Among countries globally, Brazil is expected to contribute 1.9 million barrels per day (mbd) of the global offshore crude oil production between 2018 to 2025, followed by Norway with 1.1 mbd and Nigeria with 0.9 mbd, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. Globally, 387 planned and announced crude and... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved Electrify America’s plan to invest its second $200 million in California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure and education programs. In finding that Electrify America’s Cycle 2 California ZEV Investment Plan meets or exceeds all requirements of the 2.0L Partial Consent Decree, CARB moved... Read more →

Orocobre Limited has signed three agreements with joint venture partner Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC). Members of the Orocobre Executive Management team have this week visited TTC’s office in Tokyo to finalize and to sign a new Olaroz Shareholders Agreement; Sales and Marketing Agreement; and Orocobre Management Agreement (for management of... Read more →

Celgard, LLC, a subsidiary of Polypore International, LP, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against MTI Corporation, seller of ceramic coated separators for lithium batteries in Richmond, California. The complaint alleges that MTI has infringed Celgard’s United States Patent Nº 6,432,586 issued for... Read more →

In Germany, the FastCharge research consortium (earlier post) has presented a prototype for a charging station with an output of up to 450 kW in Jettingen-Scheppach, located near the A8 motorway between Ulm and Augsburg. The new charging station is suitable for electric models of all brands with the European... Read more →

Neste Corporation will invest approximately €1.4 billion to add additional renewable products production capacity in Singapore. The decision is based on a growing global market demand for low-carbon solutions in transport and cities, aviation, polymers and chemicals. Singapore expansion. The investment will extend Neste’s renewable product overall capacity in Singapore... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Cars has entered into a power purchase agreement with Statkraft, Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy, enabling Mercedes-Benz Cars to source electricity directly from wind farms in Germany, whose subsidies from the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) expire after 2020. Because the agreement with Mercedes-Benz Cars will contribute to the... Read more →

FEV and automotive supplier SEG—formerly the starter motor and generator division of the Bosch Group—have developed a 48V mild hybrid Mercedes AMG A45 concept vehicle. The 48V mild hybridization is powered by the Boost Recuperation Machine (BRM) from SEG Automotive. A 48V belt starter generator—the BRM from SEG Automotive—replaces the... Read more →

According to the 2018 Continental Mobility Study, an overwhelming majority—more than 80% of respondents in Germany and China and more than 90% in the US—would choose the same type of engine as their current car. The only country open to change is Japan, where at least a quarter of respondents... Read more →

The European Union has chosen the MOBILus consortium, comprising the city of Barcelona, SEAT and 46 other cities, businesses and universities in 15 European countries, to develop the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Urban Mobility, an initiative that is tasked with developing innovations in urban mobility in the European... Read more →

According to a new report from Navigant Research, global annual sales of electric drive medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (eMHDVs) will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% through 2030. Excluding China, which has an aggressive program underway to electrify the largest bus market in the world, the CAGR... Read more →

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL), a leading global supplier and manufacturer of lithium-ion battery products for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage facilities, is renewing its commitment to the US market by opening its first North American sales and service facility. CATL has established partnerships with several US-based businesses... Read more →

BMW i Ventures has made a strategic investment in Claroty, a developer of cybersecurity software for protecting the safety and reliability of industrial control networks. Headquartered in New York, Claroty was founded in 2014 by CEO Amir Zilberstein, Chief Business Development Officer Galina Antova, and CTO Benny Porat. Specializing in... Read more →

A consortium of researchers led by Caltech, in partnership with MIT; the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS); and JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, seeks to build a new type of climate model that is designed to provide more precise and actionable predictions. Leveraging recent advances in the computational and data... Read more →

Volvo Trucks will introduce all-electric Volvo VNR regional-haul demonstrators in California next year, operating in distribution, regional-haul and drayage operations. Sales of the VNR Electric in North America will begin in 2020. The Volvo VNR Electric demonstration units will be based on the proven propulsion and energy storage technology currently... Read more →

by Michael Sivak. This analysis was conducted to examine changes in traffic volume on rural and urban roads in the United States from 1991 through 2016. The raw data for the analysis were lane length (which takes into account all roadway lanes of travel) and distance traveled, both from the... Read more →

ABS, a leading global provider of classification and technical advisory services to the marine and offshore industries, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Marine Equipment Research Institute (KOMERI) to create a new facility dedicated to improving the safety of LNG as fuel. ABS and KOMERI will collaborate... Read more →

