One fuel cell electric bus (FCEB) operating in the United States has surpassed 29,000 hours of drive time and nine buses have exceeded 20,000 hours without major repairs or replacement of the fuel cell stack, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE). This is comparable to the life expectancy... Read more →
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GM to invest $22M in Spring Hill Plant to allow it to build 6.2L V-8 with Dynamic Fuel Management
25 January 2019
General Motors is investing $22 million at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, manufacturing complex to enable the engine plant to build 6.2L V-8 engines with GM’s advanced Dynamic Fuel Management technology. GM has now invested more than $2 billion in the Tennessee complex since 2010. GM’s Dynamic Fuel Management technology is... Read more →
Clean-air plan for San Joaquin Valley first to meet all federal standards for fine particle pollution; $5B in incentive funding required
25 January 2019
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has adopted a plan that demonstrates to the US Environmental Protection Agency how the San Joaquin Valley air basin will attain each of four federal standards for fine particulate matter by regulatory deadlines. Meeting standards for fine particle pollution, or PM2.5, is the San... Read more →
Ingevity unveils low-pressure adsorbed natural gas fueling station in support of its ANG bi-fuel vehicle technology
25 January 2019
Ingevity has completed the construction of a low-pressure adsorbed natural gas (ANG) fueling station at its global headquarters and technical center in North Charleston, S.C. The fueling station will supply natural gas to ANG bi-fuel vehicles outfitted with storage cylinders containing Ingevity’s Nuchar FuelSorb activated carbon monoliths. ANG technology is... Read more →
Manipulating a cellphone was a contributing factor in more than 800 crash deaths on US roads during 2017 amid a marked increase in the percentage of drivers observed interacting with cellphones, new IIHS research indicates. The estimated number of deaths, however, still represents a fraction of the overall crash death... Read more →
Robert Bosch Venture Capital invests in AutoAI, Internet of Vehicle company in China
25 January 2019
Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, is participating in AutoAI’s US$104-million Series A. AutoAI strives to provide integrated Internet of Vehicle (IOV) solutions, based on big data and its smart cloud platform. AutoAI’s platform for the connected vehicle aims to bring... Read more →
Bosch is now taking full control of EM-motive, one of Europe’s most successful manufacturers of electric motors. Bosch and Daimler set up EM-motive GmbH as a fifty-fifty joint venture in 2011. Since then, it has manufactured some 450,000 electric motors. For Bosch, the complete acquisition of EM-motive is the next... Read more →
European electric bike sharing service Zoov raising €6M
25 January 2019
European electric bike sharing service Zoov is raising €6 million (US$6.8M), led by daphni, C4 Ventures and Road Ventures. BNP Paribas Développement and the Banque des Territoires have also contributed to this 100% European funding round, which will help finance the roll-out of the service in the Saclay region, the... Read more →
Air Liquide takes 18.6% stake in Hydrogenics; “strategic investment” in carbon-free hydrogen
25 January 2019
Air Liquide has acquired an 18.6% stake in the capital of Canada-based Hydrogenics Corporation, a leader in electrolytic hydrogen production equipment and fuel cells. Air Liquide said the strategic transaction, which represents an investment of US$20.5 million, reaffirms its long-term commitment to the hydrogen energy markets and its ambition to... Read more →
BP invests in PowerShare, EV charging platform in China; BP Ventures’ first direct investment in China
24 January 2019
BP’s venturing business, BP Ventures, has invested in PowerShare, an integrated hardware and software solutions provider for electric vehicle (EV) charging in China. The investment is part of PowerShare’s Series A round, which was led by BP Ventures and draws support from DETONG Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm... Read more →
BorgWarner is introducing a fully integrated e-axle—iDM—that packages a transmission, electric motor featuring BorgWarner’s efficient bar-wound stator solution and specially developed power electronics. The company already has the iDM’s forerunner—the electric drive module (eDM)— in serial production. The iDM product family is available in three different versions (iDM XS, iDM... Read more →
DOE and international partners successfully gas hydrate test well on Alaska North Slope
24 January 2019
In a unique international effort, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have made a leap forward in investigating the resource potential of natural gas hydrates within the Prudhoe Bay Unit (PBU) on the Alaska North Slope. DOE/NETL formed a partnership with the Japan... Read more →
Safran acquired an equity interest in Li-Sulfur battery manufacturer OXIS Energy (earlier post) through its Safran Corporate Ventures subsidiary, which invests in disruptive technology businesses. OXIS Energy, a leader in lithium-sulfur cell technology for high energy density battery systems, has already been granted 173 patents with 96 pending. Benefiting from... Read more →
The Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium (SBRC), a non-profit entity established by Masdar Institute that is part of Khalifa University of Science and Technology, announced the world’s first commercial flight using locally produced sustainable fuel on an Etihad Airways Boeing 787 powered by GE’s GEnx-1B engines. (Earlier post.) The flight from... Read more →
Volkswagen offers exchange incentive for Euro 4 and 5 diesels across all of Germany
24 January 2019
The Volkswagen brand is expanding its exchange incentive for replacing older diesel vehicles to cover all of Germany from 24 January until 30 April 2019. When trading in a Euro 4 or Euro 5 vehicle from any manufacturer, the bonus is paid in addition to the used car value. Until... Read more →
Attis Industries to acquire corn ethanol plant, grain malting operation from Sunoco; partnership with Novozymes
24 January 2019
Attis Industries Inc., a diversified innovation and technology holding company today, has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Sunoco LP to acquire and operate its corn ethanol plant and grain malting operation in Fulton, NY. Total consideration for the divestiture is $20 million in cash. The transaction is... Read more →
Gulfstream G280 sets city-pair record on renewable fuel
24 January 2019
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. used sustainable alternative jet fuel (SAJF) to power a record-breaking flight by its class-leading super-midsize Gulfstream G280 aircraft. The Savannah, Georgia-to-Van Nuys, California, journey covered 2,243 nautical miles/4,154 kilometers in 4 hours and 49 minutes at an average speed of Mach 0.85. Flying through headwinds averaging 76... Read more →
Honda has confirmed the global premiere of a prototype version of its new electric vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2019. A mass production version of the car will be on sale later in the year. Honda’s new electric vehicle is developed with a focus on functionality and... Read more →
Puget Sound Energy adds 40 new hybrid vans and pickups from XL; 110 XL hybrid vehicles to date
24 January 2019
Puget Sound Energy (PSE), Washington state’s largest energy provider serving nearly 2 million customers, has expanded its electrified fleet with 40 XL-equipped hybrid Ford vehicles, including Transit vans and F-250s. With its latest order, Puget Sound Energy now has 110 work trucks equipped with XL’s hybrid technology, with more anticipated... Read more →
SMUD announces regional initiative to develop a future mobility center in Sacramento
24 January 2019
Sacramento’s SMUD, the US’ sixth-largest community-owned, not-for-profit, electric service provider, will develop a model for a future Mobility Center that will foster innovation in the clean transportation sector and serve as a catalyst for carbon reduction and inclusive economic development. SMUD is funding two feasibility studies to support the Mobility... Read more →
The Volkswagen Group is investing US$10 million in the US-based startup Forge Nano Inc. with a view to reinforcing its specialist knowledge in the field of battery research. Forge Nano, formerly PneumatiCoat Technologies, is investigating processes for scaling atomic layer deposition (ALD) to create new core-shell materials, especially for battery... Read more →
ExxonMobil and Renewable Energy Group partner with Clariant to advance cellulosic biofuel research
23 January 2019
ExxonMobil and Renewable Energy Group (REG) signed a joint research agreement with Clariant to evaluate the potential use of cellulosic sugars from sources such as agricultural waste and residues to produce biofuel. The new partnership expands a previously announced agreement for joint research between ExxonMobil and REG, in which the... Read more →
BMW to supply Motiv with i3 Li-ion batteries for integration into EPIC for commercial EVs
23 January 2019
California-based Motiv Power Systems, a provider of medium-duty all-electric fleet chassis for trucks and buses (earlier post), announced a supply agreement with BMW to integrate the latest (third) evolution of BMW’s passenger car lithium-ion battery packs into Motiv’s EPIC (Electric Powered Intelligent Chassis). When Motiv specs a battery for a... Read more →
Saudi Arabia-based SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals, has taken a majority stake in Black Diamond Structures (BDS), a nanotechnology company established in 2014. BDS produces and commercializes MOLECULAR REBAR, a proprietary technology of modified carbon nanotubes that offers potential for enhancing the performance of energy storage applications using... Read more →
Gevo joins SFO consortium to advance sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
23 January 2019
Gevo has signed on to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a group of eight airlines and certain fuel producers to work cooperatively on expanding the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). (Earlier post.) The consortium, initially formed in September 2018, is the first of... Read more →
Bridgestone to acquire TomTom’s telematics business for $1B in cash
