A partnership led by Rolls-Royce is building an electric aircraft that it hopes will reach a top speed of over 300 mph and beat the previous speed record of 210 mph set in 2017 by Siemens. The project is part of a Rolls-Royce initiative called Accelerating the Electrification of Flight (ACCEL), which is partly funded… Read more »
Northern Ireland-based bus manufacturer Wrightbus showed a production-ready fuel cell-powered double decker bus at the recent Euro Bus Expo in Birmingham, UK. Wrightbus developed the Streetdeck FCEV with funding from the EU-backed Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe project (JIVE, which some would call a fitting name). The new Streetdeck FCEV bus features a… Read more »
Battery specialist Sila Nanotechnologies has received $70 million in Series D funding from Sutter Hill Ventures, Next47 (backed by Siemens), and Amperex. Sila Nano will use the funding for the development and commercialization of its silicon-dominant anodes. Overall, Sila has raised $125 million from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Chengwei Capital, Matrix Partners, Samsung, and… Read more »
Double-decker buses are going electric, and not only in London. CVS Cruise Victoria has been using an EV550 electric double-decker from GreenPower Motor Company to transport tourists to and from the busy cruise ship terminal at Ogden Point in Victoria, British Columbia for almost two years. In February, the company added two more to its… Read more »
After two years in stealth mode, Santa Clara-based SF Motors recently announced details of two upcoming EVs, the SF5 and the SF7. The SF5 will be available for pre-order by the end of 2018 and is scheduled to hit the road in 2019. The company plans to begin vehicle production this year at its facilities… Read more »
Battery manufacturer Saft, a subsidiary of oil giant Total, has announced that it will join forces with a handful of European partners to form a development R&D partnership focused on creating cutting-edge batteries. Saft CEO Ghislain Lescuyer recognizes that “batteries are at the heart of the current technological revolution. Their development and production play a… Read more »
California’s Rialto Unified School District, which operates a fleet of 68 school buses serving 29 schools, has ordered two Synapse 72 electric school buses from GreenPower Motor Company, for delivery by the summer of 2018. GreenPower offers a range of electric buses with low-floor or high-floor bodies. GreenPower’s e-bus is based on a clean-sheet design,… Read more »
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Williams Advanced Engineering have signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate ultra-lightweight materials, battery technologies and electrical cell chemistries into Airbus’s Zephyr High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) program. Zephyr is a solar-powered unmanned aerial system, or drone, that will fly at more than 65,000 feet – above commercial air traffic – for… Read more »
Volvo subsidiary Mack Trucks has demonstrated a PHEV truck that can recharge by means of an overhead catenary. The prototype Mack Pinnacle DayCab recently participated in a one-mile, zero-emission eHighway demonstration in Carson, California, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The goal of the project, which is sponsored by the South Coast… Read more »
A consortium of firms, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, is working on a research project called FastCharge that aims to develop a charging system with significantly shortened charging times. German electrical engineering firm Phoenix Contact heads the consortium, which also includes BMW, Porsche, Siemens and charging operator Allego. The… Read more »