Under current policies, home energy storage systems would also often increase carbon emissions, according to a study by a team of researchers at the University of California San Diego published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The researchers selected 16 of the largest utilities companies in the country and... Read more →

Shell Aviation and SkyNRG have begun supplying sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to international airlines KLM, SAS and Finnair at San Francisco Airport (SFO). The fuel is produced by World Energy. The initial phase of the arrangement aims to pave the way for longer term, more resilient supply chains for sustainable... Read more →

The Volkswagen brand’s Toolmaking unit is adding a 3-D printing center to its facilities in Wolfsburg. With the opening of the center, the unit is bringing the most highly advanced generation of 3-D printers to the Volkswagen Group, which will allow the production of complex vehicle parts in the future.... Read more →

Russian chemists from NUST MISIS have developed a new hybrid boron nitride/silver nanocatalyst for carbon monoxide oxidation consisting of hexagonal boron nitride and silver nanoparticles. This material makes it possible to get a full conversion of carbon monoxide at only 194 ˚C. This temperature is nowhere near the process’s record... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a three-year, $1 million grant to a team of researchers led by a UMass Lowell mechanical engineering professor that is working to develop renewable fuel additives from sawdust and other wood byproducts. The project is part of the Department of Energy’s Co-Optima... Read more →

JAC Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. held a groundbreaking ceremony for the New Energy Passenger Vehicle Project R&D Center located in Hefei, Anhui Province. The ceremony came two weeks after a strategic agreement was signed by Volkswagen Group China, JAC and SEAT to advance e-mobility in China (earlier post). Today’s groundbreaking... Read more →

At CES 2019 in January, Honda will debut its Wireless Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) system, co-developed with WiTricity—a bi-directional energy management system that has the potential to reduce CO2 and create new value for customers. Honda’s V2G solution leverages WiTricity’s DRIVE 11 wireless charging platform, which creates a seamless and efficient two-way... Read more →

Bio-Hybrid GmbH, a company belonging to the Schaeffler Group, will present the near-production Bio-Hybrid (earlier post)—a new, modern form of personal urban mobility and means of transportation—at CES 2019. The variable and electrically assisted vehicles will be showcased in Las Vegas in the Cargo and Passenger versions. At the same... Read more →

Blackburn Energy, Inc. announced immediate availability of RelGen, a new technology that eliminates dependency on a truck’s alternator to generate electricity. RelGen, an innovative solution applying the principles of kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS), such as those used in Formula One racing, captures energy that otherwise is lost while braking,... Read more →

The BMW Group is investing around €200 million in its Munich plant in preparation for series production of the BMW i4 electric vehicle, which will be manufactured at the company’s headquarters starting in 2021. The BMW Group is pursuing the strategy of producing fully electric vehicles together with plug-in hybrids... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG), which includes automotive brands Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation, announced its long-term roadmap for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology: FCEV Vision 2030. Aligned with the roadmap, Hyundai Motor Group (The Group) will boost its annual fuel-cell systems production capacity to 700,000 units by 2030... Read more →

Daimler will buy more than €20 billion (US$23 billion) of battery cells for electric drive vehicles by 2030, the company announced. The suppliers are already producing battery cells in Asia and Europe and are continuing to expand in Europe and additionally in the US. Daimler currently has battery cell supply... Read more →

An international team of researchers has developed a manganese hydride molecular sieve that can be readily synthesized from inexpensive precursors and demonstrates a reversible excess adsorption performance of 10.5 wt% and 197 kgH2m-3 at 120 bar at ambient temperature with no loss of activity after 54 cycles. The team projects... Read more →

Next-Battery, a start-up developing high energy-density Li-ion battery technology, has secured a strategic relationship with Lvchi Automobile Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd. LVCHI AUTO group is a whole value chain operation platform company that focuses on new electric vehicles (EV), with targeted annual production of more than 500,000 vehicles. The global... Read more →

Researchers at KAUST have devised a bioreactor using chemolithoautotrophs—microbes that consume CO2 through their natural metabolism, spitting out small organic molecules as a byproduct—to convert industrial CO2 emissions into valuable chemicals. Chemolithoautotrophs are commonly found in the deep sea, in caves and hydrothermal vents, where conventional energy sources, such as... Read more →

The new electric car brand Aion S—recently unveiled at Auto Guangzhou 2018 by GAC NE, GAC MOTOR’s new energy vehicle arm—will be the first line of cars to adopt Nidec’s fully integrated traction motor system (E-Axle) (earlier post). The super e-car with a driving mileage of more than 500 kilometers... Read more →

