The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has approved mandatory requirements for ships to record and report their fuel consumption. IMO said that the move sends a clear signal about its commitment to climate change mitigation. The mandatory data collection system is intended to be... Read more →

On Friday, Volkswagen AG announced that the Supervisory Board and the Management Board of Volkswagen have decided not to release the interim results of the investigation into the diesel emission cheating as originally planned. Disclosure of interim results at this point in time would “present unacceptable risks for Volkswagen” they... Read more →

The California Energy Commission will host a workshop Monday, 25 April, in which executives from four companies including ChargePoint and Green Charge Networks, two non-profits, one municipal utility district and one state agency will discuss the successes and challenges of developing electric vehicle charging technology in California. This workshop will... Read more →

A German inquiry launched as a result of the Volkswagen diesel emission scandal has [found](http://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2016/051-dobrindt-bericht-untersuchungskommission-volkswagen.html?linkToOverview=DE%2FPresse%2FPressemitteilungen%2Fpressemitteilungen_node.html%23id207190) that there is a large gap between homologated emissions values from lab testing and real-world driving results for all German manufacturers. German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who presented the results of the inquiry on Friday,... Read more →

Daimler AG has commenced deliveries of Mercedes-Benz stationary energy storage units (earlier post) for use in private homes. The lithium-ion batteries are being manufactured by the Daimler subsidiary Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE and distributed through selected sales partners and partner companies. At present, the company’s partners include the energy service provider Energie... Read more →

French transport tech developer Adgero will unveil the regenerative braking-powered UltraBoost ST—an ultracapacitor-based kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) installed on a curtainsider semi-trailer—that aims to cut fuel and carbon emissions by up to 25% at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, UK. Adgero’s hybrid technology consists of an electrically-driven axle-mounted... Read more →

Baidu, Inc., China’s leading search engine, has formed a self-driving car team in Silicon Valley focused on research, development and testing. The team will be part of Baidu’s newly-created Autonomous Driving Unit (ADU). Baidu plans to grow the team to more than 100 researchers and engineers by the end of... Read more →

by Professor Andrew Alfonso Frank, CTO Efficient Drivetrains Inc. and UC-Davis Emeritus, Bruce R. Thomas and Catherine J DeMauro Abstract. The Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle with Long Electric Range (PHEVLER - pronounced “fevler”) is a new category emerging in the electric vehicle marketplace. PHEVLERs are defined as PHEVs with sufficient... Read more →

Volkswagen has signed a strategic partnership with Coodriver GmbH, a cloud-based application service provider for traffic safety, on the integration of a connected vehicle application into new Volkswagen models that will help motorists to see children on the road in time to avoid dangerous situations. Coodriver developed the “Schutzranzen” (protection... Read more →

SAKOR Technologies recently won a competitive Small Company Innovation Program (SCIP) grant awarded by the Michigan Corporate Relations Network (MCRN), and will use the grant for research necessary to develop a thermal transient anemometer (TTA), a device used to measure airflow moving through a running vehicle. The research will be... Read more →

Researchers funded by Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage (NEES), a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, have developed a nanowire-based hybrid battery/capacitor that can be recharged hundreds of thousands of times. The team, based at the University of California, Irvine, coated gold nanowire in a manganese dioxide shell and encased the... Read more →

Daimler AG announced that it is conducting an internal investigation regarding its certification process related to exhaust emissions in the United States upon the request of the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Daimler said it is cooperating fully with the authorities. Daimler will consequently investigate possible indications of irregularities and... Read more →

Volkswagen AG confirmed that it has reached an agreement in principle with the Department of Justice (Environmental Division); the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and the California Air Resources Board (CARB); with the full involvement of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concerning the diesel emissions issue. The agreement in principle... Read more →

Proterra, the market leader of zero-emission, battery-electric buses in North America, announced that SEPTA, Foothill Transit and King County Metro will use their Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Grants (Low-No) (earlier post) to purchase 33 Catalyst electric buses and charging infrastructure. These latest orders bring... Read more →

Only 27.5% of all hybrid and electric vehicle trade-ins in the US in 2016 have been applied to the purchase of another hybrid or EV, according to a new analysis from car shopping destination Edmunds.com. The rate is a sharp drop from the 38.5% of hybrid and EV trade-ins in... Read more →

NanoSteel, a leader in nanostructured steel materials (earlier post), announced the delivery of its first advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) to General Motors for initial testing. GM Ventures invested in NanoSteel in 2012. (Earlier post.) Designed to provide automakers with a new standard in material performance, the sheet steel is poised... Read more →

Honda announced that the upcoming Clarity Fuel Cell (earlier post) will be joined by two additional electrified variants, the Clarity Electric and Clarity Plug-in Hybrid, launching in the US in 2017. In addition to the Clarity series, a reengineered 2017 Accord Hybrid will go on-sale this spring. On a global... Read more →

