New Flyer of America unveiled the Xcelsior AV automated transit bus, now in motion at Robotic Research, LLC in Maryland. The Xcelsior AV unveiling follows New Flyer’s launch of its Automated Technology Program first announced in May 2019, and the subsequent announcement of partnership with artificial intelligence and automation leader... Read more →

DeepGreen Metals, which is exploring for deep-ocean polymetallic nodules as a lower impact and more cost-effective alternative to land-based mining (earlier post), announced an upward revision to the nodule resource reported within the NORI-D exploration contract area held by its subsidiary, Nauru Ocean Resources, Inc. The nodule resource is now... Read more →

Terrafugia, Inc. has achieved a significant milestone by obtaining an FAA Special Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) airworthiness certificate for its Transition roadable aircraft. As a unique integration of a two-seat aircraft and an automobile, the Transition is designed to meet safety standards from both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the... Read more →

Unit 5 of China’s Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant, the first project to adopt China’s indigenous Generation III nuclear power technology Hualong One (HPR 1000), has been put into commercial operation, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced. The success marks a milestone for the development of China’s nuclear power, making China... Read more →

Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory in Dresden has begun series production of the battery-electric ID.3. This makes it the second production site for the ID.3 and the fourth site in the world producing Volkswagen models based on the Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB). Over the coming years, the former “Center of Future... Read more →

Volkswagen Group Components opened the Group’s first plant for recycling electric car batteries in Salzgitter. The aim is the industrialized recovery of valuable raw materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt in a closed loop together with aluminum, copper and plastics, achieving a recycling rate of more than 90%... Read more →

Australia-based Lynas Rare Earths Limited entered into an agreement with the US Government to build a commercial Light Rare Earths separation plant in the United States, through a wholly owned subsidiary, Lynas USA LLC. This collaboration with the Department of Defense is sponsored by the Title III, Defense Production Act... Read more →

Hydrogen fueling is more complex than that of gasoline and diesel; hydrogen heats up as it expands, causing pressure and temperature changes during fueling that need to be precisely monitored. (Hydrogen, helium and neon are the three gases that do not cool upon expansion by the Joule–Thomson process when being... Read more →

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) specialist Blue Bear Systems Research, a UK Small to Medium Enterprise, has formed a seven-strong consortium to develop a next-generation, all-electric propulsion module to enhance aircraft performance while reducing operating costs. The propulsion module is a scalable design and is the first in a range of... Read more →

UK-based Watt Electric Vehicle Company has designed a state-of-the-art platform enabling low-to-medium volume manufacturers of cars and commercial vehicles to go electric without the cost burden of investing in their own specific chassis technology. The brainchild of Neil Yates, an experienced expert niche vehicle development professional and industry consultant, Watt... Read more →

AutoGrid, a leading provider of AI-powered flexibility management software for the energy industry, announced technological compatibility with the FLO and AddEnergie group, a leading operator of the FLO electric vehicle (EV) charging network and provider of smart charging software and equipment, to provide AutoGrid Flex for utility management of smart... Read more →

Dana Incorporated has introduced an expanded family of Dana TM4 SUMO HP electric motors and inverters, including the HV1000 and HV2500. The TM4 SUMO family is specifically designed for battery-electric, range-extended, and fuel-cell vehicles. These high-performance motors and inverters are engineered to offer maximum flexibility, enabling direct-drive, series-hybrid, or parallel-hybrid... Read more →

The Volvo Group has created the new business area Volvo Energy to strengthen the Volvo Group’s business flow of batteries over the life cycle as well as the customer offer for charging infrastructure. Volvo Energy will be a business area with full profit and loss responsibility. It will have both... Read more →

Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs has set a target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030. This goal represents combined Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emission reductions on a mass basis (metric tons per year) compared with 2017 baseline levels. Achieving this goal would bring the... Read more →

GM plans to become carbon-neutral in its global products and operations by 2040 and has committed to setting science-based targets to achieve carbon neutrality. The company has also signed the Business Ambition Pledge for 1.5⁰C, an urgent call to action from a global coalition of UN agencies, business and industry... Read more →

Electrify Commercial will provide its charging equipment, networking, and customized services to support Arizona Public Service Company (APS) with its Take Charge AZ investment in electric vehicle (EV) fast charging. The project includes five new charging stations with four individual chargers each, for a total of 20 ultra-fast chargers across... Read more →

The Electrification Coalition has introduced its EV Policy Showroom, offering policymakers, EV advocates, industry partners and other stakeholders online access to easily navigable data and policy information on the deployment and adoption of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. The EV Policy Showroom features databases, calculators, guidance and tools that provide... Read more →

