Bren-Tronics has received a contract to provide high-volume automated manufacturing of Military 24V 6T Li-Ion batteries from the US Army Contracting Command through the National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC). The total anticipated project value is more than $6.2 million. For the past two years, Bren-Tronics has manufactured two versions of... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) is hosting a Ride-and-Learn at the 232nd Electrochemical Society (ECS) fall meeting next week at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland. The Ride-and-Learn is open to all ECS attendees, first come, first served. DOE is also... Read more →

The California Hydrogen Business Council (CHBC) is hosting a one-day workshop to discuss the current hydrogen and fuel cell activities in ports and maritime, hear the needs and challenges from port and maritime customers (port authorities, terminal operators, trucking companies) of California Ports to reduce their emission footprint and meet... Read more →

A six-meter, 2.4-ton model of the final design of the autonomous and fully electric container vessel Yara Birkeland (earlier post) was revealed as testing commenced at SINTEF Ocean’s 80-meter test tank facility in Trondheim. ENOVA, a Norwegian government enterprise responsible for promotion of environmentally friendly production and consumption of energy,... Read more →

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have pinpointed optimized engine designs for a given fuel. Simulations performed by Argonne found two optimized fuel-engine concepts that could improve fuel efficiency substantially, said Yuanjiang Pei, a lab scientist who specializes in computational fluid dynamics at the Aramco Research... Read more →

Panasonic Corporation will start production of automotive lithium-ion batteries at a factory in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, expanding domestic production amid increasing demand for such batteries. Panasonic has been building up its production capacity of automotive batteries in Japan, the United States, and China. To further boost the capacity, the company... Read more →

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. notified its dealers in Japan that it will temporarily suspend new registrations for vehicles on dealer lots or in factory inventory. This step is being taken because the processes Nissan agreed to implement as part of vehicle-type approval for the Japanese market were not followed at... Read more →

Honda will unveil the new Sports EV Concept at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show in October as part of a broad range of advanced two- and four-wheeled production and concept vehicles. The development team designed the sporty electric car to deliver a feeling of joy and emotional unity to the... Read more →

The University of Illinois at Chicago has received a $1.44-million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to discover new 2D materials that can be used to manufacture better and cheaper batteries. Two-dimensional materials, of which graphene is the most common, are extremely strong, lightweight, flexible, and excellent conductors of heat and... Read more →

General Motors revealed its new-generation ECOTEC 1.0T and 1.3T dual injection engines that are being launched in China. The turbocharged engines were developed as a global architecture with the support of GM’s worldwide manufacturing and supply chain networks. They will power Buick and Chevrolet models built and sold in the... Read more →

Autoliv, Inc., the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, has signed an agreement to acquire certain assets of Sweden-based LiDAR specialist company Fotonic i Norden AB. Fotonic i Norden is a LiDAR and Time of Flight camera specialist that designs, develops, and manufactures these products. The acquisition represents a transfer... Read more →

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the state has seen a 74% increase in electric car sales over the same time period last year, resulting from the Drive Clean Rebate initiative launched on 21 March 2017. The Drive Clean Rebate provides New York residents with a rebate of... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Vans, US drone systems developer Matternet and Swiss online marketplace siroop have started a pilot project in Zurich to test an efficient van and drone-based system for on-demand delivery of e-commerce goods. The drone delivers the shipment not to the consumer, but rather to the delivery van, which handles... Read more →

The Department of Energy (DOE) has selected nine projects to receive approximately $4 million in cost-shared federal funding to improve the technical, environmental, and economic performance of new and existing technologies that extract, separate, and recover rare earth elements (REEs) from domestic US coal and coal by-products. (Earlier post.) US... Read more →

China has issued its anticipated new regulation requiring most automakers to sell a minimum number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) (battery-electric and plug-in hybrid) annually from 2019 as part of the country’s broader effort to curb carbon emissions by reducing the use of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. The new policy from China’s... Read more →

Transflo, a provider of mobile, telematics, and business process automation to the transportation industry in the United States and Canada, has joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA) to develop technology standards, promote educational efforts, and implement blockchain capabilities in the trucking and freight shipment industry. Transflo can contribute insights... Read more →

Cummins has been awarded a $47.4 million contract from the National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC) to develop and demonstrate a technologically advanced engine for the next generation of US combat vehicles. The Advanced Combat Engine (ACE) project, led by Cummins Corporate Research and Technology and supported by Achates Power—the developer... Read more →

California state and local air quality officials released a draft report outlining a range of recommended actions to improve air monitoring at the state’s oil refineries, and strategies to better inform surrounding communities during incidents at refineries that result in increases in pollution or toxic releases. The draft report, the... Read more →

Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. announced a collaboration with Master Transportation, a Taiwanese bus manufacturer, to develop an all-electric bus program to replace diesel buses for the Taiwanese government. The collaboration integrates the Efficient Drivetrains EDI PowerDrive EV all-electric drivetrain and EDI PowerSuite vehicle control software into a Master Transportation passenger bus... Read more →

Daimler Mobility Services announced the full acquisition of the Darmstadt-based flinc GmbH—a leading provider of door-to-door ridesharing for short- and medium-haul routes. The start-up launched the flinc platform for short-distance carpooling in 2011. Today, around half a million customers are registered with the platform. Daimler Mobility Services includes various mobility... Read more →

Mitsubishi is bringing the plug-in hybrid crossover Outlander (the best-selling PHEV in Europe) to the US. The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) will arrive in dealerships in December 2017 with an MSRP of $34,595. Equipped with a 2.0-liter gasoline engine, two high-performance electric motors and Mitsubishi’s Super... Read more →

An inexpensive and useful layered superconductor compound also may be an efficient solid-state material for storing hydrogen. Through theory and experimentation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists, with colleagues at Sandia and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories, have discovered the key mechanism by which magnesium diboride (MgB2) absorbs hydrogen and provided... Read more →

Mazda Motor Corporation, Denso Corporation, and Toyota Motor Corporation will jointly develop basic structural technologies for electric vehicles. The three companies have also decided to establish a new company consisting of selected engineers from the three companies to ensure the efficient implementation of the joint technological development projects. Mazda, Denso,... Read more →

Researchers at Michigan State University will use a $1.1-million U.S. Department of Energy grant to fight disease in switchgrass by identifying regions of the genome that cause disease resistance. Locating these disease-fighting regions will help improve switchgrass’ viability. Thriving switchgrass plants could play a crucial role in an emerging bio-based... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has released a video showing the first demonstration of its Guardian and Chauffeur modes on the new Platform 2.1 autonomous vehicle. (Earlier post.) The video shows the advances TRI has made with Platform 2.1, the next iteration of TRI’s innovative advanced safety research vehicle for autonomous... Read more →

In February 2017, the America Makes & ANSI Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative (AMSC) published a standardization roadmap for additive manufacturing (3D Printing). The roadmap identified existing standards and specifications as well as those in development; assessed gaps; and maked recommendations for priority areas where there is a perceived need for... Read more →

The BMW Group is systematically expanding the intelligent connectivity capabilities of its vehicles by seamlessly integrating Amazon’s voice-controlled personal assistant Alexa into all BMW and MINI models from mid-2018. The inclusion of a cloud-based voice service will enable BMW Group customers to access a variety of services, entertainment features and... Read more →

In Neuberg, Germany, Audi presented the Group’s first all-electric race car: the Audi e-tron FE04 for the Formula E series. In Formula E, the teams and manufacturers are allowed to develop the powertrain consisting of the motor, transmission, parts of the suspension and the respective software. The combination of the... Read more →

JingChi Inc. has completed a combined $52-million pre-A investment round from lead investor Qiming Venture, strategic investor NVIDIA GPU Ventures, and a consortium of other investors. The investment allows JingChi rapidly to expand its research and development teams globally, and ramp up deployment of a fully Level 4 autonomous driving... Read more →

Ford is partnering with Lyft on autonomous driving. Ford continues to make progress on developing self-driving technology through its self-driving vehicle and Argo AI’s virtual driver system. Lyft has a network of customers, growing demand for rides and strong knowledge of transportation flow within cities. Both companies have fleet management... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) outlined some of its progress in the development of automated driving technology and other project work, including the development of robots for in-home support of people. Since unveiling its Platform 2.0 research vehicle in March 2017 (earlier post), TRI has quickly updated its automated driving technology... Read more →

XL Hybrids will begin production on the new XL3 Hybrid Electric Drive System for Model Year 2018 Ford Super Duty F-250 pickups in first quarter 2018. This will be the first time that Ford F-250 trucks can be ordered by fleet customers with hybrid-electric drive technology; the XL3 system can... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected one additional project, for up to $3.5 million, as part of the Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO’s) Advanced Algal Systems Program funding opportunity announcement (FOA). For Algal Biomass Yield, Phase 2 (ABY2), in Fiscal Year 2016, DOE awarded $15 million for three projects.... Read more →

At the North American Commercial Vehicle Show (NACV) in Atlanta this week, Bosch is showcasing its portfolio of automated, connected and electrified technologies for commercial vehicles. At NACV, Bosch will debut its 15-inch freely programmable cluster, the largest digital cluster available for the commercial vehicle industry. The optically-bonded display enables... Read more →

