Volvo Trucks is testing fuel cell electric trucks that have an operational range comparable to diesel trucks, up to 1,000 km. A second pilot phase is to follow in a few years’ time and will see customer tests on public roads. When running the pilots, the filling of green hydrogen... Read more →

Daimler Truck subsidiary Torc Robotics, a developer of self-driving vehicle technology, announced it is working with Schneider toward implementing a pilot program utilizing Torc’s autonomous test fleet. As part of the agreement, Schneider will provide freight loads for Torc’s pilot operations and unique insights on truckload freight that will help... Read more →

MAHLE Powertrain is investing $4 million in a new powertrain dynamometer facility in Plymouth, Michigan, aimed at accelerating vehicle development as manufacturers continue the shift towards electrified vehicles. Capable of supporting full powertrain development, from the testing and calibration of individual drive components to the complete driveline systems of complex... Read more →

Amazon and Rhenus will test the Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul electric truck (earlier post) in real-world operations as early as 2023. The two companies have each signed a letter of intent with Mercedes-Benz Trucks. The logistics service provider Rhenus will use the e-truck in many different business areas in order to... Read more →

Ferguson Enterprises is collaborating with Ford Motor Company to place a first-of-its-kind F550 Fuel Cell Prototype Chassis Work Truck in service within Ferguson’s daily fleet operations for six months. Participation in Ford’s F550 Fuel Cell Prototype Work Truck, a DOE SuperTruck 3 Initiative, complements Ferguson’s overall sustainability strategy to reduce... Read more →

Bosch has equipped two vans with hydrogen fuel cell technology and started test operation on the road. The partner in the project is ABT eLine GmbH, which designed and converted the vehicles together with Bosch Engineering GmbH. The fuel cell enables long ranges and short refueling times, which makes long... Read more →

Authorities have approved testing with ammonia at the Alfa Laval Test & Training Center. When installation of the testing setup is completed by the end of 2022, the center will be able to work with all fuels in consideration as the marine industry decarbonizes. Just as it has for LNG,... Read more →

Alfa Laval is the driving force in a marine fuel cell development project exploring the potential of high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells using methanol as fuel as a source of marine auxiliary power. Funded by Danish EUDP (Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program), the project is a joint... Read more →

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is introducing a nighttime test of pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems to address the high percentage of pedestrian crashes that occur on dark roads. Four of the first 23 midsize cars, midsize SUVs and small pickups tested earn the highest rating of... Read more →

Allison Transmission announced the availability of hydrogen fuel cell and compressed natural gas (CNG) testing at its Vehicle Electrification + Environmental Test Center (VEET). As part of Allison’s goal to support the development and deployment of alternative fuel vehicles that reduce emissions, the company has completed the installation of two... Read more →

In 2021, the Electrify America charging network registered more than 1.45 million customer charging sessions in Canada and the US—five times the customer charging sessions over 2020. In January 2021, Electrify America launched a Roaming EV Test Fleet program to conduct intensive field tests of the network. The company deploys... Read more →

GKN Automotive has developed a new test rig capable of handling the unique requirements of electric vehicles. The rig, installed at GKN Automotive’s Offenbach facility, can handle the extreme dynamics and higher torque of electrified powertrains, which make conventional load test rigs unsuitable for driveline parts of the latest generation,... Read more →

Germany-based innolectric AG, a provider of charging and power systems for electromobility, and Brazil-based niobium company CBMM are investigating whether nanocrystalline magnetic materials can significantly increase efficiency in electromobility. As part of the joint research work, an innovative soft magnetic core material with niobium is being tested in direct application... Read more →

Jaguar Land Rover has taken another step towards a new era of electrification and connectivity by opening a facility to test the next generation of vehicles for electrical and radio interference. The Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) laboratory at Gaydon in the UK, will ensure future vehicles meet current and future legislation... Read more →

Archer Aviation successfully completed all of its “critical azimuth” flight tests, marking the completion of the second of three key phases of flight testing. The purpose of these tests are to validate the crosswind capabilities of Archer’s eVTOL aircraft configuration and flight control systems. The company has now successfully flown... Read more →

This week, CAF started dynamic track testing of the hydrogen-powered demonstrator train being developed for the FCH2RAIL project. FCH2RAIL is a consortium of CAF, DLR, Toyota, Renfe, ADIF, CNH2, IP and Stemmann-Technik. This demonstrator train is based on one of Renfe’s commuter trains, in which a new power generation system... Read more →

The Group is presenting the first two track sections for testing autonomous vehicles and assistance systems at the new BMW Group Future Mobility Center in Sokolov, the Czech Republic. At the new test site, the BMW Group will continue to advance electrification, digitalization and automated driving. The proving ground in... Read more →

