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Category: transportation

Beyond lithium: how sodiumion batteries could change the world

The lithium-ion battery is the beating heart of the modern world. It powers eight billion mobile phones, hundreds of millions of laptops and rapidly growing fleets of electric cars and energy-storage banks. But there’s a new contender breaking into the battery market.

Batteries based on sodium promise to be cheaper, safer and much more environmentally friendly than lithium-ion cells. And this year could mark the start of the sodium era.

In April, Chinese firm CATL — the world’s largest battery producer — announced that it will start mass-producing sodium-ion batteries before the end of 2026. CATL, which is headquartered in Ningde, added that it had signed deals to sell the batteries both to a car manufacturer and to a provider of energy-storage stations for electricity grids.

Why the actual fuel consumption of plug-in hybrids is often higher

Vehicles with plug-in hybrid drives are intended to facilitate the transition to electric mobility. They can cover shorter distances purely on electric power and offer a combustion engine as a backup for longer trips. According to Empa studies funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), the actual proportion of purely electric driving depends heavily on usage—and, in particular, charging behavior. “If someone owns a plug-in hybrid and does not charge the vehicle regularly, that person is effectively driving a heavier vehicle with a combustion engine. Due to the additional weight of the battery and electric motor, consumption can even be higher than with a comparable conventional gasoline engine,” explains study author Miriam Elser.

Vehicle design is also crucial: Vehicle weight, drive design and battery size influence how efficiently a plug-in hybrid performs on the road.

Layered crystal embeds atom-thin iron selenide can improve waste heat conversion

Developing thermoelectric materials that efficiently convert waste heat into electricity remains challenging because high electrical performance and low thermal conductivity are difficult to achieve simultaneously. Researchers at Science Tokyo developed a layered crystal, TlFe1.6 Se2, that embeds atomically thin iron selenide (FeSe) layers within a bulk material. The crystal combines a high thermoelectric power factor with exceptionally low thermal conductivity, demonstrating a promising strategy for designing next-generation materials for waste heat energy recovery.

Thermoelectric technology, which converts waste heat from factories, automobiles and power plants into electricity, is expected to play an important role in building a carbon-neutral society. In thermoelectric power generation, electricity is produced using a temperature difference across a material.

To achieve high power generation performance, materials must efficiently convert heat into electrical power while maintaining the temperature difference that drives power generation. However, these two requirements are generally difficult to satisfy simultaneously. Establishing new material design strategies that combine high thermoelectric performance with low thermal conductivity has therefore been a major challenge.

Tesla’s selling a $225 balance bike for toddlers

Tesla’s Autopilot may fail to recognize children at times, but the company certainly recognizes their potential as future buyers. The company just unveiled the $225 Balance Bike for Kids aimed at 2–5 year olds. Like the Radio Flyer Tesla Model Y, it lacks motors or even pedals and is simply designed to be pushed along by your kids’ feet, Flintstones style.

The bike comes with a lightweight white magnesium frame, five-way adjustable seat (in black), tools for assembly, “Tesla” word mark on the side and the T logo up front. The model is for tots under 77 pounds with legs less than 13-inches long. It’s at the top of the price range for balance bikes, with only a few models priced higher (like the Woom 1 which at least has brakes) and most under $100.

Tesla has made a few products for kids before, including the $1,900 Tesla Cyberquad ATV that was recalled for violating ATV safety standards for kids. Apparently, what Tesla fans really want is a branded e-bike, and they’d willing to pay extra to get one.

Study finds choice of team car could decide the Tour de France

Elite athletes competing in the Tour de France could gain more than eight seconds in the individual time trial depending solely on the type of team car following them, a new study has revealed.

The research, the third in a pioneering series by the world’s leading experts on cycling aerodynamics, shows that a car driving behind a cyclist gives the rider a measurable aerodynamic push and that the size and shape of that car could be the difference between winning and losing.

Led by Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, in partnership with Ansys, part of Synopsys, the study comes ahead of the Tour de France individual time trial on Tuesday, July 21, a 26.1 km (16.2-mile) stage from Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains.

Secure glass containers for storing chemical waste through laser welding

As the adoption of electric vehicles continues to grow, so does the need for the safe and permanent storage of battery materials and industrial chemical waste. Certain waste streams require disposal in what are known as Category IV landfills, which impose particularly stringent requirements on storage containers. These must simultaneously ensure environmental protection, safe handling and long-term structural integrity.

Glass is a highly promising material for this application: It is exceptionally chemically inert—meaning it reacts with virtually no other substances—making thick-walled glass containers especially well-suited for the permanent containment of hazardous materials. Glass containers are also of particular interest in the context of potential new recycling methods in the future. The stored residual materials do not react with the containers and can be readily recovered from them.

Until now, these glass containers have been manufactured primarily using thermal gas processes. However, these are limited by uncontrolled heat input, high residual stresses and restricted automation potential. Laser welding, on the other hand, enables high processing speeds and shows excellent potential for automation.

Metals’ atomic arrangement can create ‘corrosion highways’ in nuclear reactors

Nuclear reactors are traditionally powered with dense fuel rods that can produce about 1 gigawatt of carbon-free electricity, enough to power about 100,000,000 lightbulbs. Newer power plant designs using molten salt for cooling instead of the water found in traditional reactors could offer better efficiency and stability, but they face a problem—the extreme chemical environment created by the molten salt can corrode the metal comprising the reactor.

A team led by engineers at Penn State found that adjusting the subtle atomic arrangement of structural metals can significantly affect the rate and extent of this corrosion, even with identical baseline chemical compositions. They did this by creating a series of reactive simulations to isolate and study this corrosion mechanism. Their findings are available online ahead of publication in the August issue of Corrosion Science.

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