IVECO BUS officially inaugurated its new testing and validation facility, called E-BENCH, located in the R&D center in Vénissieux, the global headquarters of Iveco Group's bus and coach activities. Extremely versatile, E-BENCH allows testing of both individual components and complete vehicles in real driving conditions, simulating all types of missions... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) announced a breakthrough generative AI approach based on Diffusion Policy to teach robots new, dexterous skills quickly and confidently . This advancement significantly improves robot utility and is a step towards building “Large Behavior Models (LBMs)” for robots, analogous to the Large Language Models (LLMs) that... Read more →

Georgia Tech and Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on research and applications to support the future of sustainable mobility, including developing a hydrogen economy, workforce development, and making cities smarter and more sustainable, among many other areas of cooperation. The Group is... Read more →

At the recent launch of its BEV Factory Toyota Motor revealed that its next-generation BEVs (battery electric vehicles) will start production in 2026. Not only will they be designed and built differently, they will also be powered by a range of new advanced batteries developed specifically to exceed Toyota customers’... Read more →

Hyundai Motor North America (HMNA) and Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc., (HATCI) opened their $51.4-million Safety Test and Investigation Laboratory (STIL) at a ribbon cutting ceremony in Superior Township, Mich. The STIL is supported by 160 employees and is planned to be operational by mid-October. The new safety facility is... Read more →

Volvo Cars is opening a new Tech Hub in Singapore, a global hotspot for advanced technology and manufacturing excellence. The new Tech Hub will be a key center for data and analytics, software and advanced manufacturing development in line with Volvo Cars’ ambition to be a leader in new technology... Read more →

With its latest design concept, the BMW Vision Neue Klasse, the BMW Group is showcasing what the next generation of vehicles from its core BMW brand will look like. The Vision Vehicle will be unveiled for the first time in public at the IAA Mobility 2023 International Motor Show in... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group signed an MOU with the Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corporation (SL Corp) to demonstrate new technologies for large-scale hydrogen production using biogas over the next two years. The agreement aims to demonstrate a system that can produce 216 kilograms of green hydrogen per day by utilizing biogas... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution (LGES) will invest an additional $2 billion in their battery cell manufacturing joint venture (JV) at the Metaplant in Bryan County, raising the JV’s total investment value to more than $4.3 billion. This expansion will create another 400 new jobs. In May 2023,... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea Zinc. The Group will cooperate with Korea Zinc, Korea’s leading non-ferrous metal smelting company, in a comprehensive collaboration across the nickel value chain. The partnership includes joint sourcing of nickel raw material, processing of nickel raw material, and ensuring... Read more →

Ford Pro, the commercial division within Ford Motor Company, revealed new charging hardware added to its suite of end-to-end solutions to help make it easier for commercial customers to transition their fleets to electric. The new Series 2 AC Charging Station 80 amp and expanded DC Fast Charger options are... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz opens its first high-power charging stations this fall, implementing its plans to expand its global charging infrastructure. Starting in October, the first Mercedes-Benz Charging Hubs will go into operation in Atlanta (USA), Chengdu (China) and Mannheim (Germany). By the end of 2024, Mercedes-Benz aims to further expand its global... Read more →

The BMW Group continues to invest in e-component production at Plant Leipzig and in the future of the site. A leasehold contract has now been signed for an area of land outside the plant premises. The new plot for use by BMW consists of 12 hectares in total, eight of... Read more →

With the electric-vehicle (EV) readiness assessments in process, US auto dealers are seeing rapid growth in the number of EV charger installation projects being proposed and starting construction over the next several months. Recognizing the nationwide resources necessary to engineer, install and maintain these systems across more than 2,600 locations,... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. and Controlled Thermal Resources Holdings Inc. (CTR) announced a major investment of more than $100 million from Stellantis to advance the development of CTR’s Hell’s Kitchen project (earlier post), the world’s largest geothermal lithium project with a total resource capacity to produce up to 300,000 metric tons of... Read more →

General Motors is leading a $60-million Series B financing round in Mitra Chem, a Silicon Valley-based, AI-enabled battery materials innovator. The company’s AI-powered platform and advanced research and development facility in Mountain View, California, will help accelerate GM’s commercialization of affordable electric vehicle batteries. GM and Mitra Chem will develop... Read more →

BYD has produced its 5 millionth new energy vehicle (NEV), a DENZA N7. BYD spent 13 years reaching the milestone of one million NEVs, another 18 months to reach three million, and now just 9 more months to hit the five million mark. In 2022, BYD’s new energy vehicles saw... Read more →

