Pony.ai, a global autonomous driving technology company, has been issued a fully driverless autonomous vehicle road test permit by the Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone. With this new permit, Pony.ai will deploy ten driverless robotaxis for testing in challenging urban traffic scenarios across a 20 square kilometer (7.7... Read more →

In 2021, proved reserves of natural gas set a new record in the United States, and proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate increased, but not quite to pre-pandemic levels, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Energy demand rose from the 2020 lows that resulted from the... Read more →

The Romanian Municipality of Bucharest (Municipiul Bucuresti) has executed a contract for the supply of 100 Solaris Trollino 12 trolleybuses, with a base contract value of almost €60 million. The vehicles will arrive in the Romanian capital at the end of 2024. The Bucharest Municipality (Municipiul Bucuresti) has selected Solaris... Read more →

In 2021, Moscow announced that it was planning to bring back river public transport after an absence of 16 years. (Earlier post.) Two electric river vessels—Sinichka and Filka—are currently being tested in Moscow; the vessels have already passed about 7 thousand kilometers along the Moscow River. Since September, the electric... Read more →

A team from the University of Calgary and Rice University has used flash joule heating (FJH) (earlier post) to convert low-value asphaltenes—a by-product of crude oil refining—into a high-value carbon allotrope, asphaltene-derived flash graphene (AFG). Flash graphene from asphaltenes. (A) Schematic conceptualization of sustainable valorization of asphaltene. (B) Photograph of... Read more →

NEO Battery Materials, a developer of silicon anode materials, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with an Asia-based producer of high-purity silicon powder through recycling silicon by-product waste from solar photovoltaic cell and semiconductor manufacturing. The recycler will remain confidential until officially disclosed. The purpose is to enhance the price... Read more →

Albemarle Lithium Pty Ltd has awarded Metso Outotec an order for two pyro processing and comminution lines for their Kemerton lithium hydroxide processing plant in Western Australia. Previously, Metso Outotec has delivered two similar pyro process lines to the plant. Metso Outotec’s delivery consists of rotary calciner kilns and coolers,... Read more →

Graphex Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Graphex Group and a mid-stream processor of natural graphite for use in Li-ion power batteries, entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australia-based Reforme Group , a private mining and development group involved in developing processing, to create a strategic alliance... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Vienna (Austria) have demonstrated that tire wear particle (TWP)-derived compounds are readily taken up by lettuce with measured maximum leaf concentrations between ∼0.75 for N-phenyl-N′-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) and 20 μg g–1 for hexamethoxymethyl melamine (HMMM). In an open-access paper in the ACS journal Environmental Science &... Read more →

In Germany, the publicly-funded 6G-ICAS4Mobility (6G Integrated Communication & Sensing for Mobility) project aims to more closely interconnect the communication and sensing systems (ICAS), which currently run separately, and to integrate them into a single 6G system. Over the next three years, the project will develop crucial foundations of the... Read more →

The HyEkoTank project plans to retrofit an 18.600 DWT product tanker with a 2.4 MW fuel cell system by TECO 2030 and 4000 kg compressed hydrogen storage for demonstration in 2024. The project has now finalized a grant agreement for €5 million under the funding scheme HORIZON EUROPE. (Earlier post.)... Read more →

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, with collaborators from Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are advancing the Exascale Additive Manufacturing project (ExaAM). ExaAM seeks to use exascale simulation to enable the design of... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä will supply its hybrid propulsion system for four new heavy lift vessels being built at the Wuhu Shipyard in China. The vessels have been contracted by SAL Heavy Lift GmbH, a German heavy lift and project cargo specialist and part of the Harren Group, in cooperation... Read more →

Researchers from The University of Birmingham in the UK have demonstrated that the direct reuse of aluminum and copper current collectors from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is possible. An open-access paper on their study is published in the RSC journal Green Chemistry. Zhu et al. The ever-increasing number of spent... Read more →

Iberdrola Australia and Australia-based hydrogen developer ABEL Energy will build a green hydrogen and green methanol production plant at Bell Bay in northern Tasmania (Australia). The project, called Bell Bay Powerfuels, is backed by the Australian government and will involve an investment of €1.1 billion. The Bell Bay Powerfuels Project... Read more →

In February 2022, GTI Energy, S&P Global Commodity Insights and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) launched the Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI), a collaboration to further transparency into the environmental impact of hydrogen production and help unlock its full potential as an important driver of energy transitions. According to S&P... Read more →

Hyundai Heavy Industries successfully verified the performance of a recently developed 1.5MW-class LNG/hydrogen engine, which can selectively use diesel and a mixture of LNG and hydrogen to reduce emissions. Hyundai Heavy says the engine is a first step toward hydrogen-fueled engines. In performance tests, the engine met IMO Tier 3... Read more →

