Lifeboat Foundation

Hydrogen (H 2) is currently discussed as an ideal energy carrier in a world requiring renewable energies. Hydrogen has the highest gravimetric energy density of all chemical fuels (141 MJ/kg), which is three times higher than gasoline (46 MJ/kg). However, its low volumetric density restricts its widespread use in transportation applications —as current storage options require a lot of space.

At ambient temperature, hydrogen is a gas, and one kilogram of hydrogen occupies a volume of 12,000 liters (12 cubic meters). In fuel-cell vehicles, hydrogen is stored under a very high pressure of 700 times the atmospheric pressure, which reduces the volume to 25 liters per kilogram of H 2.

Liquid hydrogen shows a higher density resulting in 14 liters per kilogram, but it requires extremely low temperatures since the boiling point of hydrogen is minus 253 °C.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Walking around Austin, you may see something surprising — self-driving cars rolling around the roads.

Earlier this year, autonomous vehicle technology company Argo AI launched its driverless operation in Austin. Argo AI public policy and government relations manager Sly Majid said these cars are key to the future of transport.

“Autonomous vehicle technology is incredible,” he said. “The vehicle is doing the dynamic driving tasks; the vehicle is the driver of the car.”

A combination of cutting-edge hardware, sensor technology, and bespoke machine learning approaches can predict trajectories of vehicles, people, and even animals, as far as 8 seconds into the future.

Circa 2016

A radically new form of lithium-oxygen batteries avoids many of the problems that have prevented the uptake of what is, in theory, the ultimate transportation battery. If the work can be scaled up, it could mark the end of gasoline-powered cars.

The cost, weight, and insufficient lifespan of batteries represents a major obstacle to electric cars replacing internal combustion engines on our roads. There are two paths to address this: One, like Aesop’s tortoise, involves slow incremental improvements in existing lithium-ion batteries, collectively bringing down the cost and extending the range of electric vehicles.

Continue reading “Lithium-Oxygen Battery May Spell The End Of The Age Of Oil” »

The global rush to recycled batteries is excellent news for automakers, however, there isn’t nearly enough scrap to feed them all.

The wave of new factories poses a significant risk for the recycling industry itself, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

“Nobody is really looking at each other, and they seem to think there will be a lot of scrap and end-of-life batteries,” Hans Eric Melin, the founder of a UK-based consultancy Circular Energy Storage(CES), told Bloomberg.

The hack created a massive traffic jam in Moscow.

Drivers working for Yandex Taxi, the largest taxi service in Moscow, did not have a good day on Thursday as hackers messed with the company’s app and sent dozens of cars to the same location resulting in a traffic jam that lasted up to three hours, according to Twitter reports.

A co-founder sanctioned for propaganda.

Continue reading “A hacker attacked Yandex Taxi and sent dozens of cars to the same location” »

Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that could help reduce charging times and prolong battery life in electric vehicles by predicting how different driving patterns affect battery performance, improving safety and reliability.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, say their algorithm could help drivers, manufacturers and businesses get the most out of the batteries that power electric vehicles by suggesting routes and driving patterns that minimize battery degradation and charging times.

The team developed a non-invasive way to probe batteries and get a holistic view of battery health. These results were then fed into a machine learning algorithm that can predict how different driving patterns will affect the future health of the battery.

Ariel, small British carmaker responsible for the iconic Atom and Nomad, revealed its newest car Thursday, simply called the Hipercar. A big departure from the exoskeleton-like vehicles normally associated with the brand, the Hipercar is an all-electric sports car with a real(-ish) interior and body panels. Even crazier than the absurd bodywork is the option for a turbine range extender.