SoftBank Vision Fund will invest $2.25 billion in GM Cruise Holdings LLC (GM Cruise), further strengthening the company’s plans to commercialize autonomous vehicle (AV) technology at large scale. GM will also invest $1.1 billion in GM Cruise upon closing of the transaction. The investments value GM Cruise at $11.5 billion.... Read more →

Dearman has launched a partnership with UK retail giant Marks & Spencer, as the retailer seeks to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from its chilled deliveries. M&S will lease a dual compartment Dearman Hubbard transport refrigeration unit (TRU), on a refrigerated semi-trailer, to be operated out of its Hemel Hempstead... Read more →

StreetScooter GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group and leading producer of electric delivery vehicles (earlier post), has opened its second manufacturing facility. With immediate effect, up to 10,000 electric vans per year will run off the production line at the automotive supplier’s new 78,000 m2 factory in Düren,... Read more →

At the Movin’On 2018 mobility summit, Michelin announced its ambition that by 2048, all of its tires will be manufactured using 80% sustainable materials (recycled and renewable materials) and that 100% of all tires will be recycled. Today, the world-wide recovery rate for tires is 70%; of that 70%, some... Read more →

Hyundai will invest $388 million to construct a plant in Alabama dedicated to manufacturing engine heads and enhance existing operations to support production of new models of Sonata and Elantra sedans. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) is preparing for the next-generation Hyundai engine, which requires new technologies and components as... Read more →

At the Movin’On 2018 mobility summit in Montreal, Québec-based Lion Electric unveiled its 100% electric midi/minibus, the eLionM. The low-floor vehicle will be able to travel up to 75 miles (120 km) (one 80 kWh pack) or 150 miles (240 km) (two 80 kWh packs) per charge. The eLionM features... Read more →

Following the market success of the SUV offensive led by its five brands, Groupe PSA is increasing its SUV production capacity in Europe to meet demand. Implemenetation of these expansion products will ensure high capacity utilization in each plant in the coming years, the company said. The product offensive launched... Read more →

UL (Underwriters Laboratories) has approved Blink Charging’s next generation of electric vehicle (EV) charging station technology, following an analysis of the technology’s safety and sustainability implications for the marketplace. The new EV charging stations will support power outputs up to 19.2 kW—nearly three times the power output of the current... Read more →

Ford has appointed UK-based Revolve Technologies, a specialist powertrain, engineering and development business, as its sole European Quality Calibration Modifier (QCM), giving the company access to Ford engine technical information. As engine designs become ever more complex, optimizing for new applications is an increasing challenge that requires access to complex... Read more →

by Michael Sivak. Gasoline is one of the products refined from crude oil. Thus, the price of crude oil should have a strong influence on the price of gasoline. However, the retail price of gasoline includes other costs as well. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that in the United... Read more →

Audi’s e-tron prototype, the forerunner of its coming series-production battery-electric SUV, features a drag coefficient of 0.28—a top result in the SUV segment. The figure is a decisive factor in the everyday range of more than 400 kilometers (248.5 mi) in the WLTP cycle; a hundredth of the drag coefficient... Read more →

A Northwestern University research team has found ways to stabilize a promising new high capacity cathode material—Li4Mn2O5. An open-access paper on their work is published in the journal Science Advances. Lithium-ion batteries shuttle lithium ions back and forth between the anode and the cathode. The cathode is made from a... Read more →

France-based ARTS Energy, a manufacturer of battery-based energy storage solutions using a variety of chemistries, is entering the hybrid-electric vehicle and very high power application markets via a strategic partnership with Hunan Copower EV Battery Co, a subsidiary of the Corun Group. ARTS Energy currently serves the solar, defense &... Read more →

Hyundai’s model-year 2019 IONIQ lineup—hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric—adds new and broader applications of active safety features, enhanced voice-recognition features and standard remote charge management for Plug-in and Electric models. 2019 Ioniq models will be available at Hyundai dealerships this summer. 2019 Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid New for the 2019 IONIQ... Read more →

Federal-Mogul Powertrain has developed a new piston ring for use in commercial vehicle diesel engines that enhances gas sealing capability by stabilizing ring dynamic motion and homogenizing oil film. The running surface profile of the new eLine rings for use in the second groove has been designed to distribute oil... Read more →

Milk & More, Britain’s largest milk delivery service has purchased 200 electric StreetScooters (earlier post). The £6.5-million (US$9.1-million) investment in the StreetScooters makes the business one of the largest operators of electric vehicles in the country. The new electric fleet is the first of its kind in the UK and... Read more →

