Last year I wrote an article about 48 volt batteries and that Audi had started to fit them to their SQ7 model. Batteries like other automotive technologies were stuck in a time warp for decades and recent developments have meant that the humble battery has been given some steroids to cope with the ever power-hungry systems on cars. Mercedes-Benz has announced they will use a … [Read more...]
Biofuels – an Update
All the media coverage today about fuel for logistics and personal transportation is centred on three sources: Diesel - being dirty and polluting, even though the industry is the cleanest it’s been for years. The issues with the VW Group have clouded that discussion. Petrol - and fossil fuels in particular being another source of pollution and political unrest. We have seen … [Read more...]
The Rotating Story – Camel Milk to Power a Car
This is one story that I shouldn’t find fascinating based on today’s voracious appetite for “news” sourced through social media but I do. It is a story that keeps reappearing. Back in 2011, a “company" in the United Arab Emirates announced that they were going to develop a supercar called the Dhabyan and it was going to be powered by camel milk! The story goes like this: … [Read more...]
Solar Powered Roads
This is an interesting concept - a road that power the lights and signs along its length, rather than having everything connected to the grid. Colas, a French company that was founded in the 1920s, has become a leader in transport infrastructure and are responsible for this new technology. The company was founded as a joint venture between the oil company Royal Dutch Shell … [Read more...]
Discussion on China’s Decision to Ban Petrol Vehicles
In September last year, China joined the UK and France in announcing that they would ban petrol and diesel car sales. Unlike the European countries who stated that 2040 was the year for the ban, the China announcement is open ended. There are a couple of comments to make on this. Firstly, China is a big player in electric vehicles (EV) and the battery technology that … [Read more...]