Ricardo has won a national competition to demonstrate the benefits that transport location data can have on urban air quality. The project addresses both the existing vehicle fleet and also extends to long-term improvements in air quality. The award of funding was made by the Geospatial Commission in partnership with... Read more →

IVECO and Nikola formally unveiled the manufacturing facility in Ulm, Germany for Nikola Tre electric heavy-duty trucks; production will begin by year end. The first Nikola Tre models produced here will be delivered to select customers in the United States in 2022. On the occassion of the launch, the two... Read more →

Ford Motor Company, Argo AI and Walmart are working together to launch an autonomous vehicle delivery service in Miami; Austin, Texas; and Washington, DC—Walmart’s first multi-city autonomous delivery collaboration in the US. The last mile delivery service will use Ford self-driving test vehicles equipped with the Argo AI Self-Driving System... Read more →

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), the public transport operator for the Barcelona metropolitan area has ordered 24 Solaris Urbino 12 electric buses, which will arrive by the end of 2022. The value of the contract, concluded as a result of a tender, stands at more than €12 million. The public... Read more →

by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. The energy intensity of a transportation mode is calculated by dividing the amount of fuel used by the number of passenger miles traveled and converting the result into a common measure—Btu (British thermal units) per passenger mile traveled. Until recently, the energy intensity of... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution have begun construction of an electric vehicle (EV) battery cell plant in Indonesia to secure leadership in the global battery electric vehicle (BEV) market. Hyundai and LG Energy Solution announced that they held a virtual groundbreaking ceremony with the Government of Indonesia at... Read more →

Embark Trucks, a developer of self-driving software for the trucking industry (earlier post), announced a joint initiative with HP to combine electric and autonomous truck technology and create a more sustainable distribution network. The two companies launched an electric truck drayage pilot in the Los Angeles area, where local loads... Read more →

DeepRoute.ai has closed a Series B funding round with the investment totaling to more than US$300 million. The funding will further research and development, help scale automaker collaboration and fleet operation, and support the expansion of the team. DeepRoute.ai’s long-term strategy includes developing medium-duty trucks for urban logistics, improving transit... Read more →

NITI Aayog, the Government of India’s official think tank, with support from RMI and RMI India, has launched a campaign to transform last-mile deliveries and eliminate pollution through consumer engagement. Based on the Sanskrit word for zero, Shoonya will create a verification and branding system for electric delivery vehicles and... Read more →

Rio Tinto and Caterpillar have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Caterpillar’s development of zero-emissions autonomous haul trucks for use at one of Rio Tinto’s Western Australian mining operations. The collaboration will see Rio Tinto work with Caterpillar to advance the development of the manufacturer’s future 220-tonne 793 zero-emissions... Read more →

Rolls-Royce and Flanders Electric have agreed to develop a retrofit concept for hybridizing mining trucks that can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 30%. It integrates mtu engines, batteries and hybrid control systems, and Flanders drive train solutions. The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding enabling them to... Read more →

Volkswagen of America announced another round of fuel economy figures for the 2021 ID.4 electric SUV. The ID.4 AWD Pro has an EPA-estimated 249 miles of range on a full charge and the AWD Pro S has an EPA-estimated 240 miles of range on a full charge. The ID.4 Pro... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil has presented the fully electric eO500U bus chassis. The bus chassis was specially designed for Latin American cities and will be produced in São Bernardo do Campo, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, from 2022 on. The fully electric bus chassis has a range of up... Read more →

KULR Technology Group, a developer of lithium-ion battery safety and thermal management technologies, will provide its KULR-Tech Safe Case to lithium-ion battery recycler Heritage Battery Recycling (HBR), a new platform company of The Heritage Group, for the safe transportation logistics of HBR’s battery collection operations across North America. (Earlier post.)... Read more →

A new working paper from the the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) estimates the order of magnitude in scale and pace of national infrastructure investment required to meet the goal of 100% sales of zero-emission tractor-trailers (Class 7 and Class 8)—battery-electric and fuel-cell electric—by 2040. For battery-electric trucks, the... Read more →

Researchers from the Monash Energy Institute, with colleagues from CSIRO, have used a saccharide-based binder system to develop a durable sulfur cathode with minimal polysulfide escape in a lithium-sulfur battery. The saccharide-based binder system regulates polysulfides due to its reducing properties. The binder also promotes the formation of viscoelastic filaments... Read more →

