General Motors announced Ultifi, an end-to-end software platform that it says will unlock new vehicle experiences and connect customers’ digital lives. Ultifi will help enable the frequent and seamless delivery of software-defined features, apps and services to customers over the air. It offers the potential for more cloud-based services, faster... Read more →

Researchers in the EU RECOTRANS (Integrated manufacturing of REcyclable multi-material COmposites for the TRANSport sector) have used microwaves and laser welding to obtain recyclable composites for automotive and transport. The project, led by AIMPLAS, is intended to help produce lighter and, therefore, less polluting vehicles without increasing costs. RECOTRANS researchers... Read more →

Volvo Buses has launched the new Volvo BZL Electric chassis, designed for both single- and double-decker applications with multiple options for bodybuilders. The new Volvo BZL Electric has been developed to be more than 90% recyclable. The new Volvo BZL Electric is based on proven and successful technologies already implemented... Read more →

The Jeep brand has introduced the fifth-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee, including the first available plug-in hybrid powertrain, the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe. The all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee will arrive in Jeep dealerships in North America in the fourth quarter of 2021. The Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe is scheduled to arrive... Read more →

Genesis has unveiled its first dedicated electric vehicle, the GV60, in an online event. The GV60 follows the same model naming scheme as Genesis’ existing lineup, highlighting the brand’s continuous commitment to its values even after electrification. The vehicle also marks the beginning of “luxury brand lineup that interacts with... Read more →

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced that on-road testing of its first fully electric motor car is imminent. First deliveries of the car are slated for the fourth quarter of 2023. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös, said that the demanding testing program will cover 2.5 million kilometers—a simulation of more than... Read more →

In Europe, Nissan revealed the next-generation compact Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV), the Townstar. With a fully electric powertrain in addition to a gasoline-powered option in van and combi (passenger) versions, the new Townstar brings a suite of 20+ technologies to the compact van offering. Building on the success of the... Read more →

Geely’s Holding subsidiary company, Geely Technology Group, showcased the battery swapping technology behind its battery swapping service, called E-Energee, at the 2021 Wuzhen Internet Conference, while providing further details on the future layout of its services. Geely Technology Group began researching battery swapping technologies in 2017 as it grew its... Read more →

Nissan has expanded its Michigan-based engineering center, Nissan Technical Center North America (NTCNA), with a more than $40-million Safety Advancement Lab for vehicle safety testing. The new lab brings more efficiency to the vehicle development process and furthers Nissan’s goal of reaching a future with virtually zero fatalities. The Safety... Read more →

Nissan unveiled the e-POWER Sylphy, the first model equipped with the e-POWER series hybrid technology (earlier post) for customers in China. e-POWER features a 100% electric motor-driven system that provides responsive acceleration, smooth deceleration and cabin quietness similar to an EV, while removing the need for external charging due to... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group is opening the 2021 EV Open Innovation Challenge following the successful completion of the EV and Battery Challenge launched in 2020 (earlier post). The 2021 EV Open Innovation Challenge is a program to facilitate collaboration with startups on various projects related to charging infrastructure and service solutions... Read more →

thyssenkrupp’s Automotive Technology segment is pressing on with the transformation of its powertrain business. The current Camshafts business unit is being aligned to stronger growth in e-mobility. The unit is currently one of the world’s leading suppliers of components for internal combustion, hybrid and electric powertrains. The product spectrum mainly... Read more →

A thermal management system developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in collaboration with John Deere promises to increase the power density of silicon carbide (SiC) inverters within heavy-duty EV applications significantly. Recent studies indicate that the improved inverter design delivers a 378% increase in power density over the... Read more →

Vulcan Energy Resources signed an agreement with chemical park management company Infraserv to secure a site for its planned Central Lithium Plant (CLP) of its Zero Carbon Lithium Project, at the Höchst Chemical Park (Industriepark Höchst), located just outside of Frankfurt. Höchst is one of Europe’s largest chemical sites and... Read more →

Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Aurora revealed a prototype of Volvo Trucks’ flagship, long-haul VNL model, integrated with the Aurora Driver technology, representing an important step towards launching fully autonomous Class 8 trucks commercially in North America. Building on a rich history of safety and technology expertise, Volvo Autonomous Solutions is... Read more →

Capital Metro in Austin, Texas has approved a plan to purchase 26 40-foot Proterra ZX5 Max electric transit buses, featuring a total of more than 17 megawatt hours of battery storage capacity. The plan approved by Capital Metro also contains options for the agency to acquire an additional 126 40-foot... Read more →

Lucid Group has begun production of the Lucid Air electric luxury sedan at Advanced Manufacturing Plant (AMP-1). Lucid expects reservation holders of Lucid Air Dream Edition models will begin receiving their vehicles in late October, with customer deliveries ramping up thereafter. Grand Touring, Touring, and Air Pure model deliveries are... Read more →

