Car users from the world’s least affluent cities are exposed to a disproportionate amount of in-car air pollution because they rely heavily on opening their windows for ventilation, according to a new global study led by researchers at the University of Surrey. In a study published in the journal Science... Read more →
After about a year of intensive practical use by ten customers in Germany and Switzerland, eight of the purely battery-powered Mercedes-Benz eActros trucks are now successively going to new customers in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. They also will put the eActros through its paces in tough everyday transport operations... Read more →
The US Department of Energy announced $33 million in funding for 10 projects as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Rapid Encapsulation of Pipelines Avoiding Intensive Replacement (REPAIR) program. REPAIR teams will develop natural gas transmission pipeline retrofitting technology to rehabilitate existing cast iron and bare steel pipes... Read more →
After growing by more than 2% in 2019, global gas use is set to fall by around 4% in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic reduces energy consumption across the global economies. However, the resulting low gas prices, as well as clean air and climate policies, will promote further switching to... Read more →
Oil markets have returned to relatively stable ground with Brent prices within a narrow $40-$45 per barrel range and could conclusively pass the $50 per barrel mark in the second half of 2021, according to Roger Diwan and the IHS Markit Energy Advisory Service. The IHS Markit Brent price outlook... Read more →
New research by the IHS Markit Canadian Oil Sands Dialogue shows that the combined greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of Canadian oil sands projects has declined 20% from 2009 levels. The new analysis, using most recent data available, shows trends remaining in line with previous IHS Markit projections that oil sands... Read more →
Mercedes-Benz and CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited) announced an enhanced partnership in the field of battery technology. The electric luxury sedan Mercedes-Benz EQS will launch next year equipped with CATL cell modules, delivering a WLTP range of more than 700 km (435 miles). Mercedes-Benz and CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology... Read more →
Octillion Power Systems, a global provider of advanced lithium-ion storage systems for electric mobility (earlier post), announced a new demonstrator program for battery-leasing that allows batteries to be leased to fleet customers when they purchase vehicles. Under the program, participating fleet operators will be allowed to source batteries through a... Read more →
On the heels of the C-V2X direct communications program launch last week in San Diego, Qualcomm announced the launch of a new C-V2X pilot program in Honolulu. Applied Information will exclusively implement C-V2X technologies developed by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., while working with the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) and the... Read more →
Volvo Car Group, including its strategic affiliates Lynk & Co and Polestar, produce vehicles based on the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform, introduced in 2017. To the end of July more than 600,000 group vehicles based on the platform have been sold. The CMA platform, co-developed by Volvo Cars and... Read more →
An Ipsos Auto Global Study has found that new vehicle owners in US, China, EURO5 and Brazil desire autonomous functionality in their next vehicle. We have been through more than four months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are getting signals of a “new normal.” Many employers have encouraged their... Read more →
Ballard Power Systems announced that its proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology and products have now powered Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) in commercial heavy- and medium-duty motive applications for acumulative total of more than 50 million kilometers on roads around the globe, an increase of more than 5-times... Read more →
Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have analyzed 20 cryptocurrencies—accounting for more than 98% of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies—and found that Bitcoin accounts for 2/3 of the total energy consumption of cryptocurrencies. Understudied cryptocurrencies represent the remaining 1/3. Their paper is published in the journal Joule.... Read more →
Brazil-based GranBio announced a strategic alliance with NextChem, the subsidiary of Italian engineering giant Maire Tecnimont dedicated to the energy transition, to co-license its patented technology for the production of second-generation (2G) ethanol worldwide. The partnership will enable the commercialization of this technology globally, combining GranBio’s knowledge in biomass and... Read more →
Half of all plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) on the road in the US in 2019 were mid-size cars. However, PEVs are available in size classes ranging from two-seaters to minivans. Together, compact cars and large cars accounted for nearly 30% of the PEV population. Standard sport utility vehicles (SUVs) accounted... Read more →
In the UK, the competition for the first £10 million (US$13 million) of a new £1-billion (US$1.3 billion) Automotive Transformation Fund has begun. The overall program will offer a share of up to £1 billion of funding for industrial research and capital projects. The aim is to support the industrialization... Read more →
