Microsoft Corp. and Baidu Inc. plan to partner to take the technical development and adoption of autonomous driving worldwide. As a member of the Baidu-launched Apollo alliance (earlier post), Microsoft will provide global scale for Apollo outside of China with the Microsoft Azure cloud. The Apollo project, announced earlier this... Read more →

A team at the University of Cambridge (UK) has developed a decision support tool for developing optimal processes for bio-renewable-based energy solutions and chemicals manufacturing. The tool, described in a paper in the journal ChemSusChem, combines economic and environmental performance criteria, evaluated by rigorous models. The researchers demonstrated their optimization-simulation... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems has received an order from SunLine Transit Agency for five FCveloCity fuel cell systems to power hydrogen fuel cell buses in Palm Desert, California. The 150 kW systems are expected to be shipped in 2017. Ballard is partnering with North American bus OEM ElDorado National and BAE... Read more →

Based on its review of scientific evidence, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes retaining the current national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for oxides of nitrogen (NOx). EPA proposes that the current NAAQS don’t need to be changed because they provide the appropriate public health protection, with an adequate... Read more →

In a joint announcement, French elecric autonomous vehicle manufacturer NAVYA, with project collaborators Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and Ann Arbor SPARK, announced that its Michigan plant (earlier post) will be located in the city of Saline, Michigan with a 20,000+ ft2 facility. NAVYA plans to build approximately 25 of... Read more →

Nanostructured steel materials company NanoSteel recently launched its first product for the laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process. BLDRmetal L-40 is a case-hardening steel powder that provides high hardness and ductility (case hardness >70HRC, 10%+ core elongation) and prints easily on standard commercial equipment. This alloy provides superior performance... Read more →

US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced $40 million in Department of Energy awards for the establishment of four DOE Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs), which will provide the scientific breakthroughs for a new generation of sustainable, cost-effective bioproducts and bioenergy. The centers—each led by a DOE National Laboratory or a... Read more →

The correlation between spot welding and residual stress in boron steel was experimentally determined for the first time with neutron diffraction experiments conducted at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL). An open-access paper on the work is published in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions. A partnership led by WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) at... Read more →

Volvo Trucks North America’s new VNL series delivers up to 7.5% improved fuel efficiency when spec’d with Volvo’s available D13 Turbo Compound engine (D13TC). (Earlier post.) Designed for customers with long-haul, steady-speed operations, the 13-liter Volvo D13TC utilizes turbo compounding technology that recovers energy typically wasted through the exhaust, converting... Read more →

A new study finds that as some of the world’s largest oilfields age, the energy required to keep them operating can rise dramatically even as the amount of petroleum they produce drops. Failing to take the changing energy requirements of oilfields into account can cause oilfield managers or policymakers to... Read more →

Exposure to ozone, long associated with impaired lung function, is also connected to health changes that can cause cardiovascular disease such as heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke, according to a new study of Chinese adults. The findings associated ozone exposure with markers of platelet activation and increased blood... Read more →

The concentration of ultrafine particles less than 50 nanometers in diameter rose by one-third in the air of São Paulo, Brazil, when higher ethanol prices induced drivers to switch from ethanol to gasoline, according to a new study by a Northwestern University chemist, a National University of Singapore economist and... Read more →

Porsche opened its new technology center in Berlin-Adlershof. The new site features a 25-meter-high solar pylon that generates up to 30,000 kWh of electricity annually and covers the entire annual demand of the new Porsche Center. The pylon weighs 37 tonnes and comprises 7,776 solar cells, representing a total surface... Read more →

By Mike Hattingh, RoboVent What’s the best way to control weld fumes from robotic welding? Overhead hoods and full work cell enclosures have long been the standard solution. But new tip extraction technologies are now offering another alternative for many manufacturers who rely on robotic welding. Overhead hoods are a... Read more →

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and ExxonMobil announced a two-year renewal of an agreement to research the fundamental chemistry of converting biomass into transportation fuels. The research is part of a broad effort to identify scalable and commercially viable solutions to help meet increasing global energy demand with a renewable resource.... Read more →

A team at the Monterrey Institute of Technology (Tec) in Mexico has developed an electric vehicle featuring modular design, multimotor, power source, digital control, autonomy, and connectivity—the EvTec project. In an open-access paper in the journal Advances in Mechanical Engineering, the EvTec team discusses the use of the Android-based Control... Read more →