Roy Hill, the largest single iron ore mine in Australia, has purchased Wabtec’s FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive, the world’s first 100% battery-electric, heavy-haul locomotive (earlier post) for the region and the mining industry. We are committed to transforming the next generation of transportation by adopting advanced technologies that improve energy efficiency,... Read more →

All Volkswagen ID. models will now receive regular software updates via mobile data transfer. The updates had previously only been available as part of a test phase for customers who had registered with the “ID. First Movers Club”. The “ID. Software 2.3” offers new functions and optimizes existing ones. Networking... Read more →

Aurora provided a first look at the Aurora-powered Volvo VNL—Volvo’s flagship long-haul truck, integrated with the Aurora Driver’s sensor suite. This prototype is the first of the Volvo VNL fleet to be designed to operate with the Aurora Driver and represents a significant step as Aurora and Volvo begin building... Read more →

Kinder Morgan, one of North America’s largest energy infrastructure companies, is partnering with Neste, one of the leading providers of renewable and circular solutions, to create a premier domestic raw material storage and logistics hub in the United States, supporting increased production of renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and renewable... Read more →

Heritage Battery Recycling, LLC and plasma technology company 6K announced an exclusive joint development agreement to produce new cathode material from recycled batteries. The process uses Heritage’s established network infrastructure to collect, store, and process end-of-life batteries, combined with 6K’s plasma technology to manufacture critical cathode-grade battery materials needed to... Read more →

Orange EV, a manufacturer of heavy-duty, electric vehicle (EV) truck solutions, announced its new intermodal terminal trucks, scheduled to be available Q3 2022, to meet the increased cargo handling and lifting demands required by port and rail intermodal operations. Orange EV’s T-Series Class 8 electric terminal trucks have been commercially... Read more →

For the first time, the IHS Markit base case scenario for refined products expects total global demand in 2050 to be lower than 2019 levels. However, other more drastic scenarios for falling demand remain unlikely under present conditions. The findings are part of a new analysis by the Refining and... Read more →

The Citroën ë-Berlingo Van is now available to order. The electric version of the Berlingo, the second biggest seller in its segment in Europe, offers a driving range of up to 275 km (WLTP) from its 50 kWh battery and a volume of up to 4.4m³. ë-Berlingo Van is targeted... Read more →

Researchers from Tampere University and the University of Eastern Finland have found that the particulate emissions of auxiliary heaters can be up to a thousand times higher than the particulate emissions of idling gasoline vehicles. Their open-access study is published in the journal Atmosphere. Auxiliary heaters, sold under such well-known... Read more →

Researchers at The Ohio State University have used a chemical looping process to produce hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide gas—commonly called “sewer gas”. Hydrogen sulfide is emitted from manure piles and sewer pipes and is a key byproduct of industrial activities including refining oil and gas, producing paper and mining. The... Read more →

L-Charge, a Russian manufacturer of mobile rapid charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, has raised investment of $1.5 mln. The funds have come from private investors attracted by the ability to charge an electric vehicle with sufficient power for 100 km in just 3-8 minutes using a hydrogen fuel cell or... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has released the 2021 issue of its Annual Evaluation of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Deployment and Hydrogen Fuel Station Network Development, pursuant to the requirements of Assembly Bill 8 (2013). This report is the eighth annual publication. This year’s report is the first to... Read more →

Albemarle, a leading global producer of lithium, bromine and catalyst solutions, expects lithium industry demand to reach 1.14 million MT LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent) by 2025—approaching approximately 30% CAGR—driven by increasing EV sales volumes and battery sizes. With battery costs declining and performance improving, there is an increasing need for... Read more →

ExxonMobil has made a discovery at Pinktail in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. The Pinktail well encountered 220 feet (67 meters) of net pay in high quality hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs. In addition to successful appraisal of the Turbot discovery, the Turbot-2 well encountered 43 feet (13 meters) of net... Read more →

Researchers from Newcastle University in the UK have engineered Escherichia coli bacteria to capture carbon dioxide using hydrogen gas to convert it into formic acid. The research, accepted for publication in Applied and Environmental Microbiology raises the possibility of converting atmospheric CO2 to commodity chemicals. Escherichia coli is gram-negative bacterium... Read more →

Energy company SG H2 Energy; the City of Lancaster, California; and Iwatani, Japan’s leading hydrogen industrial gas company and a developer of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) in California, are launching California’s first closed-loop green hydrogen ecosystem for transportation. In May 2020, SG H2 announced it was bringing the world’s biggest... Read more →

