Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and John Barrasso (R-WY) led their colleagues in introducing the Renewable Diesel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel Parity Act of 2022. The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Steve Daines (R-MO). The bill would require the Department of Energy to... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz has invested more than €200 million in the Electric Software Hub at the Mercedes Technology Centre (MTC) in Sindelfingen. Numerous software, hardware, system integration and testing functions are brought together under one roof. With this step, Mercedes-Benz is intensifying its approach of cross-functional collaboration. The Electric Software Hub accelerates... Read more →

In 2021, for the second consecutive year, US nuclear electricity generation declined, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Output from US nuclear power plants totaled 778 million megawatthours in 2021—1.5% less than the previous year. Nuclear’s share of US electricity generation across all sectors in 2021 was similar... Read more →

The BMW Group will use cast aluminum wheels produced with 100% green power for its BMW and MINI brands from 2024 onwards. For the BMW Group, this is another step towards its goal of creating the most sustainable supply chain in the automotive industry. The transition applies, in particular, to... Read more →

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Seaborg signed a partnership agreement to develop floating nuclear power plants based on Seaborg’s inherently safe Compact Molten Salt Reactor (CMSR). The floating nuclear power plant comes as a turn-key product, ready to be moored at an industrial harbor. In the harbor, a transmission cable... Read more →

In the new environment of energy insecurity intensified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting response from the West, the UK government has released a new British Energy Security Strategy that sets out how Great Britain will accelerate the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, while supporting... Read more →

The same propulsion technology that goes into rockets has made hypersonic speeds—Mach 5 and beyond, i.e., more than 5 times the speed of sound—possible since the 1950s. However, to make hypersonic flight more common and far less expensive than a rocket launch, engineers and scientists are working on advanced jet... Read more →

Australia-based Mineral Resources (MinRes), one of the largest owners of hard rock lithium units, has, in response to “unprecedented global customer demand for lithium products”, agreed with its JV partners to increase production from the Wodgina and Mt Marion spodumene mines, based in Western Australia. Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral... Read more →

United Airlines Ventures (UAV) and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV) announced a collaboration with Houston-based biotech firm Cemvita Factory to commercialize the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) intended to be developed through a new process using carbon dioxide and synthetic microbes. UAV also announced an equity investment in Cemvita... Read more →

Germany is awarding some €600 million to transport companies for the purchase of climate friendly buses. Around 1,700 buses will be procured by the transport companies with this tranche of funding from the new “Directive on the Promotion of Alternative Drives of Buses in Passenger Transport”. Around 1,400 are battery-electric;... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Trucks is introducing the third generation of its OM 471 heavy-duty diesel engine this year; the engine will deliver increased fuel efficiency and compliance with the strictest emissions standards such as Euro VIe. The third generation of the OM 471 installed in the Mercedes-Benz Actros and the Mercedes-Benz Arocs... Read more →

The Government of Canada has released Budget 2022. Among its measures is up to C$3.8 billion (US$3 billion) to implement Canada’s first Critical Minerals Strategy to capitalize on a growing need for the minerals used in everything from phones to electric cars. The Budget also allocates more than $3 billion... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz xEV sales (plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles) rose 37% ub Q1 2022 to 67,800 units of which 21,900 (+210%) units were battery-electric vehicles (BEV). Overall, Mercedes-Benz Cars January to March deliveries fell 15% year-on-year to 501,600 units in a challenging environment primarily due to semi-conductor constraints. Mercedes-Benz also... Read more →

Nissan unveiled its prototype production facility for laminated all-solid-state battery (ASSB) cells, which the company aims to bring to market in 2028. This prototype facility, within the Nissan Research Center in Kanagawa Prefecture, is aimed to further promote the development of all-solid-state-batteries. Nissan ASSB creation process in Oppama Research Center... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is collaborating with the US Department of Defense (DoD), the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and BioMADE to work with Ohio-based Farmed Materials in a multi-year, multi-million-dollar program to develop a domestic source of natural rubber from a specific species of dandelion. Natural rubber... Read more →

Global Internet of People, Inc. (SDH), an operator of a knowledge sharing and enterprise service platform, announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhuhai (Zibo) Investment Co., Ltd. has entered into an investment agreement with the following parties to form a joint venture dedicated to the production of high-grade lithium-ion power battery... Read more →

A new analysis from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) projects that US drivers struck and killed 3,441 pedestrians in the first six months of 2021, up 17% (507 additional lives) from the same period the year before. This projection continues a decade-long trend of rising pedestrian deaths on roadways.... Read more →

Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, and Veolia recently signed a long-term partnership agreement on the refining of crude methanol generated in pulp production at the Äänekoski bioproduct mill into commercial biomethanol. As part of this cooperation, Veolia will build a crude methanol refinery in connection with Metsä Fibre’s Äänekoski... Read more →

Advent Technologies Holdings, a developer of highly efficient high-temperature PEM fuel cells, and Hyundai Motor Company have signed a technology assessment, sales, and development agreement. Advent and Hyundai aim to deliver green energy solutions to current high carbon applications, using fuel cell technology. Under the agreement, Hyundai will provide catalysts... Read more →

Aurora Innovation and Werner Enterprises, a premier transportation and logistics provider, announced a collaboration and commercial pilot to test and deploy safely autonomous trucks on one of the most commercially active and critical stretches of highway in the US. Starting this week, Aurora Driver-powered trucks are hauling loads between Fort... Read more →

Torc Robotics, an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck, is opening a technology and software development center in Stuttgart, Germany. Torc is a leader in SAE Level 4 self-driving vehicle software for heavy-duty vehicles. Torc Europe GmbH will tap into the available talent pool in one of Germany’s prime automotive regions.... Read more →

Following two variants with V8 engines, Mercedes-AMG is presenting the entry-level SL 43 version of its newly developed roadster icon. The SL 43 features an M139 in-line two-liter, four-cylinder gasoline engine with an electric exhaust gas turbocharger—used for the first time in a production vehicle. This technology comes from Formula... Read more →

Essam El-Hannouny, a principal mechanical engineer at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, won a Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) Award from DOE to expand his research on how a renewable alcohol-based biofuel can serve as a dual fuel to help decarbonize locomotive engines. His research is also relevant... Read more →

Porsche is investing US$75 million in HIF Global LLC, a holding company of internationally active project developers of eFuel production facilities. Among other projects, the Santiago de Chile-based company is building the Haru Oni eFuel pilot plant in Punta Arenas (Chile). (Earlier post.) Punta Arenas pilot plant under construction Initiated... Read more →

Achates Power announced that the 10.6-liter, heavy-duty opposed-piston, three-cylinder diesel engine it developed in a project funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and several partners (earlier post) has entered fleet service with WALMART Corporation in a Peterbilt 579 tractor. It is the only diesel engine operating on the... Read more →

SpinLaunch, the developer of a ground-based, electric-powered, kinetic launch system, has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA. Through this partnership, SpinLaunch will develop, integrate, and fly a NASA payload on the company’s Suborbital Accelerator Launch System to provide valuable information to NASA for potential future commercial launch opportunities. SpinLaunch... Read more →

Blending ammonia with a small amount of dimethyl ether (DME) gives a liquid fuel with low-temperature combustion properties very similar to gasoline, researchers at KAUST have shown. The development of such fuels could provide an option—in addition to electric cars—for “clean” power for the transportation sector. A paper on their... Read more →

A consortium of shipping stakeholders aims to develop demonstrators for two-stroke and four-stroke marine engines running on ammonia fuel. The Ammonia 2-4 project seeks to advance viable concepts for ammonia fuel. The project is coordinated by technology group Wärtsilä, with participation from naval architects C-Job, classification society DNV, ship owner... Read more →

Proterra and Pace Suburban Bus has awarded Proterra a $26.5-million contract for 20 Proterra ZX5 Max electric transit buses, featuring more than 13 megawatt hours of battery storage energy, and two Proterra megawatt-scale fleet chargers. Pace is the transportation backbone of Chicago’s suburbs and one of the largest public bus... Read more →

Bcomp, a leading manufacturer of high-performance components made from natural fibers, has closed its oversubscribed Series B financing round of CHF 32.4 million (US$35 million) with commitment from a range of mobility, financial, and impact investment companies. The strategic group of investors consists of automotive venture capital from BMW i... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz Vans has to date produced more than 25,000 all-electric vans. The top seller for electric vans is the eVito, followed by the eSprinter and EQV. We have a clear goal, we want to be the leading manufacturer in the field of electric vans in the long term. And for... Read more →

The Scandlines zero-emission ferry project, announced in November 2021 and which will result in the world’s largest electric-powered hybrid ferry, will run on an advanced 10 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) from Leclanché. Leclanché will supply a state-of-the-art G\NMC battery system (65 Ah cells) with a capacity of... Read more →

General Motors and Honda plan to expand the two companies’ relationship by codeveloping a series of affordable electric vehicles based on a new global architecture using next-generation Ultium battery technology. The companies are working together to enable global production of millions of EVs starting in 2027, including compact crossover vehicles,... Read more →

