automakers, Air Liquide, Hyundai, NEL, Nikola Motor, Shell and Toyota have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for hydrogen fueling components for the purpose of testing state-of-the-art heavy duty (HD) hydrogen fueling hardware to assist in standardization and speed to market for... Read more →

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is establishing a “Transformation Hub Electric Mobility” to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) with specialized knowledge in the process chain for manufacturing a combustion engine re-orient for electric mobility. The hub is funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg with €2.6 million. The Fit4E... Read more →

Borg-Warner reported that a major European commercial vehicle manufacturer has chosen the company’s proven High Voltage Hairpin (HVH) 410 electric motor for a plug-in hybrid electric truck (PHEV) to be launched in 2019. Generating 130 kW (174 hp) of power and 1,050 N·m of torque, the HVH motor will work... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Engineering are seeking to improve the efficiency of jet engines by identifying and developing thermoelectric materials that can harness excess energy. Patrick Hopkins, professor and a director of Ph.D. studies in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UVA, is leading... Read more →

Audi is expanding the engine line-up for its luxury SUV, the Q8—as well as its roll-out of its 48V mild hybrid system (earlier post)—by adding two V6 engine versions. Beginning now, customers can also order the Q family’s top model with a 3.0 TFSI and an additional variant of the... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems is participating in the H2PORTS project, which is aimed at facilitating a rapid transition at European ports from fossil fuels to low-carbon, zero-emission alternatives based on hydrogen and fuel cells. (Earlier post.) Earlier this month participants held the first technical meeting of the H2PORTS project, which is... Read more →

The BMW Group Plant in Dingolfing in Lower Bavaria will increase the number of Dingolfing-based jobs in the production of e-drive components several times over in the next few years to a total of up to 2,000. In 2018, the share of electrified models more than doubled year-on-year, to around... Read more →

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced an increased demand for renewable natural gas (RNG) from the refuse sector, particularly in California, where refuse trucks can be fueled by the very solid waste they haul. The City of Fresno signed a two-year agreement with Clean Energy for renewable liquified natural gas (RLNG)... Read more →

Eni and RenOils, the Italian national vegetable and animal oils and fats Consortium established in 2016 to ensure the correct management of the collection, transport, storage, processing and reuse of vegetable oils and animal fats, are promoting the recovery of used cooking oils (UCO) for biofuel production. Eni currently makes... Read more →

In Australia, QUT researchers and Mercurius Australia are partnering on a pilot plant to prove the economic viability of turning sugarcane waste into either jet and diesel fuel or chemicals that could be used to make plastic soft drink and beer bottles. Dr. Darryn Rackemann, Senior Research Fellow from QUT’s... Read more →

PolyPlus Battery Company a privately-held company focused on the development of the first rechargeable Li metal battery with a ionically conductive glass separator, has entered into the first stage of a joint development agreement with SK Innovation Co. Ltd., Korea’s first and largest energy and chemical company. SK selected PolyPlus... Read more →

New Flyer Industries Canada ULC, the Canadian subsidiary of NFI Group, announced an award from the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) for an additional ten forty-foot, zero-emission, battery-electric Xcelsior CHARGE heavy-duty transit buses. TTC New Flyer Industries XE40 Xcelsior electric demo bus. This award follows on the original TTC order from... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced the development and successful operation verification of an automotive test chip as a technological stepping stone toward the realization of next-generation automotive-control flash Microcontrollers (MCUs) employing a 28 nanometer (nm) low-power process. The MCU features four 600 megahertz (MHz) CPUs with a lock-step mechanism and a... Read more →

Audi of America announced an expansion of Traffic Light Information to include Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA), another industry first in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies from the brand. GLOSA can provide speed recommendations to Audi drivers of select 2017 and newer models that can assist drivers in catching the “green... Read more →

The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is leading the DISCOVR (Development of Integrated Screening, Cultivar Optimization and Verification) project to help find the best algae strains for biofuels and bioproducts to reduce the cost of producing bioenergy from algae feedstocks. Along with PNNL, Los Alamos National Laboratory,... Read more →

Volvo Trucks delivered its first all-electric vehicles on 19 February: a refuse truck to waste and recycling company Renova, and a distribution truck to the logistics company DB Schenker and partner haulier TGM, operating in Sweden. The Volvo FL Electric, Volvo’s first all-electric vehicle, is developed for distribution, refuse handling... Read more →

Reciprocating internal combustion engines (piston engines), which are typically used for backup, standby, or emergency power, are now becoming increasingly popular for larger utility-scale power generation applications, especially in areas with high levels of electricity generation from intermittent sources such as wind and solar, according to the US Energy Information... Read more →

A team from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has shown by modeling that the wafer cost of an emerging Ga2O3 wide bandgap semiconductor can be more than 3-times lower compared to SiC. This lower cost of the Ga2O3 wafers should lead to less-expensive high-performance power electronic devices in the... Read more →

The European Parliament and the Council have reached provisional agreement on a regulation setting, for the first time in the EU, strict CO2 emission standards for trucks. Under the agreement, emissions from new trucks will have to be 15% lower by 2025 and 30% lower in 2030 compared to 2019... Read more →

Evonik has developed a new polymer powder for applications in higher temperature range as part of its polyamide 6 series. The product further expands Evonik’s portfolio of high-performance materials for powder-based 3D printing technologies. Evonik’s new polyamide powder features high mechanical strength as well as excellent chemical and temperature resistance.... Read more →

Bye Aerospace’s electric Sun Flyer 2 successfully completed the first official flight test with a Siemens electric propulsion motor 8 February at Centennial Airport, south of Denver, Colo. The Sun Flyer family of aircraft, including the 2-seat Sun Flyer 2 and the 4-seat Sun Flyer 4, aims to be the... Read more →

BMW is seeking alternative cooling technologies for vehicle batteries to further improve peak cooling capacity during fast charging while reducing cooling components’ vibration and noise emission. Solutions that meet the need criteria will be invited to work with BMW to evaluate and develop the idea. Faster charging creates more heat... Read more →

YASA, a leading manufacturer of axial-flux electric motors and controllers, signed a long-term joint innovation agreement with a global automotive OEM. The partnership will focus on developing custom electric motor and controller solutions for the OEM’s high-performance hybrid and pure electric vehicles. YASA’s innovative axial-flux electric motor and controller designs... Read more →

Cooking, cleaning and other routine household activities generate significant levels of volatile and particulate chemicals inside the average home, leading to indoor air quality levels on par with a polluted major city, according to a study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. Furthermore, airborne chemicals that originate inside... Read more →