EDITOR'S CHOICE

I-Team: Anatomy of a Lithium Ion Battery Fire

28 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"Lithium ion batteries, which power thousands of e-bikes and e-scooters, account for an ever-increasing share of fires in New York City.

"...compromising a single battery cell inside the pack, leads to a chain reaction called 'thermal runaway.'

"According to the NYC Mayor's Office, batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters caused 220 fires in 2022, up from just 44 fires in 2020. In the first two months of this year, Lithium Ion battery fires had already taken two lives and caused 40 injuries."

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The Small Electric Car Is an Endangered Species in America

28 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"In an industry increasingly dominated by bigger, heavier, and deadlier vehicles, the [Chevy] Bolt was a refreshingly sensible little car...GM is revamping the Bolt's plant from a factory that made 70,000 electric sedans last year into a factory that makes 600,000 electric trucks every year.

"If would-be Bolt buyers want an EV with the full tax credit, they are left to size up to the Equinox, an electric SUV that GM is aiming to sell for $30,000."

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Anatomy of an "American Transit Disaster"

28 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"...historian Nicholas Bloom chronicles the collapse of public transportation in US cities - and explains who really deserves the blame.

'Public officials' reluctance to subsidize transit - even as car owners enjoyed publicly funded roads and free parking - made it virtually impossible for streetcars, buses and trains to compete. Racism played a role too...

"...streetcar companies had the customers. They had an effective monopoly

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Progressive World Cities Are Going Car-less for Climate

28 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"Globally, cars are being pushed back from many of the world's biggest cities. Nine European cities have banned cars from their centres. Madrid, Spain's capital, banned all non-resident cars from driving anywhere in the city centre four years ago. Copenhagen is home to the largest car-free zone in Europe...Brussels, Belgium's capital, has always had pedestrian-only streets surrounding its city square...The inner cities of Oslo , Amsterdam, Hamburg, Milan, Barcelona, Paris and now Lisbon are all car-less."

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The ePropulsion Zanzibar Project: How Electric Outboards Are Changing the Lives of Local Populations

27 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"...the surface temperature of the Western Indian Ocean has risen 1°C in the last 30 years and the seaweed now grows further out, in deeper, cooler waters. That requires boats.

"Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries began addressing the problem with a program that would have 500 fibreglass boats built locally...most days the boats could run entirely on the 600W from the solar panels and a fully charged 4kWh battery could last through 4 days or more."

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Green Solar Panels Made From Food Waste Generate Energy Without Sunlight

27 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"...new variant of solar panels has been created by Carvey Ehren Maigue, an electrical engineering student from the Philippines; Mapua University. These panels can collect ultraviolet light that is not visible to the naked eye and can still penetrate through dense cloud cover, thus addressing the productivity issue.

"...makes use of luminescent particles derived from fruit and vegetable waste that can absorb UV light and convert it into visible. The visible light is then converted into energy using a solar film."

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Go Green, But Be Patient! Solar Airships Could Make Flying More Environmentally Friendly - But A Trip From London to New York Would Take 3 Days

27 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"...using an airship with light batteries - filled with a mixture of hydrogen and helium - would generate between one and five per cent of the emissions associated with conventional flying.

"...drawback is that it would take around two days and one night to fly from London to New York by blimp and three days and two nights to make the return trip, due to prevailing winds...solar film on the surface of the zeppelin would top up the energy."

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The 32 Most Exciting New EVs That Are Hitting the Roads by 2025

27 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"The last few years have seen the automotive industry do something that once seemed impossible - embrace the electric car. Basically, every luxury marque of note has an EV (or more) in some stage of development...Between now and 2025, loads of intriguing battery-powered coupes, crossovers, hypercars, roadsters, sedans and SUVs are scheduled to hit an increasingly robust all-electric market."

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US Air Force to Start Flying Electric VTOL Aircraft Next Year

27 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"An existing Air Force AFWERX Agility Prime(Opens in a new window) contract is being extended with Joby Aviation, which will see the company provide up to nine electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to the service.

"...Each Joby electric aircraft can seat up to five people and will be used at the base for cargo and passenger transportation ...outstanding opportunity for accelerated learning with the other Department of Defense services and government agencies, including NASA and the FAA."

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Electric Car Sales Surged By 55% Last Year to Surpass 10 million, And China Led the Way: IEA

26 Apr 2023 | Synopsis

"...10 million EV sales worldwide...exceeds the total number of cars sold across the entire European Union (about 9.5 million vehicles) and is nearly half of the total number of cars sold in China in 2022

"In total...more than 26 million electric cars were on the world's roads in 2022, which represents a 60% increase relative to 2021.... IEA describes China as being "the frontrunner" when it came to electric car sales.

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