BrightDrop, GM’s new business focused on electric last-mile deliveries (earlier post), has completed the first production builds of the EV600, a key milestone to deliver its first electric light commercial vehicle (eLCV) to FedEx Express in time for the holiday season. The build completion is the fastest vehicle program to... Read more →

Linde has joined the H2Accelerate collaboration as a seventh member to accelerate the deployment of green hydrogen for trucking (earlier post). The H2Accelerate collaboration was formed by truck OEMs Daimler Truck, IVECO, and Volvo Group, and hydrogen infrastructure players OMV, Shell, and TotalEnergies, to accelerate the deployment of green hydrogen... Read more →

Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, has acquired Renovo Motors, a Silicon Valley-based automotive operating system developer. The acquisition will add depth to Woven Planet’s resources, particularly for Arene, Woven Planet’s open vehicle development platform, by: Adding a team of top-tier engineers with deep expertise in building... Read more →

Ford Motor Company will build two new massive, environmentally and technologically advanced campuses in Tennessee and Kentucky that will produce the next generation of electric F-Series trucks and the batteries to power future electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles. Three new BlueOvalSK battery plants—two at the Kentucky mega-site and one in... Read more →

AVL Powertrain UK Limited and Ford Motor Company are working together on an Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)-funded research and development project to define, design, develop and test a driveable demonstrator Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). The goal of the project is to accelerate UK-based FCEV expertise and know-how to support... Read more →

Ricardo has won two UK Government-backed innovation competitions to develop novel solutions for heavy-duty vehicles focusing on improving efficiency and performance and reducing the cost of future electric trucks. Ricardo will be partnering with the University of Bath for both projects. For the first project, which is funded by the... Read more →

Gevo has received a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a process that encompasses upgrading ethanol and bio-based alcohols into drop-in, bio-based diesel and jet-fuel products. The USPTO has awarded Gevo US Patent No. 11,078,433 titled “Conversion of Mixtures of C2-C8 Olefins to Jet Fuel... Read more →

TotalEnergies and Safran signed a strategic partnership agreement to develop technical and commercial solutions jointly for the decarbonization of the aviation industry. In line with the ambition of both companies to reach net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, this major partnership aims to accelerate the reduction of the CO2 emissions... Read more →

Cummins has been awarded $5 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office for the automation of solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) and stack assembly. This project furthers the company’s efforts as a leader in alternative power and a pioneer in green hydrogen technologies.... Read more →

A typical method of hydrogen storage is physically storing hydrogen using compression or liquefaction; these methods require higher energy to increase storage capacity and expensive distributing infrastructure. To overcome these limitations, research efforts to store hydrogen chemically in liquid carriers, such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) or ammonia, have... Read more →

Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies GmbH has developed a technology that binds hydrogen gas with a carrier oil. (Earlier post.)This achievement led to the company being nominated for a 2021 German Entrepreneurial Award (Deutscher Gründerpreis). Hydrogenious’ LOHC technology bonds hydrogen molecules to the organic carrier (dibenzyltoluene) via an exothermic catalytic process. The... Read more →

Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and international collaborators used computational approaches, including explainable machine learning models, to elucidate new high-entropy alloys with attractive hydrogen storage properties and direct laboratory synthesis and validation. Solid-state hydrogen storage materials that are optimized for specific use cases could be a crucial facilitator of the... Read more →

Wärtsilä and the Korean shipbuilding company Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) have signed a joint development program (JDP) agreement aimed at developing ammonia-fueled vessels with 4-stroke auxiliary engines available for future newbuild projects. Both parties recognise the importance of future carbon-free fuels in the marine industry’s drive towards decarbonization. The agreement... Read more →

HT Aero, an urban air mobility (UAM) company in which China-based EV manufacturer XPeng is an investor, unveiled future urban usage scenarios for its fifth-generation flying vehicle XPeng X2, including autonomous flight take-off and landing for specific city scenarios, back-end scheduling, charging and flight control. In its first debut at... Read more →

Vulcan Energy Resources’ chemical engineering team has successfully produced its first battery-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) from piloting operations. The LHM was produced from Vulcan’s sorption pilot plant, located at a geothermal renewable energy plant in the Upper Rhine Valley in Germany, with downstream electrolysis processing offsite, as per Vulcan’s... Read more →

INEOS will invest an additional £1 billion (US$1.4 billion) in Grangemouth, its integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in Scotland, in the next phase of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045. Grangemouth Grangemouth, one of Scotland’s largest manufacturing sites, is owned and operated by INEOS and Petroineos, a... Read more →

