Transportation News

Geely and Renault partner in South Korea to build hybrid and ICE vehicles

Jan 22, 2022: Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Renault Group have signed a cooperation agreement to launch all-new vehicle lineup for the South-Korean market. Renault-Samsung Motors (RSM) will manufacture Hybrid Electric and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles in Busan for the local market and for export. Geely Group will become a strategic partner of...

Canadian Pacific orders 8 more Ballard fuel cell modules for expansion of hydrogen locomotive development program

Jan 22, 2022: Canadian Pacific is expanding its Hydrogen Locomotive Program from one to three locomotives, with expected delivery in 2022, and has ordered eight additional 200 kW fuel cell modules from Ballard to support the expansion. Inclusive of Ballard’s announcement in March 2021, the company will provide a total of 14 fuel...

Unibuss orders 183 Solaris articulated electric buses

Jan 22, 2022: Unibuss AS, one of the biggest Norwegian carriers, has contracted for the delivery of 183 Solaris Urbino 18 electric buses for the Norwegian capital Oslo. The total value of the contract, concluded as a result of a tender, stands approximately €100 million. This marks the largest single-order yet for Solaris...

GM investing nearly $154M in Lockport Components plant for production of electric motor stator

Jan 22, 2022: General Motors plans to invest nearly $154 million in its Western New York Lockport Components plant. The investment will be used to renovate the facility and purchase and install new machinery and equipment used in the production of the stator module, a key component in an electric motor. Ultium Drive...

Intel to invest $20B to build two processor factories in Ohio

Jan 22, 2022: Intel announced plans for an initial investment of more than $20 billion in the construction of two new leading-edge chip factories in Ohio. The investment will help boost production to meet the surging demand for advanced semiconductors, powering a new generation of innovative products from Intel and serving the needs...

Coral in the Mediterranean threatened by heatwaves

Jan 21, 2022: A new study has found that heatwaves associated with climate change are threatening coral populations in the Mediterranean. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society Biology, established that corals could be wiped out unless action is taken soon.

Tonga faces environmental damage after massive eruption

Jan 21, 2022: The world’s most powerful eruption in more than 30 years has left the Pacific Island nation of Tonga an ashy mess. The January 15 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai, a massive underwater volcano, has left unknown environmental consequences in its wake.

Canton Avenue harkens back to the Silk Road of China

Jan 21, 2022: The Canton Avenue by MOK Design for the Westin Pazhou Hotel in Guangzhou is a walk back in time, revisiting the days when the hotel was a stop on the historic Silk Road of China.

19th century Harlem house restored to be energy efficient

Jan 21, 2022: A 19th-century house, owners interested in passive house design and an architectural firm came together with a resulting blend of original elements married to modern innovations in a big-city row house.

Urban Forest is set to be the greenest residential building

Jan 21, 2022: Urban Forest designed by Koichi Takada Architects and developed by Aria Property Group received approval to be built in South Brisbane, Australia. The 20-storey building will house 194 apartments, all trimmed out with luscious vertical garden balconies.

Major companies with large fleets release new EV roadmap for car & truck manufacturers

Jan 21, 2022: Members of the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance presented top vehicle manufacturers, including Volvo, GM, Daimler and Toyota, with a roadmap for developing the types of electric vehicles that companies plan to acquire in the US over the next five years. The recommendations are based upon a new Ceres analysis of...

LAND begins production of E Moto; user-selectable e-bicycle, e-moped, e-motorcycle modes

Jan 21, 2022: LAND, a startup electric vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Cleveland, began US production on 120 units of the District E Moto this month. The District is a two-wheeled E Moto, a transitional vehicle that performs as an e-bicycle, e-moped, and e-motorcycle through a ride mode selection interface, with a top speed...

IIHS is developing a ratings program for driver attention safeguards for partial automation systems

Jan 21, 2022: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is developing a new ratings program that evaluates the safeguards that vehicles with partial automation employ to help drivers stay focused on the road. The safeguards will be rated “good”, “acceptable”, “marginal” or “poor”. To earn a good rating, systems will need to...

Mercedes-Benz partners with Luminar to accelerate development of next-generation automated driving systems

Jan 21, 2022: Mercedes-Benz and Luminar Technologies announced a partnership to accelerate development of future automated driving technologies for passenger cars. A central component of this is the optimal access to new technologies and global competencies. The intent of this partnership is to leverage the foundational lidar technology from Luminar with the aim...

California utilities partner to support regional electric vehicle charging network

Jan 21, 2022: The California Electric Transportation Coalition and California utilities announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support a California Regional Charging Network. The MOU encourages cooperation and leadership among the California utilities to build out a regional network of chargers. The MOU was signed by the Los Angeles Department of Water...

SoCalGas adding 50 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell EVs to fleet

Jan 21, 2022: Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) has taken delivery of 23 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEV), marking the company’s first purchase of hydrogen-powered vehicles. The company plans to expand its fleet of HFCEVs to 50 next month, making SoCalGas among the first utilities in the nation to start...

