Saft America Inc. has received a competitively bid, $6.13-million award from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC) in collaboration with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for 12-volt stop-start battery technology development. The contract includes a 50% cost-share by Saft. The 30-month contract will focus on the development... Read more →

2010 and 2015 LCOE ranges for solar and wind technologies. Source: IEA/NEA. Click to enlarge. The cost of producing electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar has been falling for several years. A new report, a joint project by the International Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency,... Read more →

Schlumberger and IBM today have teamed up to provide integrated services to upstream oil and gas customers that will improve the business impact of production operations projects. The offering combines Schlumberger’s production optimization services, upstream expertise, and Avocet production operations software platform with IBM’s enterprise asset management and enterprise services... Read more →

Lockheed Martin has joined a $17-million investment round in Peloton Technology, a developer of truck platooning systems, co-led by DENSO International America and Intel Capital (earlier post). The Peloton Truck Platooning System electronically couples pairs of trucks through a combination of vehicle-to-vehicle communications, radar-based active braking systems and proprietary vehicle-control... Read more →

The latest addition to Scania’s engine range for marine applications incorporates proven common-rail XPI fuel-injection technology (earlier post) for improved fuel efficiency. The new V8 engine, based on the company’s 16.4-liter V8 for trucks (earlier post), is also the most powerful engine in the range, offering up to 1,150 hp... Read more →

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC)’s revamped 2016 Outlander PHEV, due to go on sale in Europe in September, will make its European debut at the 66th International Motor Show (IAA) in several weeks. MMC will also show the rally version of the Outlander PHEV that will compete in the Baja Portalegre... Read more →

Lionano Inc. announced an agreement with Cornell University’s Center for Technology Licensing (CTL) for the development and production of an innovative drop-in anode material for use in lithium-ion batteries. The drop-in consists of a hollow structured metal oxide material that can substantially reduce the volumetric expansion of a conventional anode,... Read more →

The global biofuels industry averaged 68% in utilization rate from 2005 to 2014, reached a high of 80.9% in 2007, dropped to a low of 56.9% in 2012, and climbed slightly back to 60.4% in 2014. Despite the still apparent softness in capacity utilization, and the on-going softness in fossil... Read more →

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, recently delivered three hybrid shuttle carriers ordered by The Port of Virginia in late 2014 to Virginia International Gateway terminal (VIG) in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA. Shuttle carriers are horizontal transportation system for shipping containers for terminals designed around automated stacking cranes (ASCs) or rubber-tired gantry cranes... Read more →

Particulate matter and NO2 air pollution are associated with increased risk of severe heart attacks despite being within European recommended levels, according to research presented at ESC Congress by Dr. Jean-Francois Argacha, a cardiologist at University Hospital Brussels (UZ Brussel-Vrije Universiteit Brussel), in Belgium. The study investigated the effect of... Read more →

Eni has made a world class supergiant gas discovery at its Zohr Prospect, in the deep waters of Egypt. The discovery could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in place covering an area of about 100 square kilometers. Zohr is the largest gas discovery ever... Read more →

A working paper by a team at the Energy Institute at Haas, University of California, Berkeley, has found that 60% of the $18 billion in US federal income clean energy tax credits issued between 2006 and 2012—e.g., for weatherizing homes, installing solar panels, and buying hybrid and electric vehicles—went to... Read more →

The University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) is working with FuelCell Energy, Inc., an integrated stationary fuel cell manufacturer, to develop a durable, low-cost, and high-performance electrochemical cell to convert natural gas and other methane-rich gas into methanol, a major chemical commodity with worldwide applications in... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board has awarded 2,000 Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Vouchers. Since its launch in 2010, the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) has provided more than $63 million to help California fleets statewide purchase more than 430 zero-emission trucks and buses... Read more →

At Young Brothers Ltd.’s Port of Honolulu facility, Sandia National Laboratories is leading the Maritime Hydrogen Fuel Cell project to test a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered generator as an alternative to conventional diesel generators. The project kickoff is being marked today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by US Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Young... Read more →

In a 23-year experiment, a team from Lund University, Sweden, and the University of New Hampshire has determined that the common understanding of how organic material is decomposed by fungi and bacteria is fundamentally wrong. This means that climate models that include microorganisms to estimate future climate change must be... Read more →

IBM and GENCI, the high performance computing agency in France, are collaborating to speed up the path to exascale computing (earlier post)—the ability of a computing system to perform at least one exaflop, or a billion billion calculations, in one second. Currently the fastest systems in the world perform between... Read more →

