Electric vehicles

The 2019 Toyota Mirai electric vehicle touts zero emissions, thanks to a fuel cell that runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline. But the Mirai has barely left California, partly because today's fuel cell electrodes are made of super expensive platinum.

The biggest demand for lithium-ion batteries is moving away from cars and in electric cars it will be a matter of less battery on average.

The BMW Group and Daimler AG are pooling their mobility services to create a new global player providing sustainable urban mobility for customers. The two companies are investing more than €1 billion in total to develop and more closely intermesh their offerings for car-sharing, ride-hailing, parking, charging and multimodal transport.

Eviation Aircraft, has selected Siemens to provide high-power, all-electric propulsion systems for Eviation's fleet of regional Alice electric planes.

Researchers have today announced the development of a new material which has the potential to improve the lifetime of the battery in every day electronics, such as smartphones. The new material also has the potential to significantly improve issues of battery lifetime while also ensuring that batteries can continue to become smaller without loss of performance.

Car demand will collapse as people move to cities. $100 billion was written off the stock value of car companies recently. The US economy is on a sugar rush from a trillion-dollar borrowing boost at the top of the cycle. Climate change getting out of control in 12 years? These and many other negative indicators can portend a recession, maybe a severe one. What are the implications for EVs?

The EV business is highly fragmented with great scope for consolidation leading to economy of scale.

Volvo Trucks delivered its first all-electric vehicles - a refuse truck to waste and recycling company Renova, and a distribution truck to the logistics company DB Schenker and partner haulier TGM, operating in Sweden.

The Chinese government shrewdly controls supply and demand for sectors it deems important. As elsewhere it has to cope with people moving to cities.

As their name suggests, such multifunctional structural materials simultaneously carry out two or more functions that would normally have to be addressed separately. For example, a structural role might combine with optical, electrical, magnetic or thermal properties. In some cases, entire complex devices can be built either within or from the primary structural material.

Automotive electric technology company, SEA Electric, is set to launch in the United States in coming weeks, showcasing two trucks.

Zircotec are a company that specialise in thermal barrier coatings with recent emerging applications in electric vehicle enclosures. Technical director Simon Hiiemae spoke with senior technology analyst Dr Richard Collins.

Ordnance Survey and a team of world-leading aeronautic engineers are developing a highly innovative solar powered, High Altitude Pseudo Satellite that is going to change the face of Earth observation and the way we map our planet.

FLIR Systems Inc has been awarded a $39.6 Million order to deliver FLIR Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Systems in support of the United States Army. The highly capable nano-unmanned aerial vehicle systems delivered under this contract will support platoon and small unit level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities as part of the Soldier Borne Sensor Program.

Consider supercapacitor buses. CRRC of China has been quietly exporting them to Bulgaria, Israel, and Austria recently and its own supercapacitor manufacturers now make good products and plan 30% cost reduction within 3 years.

Fraport AG and Volocopter GmbH are pioneering mobility of the future. Together, they are developing concepts for ground infrastructure and operations required for air taxi services at airports.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 7 March titled Electric Vehicles in Construction, Agriculture and Mining: Over $100 bn Market Emerging.

Bad strategy rather than tactics, such as misjudged new models, will kill several major automotive companies. They face a perfect storm of peak car, totally new technology, totally new markets and recession.

The sixth Energy Storage India (ESI) took place in New Delhi on January 10 - 11, 2019, at the Ashok Hotel.

Aerospace and defence are key drivers for many new technologies. They often have the deepest pockets and are the most likely to adopt the newest technologies.