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Archive for the ‘transportation’ category: Page 266

Dec 25, 2019

Free of Heavy Metals, New Battery Design Could Alleviate Environmental Concerns

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability, transportation

Today, IBM Research is building on a long history of materials science innovation to unveil a new battery discovery. This new research could help eliminate the need for heavy metals in battery production and transform the long-term sustainability of many elements of our energy infrastructure.

As battery-powered alternatives for everything from vehicles to smart energy grids are explored, there remain significant concerns around the sustainability of available battery technologies.

Many battery materials, including heavy metals such as nickel and cobalt, pose tremendous environmental and humanitarian risks. Cobalt in particular, which is largely available in central Africa, has come under fire for careless and exploitative extraction practices.1

Dec 21, 2019

The Fighter Plane Powerful Enough to Destroy a Satellite in Space

Posted by in categories: space, transportation

Aviation buffs: See firsthand footage of an F-15 shooting down a Russian space satellite.

Stream Air Warriors: http://bitly.com/2Kokhxq

Dec 21, 2019

London’s electric buses are getting fake noise, and it’s positively psychedelic

Posted by in categories: law, sustainability, transportation

From next year, some of London’s electric buses will play artificial noise while traveling at low speeds, and the specific sound that’s been created for them is an ambient treat for the ears. The noise was created by Zelig Sound, which has been working with Transport for London on the audio over the past year.

The sound is being introduced in response to a new EU law which stipulates that all electric vehicles will eventually need to produce artificial noise while traveling at low speeds, to make up for the lack of noise from their internal engines. If you can’t hear a vehicle, then you’re not as aware of its presence, and research suggests pedestrians are more likely to be hit by electric or hybrid cars as a result.

Wired reports the base note is a soft F#maj7 chord, with a slight pulsing sound in the background. This is what gets played when a bus is stationary:

Dec 21, 2019

Nawa’s stylish e-motorbike uses an ultracapacitor to drastically boost range

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

Nawa’s Racer goes farther than other e-bikes thanks to an ultracapacitor that harvests more brake energy.

Dec 20, 2019

Why Haven’t Hydrogen Vehicles Taken Over the World Yet?

Posted by in category: transportation

What ever happened to hydrogen cars?

Via Seeker

Dec 20, 2019

IBM Research Created a New Battery That Outperforms Lithium-Ion—No Problematic Heavy Metals Required

Posted by in categories: materials, transportation

With everything from cars, to trucks, to even airplanes going electric, the demand for batteries is going to continue to skyrocket in the coming years—but the availability of the materials currently used to make them is limited. So scientists at IBM Research have developed a new battery whose unique ingredients can be extracted from seawater instead of mining.

Dec 20, 2019

California now allows driverless truck and cargo van testing on public roads

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

The California DMV set the rules for driverless light-duty vehicle testing on public roads on Tuesday. Among other things, the autonomous trucks and vans must have a link to a remote operator, or a human safety driver on board.

Dec 18, 2019

Camouflage made of quantum material could hide you from infrared cameras

Posted by in categories: quantum physics, transportation

Infrared cameras detect people and other objects by the heat they emit. Now, researchers have discovered the uncanny ability of a material to hide a target by masking its telltale heat properties.

The effect works for a range of temperatures that one day could include humans and vehicles, presenting a future asset to stealth technologies, the researchers say.

Continue reading “Camouflage made of quantum material could hide you from infrared cameras” »

Dec 18, 2019

Nvidia touts chip deals with China’s Alibaba, Baidu and Didi

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

(Reuters) — Nvidia Corp on Wednesday said it has won a series of deals in which some of China’s biggest technology companies are using its chips to make product recommendations and to develop self-driving vehicles.

Dec 17, 2019

Research yields potential bioblendstock for diesel fuel

Posted by in categories: economics, energy, transportation

The NREL scientists, along with colleagues at Yale University, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are part of the Department of Energy’s Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative. Co-Optima’s research focuses on improving fuel economy and vehicle performance while also reducing emissions.

“If you look at biomass, 30% of it is oxygen,” said Derek Vardon, a senior research engineer at NREL and corresponding author of a new paper detailing the Co-Optima research project. “If we can figure out clever ways to keep it around and tailor how it’s incorporated in the , you can get a lot more out of biomass and improve the performance of diesel fuel.” The molecule, 4-butoxyheptane, contains oxygen while conventional petroleum-derived diesel fuel is comprised of hydrocarbons. The presence of oxygen significantly reduces the intrinsic sooting tendency of the fuel upon burning.

The paper, “Performance-advantaged ether diesel bioblendstock production by a priori design,” appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vardon’s co-authors from NREL are Nabila Huq as the first author, with co-authors Xiangchen Huo, Glenn Hafenstine, Stephen Tifft, Jim Stunkel, Earl Christensen, Gina Fioroni, Lisa Fouts, Robert McCormick, Matthew Wiatrowski, Mary Biddy, Teresa Alleman, Peter St. John, and Seonah Kim.