Battery anode and materials company Talga Group reported that recent testing by a global Tier-1 EV manufacturer of unblended Talnode-Si—demonstrated ~5x the energy capacity of graphite-only commercial anodes (1,800mAh/g vs 360mAh/g). Talnode-Si is a composite of graphite, graphene and ~50% silicon designed to boost battery energy capacity when blended into... Read more →

The Nikkei reports that in 2024, Japan will begin to extract rare earth materials for electric vehicles and hybrids from sea bottom mud in an area off Minami-Torishima Island, a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean about 1,900 kilometers southeast of Tokyo. The government’s aim is to reduce the country’s... Read more →

VIKINGBUS Danmark A/S has ordered 45 MAN Lion’s City 12 E electric buses, which will be on the road in Denmark’s capital city from next year. The transport company won a tender to operate bus routes in Copenhagen from the Public Transport Authority (PTA) Movia and will in future operate... Read more →

Faurecia, a company of the Group FORVIA, Michelin and Stellantis announced the start of exclusive negotiations for Stellantis to acquire a substantial stake in Symbio, a provider ofzero-emission hydrogen mobility, to become a significant player along with existing shareholders Faurecia and Michelin. Symbio’s technical roadmap perfectly matches with Stellantis’ hydrogen... Read more →

CerebrumX Lab, an AI-driven automotive data services & management platform (earlier post), is partnering with Toyota to provide real-time insights aimed at making connected fleet operations safer and cost-effective. The partnership is focused on reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for fleets by utilizing embedded telematics data from participating... Read more →

Fukuoka Prefecture and Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation (CJPT) have entered a partnership agreement that includes jointly implementing initiatives to expand the adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles (FC mobility) for vehicles in the logistics industry, public transportation, and official government use. The aim is to advance the development of... Read more →

Faction Technology, a driverless-technology company offering solutions that solve inefficiencies in micro-logistics and vehicles on demand, is bringing driverless delivery to portions of the San Francisco Bay Area. Faction’s first partner is Cocola Bakery, which is using Faction to deliver to its customers around the metro region. Deliveries will be... Read more →

Australia’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources released the December 2022 edition of the Resources and Energy Quarterly (REQ). Among its findings are that lithium export earnings are expected to exceed $16 billion in 2022–23, up from $5 billion in 2021–22. This will make lithium Australia’s sixth-largest resource and energy... Read more →

Umicore, a circular materials technology company, and Nano One Materials Corp. signed a non-exclusive Joint Development Agreement (JDA) on production process technologies for cathode active materials (CAM) for lithium-ion batteries. Under the agreement, Umicore will evaluate Nano One’s patented M2CAM (metal direct to cathode) One-Pot process technology with the intention... Read more →

NFI Group subsidiary Alexander Dennis has received an order for an additional 50 zero-emission double-deck buses from Transport for Greater Manchester, doubling the total on order for the franchised Bee Network bus system to 100. These additional 50 British-built electric buses will enter service in parts of Bury, Rochdale and... Read more →

Contemporary Amperex Technology Thuringia GmbH (CATT), CATL’s first plant outside of China, has begun serial production of lithium-ion battery cells in December as scheduled. The first batch of lithium-ion battery cells rolled off the newly installed production line under series condition in CATT’s G2 building. The installation and commissioning of... Read more →

The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted a permit to fly for ZeroAvia’s Dornier 228 aircraft, which has been retrofitted with its prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain. ZeroAvia secured the permit to fly following an extensive ground testing campaign and a rigorous review of the full development program. (Earlier post.) Ground... Read more →

Hydrogen infrastructure company GenH2 launched the LS20 Mobile Liquid Hydrogen System, an end-to-end liquefication and storage system. The mobile liquefaction unit offers a space-optimized, fully integrated liquid hydrogen solution to be used in a range of applications from transportation to energy backup to accelerating the use of liquid hydrogen through... Read more →

Business Finland awarded Neste with a public funding of €27.7 million for green hydrogen projects at Neste’s refinery in Porvoo, Finland, aiming to develop solutions for renewable hydrogen production. In July 2022, Neste became the first Finnish company to receive IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) status from the... Read more →

QuantumScape Corporation has shipped its first 24-layer prototype lithium-metal battery cells to automotive OEMs for testing. Delivery of these cells, referred to as A0 samples, was the company’s key public milestone for the year, and achieving this goal represents an important step toward the commercialization of this technology, the company... Read more →

Researchers at KAUST and Aramco have developed a three-dimensional molybdenum disulfide foam with a structural hierarchy across seven orders of magnitude. The foam provides an interpenetrating network for efficient charge transport, rapid ion diffusion, and mechanically resilient and chemically stable support for electrochemical reactions. The extraordinary electrochemical performance of molybdenum... Read more →