Audi’s new A8 is a technology showcase for the brand, from powertrains (earlier post) and materials (earlier post) to autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems (earlier post). The A8 also features two new technologies for the suspension. New dynamic all-wheel steering combines direct, sporty steering with unshakable stability. The... Read more →

by Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com OPEC exports have come under pressure this week from technical threats to oil fields, with Saudi Arabia’s Manifa problems grabbing the headlines. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, while addressing the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul, stated that the outlook for oil supplies is “increasingly worrying”,... Read more →

Bus operators from Germany and South Tyrol, Italy are partnering to procure 63 fuel cell buses for their public transport systems as part of the EU-funded JIVE project (€106 million total cost, with €32 million coming from the EU). (Earlier post.) The project is also testing new hydrogen refueling stations... Read more →

In a study published in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels, a team from the University of Vermont reports that particulate matter from the combustion of biodiesel blends may be 50–80% less toxic per unit PM mass emitted than PM from petroleum diesel, depending on feedstock. There is growing consensus... Read more →

ClipperCreek, Inc. recently unveiled a new expansion card for their HCS product line of charging stations. COSMOS is an option for the Level 2, 240V ClipperCreek HCS Series and can be added to any HCS Series charging station for $184. COSMOS was designed for developers, system operators, and system integrators;... Read more →

A new study by an international team led by researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland has found that modern diesel passenger cars equipped with diesel particulate filters (DPFs) emit fewer carbonaceous particulates than gasoline-powered vehicles. The open-access study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. Carbonaceous PM... Read more →

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have devised a low-cost, scalable approach to developing all-solid-state batteries, improving prospects for scaling up the technology for widespread use in electric vehicles, communications and other industrial applications. Described in a paper in the ACS journal Chemistry of Materials, the approach involves substituting germanium... Read more →

Tata Motors Limited and MAHLE have signed a joint development agreement for designing and developing a Secondary Loop Mobile Air Conditioning System (SL-MAC), under the aegis of United Nations Environment. In the SL-MAC system, the alternative refrigerants first cool a secondary fluid/coolant, which in turn cools the air to comfortable... Read more →

Mobis, a global producer of automotive components, is researching a new near-term autonomous safety function that could prevent more than 6,000 traffic fatalities each year. The Departed Driver Rescue and Exit Maneuver (DDREM) technology detects the critical situation where the driver departs from controlling the vehicle. DDREM then mitigates the... Read more →

The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) recently recorded a second history making event—25,000 hours of continuous operation of a Fuel Cell Electric Bus (FCEB #7). Just two years ago, the FCEB power plant set an international record for 20,000 hours of continuous operation. AC Transit says that with each... Read more →

In the San Francisco Bay Renewable Energy Electric Vessel with Zero Emissions study, known as SF-BREEZE, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories concluded liquid hydrogen fuel cells are feasible on technical, regulatory and economic bases. (Earlier post.) Now, Sandia researchers are taking the work to the next level in a second... Read more →

Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America is looking to hire a principal engineer to head up power electronics system development of fuel cell Electric Vehicle (EV) powertrains for heavy-duty truck applications. In April, Toyota revealed “Project Portal”—a hydrogen fuel cell system designed for heavy-duty trucks applied in a Class... Read more →

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is awarding nearly €2 million (US$2.3 million) to support a truck platooning project by DB Schenker, MAN, and Hochschule. (Earlier post.) The project will run until January 2019. Initially the partners will test truck convoys in everyday operation at the digital... Read more →

A Citroën C4 Picasso from Groupe PSA’s autonomous vehicles fleet has crossed through the toll station at Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines in the Paris area without a driver’s assistance using communication between the vehicle and the infrastructure. This test in real traffic conditions shows a significant step forward in the autonomous car development... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz will build the fourth battery production factory in its global network—after the two plants in Kamenz and one in Beijing—at its Untertürkheim plant in Germany. As part of a transformation plan introduced in 2015, Untertürkheim—the lead plant in the global powertrain production and the home of Daimler headquarters—is successively... Read more →

Electrovaya Inc. announced that it has sold €1 million (US$1.14 million) of lithium ion cells for electric vehicle application to an electric vehicle producer in Europe. Under the terms of the order, the customer will take possession late in Q3 2017, with 50% of the purchase price payable this month... Read more →

Researchers at MIT, and their colleagues in Germany, suggest that smooth surfaces on a solid electrolyte may prevent harmful Li infiltration, thereby improving the performance of solid-state Li-ion batteries. Their paper is published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. Researchers have tried to get around the problems posed by conventional... Read more →

An evaluation of the implementation possibilities of power-to-fuel (PTF) technologies by a team from Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH in Germany recommends the PTF products DME, OME3-5 and n-alkanes as suitable diesel alternatives for the transportation sector. PTF processes essentially use renewable energy, CO2 and water to produce fuel, as in Audi’s... Read more →

