US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has directed the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to acquire alternative fueled vehicles (AFV) when replacing conventionally fueled vehicles. USDA owns and operates one of the largest civilian fleets in the Federal Government and this move to a fleet that can use E85 or... Read more →

Irizar e-mobility will provide nine 18-meter (59-foot) articulated electric buses to In-de-City-Bus GmbH (ICB) Frankfurt (Germany), in addition to nine interoperable slow charge stations for their garages. With 560 kWh of stored energy and a range of 220 to 250 km (137 to 155 miles), the latest generation of Iriziar... Read more →

FedEx Corp. started construction on electronic DC (direct current) charging stations in January, and has now announced the next phase of its electric vehicle rollout. Through an agreement with Chanje Energy Inc., the company plans to electrify 42 FedEx stations in California, making it one of the largest deployments of... Read more →

Proterra and Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) announced a collaboration to develop the MT50e, a new all-electric delivery truck chassis. The production-ready MT50e will be on display at the upcoming NTEA Work Truck Show, 4-6 March in Indianapolis. Built on FCCC’s MT platform, the MT50e will feature a Proterra battery... Read more →

by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. E-commerce sales in the United States in 2019 amounted to 11.0% of all retail sales— the highest percentage yet. In comparison, the corresponding percentage in 2000 was only 0.9%. A common explanation of the rise in e-commerce is that it is a consequence of... Read more →

The Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS), which was scheduled to open in three days and run until 15 March, has been cancelled due to the Swiss government’s response to the coronavirus. The Swiss Federal Council—the group that constitutes the federal government of Switzerland—held an extraordinary meeting today, categorized the situation... Read more →

Belgium-based Punch Group has acquired GM’s propulsion engineering center in Turin, Italy. The transaction between the two companies includes an engineering services agreement (ESA) to support GM’s global product programs through the end of 2021. Since 2005, Turin has served as a global center of excellence for diesel propulsion systems... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Cars has begun production of the first Mercedes-Benz compact vehicles with plug-in hybrid drive (earlier post) at the Mercedes-Benz Rastatt plant in southern Germany. Supported by a systematic digitization of production processes, Mercedes-Benz Rastatt plant and its workers have implemented the simultaneous ramp up of two body variants: The... Read more →

Nouryon has begun the first deliveries of AkuPure, a carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) polymer targeted specifically at lithium-ion batteries, a market that is growing quickly due to increased demand for electric vehicles. CMC is a sustainable, bio-based water-soluble polymer used as a thickener, binder, stabilizer and film former. AkuPure CMCs are... Read more →

The City of Lincoln (Nebraska) Transportation and Utilities, operating as StarTran Bus Service has purchased 10 battery-electric, 35' Xcelsior CHARGE heavy-duty transit buses from New Flyer. The purchase comprises two orders, both supported with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Low or No-Emission funding. A $1.45 million federal grant in 2017 supported... Read more →

In 2019, more than 14,400 tonnes of cobalt were deployed globally in batteries of newly sold passenger battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), an increase of 34% over the year prior, according to data from Adamas Intelligence’s EV Battery Capacity and Battery... Read more →

Omnitrans of San Bernardino Valley, California has placed a new order for four 40' battery-electric Xcelsior CHARGE heavy-duty transit buses from New Flyer. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed the Innovative Clean Transit Regulation in December 2018, which requires transit agencies to transition their fleets to zero-emission technologies by... Read more →

Electrify America is investing $2 million in solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in rural California that are not tied to the electrical grid. The investment will expand access to sustainable EV charging to drivers in rural areas, including the Central, Coachella, and Imperial Valleys. Electrify America is sourcing the... Read more →

MW Motors in the Czech Republic has partnered with UAZ in Russia to offer electric versions of UAZ’s military-style 4x4 Hunter SUV. The MWM Spartan offers battery packs from 56kWh to 90kWh and a suitably powerful electric drivetrain. The MWW Spartan range will bring the UAZ 4×4 platform to right-hand... Read more →

Rheinmetall has launched its first Australian research and technology program. Under the Autonomous Combat Warrior (ACW) program, Rheinmetall’s Australian, German and Canadian development teams will work alongside research teams from Defense Science and Technology (DST) group, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and... Read more →

in China Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, has completed an investment in Beijing-based https://www.uisee.com/en/newscenter/index.aspx#dw1, a provider of turnkey solutions for automated driving (AD), initially in restricted areas. UISEE is a holistic full-stack supplier for automated driving systems, with solutions initially... Read more →

