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Category: transportation – Page 223

There is an exciting branch of battery research that involves combining the strength and durability of next-generation materials with their energy storage potential. This could see car panels double as their batteries, for example, and in a new example of what this could look like scientists have developed a “power suit” for electric vehicles that could not only extend their range, but give them a handy boost in acceleration at the same time.

Sometimes known as structural batteries, we’ve seen some interesting recent advances in this space from research groups and even big-name automakers. Back in 2013, Volvo demonstrated carbon fiber body panels with energy storage potential, and we’ve seen other teams show off similar concepts since. These projects sought to combine the high energy density of batteries with the ultra-fast discharge rates of supercapacitors, in materials strong enough to serve as a car’s exterior.

This new breakthrough continues this line of thinking, with scientists at University of Central Florida and NASA designing a new material featuring unique properties that allow for not just impressive energy storage potential, but also the strength needed to endure a car crash.

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The world’s first demonstration device to produce 1,000 tons of gasoline per year from carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation has completed its technology evaluation and trial operation.

Located in the Zoucheng Industrial Park, Shandong province, China, the project has been jointly developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Zhuhai Futian Energy Technology company. The hydrogenation of CO2 into liquid fuels and chemicals can not only realize the resource utilization of CO2 but also facilitate the storage and transportation of renewable energy.

However, activation and selective conversion of CO2 are challenging. A technology that can selectively produce energy-dense, value-added hydrocarbon fuels will provide a new route to promote the clean, low-carbon energy revolution.

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Tesla will sell car insurance, but electric-vehicle insurance and repairs are more expensive than for traditional cars. Here’s why.

The average cost of repairs are nearly 3% higher for a small EV versus a small internal-combustion engine car, says CCC Intelligent Solutions, a data and consulting firm that has examined the impact of EVs on the automotive, insurance and repair industries.

The same researchers found that spending on replacemet parts as a share of the overall repair costs was higher for a small EV despite that EV having 9.1 parts replaced per claim on average, versus 9.6 parts for small ICE cars. Access the full report here.

“The repair and replacement parts for many components of EVs are different from gasoline cars, and their relative scarcity/lack of economies of scale, plus their higher price, means that the insurance premiums to cover them are also higher,” said Lane of the University of Kansas.

Continue reading “As prices top a gallon, should you consider an electric vehicle? One consideration: They’re more expensive to insure and repair. Here’s why” | >

Details have been disclosed about a now-addressed critical vulnerability in Microsoft’s Azure Automation service that could have permitted unauthorized access to other Azure customer accounts and take over control.

“This attack could mean full control over resources and data belonging to the targeted account, depending on the permissions assigned by the customer,” Orca Security researcher Yanir Tsarimi said in a report published Monday.

The flaw potentially put several entities at risk, including an unnamed telecommunications company, two car manufacturers, a banking conglomerate, and big four accounting firms, among others, the Israeli cloud infrastructure security company added.

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Using corn for fuel seems like a dumb idea in light of new research.

Recommended Books & Car Products — http://amzn.to/2BrekJm.
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Ethanol makes up 10% of most of the gasoline sold in the United States. A large part of why Ethanol is so prevalent is that the Renewable Fuel Standard, created in 2005, wanted to reduce the emissions of the fuels we use. Ethanol created from corn is renewable, because the corn takes carbon from the atmosphere to grow, creating a cycle that minimizes how much carbon is added to the atmosphere. At least, that’s the story we were told.

New research out of University of Wisconsin — Madison, suggests that “the carbon intensity of corn ethanol is no less than gasoline and likely at least 24% higher.” What’s the solution? We need to choose options that have a greater percentage of net emissions reductions, so that we don’t unintentionally increase emissions if regulators estimated predictions are incorrect.

Continue reading “America Was Wrong About Ethanol — Study Shows” | >

BEIJING — The first electric car with Huawei’s HarmonyOS operating system is set to begin deliveries at a ceremony on Saturday in Shanghai, according to an announcement on social media.

In December, Huawei’s consumer business group CEO Richard Yu spent an hour at a winter product launch event promoting the car, the Aito M5. But the Chinese telecommunications company has emphasized it will not make cars on its own, rather working with auto manufacturers on autonomous driving and other technology.

Seres is the automaker behind the Aito M5. The company is also known as SF Motors and is a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of automaker Sokon, which is based in Chongqing, China, according to the parent company’s website.

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Charging station manufacturer Tritium (Nasdaq: DCFC) has formed a partnership with Wise EV, a subsidiary of renewable energy service provider Wise Power, to provide DC fast chargers for a new national EV charging network.

The new network is expected to start with 25 locations at Florida gas stations. Florida is the number-two US state for EV sales, and received the third largest state allocation under the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program Guidance.

Wise EV plans to build its network using a hub-and-spoke strategy, centering the charging around metropolitan hubs and connecting those cities with Interstate highways as spokes. The eventual goal is to build a coast-to-coast charging network. The company plans to establish its metropolitan charging hubs in 2022, and connect those hubs with Interstate charging spokes in 2022 and 2023.

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Visit https://brilliant.org/Veritasium/ to get started learning STEM for free, and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription. Digital computers have served us well for decades, but the rise of artificial intelligence demands a totally new kind of computer: analog.

Thanks to Mike Henry and everyone at Mythic for the analog computing tour! https://www.mythic-ai.com/
Thanks to Dr. Bernd Ulmann, who created The Analog Thing and taught us how to use it. https://the-analog-thing.org.
Moore’s Law was filmed at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
Welch Labs’ ALVINN video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0igiP6Hg1k.

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Continue reading “We’re Building Computers Wrong” | >

TOKYO, March 4 (Reuters) — Japan’s Panasonic Corp (6752.T) is looking to purchase land in the United States for a mega-factory to make a new type of electric vehicle (EV) battery for Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

Panasonic is looking at building the factory, to cost several billion dollars, in either Oklahoma or Kansas close to Texas, where Tesla is preparing a new EV plant, NHK reported. NHK gave no timeline for Panasonic’s U.S. project.

NHK did not cite the source of its information. Panasonic said the reported plan was not something it announced.

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Tesla has released footage unveiling its pre-fabricated system to deploy new Supercharger stations in record time.

This new one in Florida was built in just over a week.

Tesla is currently growing its Supercharger network at an impressive rate.

The automaker went from 23,277 Superchargers at 2,564 stations at the end of 2020 to 31,498 Superchargers at 3,476 stations at the end of 2021. That’s growing at a 35% year-over-year pace.

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