Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI) has received a production order for PHEV bus drivetrain systems from the city of Kunming, China. The 30-unit order brings EDI’s total China fleet size to 168 vehicles, all of which are deployed on leading OEMs across urban and rural routes in China. China’s continued push... Read more →

Toyota projects that global sales of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) will increase significantly after 2020 to at least 30,000 per year from today’s 3,000. To prepare for this growth, the company unveiled plans for two major new facilities: a brand-new building near its original automobile factory for expanding fuel... Read more →

The Ohio State University has taken first place in the final year of EcoCAR 3, an Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition, sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM). This is OSU’s fourth consecutive win. The team earned 895 out of 1000 overall points. Ohio State... Read more →

Nissan’s upgraded e-NV200 is now being shipped to customers. Built for global markets in Nissan Barcelona plant, the upgraded model features a new 40 kWh battery, combining the features of the award-winning Nissan NV200 van with the best-selling Nissan LEAF. Nissan’s Barcelona plant is responsible not only for the manufacturing... Read more →

The Newport Beach retail hydrogen station, operated by Shell, is now open; it is the 35th retail hydrogen station in California and located in Orange County. The hydrogen station first opened in 2012 and was recently upgraded to accommodate retail sales. The station will be open 24 hours a day... Read more →

Castrol innovation business NEXCEL has launched a development program to demonstrate the suitability of its proven active oil management system for new hybrid electric passenger vehicles. Installation of its innovative system, which enables 90-second spill-free oil changes and eases the used oil re-refinement process, is being carried out by Prodrive... Read more →

Salar de Uyuni in the Andes in southwestern Bolivia is the world’s largest salt flat (10,582 km2 / 4,086 mi2) and holds the world’s largest known deposit of lithium. The Bolivian state is creating a value chain to use the deposits of this raw material for industrial purposes. The state-owned... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä’s has booked the 100th order for its LNGPac Fuel Gas Supply Systems. Two new shuttle tankers being built for Singapore based AET Tankers will feature Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel auxiliary engines running primarily on LNG fuel, and fitted with LNGPac units. This contract brought the total number... Read more →

New and enhanced versions of NREL’s Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator (FASTSim) are now available for free download in Python and Microsoft Excel formats. FASTSim provides a quick and simple way to compare powertrains and estimate the impact of technology improvements on light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicle efficiency, performance, cost,... Read more →

Solaris has completed the deliveries of 10 electric buses to Milan. In February this year, the Solaris delivered 12 Urbino 12 electric buses to Bergamo. Therefore, the total number of electrically driven, zero-emission Solaris vehicles in Italy is 22. The Urbino electric for Milano are driven by an electric axles... Read more →

In Germany, Kia Motors revealed the upgraded Kia Sportage, introducing a range of enhancements to the brand’s European and global best-seller. The Sportage’s advanced new EcoDynamic+ 48V diesel mild-hybrid powertrain (earlier post) is the first to be launched as part of the brand’s global powertrain electrification strategy. Kia is the... Read more →

Californians for Zero Emission Vehicles (CalZEV), a coalition of public health, environmental and electric vehicle industry organizations, announced its strong support for the Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) measure currently before the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Under the proposal (earlier post), California transit agencies would be required to purchase 100%... Read more →

Most existing lane-change algorithms for autonomous cars have one of two drawbacks: Either they rely on detailed statistical models of the driving environment, which are difficult to assemble and too complex to analyze on the fly; or they’re so simple that they can lead to impractically conservative decisions, such as... Read more →

The City of San Leandro, a suburban city in Alameda County, California, has switched all municipal vehicles from using petroleum diesel to only running on Neste MY Renewable Diesel. Neste MY Renewable Diesel is a low-carbon fuel produced from 100% renewable and sustainable raw materials. The premium diesel cuts greenhouse... Read more →

BP Ventures has invested $20 million in Israel-based ultra-fast charging battery developer StoreDot. (Earlier post.) StoreDot has developed a lithium ion-based battery technology which enables ultra-fast charging for the mobile and industrial markets. Using this technology, StoreDot is also developing a new type of electric-car battery that will aim to... Read more →

Volkswagen Group officially opened the Volkswagen Group Campus Tel Aviv in the presence of the Israeli Minister of Economy, Eli Cohen. The Campus, named “Konnect” will provide local partners and start-ups direct access to the Volkswagen Group and its many brands. It will support in business collaborations with the highly... Read more →

