Daimler AG and the BMW Group are to partner on automated driving. Initially, the focus will be on advancing the development of next-generation technologies for driver assistance systems, automated driving on highways and parking features (up to SAE Level 4). The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding jointly... Read more →

In September 2018, Volkswagen and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership to develop the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud, one of the largest dedicated automotive industry clouds for all future Volkswagen digital services and mobility offerings. (Earlier post.) During a joint visit to the Volkswagen Digital Lab in Berlin, Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO... Read more →

FedEx Corp. unveiled the FedEx SameDay Bot—an autonomous delivery device designed to help retailers make same-day and last-mile deliveries to their customers. With the bot, retailers will be able to accept orders from nearby customers and deliver them by bot directly to customers’ homes or businesses the same day. FedEx... Read more →

Daimler Buses (EvoBus GmbH) is acquiring a 5.25% stake in Berlin-based software solutions provider IVU Traffic Technologies AG. The seller of the equity stake is the charitable foundation Gerlind & Ernst Denert-Stiftung established by IVU’s previous CEO, Prof. Ernst Denert. The transaction also involves a strategic partnership between IVU and... Read more →

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has set goals to offer Zero-Carbon Redeem renewable natural gas (RNG) at all of its fueling stations by 2025. By transitioning exclusively to Redeem by 2025 and by achieving zero carbon-intensity, Clean Energy would outdistance other alternative fuels, including electricity for EVs, which are not excepted... Read more →

Mercedes-AMG has unveiled the GLE 53—the performance offering for the new GLE generation. The basis for the signature AMG driving dynamics is provided by the 429 hp 3.0-liter six-cylinder in-line engine, the fully variable all-wheel drive, the 9-speed automatic transmission, the AMG-specific drive programs and the AMG ACTIVE RIDE CONTROL... Read more →

Polestar, the electric performance car brand jointly owned by Volvo Car Group and Zhejiang Geely Holding, unveiled the Polestar 2 electric fastback in an online reveal from Polestar’s headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Polestar 2 will make its first public appearance at the Geneva International Motor Show next week. Polestar says... Read more →

Emerging Fuels Technology, Inc (EFT) has amended its license agreement with Red Rock Biofuels LLC (RRB) under which EFT will provide its TL8a Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology to provide additional FT capacity for RRB’s Bio-Refinery in Lakeview, Oregon. The amendment doubles the FT capacity to be provided by EFT. The new... Read more →

Gevo, Inc. and HCS Group have entered into a long-term, definitive, binding and bankable renewable isooctane purchase and sale agreement. HCS Group will be supplied exclusively for sales of Gevo’s renewable isooctane into high-end applications ranging from high purity solvents to specialty fuels under its Haltermann Carless brand, excluding use... Read more →

Adamas Intelligence reports that according to data from China Customs, China’s exports of NdFeB permanent magnets increased 11% in 2018. The nation exported NdFeB magnets to 104 countries in 2018, down from 109 the year prior. The value of China’s NdFeB exports increased 14% and the sales-weighted average unit price... Read more →

by Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com. Global oil and gas companies are increasingly facing an uphill battle as global warming policies are taking their toll. Most analysts and market watchers are focusing on peak oil demand scenarios, but the reality could be much darker. International oil companies (IOCs) are likely to... Read more →

Continental and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced a new platform, expected to be available this year, for sharing vehicle data to enable new digital services that improve driver safety and convenience. At the same time, the platform will help car manufacturers monetize their data and differentiate their brands. Based on... Read more →

SEAT and IBM have developed a new solution designed to transform driving in cities. Mobility Advisor uses IBM Watson AI to help urban citizens make informed decisions about their daily transportation options: from cars, to scooters, to bikes and public transport. Traffic congestion and environmental challenges are putting huge pressure... Read more →

Transphorm Inc. announced that its third generation, JEDEC-qualified high voltage GaN platform has passed the Automotive Electronics Council’s AEC-Q101 stress tests for automotive-grade discrete semiconductors. This achievement marks the company’s second automotive-qualified product line—and its most reliable, given the Gen III GaN platform’s ability to perform at 175°C during qualification... Read more →

Porsche is inviting developers from around the world to work on digital mobility solutions for future Porsche sports cars with the launch of the second edition of the “Porsche Next OI” developer competition. For the next nine weeks developers will have the opportunity to implement and submit their ideas. The... Read more →

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation has developed an image recognition SoC (System on Chip) for automotive applications that implements a deep learning accelerator at 10 times the speed and 4 times the power efficiency of Toshiba’s previous product. Details of the technology were reported at the 2019 IEEE International... Read more →

According to a new report from the California Center for Jobs and the Economy, California’s cumulative plug-in vehicle (PEV, including PHEVs and full EVs) sales are at 10.5% of the state’s 5-million ZEV unit goal for 2030. True ZEVs—battery electric vehicles and the handful of fuel cell electric vehicles—are at... Read more →

