A USD1.98m grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation will fund a six-month project, called ‘SMART Rider’, to pilot three buses with collision mitigation systems.

Called ‘FFB PreFab’, the 6,450-square-metre building is an initial step towards building an even larger facility, the ‘FFB Fab’, for research into large-scale industrial methods of battery cell production.

Four minibuses – Ford ‘E-Transit’ vans retrofitted with Perrone’s ‘TONY’ self-driving hardware – will transport passengers on a 10.8-mile route through the city of Detroit, connecting Michigan Central Station (set to reopen this June) and the Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design.

“The 5,000 Hydrogen Vehicle Challenge”, a government programme which supported the development of the fuel station, says the opening of the station on Highway 2 marked a “significant milestone” in its project to put 5,000 hydrogen or dual fuel vehicles on the road in Alberta province.

Hexagon has supplied Ford Trucks with a complete hydrogen fuel storage system for the development of a fuel-cell electric-powered truck (F-Max FCEV) prototype. As a partner in the project, Ford Trucks will develop and deliver the F-Max FCEV, which will operate as part of a larger fleet of zero-emission trucks collecting data from around Europe.

The project’s explicit goal is to “reduce the overall time and cost of battery production by at least 20%, in addition to lowering the number of physical experiments required and reducing material costs.” This will ultimately increase the competitiveness of the European battery industry.  

The demonstrator, located at Michelin’s plant in the commune of Bassens, is tooled to produce butadiene, an organic compound of hydrogen and carbon, from ethanol derived from biomass.

The multiple electric truck trials throughout 2023, aim to show that electric trucks are ready to replace diesel HGVs and can deliver the same service when the right infrastructure, systems, processes, and business models are deployed.

The vehicle will be used to test its energy efficiency and aerodynamics, its ability to detect vulnerable road users through integrated ADAS technology, and the comfort and ergonomics of its interior fittings and cabin dashboard.

The pilot vehicle is a Marcopolo-bodied bus with a Scania chassis capable of running on biodiesel from locally-sourced waste, such as animal manure and other agricultural waste.

Telma’s system, which includes a retarder and generator, is connected to a 10-kWh battery pack for storing the electrical energy recovered from waste heat energy generated by braking. 

It is a 26,000-square-metre facility capable of producing up to 16,000 units per year; following a planned expansion to 40,000 square metres, it will be capable of producing 50,000 units.