By mmillikin Octillion Power Systems, a global provider of advanced lithium-ion batteries, is providing battery packs for all-electric motorcoaches and city transit buses offered by ABC Companies and Lightning eMotors. The order marks the company’s first time supplying batteries for motorcoaches and buses in North America. With its entry into the motorcoach and bus markets,…
By mmillikin Archer, a manufacturer of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have entered into a definitive agreement to enable Archer to benefit from access to FCA’s low-cost supply chain, advanced composite material capabilities, and engineering and design experience. The new partnership will help accelerate Archer’s timeline in becoming…
By mmillikin by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. This analysis examines distances driven per vehicle in different vehicle classes in 2019 (the last year before the pandemic) and compares them with the corresponding values in 2009. The raw data were, for each vehicle class, the total vehicle distance traveled and the number of registered vehicles….
By mmillikin Mercedes-Benz experienced a sharp increase in xEV deliveries in 2020, with more than 160,000 plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles sold worldwide (+228.8%), including about 87,000 units in the fourth quarter alone. We more than tripled sales of our plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars. Demand for these vehicles increased sharply, especially towards the end…
By mmillikin Researchers in China led by a team from Fudan University have demonstrated the electrochemical reduction of CO2 toward C2+ alcohols with a faradaic efficiency of ~70% using copper (Cu) catalysts with stepped sites. In a paper published in the journal Joule, they suggest that the results show great potential for the electrocatalytic conversion…
By mmillikin When ridesourcing companies Uber and Lyft show up in urban areas, vehicle registrations per capita increase by 0.7% on average, increasing even more in car-dependent cities, according to a new study led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. In an open-access paper in the journal iScience, the team estimates the effects of transportation…
By mmillikin Toyota announced that it will preview a new mid-sized battery-electric SUV based on the forthcoming the e-TNGA platform for its European Battery Electric line-up. Further details are to be announced in the coming months. At this stage, only a stylized silhouette and details of the platform architecture have been released. The un-named preview…
By mmillikin Researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK and Harbin Institute of Technology in China have built tiny droplet-based algal factories that produce hydrogen, instead of oxygen, when exposed to daylight in air. An open-access paper on their work is published in Nature Communications. Normally, algal cells fix carbon dioxide and produce…
By mmillikin Nissan launched the all-new Note compact car in Japan, with sales planned to begin 23 December. The new Note will come exclusively with Nissan’s e-POWER electrified powertrain (earlier post). As the company’s best-selling model in its home market, the car continues to play a key role in the Nissan NEXT global business transformation…
By mmillikin Groupe Renault is creating the REFACTORY in Flins, the first European circular economy site dedicated to mobility. By 2030, it will employ more than 3,000 people in dedicated professions. The implementation of this industrial and commercial ecosystem will take place gradually between 2021 and 2024, replacing the production of new vehicles. It will…
By mmillikin Operator Transdev has signed a contract with Solaris Bus & Coach to supply two hydrogen buses. The vehicles will roll out onto the streets of the Swedish city of Sandviken in autumn 2021. Solaris Urbino CNG (in yellow and red), operating X-Trafik Gävle—the hydrogen buses in Sandviken will have the same look. Transdev…
By mmillikin The Volkswagen 2021 ID.4 electric SUV 1st Edition and Pro models officially have an EPA-estimated 250 miles of range on a single charge. The EPA-estimated fuel economy for city driving is 104 MPGe; highway driving is rated at 89 MPGe, and combined city/highway at 97 MPGe. The first models to be launched—ID.4 1st…
By mmillikin TTTech Auto—a provider of software and hardware platforms for automated driving and beyond, applicable in series production programs—has expanded its development scope and altered its structure based on three distinct pillars. These include a newly set-up Car.OS unit that will focus on forward-looking technology; a scaled-up customer programs unit; and a separated product…
By mmillikin UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the government will accelerate the ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles, bringing it forward by ten years to 2030, as part of a “Green Industrial Revolution.” The sale of hybrid cars will be allowed until 2035. Johnson announced the plan as part…
By mmillikin Chevrolet is voluntarily recalling 68,667 MY 2017-2019 Bolt EVs worldwide over the risk of battery fires; the majority of the cars affected—50,925—are in the US. The action is in response to five confirmed instances of vehicle fires that could relate to the high voltage battery in the Bolt. In October, the National Highway…