Lightning Systems, a global developer of zero-emissions solutions for commercial fleets, announced the LightningElectric Ford Transit product line (earlier post) will expand to include a 150-mile range version, adding to the 50-mile and 100-mile versions. The LightningElectric is a battery-electric drivetrain package for the heavy-duty Ford Transit, a product used... Read more →

Wabtec Corporation entered into a definitive agreement to combine with GE Transportation, a unit of General Electric Company. The combination will make Wabtec a Fortune 500, global transportation leader in rail equipment, software and services, with operations in more than 50 countries. The combination will bring together two global leaders... Read more →

SAE International’s recommended practice for plug-in charging of medium- and heavy-duty EVs has been approved and published. “J3068: Electric Vehicle Power Transfer System Using a Three-Phase Capable Coupler” was developed from existing international standards, which were extended to cover higher North American grid voltages and higher power levels. J3068 allows... Read more →

Punch Powertrain and XPT have signed a joint venture agreement that will establish a new manufacturing plant in Nanjing and will yearly supply hundreds of thousands of electric powertrains for pure EV applications to customers of both partners. The partners will invest €10 million in a new production facility in... Read more →

UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove published a new Clean Air Strategy to cut air pollution backed up through new primary legislation. The UK said it will go further and faster than the EU in reducing human exposure to particulate matter pollution. These proposals are in addition to the government’s £3.5-billion... Read more →

Organic Rankine Cycle specialist Exoès and Saft Incubator have signed a cooperation agreement to do common tests to improve next generation battery thermal management. The temperature of a Li-ion battery has a major influence on its performance and its lifespan. Harsh climatic environments and severe solicitations can rapidly degrade cells... Read more →

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) announced that Dominion Energy will provide funding to help progress the BWRX-300, a 300 MWe small modular reactor design being developed by GEH. The BWRX-300 leverages the design and licensing basis of the NRC-certified ESBWR (Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor). Through design simplification, GEH projects the... Read more →

Researchers in Poland have developed a new precise method for the chemical analysis of secondary organic aerosol (SOA)—an important yet not fully characterized constituent of atmospheric particulate matter. The method, easily adaptable in many modern laboratories, not only determines the chemical composition of compounds, but also recognizes changes in the... Read more →

Plug-in vehicles in the US consumer 1.94 TWh of electricity in 2017—a nearly 100x increase fomr the 0.02 TWh consumed in 2011, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE). The share of electricity consumption from all-electric (BEV) increased compared to the electricity consumption from plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).... Read more →

People who are more active when commuting to work by walking or cycling could be cutting their relative risk of developing ischaemic heart disease or stroke by 11% and their relative risk of dying from these diseases by 30%, suggests an open-access study published in the BMJ journal Heart. Physical... Read more →

Electrify America is teaming up with Simon, a global leader in premier shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations, to install electric vehicle charging stations at more than 30 Simon centers throughout the US, including sites across Simon’s Malls, The Mills and Premium Outlets. The first installation will open in early... Read more →

Consumer Reports, although finding “plenty to like” about the Tesla Model 3, including record-setting range as well as exhilarating acceleration and handling that could make it a healthy competitor to performance-oriented cars such as BMW’s 3 Series and the Audi A4, declined to recommend the EV. Consumer Reports said that... Read more →

North Carolina-based Hotstick USA has exclusively licensed a direct-current detector technology developed by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help emergency responders safely detect high voltages. In emergency situations, first response teams often rely on voltage detectors such as Hotstick USA’s flagship product, the AC Hotstick, to... Read more →

Infineon Technologies AG will invest €1.6 billion (US$1.9 billion) to build a new factory for power semiconductors. A fully automated chip factory for manufacturing 300-millimeter thin wafers will be constructed at the Villach location in Austria alongside the existing production facility. Construction is scheduled to start in the first half... Read more →

The electrification of road transport will move into top gear in the second half of the 2020s, due to tumbling battery costs and larger-scale manufacturing, with sales of electric cars surging to 28%, and those of electric buses to 84%, of their respective global markets by 2030. The latest long-term... Read more →

A long-term study of the health of Canadian children has found that exposure to ozone (O3) at birth was associated with an 82% increased risk of developing asthma by age three. The study, which was a 10-year follow-up to the 2006 Toronto Child Health Evaluation Questionnaire (T-CHEQ), was presented at... Read more →

MAN Diesel & Turbo (MAN) has joined SEA\LNG, the multi-sector industry coalition aiming to accelerate the widespread adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel. As a world-leading provider of large-bore diesel and gas engines and turbomachinery, MAN’s technical expertise will augment those of existing SEA\LNG member OEMs... Read more →