As part of its commitment to increasing its renewable energy footprint globally and finding clean energy solutions near its operations, General Motors has partnered with DTE Energy for 300,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of wind energy in the state of Michigan. (Last week, Ford announced that it will procure 500,000 MWh... Read more →

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. will invest a total of $4.5 billion in five of its existing Michigan plants, and will work with the city of Detroit and state of Michigan on building a new assembly plant within city limits. The move would increase capacity to meet growing demand for its... Read more →

Volkswagen will celebrate the world premiere of the new Touareg V8 TDI at the Geneva International Motor Show next month. With an output of 310 kW / 421 PS, the Touareg V8 TDI is the most powerful SUV with a diesel engine from a German manufacturer. The maximum torque of... Read more →

A global battery consortium charged with advancing lead battery technology has re-launched as it prepares a new technical roadmap designed to extend both the performance and lifetime of the core battery technology. Since it was formed as the ALABC 25 years ago, the Consortium for Battery Innovation has ushered in... Read more →

WiTricity, the industry pioneer in wireless power transfer over distance, has entered into a technology licensing agreement with Yura Corporation, a leading South Korea-based automotive Tier 1 supplier. Yura is a global supplier of a wide range of automotive parts for conventional vehicles and xEVs. The agreement will allow Yura... Read more →

GKN Automotive unveiledthe first battery-electric vehicle (BEV) with a two-speed transmission and torque vectoring on the front axle. Based on a standard Jeep Renegade, the GTD19 demonstrator vehicle is undergoing testing at GKN’s annual winter testing program in Arjeplog, Sweden, and showcases how automakers can use drivetrain innovations to achieve... Read more →

The Supervisory Board of Porsche AG has decided to manufacture the next generation of the Macan as a fully electric series. This will be the first all-electric compact SUV from Porsche, and is due to roll off the assembly line in the Leipzig site at the start of the next... Read more →

In Switzerland, Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser, a division of Nel ASA, has received a purchase order for a 2 megawatt (MW) containerized Proton PEM electrolyzer, as part of a 30 MW framework agreement with Hydrospider AG, an affiliated company of H2 Energy. The electrolyzer will be used to produce green hydrogen... Read more →

Air Liquide will build in Canada the largest PEM (Proton-Exchange Membrane) electrolyzer in the world with a 20 megawatts (MW) capacity for the production of low-carbon hydrogen (the facility will use hydropower). Air Liquide will install a 20 MW electrolyzer that increases by 50% the current capacity of its hydrogen... Read more →

Motiv Power Systems (Motiv), the leading provider of all-electric medium-duty fleet chassis, announced a commitment from Detroit Custom Chassis LLC (DCC) to install Motiv’s all-electric EPIC chassis on the base Ford F-59 platform, which is assembled by its affiliate Detroit Chassis Plant (DCP), both owned by Spectra. DCC assembly line... Read more →

NGK Spark Plug, a manufacturer with more than 80 years of experience in spark plugs and ceramics, and lunar exploration company ispace, inc., announced that NGK Spark Plug has agreed to participate as a corporate partner of the world’s first commercial lunar exploration program “HAKUTO – R”. NGK Spark Plug... Read more →

In 2018, 4.28 million BEVs, PHEVs and HEVs were sold globally—an increase of 28.6% over the year prior—amounting to 5.2% of total global passenger vehicle sales, according to Adamas Intelligence. Not only is the EV market growing extremely rapidly, the modern EV itself is also undergoing a rapid technological evolution,... Read more →

24M announced that it has developed and delivered commercially-viable, high energy density lithium-ion cells. Using its novel SemiSolid lithium-ion battery design in its pilot facility (earlier post), 24M achieved energy densities exceeding 250 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), the current state-of-the-art industry benchmark for EV applications. These deliveries represent a significant... Read more →

Kyocera Corporation and New York-based LO3 Energy Inc. announced a joint project to test the feasibility of a blockchain-managed virtual power plant (VPP) utilizing a peer-to-peer distributed consensus network. The test will start 28 Feb. 2019 at Kyocera’s Yokohama Nakayama Office in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, where a small VPP will... Read more →

A total of 41 different light-duty plug-in electric vehicle models were available for purchase in model year (MY) 2018-27 of which were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and 14 of which were all-electric vehicles (EV). The first two mainstream plug-in electric vehicles, the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf, debuted... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced the first microcontroller (MCU) with embedded flash that integrates a hardware-based virtualization-assisted function while maintaining the fast, real-time performance of the RH850 products. This hardware-based virtualization assist technology can support up to ASIL D level of functional safety, providing greater levels of system integration. The RH850/U2A... Read more →

