Category: Electric Vehicle News (Page 5 of 23)

Maersk launches rail offering from Barcelona, Spain to Southern France

October 8, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Barcelona, Spain – AP Moeller-Maersk AS (OTC: AMKBY) is launching a new rail product from the Port of Barcelona to Southern France especially designed to cut transit times of ocean cargo destined to the areas Toulouse, Bordeaux and Lyon by using Barcelona as an alternative gateway. Starting early November there will be three weekly direct block trains between Barcelona and Toulouse as well as one weekly connection between Barcelona and Lyon. Via Toulouse the solution also connects cargo to Bordeaux seamlessly by using a partner network. Furthermore, it is intended to extend the connectivity on the Spanish side by rail to the areas of Tarragona and Zaragoza.

This new offering can shorten transit times for import and export cargo in the areas Toulouse, Bordeaux and Lyon by up to 12 days (7 days on average) compared to traditional routings via French or North European ports. Thanks to shorter transport distances and the utilisation of electrified trains it can also be a more environmentally friendly routing. The block trains can also be booked for intra-continental cargo between Spain and France.

Maersk is operating this new end to end service via its own company APM Spain Railways and cooperates for the trains with the partners Captrain and Naviland.

Thanks to brand new interoperable locomotives, the block trains neither have to stop to change the locomotive or replace wheel-sets at the Spanish-French border for seamless operations and best-in-class reliability.

Maersk & Kodiak Robotics launch commercial autonomous trucking lane between Houston and Oklahoma City

October 6, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Florham Park, New Jersey/Mountain View, California — A.P. Moller – Maersk AS (OTC: AMKBY) and Kodiak Robotics, Inc., have launched the first commercial autonomous trucking lane between Houston and Oklahoma City. The freight lane marks an expansion of the collaboration between Kodiak and Maersk, which began with their first autonomous freight deliveries together in November 2022 as part of Maersk’s Global Innovation Center Program. Kodiak has been delivering eight loads per week, with a safety driver behind the wheel, for Maersk customers since August.

Kodiak and Maersk are completing four round trips per week on a 24-hour-a-day, four-day-a-week basis between a Houston facility, where consumer products are loaded onto 53-foot trailers, to a distribution center in Oklahoma City. Operational learnings gained from the activity are captured and documented as part of the Kodiak Partner Deployment Program, which is designed to help companies learn how Kodiak’s self-driving trucks can become an integral part of their overall logistics strategy and offerings.

Autonomous trucking solutions have the potential to address long-term challenges faced by the trucking industry. According to the American Trucking Association, the trucking industry faces a shortage of roughly 78,000 drivers. The ATA estimates that, based on current driver demographic trends, as well as projected growth in freight demand, the shortage could swell to more than 160,000 over the next decade.

Safety continues to be a perennial challenge for the trucking industry as well. U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research also estimates that 94% of crashes occur due to human error. For Kodiak, safety and performance are foundational to its autonomous trucking solution. Each vehicle is equipped with 18 different sensors, including cameras, radar, and lidar, that provide the platform with a 360-degree view around the truck. Every tenth of a second, the truck evaluates the performance of more than 1,000 safety-critical processes and components in both the self-driving stack and the underlying truck platform. The trucks learn in parallel, with system upgrades shared to the entire fleet simultaneously, and are not subject to environmental distractions.

Nidec and Embraer receive approval for joint venture to develop Electric Propulsion System

October 5, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Kyoto, Japan, October 6, 2023 – Japan’s Nidec Corporation (OTC: NJDCY) and Brazil’s Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) welcome the unconditional approval from all necessary regulatory authorities for the establishment of their joint venture, Nidec Aerospace LLC. The transaction combines the complementary synergies and distinct areas of expertise of two world-class engineering conglomerates to develop Electric Propulsion Systems (EPS) for the aerospace sector.

Vincent Braley, chief of staff for Nidec’s Motion and Drives business in the United States, has been appointed the CEO of Nidec Aerospace with immediate effect. Braley brings broad experience in business development and management to his new role to lead the joint venture’s future growth.

Unveiled at the Paris Air Show in June, the business combination aims to unlock new opportunities by providing an agnostic portfolio of products and services worldwide, driven initially by the growth of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) industry. The UAM market is emerging and could create a USD 1.5 trillion market by 2040, according to Morgan Stanley Research.

