Honda Motor and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) announced plans to establish a new 50/50 joint venture (JV) company, ALTNA Co., Ltd. (ALTNA), in July 2024. The new JV is based on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) the two companies signed in October 2023 to begin discussions toward the creation of new... Read more →

OCSiAl has completed the construction of a facility for the production of single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) dispersions in Serbia to support the manufacturing of high-performance batteries. Output has been contracted by leading global EV producers and collaborations with the world’s largest Li-ion battery cell manufacturers. The current dispersion production... Read more →

A new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds that the sharp growth in US renewable diesel production and capacity is causing significant, market-altering shifts both domestically and to foreign feedstock trade. Renewable diesel, like biodiesel, is produced from the same renewable feedstocks such as vegetable oils, animal... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced six projects selected to receive approximately $9.3 million in federal funding to develop technology solutions to make clean hydrogen a more available and affordable fuel for electricity generation, industrial decarbonization, and transportation. The projects will... Read more →

Presented in sketch form last October in Boulogne Billancourt, the H24EVO is on display in the Hydrogen Village at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pierre Fillon and Jean-Michel Bouresche, co-presidents of MissionH24 and partners in the program, revealed the model of the brand-new electric hydrogen prototype. Credit : Alexis... Read more →

ArcelorMittal and ZF signed a memorandum of understanding combining ArcelorMittal’s XCarb recycled and renewably produced steel and ZF’s manufacturing. XCarb recycled and renewably produced steel is produced in an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), using high levels of scrap and 100% renewable electricity for the EAF smelting process, backed by Guarantees... Read more →

Echion Technologies, a developer of niobium-based, fast-charging battery materials, has successfully completed its Series B funding round, raising £29 million (US$ 37 million) in investment capital. The round was led by specialist battery and energy storage technology investor Volta Energy Technologies, with participation from existing investors CBMM, BGF, and Cambridge... Read more →

Archer Aviation announced that on 8 June its Midnight aircraft successfully completed transition flying at a speed of 100+ mph. Archer has now achieved transition with two different full-scale eVTOL aircraft. Transition is well known in the industry as a very difficult milestone few companies have reached. At ~6,500 lbs,... Read more →

Wright Electric reports that it had completed development of the rotor for its second-generation motor, WM2500, as part of the ARPA-E ASCEND program. WM2500 aims to be the world's most powerful (2.5 megawatts) and power-dense (16 kW/kg) electric aircraft engine. High power enables WM2500 to deliver sufficient takeoff thrust for... Read more →

As part of its ongoing investigation, the European Commission has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidization, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers. The investigation also examined the likely consequences and impact of measures on... Read more →

TMC has successfully produced the world’s first cobalt sulfate derived exclusively from seafloor polymetallic nodules. The cobalt sulfate was generated during bench-scale testing of TMC’s hydrometallurgical flowsheet design with SGS Canada Inc. (“SGS”). The test work was carried out at SGS’ Metallurgical Centre of Excellence testing facility in Lakefield, Ontario.... Read more →

Major French industrial leaders Danone and Michelin, the American start-up DMC Biotechnologies and Crédit Agricole Centre France, a key investor in the region, have agreed to create the Biotech Open Platform to bolster the development of advanced fermentation processes, particularly precision fermentation, on a larger scale. Precision fermentation is a... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company’s XCIENT Fuel Cell electric heavy-duty trucks recently surpassed a cumulative driving distance of 10 million km in Swiss fleet usage. This achievement was made in just three years and eight months since the XCIENT Fuel Cell began fleet operations in Switzerland in October 2020. Hyundai sid that... Read more →

Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Daimler Truck signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to study the establishment and optimization for the supply of liquid hydrogen. The collaboration represents an advancement in ongoing efforts to broaden the use of liquid hydrogen, e.g. in road freight transport. The mutual initiative includes the study... Read more →

OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy producer in Southeast Europe, will invest approximately €750 million at Petrobrazi to transform the refinery into the first major producer of sustainable fuels in the region. The company has made the final investment decision to build a SAF/HVO facility along with two facilities for... Read more →

Neste, Borealis and Covestro have signed a project agreement to enable the recycling of discarded tires into high-quality plastics for automotive applications. The collaboration aims at driving circularity in plastics value chains and the automotive industry. When no longer fit for use, tires are liquefied by means of chemical recycling... Read more →

The EU, EFTA & UK saw a 9% decrease in EV sales in May this year compared to the same month last year, according to data released by Rho Motion. The news comes just as the EU is poised to announce a further increase in tariffs on Chinese electric cars.... Read more →

Emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O)—a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential approximately 300 times larger than carbon dioxide—continued unabated between 1980 and 2020, a year when more than 10-million metric tons were released into the atmosphere primarily through farming practices, according to a new report by the Global Carbon... Read more →

Silicon Mobility, an Intel company and a provider of automotive semiconductor and software control solutions, announced the OLEA U310 Field Programmable Control Unit (FPCU) as part of its next generation of OLEA FPCU Series. The new OLEA U310 consolidates the functionalities of multiple traditional microcontrollers into a single system on... Read more →

Daimler Truck is introducing the new TruckCharge brand in Europe. This name brings together all the company’s existing and future offerings relating to e-infrastructure and the charging of electric trucks, i.e. consulting, hardware and digital services. In this way, Daimler Truck intends to provide customers with a cost-efficient overall package,... Read more →

To help customers’ transition to electric transport, Scania CV AB has formed Erinion, a new company specializing in private and semi-public charging solutions. The strategic move will see 40,000 new charging points installed at customer locations and will strengthen the Scania Group’s e-Mobility offer in the future transport ecosystem. The... Read more →

Transphorm has released a new 300 W DC-to-DC GaN reference design for 2- and 3-wheeled electric vehicle battery chargers. The TDDCDC-TPH-IN-BI-LLC-300W-RD design uses TP65H150G4PS 150 mOhm SuperGaN FETs in a TO-220 package to power a high performing, high efficiency energy harvesting and distribution battery charging system. The new board notably... Read more →

Zero, a company developing and manufacturing whole-blend synthetic, non-biological fuels—gasoline, diesel and jet fuel—using just carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water—has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus to advance the development of synthetic Sustainable Aviation Fuel (eSAF) and enable commercial-scale adoption of the technology by... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects crude oil production in the Permian Basin to average about 6.3 million barrels per day in 2024, an increase of nearly 8% from 2023. The Permian Basin accounts for nearly half of US crude oil production, and EIA expects increased production in the... Read more →

Microchip Technology announced an On-Board Charger (OBC) solution that uses a selection of its automotive-qualified digital, analog, connectivity and power devices, including the dsPIC33C Digital Signal Controller (DSC), the MCP14C1 isolated SiC gate driver and mSiC MOSFETs in an industry-standard D2PAK-7L XL package. This solution is designed to increase an... Read more →

The Japanese technology company Asahi Kasei has successfully achieved proof of concept (POC) of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using its proprietary high ionic conductive electrolyte. The electrolyte allows for increased power output even at low-temperature, and improved durability at high temperature – both pressing issues of current LIBs. Furthermore, this technology... Read more →

BASF Stationary Energy Storage GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, and NGK INSULATORS, LTD. (NGK), a Japanese ceramics manufacturer, have released an advanced container-type NAS battery (sodium-sulfur battery). (Earlier post.) The new product NAS MODEL L24 has been jointly developed by NGK and BASF and is characterized by a... Read more →

Altilium and Enva, a recycling and resource recovery specialist, announced a new strategic partnership for the collection and recycling of EV batteries in the UK. The partnership brings together Enva’s nationwide collection infrastructure and extensive relationships with car dealerships, along with Altilium’s expertise in the recycling of old EV batteries... Read more →

Critical Metals, a mining development company focused on critical metals and minerals, has signed a binding heads of agreement to acquire a controlling interest (92.5%) in the Tanbreez Greenland Rare Earth Mine from Rimbal Pty Ltd., a company controlled by geologist Gregory Barnes, in a deal valued at $211 million.... Read more →

National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) researchers recently scaled up hydrogen production tests by increasing the catalyst load from 500 grams to 4.5 kilograms, a significant step toward advancing hydrogen production technology. The patented NETL catalyst helps to enable a process called catalytic methane pyrolysis (CMP), which breaks down methane into... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group brand Elli has presented the new Elli Charger 2, equipped with a wide range of services. Volkswagen customers can now purchase their electric vehicle, charger, and electricity tariff in an easy and integrated manner from a single source. In the future, they will also be able to... Read more →

Rio Tinto has agreed to acquire Mitsubishi Corporation’s 11.65% interest in Boyne Smelters Ltd (BSL), which owns and operates the Boyne Island aluminum smelter in Gladstone, Australia. On completion of this transaction, and the recent agreement to acquire Sumitomo Chemical Company’s 2.46% interest in BSL, Rio Tinto’s interest in BSL... Read more →

New ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) show that large SUVs are not as safe as one might assume, given their imposing sizes. The Jeep Wagoneer is the only model out of three popular large SUVs tested to qualify for a 2024 TOP SAFETY PICK award. Other... Read more →

