Lifeboat Foundation

Spur uses computer vision to help companies monitor and predict how a wind farm will impact a local bird population.

Semiconductors are the foundation of all modern electronics. Now, researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a new method where organic semiconductors can become more conductive with the help of air as a dopant. The study, published in the journal Nature, is a significant step towards future cheap and sustainable organic semiconductors.

Prof. Wang Qi’s research group from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has synthesized iron-and nitrogen-co-doped CoFeP-N nanowires for high-efficiency electrocatalytic water splitting.

An Oakland, California, school district is the first in the US to transition to a 100% electric school bus system with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.

Modern student transportation platform Zum has provided Oakland Unified School District with a fleet of 74 electric school buses and bidirectional chargers. Utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) supplied 2.7 megawatts (MW) of load to Zum’s Oakland EV-ready facility. The fleet will be managed through Zum’s AI-enabled technology platform.

“Oakland becoming the first in the nation to have a 100% electric school bus fleet is a huge win for the Oakland community and the nation as a whole,” said Kim Raney, executive director of transportation at Oakland Unified School District. “The families of Oakland are disproportionately disadvantaged and affected by high rates of asthma and exposure to air pollution from diesel fuels.”

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have developed a battery constructed from zinc and lignin that can be recharged over 8,000 times. This innovation aims to offer an affordable and eco-friendly battery alternative, especially for regions with limited electricity access. The findings are detailed in the journal Energy & Environmental Materials.

“Solar panels have become relatively inexpensive, and many people in low-income countries have adopted them. However, near the equator, the sun sets at around 6 PM, leaving households and businesses without electricity. The hope is that this battery technology, even with lower performance than the expensive Li-ion batteries, will eventually offer a solution for these situations,” says Reverant Crispin, professor of organic electronics at Linköping University.

Solid-state batteries store and release electric charge by moving ions back and forth between two electrodes. From our typical perspective, the ions flow through the battery’s solid electrolyte like a gentle stream.

But when seen on an atomic scale, that smooth flow is an illusion: Individual ions hop erratically from one open space to another within the electrolyte’s roomy atomic lattice, nudged in the direction of an electrode by a steady voltage. Those hops are hard to predict and a challenge to trigger and detect.

Now, in the first study of its kind, researchers gave the hopping ions a jolt of voltage by hitting them with a pulse of laser light. To their surprise, most of the ions briefly reversed direction and returned to their previous positions before resuming their usual, more random travels. It was the first indication that the ions remembered, in a sense, where they had just been.

A new type of bioplastic could help reduce the plastic industry’s environmental footprint. Researchers led by the University of California San Diego have developed a biodegradable form of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a soft yet durable commercial plastic used in footwear, floor mats, cushions and memory foam. It is filled with bacterial spores that, when exposed to nutrients present in compost, germinate and break down the material at the end of its life cycle.

The work is detailed in a paper published on April 30 in Nature Communications.

The biodegradable TPU was made with bacterial spores from a strain of Bacillus subtilis that has the ability to break down plastic polymer materials.

Tesla’s $25,000 EV is clouded with doubt, but Kia’s presumably inexpensive EV3 crossover is barreling ahead.

BYD officially launched its new Sea Lion 7, a mid-size smart electric SUV poised to rival Tesla’s top-selling Model Y. Starting at 189,800 yuan ($26,250), the BYD Sea Lion 7 is the first EV based on its new e-Platform 3.0 Evo.

After unveiling the Sea Lion 07 at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November, BYD officially launched the new electric SUV last week.

BYD said it was its first “medium-sized urban smart electric SUV.” It’s also the first EV based on BYD’s new e-Platform 3.0 Evo. The new EV platform is an upgrade from the e-Platform 3.0 with improved charging and powertrain capability.