Honda is partnering with the V2X Suisse consortium to demonstrate the role of electric vehicles (EVs) and bi-directional charging technology in the future of energy management. Honda will supply 50 Honda e electric vehicles (earlier post) to Switzerland’s car-sharing operator, Mobility. The Honda e units will be used as part... Read more →

Honeywell and FREYR Battery signed an agreement pursuant to which FREYR will, subject to viability, leverage Honeywell’s leading technology offerings, including integrated automation, field instrumentation and security integration solutions in FREYR’s manufacturing process. As part of the collaboration, Honeywell will purchase 19 GWh of battery cells produced by FREYR from... Read more →

The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL), a Minnesota-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing understanding on the benefits of electrification through education, announced a new initiative to accelerate the deployment of electric school buses (ESBs) in electric cooperative service territories throughout the country. BEL launches this coalition effort in advance of federal... Read more →

Ford and ADT Inc. will invest in a new joint venture called Canopy that combines ADT’s professional security monitoring and Ford’s AI-driven video camera technology to help customers strengthen security of new and existing vehicles across automotive brands. The combination of our technologies and our deep security experience creates a... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group and the Bosch Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the establishment of a European battery equipment solution provider. The two companies plan to supply integrated battery production systems as well as on-site ramp-up and maintenance support for battery cell and system manufacturers. The companies... Read more →

Cummins Inc. and Rush Enterprises, Inc. have closed on Cummins’ acquisition of 50% equity interest in Momentum Fuel Technologies from Rush Enterprises. (Earlier post.) The joint venture between Rush Enterprises and Cummins will seek to enhance production of near-zero emissions natural gas powertrains by manufacturing Cummins-branded natural gas fuel delivery... Read more →

According to the US Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), for the 2021 model year, the median driving range of all-electric vehicles (EV) was 234 miles while the median range for gasoline vehicles was 403 miles. Although this is a sizeable difference, VTO noted, EV ranges have been... Read more →

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH has launched a new Ethernet bridge IC—the TC9563XBG—intended for use in automotive zonal-architecture, infotainment, telematics or gateways as well as industrial equipment. The new bridge IC incorporates two 10 Gbps Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC) supporting a number of interfaces including USXGMII, XFI, SGMII, and RGMII.... Read more →

MINI increased worldwide vehicle sales by 3.3% to 302,144 units 2021. Sales of MINI models with electrified drive systems climbed by 64.3% to 53,243 vehicles—around 18% of total worldwide sales in 2021. MINI Electric & MINI Cooper SE Countryman The winner of the year was the fully electric MINI Cooper... Read more →

bp and the Ministry of Energy and Minerals in Oman signed a Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) and a Renewables Data Collection Agreement which will support the potential development of a multiple gigawatt, world-class renewable energy and green hydrogen development in Oman by 2030. As part of the agreement, bp will... Read more →

In its latest report, Tech, Media, & Telecom (TMT) Predictions 2022 – Thematic Research, data and analytics company GlobalData predicts that Tesla and China are set to maintain their dominance in the EV sector. GlobalData also suggests that the lithium shortage will not affect all players equally. In the short... Read more →

thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers recently signed a supply contract with Shell for the large-scale project Hydrogen Holland I in the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Under the contract, thyssenkrupp nucera—formerly thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers—will engineer, procure and fabricate a 200 MW electrolysis plant based on their large-scale 20 MW alkaline... Read more →

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, announced a long-term, strategic alliance with Waymo Via that will advance efforts to integrate commercial autonomous driving technology in transportation and logistics, with ultimate plans to complete fully autonomous transport in Texas in the... Read more →

Chile’s Ministry of Mining awarded China-based BYD a contract to extract up to 80,000 tons of metallic lithium. BYD won the contract—one of two awarded by the Ministry—with an offer of $61 million. The other lithium extraction contract, also for 80,000 tons, went to Chile-based Servicios y Operaciones Mineras del... Read more →

Talon Metals Corp., through its US subsidiary Talon Nickel (USA) LLC, entered into an agreement with Tesla for the supply and purchase of nickel concentrate to be produced from the Tamarack Nickel Project in Aitkin County, Minnesota. The execution of the agreement follows an extensive and detailed due-diligence period performed... Read more →

Battery Resourcers, a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery recycling and engineered materials company, plans to open a commercial-scale, lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Covington, Ga. When the 154,000-square-foot facility is fully operational in August 2022, it will be North America’s largest battery recycling facility with capacity to process 30,000 metric tons... Read more →

