Volvo Cars and DiDi Autonomous Driving, the self-driving technology arm of Didi Chuxing, the world’s leading mobility technology platform, have signed a strategic collaboration agreement on autonomous vehicles for DiDi’s self-driving test fleet. Volvo Cars will provide DiDi with XC90 cars equipped with necessary backup systems for functions such as... Read more →

RWE Supply & Trading and Australian hydrogen project developer The Hydrogen Utility Pty Ltd (H2U) have joined forces to develop hydrogen trading between Australia and Germany. Together, they aim to bring green hydrogen produced in Australia to Europe. This is in line with the objective of HySupply, a 24-month German-Australian... Read more →

Origin Energy’s export-scale liquid hydrogen project has reached an important milestone, with the signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Port of Townsville to collaborate on the potential expansion of the port, as well as the development of a liquefaction facility, new berth and associated infrastructure. Origin is collaborating... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 28th annual Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (GHG Inventory), which presents a national-level overview of annual greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2019. Key findings from the 1990-2019 US Inventory include: In 2019, US greenhouse gas emissions totaled 6,558... Read more →

Sinopec Capital, as the industrial investment arm of Sinopec Group—one of the world’s largest integrated energy and chemicals companies—announced an investment in LanzaTech with a focus on promoting direct production of chemicals from waste carbon. Petrochemicals account for around 12% of global oil demand—a share that is expected to increase.... Read more →

Under the name “Green Wilhelmshaven,” Germany-based international energy company Uniper plans to establish a German national hub for hydrogen in Wilhelmshaven and is working on a corresponding feasibility study. Plans include an import terminal for green ammonia. The terminal will be equipped with an ammonia cracker for producing green hydrogen... Read more →

NIO and Sinopec unveiled the NIO Power Swap Station 2.0 at Sinopec’s Chaoying Station in Beijing. This is NIO’s inaugural second-generation battery swap station and also the first under the NIO-Sinopec partnership, representing the rollout of NIO Power Swap Station 2.0. (Earlier post.) As a smart battery swap system enabled... Read more →

Continental and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will work together going forward within the scope of a new development cooperation. The goal of their long-term collaboration, with AWS serving as the preferred cloud provider, is to develop Continental Automotive Edge (CAEdge): a modular hardware and software platform that connects the vehicle... Read more →

Strategy Analytics’ Automotive Connected Mobility service released its H1 2021 Global Ride-Hailing Market Update and its associated Global Ride-Hailing Forecast, tracking more than 140 unique operators across 119 different countries. Although 2020 was tough for ride-hailing operators everywhere, with a decline of 18% in worldwide total revenue (gross bookings) across... Read more →

The Washington State legislature has passed legislation that sets a target for all MY2030 or later passenger and light-duty vehicles sold in Washington State to be electric vehicles. The new law establishes the most aggressive such state goal in the US—five years ahead of California’s 2035 target. Clean Cars 2030... Read more →

Via over-the-air (OTA) software updates, Ford will offer its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving technology later this year on 2021 F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E models equipped with the available Ford Co-Pilot360 Active 2.0 Prep Package. Over-the-air software updates allow owners of select Ford vehicles to update software from the convenience... Read more →

A new report from the Strategy Analytics In-Vehicle UX (IVX) service, “Consumer Interest in EVs: Lingering Concerns Meet a COVID Bump,” surveyed car owners across the US, UK, and China regarding their interest in and concerns with BEV ownership. While interest in BEV and hybrid ownership is relatively strong in... Read more →

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) has published findings and data from its inaugural study counting the number of people biking and walking on Los Angeles streets. The count, which took place at 63 intersections over several weekends in 2019, reveals trends in active transportation while observing the demographics... Read more →

When winter storms threaten to make travel dangerous, people often turn to salt, spreading it liberally over highways, streets and sidewalks to melt snow and ice. But a new study led by Sujay Kaushal of the University of Maryland warns that introducing salt into the environment—whether it's for de-icing roads,... Read more →

Volvo Cars, Zoox and SAIC are among the growing number of leading transportation companies using the newest NVIDIA DRIVE solutions to power their next-generation AI-based autonomous vehicles. NVIDIA’s design-win pipeline for NVIDIA DRIVE now totals more than $8 billion over the next six years, reflecting a growing range of next-generation... Read more →

REE Automotive Ltd (REE) announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Magna International to bring to market Modular Electric Vehicles (MEVs) for tech companies and new electric mobility players under the “Powered by REE” brand. The strategic collaboration will explore the combination of REE’s REEcorner technology (earlier post) with Magna’s vehicle... Read more →