UL Solutions announced the Battery Enclosure Thermal Runaway (BETR) evaluation, the first material screening test method at UL Solutions to evaluate electric vehicle (EV) battery enclosure material. The offering is based on UL 2596, Test Method for Thermal and Mechanical Performance of Battery Enclosure Materials. Battery performance has continually presented... Read more →

Rolls-Royce is launching a new leading-edge hydrogen program and also given a further update on its research into hybrid-electric power as it continues to pioneer new forms of aviation sustainability. Rolls-Royce is planning a comprehensive series of rig and engine tests to prove hydrogen can safely and efficiently deliver power... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute is testing the durability of valves on fuel tanks for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Hydrogen is increasingly being considered as an alternative to fossil fuels in the transportation sector. The work is being completed as part of an effort with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to evaluate... Read more →

Rolls-Royce has commissioned its first in-house test bench for mtu hydrogen engines at its Augsburg site. Over the past year and a half, the company has invested around €10 million at Rolls-Royce Solutions in Augsburg in test bench modernization, hydrogen infrastructure and other measures as part of its ‘Net Zero... Read more →

MAHLE Powertrain has opened two new facilities in Northampton, the result of a £15-million (US$18-million) investment over the last five years (including £3.6 million (US$4.3 million) of UK Government funding), that will deliver much-needed testing capability as the automotive industry accelerates its transition towards decarbonized propulsion. The purpose-built facilities allow... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed an optimized generic battery cycling framework that could reduce the time for both simulation and physical testing of new electric vehicle battery designs by about 75%. The optimization framework could significantly reduce the cost of assessing how battery configurations will perform over... Read more →

Monolith, an AI software platform used by the world’s leading automotive, aerospace and industrial engineering teams from Siemens to Honeywell, announced that engineering teams at the BMW Group are using its software to accelerate the development of their vehicles. By training Monolith self-learning models with the company’s engineering test data,... Read more →

Enel X, Enel's subsidiary dedicated to innovative products and services, together with EV maker Arrival, have entered into a partnership to test the battery-electric bus in Italy. The aim is to foster the growth of electrified public transport globally through increasingly high-performance and competitive solutions. The tests will be carried... Read more →

Following the completion of a multi-stakeholder research project aimed at breaking new ground in hydrogen technology, Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has started testing of the world’s first fuel-cell articulated hauler prototype, the Volvo HX04. The results of the project will provide important insights into the possibilities provided by hydrogen... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group will pilot a RoboRide car-hailing service in Gangnam in Seoul, South Korea, utilizing IONIQ 5 battery-electric vehicles (BEV) with in-house developed level 4 autonomous driving technology. The pilot RoboRide will be the first car-hailing service with autonomous driving vehicles to operate in Gangnam, one of the most... Read more →

Volkswagen of America (VWoA) opened its Battery Engineering Lab (BEL) in Chattanooga, to test and optimize batteries for all electric vehicles in the American marketplace. By developing critical battery expertise in-house, the $22-million, 32,000 square feet facility will enable Volkswagen to gain a competitive edge in the push to electric... Read more →

LiDAR technology (Light Detection and Ranging) offers high potential for machine perception in automated driving and currently available comfort- and safety features due to its precise distance sensing and three-dimensional point cloud image generation. A growing number of new and established sensor manufacturers have thus been working on LiDAR sensors... Read more →

Rio Tinto and bp have agreed to work together on a one-year marine biofuel trial to help reduce carbon emissions from Rio Tinto’s marine fleet. The fuel will be trialed on Rio Tinto’s RTM Tasman vessel on a mix of Transatlantic and Atlantic-Pacific routes, in one of the longest-duration marine... Read more →

SAKOR Technologies recently provided Nexteer Automotive with a dynamometer test system designed to test high-speed motors and inverters in hybrid and electric vehicle designs. Nexteer, a multibillion-dollar global steering and driveline business, will use the dynamometer system to test its new line of complete electric vehicle propulsion systems. The system... Read more →

NI and key partners have deployed a fleet of vehicles in Europe, the United States and China that will enable ADAS/Autonomous Driving engineering teams to address top challenges related to data volume, quality, access and utilization. The vehicles are equipped with the high-performance in-vehicle data recording and storage solution from... Read more →

Test and measurement company TOYO Corporation announced that a major US automotive manufacturer recently selected TOYO’s vehicle-in-the-loop simulator (ViLS) for testing and validating its next generation of electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles. The ViLS allows automotive engineers to perform a wide variety of vehicle, environmental, and road testing under... Read more →

The Commonwealth of Virginia recently hosted a live trial of a new driver and pedestrian safety concept that allows near-real-time notification of roadway hazards through 5G and edge technologies. This trial is one of three conducted internationally by a public-private collaboration, organized by the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) and eight... Read more →