LanzaJet, a sustainable fuels technology company and renewable fuels producer, has secured financing for its Freedom Pines Fuels plant in Soperton, Georgia (earlier post), through the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. The Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund has made a $50-million investment to support the construction of LanzaJet’s (and the world’s) first... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), in collaboration with the Algae Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, announced a new AlgaePrize competition for high school through graduate students studying at a US-based high school, college, community college, university, and/or graduate school. Student teams will compete... Read more →

CALSTART has released a new report, Zeroing in on ESBs, an inventory of electric school buses (ESBs). As of September 2021, there were 1,738 ESBs funded, ordered, delivered, and deployed across the US. In total, there are some 480,000 school buses in the US—more than 95% powered by diesel. While... Read more →

Volkswagen drove forward its transformation into a sustainable, software-centric mobility group in 2021 and approximately doubled its deliveries of battery-electric vehicles (BEV) year-on-year to 452,900 units. These now account for 5.1% of total deliveries, up from 2.5% in the previous year. The Group is the European market leader for battery-electric... Read more →

In 2021, the Volkswagen brand delivered more electrified vehicles worldwide than ever before, handing over to customers more than 369,000 electric cars (+73% versus 2020), comprising approximately 106,000 PHEVs (+33%) and 263,000 all-electric vehicles (+97%). In a very short time, we have reached a top position for all-electric vehicles in... Read more →

The BMW Group posted year-on-year sales growth of 8.4% last year, with a total of 2,521,525 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles delivered to customers worldwide. BMW sales reached a new all-time high of 2,213,795 units (+9.1%) last year, with the brand leading the global premium segment. The company more than... Read more →

On 11 November 2021, Johnson Matthey announced its intention to pursue the sale of all or parts of its Battery Materials business with the ultimate intention of exiting. (Earlier post.) Although demand for battery materials is accelerating, so is competition from alternative technologies and other manufacturers, the company said at... Read more →

Polestar, the Swedish premium electric car company founded by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding, delivered on its global sales target of 29,000 vehicles in 2021, representing year-on-year growth exceeding 185%. Polestar has produced two electric performance cars. The Polestar 1 was built between 2019 and 2021 as a low-volume electric... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) selected four new projects to receive up to $8.4 million to establish new geothermal energy and heat production from abandoned oil and gas wells. With this funding, DOE is partnering with existing well owners and operators to use their idle or unproductive wells to... Read more →

Global oil consumption outpaced oil production for the six consecutive quarters ending with the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21), which has led to persistent withdrawals from global oil inventories and significant increases in crude oil prices. Crude oil production remained restrained as a result of curtailments by OPEC+ members, investment... Read more →

BMW i Ventures announced a lead investment in HeyCharge, the German start-up democratizing access to electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in apartment complexes, office buildings and other infrastructure locations. HeyCharge was in Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 batch of start-ups. The rapid growth of the electric vehicle market in coming years... Read more →

Norway-based FREYR Battery and Taiwan-based Aleees, a producer of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials for batteries, have signed a Head of Terms agreement to pursue a joint venture with the ambition to establish an LFP cathode plant in the Nordic region. The joint venture partners will seek to commence... Read more →

General Motors introduced CarBravo, a new marketplace for used vehicles. GM says that CarBravo will offer used-vehicle customers access to an expansive inventory, an omnichannel shopping experience and exclusive ownership benefits. Dealer enrollment begins immediately, and the consumer launch is expected to begin in spring 2022. CarBravo will give customers... Read more →

ExxonMobil is acquiring a 49.9% stake in Biojet AS, a Norwegian biofuels company that plans to convert forestry and wood-based construction waste into lower-emissions biofuels and biofuel components. Biojet AS plans to develop up to five facilities to produce the biofuels and biofuel components. The company anticipates commercial production to... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that US oil production will average 12.4 million barrels per day during 2023, surpassing the record high for domestic crude oil production set in 2019. In its January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts US crude oil production will increase for nine consecutive... Read more →

In California, the 2021 Budget Act committed $3.9 billion towards zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) acceleration through 2023-24. This included investments ranging from cleaning up drayage trucks, transit, and school buses to accelerating equitable electrification of passenger vehicles, e-bikes and rail—coupled with infrastructure and incentives for in-state manufacturing. In his new budget... Read more →

GILLIG and RR.AI, a developer of autonomous mobility solutions, have entered into a development agreement for next-generation advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicle (AV) technology for GILLIG transit buses in North America. This partnership will combine RR.AI’s vehicle automation experience and GILLIG’s transit operations expertise... Read more →