Eve and Moviation Sign Letter of Intent for First eVTOL Urban ATM for South Korea

October 1, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Melbourne, Florida, September 28, 2023 – Eve Air Mobility (NYSE: EVE) and Moviation, South Korea’s first Urban Air Mobility (UAM) service provider, announced the signature of a Letter of Intent to purchase Eve’s Urban ATM solution. The software solution will be a key enabler to the implementation and scalability of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and provides critical traffic management services that will play an essential role in enabling the global UAM market to scale.

The agreement comes as Eve’s Urban ATM (Air Traffic Management) concept has been adopted as part of Korea’s K-UAM Grand Challenge. The Challenge is a phased demonstration program in which Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicle safety and traffic management solutions are tested in urban conditions and environments for suitability to support the commercialization of UAM in 2025.

From before take-off to after landing, the urban air environment will count on integrated systems, services and technologies being developed by Eve to enable the safe launch of an efficient and predictable ecosystem to support eVTOL operations alongside many other airspace users. In the future, the advancement of infrastructure and regulation will rely on these network management services to enable autonomous flight.

American Airlines joins Embraer Energia Advisory Group

September 27, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, September 26, 2023 – Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) announced today that American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) has signed an MoU with Embraer to join its Energia Advisory Group, an experienced and knowledgeable team of airlines, lessors, suppliers, and other aviation experts advising Embraer on its development of sustainable aircraft for the future. The MoU with Embraer will see the companies working together to define and establish the real-world requirements for sustainable, emission-free, and commercially viable aviation.

American is a recognized leader in the drive for sustainable flight and was named 2023 Eco-Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. American operates the youngest mainline fleet and the largest regional fleet among U.S. network carriers and in 2022 consumed more than two million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel. It has also invested in the development of hydrogen-powered propulsion and infrastructure.

American will work with the advisory group and Embraer to help define performance and design requirements for its four Energia concept aircraft. These aircraft, ranging from 9-to-50 seats, will use a range of electric, hydrogen and hybrid propulsion technologies.

Heart Aerospace & Honeywell to collaborate on Flight Controls for ES-30 electric airplane

September 11, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Swedish electric airplane maker Heart Aerospace and Honeywell, a leader in aerospace technology, have announced a collaboration to integrate Honeywell’s next-generation flight control system into the new ES-30 regional electric airplane.

Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ: HON) was selected by Heart Aerospace for the Joint Definition Phase of Heart’s ES-30 airplane, and the goal, once the phase has been completed successfully, is to fully integrate Honeywell’s compact Fly-by-Wire system into development for production.

Honeywell’s next-generation compact Fly-by-Wire system is in an advanced stage of development on multiple aircraft, and its functions are adaptable to the ES-30, allowing Heart to bring its airplane to market quickly and cost-effectively.

The ES-30 is a regional electric airplane with a 30-passenger standard seating capacity and is driven by electric motors powered by batteries. It will have a fully electric zero-emissions range of 200 kilometers, an extended hybrid range of 400 kilometers with 30 passengers, and flexibility to fly up to 800 kilometers with 25 passengers, all with typical airline reserves.

Heart Aerospace has 250 firm orders for the ES-30, with options and purchase rights for an additional 120 planes.

Rolls-Royce pioneering electrification in aviation at scaleRolls-Royce

September 1, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

At Rolls-Royce (OTC: RYCEY), we aim to lead the Advanced Air Mobility market and achieve the world’s first certification of an electric engine for commercial aircraft by the mid-2020s. Light aircraft are already flying with electric propulsion, demonstrating the technological possibilities for the decarbonisation of large aviation in the future, if we can develop at scale.

In 2022, Rolls-Royce Electrical launched a dedicated programme that will enable us to achieve the levels of mass production needed to support the industry, embedding industrialisation within our electric propulsion product portfolio.

To do this, the programme is focussed on developing the right capabilities within the business’s core functions: supply chain, manufacturing, quality and services. As such, our core industrialisation team is working in close collaboration with a new product introduction projects team to ensure that any under-development electric drive technologies and systems can be sourced, manufactured and serviced at scale.

Rolls-Royce supply chain teams are responsible for sourcing partners to produce materials that will not only uphold the highest of aviation safety standards but that can be sourced and brought to the assembly line affordably and at pace, ready to support mass production.

Once chosen, the supply chain team also support our engineers by working hand-in-hand with suppliers throughout the product’s design to ensure that customer needs are met.