The all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre has concluded winter testing 55km from Arctic Circle. Temperatures at the facility used by the marque, located in Arjeplog, Sweden, drop to -26 ˚C (-14.8 ˚F) and are further cooled to -40 ˚C (-40 ˚F). The EV has completed 25% of its 2.5 million km testing... Read more →

Hyundai is establishing a Safety Test and Investigation Laboratory (STIL) at its Michigan-based research and development center, Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. (HATCI). The new facility will further augment existing safety testing and analysis. A field crash investigation lab, high voltage battery lab, forensics lab, 500m track and a Vehicle... Read more →

DSM Engineering Materials has expanded its Comparative Tracking Index (CTI) test laboratory with equipment to validate tracking resistance to voltages up to 1,500V AC and 1,000V DC. High-voltage component manufacturers have shown significant interest in collaborating with DSM on this testing for voltages between 600 and 1,500V. High-voltage charging systems... Read more →

Using a microscopic method for measuring electrical potential, a team of scientists at Sandia National Laboratories may have discovered how to identify rate-limiting processes in solid-state batteries. The findings are detailed in a paper in American Chemical Society Energy Letters. The performance of solid-state electrochemical systems is intimately tied to... Read more →

Hyzon Motors announced a joint demonstration project with Zhangjiagang Haili Terminal Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Fortune 500 company Sha Steel Group, the 4th largest steel company and the largest private steel enterprise in the world. Under the demonstration agreement, Hyzon Motors expects to supply 49-ton hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty... Read more →

SciAps, already a global leader in handheld analyzers for fossil fuel-based energy industries, now offers its technology to the emerging electric vehicle, strategic metals, and overall green economy industries with a targeted line of next-generation handheld XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy) and LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) analyzers, in response to... Read more →

Nissan has expanded its Michigan-based engineering center, Nissan Technical Center North America (NTCNA), with a more than $40-million Safety Advancement Lab for vehicle safety testing. The new lab brings more efficiency to the vehicle development process and furthers Nissan’s goal of reaching a future with virtually zero fatalities. The Safety... Read more →

SAKOR Technologies provided the University of Houston’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with a dynamometer test system designed to test motor and inverter designs for use in hybrid and electric vehicle applications. The system features dual opposin 7.5 kW AccuDyne four-quadrant AC motoring dynamometers, variable frequency drives, and a... Read more →

Electrified powertrain engineering consultancy Drive System Design (DSD) will highlight its simulation, optimization and test capabilities created in response to the significant increase in demand for EV electric drive system development, at the Cenex-LCV event at Millbrook this week. Deploying its latest electrified Powertrain Optimization Process (ePOP) simulation toolset, a... Read more →

Stellantis is exploring two new connected safety notification technologies—Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) and Safety Cloud—in North America, giving drivers advanced notification warnings of potential hazards in their path. Greater connectivity speeds, improved hardware and expanded software expertise have opened new opportunities for Stellantis with safety systems being one of the... Read more →

The Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB) released the Pre-application Battery Test Manual, which defines a series of tests to characterize performance and life behavior for advanced batteries. The manual is based on broad technical needs across multiple applications and was developed to provide federal sponsors and battery end users... Read more →

Honda will start a testing program for autonomous vehicles in September 2021, taking a step toward an autonomous vehicle mobility service (MaaS) business in Japan, which Honda is planning to launch under collaboration with Cruise and General Motors. The testing program for autonomous vehicles mobility service technologies will be conducted... Read more →

Hyzon, a supplier of hydrogen fuel cell-powered heavy vehicles, announced that ZeroAvia has placed an order for Hyzon Motors’s next generation, high-performance lightweight fuel cell. ZeroAvia will evaluate the fuel cell for use in its zero-emission aircraft development program, which focuses on hydrogen-electric solutions. ZeroAvia selected Hyzon’s fuel cell stack... Read more →

Chevron USA, through its Chevron Products Company division, Delta Air Lines, and Google announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to track sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) test batch emissions data using cloud-based technology. Sustainable aviation fuel is produced from biofeedstocks that can reduce lifecycle carbon intensity significantly when compared to conventional... Read more →

Foretellix, a platform provider automating the testing, verification and validation for automated driving systems (ADAS and AV), has secured $32 million in its latest series B funding round, bringing its total raised capital to more than $50 million. The round was led by MoreTech Ventures, with participation from several strategic... Read more →

Autonomous delivery company Nuro is investing $40 million to develop two new facilities in southern Nevada—an end-of-line manufacturing facility and a closed-course test track—to commercialize and scale production of the company’s third-generation autonomous vehicle. Totaling more than 125,000 square feet of space and more than 80 acres of property development,... Read more →