The most recent annual consumer survey by AAA on Electric Vehicles (EVs) indicates a decline in consumer interest in purchasing EVs. Only 18% of US adults say they would be “very likely” or “likely” to buy a new or used EV (not a hybrid)—down from 23% last year. 63% cited... Read more →

TNO and Elcogen recently joined forces and initiated a collaboration agreement under the Important Projects of Common European Interest scheme (IPCEI) to develop advanced solid oxide electrolyzer (SOE) technology for future market demands. The primary objective of the partnership is to drive innovation within important projects of common European interest,... Read more →

The C919 aircraft completed maiden test flight with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced by Sinopec earlier this month. China’s homegrown large passenger aircraft, the C919 made a soft landing on the runway of Dongying Airport in Shandong Province, marking the first time for the domestic commercial aircraft to be fueled... Read more →

The first national estimates of naturally occurring lithium in groundwater that can be used for drinking water were recently published by the US Geological Surveyas an open-access paper in Environmental Science & Technology. The USGS-led study focuses on groundwater that supplies water to both public and private wells. Ongoing research... Read more →

Global lithium production has more than tripled in the last decade. Current methods of extracting lithium from rock ores or brines are slow and come with high energy demands and environmental costs. They also require sources of lithium which are incredibly concentrated to begin with and are only found in... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) released the DOE Fusion Energy Strategy 2024. DOE Fusion Energy Strategy 2024 is organized around three pillars: closing the science and technology (S&T) gaps to a commercially relevant fusion pilot plant; preparing the path to sustainable, equitable commercial fusion deployment; and building and leveraging... Read more →

Glocal Green AS and Norwegian Hydrogen entered into a cooperation agreement for the development and establishment of hydrogen production in connection with Glocal Green’s planned bio-methanol plant. The hydrogen production will be organized into a separate jointly owned company. The bio-methanol will be produced from low-grade biological residual materials and... Read more →

CSSC Power (Group) Corporation Limited (CPGC) will install its Onboard Carbon Capture System (OCCS) on multiple liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and utilize BASF’s OASE blue technology. To this end, both parties signed a Framework Agreement on the actual ship application of the OCCS at the 2024 Shanghai International Carbon... Read more →

Element Fuels Holdings, LLC, a company founded to develop and operate scalable, next-generation clean fuels production, has completed site preparation and pre-construction on a new hydrogen-powered refinery and combined-cycle power plant within the Port of Brownsville, Texas. The Element complex is designed to produce and recycle hydrogen using advanced technologies... Read more →

A project to realise a hydrogen fuel cell Toyota Hilux pick-up (earlier post) has moved into its next and final phase. Since the unveiling of the first prototype vehicle in September 2023, Toyota and its consortium partners, supported by UK Government funding, have reached an intensive evaluation and demonstration stage.... Read more →

UP.FIT, which upfits Teslas for fleet use, introduced the first Tesla Cybertruck Patrol vehicle ready for use by public safety officials. The UP.FIT Cybertruck combines Tesla’s electric vehicle technology with Unplugged Performance’s expertise in vehicle modification and adaptation to deliver a complete turn-key solution to meet the needs of police... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today issued new vehicle fuel economy standards for model years 2027-2031. In this final CAFE rule, fuel economy will increase 2% per year for model years 2027-2031 for passenger cars, while light trucks will increase 2% per year for model... Read more →

The EU’s anticipated tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles could have little impact on the profitability of manufacturers, suggested research house Rho Motion at its Rho Motion Live Conference in Paris this week. Speaking to a room of industry leaders from the world of electric vehicles and the associated value chain,... Read more →

Polestar is taking the next steps in reducing its supply chain emissions by integrating renewable fuels on its ocean freight routes, which account for around 75% of Polestar’s total transportation emissions. Polestar is now also operating its Vehicle Processing Centre (VPC) in Belgium on 100% renewable electricity. The VPC acts... Read more →

Results from the world’s first in-flight study of the impact of using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in both engines of a commercial aircraft show a reduction in soot particles and formation of contrail ice crystals compared to using conventional Jet A-1 fuel. The ECLIF3 study (earlier post), in which... Read more →

32GROUP, the exclusive distributor for ZM Trucks’ zero emission Battery Electric and Fuel Cell Electric commercial vehicle products in select markets of West Asia, North Africa, and Southern Europe, placed its first 900-unit truck order with ZO Motors North America for sales in their region during the recent Advanced Clean... Read more →

Hydrogen Vehicle Systems (HVS), the UK’s first Hydrogen Fuel Cell truck OEM, signed a Partnership Agreement with Explore Plant & Transport Solutions (Explore) to supply 30 HVS hydrogen electric tractor units for the company’s fleet. The vehicles will be supported by a service and maintenance plan, full training on the... Read more →