China-based bike-sharing provider ofo Inc. and SoftBank Commerce & Service Corp. have reached a basic agreement to collaborate on the deployment of ofo’s global bike-sharing business in Japan. ofo and SoftBank C&S plan to enter an exclusive partnership for a large-scale deployment, with SoftBank C&S serving as strategic partner of... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is developing a measure to reduce emissions from Transport Refrigeration Units (TRUs) by transitioning to zero-emission technologies. To that end, ARB staff is holding two more workshops on the development of a regulation to limit the amount of time that internal combustion engine-driven TRUs... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) reached settlements with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) and Union Pacific Railroad Company (UPRR) to resolve violations of the state’s drayage truck regulation, which requires cleanup of trucks servicing the state’s busy ports and intermodal rail yards. An investigation by CARB’s Enforcement... Read more →

In a joint Federal Register notice, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) opened the public comment period on the reconsideration of the January 2017 Final Determination for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for cars and light trucks for model years (MY) 2022-2025. (Earlier post.)... Read more →

The BMW Group reported that it has delivered more than 50,000 BMW i, BMW iPerformance and electrified MINI vehicles to customers around the world since the start of the year. The BMW Group now has a total of nine electrified automobiles on the market: sales of these vehicles totalled 50,711... Read more →

Chanje, a California-based commercial electric vehicle and energy solutions company, has emerged from stealth mode. Chanje’s first model, the V8070 panel van, already has volume orders and will be delivered later this year. The van has a payload capacity of up to 6,000 lbs (2,870 kg) and 580 ft3 of... Read more →

DENSO Corporation, Ericsson, Intel Corporation, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), NTT DOCOMO, INC., Toyota InfoTechnology Center Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation have initiated the formation of the Automotive Edge Computing Consortium. The objective of the consortium is to develop an ecosystem for connected cars to support emerging services... Read more →

New analysis by energy, metals and mining consultancy Wood Mackenzie, in collaboration with GTM Research, a Wood Mackenzie company focused on researching decarbonization and the decentralization of energy, suggests that electric vehicles could account for 21% of the global car stock by 2035 under a carbon-constrained scenario. Wood Mackenzie’s carbon-constrained... Read more →

New analysis commissioned by Ceres, a sustainability nonprofit organization working with investors and companies, suggests that national fuel economy and emissions standards can help increase the viability and international competitiveness of domestic automakers and suppliers. The analysis prepared by Alan Baum, founder and principal of Baum and Associates, proposes that... Read more →

The concept of using a second, high octane fuel on demand to augment the performance of a standard gasoline fuel reaches back to the 1940s, with a recent resurgence in interest generated by the need to increase engine efficiency. In a paper in the journal Fuel, researchers at the Fuel... Read more →

BMW Group UK has launched a new Lower Emissions Allowance scheme that offers an additional £2,000 (US$2,600) off all new BMW and MINI vehicles with emissions of 130 g/km or less. This will enable customers to drive away in a new cleaner Euro-6 BMW from under £155 (US$202) per month... Read more →

Researchers at Rice University and their colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have learned to manipulate two-dimensional materials to design in defects that enhance the materials’ properties. Combining theory and experimentation, they showed it’s possible to give 2D materials specific defects—especially atomic-scale seams called grain boundaries. These boundaries may... Read more →

The California Energy Commission awarded more than $16 million to Equilon Enterprises, LLC, which does business as Shell Oil Products US, to develop seven new hydrogen stations in Northern California. Three will be located in San Francisco, one in Walnut Creek, one in Berkeley and two in the Sacramento region.... Read more →

Intel Corporation and Mobileye N.V. announced the completion of Intel’s tender offer for outstanding ordinary shares of Mobileye, a global leader in the development of computer vision and machine learning, data analysis, localization and mapping for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving. Intel expects the acquisition to accelerate innovation... Read more →

The German government has awarded €233,000 (US$274,000) to N-ERGIE from the Federal Charging Infrastructure program to build 84 charging points in northern Bavaria. The aim of the Federal Charging Infrastructure is to build 15,000 charge points across Germany. The BMVI will provide a total of €300 million (US$352 million) to... Read more →

Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation have concluded a basic agreement for studies on energy conservation and CO2 emissions reduction in convenience store distribution and operation. The two companies aim to contribute to the realization of a low-carbon and hydrogen-based society in the future, by way of introducing... Read more →

Norway-based Hexagon Composites’ subsidiary Hexagon Lincoln has completed the development and initial deliveries of storage tanks for a Toyota heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell truck. (Earlier post.) Toyota Motor North America Research and Development (TMNA R&D) has received the first hydrogen tanks to be used in the project. With this delivery... Read more →