Despite a plethora of alternative transportation modes—buses, trains, bicycles—city dwellers are driving more miles than ever, say University of Michigan researchers. In a new study using data from the US Department of Transportation, Dr. Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the U-M Transportation Research Institute examined the annual distance driven... Read more →

With funding provided by the California Energy Commission, Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) demonstrated its LX1 prototype mid-sized (20 ton) hybrid-electric wheel loader (earlier post), a piece of equipment widely used in the construction, refuse, and agricultural industries, that achieved a 50% improvement in fuel efficiency. The LX1 is a... Read more →

A Japanese partnership, consisting of the Kanagawa Prefectural Government, the municipal governments of the cities of Yokohama and Kawasaki, Iwatani Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Industries Corporation, Toyota Turbine and Systems, Inc., and Japan Environment Systems Co., Ltd. announced that all facilities to be used in the FY2015... Read more →

In a recent B2B technology survey, ABI Research found that only 10% of respondents expect mass market OEMs to have the most to gain from the mobility as a service (MaaS) megatrend. Though automotive incumbents recognize that new personal mobility opportunities will attract competitors from markets such as ride-sharing and... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $19.4 million to 22 new cost-shared projects to accelerate the research of advanced battery, lightweight materials, engine emission control technologies, and energy efficient mobility systems (EEMS). Among the awardees are Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America and GM, with separate projects on... Read more →

Ricardo has developed a new Battery Management System (BMS) for EVs that is scalable to a wide range of applications. The new BMS enhances the use of advanced model-based control methods to optimize the performance of both existing and next-generation cell chemistries. One of the most significant impediments to an... Read more →

London Taxi Company (LTC) has relaunched as London EV Company (LEVC), marking the next stage in the company’s transformation. Underpinned by an investment totalling £325 million (US$420 million), LEVC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geely, intends to be the urban commercial vehicle provider of choice for cities around the world. LEVC... Read more →

Blue Bird unveiled two new electric-powered school buses at the STN Tradeshow in Las Vegas: a Type A Micro Bird G5 electric-powered school bus and an all-new electric Type D chassis which will power its Type D All-American rear engine (RE) school bus. The Blue Bird All American RE electric... Read more →

Solaris—one of the leading bus manufacturers in Europe—has secured an order for more than 200 hybrid buses from Société Régionale Wallonne du Transport, the primary bus operator in Wallonia, Belgium. These buses will not only be the first Solaris buses to include BAE Systems hybrid systems for propulsion, but also... Read more →

Audi AI is the umbrella term for its new generation of high-end assistance technologies extending all the way up to highly automated driving. Three of them will be available for the first time in the new A8: the Audi AI traffic jam pilot (the first Level 3 autonomous traffic jam... Read more →

Daimler Buses is joining the Berlin-based CleverShuttle mobility service as a strategic investor. As part of a minority stake, EvoBus GmbH and CleverShuttle plan a strategic cooperation for “on-demand mobility”, such as mobility offers which are flexibly adapted to suit customer demands. Using the CleverShuttle software platform, traffic associations and... Read more →

All US 2017 Mazda models tested by the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), including the all-new Mazda CX-5, have been awarded the nonprofit organization's highest safety rating, Top Safety Pick+, when equipped with optional front crash prevention and adaptive LED headlights. IIHS evaluates crashworthiness with five tests: moderate... Read more →

Starting this summer, California residential and commercial owners of electric vehicle charging stations enabled with eMotorWerks’ JuiceNet smart-grid charging technology will have the opportunity to rent out charging time on their stations to EV drivers participating in a new peer-to-peer (P2P) network powered by MotionWerk’s Share&Charge open platform. Share&Charge was... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is investing an initial $100 million to launch Toyota AI Ventures, a new corporate venture capital subsidiary designed to provide early-stage financing to startup technology companies. TRI launches the venture by contributing initial investments it has made in three technology companies: Nauto, SLAMcore and Intuition Robotics.... Read more →

ITM Power has signed a fuel contract with Honda (UK), which will purchase hydrogen at £10/kg (US$12.91/kg). The contract covers fuel dispensed across ITM Power’s hydrogen refueling network. The refueling network has been financially supported by Innovate UK, Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen... Read more →

In a brand event in Barcelona, Audi unveiled its fourth-generation A8 luxury sedan. The new A8 features a new design language, an innovative touchscreen operating concept and a systematically electrified drive. The Audi A8 has also been developed for highly automated driving. From 2018, Audi will gradually be taking piloted... Read more →