Volvo Cars aims to sell a total of up to one million electrified cars by 2025. The Swedish company plans to achieve this aim by offering at least two hybrid versions of every model in its range and releasing the first all-electric car in 2019. Volvo Cars has been readying... Read more →

Next month, Toyota will become the first automaker to use biohydrin, a newly-developed biosynthetic rubber product, in engine and drive system hoses. Jointly developed by Toyota, Zeon Corporation, and Sumitomo Riko Co., Ltd., biohydrin rubber is manufactured using plant-derived bio-materials instead of epichlorohydrin, a commonly-used epoxy compound. Since plants absorb... Read more →

Global Bioenergies has delivered isobutene produced at its industrial pilot to ARLANXEO—a joint venture of LANXESS and Saudi Aramco and world leader in high‐quality synthetic rubbers headquartered in the Netherlands. Global Bioenergies’ most advanced program consists in the production of high‐purity isobutene from renewable resources. Currently produced from fossil oil,... Read more →

Honda Motor Co. has deployed the first mass-production automobile assembly line with a main line that incorporates a flowing cell production system. Honda has named this the Assembly Revolution Cell (ARC) Line and introduced it in Honda’s new Prachinburi Plant in Thailand that became operational in March 2016. The newly-developed... Read more →

China-based LeEco introduced four different products in four distinct categories at a major launch event in Beijing, including the autonomous LeSEE electric vehicle (EV) concept car. LeEco founder and CEO Yueting Jia and LeSEE co-founder Lei Ding punctuated the event with the grand reveal of the EV concept, featuring fully... Read more →

Over the past three years, the amount of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) used each year in automotive applications has been 10% higher than forecasted by Ducker Worldwide, the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) announced. SMDI is a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). According to a... Read more →

Volkswagen has opened a competence center for technology and innovation and its Wolfsburg plant. Volkswagen employees will develop and test new production technologies on-site in the center’s near-production environment. The innovation center has six sections: digital way; human-machine interaction (HMI); material flow and material handling; body construction; assembly; and ergonomics.... Read more →

Wrightspeed Inc. announced a US$30M deal with Infratil-owned NZ Bus, New Zealand’s largest operator of urban bus services. Under the terms of the deal, Wrightspeed will provide its Route 500 heavy-duty range-extended electric powertrain technology to NZ Bus. The move marks Wrightspeed’s first expansion beyond refuse and delivery applications into... Read more →

The largest public multi-standard electric vehicle charging facility in California officially opened in Santa Clara. The Santa Clara Electric Vehicle Charging Center, located at the city’s Tasman Parking Garage, features 48 Level 2 chargers and one DC Fast Charger. Santa Clara’s municipal electric utility Silicon Valley Power (SVP) collaborated with... Read more →

In a cost-shared program supported by the US Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO) of the Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA), a team at Battelle is demonstrating a new, hybrid, direct coal-to-liquids process for producing jet fuel using biomass-derived coal solvents.... Read more →

NASA has awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a $67-million contract to design and develop an Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) for spaceflight. Work performed under the contract could potentially increase spaceflight transportation fuel efficiency by 10 times over current chemical propulsion technology and more than double thrust capability compared to current electric... Read more →

Royal DSM has introduced an innovative new high performance material based on Stanyl polyamide 46. This new material, Stanyl HGR1, reduces frictional torque in automobile engine timing systems and will provide OEMs with a cost-effective tool for reducing fuel consumption. Automobile makers are constantly trying to improve the torque they... Read more →

Researchers at Tsinghua University have compared the performance of two different powertrains for fuel cell hybrid buses. Both buses use 50 kW PEM fuel cell stacks (from different manufacturers) as the primary power source, with LiMn2O4 battery packs as secondary power sources. A significant difference between the two powertrains lies... Read more →

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has admitted to manipulating fuel consumption testing data for some 625,000 mini-cars it manufactured for sale in Japan by itself and partner Nissan. Nissan was the one who identified the discrepancies. In a statement, MMC said that with respect to the fuel consumption testing data submitted... Read more →

Members of AVnu Alliance, the industry consortium driving open, standards-based deterministic networking (earlier post), publicly demonstrated interoperability of systems designed to meet the AVnu Automotive Profile at the Automotive Ethernet Congress held in Munich, Germany earlier this year. The demo featured products and solutions from several AVnu Alliance members: Ixia,... Read more →

New Flyer of America, a subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc., the leading manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses and motor coaches in the United States and Canada, conducted the inaugural road demonstration of the Xcelsior XHE60 heavy-duty articulated fuel cell transit bus. Representatives from two major transit Authorities—Alameda County Transit... Read more →