A team of researchers led by Zhifeng Ren, director of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, has developed an oxygen-evolving catalyst that takes just minutes to grow at room temperature on commercially available nickel foam. Paired with a previously reported hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst, it can... Read more →

BMW i Ventures invested in the Series A financing of Verusen, which provides an AI-driven inventory optimization solution to fuel the intelligent, connected supply chain. The funds will be used to support the company’s seven-fold sales growth in 2020, including its global expansion and scaled delivery of its purpose-built AI,... Read more →

Ricardo announced an initial investment of £2.5 million to build a hydrogen development and test facility at its Shoreham Technical Centre in the UK. Designed to support the company’s existing work in hydrogen, fuel cells and green alternative fuels, the new facility will deliver state-of-the-art test and development to advance... Read more →

With a focus on its mission of sustainability for its residents, the City of Porterville, California is putting 12 electric micro-transit vans into service. The 12 vehicles, all Class 3 Lightning Electric Transit Vans, were developed by Lightning eMotors. The vans are built on Ford Transit 350 HD chassis and... Read more →

The German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has commissioned the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to plan a pilot plant for the production of electricity-based (electrofuel) renewable kerosene for aviation. By switching to electricity-based kerosene, we can save millions of tons of CO2 emissions in air traffic. But... Read more →

Constellium, in partnership with Novelis, launched Alumobility, a non-profit organization focused on providing innovative implementation-ready solutions to advance the adoption of aluminum automotive body sheet. This global ecosystem of the leading aluminum and technology partners expects to drive value for automakers and consumers by helping to fulfill the promise of... Read more →

Achates Power was recently awarded a $5-million contract from the US Army to expand the family of opposed-piston engines for military vehicles. The project, awarded in late-2020, builds upon the success of the Advanced Combat Engine (ACE). (Earlier post.) The US Army, after seeing the demonstrated capability of the Advanced... Read more →

CVR Energy will base a revamp of its Wynnewood, Oklahoma, refinery on Haldor Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology to produce approximately 100 million gallons of renewable diesel and more than 6 million gallons of renewable naphtha per year. Topsoe will deliver basic engineering, license, proprietary equipment and catalyst for HydroFlex. Construction work... Read more →

Solaris Bus & Coach and Dutch carrier Arriva Netherlands have signed an agreement for the delivery of 10 Solaris Urbino 12 hydrogen buses. The 12-meter hydrogen buses will be delivered to the province of Gelderland in the course of this year. Arriva will start driving them in December 2021 in... Read more →

Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA), the largest subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world’s largest traders of goods and services, has invested in OneH2, a hydrogen fuel company headquartered in Longview, North Carolina. SCOA’s investment will help the company deploy full turnkey hydrogen solutions, creating a national fuel production... Read more →

ROUSH CleanTech’s Ford F-650 battery electric truck has achieved the California Hybrid and Zero-emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) eligibility listing. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), in partnership with CALSTART, launched the California HVIP vehicle purchase incentive program in 2009 to accelerate the acquisition of cleaner, more... Read more →

In collaboration with General Motors and OneH2, Navistar, Inc., a subsidiary of Navistar International Corporation, is introducing a complete solution for customer implementation of a zero-emission long-haul system, which will be initially piloted by J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., a subsidiary of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. Navistar plans to make... Read more →

The H24All project, led by a consortium of fifteen partners, has presented an application for European Green Deal funding to develop Europe’s first 100 megawatt (MW) alkaline electrolyzer plant, which will be connected to a Repsol industrial site. The consortium aims to pave the way for a new and competitive... Read more →

Spin, the micromobility subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, announced an exclusive international alliance with software company Tortoise to bring Spin S-200 remotely-operated e-scooters to cities in North America and Europe in 2021. The company’s new Spin Valet platform makes it possible to operate Spin’s fleet remotely and automatically re-park scooters... Read more →

Volta Trucks, a manufacturer of full-electric commercial vehicles, closed a $20-million convertible debt funding raise. Leading the raise was New York-based investment firm, Luxor Capital; Luxor Capital joins previous lead investor, Byggmästare Anders J Ahlström of Stockholm, and a number of supporting shareholders. The order book for the Volta Zero,... Read more →

Qantas and bp announced a strategic partnership to advance their shared net zero ambitions further. Through the collaboration, the companies will work together on opportunities to reduce carbon emissions in the aviation sector and contribute to the development of a sustainable aviation fuel industry in Australia. The two companies have... Read more →