Isuzu and Cummins collaborating on prototype medium-duty electric trucks

Jan 21, 2022: Cummins and Isuzu Motors announced an agreement to create a prototype medium-duty, battery-electric truck to demonstrate in North America. This truck represents the first zero-emissions solution facilitated by the Isuzu Cummins Powertrain Partnership (ICPP) formed in May 2019. (Earlier post.). Through this arrangement, Cummins will integrate the Cummins PowerDrive 6000...

Factorial Energy raises $200M to accelerate commercialization of solid-state batteries for EVs; round led by Mercedes, Stellantis

Jan 21, 2022: Factorial Energy (Factorial) has raised $200 million as part of a Series D round of funding that was led by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis Funding will be used to accelerate commercial production and deployment of Factorial’s solid-state battery technology that is safer and offers up to 50% greater driving range than...

Aptera upgrades its unique solar-charging EV

Jan 20, 2022: Aptera's three-wheeler enclosed electric car has already made its mark as a unique new offering on the EV scene. The solar self-charging car never needs to be plugged in, all while competing with mid-level Teslas for range when charged as a traditional EV. Now, Aptera says it has completed some major upgrades to make the cars even more competitive. Here's what's new with Aptera's revolutionary EVs.

Indoor-outdoor living drives this design for VAVA House

Jan 20, 2022: Architecture takes a variety of forms and serves many purposes, but most people would agree that the best home is one that meets the family's needs and lifestyle goals. To this end, VAVA House was designed to emphasize shared space and a connection to the outdoors.

Meditation cottage fits on the tiniest lakefront space

Jan 20, 2022: Sometimes, architecture is about specific design elements or striking visual characteristics. Sometimes, it’s more about letting the location of the structure have the last word. Situated on a slim slice of shorefront land in eastern Finland, the Kynttilä (candle) is a sustainable meditation cottage that honors unique location requirements.

LEED Gold HEC Montreal will house AI research

Jan 20, 2022: HEC Montreal, designed by Provencher_Roy, is a partnership between Montreal's business community and local students and researchers. The certified LEED Gold center is located at the intersection of the Quartier des Affaires, Quartier des Spectacles and the Quartier International on a historic site of Canada.

Energy efficient bamboo device in Vietnam is a cooling system

Jan 20, 2022: AREP, a multidisciplinary architecture agency, created a cooling system prototype based on the history, culture and original designs used by ancient civilizations. Called an adiabatic urban cooling system, the idea dates back centuries, yet is still perhaps the most natural solution for the challenges of cooling modern Vietnamese cities facing regular heat waves.

EPRI, CALSTART awarded $13M to develop high-power freight-charging corridor network in California; RHETTA

Jan 20, 2022: The California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded $13 million to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and CALSTART to jump start California’s high-power charging infrastructure for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The two organizations will lead a first-of-its-kind collaboration to launch the country’s first zero-emission, freight-charging corridor network. The multi-phase project, Research...

Porsche introduces Taycan Sport Turismo family; third body variant of Taycan EV

Jan 20, 2022: Porsche has introduced a third body variant of the Taycan electric sports car. The new Taycan Cross Turismo— which will offer five models from which to choose—combines the everyday usability of the Taycan Cross Turismo with the on-road dynamics of the Taycan sports sedan. In 2021, deliveries of the all-electric...

Honda to supply 50 Honda e EVs, 35 Power Managers to V2X Suisse for large-scale V2G trial

Jan 20, 2022: 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...

FREYR to collaborate with Honeywell on battery manufacturing, deploying energy storage solutions

Jan 20, 2022: 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...

Beneficial Electrification League launches rural electric school bus initiative

Jan 20, 2022: 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...

Moscow plans to buy 500 more electric buses in 2022

Jan 20, 2022: Moscow, Russia, currently runs 1000 electric public electric buses on 66 bus routes, giving it the distinction of operating the largest e-bus fleet in Europe and America. This year the Government of Moscow plans to buy 500 additional electric buses. Most of them will be purchased with the funds from...

Ford and ADT to form vehicle security JV Canopy; AI-powered connected security cameras

Jan 20, 2022: 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...

Hyzon Motors to collaborate with Transform Materials on renewable hydrogen production

Jan 20, 2022: Hyzon Motors, a leading supplier of heavy-duty hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles, announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Transform Materials, a provider of renewable hydrogen through its proprietary microwave reactor technology (earlier post). Together, Hyzon and Transform Materials will evaluate proposals to develop facilities to produce low-to-negative carbon...

GM expanding into new commercial applications for its HYDROTEC fuel cell systems

Jan 20, 2022: GM announced new commercial applications of its HYDROTEC fuel cell technology. HYDROTEC projects, which are currently in development, from heavy-duty trucks to aerospace and locomotives, are being planned for use beyond vehicles for power generation. GM is planning multiple HYDROTEC-based power generators, all powered by GM’s Generation 2 HYDROTEC fuel...

IonQ and Hyundai Motor partner to use quantum computing to advance effectiveness of next-gen batteries

Jan 20, 2022: IonQ, a developer of trapped-ion quantum computing, and Hyundai Motor Company are partnering to develop new variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithms to study lithium oxides and their chemical reactions involved in battery chemistry. A VQE is a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm that aims to find the combination of values that solve...

