by Michael Sivak. This is the latest of my occasional updates on retrospective, long-term trends in U.S. vehicle fuel economy. Specifically, this study examines actual fuel economy of cars and light trucks (pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans) from 1966 through 2017. Calculated vehicle fuel economy is available going back to... Read more →

To develop higher capacity batteries, researchers have looked to lithium-sulfur batteries because of sulfur’s high theoretical capacity and energy density. There are still several problems to solve before lithium-sulfur batteries can be put into widespread practical application—such as sulfur’s intrinsically low electrical conductivity and the rapid capacity decay caused by... Read more →

Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital arm of the Bosch Group, has invested in Trunk, a startup based in Beijing. Trunk provides combined hardware and software solutions for autonomous trucking. Trunk is the first company to go into production with autonomous trucking solutions for the container... Read more →

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), with colleagues from Oregon State University, have developed PNNL a durable, inexpensive molybdenum-phosphide catalyst that efficiently converts wastewater and seawater into hydrogen. Details of the team’s study appear in the journal ACS Catalysis. The findings stem from a three-year project funded by the... Read more →

An analysis of the early impacts of London’s new Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) found that in the first four months of its operation (March – July 2019) there was a reduction of 12,524 older, more polluting, non-compliant vehicles detected in the zone—a reduction of more than one-third. There was... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation and StradVision, Inc., a vision processing technology solutions provider for autonomous vehicles with expertise in deep learning, announced the joint development of a deep learning-based object recognition solution for smart cameras used in next-generation advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) applications and cameras for ADAS Level 2 and... Read more →

A survey of 905 Italian truck drivers has shown that approximately half suffer from at least one sleep-related breathing problem that potentially can cause drivers to fall asleep at the wheel. In a presentation at the European Respiratory Society International Congress on Monday, Luca Roberti, President of Apnoici Italiani (the... Read more →

Hyundai Mobis has developed a new safety brake system optimized for fully autonomous driving at level 4 or 5. Autonomous driving cars must be able to handle emergency situations by themselves at levels 4 and 5, the highest level. Hyundai Mobis’‘redundancy brake system’ features an emergency brake system that is... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has appointed Dr. Jaiwon Shin as Executive Vice President and Head of its newly established Urban Air Mobility Division. An internationally renowned aeronautics engineer, Dr. Shin will lead the company into a new era of developing smart mobility products within the aviation industry. Having worked on... Read more →

As part of a new business an capital alliance between Toyota Motor Corporation and Subaru Corporation, Subaru will expand the use of the the Toyota Hybrid System in other Subaru models, following on the Crosstrek Hybrid (earlier post, which is available only in North America.) Subaru and Toyota first agreed... Read more →

Professional drivers working in congested cities are exposed to black carbon levels that are on average a third higher than would be experienced at a busy roadside, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress. The research also found that taxi drivers experience the highest exposures to... Read more →

Enzymes use cascade reactions to produce complex molecules from comparatively simple raw materials. An international research team has now copied this principle, and used nanoparticles to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol and propanol. The scientists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany and the University of New South Wales in Australia transferred... Read more →

RoboSense (Suteng Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.) announced a partnership with China-based FAW and showcased the first batch of its solid-state Smart LiDAR Sensor RS-LiDAR-M1. FAW will include the RS-LiDAR-M1 as a core component in its proprietary next-generation autonomous driving system development, therefore accelerating the serial production of the first automotive-grade... Read more →

Gogoro, a leading provider of eScooters, has introduced the Gogoro VIVA Smartscooter, a smaller, lightweight electric scooter targeting the 50-100cc gasoline scooter segment. VIVA leverages Gogoro’s Smartscooter electric powertrain, smartphone connectivity and battery swapping in a lightweight urban design for shorter, quicker trips. VIVA is designed to be compact and... Read more →

GHGSat, a private company which owns and operates the only satellite designed to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources (earlier post), has named its third satellite (GHGSat-C2) Hugo. GHGSat’s first and second satellites are named Claire and Iris, respectively. Hugo continues GHGSat’s tradition of naming satellites after the children... Read more →

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation signed a Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement to deepen their partnership in the fields of electrification and intelligent networking. Chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group Zeng Qinghong (left) and Toyota President Akio Toyoda (right) Under the agreement, based on the basic concept that... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and Cummins Inc. have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) jointly to evaluate opportunities to develop and commercialize electric and fuel cell powertrains. These new powertrains are expected to be developed by combining Hyundai’s fuel cell systems with Cummins’ electric powertrain, battery, and control technologies. The... Read more →

Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility (HHM), the joint venture between Hyundai Motor Company and H2 Energy, is partnering with Hydrospider, a joint venture of H2Energy, Alpiq and Linde to promote green hydrogen ecosystem in Switzerland and European countries in the upcoming future. As part of this effort, HHM and Hydrospider held a... Read more →

Solaris Sverige AB, the Swedish market representative of Poland-based Solaris Bus & Coach company, is participating in the EVolution Road project which is creating an electric road which automatically detects and charges electric vehicles. A Solaris-built trolleybus will be adopted for test drives on a test road. EVolution Road will... Read more →

Researchers at Dalhousie University, led by Professor Jeff Dahn, have developed an excellent moderate-energy-density lithium-ion pouch cell chemistry that they say should be able to power an electric vehicle for more than 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) and last at least two decades in grid energy storage. An open-access... Read more →

Ideanomics Inc. announced that its MEG Group, through its joint venture with iUnicorn, has finalized its first order of EV Taxis for the city of Chengdu. As part of the deal, MEG took over a previous order of 4,000 EV taxis from a third-party and helped facilitate the delivery of... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has approved a new temporary fuel pathway for Alternative Jet Fuel. A fuel-reporting entity approved for use of this pathway may report quantities of fuel to generate credits effective Q2, 2019 and subsequent quarters. Alternative jet fuel is defined as a drop-in fuel, made... Read more →

California’s transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) will begin to save the state money by as early as 2030, according to a study by researchers at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis). Although the transition will need to be rapid, and near-term costs and... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä and Q Power Oy, a Finnish pioneer in biomethanization, signed a cooperation agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of renewable fuels. The companies will work closely together to further develop the market and to find business opportunities for biomethanisation and synthetic fuels globally. The first... Read more →

Total Transportation Services Inc. (TTSI) is replacing its entire diesel trucking fleet with near-zero emission natural gas trucks, which it plans to fuel with carbon-negative renewable natural gas (RNG). The announcement was made in conjunction with the non-profit Coalition for Clean Air (CCA) to raise awareness of the importance of... Read more →

Bloom Energy and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), a part of Samsung Group, today are collaborating to design and develop ships powered by Bloom Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell technology. Bloom Energy is the world’s leading provider of stationary fuel cells and SHI is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding companies.... Read more →

The BMW Group is introducing a further plug-in hybrid model—the new BMW X1 xDrive25e—a subcompact crossover. An electric drive and a latest-generation lithium-ion battery enable an electrically powered range of up to 57 kilometers (35 miles). With an average fuel consumption from 2.0 liters per 100 kilometers (117.6 mpg US)... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced the 15 winners of Phase 1 of the Battery Recycling Prize, a prize that aims to reclaim and recycle critical materials (e.g., cobalt and lithium) from lithium-based battery technology. The Phase 1 winners will each receive $67,000. For a total of $1 million... Read more →

Volvo Cars will introduce the fully electric XC40 SUV to the public on 16 October. The company says that, in true Volvo tradition, it is also introducing one of the safest cars on the road, despite a fresh set of challenges presented by the absence of an internal combustion engine.... Read more →

Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in product development, high-performance computing and data intelligence, is adding the CellMod Virtual Battery by Sendyne to the Altair Partner Alliance. Improving battery system performance is critical to facilitating the projected global electric vehicle market growth. An accurate battery model is the starting... Read more →

California Governor Gavin Newsom, United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael R. Bloomberg, and Planet, a San Francisco-based earth imaging company, announced a new initiative that will use satellite data to monitor greenhouse gas emissions. The coordinated effort, called Satellites for Climate Action, will bring together governments, philanthropists, environmental... Read more →

Interplex, a leading provider of customized application solutions, has announced availability of the new Cell-PLX custom battery interconnect systems. This new technology streamlines the design and manufacturing of robust interconnects for battery modules across an extensive range of industries. Battery module designs vary widely by manufacturer and specific application, be... Read more →

BMW Group’s Hams Hall engine manufacturing plant, near Birmingham, has produced its five millionth engine. The plant has a successful history of more than 18 years, assembling award-winning three and four-cylinder gasoline engines that are at the heart of a number of BMW and MINI models. Contributing to the company’s... Read more →

Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China Baowu Steel Group (China’s largest steel producer) and Tsinghua University to develop and implement new methods to reduce carbon emissions and improve environmental performance across the steel value chain. The China Iron... Read more →