Johnson Controls plans to build a new automotive battery manufacturing facility in the city of Shenyang in northeastern China as it continues to invest in the world’s largest new vehicle market. Johnson Controls has signed an investment agreement for a $200-million plant in Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning Province.... Read more →

Researchers at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) report the development of the first complete, efficient, safe, integrated solar-driven system—an “artificial leaf”—for splitting water to produce hydrogen. JCAP is a US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub established at Caltech and its partnering institutions in 2010. The new... Read more →

Commenting on Bosch’s newly revealed acquisition of Seeo, the Berkeley Lab spin-out developing solid-state Li-ion batteries (earlier post), Lux Research noted that the acquisition marks the first instance of a major automotive player outright acquiring a next-generation battery developer (although some OEMs, e.g., GM and Volkswagen Group, have already invested... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0001320)for up to $10 million to advance the production of advanced biofuels, substitutes for petroleum-based feedstocks and bioproducts made from renewable, non-food-based biomass, such as algae, agricultural residues, and woody biomass. This work supports the Energy Department’s efforts to... Read more →

European sales of the Yaris have grown continuously over the last four years, rising from some 144,000 units in 2011 to an anticipated 200,000+ in 2015. Over the same period, the Yaris has also increased its B-segment market share from 4.1% to an anticipated 6.6%. Toyota attributes much of this... Read more →

AVnu Alliance, Cisco and TTTech will host the Deterministic Ethernet Forum for automotive in-vehicle networking and the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), on 23 October 2015 in Vienna, Austria. The forum will be an opportunity for leading automotive and industrial companies to discuss and influence the implementation of deterministic Ethernet... Read more →

Quartz today reported that Bosch has agreed to acquire Berkeley Lab solid-state Li-ion battery spinoff Seeo. Seeo’s cell design couples a solid lithium metal anode with a conventional porous lithium iron phosphate cathode and Seeo’s nanostructured solid polymer electrolyte (“DryLite”). The electrolyte is entirely solid-state with no flammable or volatile... Read more →

ZF TRW has won two major contracts with North American and European vehicle manufacturers for its second generation Safety Domain ECU (SDE 2)—a key building block and enabler of automated driving. The central controller will launch in Europe and the US starting in 2018. TRW introduced the SDE 2 at... Read more →

The new Opel Astra, which makes its debut in several weeks at the IAA in Frankfurt, will be up to 200 kg (441 lbs) lighter than its predecessor (120 kg / 265 lbs at a minimum). The next generation of the compact bestseller is based on an all-new lightweight architecture,... Read more →

GM Flint Engine Operations recently built its 1 millionth 1.4-liter engine, currently used in the Chevrolet Volt, Cruze and Sonic. Flint Engine is now in the midst of a $200-million upgrade that will end the 1.4-liter engine production this week and begin production of the new Ecotec small gasoline engine—announced... Read more →

After Optifuel Lab 2 (earlier post), the laboratory vehicle which brought together technological innovations designed to reduce long-distance trucks’ fuel consumption, Renault Trucks is extending its research to distribution vehicles. Renault Trucks and six partners—Valeo, Lamberet, Michelin, BeNomad, INSA de Lyon (LamCoS) and IFSTTAR (LICIT)—have launched the EDIT (Efficient Distribution... Read more →

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have developed a new fuel cell catalyst using earth-abundant materials with performance that is comparable to platinum in laboratory tests. The nanofibrous non-precious metal catalyst (NPMC) is synthesized by electrospinning a polymer solution containing a mixture of ferrous organometallics and... Read more →

^Volkswagen Group’s Czech brand ŠKODA will introduce its most efficient Superb model yet at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. The ŠKODA Superb GreenLine features a 1.6 TDI 120PS engine delivering 63.6 mpg US (3.7:/100 km) and emitting 96 g/km of CO2 (Hatch) and 97g/km for the Estate. As with all... Read more →

Researchers in China have developed a self-supporting high-performance silicon anode for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) consisting of silicon-nanoparticle-impregnated assemblies of templated carbon-bridged oriented graphene. The binder-free anodes demonstrate exceptional lithium storage performances, simultaneously attaining high gravimetric capacity (1390 mAh g–1 at 2 A g–1 with respect to the total electrode weight);... Read more →

In the most comprehensive analysis of electricity reliability trends in the United States, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Stanford University have found that, while, on average, the frequency of power outages has not changed in recent years, the total number of minutes customers are without power... Read more →

