EDITOR'S CHOICE

Ford Announces Breakthrough With LMR Battery Chemistry

03 May 2025 | Synopsis

"Ford's LMR battery technology has three main benefits when compared to existing chemistries: safety, energy density, and cost reduction...this breakthrough is being labeled as critical to achieving cost parity with gasoline vehicles...the breakthrough came out of Ford Ion Park - the company's dedicated battery research and development center...potentially signaling that batteries utilizing LMR chemistry will arrive as soon as 2027."

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Why Airbus Pumped the Brakes on its Hydrogen Plans

03 May 2025 | Synopsis

"A key challenge for hydrogen-powered aviation lies in storing hydrogen fuel. It has a low energy density by volume, so it must be stored either as a high-pressure gas or, more commonly, as a super-cooled liquid at -253°C (-423°F).

"Despite its promise, several hurdles remain before hydrogen-powered airliners become mainstream. The production and distribution of green hydrogen need to be significantly scaled up."

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EV Explorers To Enter Electric Vehicle To Compete In This Year's Rhino Charge

03 May 2025 | Synopsis

The converted off-road vehicle must cover the 150-200km route, which changes every year, within a 10-hour limit, making sure to pass through every waypoint. The annual Rhino Challenge is a charitable event to raise funds to protect the environment, wildlife and human lives, "having built some 780 kilometres of electric fences, protecting over 80,000 families from human-wildlife conflict."

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Europe EV Sales Report - The King (Tesla) is Dead, Long Live the (Old) King, Volkswagen

03 May 2025 | Synopsis

"Some 365,000 plugin vehicles were registered in Europe in March, rising 22% year over year...BEVs are the ones pushing the market upwards, growing 24% YoY in March to 245,000 units...PHEVs...left negative numbers and grew 19% in March

While Telsa is still the leading EV seller in Europe, Volkswagen Group in particular posting a strong collective result, with four models (#6 VW ID.7, #14 Audi Q6 e-tron, #15 VW Tiguan PHEV, and #17 Skoda Elroq) placing best ever scores."

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'Source Of Data': Are Electric Cars Vulnerable To Cyber Spies And Hackers?

01 May 2025 | Synopsis

"Security experts spoken to by the Guardian say electric cars – the most advanced road vehicles on the market – could be exploited by hackers...electric cars have myriad ways of generating data that is of interest to hostile states, given the microphones, cameras and wifi connectivity they contain...A mobile phone connected to the car, whether via a charging cable or Bluetooth, is another source of data..."

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Tesla Insurance Premiums Are Increasing At Twice The Market Rate Amid Vandalism

01 May 2025 | Synopsis

"Tesla insurance premiums are increasing at more than twice the rate of the rest of the US auto market due to higher repair costs and amid increased instances of vandalism

"The study also points to insurance premiums on Tesla vehicles increasing at about twice the rate of the rest of the market, and the Model Y premiums increased by almost 3 times the rest of the market increase..."

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Proposed Federal Regulation Change Could Reduce E-Bike Inventory Value

01 May 2025 | Synopsis

"If approved by the CPSC and then Congress, e-bikes that met EN, other standards, or no standards - but not UL - could no longer be legally sold in the U.S. It's not clear how many e-bikes are currently in wholesale or retail inventory that fall into this category.

"Giant Group, along with PeopleForBikes, does not believe a unique testing standard (like UL 2849), which is not harmonized with global standards, will bring any additional safety to the quality products sold by Giant..."

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Fuel Cells in Cars Without a Future? - An Analysis

01 May 2025 | Synopsis

"It is something like the eternal undead among alternative drive systems...The lack of success is not due to the technology itself...registration figures for fuel cell vehicles are continuing to fall: while 900 cars with hydrogen technology were sold in 2022, the figure was only 260 in 2023 and just 150 last year...4,000 new fuel cell trucks are registered in China every year... But in the same period, 75,000 battery-electric trucks are put on the road..."

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Isuzu's First Electric Pickup Is Here And It's A Beast: Meet The New D-MAX EV

30 Apr 2025 | Synopsis

"The electric pickup is nearly identical to Isuzu’s popular gas-powered D-MAX, but swaps the diesel powertrain for a pair of electric motors..."

"The dual-motor powertrain enables it to match the performance of existing diesel models, with a combined 188 hp (140 kW) and a maximum torque of 240 lb-ft...Powered by a 66.9 kWh battery, Isuzu's first electric pickup boasts a driving range of up to 263 km (162 miles) on the WLTP."

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Fusion Reactor Called "Norm" Could Outperform Everything We've Built So Far

30 Apr 2025 | Synopsis

"TAE Technologies claims its setup produces 100 times the power of other designs at half the cost, but the road to commercial fusion is littered with hype.

"... field-reversed configuration (FRC)—a setup that holds piping hot plasma in place without relying on the gigantic magnets seen in traditional fusion designs like tokamaks...Norm reduces the machine’s size, complexity, and cost by up to 50%..."

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This New Range Extender Proves Gas Engines Are Far From Dead

30 Apr 2025 | Synopsis

"The 'range extender' bit is a gas-powered engine, usually small and compact, mounted in the car to recharge the battery if there aren't any charging stations nearby.

"Range extenders are a better choice versus traditional plug-in hybrids, ZF argues, because they're cheaper to produce, require shorter development cycles, and use simpler supply chains...ZF's new range extender can be had in two flavors: eRE and eRE+."

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UK Researchers Make Breakthrough On Revolutionary Fuel That Could Transform Wide Range Of Industries

30 Apr 2025 | Synopsis

"UK-based energy-tech company [Interesting Engineering] created a portable hydrogen generation module capable of producing up to 1,100 pounds of hydrogen daily [from ammonia]...Hy-5 can produce hydrogen with greater than 99.9% purity...a scalable and cost-effective way to produce hydrogen...Examples include manufacturing steel and cement glass, chemical production, hydrogen logistics, and off-grid EV charging with hydrogen fuel cell generators."

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