Solar Transport News

Japanese carmaker Honda has clinched the car industry’s supposedly “largest” renewable energy deal, signing a duo of virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) for 320MW of wind and solar to power its US operations.

A new report in Sweden suggests that renewables are an ideal source of power for marine vessels, based on a case study in which solar PV and proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, combined with a diesel generator, were used to reduce the greenhouse gas and particulate emissions of cruise ships by almost 10%

Solar power is already taking over the land, so naturally, now it's coming for the sea. The big ol' boat in the photo above is the Silent 55 ship from Silent Yachts, a luxury solar panel boat company based in Austria. It uses silent electric propulsion to achieve unlimited range without noise, fumes, or any maintenance at all.

With the 200 hydrogen bikes offered to journalists and world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz proving popular, manufacturer Pragma Industries has received an order for 1,000 of them from Chilean president Sebastian Pinera. The company’s founder, Pierre Forté, wants the bike to have a societal impact in developing countries.

Vehicle-to-grid functions could soon become increasingly important. While policymakers discuss the necessary regulations in other nations, the Netherlands government is motoring ahead with the technology.

An increasing number of carmakers and research institutes are developing concepts that combine e-mobility and solar. Thus far, range additions from in-car panels of between 10 and 60km are the limit of innovation. The Fraunhofer roof is tinted with a color that hides the cells but lets through most of the light.

The state-run fossil fuel giant has partnered with an unnamed foreign start-up to produce electric vehicle batteries using raw materials easily available in India.

ARENA will top up Evie Networks’ ultra-fast battery electric vehicle charging plans for Australia’s highways with AUS$15 million of federal funding.

This week on The Energy Gang: The economics of oil are beginning to be challenged by EVs paired with wind and solar.

By considering use of the metal in charging infrastructure, analyst Wood Mackenzie has found higher demand from the mobility sector than is the case if only the volume of the material required for vehicle construction is examined.

Energy analysts from the United Kingdom have found that many of the world’s largest car manufacturers that are launching EVs, or looking to launch EVs, are engaged in an “unprecedented” level of collaboration in order to share the costs and risks inherent in EV development. Cornwall Insight found that the collaboration could see a major boom in supply from the early 2020s.

Students from Western Sydney University has unveiled its latest solar racing car that it intends to enter in the gruelling 3,000km World Solar Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide through Australia’s searing heat this October.

Hyundai has released a version of its Sonata hybrid that has solar panels to help charge its battery.