General Motors will introduce new Super Cruise capabilities on six model year 2022 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022. Super Cruise is the first true hands-free driver-assistance technology allowing drivers to travel hands-free on more than 200,000 miles of compatible roads across the US and Canada. Super Cruise adds... Read more →

Experts from GM and LG have identified the simultaneous presence of two manufacturing defects in the same battery cell as the root cause of battery fires in certain Chevrolet Bolt EVs. (Earlier post.) As a result, GM will be conducting a new recall for the previous population of Bolt EVs... Read more →

The generator that will be at the heart of the most powerful hybrid-electric aero power and propulsion system in aerospace has arrived for installation at Rolls-Royces’s specialist testbed. PGSy1 The generator and related 3,000-volt power electronics system was delivered to the newly-renovated Testbed 108 in Bristol, UK, from the Rolls-Royce... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz is getting ready to go all-electric by the end of the decade, where market conditions allow, shifting from electric-first to electric-only. By 2022, Mercedes-Benz will have battery electric vehicles (BEV) in all segments the company serves. From 2025 onwards, all newly launched vehicle architectures will be electric-only and customers... Read more →

Rio Tinto has approved a $108-million investment in underground development to enable early orebody access and undertake orebody characterisation studies for underground mining at the Kennecott copper operations in the United States. The investment builds on $25 million approved in early-2020 to complete a pre-feasibility study to determine the viability... Read more →

by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. Among the variables included in my ongoing monthly monitoring of key transportation indexes is revenue passenger miles for domestic flying. That monitoring has shown a huge pandemic-related drop in flying during the spring of 2020 and a gradual rebound later in 2020 and in... Read more →

Deutsche Aircraft, the new purpose-driven German aircraft Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) (earlier post), and Universal Hydrogen Co. (earlier post) announced a technical collaboration to complete a design study to incorporate Universal Hydrogen’s modular capsule technology into the Dornier 328 program. The joint effort will analyze the size and integration of... Read more →

XL Fleet Corp. announced a battery and power electronics development and supply agreement and an investment in eNow, Inc., a provider of solar and battery power systems that enable fully-electric Transport Refrigeration Units (eTRUs) for Class 8 commercial trailers. Under the terms of the agreement, XL Fleet will supply battery... Read more →

In a post published on Medium, Gill Pratt, Toyota Motor Corporation’s Chief Scientist and the CEO of Toyota Research Institute, explains why he is not a proponent of ditching ICE and switching to only BEVs as soon as possible. He argues that a diversity of electrified drivetrain types are better... Read more →

Suzuki Motor Corporation and Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. have joined the Commercial Japan Partnership (CJP) commercial vehicle project (earlier post) to accelerate their carbon neutrality initiatives in minivehicles through the dissemination of CASE technologies (connected, autonomous, shared and electric) and services. As part of their participation in the project, Suzuki... Read more →

Advocacy group Coltura has published a report that finds converting the biggest users of gasoline to EVs in the next ten years is critical to reaching climate goals and that present EV policies are poorly suited to accomplishing that conversion. The report, “Gasoline Superusers,” presents the data available on drivers... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding a total of $125 million to support 110 clean energy technology projects (DE-FOA-0002381). Within that total, DOE’s Office of Energy and Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) will award $57.6 million to 53 projects by 51 small businesses and entrepreneurs with phase II... Read more →

Despite volatility in global oil markets, US crude oil exports reached a record high in 2020, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As of 9 July 2021, US crude oil exports have averaged 3.00 million barrels per day (b/d). The most recent four-week rolling average of US crude... Read more →

By uprooting carbon trapped in soil, wild pigs (feral swine), are releasing around 4.9 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually across the globe, the equivalent of 1.1 million cars, according to a new study by an international team led by researchers from The University of Queensland and The University... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has released the Putting People First – Smart Cities and Communities report. The report covers the benefits, goals, challenges, and success factors associated with smart cities and communities (SC&C) and gives a glimpse of the path forward. SC&Cs use advanced information and communications technologies... Read more →

Writing in Light Metal Age, Andrew Halonen of Mayflower Consulting provides an overview of weight optimization considerations for electric vehicles through a combination of design and material selection. Halonen is president of Mayflower, a lightweighting consultancy that provides strategic marketing, market research, and business development for high tech clients. Halonen... Read more →