Alstom consortium picked to deliver Dominican Republic’s first monorail system

August 28, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

August 28, 2023 – Alstom (OTC: ALSMY), a global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, announces that the Consortium SIF (led by Alstom and including Sofratesa) has been selected by Fideicomiso para el Desarrollo del Sistema de Transporte Masivo (FITRAM) of the Dominican Republic to deliver an integrated Innovia monorail system for the city of Santiago de los Caballeros. When completed, the 13-kilometre, 14-station Santiago de los Caballeros monorail system will be the first of its kind in the country and in the Caribbean. The system is dimensioned to carry up to 20,000 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd) and will provide faster and more efficient connections between the city’s northwest and southeast areas.

Alstom’s scope within the contract includes system integration, testing and commissioning of the full system and the supply of Innovia monorail trains as well as Cityflo 650 GOA4 driverless signalling, Hesop reversible power supply, conductor rail, high-speed interchange switch systems and depot equipment. Alstom’s share of the contract is worth approximately €370 million. This project is carried out with financing from the French government.

Alstom will deliver the 13 four-car automated Innovia Monorail 300 trains, which incorporate the design and operational features required for a high-capacity urban transport system. These features include automatic driverless operation, bi-directional operations, and compliance with international safety requirements and standards. Capitalising on Alstom’s strong leadership with over 30 years’ expertise in communications-based train control (CBTC), Alstom’s Cityflo 650 CBTC solution — the first driverless rail control system in the Dominican Republic— will support the highest grade of automation (GoA4), allowing for high reliability, shorter intervals between trains, flexible and safe operations, and reduced maintenance costs. To further increase the energy efficiency of the system, Alstom will install Hesop reversible power stations, which translates into not only building fewer substations along the alignment but also recovering and reinjecting up to 99% braking energy from the trains back into the network.

A.P. Moller–Maersk to strengthen distribution network in India with more than 500 Electric Vehicles

August 23, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Mumbai, India – A.P. Moller – Maersk (OTC: AMKBY) has the ambition to be Net Zero across business and provide customers with 100% green solutions by 2040. To achieve this goal, there is a strong need to decarbonise logistics at every stage. It is important not only for Maersk to achieve these sustainability goals but for the customers too, who are demanding environmentally friendly solutions that would decarbonise their supply chains.

In September 2022, Maersk unveiled its three-wheeler and four-wheeler EV’s in Mumbai, India and soon rolled them out for its first customer in the NCR region. Since then, the awareness around EV’s that can support distribution logistics in India has risen, and with that has come an unprecedented demand from several customers.

Maersk has recently tied up with a large e-Commerce platform in India to support its distribution requirements with a dedicated fleet of EV’s that range in the capacity of 550 to 700 Kgs with a driving range of over 120 km. Over 200+ vehicles have already been deployed across 15 cities, and more than 300 EV’s.

So far, Maersk’s EV fleet has covered more than 135,000 km. Maersk is also investing in creating a charging network for its fleet of EV’s, including the option to harness solar energy at its own facilities for warehouses across the country.

SBB says rail traffic in the Gotthard Base Tunnel interrupted

August 13, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

When a freight train derailed, the track system and a lane change gate in the Gotthard base tunnel were severely damaged. This safety-relevant device is required to separate the two tunnel tubes. Safety has top priority, which is why the second tube cannot be used for passenger or freight traffic. It cannot be used for freight traffic until at least midnight on Wednesday, August 16, 2023. This increases the travel time between German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino by around an hour. Since international travelers have to change trains in Chiasso, their travel time is about two hours longer. SBB apologizes for the inconvenience.

A precise statement on the cause and extent of damage cannot be made at this time. The Swiss Safety Investigation Board and the cantonal investigation authorities are investigating the accident. The accident site has not yet been released by the investigative authorities for clean-up and repair work.

Due to the increased volume of traffic and the limited alternative connections at the weekend and the limited number of seats, SBB urgently recommends postponing spontaneous train journeys via the Gotthard and asks for your understanding.

According to the Railway Ordinance, freight trains can travel on the panoramic route up to a certain corner height. Accordingly, a large proportion of inland transport is carried out via this route, while a small proportion is temporarily transported by road. Combined transport (containers, semi-trailers, trucks) exceeds this corner height and can therefore only drive on the Gotthard axis via the Gotthard base tunnel. For this reason, combined transport in the transit area is diverted via the Lötschberg-Simplon axis or retained in the exit terminals. There are only small restrictions on the transport of goods and the flow of goods is ensured. SBB will provide information again in due course.

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