23 January 2019
Bridgestone Corporation announced that its subsidiary Bridgestone Europe NV/SA, has entered into an agreement with TomTom to acquire TomTom Telematics, its digital fleet solutions business, for a cash consideration of €910 million (US$1.034 billion). €750 million will be distributed to TomTom shareholders by means of a capital repayment, combined with... Read more →
As the exclusive shuttle partner, Audi is providing a fleet of 50 Audi e-tron cars for the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019. The all-electric cars are fully powered by green electricity. Further, with mobile charging containers, the company is demonstrating a potential application of second-life batteries from electric... Read more →
ANSYS to acquire Granta Design
23 January 2019
ANSYS, the global leader and innovator of engineering simulation software, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Granta Design, the premier provider of materials information technology. The acquisition expands ANSYS’ portfolio into this important area, giving ANSYS customers access to material intelligence, including data that is critical to successful simulations.... Read more →
Texas DOT to form connected and automated vehicle task force
23 January 2019
The Texas Department of Transportation is going to create a Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) Task Force to become a central point for CAV advancement in Texas. The task force is designed to be a one-stop resource for information and coordination on all ongoing CAV projects, investments and initiatives in... Read more →
Navigant Research expects plug-in electric vehicle fleets to make up 12% of the global fleet vehicle population by 2030
23 January 2019
A new report from Navigant Research forecasts that while light-duty (LD) and medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) fleets globally will make up less than 1% of the fleet vehicle market in 2018, that share will rise to 12% of the overall fleet vehicle population by 2030. Fleet... Read more →
Huge Backlog Could Trigger New Wave Of Shale Oil
23 January 2019
By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com. The number of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) in the U.S. shale patch has skyrocketed by roughly 60 percent over the past two years. That leaves a rather large backlog that could add a wave of new supply, even if the pace of drilling begins... Read more →
Mercedes-Benz Cars to build battery factory in Jawor, Poland; ninth in its global network
22 January 2019
Mercedes-Benz Cars will build a battery factory at the site in Jawor, Poland, and thus extend its global battery production network to nine factories. We will electrify the complete portfolio until 2022 and will be able to offer in each segment various electrified alternatives to our customers. This includes more... Read more →
Toyota and Panasonic to establish automotive prismatic battery JV
22 January 2019
Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation have concluded a business-integration contract and a joint-venture contract toward the establishment of a new joint venture related to the automotive prismatic battery business by the end of 2020 (pending approval from the competition-law authorities in the countries and regions concerned). Toyota will hold... Read more →
Norway has emerged as a standout market for the Nissan LEAF EV, with more car buyers opting for the EV over any other car on sale. More than 12,000 LEAFs were sold in the country in 2018, with the nation’s strong focus on sustainability cited for its sales success. Nissan... Read more →
UQM Technologies to be acquired by Danfoss; ~$100M deal
22 January 2019
UQM Technologies, Inc. has entered into a definitive merger agreement with the Danfoss Power Solutions (US) Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Denmark-based Danfoss A/S, under which Danfoss will acquire all outstanding common shares of UQM for $1.71 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $100 million, including the... Read more →
British luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker International and Rolls-Royce will present the first yacht fitted with an MTU series-production hybrid propulsion system in 2020. Sunseeker and MTU are presenting the new hybrid propulsion system at Boot Düsseldorf until 27 January. The MTU hybrid propulsion system will consist of two 12-cylinder MTU... Read more →
Mitsubishi Electric develops cyber defense technology for connected cars
22 January 2019
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed a multi-layered defense technology that protects connected vehicles from cyber attacks by strengthening their head unit’s defense capabilities. Vehicles with communication functions provide connections to the internet and/or mobile devices such as smartphones. The importance of cyber security is increasing because these vehicles are vulnerable... Read more →
Review of studies finds it difficult to reach summary conclusions on ethanol’s emissions effects
22 January 2019
A review study commissioned by the Urban Air Initiative—a non-profit organization focused on increasing the use of ethanol in the gasoline supply to replace aromatic compounds in gasoline—has found that measured and modeled effects of ethanol blending on gaseous and particulate emissions have varied widely between studies, to the point... Read more →
