MAN handed over the world’s first electrically powered armored money transporter to the international security service provider Prosegur at the beginning of August. The MAN eTGE electric van (earlier post), which was converted into a money transporter by STOOF, will be put through its paces during Prosegur’s daily cash-in-transit operations.... Read more →

While China remains, for now, the world’s leading magnesium producer, alternative green technology-driven projects elsewhere are attracting attention as the industry in general looks to reduce its carbon footprint, and even China starts to close inefficient capacities, according to Roskill Information Services. Magnesium is a light metal with a density... Read more →

Nuclear generation reached a near-record high in 2019, with output reaching 2657 TWh, enough to meet more than 10% of the world’s electricity demand, according to the recently published World Nuclear Association Performance Report 2020. Source: World Nuclear Association and IAEA Power Reactor Information Service (PRIS) In 2019, nuclear electricity... Read more →

Hyundai Mobis is building its third core parts plant for electric vehicles in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, following plants in Chungju and Ulsan. The new factory in Pyeongtaek is located in Poseung District (BIX) in Pyeongtaek within the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone, and the site is 16,726 m2 ; Hyundai... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation has released the Yaris Cross, a new-model compact SUV. The Yaris Cross will be available through Toyota dealers nationwide from 31 August. As with the Yaris, the all-new Yaris Cross adopts the TNGA platform (GA-B). As a package that can make full use of this performance, in... Read more →

New Jersey’s Department of the Treasury announced on Friday that lower fuel consumption trends, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, will necessitate a gas tax increase of $0.093 per gallon in order to ensure compliance with the 2016 law that requires a steady stream of revenue to support... Read more →

Hexagon Purus, a subsidiary of Hexagon Composites, will supply composite cylinders to a leading Northeast Asian OEM for their current zero-emission Fuel Cell Electric SUV. Hexagon Purus’ cylinders will be installed in the vehicle model starting by 2022. The two-year contract has an estimated sales value of €25 million. The... Read more →

by Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com. Big Oil has frequently been chided for merely trying to burnish its green credentials, and so far, it has done little to convince us that it is truly moving forward to greenness. Despite the much-vaunted megatrend involving the global electrification drive and shift to renewable... Read more →

Haldor Topsoe has joined a hydrogen and sustainable fuel project based on electrolysis in the Greater Copenhagen Area. The project is expected to be executed by 2030 in three stages, achieving the capacity of 10 megawatts (MW) in 2023; 250 MW in 2027; and 1,3 GW in 2030 respectively. The... Read more →

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed the Phase 6 review—the last and final phase—of the Design Certification Application (DCA) for NuScale Power’s small modular reactor (SMR) and issued the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER). The FSER represents completion of the technical review and approval of the NuScale SMR design.... Read more →

A new study led by Colorado State University predicts significant climate benefits stemming from the use of advanced biofuel technologies. Accounting for all of the carbon flows in biofuel systems and comparing them to those in grasslands and forests, the team found that there are clear strategies for biofuels to... Read more →

The Government of Saskatchewan will provide $31 million in funding for a Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan, delivering on a key element of the 2030 Growth Plan. The facility will be owned and operated by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). It will be the first-of-its-kind in Canada and will... Read more →

by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. In a recent analysis, I have shown that in March 2020 (the first month with the pandemic), the decrease in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the states with preference for Democrats was greater than in the states with preference for Republicans. The present analysis... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Vans and Amazon announced the largest order for Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles to date: more than 1,800 battery-electric eVito and eSprinter from Mercedes-Benz Vans will be delivered to Amazon starting this year to be used across Europe. The order includes around 600 medium-sized eVito and more than 1,200 vehicles of... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board has approved a multi-pronged regulation that will significantly reduce NOx emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks. The “Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus Regulation” will require manufacturers to comply with tougher emissions standards, overhaul engine testing procedures, and further extend engine warranties to ensure that emissions of NOx... Read more →

UL, a leading global safety science company, has become a member of the Automotive Safety Council. The Detroit-based Automotive Safety Council is a trade association with membership representing autonomous, crash avoidance and occupant protection automotive safety suppliers that works to improve automotive safety through the development, production and implementation of... Read more →

Next month, Volkswagen of America will unveil its first electric SUV, the ID.4, and a new system that allows customers to reserve their car. The Volkswagen reservation platform will make its debut on 23 September, immediately following the reveal of the all-new, zero-tailpipe emission Volkswagen ID.4 electric vehicle. The easy-to-use... Read more →