Supplier Hyundai Mobis plans to develop a full range of sensors to support autonomous by 2020 with the goal of leading the global market. The company made the announcement at its new proving ground, which opened last June in Seosan, South Korea, as a test bed for new technologies. The... Read more →

A study of drinking water in Appalachian Ohio found no evidence of natural gas contamination from recent oil and gas drilling. The time-series study was the first of its kind in Ohio to examine methane in groundwater in relation to natural gas drilling. The results were published in the journal... Read more →

Groupe PSA and Ecole Centrale de Nantes have launched of an R&D partnership to optimize powertrain design processes for the group’s future vehicles. The aim of the partnership is to accelerate the use of digital simulation techniques in the design, development and testing of powertrains and increase model predictability. In... Read more →

Irizar e-mobility officially inaugurated its plant in Aduna, Spain. The plant will not only manufacture electric buses, but also other types of industrial vehicles complementing the electromobility needs of cities. The new plant has an initial capacity of 1,000 vehicles per year. At the start of production, the plant was... Read more →

UK-based renewable power generator Drax will pilot the first bioenergy carbon capture storage (BECCS) project of its kind in Europe, which, if successful, could make the renewable electricity produced at its North Yorkshire power station carbon negative. The demonstration project will see Drax partner with C-Capture and invest £400,000 (US$539,000)... Read more →

Recent predictions are that cheaper batteries and the falling cost of manufacturing will accelerate market adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) to up to 35% of the global auto fleet within the next two decades. To assist state and local governments anticipating this type of growth in PEVs, the National... Read more →

The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup truck will be offered with an all-new, technologically advanced 2.7L Turbo. Standard on LT and RST trims, the new engine delivers an SAE-certified 310 horsepower and 348 lb-ft (472 N·m) of torque—22% more torque than the 4.3L V-6 it replaces. Developed specifically for truck... Read more →

The all-new 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 will offer updated versions of the proven 5.3L and 6.2L V-8s with Dynamic Fuel Management (DFM), based on Tula’s Dynamic Skip Fire (DSF) technology. (Earlier post.) This industry-first cylinder deactivation technology enables the engines to operate in 17 different cylinder patterns to optimize power... Read more →

Cerro Dominador, a Chilean company owned by investment funds managed by EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG), signed the financing for its Concentrated Solar Power plant (CSP) located in the Atacama desert, in Chile. This will allow the company to finalize the construction of the first combined CSP and photovoltaic project... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the 2018 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase I Release 1 awards, including 15 projects focused on high density hydrogen storage, innovative ionomers (ion-containing polymers) in the catalyst layer, gas diffusion layers, and membranes for electrochemical production... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Cars is expanding its production capacities for electric cars in Europe. The Hambach plant in France, which currently produces smart brand electric vehicles, will produce a compact electric car of the new product and technology brand EQ. Mercedes-Benz Cars plans to launch more than ten electric cars by 2022... Read more →

In preparation for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2018, the Volkswagen Motorsport team has engineered the aerodynamics of the I.D. R Pikes Peak (earlier post)—the brand’s first fully-electric racing car—specifically to tackle the famous hill climb. The goal at the race, which takes place on 24 June in Colorado... Read more →

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) introduced an innovative new solar-powered hydrogen generation system during the California Air Resources Board Technology Expo and Symposium at the University of California, Riverside. The project is a partnership between SoCalGas, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the STARS Corporation. The generation system uses sunlight... Read more →

Volvo Cars said that it will remove single-use plastics from all its offices, canteens and events across the globe by the end of 2019. The decision reflects the company’s active support of the UN Environment Clean Seas campaign, and underlines its ambition to minimize its global environmental footprint. The automaker... Read more →

Researchers have discovered a novel enzyme (a β-glucosidase) in microorganisms living in the Brazilian Amazon that could boost efficiency of the sugarcane bagasse saccharification process, which accounts for up to 50% of the global costs of cellulosic ethanol production. The team isolated, characterized and reproduced the enzyme, proving it to... Read more →

Synthetic graphite electrode prices rose nine-fold through the first three quarters of 2017, increasing from US$1,748/t in January 2017 to a high of US$16,309/t in September, according to Roskill Information Services. Despite some fallback during the winter months, prices remained above US$15,600/t through February and March 2018. Spot prices were... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation and Magna are partnering to accelerate the mass adoption of advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) features with a new cost-efficient 3D surround view system designed for entry- and mid-range vehicles. The 3D surround view system adopts Renesas’ high-performance, low-power system-on-chip (SoC) optimized for smart camera and surround... Read more →