Volkswagen of America, Inc. will end assembly of the Passat sedan in Chattanooga with model year 2022 as part of the plant’s transformation to build future electric vehicles. To celebrate the integral role of the Passat in the resurgence of Volkswagen in the United States, a short-run Limited Edition will... Read more →

Last week, the European Commission adopted a package of proposals to make the EU’s climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels (Fit for 55). (Earlier post.) One element of that economy-wide set... Read more →

A new study from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and WWF finds that nearly 20% of tropical Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) overlap with concessions for extractive industries such as mining, oil and gas. The total area of overlap is 376,449 square miles (975,000 square kilometers), about the size of Egypt. The... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently awarded $3.7 million for high performance computing (HPC) projects that address key challenges in US manufacturing and materials development. As part of DOE’s High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) initiative, the 13 selected teams will work with the DOE’s national laboratories to... Read more →

BMW i Ventures has invested in Natural Fiber Welding, Inc. (NFW), a creator of all-natural, plastic-free alternatives to animal- or petrochemical-based materials such as leathers, foams, and textiles. The financing round will enable the company to scale from the batch processing of materials to commercial roll-to-roll production. NFW has developed... Read more →

Modern automobiles are built with more than 2,000 different compounds comprising 76 different elements. Now, a study by a team from MIT’s Materials Systems Laboratory, with support from Ford, provides insight into how electrification is changing vehicle composition and how that change is driving supply risk vulnerability. The study, published... Read more →

LG Chem will invest 6 trillion KRW (US$5.3 billion) in battery materials by 2025, including efforts in anode materials, separation membranes, cathode binders, radiant adhesives, carbon nanotubes, and more, according to LG Chem CEO Hak Cheol Shin. The investment is part of a 10 trillion KRW (US$8.8 billion) investment in... Read more →

Thirteen companies and one university have signed agreements with NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project’s National Campaign to continue work towards integrating air taxis, cargo delivery aircraft and other new air vehicle concepts into the national airspace system. Joby Aviation’s all-electric prototype. The partners will participate in the first full... Read more →

Goodyear has developed a non-pneumatic (airless) tire (NPT) and wheel assembly to support autonomous vehicle transportation in a city setting for in-field use with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). For the past three years, Goodyear and Local Motors have tested an Olli shuttle supported by the NPT at Goodyear testing... Read more →

Audi is extending its Traffic Light Information (TLI) coverage to Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. An Audi-first in-vehicle technology, TLI communicates between vehicles and traffic signals to provide Time to Green, Green Light Optimized Speed Advisories and can help drivers minimize stop-and-go driving. Audi first brought Traffic Light... Read more →

Japan-based Chiyoda Corporation has been awarded a $2.7-billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI)—a mineral mining company affiliate of US-based Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) and MIND ID Indonesia’s Mining Industry—for a copper smelter in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia. The new plant will include smelting and converting furnaces,... Read more →

Woven Planet Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, has acquired CARMERA, Inc., a US-based spatial AI company, which specializes in bringing next-generation road intelligence to automated mobility at scale. This is the second major deal for Woven Planet in North America, following the April 2021 announcement to acquire... Read more →

Volvo Cars announced its autonomous driving (AD) software development subsidiary Zenseact has received a strategic investment by ECARX, a privately-owned Chinese provider of connected car technology. ECARX will take a 15% shareholding in Zenseact and make a strategic investment in the company’s continued development of leading and safe autonomous driving... Read more →

The European Commission has adopted a package of proposals to make the EU's climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels (Fit for 55). The EC said that achieving these emission reductions in... Read more →

Renewables are expanding quickly but not enough to satisfy a strong rebound in global electricity demand this year, resulting in a sharp rise in the use of coal power that risks pushing carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector to record levels next year, according to a new report from... Read more →

XL Fleet Corp. announced that its XL Hybrid electric drive system is now available as an upfit solution for the new Isuzu NPR-HD. The electrification system is XL Fleet’s newest product release and enables Isuzu customers to electrify one of its newest and most popular medium-duty low cab forward vehicles,... Read more →

Volkswagen Group executives laid out the basics of the new Group strategy “NEW AUTO – Mobility for Generations to Come”, which will see the Group realign from being a from vehicle manufacturer to a leading, global software-driven mobility provider. The guiding principle is to be the development of sustainable, connected,... Read more →