MAHLE Powertrain and Bramble Energy have agreed to continue their collaboration to develop Bramble’s Printed Circuit Board Fuel Cell (PCBFC) hydrogen fuel cell technology. (Earlier post.) The phase 1 demonstrator vehicle was launched at the Cenex Low Carbon Vehicle show. Bramble Energy’s innovative PCBFC technology significantly reduces the manufacturing cost... Read more →

Wrightbus unveiled the new new single-deck GB Kite Hydroliner fuel-cell-powered bus and single-deck GB Kite Electroliner battery-powered bus last week at the Millbrook Proving Ground. The GB Kite Hydroliner is powered by a 70 kW or 100 kW Ballard FC Move fuel cell, paired with a 30 kWh or 45... Read more →

The Municipal Transport Company of Madrid (EMT Madrid) has awarded Irizar e-mobility an order for another 30 electric buses. This fourth order means that EMT Madrid will now have a total of 85 zero-emission Irizar buses in its fleet. Once again, the model chosen is the 12-meter Irizar ie bus,... Read more →

Gevo has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC and its affiliate, Danisco US Inc., to acquire certain patents, leaving Gevo as the only entity with full rights to sublicense the entire Gevo/Butamax isobutanol and isobutanol derivatives patent estate in the fields of fuels, isooctane, industrial... Read more →

Betolar, a Finnish material technology company that offers sustainable and low-carbon concrete production, and concrete company JA-KO Betoni, are assisting Keliber (earlier post), which is preparing a lithium mine in Kaustinen, Finland, in utilizing the massive side streams typically produced in the mining industry. Tailings produced as a side stream... Read more →

Long-lasting protection from corrosion is essential for materials used for vehicles and aircraft to ensure structural integrity amid extreme operating conditions. Two chemical pre-treatment processes are widely used in industrial settings to prepare for coating adhesion and protect aluminum alloy surfaces against corrosion. While highly regulated, both processes use large... Read more →

Honeywell and Wood announced a comprehensive package of technologies to support the effort to produce carbon-neutral aviation fuel. When used together, the technologies—based on Honeywell’s UOP Ecofining process technology and Wood’s hydrogen plant technology—could reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 100% using certain feedstocks when compared to traditional petroleum... Read more →

Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between LG Energy Solution and General Motors (GM), will use Honeywell’s Quality Control System (QCS) to ensure the quality and integrity of the lithium-ion batteries produced at its new manufacturing plant in Lordstown, Ohio. Due to be completed in 2022, the 2.8 million square-foot... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group, in partnership with SP Group and Komoco Motors, launched an E-mobility pilot program in Singapore. The program aims to identify real-world customer concerns and requirements for enhancing customer value and experience and establishing a robust EV ecosystem in the city-state. The E-mobility pilot plans to offer EV... Read more →

New WHO has issued new Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) that reduce levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change. Since WHO’s last 2005 global update, there has been a marked increase of evidence that shows how air pollution affects different aspects of health. For... Read more →

A major new Health Effects Institute (HEI) report presents a study examining associations between exposures to relatively low levels of air pollution and several health outcomes among participants in 22 European cohorts. In the report, the investigators describe the development of new exposure models for all of Europe for four... Read more →

Toshiba Corporation, Sojitz Corporation, and CBMM have entered into a joint development agreement for the commercialization of next generation lithium-ion batteries using niobium titanium oxide (NTO) as the anode material. One of the major requirements for rechargeable battery development is greater energy density and faster charging. NTO has twice the... Read more →

SAKOR Technologies provided the University of Houston’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with a dynamometer test system designed to test motor and inverter designs for use in hybrid and electric vehicle applications. The system features dual opposin 7.5 kW AccuDyne four-quadrant AC motoring dynamometers, variable frequency drives, and a... Read more →

Vitol, the world’s largest independent trader of energy, and BYD, a leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, rechargeable battery and energy storage systems, formed a partnership to provide fleet mobility as a service in select markets worldwide. Together they will offer municipal, corporate and others a comprehensive solution including electric vehicles,... Read more →

The Ford Pro all-electric police pilot vehicle based on the 2021 Mustang Mach-E SUV has become the first all-electric vehicle to pass the rigorous Michigan State Police 2022 model year evaluation. (Earlier post.) Testing included acceleration, top speed, braking and high-speed pursuit, as well as emergency response handling characteristics. Michigan... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz is taking an equity stake in European battery cell manufacturer Automotive Cells Company (ACC) to scale up development and production of next-generation high-performance battery cells and modules. Mercedes-Benz announced in July that it will be ready to go fully electric by the end of the decade wherever market conditions... Read more →

General Motors will invest $300 million in China-based Momenta to accelerate the development of next-generation self-driving technologies for future GM vehicles in China. Momenta has pioneered a scalable path toward full autonomous driving by combining a data-driven approach with iterating algorithms—referred to as its “flywheel approach”—as well as a “two-leg”... Read more →