Toshiba expands Ethernet Bridge IC lineup for automotive applications
22 January 2019
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation has expanded its lineup of automotive Ethernet bridge ICs with the new TC9562 series: TC9562AXBG, which offers more interfaces than Toshiba’s current bridge ICs, the TC9560 series; TC9562BXBG which supports Ethernet TSN and Ethernet AVB ; and TC9562XBG, which offers simpler IC configuration than... Read more →
Porsche’s new eighth generation of the Porsche 911 features Porsche Wet Mode, an innovative assistance system introduced exclusively for the 911. The system includes a function for detecting significant wet road conditions and a corresponding vehicle setup for increased driving stability on wet road surfaces. Wet Mode was developed to... Read more →
The share of 16-year-olds that held driver licenses in 2016 was 26.2%, down from 44.0% in 1990, according to data presented by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office. Each of the ages from 16 to 19 years old declined in the share of licensed drivers but the... Read more →
Westinghouse awarded $93.6M for accident-tolerant nuclear fuel development; silicon carbide cladding
22 January 2019
Westinghouse Electric Company has been awarded $93.6 million in funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) in support of its accident-tolerant fuel program, EnCore Fuel. EnCore Fuel is being developed to deliver design-basis-altering safety margins, withstanding far more severe conditions than today’s fuel. With an extremely high melting point... Read more →
U Mich team uses windshield wipers on connected vehicles to produce high-accuracy rainfall maps
21 January 2019
Researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, have produced improved rainfall estimates by combining weather radar with windshield wiper observations from connected vehicles. An open-access paper on their work is published in the journal Scientific Reports. Existing methods for measuring precipitation are subject to spatial and temporal uncertainties that... Read more →
Hyundai Motor Group has developed the world’s first multi-collision airbag system that significantly improves airbag performance in multi-collision accidents. Multi-collision accidents are those in which the primary impact is followed by collisions with secondary objects, such as trees, electrical posts or other vehicles. Multi-collision accidents occur in three out of... Read more →
LIBCOIN-BHEL consortium in discussions to build Indian Government’s first Li-ion Gigafactory; to scale up to 30 GWh
21 January 2019
Magnis Energy Technologies Limited announced that the Government of India, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises advises that Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and LIBCOIN (20% owned by Magnis) are in discussions to build India’s first Li-ion battery gigafactory. BHEL is India’s largest power generation equipment manufacturer; the government... Read more →
Uniper and Titan LNG partner to boost growth of LNG as fuel in Germany
21 January 2019
Uniper SE and the Dutch Titan LNG signed a Memorandum of Understanding to accelerate the growth of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) as a fuel in the downstream markets for industry, road fuel and shipping fuel in Germany. The parties are planning to develop a user-friendly technical interface and commercial products... Read more →
Argonne’s HyMag technology boosts usable magnetic flux density of permanent magnets by 10-30%
20 January 2019
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have developed a new magnet technology that could benefit virtually any technology that draws power from electric motors or generates power from generators. HyMag significantly increases the usable magnetic flux density of a permanent magnet by 10 to... Read more →
Groupe PSA inaugurates the multi-energy Powertrain Expertise Centre to support the energy transition
20 January 2019
Groupe PSA has inaugurated its multi-energy Powertrain Expertise Centre (CEP) in Carrières-sous-Poissy (France). The CEP is dedicated to electrified, gasoline and diesel powertrains. The facility will address electrification challenges in cooperation with the headquarters of the Nidec-PSA electric motors joint venture, which specializes in the design, development, manufacture and sale... Read more →
Nikkei: Toyota and Panasonic to set up JV for production of EV batteries and development of next-gen systems
20 January 2019
The Nikkei said it had learned that Toyota Motor and Panasonic will set up a joint venture in 2020 to manufacture EV batteries, with a focus on cost and scale and an eye toward rising Chinese players. The Nikkei reported that the JV will be announced as soon as this... Read more →
Following its record-breaking run at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Volkswagen’s ID. R electric sports car is targeting another record in the summer of 2019: the lap record for electric cars on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, regarded as the toughest racetrack in the world. The ID. R, which is being further developed... Read more →