ArcelorMittal signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Spanish Government that will see a €1-billion investment in decarbonization technologies at ArcelorMittal Asturias’ plant in Gijón. The investments will reduce CO2 emissions at ArcelorMittal’s Spanish operations by up to 4.8 million tonnes, which represents approximately 50% of emissions, within the... Read more →

Clean energy may mean less mining for coal, but it also means opening or expanding mines to unearth minerals such as cobalt for use in alloys and batteries, tellurium for solar cells and semiconductors, and germanium for transistors in electronic devices. That’s according to Dr. Michael Moats, professor and interim... Read more →

The Transportation Services Index (TSI), created by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), measures the volume of freight and passengers moved monthly by the for-hire transportation sector in the United States. BTS produces three indexes: a freight index, a passenger index, and a combined index.... Read more →

China-based self-driving startup AutoX unveiled its full Gen5 self-driving system this week. The autonomous driving platform, which is specifically designed for robotaxis, uses NVIDIA DRIVE automotive grade GPUs to reach up to 2,200 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of AI compute performance. In January, AutoX launched a commercial robotaxi system... Read more →

A new forecast from Juniper Research concludes that the revenue generated by the use of MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) platforms, which integrate different transport services (including buses, taxis, rail and metro) into a single app, will exceed $52 billion by 2027, up from $405 million in 2020. The new research, Mobility-as-a-Service: Business... Read more →

Southern California Edison has launched its Charge Ready program, the largest electric passenger vehicle charging infrastructure program in the nation run by an investor-owned electric utility company. Businesses, government agencies and other organizations in Southern California can now sign up to participate in the program. The $436-million program, approved by... Read more →

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected both consumer and commercial transportation, but global oil demand will probably continue to grow through 2030, according to a new study. Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the University of California, Davis Institute of Transportation Studies analyzed four scenarios to understand how... Read more →

Hyzon Motors (earlier post) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TotalEnergies that reinforces the two companies’ shared commitment to evaluate and develop hydrogen refueling and vehicle supply solutions for long-haul transport to customers across Europe. Hyzon and TotalEnergies aim to make it easier for fleet owners to transition to... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information (RFI) (DE-FOA-0002548) regarding the concept of an “energyshed” and energyshed management systems. Given that the term “energyshed” is relatively new, DOE is seeking feedback on its concept and definition, as well as its application to the electric grid.... Read more →

CAE, a global leader in aviation training, and urban air mobility (UAM) company Volocopter signed a strategic partnership, subject to definitive agreement, to develop, certify, and deploy an innovative pilot training program for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) operations. This eVTOL pilot training program will develop the pilot workforce... Read more →

Alfa Laval, a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling, has acquired a minority stake in the Netherlands-based technology company Marine Performance Systems (MPS). MPS’ air lubrication technology (FluidicAL) significantly reduces ships’ friction when sailing, resulting in fuel savings. The patented solution can be installed on vessels... Read more →

In the UK, 100% renewable energy supplier Pure Planet and bp launched a new digital service that allows households and drivers of gasoline, diesel and electric cars to see accurately the financial cost and the emissions of their personal energy use. The new service is free to all Pure Planet... Read more →

bp released the 70th annual edition of the bp Statistical Review of World Energy; the data collected in this year’s edition includes energy data for 2020. The Review captures the significant impact the global pandemic had on energy markets and how it may shape future global energy trends. Both primary... Read more →

An international group of experts led by WMG, University of Warwick working together as a part of an ISO technical committee, has published the first international (ISO) safety standard for Level 4 automated driving systems, taking them a step further towards being more widely available. One of the first applications... Read more →

BC is the first province in Canada to release a comprehensive hydrogen strategy. Part of CleanBC, the BC Hydrogen Strategy includes 63 actions for government, industry and innovators to undertake during the short term (2020-25), medium term (2025-30) and long term (2030 and beyond). These include: Incentivizing the production of... Read more →

Rolls-Royce and Cavendish Nuclear have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities to deepen the relationship between the parties through cooperation on the Rolls-Royce SMR program. Under this agreement Rolls-Royce and Cavendish Nuclear commit to working together to develop the roles that Cavendish Nuclear can perform in the... Read more →

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have found a way to increase simultaneously the strength and ductility of an alloy by introducing tiny precipitates into its matrix and tuning their size and spacing. The precipitates are solids that separate from... Read more →