In a commentary in the journal Joule, a team from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, suggests that graphdiyne (GDY)—a two-dimensional carbon allotrope that complements the properties of prevailing carbon materials—shows intrinsic advantages as an electrochemical interface. It draws much attention for its applications in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs),... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Cars and Icertis, a leading provider of enterprise contract management solutions in the cloud, have developed a blockchain prototype for consistent documentation of contracts in the supply chain. Daimler requires its direct suppliers to pass on and control standards and contractual obligations with regard to working conditions, human rights,... Read more →

A team from Johns Hopkins University, Purdue University and the University of California at Irvine has developed a new strategy to tailor and to optimize the reactivity of metal catalysts in applications such as fuel cells. The application of their method could help cut down on expensive metals needed in... Read more →

PEUGEOT will unveil the all-new PEUGEOT 208 at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, with a choice of gasoline, diesel and electric (EV) powertrains set to be available from launch. The zero-emission PEUGEOT e-208 is the first in a series of 100% electric models, as PEUGEOT prepares to electrify its entire... Read more →

A team lead by S. Komar Kawatra, a professor of chemical engineering at Michigan Technological University, his PhD students, Sriram Valluri and Victor Claremboux, and undergraduate Sam Root, have designed a carbon dioxide scrubber with the goal of converting the carbon dioxide that they capture into oxalic acid. Root and... Read more →

Audi is presenting plug-in hybrid variants of the models A8, A7 Sportback, A6 and Q5 with an electric range of more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) in the WLTP cycle at the Geneva Motor Show. The new plug-in hybrid models will be available for order during the course of the... Read more →

pmdtechnologies ag and BYTON announced that pmdtechnologies ag’s 3D Time-of-Flight sensors will be used for the in-car gesture control camera system operating the 48-inch Shared Experience Display (SED) in BYTON’s first production model, the M-Byte SUV. Positioned as the next generation smart device, BYTON’s product line integrates advanced digital technologies... Read more →

PEUGEOT is presenting the 400 hp hybrid Concept 508 PEUGEOT SPORT ENGINEERED at the upcoming Geneva motor show. A derivative of the PEUGEOT 508 HYBRID sedan, the concept delivers high performance with low emissions. PEUGEOT SPORT was given the task of developing this new model line. For this concept vehicle,... Read more →

Volkswagen is working with mobile cyber security leader Trustonic to enable customers to use smartphones to access their vehicles, and to securely share their digital car keys to grant access to others via a smartphone app. Volkswagen is using the Trustonic Application Protection (TAP) platform to secure the mobile app... Read more →

The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Board awarded tax benefits to ReadiFuels-Iowa, LLC—a newly created entity started by Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) and C&N Biofuels, LLC. The company will utilize a variety of feedstocks to produce approximately 34 million gallons of renewable diesel and renewable naphtha annually—the first facility... Read more →

Synopsys, Inc. and GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) will collaborate to develop a portfolio of automotive Grade 1 temperature (-40 ˚C to +150 ˚C junction) DesignWare Foundation, Analog, and Interface IP for the GF 22-nm Fully-Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator (22FDX) process. By providing IP that is designed for high temperature operation on 22FDX, Synopsys enables... Read more →

2018 marked a record year for the sale of battery-powered electric vehicles, according to data from JATO Dynamics. Passenger electric cars recorded 1.26 million sales throughout the year, up by 74% (about 1.5% of total global sales). It was one of the highest increases among all car categories on the... Read more →

Bio-based succinic acid is a valuable platform molecule; used as a chemical building block, it can serve multiple industrial applications as an alternative to petroleum counterparts. Following the successful production of bio-succinic acid under the trademark Biosuccinium since 2012, Reverdia’s parent companies—Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health... Read more →

Cars have been evolving with increasingly complex circuitry. SEAT’s Ateca crossover (SEAT is a Volkswagen Group company, the Ateca is based on the MQB platform and is related to Volkswagen’s Tiguan) features a complex arrangement of wires more than 2.2 km long. The wires, ranging from one millimeter to one... Read more →

Volta Power Systems is partnering with Hydrauliska Industri AB (Hiab) on hybrid-electric energy storage systems for the company’s WALTCO brand liftgates. With the Volta system, liftgates perform more than 80 lifts on a single charge, significantly lowering idle time and carbon emissions to meet anti-idle regulations. Many states and cities... Read more →

Volvo Cars is releasing upgraded and newly-developed electrified powertrain options to be made available across its entire model range going forward. The company has upgraded its existing T8 and T6 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrains, while at the same time confirming that plug-in options will now be available on every... Read more →

Recognizing that the demand for electric and hybrid propulsion systems is growing rapidly and goes beyond mainstream passenger and commercial vehicles, BorgWarner has acquired Rinehart Motion Systems LLC and AM Racing Inc to form Cascadia Motion LLC. Cascadia Motion will retain an entrepreneurial culture and explore the wide variety of... Read more →