Bollinger Motors has unveiled its DELIVER-E all-electric delivery van concept. The DELIVER-E leverages the engineering, technology, and components used in the company’s product portfolio to deploy an electric van tailored for the delivery market. The front-wheel drive, all-electric DELIVER-E features an extra low-load floor height and will be engineered to... Read more →

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and technology company Continental are making a rubber supply chain seamlessly electronically traceable—from cultivation in Indonesia and further processing through to tire production—for the first time. The creation of sustainable and traceable supply chains is an integral part of our... Read more →

Vitesco Technologies, formerly (until September 2019) the Continental Powertrain Division, has started the market launch of its fully integrated electric axle drives (EMR3) for Dongfeng Passenger Car Corporation. For Vitesco Technologies this launch is yet another market success and milestone, following the start of production of the EMR3 electric drive... Read more →

Automotive technology company Veoneer, Inc. and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have decided to collaborate on the delivery of scalable Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Collaborative and Autonomous Driving (AD) solutions powered by Veoneer’s next-generation perception and driving policy software stack and Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride™ ADAS/AD scalable portfolio of System on a... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board approved a new regulation designed to reduce pollution further from ocean-going vessels while docked at California’s busiest ports. The rule builds on progress achieved by the At-Berth Regulation adopted in 2007. That rule has achieved an 80% reduction in harmful emissions from more than 13,000... Read more →

Allison Transmission, the largest global manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions and a supplier of commercial vehicle propulsion solutions, including electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion systems, launched its new zero-emission-vehicle (ZEV)-capable electric hybrid system, the eGen Flex, as the initial product offering under its new Allison eGen... Read more →

State officials gave Southern California Edison the green light for an expansive electric car charging infrastructure program that will add about 38,000 new chargers throughout the utility’s 50,000-square-mile service area. The program, known as Charge Ready 2, will be the nation’s largest light-duty electric vehicle charging program run by an... Read more →

ams and Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH announced that they have made progress in bringing to market solid-state LiDAR technology for autonomous driving. ams and Ibeo began joint LiDAR development in 2018 on ibeoNext Solid State LiDAR. Their aim is to provide solid-state LiDAR to the automotive market for advanced driver... Read more →

The US Department of Energy announced $33 million in funding for 17 projects as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Aviation-class Synergistically Cooled Electric-motors with iNtegrated Drives (ASCEND) and Range Extenders for Electric Aviation with Low Carbon and High Efficiency (REEACH) programs. ASCEND projects work to develop innovative,... Read more →

Sunfire has successfully delivered the world’s most powerful High-Temperature Electrolyzer (HTE) for highly energy-efficient hydrogen production to Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH. Within the GrInHy2.0 project, Sunfire’s HTE system with a rated electrical output of 720 kilowatts will be deployed in an industrial environment for the first time. GrInHy2.0 is another step... Read more →

Enovix (earlier post) has been selected to advance research and development on lithium-ion batteries using silicon-based anodes. The selection, recommended by the Vehicle Technologies Office, authorizes Enovix to complete negotiations for a $3.2-million federal award funded through the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy... Read more →

Commercial electric vehicle manufacturer Lightning Systems is lowering the prices of its 2021 battery and fuel cell electric vehicles by 10 to 50% for Class 3 to Class 8 vehicles. In addition to lower prices, zero-emission vehicles from Colorado’s Lightning Systems also will have new features, including: High-speed Level 2... Read more →

Mahindra & Mahindra and REE Automotive signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore development and manufacturing of electric commercial vehicles for global markets. Such a strategic collaboration will leverage REE’s electric vehicle corner module and platform technology of integrating powertrain, suspension and steering components in the arch of a... Read more →

Lucid Motors announced that the Lucid Air electric vehicle will come to market with class-leading interior space and spatial efficiency, ingeniously packaged around a powerful, compact, and energy-dense 113kWh extended-range battery pack. This combination maximizes customer comfort and provides surprising storage space, including the largest frunk yet offered on an... Read more →

Q-NEXT, a collaboration involving the world’s leading minds from the national laboratories, universities and the private sector, is one of five National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) in August 2020. (Earlier post.) It is funded by DOE at $115 million over the... Read more →

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $1 billion in awards for the establishment of 12 new artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science (QIS) research institutes nationwide. The $1 billion will go... Read more →

Ford Motor Company, Bedrock and Bosch are launching a demonstration project with connected Ford Escape test vehicles that can drive and park themselves inside Bedrock’s Assembly Garage in Detroit using Bosch smart infrastructure. This is the first US infrastructure-based solution for automated valet parking where the vehicle will park itself... Read more →