Suncor Energy, a Canadian integrated energy company that is one of the top oil sands producers in the country, will strengthen its focus on hydrogen and renewable fuels to accelerate progress towards its objective to be a net-zero company by 2050. Suncor also plans to divest its wind and solar... Read more →

By the middle of this decade greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Canadian oil sands production should be in decline even as production continues to grow, according to a new comprehensive report by S&P Global Commodity Insights that takes into account current technology trends and production growth. Entitled The Trajectory of... Read more →

WMG at the University of Warwick (UK) has provided knowledge and expertise in developing a UK-focused, cost-effective production and supply chain for RIFT (Reduced Induction Field Torque) Technology’s development of RIFT-10—a design for electric motors drives that reduces copper and magnet weight reduction by around 50% and lowers cost by... Read more →

From June 2022, there will be a new tariff system for the approximately 300,000 charging points in the Mercedes me Charge network in Europe. Mercedes me Charge will offer three new charging tariffs tailored to individual driving performance. Mercedes me Charge offers customers access to more than 850 charging point... Read more →

ZeroAvia, a developer of hydrogen-electric aviation, signed an MoU and announced a new partnership with the hydrogen fueling firm ZEV Station to develop green hydrogen refueling infrastructure for airports in California. The companies will work together on developing an initial regional airport project that represents sufficient scale to showcase how... Read more →

The Jeep is ending the sale in France of non-electrified internal combustion engines (ICE) on all the Renegade and Compass ranges; the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee being already only available in 4xe plug-in hybrid versions. e-Hybrid versions of Renegade and Compass replace ICE engines, including diesel versions. Customers can... Read more →

Hertz and Polestar, the Swedish premium electric performance car maker, announced a new global partnership that includes purchasing up to 65,000 electric vehicles (EVs) over five years. Availability is expected to begin in Spring 2022 in Europe and late 2022 in North America and Australia. Hertz will initially order Polestar... Read more →

Volvo Cars reported sales of 58,677 cars worldwide in March, a decline by 22.1% compared with the same month last year. During the first quarter, the number of cars sold increased gradually to a total of 148,295 cars as the supply chain constraints affecting Volvo Cars and the auto industry... Read more →

Volkswagen of America reported Q1 2022 sales of 64,993 units (down 28.5% from 2021). SUVs accounted for 76% of total sales in Q1; the battery-electric ID.4 sales totaled 2,755 units in Q1 (4.2%). Tiguan, the top seller in Q1 2021 dropped 33% to 18,233 units in Q1 2022, while retaining... Read more →

Firefly, a fast-growing in-car and car-top mobility media company and a Google Ventures-backed startup, will collaborate with Hyundai in promoting its vehicles—including EVs—to rideshare fleets and drivers across key US cities. The vehicles will be ready to have Firefly’s in-car and on-car screens installed, generating advertising revenue to subsidize the... Read more →

Protean Electric, a leader of in-wheel motor (IWM) technology for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and future transport solutions, announced a new partnership between Dongfeng Motor Corporation Technical Center and Protean’s joint venture in China, Wuxi Weifu Electric Drive Technology (WFDT). The DFM Technical Center and WFDT partnership that will... Read more →

ExxonMobil has made a final investment decision for the Yellowtail development offshore Guyana after receiving government and regulatory approvals. The company’s fourth, and largest, project in the Stabroek Block is expected to produce approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day starting in 2025. Yellowtail production from the ONE GUYANA floating... Read more →

Volta Trucks revealed its first Volta Trucks Hub that will deliver its Truck-as-a-Service customer-focused operations as the first full-electric Volta Zeros start customer evaluation in mid-2022. This milestone confirms the first location where vehicles will be serviced and maintained in Paris, with confirmation of the London Hub location due shortly.... Read more →

Fleet electrification provider Zeem Solutions has opened its first commercial EV transportation-as-a-service depot in Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The depot, a hub for zero-emission vehicle services, is the largest commercial EV charging installation in the US that supports medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle fleets. The LA-area... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Surrey (UK) are developing a process to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air and then use dynamic catalysis to create methanol—a valuable chemical that, made this way, could be carbon-negative. Its value could offset the cost of direct air capture. The carbon negative chemicals... Read more →

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, are presenting a framework for comparing how different micromobility vehicles, such as e-scooters, and bicycles move in cities, a methodology that can benefit companies and local authorities alike, and contribute to improving traffic safety. Their open-access paper appears in the Journal of Safety... Read more →

Cycling is climate-friendly and cost-effective and therefore plays a role in shaping a turnaround in transport policy. However, in many places the necessary infrastructure is not yet suitable for getting cyclists from A to B safely and comfortably. In order to be able to plan cycle paths more efficiently and... Read more →