Sales of the Nissan LEAF and e-NV200 in the fleet market in Europe rose for a fourth consecutive year in fiscal year 2015, up 45% on the previous fiscal year. Nissan sold more than 7,500 LEAFs and e-NV200s to fleet operators and municipalities in Europe, commanding a 28% share of... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the latest project selections for the Low and No-Emission Vehicle Deployment Program, known as Low-No. Seven transit providers in five states will receive a share of $22.5 million toward transit buses and related facilities that utilize battery-electric, fuel cell, and... Read more →

California Air Resources Board (ARB) Chair Mary Nichols today is leading a rally of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles with Energy Commissioner Janea Scott and Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) Deputy Director Tyson Eckerle on a 400-mile journey from Los Angeles to ARB headquarters in Sacramento in... Read more →

Paice (earlier post), an early developer of hybrid vehicle technology, has filed a complaint against the Volkswagen Group with the US International Trade Commission (ITC). The complaint alleges patent infringement by VW, Audi and Porsche and asks the ITC to issue an exclusion order that would prohibit the companies from... Read more →

The 2017 Lincoln MKC small utility is offering more standard features and available, among them Auto Start-Stop, which is now available on 2.0-liter all-wheel-drive MKC, and standard on front-wheel-drive model. Auto Hold, now standard across the line, relieves the driver from having to press the brake pedal continuously to keep... Read more →

While other major automakers have either introduced (Hyundai, Honda) or are in serious development of new hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for the market, Toyota continues to take the point in not just promoting, but also supporting the broader technical (and infrastructure) development required for a large-scale realization of hydrogen-based electromobility.... Read more →

The BASF and Volkswagen international “Science Award Electrochemistry” is now in its fifth year (earlier post) and has opened the application period for this year’s award. Applications are due by 12 August 2016. Contributions submitted will be assessed by a jury comprising experts from BASF, Volkswagen and representatives from the... Read more →

ContiTech has supplied the entire engine mounting system for the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. Almost all the functional components of the hydraulic mounts are made of polyamide. The significant increase in high technology polyamide elements has resulted in a weight reduction of around 20 percent in the mount components. This development... Read more →

SII Semiconductor Corporation, a subsidiary of Seiko Instruments Inc. will launch the S-19244 / S-19243 Series low-dropout (LDO) Regulators in May, 2016. The S-19244 / S-19243 Series offers multiple options including soft-start function as well as high temperature operation of 125 °C. This new LDO series has a 10V input... Read more →

Continental will present an innovative close-coupled annular catalytic converter that supports near-complete NOx conversion in downsized turbocharged gasoline engines at the 37th Vienna Motor Symposium next week. The introduction of Real Driving Emissions (RDE) legislation will require vehicles with this widely used engine concept to meet strict NOx limits in... Read more →

Optodot Corporation recently granted a license to LG Chem Ltd. under a patent portfolio controlled by Optodot covering batteries, cells, separators and electrolyte members comprising boehmite. Boehmite—an aluminium oxide hydroxide (γ-AlO(OH)) mineral, and a component of the aluminium ore bauxite—is a key material used in ceramic coating layers. The patent... Read more →

Finland-based stainless steel expert Outokumpu is working on lightweight stainless steel solutions for electric vehicles in cooperation with Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, in Germany. Their latest innovation is a new battery pack that combines several lightweight engineering technologies as well as new types of cooling and structural strategies.... Read more →

The all-new Buick LaCrosse Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) made its global debut at the 2016 Buick Day event in Shanghai, where the award-winning Buick Avista concept was also shown for the first time in China. Both models will be appearing on the Buick stand at Auto China 2016 in Beijing,... Read more →

Siemens and Valeo have signed an agreement to form a joint venture in high voltage powertrains for the entire range of electric vehicles including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full electric vehicles. Building upon the complementary scope and portfolio of the partners, the joint venture will provide substantial synergies in manufacturing... Read more →

A new study by a team from the University of Edinburgh and independent engineering company INNAS BV has found that, when factoring in the additional weight and non-exhaust PM factors, total PM10 emissions from electric vehicles (EVs) are equal to those of modern internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). Non-exhaust PM... Read more →

The Institute of Vehicle Concepts at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) has signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Waterloo and the University of Windsor in Canada. Central elements of the collaboration will be research into and the exchange of scientific data on... Read more →

FLIR Systems introduced Boson, its smallest, lightest, and least power-consuming, high-performance uncooled thermal camera for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Sized between FLIR’s Tau and Lepton camera cores, Boson is the first thermal camera core to incorporate a low-power multi-core vision processor running FLIR XIR expandable infrared video processing architecture. Boson... Read more →