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Powering the future: How car parks are transforming into solar energy hubs

Discover how car parks are evolving into solar powerhouses, generating clean energy, reducing costs, and shaping a sustainable future.

Imagine this: a car park with sleek solar panels mounted on jet-black steel supports, harnessing the sun’s energy while providing shade for parked vehicles.

This groundbreaking concept is becoming a reality in car parks across the UK, offering much more than just parking spaces.

Chinese Automaker Entering U.S. Market With All-Electric BYD e6

Competition in the burgeoning electric vehicle market is heating up. Green car enthusiasts are already salivating at the chance to test-drive the Nissan LEAF and the Chevrolet Volt when they hit dealerships late this year. Now, it seems an underdog has stepped out from the shadows to give these big hitters a real run for their money.

At this year’s Detroit Auto Show, Chinese automaker BYD announced plans to break into the North American auto market by selling their all-electric e6 in the United States by the end of the year.

While Chevy and Nissan don’t have much to worry about in the short-term — initial rollout is currently slated for the Southern California market only — BYD has some pretty lofty goals that could spell trouble over the next few years. Specifically, BYD (which stands for “Build Your Dreams”) plans on becoming no less than the world’s largest automaker by 2025.

Myntra launches ChatGPT-powered search feature for enhanced product discovery

Customers can essentially look up curated looks on the app, say by typing keywords such as “airport looks”, and the system is designed to showcase a host of products including apparel, footwear, bags and sunglasses that consumers can choose from.

The move comes as the retailer is set to announce its bi-annual “end of reason sale” next month.

The feature is capable of discovering fashion ensembles at scale based on looks relevant to destinations, events, celebrity styling ideas or occasions, the retailer said.

Mercedes-Benz Preparing to Launch Digital Car Key Support for iPhone and Apple Watch in Latest E-Class Sedan

Apple’s digital car key feature for iPhone and Apple Watch is expanding to Mercedes-Benz, with changes to Apple’s back-end configuration files for the feature having been updated today with references to the automaker, as noticed by Nicolás Álvarez (via @aaronp613).

Only a handful of brands including BMW, BYD, Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia have so far introduced support for the feature on select models, which allows you to add a digital car key to the Wallet app on your ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch and then lock, unlock, and start your car without needing a physical key. Just a month ago, Lotus appeared in Apple’s configuration files as another upcoming brand that will support the feature.

Mount Etna has its first major eruption in 30 years, and footage is spectacular (video)

Mount Etna enjoyed its first major eruption in 30 years on Sunday, and footage of the busy volcano’s spewing and flowing orange lava against the black and white billowing smoke is stunning. (See video caught by Massimiliano Salfi, posted by Earth42morrow, below).

Europe’s most active volcano caused Sicily’s Catania airport to shut down yesterday after ash covered its runways, according to CNN, but has mostly reopened as of Monday.

People in nearby towns reportedly heard loud booming sounds at the time of the eruption, but no injuries have been reported. Mount Etna’s last eruption of this size was in 1992.

Machine learning approach opens insights into an entire class of materials being pursued for solid-state batteries

A team of researchers at Duke University and their collaborators have uncovered the atomic mechanisms that make a class of compounds called argyrodites attractive candidates for both solid-state battery electrolytes and thermoelectric energy converters.

The discoveries—and the machine learning approach used to make them—could help usher in a new era of energy storage for applications such as household battery walls and fast-charging electric vehicles.

The results appeared online May 18 in the journal Nature Materials.

Startup’s bladeless flying car is designed to reach Mach 0.8

Seattle-based startup Jetoptera is designing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles with bladeless propulsion systems — potentially making the future of urban flight quiet, safer, and faster.

The challenge: The proportion of the global population living in cities is expected to increase from 50% today to nearly 70% by 2050, meaning our already crowded urban streets are likely to become even more congested.