China is positioning itself to dominate the global supply of copper, a material in high demand as the world transitions to alternative energy systems, according to experts from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “If China’s dominance of rare earth element supplies is the global energy transition’s ‘elephant in... Read more →

Plug Power Inc. has been invited to submit a Part II Application for a loan guarantee under the US Department of Energy (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. The invitation for the Part II application is for a proposed $520-million loan guarantee from the DOE to support the use of... Read more →

LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation have agreed to settle all legal disputes relating to EV batteries in the United States and Korea. As a result, all litigation between the companies, which began in April 2019, is resolved. In this agreement, the two companies agreed to the following terms. SK... Read more →

A team of scientists from Heriot-Watt University has found the waters in the Faroe-Shetland Channel (FSC) are teeming with oil-eating bacteria. The FSC is a deepwater sub-Arctic region where the oil and gas industry has been active for the last 40 years. An open-access paper on the research was published in... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has started KINTO Europe GmbH, a limited liability company with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. Toyota Financial Services Corporation (TFSC), Japan, holds 51% of the company’s shares, with the remaining 49% owned by TME. Both TME and TFSC are wholly owned by Toyota Motor Corporation, based in... Read more →

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its 2021 – 2022 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements; one of the 10 items in the list was “Require Collision Avoidance and Connected Vehicle Technologies on All Vehicles”. These technologies include forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking, which can warn the... Read more →

Through its UPS Flight Forward subsidiary, UPS plans to purchase electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Beta Technologies (BETA) as part of its innovation-driven strategy to identify new ways to help small businesses with sustainable solutions. BETA’s ALIA-250 is the result of 3 years of design and development.... Read more →

Australia-based Fortescue Metals Group, one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore, recently revised its emissions reduction goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030—10 years earlier than its previous target. Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fortescue, will be a key enabler of this target through the... Read more →

Seamus O’Regan Jr., Canadaa’s Minister of Natural Resources, announced the Hydrogen Strategy Implementation Strategic Steering Committee, which will advance and measure the progress outlined in the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada launched in December 2020. (Earlier post.) The committee, co-chaired by Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the availability of $61.4 million for technologies that produce low-cost, low-carbon biofuels. (DE-FOA-0002396) Topic areas for the “Bioenergy Technologies Office Scale-Up and Conversion” funding opportunity include high-impact biotechnology research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to bolster the body of scientific... Read more →

Unifrax, a leading manufacturer of high-performance specialty materials, introduced a new, nano-structured alumina catalyst support technology for the transportation market: Eco-lytic. Housed within a vehicle’s catalytic converter, the Eco-lytic catalyst support fiber is designed to replace the existing catalytic converter or add to existing systems in order to enhance emission... Read more →

Volvo Group and steel-maker SSAB have signed a collaboration agreement on research, development, serial production and commercialization of the world’s first vehicles to be made of fossil-free steel. Volvo plans already this year to start the production of concept vehicles and components from steel made by SSAB using hydrogen. Plans... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) Fuel Cell Business will supply and integrate fuel cell modules into a zero-emission train prototype as part of the FCH2RAIL project in Europe. The main objective of the FCH2RAIL project is to develop, build, test, demonstrate and homologate a scalable, modular and multi-purpose Fuel Cell Hybrid... Read more →

Hydro is exploring the potential for developing and operating hydrogen facilities to meet large internal demand as well as serving an external market, leveraging the company’s industrial and renewable power expertise. We see a substantial potential for industrial hydrogen consumption. Taking a developer and operator role in the hydrogen sector... Read more →

Polestar, the premium electric performance car brand founded by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding, has set a goal of creating the first climate-neutral car by 2030. The Polestar 0 project will drive a ‘design towards zero’ focus by eliminating emissions rather than offsetting by planting trees. The company made the... Read more →

Korea-based Doosan Fuel Cell, a developer of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), will take part in the Korea-China Smart Farm Village project in Pocheon. This complex—comprising smart farms, hydrogen fuel cell generators, logistics systems and housing with leisure facilities—will sit on a 250,000 m2 (62 acre) parcel of land. Sookyung... Read more →

In a new piece of research, BloombergNEF (BNEF) finds that the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH2) made from renewable electricity is set to fall faster than it previously estimated. BNEF now forecasts that green hydrogen from renewables should be cheaper than natural gas (on an energy-equivalent basis) by 2050 in... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts an increase in demand for petroleum products during the 2021 summer driving season as the impacts of COVID-19 diminish in the United States. EIA’s annual Summer Fuels Outlook, released today with EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), expects a 15% increase in US highway... Read more →