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) make 150 independent vehicle detections every second and generate up to 80GB of data per driven-hour from sensors such as LiDAR, cameras and RADAR as well as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) logs. This constant activity means amassing 1.2TB of data in a 16-hour day—the equivalent of... Read more →

BAE Systems has been selected by Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) and the Republic of Ireland’s National Transport Authority (NTA) to supply up to 600 electric power and propulsion systems for its new fleet of buses in Ireland. The selection includes an initial order for 100 systems. The Series-ER system (earlier... Read more →

Volkswagen’s ID.3 EV uses the APP310 e-drive unit to transmit power to the driven wheels using an extremely compact 1-speed gearbox. The mechanism used has only a small number of cogs. This 1-speed gearbox is part of the electric drive system for the modular electric drive matrix (MEB) and is... Read more →

HCC Embedded has added TC8 test cases for validating a TCP/IP stack to its Safety Integration TestBench. TC8 is the technical committee responsible for the OPEN Alliance Automotive Ethernet ECU Test Specification, which ensures that a TCP/IP stack conforms to minimum standards of interoperability. Automotive development teams who use this... Read more →

Magna’s roadmap to e-mobility includes technologies showcased in the all-new e4 technology demonstrator car, which made its debut during the company’s winter test-driving activities in northern Sweden. e4 technology demonstrator in Sweden. The e4 showcases Magna’s eDrive systems in a pure EV format at a time when automakers are making... Read more →

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Vehicle Technologies Office recently signed a five-year memorandum of understanding to collaborate on electric transportation research, development, demonstration, and deployment. In pursuing this work, the parties will draw upon... Read more →

GKN Automotive is accelerating its eDrive development program to keep pace with the growing demand for its portfolio of compact electric driveline systems. Its latest G400 eDrive unit, which is scalable for a variety of torque classes, is undergoing extensive testing at its annual winter testing event in Arjeplog, Sweden,... Read more →

As part of its sustainable distribution efforts, Fastenal is now running a battery-electric Freightliner eM2 straight truck (earlier post) to service branches in the Los Angeles metro area. The venture stems from a collaboration between Penske Truck Leasing and Daimler Trucks North America to test commercial electric trucks in real-world... Read more →

Mining giant Rio Tinto will invest around $1 billion over the next five years to support the delivery of its new climate change targets and a company objective for net zero emissions from operations by 2050. The new targets for 2030 are: A further 30% reduction in Rio Tinto’s emissions... Read more →

Volkswagen will introduce the new Touareg R with a plug-in hybrid drive at the Geneva Motor Show (5 to 15 March 2020). The hybrid drive of the Touareg R essentially consists of a 2,995 cm3 V6 turbocharged gasoline engine (250 kW/340 PS), the electric drive motor (100kW/136 PS) and a... Read more →

A new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) finds that the rising use of ride-hailing services is increasing carbon emissions, with ride-hailing trips producing nearly 70% greater emissions compared to the trips they are replacing. This significant increase in emissions comes in part from “deadheading”—the miles a driver... Read more →

The total energy storage market is expected to grow to $546 billion in annual revenue by 2035, according to a report released by Lux Research. In a new report, “Global Energy Storage Market 2019,” Lux estimates that the three main drivers of energy storage—mobility applications, electronic devices, and stationary storage—will... Read more →

As part of California’s AB 32 climate change program, Executive Order B-48-18 administratively created a goal of 5 million zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on California roads by 2030. This action expands on the prior Executive Order B-16-2012, which set a goal of 1.5 million by 2025. While these goals were set... Read more →

In light of new findings by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) related to investigation of a fatal Tesla crash in 2018 related to Tesla Autopilot, Consumer Reports called for manufacturers to include key safety features in any vehicle that has an active driving assistance system and for the National... Read more →

The National Transportation Safety Board held a public board meeting Tuesday during which it determined the probable cause for the fatal 23 March 2018, crash of a Tesla Model X in Mountain View, California. Final rest locations of the Tesla, Audi and Mazda vehicles involved in the 23 March 2018,... Read more →

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) has awarded New Flyer a contract for two hydrogen fuel-cell-electric sixty-foot Xcelsior CHARGE H2 heavy-duty transit buses (for a total of four equivalent units). MTD is the first in the US to order 60' hydrogen fuel cell buses commercially. The Xcelsior CHARGE H2 is... Read more →

ElectReon has successfully wirelessly charged a fully electric 40-ton truck and trailer at a test facility in Sweden. The next step will be to charge the truck through dynamic wireless power transfer on a public road in Gotland, Sweden. The Smartroad Gotland project is the first wireless electric road system... Read more →