Volvo Trucks is taking the position that by replacing diesel with liquefied natural gas or biogas, CO2 emissions from heavy trucks can be drastically reduced. Volvo Trucks is intensifying its development of gas-powered trucks for heavy regional and long-haul operations. Reducing climate-impacting emissions from heavy commercial traffic is a challenge... Read more →

Meritor, a leading global supplier of drivetrain, mobility, braking and aftermarket solutions for commercial vehicle and industrial markets, is developing a platform of electric drive axles and suspensions as well as supporting systems to position Meritor as a leader in electric solutions for the commercial vehicle market. “Essentially, we’re focusing... Read more →

The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is partnering with Purdue University’s Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR) and other experts from academia, industry and government to develop technologies for responsible conversion of alkanes—light hydrocarbons including methane, ethane and propane—into more valuable liquid fuels, including gasoline and diesel... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) to provide public notice and an opportunity to comment on potential reductions in the 2018 biomass-based diesel (BBD), advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel volumes, and/or the 2019 biomass-based diesel volume under the Renewable Fuel Standard... Read more →

Linde LLC has submitted a California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) pathway application for hydrogen produced by the steam methane reforming (SMR) of North American Natural Gas. The hydrogen is liquefied at a facility in Ontario, California, then re-gasified and compressed at Linde refueling stations. Linde is basing its application... Read more →

An analysis by a team from the University of California, Davis, MIT and Yale suggests that households that buy a fuel-efficient vehicle tend to compensate for that purchase by buying a bigger, more powerful second vehicle. This unintended effect could erode goals of fuel economy standard policies by up to... Read more →

Siemens and Alstom signed a Memorandum of Understanding to combine Siemens’ mobility business including its rail traction drives business, with Alstom. The two businesses are largely complementary in terms of activities and geographies. Siemens will receive newly issued shares in the combined company representing 50 percent of Alstom’s share capital... Read more →

Toyota is expanding the production of its hybrid powertrains to the US. Toyota will invest $373.8 million in five US manufacturing plants to support production of its first US-made hybrid powertrain and to implement Toyota’s New Global Architecture (TNGA) at its Alabama plant. Each of the projects is scheduled to... Read more →

ABB and Northvolt have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a wide-ranging supply and technology partnership, including products and services for Northvolt’s planned lithium-ion battery factory and close collaboration on development of battery solutions and R&D activities. Northvolt intends for its factory to supply European customers in the automotive... Read more →

Proton Onsite and Nel Hydrogen Solutions, divisions of Nel ASA, have received a purchase order of US$8.3 million on a combined hydrogen PEM electrolyzer and H2Station fueling solution for SunLine Transit Agency (SunLine) in California. The combined solution will have a hydrogen capacity of up to 900 kg per day,... Read more →

At the North American Commercial Vehicle Show, Navistar International Corporation announced it expects a number of new product offerings and integrations with alliance partner Volkswagen Truck & Bus (earlier post), including plans to develop an electric-powered, medium-duty vehicle for the company’s core (US and Canada) market. Troy A. Clarke, chairman,... Read more →

Proton OnSite, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nel ASA, received an order for the fourth M Series, Megawatt scale hydrogen electrolyzers in a thirteen M Series delivery agreement with Guangdong Synergy Hydrogen Power Technology Co., Ltd. (Synergy). (Earlier post.) The original agreement between Proton OnSite and Synergy for 13 PEM... Read more →

Porsche is expanding its hybrid range by adding a powerful plug-in hybrid to the Panamera Sport Turismo model line. Combining the 4.0-liter V8 engine from the Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo with an electric motor, the 2018 Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo delivers a total output of 680 hp and... Read more →

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is introducing the industry’s first embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) solution for use in next-generation automotive applications. Consisting of 128-gigabyte (GB) and 64GB versions, the new eUFS solution has been designed for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), next-generation dashboards and infotainment systems that provide comprehensive connected features... Read more →

BorgWarner, is showcasing its range of combustion, hybrid and electric technologies at the North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show in Atlanta, Georgia. A forecast by Knibb, Gormezano and Partners (KGP), cited by BorgWarner, predicts the hybrid and electric commercial vehicle market will experience a 32.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR),... Read more →

ExxonMobil announced an enhanced program to reduce methane emissions from its production and midstream facilities across the United States. The program prioritizes actions at sites operated by subsidiary XTO Energy and includes efforts to develop and deploy new, more efficient technologies to detect and reduce facility emissions. Methane detection and... Read more →