FLO providing workplace charging solutions to GM across the US

Jan 20, 2022: Canada-based FLO announced the installation of the first wave of workplace electric vehicle (EV) charging stations as part of a multi-year agreement with General Motors (GM), whereby FLO provides AC Level 2 and direct current (DC) fast chargers for GM to be installed on their premises in the United States....

CATL subsidiary CAES to launch battery swap service in 10 cities

Jan 20, 2022: Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology Ltd. (CAES), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), has launched its battery swap solution EVOGO featuring modular battery swapping. Comprising battery blocks, fast battery swap stations and an app, EVOGO will be first launched in ten cities, said Chen Weifeng, general...

IMMERST floating community is adaptable, modular and prefab

Jan 19, 2022: As buildable land becomes increasingly scarce, long-standing yacht company Stephens Waring Design has developed a new design concept called OASys (Ocean Architectural System), which could be the answer for coastline challenges like animal habitat conservation, erosion and lack of suitable development space.

ExxonMobil plays dirty to deny role in the climate crisis

Jan 19, 2022: ExxonMobil has turned to intimidation in attempts to stop its critics from taking legal action. The giant oil company is trying to use an unusual Texas law to target critics outside the state. Exxon has asked the Texas Supreme Court to allow it to use rule 202 to take on California municipal officials.

Polar researchers discover enormous icefish nesting site

Jan 19, 2022: They have see-through skulls, transparent blood, and they built 60 million nests beneath the frigid waters of the Antarctic Sea. They’re Jonah’s icefish, and a polar research team has just discovered what might be their largest breeding colony in the world.

Airavat is a home in the clouds flowing with beauty

Jan 19, 2022: Airavat, a "home in the clouds," is a new creation by reD Architects on the outskirts of Mumbai that casts a striking complement to its natural surroundings.

Ambitious new EV charging network launches in the US

Jan 19, 2022: Access to charging stations is one of the stumbling blocks for America's proposed electric vehicle future. Missouri-based EOS Linx found a way to combine its work in advertising, security, data analytics and renewable energy into an interesting package that could quickly boost EV drivers’ charging options.

Honda signs joint development agreement with SES for Li-metal batteries; to take 2% stake

Jan 19, 2022: Honda Motor announced that, in December 2021, it signed a joint development agreement with SES Holdings Pte. Ltd.in the area of Lithium-metal rechargeable batteries. Moreover, SES plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction, and through the PIPE (private investment in...

ICCT report finds expected surge in renewable diesel production could have damaging environmental impacts due to feedstock demand

Jan 19, 2022: The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has released a report prepared by the consultancy Cerulogy that explores the potential market and environmental impacts of increased capacity for renewable diesel produced by hydrotreating oils and fats in the US. The United States currently supports renewable diesel supply through the federal...

NREL review explores potential value of EV managed charging for realizing effective vehicle-grid integration

Jan 19, 2022: A team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has completed a literature review on the potential value of EV managed charging. Their findings, published in Energy & Environmental Science, provide a comprehensive look at how EVs and the grid could work together as the electric and transportation sectors become...

24M finalizes deal with Volkswagen Group to partner on next-gen EV battery manufacturing; new VW subsidiary

Jan 19, 2022: 24M Technologies, Inc. (24M) has finalized its deal, announced in December 2021 (earlier post) with Volkswagen Group (VWAG). Through the strategic partnership, Volkswagen will manufacture next-generation lithium-ion EV batteries using the 24M SemiSolid platform for use in Group electric vehicles. Volkswagen Group acquired a 25% stake in 24M and will...

Volkswagen and Bosch exploring establishing European provider of battery production systems

Jan 19, 2022: 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...

The climate crisis could sink the UK's economy by 2045

Jan 18, 2022: The U.K. is at risk of losing 1% of its economy every year by 2045 due to the climate crisis. This is according to the U.K. government's recent assessment of the risks posed by climate change. In a five-year analysis of the climate risk, officials determined that the U.K. stands to lose even more if actions are not taken to reverse the climate crisis.

Coal production in China reached record high in 2021

Jan 18, 2022: Despite global cries for an end to fossil fuel use, China’s coal production reached record levels last year. The government encouraged miners to ramp up production, working at maximum capacity to increase China’s economic growth.

Create your own trees out of greenscreen's 3D trellis

Jan 18, 2022: The greenscreen gsTree modular trellis system has won the 2021 Architizer A+ Product Award for conceptual design, the largest awards program in architecture and design. This unique 3D trellising system forms a tree-like shape that elevates and then spreads, growing plants to 10-feet heights.

Zero waste homes are 3D printed in less than 24 hours

Jan 18, 2022: Industries around the world are constantly innovating, however, the construction industry has been slow to adopt new technologies. Mighty Buildings is changing all that with the development of a concrete-replacement known as light-stone material (LSM) used to 3D print a home in less than 24 hours.

Carbon-neutral Nabr apartments are move-in ready by 2023

Jan 18, 2022: Designers at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) are disrupting the housing market with a completely new way to buy a customized sustainable apartment. You can buy one entirely through software.