A new report produced by INRIX and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) shows that traffic congestion in the US has returned to pre-recession levels. Washington, D.C. tops the list of gridlock-plagued cities, with 82 hours of delay per commuter, followed by Los Angeles (80 hours), San Francisco (78 hours),... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award $10 million to eight incubator projects to develop innovative solutions for efficient and environmentally-friendly vehicle technologies that will help reduce petroleum use in the United States. Among the projects is a novel implementation of RCCI—Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition, usually investigated with two... Read more →

FEV is developing a water injection system for internal combustion engines using condensate from exhaust gases, the “Extended Direct Condensate Injection” system. The concept, as reported in a new paper in the International Journal of Engine Research , demonstrates a potential for efficiency increase of 3.3% – 3.8% in the... Read more →

The UK Government announced that the current Plug-in Car Grant scheme will continue to offer motorists up to £5,000 (US$7,800) off the price of an electric car until at least February 2016 for all categories of vehicle, boosting further the plug-in car market. Previously the Government had announced that grant... Read more →

Verizon Telematics announced the commercial availability of hum, an aftermarket vehicle connectivity technology and subscription service. First announced in January at the North American International Auto Show as Verizon Vehicle, hum provides subscribers with a self-installed solution that helps predict potential issues, prevents breakdowns and offers protection when problems do... Read more →

Uber has signed a partnership with the University of Arizona focused on research and development in the optics space for mapping and safety. The partners will work to improve the imagery captured and used to build out mapping and safety features. As part of this partnership, Uber is donating to... Read more →

European drivers are showing an increasing appetite for semi-autonomous driving technologies, according to a new Ford Motor Company study on buying trends in Europe. Ford Car Buying Trends 2015, a study of new car buying habits in 22 countries across Europe, highlights regional trends and national differences. The study shows... Read more →

At Eurobike 2015, Samsung SDI unveiled a 500Wh e-bike Li-ion battery pack that can run for 100 km on a single battery charge. Samsung SDI is exhibiting six types of standardized battery packs that can either be built inside or installed on the outside for immediate use. The company will... Read more →

UK-based ultracapacitor company Skeleton Technologies and France-based Adgero SARL are introducing an ultracapacitor-based Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for truck trailers. The hybrid system is designed to reduce fuel consumption and associated emissions by up to 25%, and is optimized for intermodal road transport solutions. The Adgero Hybrid System consists... Read more →

The US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) has awarded Oshkosh Defense, LLC, an Oshkosh Corporation company, a $6.7-billion firm fixed price production contract to manufacture the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The JLTV program replaces a large portion of the legacy HMMWV fleet with... Read more →

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. will construct new compressed natural gas (CNG) stations for Arlington Transit (ART) in Arlington County, Virginia; Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) in Long Island, NY; and North Kansas City (MO) School District, which is set to become the largest school district in the US to transition its... Read more →

Automakers are investing billions of dollars to put connectivity technologies in their cars and light trucks that are not being used by many of the owners of those vehicles, according to the J.D. Power 2015 Driver Interactive Vehicle Experience (DrIVE) Report. The 2015 DrIVE Report measures driver experiences with in-vehicle... Read more →

A team of engineers from GM Powertrain, Ford and FCA have published a detailed review of how to estimate the engine efficiency benefits of higher octane fuel—e.g., fuel with higher ethanol content—for part- and full-load operation for different engine types and fuel assumptions. Their paper is published in the ACS... Read more →

NGV Global reports that official Swedish statistics show that the proportion of biomethane in natural gas fuel sales in the country in now 73%—a historically high level and evidence of rising demand. The biomethane percentage has risen in recent years, from around 60%. The high proportion of biomethane makes Sweden... Read more →

by Dalan McEndree for Oilprice.com OPEC next gathers December 4 in Vienna, just over a year since Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi announced at the previous OPEC winter meeting the Saudi decision to let the oil market determine oil prices rather than to continue Saudi Arabia's role of guarantor of... Read more →

A team in South Korea has developed a warm-forging process for the manufacture of an aluminium alloy automotive differential case—usually produced from ductile cast iron. The as-forged aluminium alloy differential case not only provides a net shape but also has a crack-free volume internally, while reducing the total weight by... Read more →

A team of researchers at the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have hit a new milestone in their development of a hybrid bioinorganic system for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. (Earlier post.) The system first generates renewable hydrogen from water splitting using sustainable electrical and/or solar... Read more →

According to a new study by Hexa Research, high demand for rare earth elements such as cerium and lanthanum in applications such as automobiles, metallurgy, phosphors, glass, etc. will drive global market growth, resulting in a global rare earth elements market reaching $10.96 billion in 2020. Rising demand for permanent... Read more →