Audi is now offering Audi on demand+ at another location in the northwest of Beijing. The company now covers an area of more than 300 square kilometers for its users. For added convenience, customers can alternatively pick up their desired car at the airport in the Chinese capital. Audi also... Read more →

Since early November, the cars chauffeuring the management board members of Robert Bosch GmbH have been running on fully renewable diesel. Known as “C.A.R.E. diesel,” this fuel is synthesized mainly from by-products and waste materials. Its supplier Toolfuel claims that C.A.R.E. diesel reduces the CO2 emissions of these cars by... Read more →

ABB is providing a substation for LG Chem’s electric car battery factory in Poland, Europe’s largest. Key equipment supplies include transformers, surge arrestors and gas insulated switchgear that will ensure safe and reliable power supplies. The new car battery plant in Kobierzyce, near Wroclaw will be capable of supplying up... Read more →

On 15 December, the new BMW iFE.18 and the BMW i Andretti Motorsport Team will contest their first race in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Ad Diriyah (KSA). At the heart of the car, which was developed for Season 5, lies the drivetrain: the Racing eDrive01. Drivetrain components:... Read more →

California had 8.64 plug-in vehicle (PEV) registrations per 1,000 people in 2017, followed by Hawaii with 5.12, and Washington state with 4.06, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE). PEVs include both all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Other states with PEV registrations per 1,000 people greater than two... Read more →

Scania, a member of the Volkswagen Group, is developing a fuel cell refuse truck together with Renova, a waste handling company in western Sweden, fuel cell manufacturer Powercell Sweden AB, and JOAB, a manufacturer of truck bodies. The truck will feature a fully electrified powertrain as well as an electrified... Read more →

Clean cold experts Dearman and industrial gas supplier Air Products have unveiled a new refueller to complement the Dearman transport refrigeration unit (TRU). (Earlier post.) The Dearman TRU is powered by liquid nitrogen and seeks to displace incumbent diesel TRUs. The refueller can be quickly installed at distribution depots planning... Read more →

A new animal study by a team at the Ohio State University suggests that a parent’s exposure to dirty air before conception may result in cardiac dysfunction in adult male offspring. The open-access paper is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The study used an in vivo... Read more →

The UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) will award £25 million (US$32 million) to three low-carbon propulsion projects. The projects are jointly valued at £54 million (US$69 million), including the grant funding through the APC, and will save a potential 2.5 million tonnes of CO2. The funding will enable three R&D... Read more →

Volvo Buses is participating in a research project in which used electric bus batteries are used as solar energy storage units. Batteries from electric bus route 55 in Gothenburg, Sweden are being used for solar energy storage in a second-life application. This is part of a research project in which... Read more →

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) and WRI Brasil’s InoveMob Challenge have announced the winner: bynd. The bynd team will receive US$100,000 to scale their project and will continue their journey, taking the idea to other Brazilian cities. Bynd is an efficient urban mobility solution for corporate communities that connects people... Read more →

eMotorWerks, a subsidiary of the Enel Group’s new advanced energy services business line Enel X, and LO3 Energy, a company that facilitates local energy marketplaces through blockchain-based services, have launched a partnership to use JuiceNet’s smart-grid control technology for a series of microgrid + EVs projects with the joint goal... Read more →

Excess carbon dioxide is emitted every time milk tankers arrive at farms to collect milk; the trucks use their diesel engines to drive the pump that fills the tank. Technology company Semcon has now developed an electrical system for the milk pump that will reduce diesel consumption for a single... Read more →

A new brief published by the International Transport Forum (ITF)—an intergovernmental organization at the OECD with 59 member countries—identifies proven measures that decrease road freight’s CO2 emissions. Moving goods by road consumes about 50% of all diesel produced; 80% of the global net increase in diesel use since 2000 comes... Read more →

H2B2 announced that its international application “System for monitoring and controlling and Electrolysis Stack and methods for minimizing the degradation of the stack and maximum hydrogen production with said system” has been published under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The goal of the patent is to create a system that... Read more →

The future of the US Interstate Highway System is threatened by a persistent and growing backlog of structural and operational deficiencies and by various looming challenges, such as the progress of automated vehicles, developments in electric vehicles, and vulnerabilities due to climate change, according to a new congressionally mandated report... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a novel process that uses biomass gasification to produce high-octane gasoline blendstock. The resulting blendstock is low in aromatic compounds. To make this new blendstock, NREL’s indirect liquefaction team first converts... Read more →