Audi AG is offering trade-in bonuses to customers who switch to an Audi with Euro 6 standard from diesel-powered cars with emission standards Euro 1 through Euro 4. The price advantage is scaled by model. Depending on the category of the new car, it amounts to between €3,000 and €10,000.... Read more →

Sustainable Development Technology Canada announced an award of C$3.8 million to Electrovaya to fund the development of safe and long-lasting lithium-ion ceramic batteries for commercial vehicles. Electrovaya designs, develops and manufactures proprietary Lithium Ion Super Polymer batteries, battery systems, and battery-related products for energy storage, clean electric transportation and other... Read more →

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced a trial for a new type of electrolyzer which could see excess renewable energy stored in the gas grid and used to decarbonize Australia’s gas supply. On behalf of the Australian Government, ARENA has provided A$5 million (US$4 million) in funding to Wollongong-based... Read more →

SGL Carbon Holdings BV, a subsidiary of SGL Carbon SE, signed the sale and purchase agreement to sell SGL Group’s cathodes, furnace linings, and carbon electrodes (CFL/CE) business to funds advised by Triton. The two parties have agreed on an enterprise value (cash and debt free) of €250 million, which,... Read more →

Aeron.aero is launching an Ethereum blockchain-based solution for tracking and verification of aircraft and pilot log records: Aeron Register. The current system for logging training and flight hours is easily manipulated, as flight logs are mostly done on paper, with the numbers, signatures, and confirmation stamps all being done manually.... Read more →

Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI) has received a new bus drivetrain production order in China to integrate its EDI PowerDrive 6000 systems into 12 meter buses for the city of Tianshui as they work to electrify their fleet to significantly reduce emissions. The company will be supplying its EDI PowerDrive Plug-in... Read more →

The average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the US in July was 25.4 mpg (9.25 l/100 km)—up 0.3 mpg from June, according to the latest monthly report from Dr. Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). This increase likely... Read more →

The SOLETAIR project (earlier post) has produced its first 200 liters of synthetic fuel from solar energy and the air’s carbon dioxide via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Project partners include INERATEC, a spinoff of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT). The... Read more →

Nissan Motor has entered into a definitive sale and purchase agreement with GSR Capital (GSR), a private investment fund, for the sale of Nissan’s automotive electric battery operations and production facilities to GSR. The sale and purchase agreement covers Nissan’s battery subsidiary, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), as well as... Read more →

Volkswagen is offering an incentive of up to €10,000 (US$11,815)—depending upon the model purchased—for the purchase of Euro 6 vehicles in Germany if an older diesel vehicle (Euro 1 to Euro 4 standards) is scrapped at the same time. The incentive is one of a number of elements of a... Read more →

Mazda Motor Corporation announced “Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030,” a new long-term vision for technology development that looks ahead to the year 2030. As part of the new technology to achieve this vision, the company disclosed plans to introduce a next-generation gasoline engine called SKYACTIV-X in 2019. SKYACTIV-X—which Mazda believes will be... Read more →

The Nikkei reports that by 2020, Japan’s GS Yuasa will begin mass producing lithium-ion batteries that double the driving range of small electric vehicles. Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture with trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and carmaker Mitsubishi Motors, will develop the cells, which will be produced at its plant... Read more →

Canadian team proposes new propane phase-change thermal management system for hybrid electric battery packs Researchers at the Clean Energy Research Laboratory, University of Ontario Institute of Technology are proposing a new propane phase-change thermal management system for hybrid electric vehicles that use propane as the fuel for the engine. (Further... Read more →

car2go N.A., North America’s largest flexible one-way carsharing service, saw a significant increase in use of its service during the first six months of 2017. Usage of car2go increased by 40% year-over-year in the first half of 2017 compared to the first half of 2016 across all 11 of the... Read more →

Through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) negotiated by the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Technology Transfer and Outreach Office, ARL and Brown University researchers are attempting to address the difficulty of characterizing and then engineering the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer that forms on the anode of lithium... Read more →

MAHLE has developed a highly efficient 48-volt electric vehicle concept for urban mobility. “MEET” (MAHLE Efficient Electric Transport) will make its world debut at IAA Cars 2017 in Frankfurt/Germany in September. The modular design could be transferred to a wide range of platforms, MAHLE said. The technical focus of MEET... Read more →

Engineers at Stanford University and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have developed a monocentric lens with multiple sensors using microlens arrays, allowing light field (LF) capture with an unprecedented field of view (FOV)—a camera that generates four-dimensional images and can capture 138 degrees of information. The new camera—the... Read more →