Romeo Power, Inc. announced a long-term supply agreement with PACCAR, the manufacturer of light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates, to provide battery packs, modules and battery management systems (BMS) for PACCAR’s battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The Romeo Hercules BEV pack family supports commercial electric... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has become a direct shareholder in EODev (Energy Observer Developments). EODev—along with its partners—is positioning itself as a leading European designer, assembler and distributor zero-emission energy systems on an industrial scale. In early 2020, EODev and TME Fuel Cell Business integrated Toyota’s leading fuel cell technology... Read more →

With the shared goal of accelerating the transition to cost-effective, zero-emissions commercial vehicle and power generator technologies, Loop Energy and BayoTech announced a joint market development agreement for the deployment of hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen fueling infrastructure. The collaboration aims at reducing the complexity of adopting hydrogen electric solutions by... Read more →

NuScale Power has finalized an investment and strategic partnership agreement with JGC Holdings Corporation (JGC HD), a holding company of the world’s leading EPC contractor group companies headquartered in Japan. As part of a commercial relationship with Fluor Corporation—NuScale’s majority investor and EPC partner in the United States—JGC HD will... Read more →

Plug Power, Chart Industries, Inc. and Baker Hughes intend to become cornerstone investors in the formation of the FiveT Hydrogen Fund, a new clean-hydrogen-only private infrastructure fund dedicated to delivering clean hydrogen infrastructure projects at scale. Plug Power intends to commit €160 million ($200 million), and Chart Industries and Baker... Read more →

Stellantis is developing a hydrogen fuel cell powered light commercial vehicle (LCV) in addition to its battery-electric offerings. The company says that fuel cells show great promise—especially for LCVs—as the next level of zero-emission propulsion technology. Fuel cell technology can fulfill customer range expectations combined with towing and payload capacity,... Read more →

Enviva, a global renewable energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), a leading global marine transport group, signed a memorandum of understanding agreement to develop and to deploy an environmentally friendly bulk carrier. The goal of the agreement is to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG)... Read more →

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) announced that DNV has awarded an Approval in Principle (AIP) for the new DSME Rotor Sail System, designed for ultra-large crude oil carriers and LNG carriers. At the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering R&D Center, a certification ceremony for the Rotor Sail System was... Read more →

The UK’s Faraday Institution announced a £22.6-million (US$31-million) commitment to build on its momentum in four key research challenges: extending battery life; battery modelling; recycling and reuse; and solid-state batteries. Also, a focused research project on battery safety has been assembled, integrating research previously carried out in several different projects.... Read more →

Chart Industries Inc., a leading global manufacturer of liquefaction and cryogenic equipment serving multiple applications in the clean energy and industrial gas end markets, including hydrogen, has invested $25 million in Transform Materials for 5% of its equity. Transform Materials is a sustainable chemical technology company that uses microwave plasma... Read more →

On 1 February 2021, a coup d’état in Myanmar brought down the civilian government and imposed military rule. The coup and resulting state of emergency quickly resulted in concerns in China over metal and mineral supplies from its neighbor. Myanmar is the world’s third-biggest miner of tin and in 2020... Read more →

The BMW Group has launched an initiative to protect the deep seas in cooperation with the WWF Germany. In a joint declaration, the BMW Group, WWF and other companies—including the Volvo Group—undertake, as a precautionary measure, not to use deep-ocean minerals or finance deep-sea mining until comprehensive scientific research into... Read more →

Year-on-year gasoline sales in the United States have moved into positive territory for the first time on the one-year anniversary of the first major declines that resulted from COVID-induced stay at home orders. However, demand still trails pre-pandemic levels by a considerable margin, according to the latest data from Oil... Read more →

As part of his more than $2-trillion spending package (“The American Jobs Plan”), President Biden is proposing a $174-billion investment in the EV market in the US. Among the broad elements of the proposal are: Enabling automakers to spur domestic supply chains from raw materials to parts, retool factories to... Read more →

bp will join BMW Group and Daimler Mobility AG in their drive to extend and improve electrification, making electric vehicle charging more convenient, simpler and seamless for drivers. Under their agreement, bp will become a 33.3% partner alongside BMW Group and Daimler Mobility AG in Digital Charging Solutions GmbH (DCS),... Read more →

ExxonMobil and Porsche are testing advanced biofuels and renewable, lower-carbon eFuels as part of a new agreement to find pathways toward potential future consumer adoption. The first iteration of Esso Renewable Racing Fuel is a blend of primarily advanced biofuels and is specially formulated by ExxonMobil’s in-house team of scientists... Read more →