Frost & Sullivan projects that the global Li-ion battery materials market will reach $51.60 billion by 2027 from $18.75 billion in 2020 at a 15.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The advancements in battery chemistries and technologies, upsurge in electric vehicle (EV) sales, evolving regulatory scenario, and increasing consumer preferences... Read more →

An international collaboration of scientists has taken a significant step toward the realization of a nearly “green” zero-net-carbon technology that can efficiently convert CO2 and hydrogen into ethanol. The study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, lays out a roadmap for successfully navigating this challenging reaction and... Read more →

Electrolytic hydrogen production powered by renewable energy is seen as an environmentally friendly means to ameliorate global climate and energy problems. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a novel and inexpensive material for electrodes that may provide for highly efficient, energy-saving hydrogen production: porous, phosphorized... Read more →

Wabtec, a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and value-added services for the freight and transit rail industries, as well as the mining, marine and industrial markets, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) which formalizes their joint aim to create technologies that will... Read more →

Porsche and Siemens Energy have joined forces with a number of international companies to build an industrial plant for the production of nearly CO₂-neutral fuel (eFuel) in Punta Arenas, Chile. A pilot plant is initially being built north of Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia, which is expected to produce around... Read more →

Israel-based StoreDot, the developer of extreme fast charging battery technology for electric vehicles (earlier post), has demonstrated a prototype 4680 form factor cell that is fully charged in just 10 minutes. StoreDot’s extreme fast charging cells have been in development for more than three years. Work for these technologies was... Read more →

An international automaker has awarded the Rheinmetall technology group an important order for CWA400 coolant pumps. Worth a figure in the two-digit million-euro range, the transaction marks the extension of an existing contract. Delivery of the pumps, which are earmarked for installation in luxury hybrid vehicles with 2.5-liter four-cylinder engines,... Read more →

Arbor Renewable Gas, LLC (Arbor Gas) will use Topsoe’s TIGAS technology for producing renewable gasoline at a new facility in the Gulf Coast region. The facility—expected to be operational by 2024—will produce 1,000 barrels per day of renewable gasoline with a significantly negative carbon intensity score under California’s Low Carbon... Read more →

As part of a White House roundtable to launch the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Grand Challenge to decarbonize the aviation sector by 2050 (earlier post), the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $64.7 million in funding for projects focused on producing cost-effective, low-carbon biofuels. These investments will advance technologies to... 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 →

The Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Transportation (DOT) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) are launching a government-wide Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge to meet the demand for sustainable aviation fuels by working with stakeholders to reduce costs, enhance sustainability, and expand production and use of sustainable aviation fuels... Read more →

United and Honeywell announced a joint multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels—a company that is developing technologies for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at scale by converting abundant biomass, such as forest and crop waste, into sustainable low-carbon, drop-in replacement crude oil that can be used to produce aviation fuel. When... Read more →

Chevron USA, a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, and Gevo have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to invest jointly in building and operating one or more new facilities that would process inedible corn to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which can lower the lifecycle carbon intensity of fuels used in the aviation... Read more →

Lightning eMotors, a provider of specialty commercial electric vehicles for fleets, and ABB announced a partnership to offer DC fast electric vehicle chargers for commercial electric fleet vehicles. The high-output 20 kW to 350 kW DC fast chargers will be available via Lightning Energy, a division of Colorado-based Lightning eMotors.... Read more →

by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. In 2003, Michael Flannagan and I published a detailed analysis of the relative safety of flying and driving in the United States. The flying data were for 1992 through 2001, and thus they included the year of the 9/11 attacks. The analysis showed that,... Read more →

A new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program— Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) (HR001121S0035)—seeks to develop novel, bio-based technologies to overcome key challenges facing domestic supply of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) critical to the US and Department of Defense (DoD). Although the US has domestic REE resources,... Read more →

Three weeks after the announcement of an e-methanol sourcing agreement in Europe (earlier post), A.P. Moller – Maersk has invested in California-based WasteFuel, a start-up focused on turning waste into sustainable aviation fuel, green bio-methanol, and renewable natural gas. This investment is made through Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm... Read more →

Power management company Eaton’ Vehicle Group has partnered with Ballard Fuel Cell Systems and the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop heavy-duty truck fuel cell technology. The partnership is the result of a grant Eaton’s Vehicle Group received from the US Department of Energy to develop... Read more →