Tesla intends to offer, subject to market and other conditions, $1.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of its senior notes due 202. The Notes will be senior unsecured debt obligations of Tesla. The interest rate, redemption prices and other terms of the Notes are to be determined. Tesla intends to... Read more →

Groupe Renault, IDRO and PARTO NEGIN NASEH Co (NEGIN Holding) are forming a new joint venture company in Iran to boost Renault's presence in the country and step up the brand’s growth. The proposed joint venture company, of which Renault will be the majority shareholder, though with a first period... Read more →

Electric vehicle startup Faraday Future (FF) has signed a lease on its new 1 M ft2 manufacturing facility, and has begun the process of clean-up to prepare the new site for the move-in of manufacturing equipment. The facility marks another significant step forward for the company in its planned delivery... Read more →

Series-production plug-in hybrid electric vehicles equipped with diesel engines are already available in the market or planned for the future (e.g., Volvo V60, Audi Q7 e-tron quattro, Peugeot 508 RXH Hybrid4, Range Rover SDV6 Hybrid Diesel). However, fossil diesel fuel/biodiesel blends show a tendency to form precipitates—which can be considered... Read more →

A new IHS Markit survey of five key automotive markets—the US, Canada, China, Germany and the United Kingdom—found that full autonomy technology is not yet popular among a broad audience. On the other hand, the same audience ranked it among the very features they would be willing to pay the... Read more →

moovel Group, a subsidiary of Daimler AG, has acquired all of Familonet GmbH based in Hamburg. The team from Familonet will be bolstering the moovel development team at the Hamburg site from now on. The Familonet app, with 2 million registered users, will still be offered in the future. moovel... Read more →

The UK government has issued new guidance on vehicle cybersecurity. The 8 principles—each with more detailed sub-principles—in the guidance set out how the automotive sector can make sure cybersecurity is properly considered at every level, from designers and engineers, through to suppliers and senior level executives. The government is also... Read more →

Cenex—the UK’s first Center of Excellence for low carbon technologies—announced its involvement in the UK’s largest trial of biomethane-fueled trucks. Led by Air Liquide and funded in part by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK via the recently launched Low Emission Freight and Logistics... Read more →

The state of Minnesota will implement a new biodiesel standard next spring, as Minnesota moves to a 20% biodiesel blend (B20) at pumps across the state. This new standard builds on Minnesota’s national leadership—in 2005, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to require all diesel fuel to have... Read more →

Embracing the outcome of the German National Diesel Forum earlier this week (earlier post), the Volkswagen Group announced that it will offer a trade-in incentive for Euro 1 - Euro 4 diesel models which will apply across all brands in the Group. In addition, the software update for Euro 5... Read more →

The 2017 Honda Clarity Electric sedan arrived at the beginning of August in select dealerships in California and Oregon. With an introductory lease price of $269 (plus tax) a month for 36 months, the lease terms include an allowance of 20,000 miles per year and 24/7 roadside assistance. (Earlier post.)... Read more →

Wärtsilä will supply dual-fuel engines for a new LNG-fueled research vessel being built for the German government. Wärtsilä will also supply exhaust cleaning systems based on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology and the LNGPac system for complete fuel gas handling. The SCR technology will be needed when the engines are... Read more →

Aemetis has signed a Master Agreement with key exclusive rights for the use of an advanced gasification technology from InEnTec to produce cellulosic ethanol. The InEnTec gasification technology agreement is a key part of Aemetis’ strategy to produce high-value, low-carbon cellulosic ethanol from locally sourced biomass by integrating InEnTec’s patented... Read more →

With the aim of accelerating joint research and development of artificial intelligence technologies in mobility-related fields, such as automated driving technology, Toyota Motor Corporation will invest an additional ¥10.5 billion (US $95 million) in Preferred Networks (PFN). (Earlier post.) Toyota will acquire stock in PFN through the allocation of new... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) signed an agreement to enter a business and capital alliance, with the aim of further strengthening their partnership. The companies agreed to: 1) establish a joint venture that produces vehicles in the United States; 2) jointly develop technologies for electric vehicles;... Read more →

In order to reduce the cost of next-generation polymer electrolyte fuel cells for vehicles, researchers have been developing alternatives to the prohibitively expensive platinum and platinum-group metal (PGM) catalysts currently used in fuel cell electrodes. New work at Los Alamos (LANL) and Oak Ridge national laboratories (ORNL) is now resolving... Read more →