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the Senate in late July includes the bipartisan Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019 (S.999), led by US Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and cosponsored by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.). The Sustainable Chemistry... Read more →
Lyft announced that, following on the success of its rental pilot in California, it is partnering with SIXT rent-a-car to expand car rentals across the US. Starting this August, Lyft riders in Seattle, Las Vegas, and Miami will be able to rent a SIXT car through the Rentals tab in... Read more →
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $100 million in funding over five years for two new awards focused on advancing artificial photosynthesis for the production of fuels from sunlight. The Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA), led by the California Institute of Technology in close partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,... Read more →
A new study of the impact of high EV adoption on the Western US power grid by a team from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has found that 2028 grid resource adequacy—from generation through transmission—is likely to be sufficient for high EV penetration. Under a high-penetration scenario with national electric... Read more →
Although intermetallic alloys potentially have high strength in a high-temperature environment, they generally suffer poor ductility at ambient and low temperatures, hence limiting their applications in aerospace and other engineering fields. Now, researchers led by scientists of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have discovered that adding a small amount... Read more →
The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award up to $28 million to five projects to promote the advancement of the next generation of geothermal energy technologies. Selected by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office these projects align with the goals of the 2019 GeoVision... Read more →
BMW i Ventures has invested in GenXComm, a company with technology that improves the performance and capacity of communication networks, and which aims to increase significantly the speed of global 5G deployment. GenXComm is ushering in the next revolution of computing and connectivity. Autonomous systems, like self-driving cars, are essentially... Read more →
Canadian oil sands production is expected to decline by nearly 175,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2020 as a result of COVID-19—the largest annual decline on record. However, the longer-term trajectory of oil sands production is expected to change little compared to pre-pandemic projections, according to a new 10-year forecast... Read more →
Particulate air pollution continues to cut global life expectancy by nearly two years as progress in some countries counterbalances worsening air quality in others, according to the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI). Produced by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), the AQLI is based on frontier... Read more →
Large improvements of air quality in China during the lockdown have been widely reported, but new research shows that two pollutants harmful to human health—fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone—were only slightly reduced. The study, by scientists from the University of Leeds, UK and the Southern University of Science and... Read more →
Effective January 2021, Toyota Research Institute - Advanced Development, Inc. will expand and improve its operations into a holding company and two operating companies. The holding company will be Woven Planet Holdings, Inc. and the two operating companies under it will be Woven CORE, Inc., which will develop, implement and... Read more →
After years of consistent growth, the connected vehicle industry will face a 15% decline in shipments and flat revenues in 2020, according to projections by ABI Research, a global tech market advisory firm. However, both embedded and aftermarket segments will see accelerated growth in 2021, and sales should return to... Read more →
Octillion Power Systems, a provider of advanced lithium-ion storage systems for electric mobility, announced it has reached two milestones: 100,000 electric vehicles worldwide powered by its batteries and 2 billion kilometers driven. Octillion has seen rapid growth in production capacity, experience, and partnerships over the last decade. With operations in... Read more →
The BMW Group is making sustainability and resource efficiency central to the company’s strategic direction. Chairman of the Board of Management Oliver Zipse announced initial details of this strategic direction in Munich on Monday and presented the targets the company has set itself for the phase up to 2030. The... Read more →
A short poll by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) has found that the disruption caused by COVID-19 will lead to permanent changes in global supply chains, as businesses look to adapt to new ways of working and managing the varying stages of lockdown around the world. This... Read more →
The Volkswagen Group Test Center California has finished an expansion project that furthers the state-of-the-art development center’s capabilities and encompasses additional entities within the company under a new name—the Oxnard Engineering Campus. Supporting Volkswagen Group brands including Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley and Porsche, work at the Oxnard campus is focused on... Read more →
Hyundai Motor Group announced new technologies to improve the quality of air in vehicles and to create a more pleasant in-vehicle environment for customers. Recognizing the growing concern about air quality, the Group unveiled three new air-conditioning technologies: ‘After-Blow’, ‘Multi-Air Mode’, and ‘Fine Dust Indicator’. The technologies will be introduced... Read more →
