Canada-based Loop Energy’s fuel cell range extender system (earlier post) is fully functional and operating in a heavy-duty terminal tractor (or yard truck) with partner China National Heavy-Duty Truck Company (CNHTC). Offering extended range, rapid refueling and zero tailpipe emissions, the heavy-duty vehicle addresses the limitations of pure battery-electric trucks... Read more →

The German Aerospace Centre (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has opened the new DLR Institute of Software Methods in Dresden. In Dresden, DLR will focus on product virtualization in the aircraft manufacturing sector. Before an aircraft can take to the skies, much expensive development work and lengthy tests... Read more →

Volvo Cars and Geely Holding have completed the formation of two new entities to share existing and future technology and provide the economies of scale that will allow them to more rapidly develop next generation electrified vehicle technology. (Earlier post.) The agreements formalize the strategic priorities, management teams and targeted... Read more →

Researchers in the Rice University lab of chemist James Tour have produced dual-surface laser-induced graphene (LIG) electrodes on opposing faces of a plastic sheet that split water into hydrogen on one side and oxygen on the other side. The high porosity and electrical conductivity of LIG facilitates the efficient contact... Read more →

General Motors and its joint ventures in China set a July record for deliveries. Retail sales increased 6.3% from a year earlier to 287,581 vehicles. The Buick, Cadillac and Baojun brands reached all-time highs for July sales, while Chevrolet posted growth of 24% on an annual basis. GM’s performance was... Read more →

Germany-based TerraE-Holding GmbH has organized 17 major companies and research institutions into a consortium to handle planning for building large-scale lithium ion battery cell manufacturing in Germany. The goal is to gradually build up production capacities of up to 34 GWh/year by the year 2028. The consortium will address industrial... Read more →

Over the next decade, automakers will continue to increase the adoption of high-strength, low weight aluminum in new car and truck construction at a faster pace than ever before. Total aluminum content is expected to grow from 397 pounds (180.1 kg) per vehicle (PPV) in 2015 to 565 PPV (256.3... Read more →

In its ongoing series of teasers leading up to the reveal of the new LEAF EV in September, Nissan has released a rendering of the car’s improved aerodynamic design. The new design improves efficiency, and thus range on a single charge. Less drag and better stability enable the vehicle to... Read more →

In the UK, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) and the Energy Saving Trust (EST), together with industry stakeholders, have launched the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS). The UK’s DEFRA/DfT Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) is providing funding support. CVRAS provides a single validation standard for any emission technology... Read more →

At Audi’s Ingolstadt plant, humans and robots are now working side-by-side without a protective fence in an advance in human-robot cooperation (HRC). “Adhesive application with robot assistance,” abbreviated from the German as KLARA (Klebstoffapplikation mit Roboter-Assistenz), provides support with the installation of roofs made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP)... Read more →

Industrial robot company KUKA Industries has received an order from an unnamed leading European manufacturer in the automotive industry to supply a further battery production system. The order value lies in the mid-double-digit million euro range and was booked in the second quarter of 2017. Start of production is planned... Read more →

Researchers at the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) have discovered that a nano-galvanic aluminum-based powder of their design splits water on contact, producing hydrogen and oxygen. Scientists have known for a long time that hydrogen can be produced by adding a catalyst—such as sodium or potassium hydroxide or an acid—to... Read more →

To support commercial vehicle manufacturers in meeting current and future emissions regulations, BorgWarner has developed an economical new series of multi-platform exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) coolers featuring a compact floating core. An effective methods of reducing diesel engine emissions, EGR recirculates exhaust gas to reduce the high temperatures in the... Read more →

WMG at the University of Warwick (UK) will receive just over £500,000 (US $661,000) from Innovate UK for its part in the £2-million (US $2.65-million) program in which it will partner with autonomous pod manufacturer RDM Group and Milton Keynes Council to create Swarm Intelligence for autonomous pods. The concept... Read more →

BMW has established solid electrification credentials. With BMW i, the BMW Group was the first German manufacturer to make a clear commitment to electromobility, notes BMW AG Management Board Chairman Harald Krüger. In 2017, the BMW Group expects sales of its electrified vehicles to exceed 100,000 for the first time... Read more →

Consultancy Frost & Sullivan recently selected Austria-based Kreisel Electric (earlier post) as the winner of the 2017 European Electric Vehicle Technology Leadership Award. Frost & Sullivan said that the unique technology for next-generation lithium-ion batteries gives Kreisel Electric a distinct competitive advantage in the electric vehicle market. Kreisel ensures that... Read more →

In a quarterly financial update that emphasized the bullish prospects for the Model 3, Model S and Model X, Tesla reported that its automotive revenue grew 93% to $2.287 billion as compared to Q2 2016 largely due to 53% growth in total vehicle deliveries, and to a smaller percentage of... Read more →