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has set the goal to achieve carbon neutrality across the company’s operations and the life cycle of its products by 2050. “Life cycle” includes raw material extraction, manufacturing, use, and the recycling or reuse of end-of-life vehicles. As part of this effort, by the early 2030s... Read more →

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Tohoku University, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Nippon Institute of Technology, have demonstrated by experiment that a clean electrolyte/electrode interface is key to realizing high-capacity solid-state lithium batteries (SSLBs). Their findings could pave the way for improved battery... Read more →

Aeva, Inc., a developer of FMCW 4D lidar systems (earlier post), is partnering with TuSimple, a global self-driving technology company, to deploy Aeva 4D lidar on TuSimple’s self-driving trucks. TuSimple is in a global partnership with VW’s TRATON Group to develop an autonomous system for heavy-duty trucks and is co-developing... Read more →

Ridar Systems and HERE Technologies signed a partnership agreement to begin integrating HERE location technology into Ridar’s cloud-based mobile solution. This collaboration will allow Ridar Systems to identify better the location of two-wheelers in order to provide a more accurate position to drivers. Motorcycles, bicycles, scooters and other forms of... Read more →

The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has selected 13 additional academic institutions to participate in the next five-year phase of its collaborative research program. These universities join MIT, Stanford and the University of Michigan which have worked with TRI over the last five years to expand the body of research into... Read more →

A new study by a team from Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E) has found that greenhouse gas emissions from corn ethanol are 46% lower than those from gasoline—a decrease in emissions from the estimated 39% done by previous modeling. The report, led by David MacIntosh, Chief Science Officer of Environmental... Read more →

DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences launched the SYNERXIA Gemstone Collection, the next advancement in its high-performance yeasts. The new collection from the XCELIS platform includes SYNERXIA SAPPHIRE and SYNERXIA RUBY—two high-yield yeasts designed for the unique needs of ethanol producers. This marks the first time that DuPont has co-launched two high-yield... Read more →

ECB Group Paraguay and Shell Trading (US) Company signed a multi-year contract that will provide more than 500 million liters (130 million gallons US) of renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel per year to Shell, one of the world’s largest energy companies. The contract is expected to run from 2024.... Read more →

At its virtual Automotive Redefined: Technology Showcase, Qualcomm Technologies introduced the 4th Generation Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platforms. The automotive digital cockpit is evolving to a zonal (domain) electronic/electrical (E/E) compute architecture, driven by the complexity, cost and need for a central compute consolidation. The 4th Generation Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit... Read more →

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has exercised an option with New Flyer to purchase 45 additional Xcelsior sixty-foot hybrid-electric buses (90 equivalent units or “EUs”). MBTA is one of the largest transit systems in the US, providing public transportation services in Greater Boston and carrying approximately 32 million passengers... Read more →

SMUD, the US’ sixth-largest, community-owned, not-for-profit electric service provider, has partnered with Zeus Electric Chassis, Inc. and the California Mobility Center (CMC) to buy five custom, all-electric work trucks as it works to transition to an all-electric fleet. The trucks are the only all-electric work truck chassis manufactured in North... Read more →

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and General Motors (GM) announced their continued relationship to deliver digital cockpits, next-generation telematics systems and future advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to upcoming vehicles. For its next-generation vehicles, GM is reworking its in-vehicle experience, using third-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platforms. The high-performance digital cockpit systems... Read more →

Global technology and power solutions leader Cummins Inc. has provided a 20-megawatt PEM electrolyzer system to generate green hydrogen, making it the largest in operation in the world. The Cummins electrolyzer system is installed at the Air Liquide hydrogen production facility in Bécancour, Québec. The Cummins PEM Electrolyzer can produce... Read more →

Infinium, an electrofuels solution provider, announced the close of a funding round bringing together a consortium of investors including Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), AP Ventures, Neuman & Esser, and the Grantham Environmental Trust. The proceeds will be used to advance the development of commercial scale applications... Read more →

Researchers at MIT have developed a method that could significantly boost the performance of carbon capture and conversion systems that use catalytic surfaces to enhance the rates of carbon-sequestering electrochemical reactions. Such catalytic systems are an attractive option for carbon capture because they can produce useful, valuable products such as... Read more →

In remarks made at the signing of his Executive Order on Strengthening American Manufacturing, President Biden said that he would replace the federal government’s fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles made in the US. Such an investment in procurement, along with hundreds of billions of dollars to be spent in... Read more →

LG Innotek has developed a digital car key module with improved location detection precision and security. A digital car key module is a communication component that is installed in a car and allows wireless data transmission between a car and a smartphone. A digital key is a next-generation car key... Read more →