Purdue University researchers have developed a turbomachine expander that offers an efficient and safe strategy for heating and cooling. The researchers developed their device to decrease energy consumption of the vapor-compression heat pump cycle (VCC), which is commonly used in homes, businesses and vehicles for cooling and heating. With increasing... Read more →

The Netherlands-based Terberg is introducing a new generation of electric vehicles with new EV technology, including the YT203-EV terminal tractor (which replaces the older YT202-EV) and the BC202-EV body carrier. New generation YT203-EV The performance of the new electric drive system is comparable with that of diesel engines and the... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed a motion prediction system that enhances pedestrian detection for automated vehicles. The computer vision tool uses a novel deep learning algorithm to predict motion by observing real-time biomechanical movements with the pelvic area being a key indicator for changes. SwRI’s human motion prediction system... Read more →

Self-driving vehicles need to navigate safely and flawlessly without crashing into others or causing unnecessary traffic jams. To make this possible, Northwestern University researchers have now developed the first decentralized algorithm with a collision-free, deadlock-free guarantee. The researchers tested the swarming algorithm in a simulation of 1,024 robots and on... Read more →

Registrations of new electrified light-duty vehicles (HEVS, PHEVs and EVs) in California rose 3.6% to 250,566 units in 2019, up from 241,970 units, according to the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA), using data from IHS. Overall, the California new light-duty vehicle market declined 5.5% from 2018 to 2019 (2,002,047... Read more →

TRATON—the commercial vehicle arm of the Volkswagen Group that includes MAN, Scania and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus—and the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) will start a long-term cooperation that will initially focus on cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI). TRATON and RISE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will serve... Read more →

At the Bosch Connected World 2020 (BCW) conference in Berlin, Human Horizons initiated an agreement with Bosch Connected Mobility Solutions for further cooperation on Bosch’s Battery in the Cloud technology. (Earlier post.) This technology connects electric-vehicle batteries with the cloud to extend battery life, substantially improve the battery’s performance and... Read more →

esVolta, LP has closed an approximately $140-million senior secured credit facility to finance a portfolio of its utility-scale battery energy storage projects. The credit facility was provided by CIT’s Power and Energy business as the Mandated Lead Arranger, and Siemens Financial Services (SFS), CoBank, ACB, and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc.... Read more →

SuperTurbo Technologies Inc. (formerly VanDyne SuperTurbo) has appointed Ricardo Performance Products to support the first phase of commercial industrialization of the SuperTurbo system—a novel planetary traction drive that enables high speed power transfer to and from a turbocharger shaft, offering significant driveability and fuel efficiency benefits for large trucks. The... Read more →

Lucid Motors announced a long-term partnership with leading EV battery supplier LG Chem for the Lucid Air electric sedan. Lucid Motors said that it selected LG Chem for a long-term partnership because its batteries provide the ideal level of efficiency, with those batteries further optimized by Lucid to meet or... Read more →

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE)—a non-profit organization dedicated to doubling the freight efficiency of North American goods movement—has determined that regional trucking operations are well suited to be early adopters of electric trucks. It is also a rather large segment of the market with sufficient scale to... Read more →

Hyliion Inc. will be providing three vehicles to Penske Truck Leasing, all of which will incorporate its 6X4HE Class 8 hybrid system. (Earlier post.) The solution was developed in partnership with Dana Inc., whose Spicer Electrified components are part of the e-Powertrain solution. The Hyliion 6X4HE’s modular design allows for... Read more →

Researchers led by Prof. WANG Feng at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported that photocatalytic decarboxylation is an efficient alternate pathway for converting biomass-derived fatty acids into alkanes under mild conditions of ambient temperature and pressure. This finding was published in... Read more →

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced the availability of $5 million in Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust funding for hydrogen refueling stations. The VW funding will augment the $45.7 million that is currently available through the California Energy Commission’s grant funding opportunity, GFO-19-602 - Hydrogen Refueling Infrastructure. To be... Read more →

With a $2.3-million award from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an interdisciplinary team of Virginia Tech researchers led by Masoud Agah, the Virginia Microelectronics Consortium Professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is developing an intelligent wearable analyzer for vapor exposure, called iWAVE,... Read more →

By investing in R&D and performing fundamental studies of the different carrier systems and their properties, Topsoe has developed a new and more robust carrier system. This system forms the basis for the new TITAN series of steam reforming catalysts. The series, launched earlier this month at the Nitrogen+Syngas Conference... Read more →

The President and CEO of Canada-based Nemaska Lithium stepped down on 20 February. The company field for bankruptcy protection in December 2019. Under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), Nemaska will restructure and seek additional financing, sell assets or enter of joint venture. The sale and investor solicitation process (SISP)... Read more →