Car-sharing company Zipcar, which struck up a partnership with Volkswagen in 2016, has now ordered 325 battery-electric e-Golfs for its fleet. Volkswagen substantially updated the e-Golf in 2017 and the model now has a range of 186 miles (NEDC). This translates to a realistic range of 124 miles when real... Read more →

UK-based electric powertrain specialist AVID Technology is working in collaboration with a consortium of six partners, including Jaguar Land Rover, to develop advanced hybrid electric vehicle systems as part of a £20.8-million (US$29-million) R&D project supported by the Advanced Propulsion Centre. AVID’s core expertise is the design of high-performance power... Read more →

The percentage of workers in the US who drove alone during their commute increased from 64% in 1980 to 76% in 2016 while carpooling declined to about half of what it was in 1980, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE). The percentage of workers who used public transportation,... Read more →

The Government of Canada will purchase Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline system and the expansion project (TMEP) for C$4.5 billion (US$3.46 billion); Kinder Morgan has agreed to work with the Government of Canada to seek a third-party buyer for the Trans Mountain Pipeline system and TMEP. The 1,150-km (714-mile) Trans... Read more →

Lithium Werks, a Li-ion battery and portable power solutions manufacturer that earlier this year separately acquired Valence Technologies and the industrial division and cylindrical cell manufacturing plant of A123 Systems, has signed a multi-year cell supply agreement with lithium battery specialist Super B. Both Super B and Lithium Werks specialize... Read more →

A study published by the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) has explored the possible impact of increased electrification of road transportation and domestic heating and cooking on the energy system (electricity and gas), as well as on CO2 emissions and on GDP. The study is based on a set... Read more →

A team from Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories in the US and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI and German Aerospace Center in Germany has reviewed and compared 40 market diffusion models for plug-in vehicles to find similarities or differences and make recommendations for future improvements... Read more →

Volkswagen’s new third-generation Touareg SUV (earlier post) offers new advanced running gear made largely of lightweight aluminum, featuring a combination of four-corner pneumatic suspension with adaptive electronic damping control and—for the first time at Volkswagen—a completely newly developed electromechanical active roll compensation system (eAWS). The eAWS features active anti-roll bars... Read more →

JERA Co. Inc., Lyon Group, and Fluence Energy, LLC are working co-operatively to explore opportunities to deploy proven energy storage solutions in the Asia Pacific region, including in JERA’s operating fleet in Japan. JERA is a Japan-based energy company with approximately 66 GW of power generation in Japan and approximately... Read more →

BMW i is introducing a factory-fitted, fully integrated inductive charging facility for the high-voltage battery in a plug-in hybrid vehicle. Production will start in July. The BMW Wireless Charging option can be ordered now as a leasing-option for the BMW 530e iPerformance (fuel consumption in legislative EU test-cycle combined: 2.3... Read more →

Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) is a not-for-profit organization with the goal of helping Ontario and Canada become globally recognized leaders in the field of sustainable technologies. In 2016, BIC established the Center for Commercialization of Sustainable Chemistry Innovation (COMM SCI) initiative program, which acts as a hub for the commercialization... Read more →

Seven months after opening its battery factory in China (earlier post), the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) joint venture has laid the foundation for a comprehensive expansion of the plant. At the “High-Voltage Battery Centre Phase II”, BBA will produce the new, more powerful batteries of the fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Akron have developed hierarchical porous Mn3O4/C nanospheres as anode materials for Li-ion batteries. These nanospheres exhibited a high reversible specific capacity (1237 mAh/g at 200 mA/g), excellent ratability (425 mAh/g at 4 A/g), and extremely long cycle life (no significant capacity fading after 3000 cycles at... Read more →

The Krakow public transport authority, Poland’s second-largest public transport authority, has placed an order for 30 Mercedes-Benz Citaro hybrid vehicles as well as 56 conventional Citaro buses. The Citaro hybrid buses are based on the hybrid technology unveiled by Mercedes-Benz last year (earlier post), and offer a fuel saving of... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) agreed to start discussing new joint projects in the fields of technological development, vehicle production, and market development. After having concluded a memorandum of understanding toward business partnership on 6 February 2017 (earlier post), Toyota and Suzuki have been pursuing concrete forms... Read more →

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, and Yara have entered into an agreement in which Kalmar will deliver fully autonomous equipment, software and services for a unique, fully digitalized container handling solution at Yara’s Porsgrunn facility in Norway. This means that all the necessary operations related to the world's first autonomous and... Read more →

The BMW Design Department in collaboration with MIT’s Self-Assembly Laboratory have successfully developed printed inflatable material technologies that selftransform, adapt and morph from one state to another. This commission is on display for the first time during the exhibition The Future Starts Here, which explores the power of design in... Read more →