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will award a fourth project up to $1.8 million under the MEGA-BIO: Bioproducts to Enable Biofuels Funding Opportunity. In August 2016, DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) selected three projects for an initial round of funding. (Earlier post.) The total funding for the four MEGA-BIO... Read more →

German auto manufacturers will optimize the emissions systems in 5.3 million currently approved Euro 5 and 6 diesels in the country, according to the outcome of the “National Diesel Forum” held in Berlin today between the automotive industry and the German Federal and state governments. The aim is a 30%... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Trucks has introduced its first 3D-printed spare part made of metal (an aluminum-silicon material), a thermostat cover for truck and Unimog models from older model series. In contrast to the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process used in plastics 3D printing, 3D printing of metallic components uses Selective Laser Melting... Read more →

Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) announced a sweeping set of new research programs studying the opportunities and addressing the challenges of emerging vehicle technologies. The eleven projects—launched in partnership with eight leading research institutions in North America—mark the first projects launched under CSRC Next (earlier post), which is the... Read more →

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have discovered a way to achieve the promise of bronze-phase vanadium dioxide [VO2(B)] as an electrode material for Li-ion batteries. In a paper in the ACS journal Nano Letters, the team reports that epitaxial VO2(B) films can accomplish the theoretical limit for capacity... Read more →

Volkswagen’s new incubator program at its Transparent Factory in Dresden is starting with six mobility teams. The teams now have 200 days to take their innovative ideas and develop mobility products or services which are ready for the market. Alongside Volkswagen mobility experts they will be supported by Group It’s... Read more →

Amtrak and Lyft have launched a new ridesharing partnership. Customers can now use the Amtrak mobile app to access the Lyft app to request a ride. New users of Lyft will receive $5 off each of their first four Lyft rides by using the promo code AMTRAKLYFT. Lyft operates in... Read more →

The average price of a new light vehicle (including both cars and light trucks) was up to a record $31,790 in 2016, up from the most recent low of $28,243 in 2008. However, the price increase is driven by light trucks, with the $35,289 average truck price for 2016 beaten... Read more →

Continental has successfully conducted tests on the synthetic diesel fuel oxymethylene ether (OME) in test vehicles, including its Super Clean Electrified Diesel vehicle presented this year. Overall, the Continental tests confirmed that diesel fuel containing 15% OME blend for current diesel engines is a technically safe and viable possibility for... Read more →

The sale of Opel Automobile GmbH with its brands Opel and Vauxhall by General Motors to Groupe PSA has now been finalized. The market share of the newly enlarged Groupe PSA is now around 17% in Europe, making it the continent’s second largest carmaker with first or second place in... Read more →

Booster, the app-based mobile gas station, has raised $20 million in a Series B round that will be used to drive growth and enhance the core experience of gas delivered to individual cars. Booster delivers and pumps gas in office parking lots, using custom-built purple mini-tankers that easily navigate tight... Read more →

Scientists at Rice University and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have predicted and created new two-dimensional electrocatalysts—low-cost, layered transition-metal dichalcogenides (MX2) based on molybdenum and tungsten—to extract hydrogen from water with high performance and low cost. In the process, they also created a simple model to screen materials for catalytic... Read more →

The Critical Materials Institute, a US Department of Energy Innovation Hub, has fabricated magnets made entirely of domestically sourced and refined rare-earth metals. CMI member institution Idaho National Laboratory sourced the raw materials and refined the oxides; CMI Industry member Infinium produced the metal ingots from those oxides, which in... Read more →

Researchers in China are proposing new pathways for the CO2 catalytic conversion of oleic acid into C8-C15 alkanes. The yield of C8–C15 products reaches 73.10 mol% in a CO2 atmosphere—much higher than the 49.67 mol% yield obtained in an H2 atmosphere. In the the absence of an external H2 source,... Read more →

At the Surcar 2017 conference on automotive body finishing in Cannes, Dürr and BMW received the award for technique for their concept of a smart paint shop and how to increase production efficiency by digitization. The jury at the biennial congress on automotive body finishing traditionally selects the winners for... Read more →

Cyclops Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel, has extended the offering period of its previously announced all cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding ordinary shares of Mobileye N.V. (Earlier post.) Mobileye is a global leader in the development of computer vision and machine learning, data... Read more →

The NIO US team took First Place at the DEF CON 25 2017 Car Hacking Village, beating out 10 other teams in the third annual “Capture The Flag” (CTF) security event. Based in Silicon Valley, NIO US is a start-up developing autonomous electric vehicles. (Earlier post.) DEF CON is one... Read more →