In a recent report assessing multiple properties of plug-ion electric vehicles (PEVs) solid in the US, a team from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) estimates that the energy savings in the United States due to light-duty PEVs in 2019 was 44.8 trillion Btu, up 47% from 2018. The reduction of energy... Read more →
Ford is using two four-legged robots leased from Boston Dynamics at its Van Dyke Transmission Plant in early August to laser-scan the plant, helping engineers update the original computer-aided design. The robots can be deployed into tough-to-reach areas within the plant to scan the area with laser scanners and high-definition... Read more →
The Office of Inspector General of the US Environmental Protection Agency plans to begin an evaluation of the EPA’s actions on the final Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule Part 2. (Earlier post.) The SAFE rule reduces the increase in stringency of CAFE and CO2 emissions to about 1.5% each... Read more →
Volkswagen, together with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and integration partner Siemens, is opening up the Industrial Cloud (earlier post) to other manufacturing and technology companies. New partner companies will be able to connect with Volkswagen plants and to contribute their own software applications for optimizing production processes to the Industrial... Read more →
The MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future has released a new research brief examining the future of autonomous vehicles. The brief is part of a series of subject-specific research projects by MIT faculty that will help frame national discussion and policies about work, technology, and how we... Read more →
Velodyne Lidar, Inc. announced a three-year sales agreement with PARIFEX, a leading provider of traffic management and speed measurement systems. PARIFEX uses Velodyne lidar sensors in its traffic monitoring solutions which can help reduce road accident rates and enhance roadway safety. PARIFEX equips its NANO-CAM and NOMAD solutions with Velodyne... Read more →
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) will fund 49 new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) research and development projects across 23 states, totaling nearly $53.4 million in funding. Of these projects, the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO)... Read more →
A global survey of more than survey found that more than 120 auto tech leaders by Informa Tech Automotive Group found that 57% expect that COVID-19 will quicken the pace and rate of consolidation within the automotive industry. In addition, with an increased reluctance to use public transportation, more than... Read more →
Toray Industries concluded an agreement with Lilium GmbH to supply carbon fiber composite materials for the Lilium Jet. (Earlier post.) The Lilium Jet is a five-seater, emissions-free aircraft that can take off and land vertically and is designed to provide high-speed regional connections of up to 300km in under 60... Read more →
The BMW Group will pilot the second generation of hydrogen fuel cell drives in a small series in the BMW i Hydrogen NEXT based on the current BMW X5 from 2022. The fuel cell stack and the overall system are original developments of the BMW Group; individual cells of the... Read more →
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for airplanes used in commercial aviation and large business jets. This proposed action would align US standards with the international CO2 emissions standards adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2017, making domestically manufactured aircraft competitive... Read more →
Mercedes-Benz AG is grouping all drive system competencies across the group in the new unit “Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems” within the company. The transformation of Mercedes-Benz AG and its products in line with CO2-free mobility for the future brings with it significant changes for the drive system in particular. Therefore, the... Read more →
Global chemical company BASF and IntelliSense.io, a leading industrial artificial intelligence (AI) company, announced an exclusive partnership which will combine their expertise in mineral processing, ore beneficiation chemistry and industrial AI technology. The joint offering is called the ‘BASF Intelligent Mine powered by IntelliSense.io’ and delivers AI solutions embedded with... Read more →
FCA and Waymo have expanded their autonomous driving technology partnership; FCA became Waymo’s first OEM partner in 2016. Waymo will now work exclusively with FCA as its preferred partner for the development and testing of class 1-3 light commercial vehicles for goods movement for commercial delivery customers, including Waymo Via.... Read more →
Southern California Edison has set fleet electrification goals for 2030: 100% of its light-duty vehicles, 30% of medium-duty vehicles, 8% of heavy-duty vehicles, and 60% of forklifts. SCE estimates that in pursuing its 2030 fleet electrification goals, it will save more than 620,000 gallons of fuel annually and eliminate close... Read more →
The market for software-intensive automotive electronic systems is expected to grow by some 15% annually between now and 2030. Bosch is now establishing a new division, Cross-Domain Computing Solutions. From the start of 2021, existing and new customers will receive electronics systems and the requisite software from a single source:... Read more →
Baker Hughes and Snam have successfully completed testing of the world’s first “hybrid” hydrogen turbine designed for a gas network. The test paves the way to implement adoption of hydrogen blended with natural gas in Snam’s current transmission network infrastructure. The test took place at Baker Hughes’ facility in Florence,... Read more →