Shell Offshore, Inc. announced a large, deep-water, exploration discovery in the Norphlet geologic play in the US Gulf of Mexico with its Dover well (100% Shell). Shell’s map of the Dover discovery The Dover discovery is Shell’s sixth in the Norphlet and encountered more than 800 net feet of pay... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved a plan to mitigate statewide harm from more than 10,000 tons of smog-causing pollutants released in the state due to Volkswagen’s (VW) use of illegal “defeat devices” in diesel passenger cars. The National VW Environmental Trust provides California with $423 million for this... Read more →

Neste, a producer of renewable fuels from waste and residues, and IH Demeter B.V., a trader of animal fats and proteins, have agreed that Neste acquires sole control and 51% of the shares of IH Demeter B.V., making Neste the controlling shareholder. The current owners shall remain as co-owners. The... Read more →

Voith Turbo as introduced a complete electric drive system for buses. The drive system was originally conceptualized as a prototype for a Solaris Urbino Bus, but it can be integrated into vehicles from other manufacturers without restrictions. The achievable range primarily depends on the battery, which we acquire from an... Read more →

Siemens and Northvolt, a company working to build a European Li-ion gigafactory with 32 GWh of battery capacity (earlier post), are partnering for the development of best-in-class technology to produce high-quality lithium-ion batteries. The partnership, which will be supported by Siemens through an investment of €10 million (US$11.7 million); after... Read more →

A new study by a team from Aarhus University in Denmark has found that car dealerships pose a significant barrier to electric vehicle adoption at the point of sale due to a perceived lack of business case viability in relation to gasoline and diesel vehicles. Their study is published in... Read more →

Novelis, the leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, plans to invest approximately $180 million to double its automotive aluminum body sheet capacity at its Changzhou facility in China. The company will begin expanding its existing facility in 2018 and be fully operational by 2020, helping key traditional automakers and electric... Read more →

Suning Logistics, a subsidiary of Chinese commercial giant Suning Holdings Group, has completed driving tests for its autonomous heavy-duty truck, “Strolling Dragon,” in Shanghai, marking another milestone in the company’s plan to offer fully-automated logistics solutions. Strolling Dragon. Strolling Dragon is the largest unmanned truck in Suning Logistics’ automated fleet,... Read more →

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment gave the green light for a subsidized pilot project to conduct research and development on the electrification of long-haul trucks. The electricity supply for the heavy goods vehicles is provided by means of a pantograph from an overhead power line—the eHighway concept (earlier... Read more →

Foton Motor and Piaggio Group signed the agreement for a joint development project for new light-duty commercial vehicle products in Italy. Since 2016, Foton Motor and Piaggio Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and a Framework Agreement in succession. The final signing of this agreement symbolizes that the two... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) has scheduled its next public workshop to discuss the Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) proposal. (Earlier post.) The ICT proposal aims for transition to zero-emission technologies without compromising transit services and recognizes enhanced mobility options. The workshop will be held on 13 June... Read more →

Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG (SSB), the principal public transport operating company in Stuttgart, will launch the SSB Flex mobility service on 1 June 2018. (Earlier post.) SSB Flex will pool similar journey requests in three areas to provide additional, more flexible journey options in certain high-traffic areas or at specific times... Read more →

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released Thursday its preliminary report for the ongoing investigation of a fatal crash involving a pedestrian and an Uber Technologies, Inc., test vehicle in Tempe, Arizona. The preliminary report contains no analysis and does not discuss probable cause. The information in the report is... Read more →

Civil Maps, creator of the world’s first edge-based HD mapping and localization platform for self-driving cars (earlier post), has teamed up with Renovo, the software technology company behind AWare (earlier post), to provide highly automated vehicle makers and technology providers with seamless access to Civil Maps’ vehicular cognition stack. Through... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding up to $3.5 million to three hydrogen production research and development (R&D) projects that are compatible with nuclear energy sources. DOE is focused on developing technologies that can produce hydrogen at a target of less than $4/kg (delivered and dispensed). Using electricity... Read more →

The Alan Turing Institute—the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence—and the Toyota Mobility Foundation are collaborating on a project to transform the way cities are planned and managed. The objective of this new project, Optimizing flow within mobility systems with AI, part of the Turing’s new AI... Read more →

Solaris will deliver 10 electric Urbino 12 buses to Hamburg public transport operator HOCHBAHN. Two of the commissioned vehicles will be supplied this autumn; the remaining ones will be handed over in September 2019. The Senate of Hamburg has decided that, as of 2020, all buses bought by local carriers... Read more →