Royal DSM says a combination of two of its most innovative thermoplastics technologies has resulted in high performance pressure vessels that are ideally suited for use as lightweight fuel tanks for automobiles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) or hydrogen.
With a solution for both the inner liner and the outer tape reinforcement, DSM is able to reduce the weight of the tank by up to 70%.
The Swindon Honda plant is now producing renewable hydrogen entirely from solar power. The plant previously had a hydrogen filling station, but the fuel was shipped in by trucks – now the plant can produce completely carbon-neutral fuel.
By Christoph Rauwald, Tommaso Ebhardt and Mark Clothier
For Ferrari SpA, proving it can thrive as an independent sports-car maker may be a tougher challenge than a Formula One victory.
Following its spin-off next year from parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA), the global cachet of the Ferrari name will be key to master hurdles such as the costs of developing cars that meet the standards of its elite customers and ever demanding regulators.
Toyota will be testing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Aichi Prefecture, Japan from 1 November until 15 March 2015. The tests will involve standard chargers for use with vehicles such as plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) and electric vehicles (EVs).
The tests will be conducted jointly with four municipalities (Kariya City, Toyota City, Toyohashi City, and Nagakute City) and two companies (Toyota Industries Corporation and UNY Co., Ltd.), all of which are located in Aichi Prefecture. Toyota conducted similar tests in FY2012 and FY20131.
Carmakers are investing more than $30 billion by 2018 to expand or open more factories in Brazil than ever before, but that doesn’t make the market a success story.
BMW spent $250 million on its first factory in Brazil, which started operating earlier this month and will reach annual output of 32,000 cars in three to four years. That compares with a $1 billion investment in a new factory to build 150,000 cars in Mexico by the end of the decade.