WirelessCar, a developer of digital vehicle services for connected cars, launched Smart EV Routing, a dynamic digital product that enables drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) to optimize their long-distance journeys. WirelessCar’s Smart EV Routing uses real-time dynamic vehicle data combined with intelligent routing algorithms to offer one of the most... Read more →

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) and Stanford University have made the first clear, detailed images of the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer in the wet environment of a working Li-ion battery by using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Although formation of SEI is believed to be... Read more →

The Metals Company (TMC), an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules (earlier post), has completed its latest offshore research campaign, Environmental Expedition 5E, a targeted sampling campaign of both benthic and pelagic fauna with wider investigations to characterize ecosystem function on the abyssal seafloor. The completion of... Read more →

Deliveries of Mercedes-Benz plug-in hybrid and electric passenger cars reached a record 227,458 units (+69.3%) of which 48,936 (21.5%) were Mercedes-EQ battery electric passenger cars (BEV) (+154.8%). Including smart and Mercedes-Benz Vans, total BEV sales rose above 99,000 units (+90.3%). Since the EQS went on sale in August 2021, orders... Read more →

Cerence and VinFast announced that VinFast vehicles will be cloud-connected using the Cerence Connected Vehicle Digital Twin (CCVDT) platform. Completely cloud- and software-based, Cerence’s digital-twin capabilities enable VinFast to create a virtual representation of its entire car, including software, mechanics, electrics, and physical behavior, along with driver data and environmental... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and Unity, a platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content, announced a partnership to design and build jointly a new “metaverse roadmap” and platform for Meta-Factory. The companies held a virtual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony with Youngcho Chi, President and Chief Innovation Officer... Read more →

CALSTART published its annual inventory of zero-emission buses (ZEBs) “Zeroing in on ZEBs,” providing insight on the current state of ZEBs ahead of $5.25 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s Low-No Program. The deployed number of full-size ZEBs has grown to 3,533 nationally—an... Read more →

Seeing Machines, the advanced computer vision technology company that designs AI-powered operator monitoring systems to improve transport safety, announced a collaboration with Ambarella, an AI vision silicon company, to bring integrated Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and occupant and driver monitoring system (OMS and DMS) solutions to the market. This... Read more →

Led by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)—with participation from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)—the two-year HyBlend project will assess hydrogen compatibility with pipeline materials... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has released a demonstration tire with 70% sustainable-material content. The 70% sustainable-material tire includes 13 featured ingredients across nine different tire components, including: Carbon black is included in tires for compound reinforcement and to help increase their life and has traditionally been made by... Read more →

As global auto manufacturers continue to invest in electrified vehicle (EV) production, internal combustion engine (ICE) powertrains dominate future US intentions, with 69% of US consumers looking to retain the technology for their next vehicle, according to Deloitte’s 2022 Global Automotive Consumer Study report. This year’s report explores a variety... Read more →

At CES 2020, Sony Group announced “VISION-S,” an initiative aimed at contributing to the evolution of mobility, and exhibited a prototype vehicle at its booth. To demonstrate this concept in the real world, Sony started public road testing in Europe in December of the same year, and started verification tests... Read more →

REE Automotive Ltd. is commencing trials of its all-new P7 platform designed for commercial delivery vehicles and walk-in vans. The P7 platform, targeted to a US-based delivery van program, was designed based on functional and operational specifications from one of the world’s largest delivery companies. Fully flat from end-to-end, P7... Read more →

ExxonMobil made two oil discoveries at Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. These discoveries will add to the previously announced recoverable resource estimate for the block, of 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The Fangtooth-1 well encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The... Read more →

The world’s two largest economies—the United States and China—are poised to be the world’s top export and import markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG), respectively, in 2022, according to a new report by IHS Markit. The report, LNG Trade in 2021: Runaway Recovery, finds that the United States, which was... Read more →

Lightning eMotors announced the availability of the Lightning eChassis, an all-new rolling chassis purpose-built for commercial EV applications. The Lightning eChassis, developed with Tier 1 supplier Metalsa, will be available for Class 4 and Class 5 commercial electric chassis cab, stripped chassis, and cutaway chassis configurations. The eChassis will support... Read more →

Hyundai Motor used CES in Las Vegas as the platform to describe its new “Metamobility concept”, which will incorporate the use of robotics in both the real world and the metaverse to allow “unlimited freedom of mobility” unconstrained by the physical limitations of movement in time and space. The company... Read more →