Mafic USA and The Materials Group (TMG) have allied to increase the use of basalt fiber compounded into injection molded thermoplastics within the automotive industry. Mafic recently began operations at the world’s largest basalt fiber production facility in Shelby, NC. TMG, located in Rockford, MI, is a thermoplastics manufacturer, distributor... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $20 million for basic research aimed at ensuring a stable US supply of rare earth elements. The research will focus on improving the efficiency of both the use of the elements and their extraction from geological and recycled sources. It will also seek... Read more →

The new Volkswagen ID.3 has set its first range record—the electric car covered the 531 kilometers (330 miles) from Zwickau to Schaffhausen (Switzerland) on a single charge. Officially, the model has a range of up to 420 kilometers (261 miles) (WLTP). This mark was topped by more than 100 kilometers—an... Read more →

With the cooperation with the US start-up ClimaCell, users of Porsche’s free ROADS app will receive detailed information on the air quality on their route. ClimaCell specializes in hyper-local and hyper-accurate weather forecasts by using hundreds of millions of sensors worldwide to analyze the weather and air quality. ROADS uses... Read more →

Belgian food box provider HelloFresh has received seven Mercedes-Benz eVito refrigerated electric vans with a cooling upfit made by Kerstner. Many customers would like to change their vehicle fleet over to sustainable drive concepts and, especially in urban zones, to operate their routes using battery-electric vans. In order to meet... Read more →

Patrick Collignon, former chief operating officer for Volvo Trucks North and South America, has launched Trova Commercial Vehicles (TrovaCV). The new company offers customized engineering and manufacturing expertise for commercial vehicles, specifically fully electric trucks. TrovaCV will focus on the engineering, design and production of fully electric commercial vehicles with... Read more →

Proterra unveiled its newest series of battery packs, the H Series, which offers a customizable energy storage system to power a wide range of heavy-duty commercial vehicles. The new, narrower H Series battery packs were designed to package into standard truck frame rails and increase packaging flexibility for Proterra Powered... Read more →

Following successful launches in Hangzhou nine months ago and Guangzhou last month, the China-based premium ride-hailing provider StarRides—a joint venture of Daimler Mobility AG and Geely Technology Group—officially launched its service in the third metropolis, the city of Chengdu. Since its start in December 2019, StarRides has achieved growth in... Read more →

Rolls-Royce Power Systems has established a new organizational unit—Power Lab—to focus on innovative and net-zero-carbon drive and energy solutions. The Power Lab will concentrate on the development of advanced technologies for the marine and infrastructure sectors, with a strong emphasis on fuel cell systems and the production and deployment of... Read more →

The global offshore wind segment is likely to grow seven-fold by 2030 mainly driven by capacity additions from three major markets: China, the UK and the US. China will lead the trio with more than 25% of the new offshore wind capacity expected to be added by 2030, followed by... Read more →

The operator Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacji (MPK) in Radom, Poland has ordered 9 additional Solaris Urbino 12 electric with the pertinent charging infrastructure. Worth nearly 28.5 million PLN (US$7.7 million), the contract will be carried out by mid-July 2021. This year, ten Solaris electric buses have made it to Radom. Apart... Read more →

An international team led by Professor Matthias Arenz from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (DCB) at the University of Bern has succeeded in using a special process to produce a fuel cell electrocatalyst without a carbon carrier, which, unlike existing catalysts, consists of a thin metal network and is... Read more →

Reaction Engines Ltd and Rolls-Royce plc announced a new strategic partnership agreement to develop high-speed aircraft propulsion systems and explore applications for Reaction Engines’ thermal management technology within civil and defence aerospace gas turbine engines and hybrid-electric systems. We have been working closely with Reaction Engines for the past two... Read more →

Reaction Engines recently completed a joint Proof-of-Concept study with the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to determine whether the company’s innovative thermal management technology could be combined with STFC’s catalysts to create an aviation system based on ammonia fuel. In recent years, ammonia has been considered by various... Read more →

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group became the world’s first shipyard to construct an LNG-fueled very large container ship (VLCS). HHI Group announced that Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI), its shipbuilding subsidiary, has recently completed sea trial of the 14,800 TEU containership for Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) in the presence... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) selected 13 projects through a Battery Manufacturing Lab Call with combined funding of almost $15 million over three years. The call sought proposals from National Laboratories to establish public-private partnerships that address engineering challenges for advanced battery materials and devices, with a focus on... Read more →