Porsche is expanding its open source initiative and has published a strategic guide to using free and open source software (FOSS). By using open source software, Porsche says it is able to shorten development cycles, reduce costs, promote innovation and talent and improve software quality. Almost two years after the... Read more →

Pony.ai, a leading global autonomous driving company, Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (TMCI) and GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (GTMC) will form a joint venture to advance the future mass production and large-scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis. The joint venture company will be established in 2023, with an... Read more →

China-based lithium salts producer Sichuan Yahua Industrial has extended the duration of its lithium hydroxide supply agreement with Tesla (earlier post) from 2025 to 2030. The two agreed to renew their supply contract from 1 August 2023 to 31 December 2030, during which Yahua will supply a total of 207,000-301,000... Read more →

Volkswagen continues to expand its design and engineering capabilities as well as grow its leadership team in North America with the addition of the company’s new Chief Engineering Officer, Lyndon Lie. Building on his leadership experience at General Motors and Nikola Corporation, Lie will oversee the development of future Volkswagen... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group announced a strategic investment in Tenstorrent, an artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company based in Toronto, Canada, which will allow the Group to integrate AI into future Hyundai, Kia and Genesis vehicles, and other future mobilities, including robotics and advanced air mobility (AAM). Hyundai Motor Company and Kia... Read more →

The Electrochemical Society (ECS) has named Dr John Muldoon, senior principal scientist at the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), a Fellow in its Class of 2023. Additionally, Dr. Muldoon has earned the prestigious Battery Division Technology Award for 2023, the first time in the award’s 30-year history that... Read more →

Bentley has installed a 1,200-liter biofuel tank at its Crewe factory after successful performance trials of biogasoline—Sustain by Coryton—at Goodwood Festival of Speed. Bentley ran its six-strong fleet at Goodwood using the fuel and successfully completed all 32 hill-climbs. The 750PS, W12-engined Batur fueled with the second-gen biofuel completed a... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. completed its 33.3% purchase in Symbio, a leader in zero-emission hydrogen mobility. FORVIA and Michelin are equal shareholders. Acquiring an equal stake in Symbio bolsters Stellantis’ position in hydrogen-powered vehicles by supporting the fuel cell van production in France, and it also serves as a perfect complement to... Read more →

Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) today announced plans to launch three new projects as part of its next phase of research, dedicated to advancing safety in mobility technologies. The research projects include an investigation on driver support features for vehicle lane centering; the creation of an in-vehicle intervention prototype... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation introduced the AI-enabled, blockchain-based Supplier CO2 Emission Monitoring System (SCEMS) to manage the carbon emissions of its cooperative business partners. SCEMS is designed to compute carbon emissions at every stage of a cooperative partner’s supply chain while assuring data transparency and integrity. Hyundai Motor... Read more →

Dymag, a designer and manufacturer of lightweight wheels for the automotive industry, and its strategic partner, composites material specialists Hankuk Carbon, are working with Hyundai on the development of advanced new carbon hybrid wheel technology for the carmaker’s N Performance products. A prototype of a new jointly-developed N Performance carbon... Read more →

The BMW Group launched its new test site for fully automated development and test drives in Sokolov (Czechia), the Future Mobility Development Center (FMDC). As the first development location of its kind in central Europe, the FMDC, in which BMW Group invested €300 million, will play a key role in... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is strengthening its position on the Chinese automotive market with cooperations between the VW brand and XPENG and between Audi and SAIC. The VW brand has concluded a technological framework agreement with XPENG. The initial stage of the cooperation will provide for the joint development of two... Read more →

Global sales of Nissan Motor electric vehicles have surpassed the 1-million unit milestone. Since its launch in December 2010, the Nissan LEAF has sold more than 650,000 units worldwide. The model is currently sold in approximately 50 markets centering on Japan, the US and Europe. In 2022, Nissan started sales... Read more →

Seven major global automakers—BMW Group, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz Group, and Stellantis NV—will create a joint venture to build a new charging network that will significantly expand access to high-powered charging in North America. Targeting to install at least 30,000 high-powered charge points in urban and highway locations,... Read more →

Porsche is planning to set up its own fast-charging stations offering a premium charging experience along Europe’s most important routes. As a pilot site, the first Porsche Charging Lounge has opened outside Bingen am Rhein. Two minutes from motorway junction A60/A61, it offers six 300-kW DC fast-charging stations and four... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group announced the inauguration of its Joint Battery Research Center with Seoul National University (SNU). This collaborative effort between the Group and SNU aims to advance battery technologies and foster industry-academia cooperation to establish global leadership in the battery field. The Joint Battery Research Center began to take... Read more →