Raven SR, a renewable fuels company, and Chart Industries will collaborate globally on the liquefaction, storage, and transportation of hydrogen as well as pure carbon dioxide produced from Raven SR’s non-combustion Steam/CO2 Reformation process of converting waste to renewable fuel. Raven SR produces transportation-grade hydrogen as well as Fischer-Tropsch synthetic... Read more →

LanzaTech announced that its DRAGON facility project (earlier post) has received a £25-million (~US$31-million) grant from the UK Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund Competition. LanzaTech’s Project DRAGON, which stands for Decarbonizing and Reimagining Aviation for the Goal Of Netzero, will convert waste gases into synthetic kerosene for use in... Read more →

The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission adopted rules this week (3-1) to require all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in Oregon to be zero emissions (ZEVs) by 2035. These include both battery-electric and fuel-cell-electric vehicles, as well as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The commission is the policy and rulemaking... Read more →

Nikola Corporation has received a California Air Resources Board (CARB) Zero Emission Powertrain (ZEP) Executive Order that is a requirement for Nikola’s Tre hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) to be eligible for CARB’s Hybrid and Zero Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) program. Following receipt of this... Read more →

Russia-based Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel producer, as well as one of the leading platinum and copper producers, announced the successful placement of CNY (Chinese Yuan) 5 billion (~US$716 million ) exchange-traded bonds (series БО-001Р-06-CNY) on 22 December. Nornickel said that the deal is an... Read more →

Electra Battery Materials (earlier post) launched a demonstration plant designed to recover and recycle high-value elements found in lithium-ion batteries, including nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper, and graphite at its refinery complex north of Toronto. With the outlook for electric vehicle adoption in North America becoming increasingly bullish as a result... Read more →

LG Chem entered an equity investment agreement worth 24 billion KRW (US$18.6 million) with the waste battery recycling company, Jae Young Tech. Based on this equity investment, the two companies plan to establish a battery recycling joint venture in North America by the end of 2023. LG Chem will lead... Read more →

As of 2026, Audi will only launch all-electric models onto the global market, gradually phasing out production of its combustion models by 2033. Based on this clear decision made as part of its Vorsprung 2030 corporate strategy, Audi is now taking steps to prepare its global facilities for the production... Read more →

Blue World Technologies has started the series production of its methanol fuel cells, marked with the official inauguration of the 8,500 m2 Blue Aalborg Factory. The fuel cell factory, which initially has an annual production capacity of 250,000 individual fuel cells, is located in an industrial area at the Port... Read more →

Smithers, a leading provider of testing, consulting, information, and compliance services, released a new whitepaper reporting the effects of temperature on tire rolling resistance. Tire rolling resistance is closely related to overall vehicle fuel economy or range in both ICE and electric vehicles (EVs). Currently, it is understood that rolling... Read more →

By the end of this decade, Daimler Buses intends to offer all-electric coaches with its Mercedes-Benz and Setra brands. To accelerate development, Daimler Buses has teamed up with research institutes and experts from the industry to form the Electrified Coach project (ELCH). The project is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry... Read more →

Solid Power, a developer of all-solid-state battery and sulfide-based electrolyte technology, has deepened its partnership with the BMW Group. (Earlier post.) Under an expanded Joint Development Agreement, Solid Power has granted the BMW Group a research and development license to Solid Power’s all-solid-state cell design and manufacturing know-how. The broadened... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) issued a notice of intent (DE-FOA-0002919) for potential funding to accelerate the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of affordable clean-hydrogen technologies. This potential funding will reduce the cost and improve the performance of technologies for both hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cells and will advance... Read more →

Fulcrum BioEnergy, a clean energy company pioneering the creation of renewable, drop-in transportation fuels from landfill waste, successfully produced a low-carbon synthetic crude oil using landfill waste as a feedstock at its Sierra BioFuels Plant, the world’s first commercial-scale landfill waste-to-fuels plant. After more than a decade of dedication and... Read more →

Ebusco, a developer of electric buses and charging systems, revealed the first Ebusco 3.0 18-meter bus. With a starting weight of just 14,500 kg, the bus is ground-breaking in terms of weight. Combining the lightweight body with efficient battery packs of 350+ and 500+ kWh, the Ebusco 3.0 18-meter has... Read more →

Africa can produce 50 million tons of green hydrogen a year by 2035, according to a new study by the European Investment Bank (EIB), International Solar Alliance and the African Union, with the support of the Government of Mauritania, HyDeal and UCLG Africa. Green hydrogen is economically viable at €2/kg... Read more →

Rice University scientists led by chemist James Tour have used an ultrafast flash recycling method to regenerate the graphite anode from spent Li-ion batteries and recover valuable battery metal resources. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering; Tour introduced... Read more →