In its International Energy Outlook 2019 (IEO2019), the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that world energy consumption will grow by nearly 50% between 2018 and 2050. EIA projects most of this growth will come from regions where the consumption of energy is driven by strong economic growth, particularly in... Read more →

Canoo, a Los Angeles-based company creating electric vehicles (EV) for subscription only, unveiled its first model, simply called canoo. The design capitalizes on EV architecture in a way that provides significantly more interior space. Canoo created this spacious vehicle for a world in which transportation is becoming increasingly electric, shared... Read more →

Hyundai Motorsport has completed the first on-track running with the new Veloster N ETCR, the company’s first electric race car project. Unveiled earlier this month at IAA in Frankfurt, the Veloster N ETCR is the first electric racing car to be built by Hyundai Motorsport. The mid-mounted motor and rear-wheel-drive... Read more →

Ford’s Transit Custom Plug-In Hybrid van (earlier post)is available to order now with first deliveries before the end of the year. Combining zero-emission driving capability and no range anxiety, the first-in-class Transit Custom Plug-In Hybrid van can be charged with grid electricity for a pure electric NEDC driving range of... Read more →

Items such as drinking mugs, missile heads, thermal barrier coatings on engine blades, auto parts, electronic and optic components are commonly made with ceramics. The ceramics are mechanically strong, but tend to fracture suddenly when just slightly strained under a load unless exposed to high temperatures. Now, a team led... Read more →

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that more than $20 million is available for a diesel truck and bus replacement program. A combination of more than $9 million from the state’s $127.7-million portion of the federal Volkswagen settlement and the New York State Department of Transportation’s allocation of approximately... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) selected the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI) to lead a US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy-Water Desalination Hub that will address water security issues in the United States. The Hub will focus on early-stage research and development (R&D) for energy-efficient and cost-competitive desalination... Read more →

Leading gas and engineering company BOC, a subsidiary of Linde plc, announced the commencement of a Queensland, Australia-first renewable hydrogen project at its production facility in Bulwer Island, Brisbane. The $3.1-million end-to-end renewable hydrogen supply project received $950,000 funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and is supported by... Read more →

South Australia Premier Steven Marshall released the state’s Hydrogen Action Plan, including the commitment of more than $1 million towards a study to identify optimal locations for renewable hydrogen production and export infrastructure. Premier Marshall said the export of hydrogen presents significant economic opportunity for South Australia. Minister for Energy... Read more →

Umicore and LG Chem have concluded a multi-year strategic supply agreement for NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) cathode materials to serve LG Chem’s needs out of Umicore plants in Poland, Korea and China. The supply agreement takes effect in 2020 and covers a total volume of 125,000 metric tonnes to be... Read more →

Seeking to slash CO2 emissions from its North American manufacturing operations, Honda has entered into long-term virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) for renewable wind and solar power that will cover more than 60% of the electricity that Honda uses in North America. These VPPAs will enable Honda to fully offset... Read more →

Ricardo will present the early results of an R&D project to develop a scalable Electric Drive Unit (EDU) for future electric vehicles at the CTI’s 8th International Congress and Expo, to be hosted on 24-25 September 2019, in Shanghai, China. The scalable EDU being developed by Ricardo comprises a high-performance... Read more →

BYD will unveil a new electric transit bus (K7M-ER) and a new electric motor coach (C9M) at BusCon 2019, held at the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianapolis 23-25 September. The K7M-ER will also be displayed at the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies (CASTA) conference at the Keystone Conference Center in... Read more →

From 2018 H1 through 2019 H1, the growing popularity of long-range BEVs with high-capacity batteries resulted in a 52% increase in the amount of lithium carbonate and lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) deployed globally per EV, from 7.7 kg to 11.7 kg, according to a new biannual report from Adamas Intelligence,... Read more →

GHGSat and Shell Global Solutions International B.V. recently signed a framework agreement for the provision by GHGSat of satellite-based monitoring services with the aim to obtain methane emissions data of certain agreed Shell facilities globally. The initial pilot phase is intended for GHGSat to demonstrate its technology and the reliability... Read more →

Volkswagen has opened a pilot line for battery cells at the Volkswagen Group Center of Excellence in Salzgitter. Some 300 experts are involved in developing, testing and piloting innovative manufacturing technologies for the production of lithium-ion batteries. In a first step, Volkswagen is investing more than €100 million in amassing... Read more →