Toyota is developing a regenerative fuel cell for the manned pressurized rover (nicknamed the “Lunar Cruiser”) for the lunar polar exploration mission (LUPEX), part of projects led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). (Earlier post.) During an update on the development status, Ken Yamashita, Project Head for the Lunar... Read more →

The BMW Group further expanded its R&D footprint in China with the opening of a new R&D Center in Shanghai. China is already home to BMW Group’s largest R&D system outside of Germany, with locations in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Nanjing. Based on the concept of open innovation, all BMW’s... Read more →

After four years of design, modeling and simulation, a team of 25 people comprising CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), Stellantis and Saft engineers and researchers unveiled an innovative prototype of an energy storage battery that integrates the inverter and charger functions. Integrating the inverter and charger functions creates... Read more →

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VWGoA) is boosting its automotive research in the United States to further accelerate electric mobility and sustainable transportation innovation. The company continues to center strategic areas of research in dedicated technology units across the country, as well as foster co-innovation with universities and federal research... Read more →

Semiconductors are the linchpin to the performance, safety, and customer features of Stellantis vehicles today and in the new state-of-the-art, BEV-centric STLA vehicle and technology platforms arriving soon. As the auto industry’s demand for semiconductors accelerates, Stellantis is implementing a multifaceted strategy designed to manage and secure the long-term supply... Read more →

Audi has been testing the local server solution Edge Cloud 4 Production (EC4P)—a new method of IT-based factory automation—at Böllinger Höfe since July 2022 (earlier post). Starting this month, this paradigm shift in Audi’s shop floor IT will be used for the first time in series production. At Böllinger Höfe,... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz will be the first German OEM to implement NACS ports into its new electric vehicles starting in 2025. As part of a phased transition, Mercedes-Benz will initially offer an adapter that enables the company’s existing CCS BEVs to charge seamlessly on the NACS network from 2024 onwards. Mercedes-Benz drivers... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. and NioCorp Developments Ltd. have signed a rare earth offtake term sheet. The objective is to enter into a definitive rare earth supply agreement to support Stellantis’ commitment to build resilient supply chains and reach carbon net zero by 2038 and to help accelerate NioCorp’s path to commercial... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. unveiled STLA Medium, a global BEV-by-design platform with state-of-the-art features including range of 700 kilometers (435 miles), energy efficiency, embedded power and charging power. STLA Medium is the first of four global BEV platforms to be launched less than two years after EV Day presentation in July 2021.... Read more →

Every year tens of thousands of containers of production material destined for Volvo Cars factories are carried across the world’s oceans on container ships. From now on, most of these seafaring journeys are made with renewable fuel instead of traditional fossil fuel. The first global car maker to announce such... Read more →

Following a successful pilot project, Audi has begun rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system for quality-control of spot welds in car body construction. The AI was developed and tested beforehand at the Neckarsulm site. By the end of the year, the technical infrastructure for the use of AI will... Read more →

Iveco Group N.V. announced that, following the finalization of the definitive agreements with Nikola Corporation as per the terms sheet described on 9 May 2023, its subsidiary Iveco S.p.A. has acquired the full and sole ownership of the German company resulting from the former joint venture Nikola Iveco Europe, now... Read more →

Honda Aircraft Company announced its first Certified Pre-Owned program (CPO), providing an exclusive and alternative pathway to owning a HondaJet with a guarantee of quality and support. Being the sole CPO choice in its class, each CPO HondaJet undergoes selection, inspection and expert maintenance processes to ensure it meets Honda’s... Read more →

GM Energy announced product details and specifications for its initial suite of upcoming Ultium Home offerings. The Ultium Home product offerings will be the first solutions to be made available to residential customers through GM Energy, and are designed to provide greater energy independence, resiliency and value, enabling the use... Read more →

Stellantis launched Free2move Charge, a 360-degree ecosystem that will deliver charging and energy management to address all electric-vehicle (EV) customer needs. Managed by the new Stellantis Charging & Energy Business Unit, Free2move Charge addresses electric-vehicle customer needs at home, at work and on the go. As the pace of mainstream... Read more →

Volvo Cars is the first European car maker to sign an agreement with Tesla, giving current and future electric Volvo car drivers access to Tesla’s vast Supercharger network across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. GM, Ford and Rivian have made similar deals. Under the agreement future Volvo cars, starting... Read more →