The innovative concept of Honda outboard presented by Honda derives from the research in electric motors carried out by the motorcycle industry and is based on Honda Mobile Power Pack (MPP). Honda outboard stands out for some key characteristics that make it a key element in the struggle to reach the carbon neutrality in boating. This motor zeroes the CO2Â emissions and will grant actually null noise and vibration levels through the MPP that allows using a single portable battery pack to power a broad range of products, from the propulsion of boats to scooters, from snow blowers to lawn mowers. The real innovation resides in the versatility and motion freedom that this system offers to users. The light easily transportable motor allows charging the battery everywhere, eliminating the need of displacing the motor. This means that boat owners will be no longer limited by specific charge points and will be allowed enjoying an unprecedented ecologic independence.
The best-selling electric SUV to date in Italy?
According to what disclosed by Jeep, March results confirm that Jeep Avenger is the best-selling electric B-SUV in Italy in 2024, and it ranks in the top 3 considering all segments. According to the processing by Dataforce, in the month of March Jeep® brand scores the 4.31% market share in Italy, reaching the eighth place of the absolute ranking. Designed in Italy and manufactured in Europe, the Avenger encloses the Jeep DNA in a compact SUV, 4.08 metres, offering the typical performances of Jeep. The new powertrain group includes a 400-volt electric motor that offers a range up to 400 km in the WLTP cycle and up to 550 km in city. Moreover, due to its fast charge performance, three minutes are enough for the daily fuel tank to travel 30 kilometres. In its press release, the automotive company has also mentioned Renegade, “the hybrid plug-in 4xe B-SUV is renovated by the Model Year 2024, the great stride in terms of multimedia due to the upgraded TFT digital 10.25-inch cluster and to the new infotainment 10.1-inch system, with a five-time higher processing power than the previous generation”.
Italy, a Tesla vehicle enters service as the first electric patrol car
On the motorway sections managed by CAV-Concessioni Autostradali Venete, Tesla Model X is circulating, set up for traffic police services. In Italy, it is the first electric vehicle devised for patrol services. CAV and the Traffic Police will experiment with the use of an electric car, set up for particular road surveillance services, on the motorway network licensed to CAV, namely the Padua-Venice, Mestre passing road, Mestre ring road and Marco Polo ring road, travelled every day by over 200,000 vehicles. The car has been purchased by Concessioni Autostradali Venete through a tender launched for the supply of a zero-emission vehicle, which complied with the necessary operational requisites of the Police vehicles currently in use: it is in fact a car featuring high operational efficiency, equipped with a 100 KWh battery that allows the operation of all on-board devices and that can reach a maximum speed of 262 km/h, with an acceleration from 0 to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds. “The service start of this vehicle represents the synthesis of the two primary targets pursued by this Company, because it combines the need of optimizing vigilance services, to the ends of road security, with the research and development of environmental sustainability solutions, which partially involve all of our activities”, declared the President Monica Manto and the Managing Director Maria Rosaria Anna Campitelli of CAV.
eVTOL, the first by Autoflight delivered
The high-tech Autoflight start-up has delivered its first eVTOL aircraft, the five-seater Prosperity, to an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) player in Japan, which will make it fly on the occasion of the Osaka World Expo in 2025. In another recent milestone for the eVTOL innovator, AutoFlight’s CarryAll aircraft, the cargo variant of Prosperity, obtained Type Certification (TC) from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on March 22, 2024. This marks the world’s first eVTOL aircraft above one ton to have been awarded type certification.
“The official delivery of the first Prosperity to a customer signifies a new chapter for AutoFlight as we begin to ship our innovative electric aircraft to global markets. Additionally, on the cargo side the receipt of orders for over 200 CarryAll planes already demonstrates a very strong market demand for our products”, said Tian Yu, founder and co-chairman of AutoFlight.
In February, AutoFlight presented the world’s first inter-city electric air taxi demonstration flight between the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai. AutoFlight’s Prosperity aircraft completed the significant milestone by autonomously flying the 50 km (31 miles) route from Shenzhen to Zhuhai. The flight across the Pearl River Delta took just 20 minutes, a journey that would require three hours by car. This achievement marks the world’s first public flight of an eVTOL aircraft on a cross-sea and inter-city route.
Volvo sells 100 electric trucks to a logistic company
Volvo Trucks has received an order for 100 electric trucks, Volvo FH Electric and FM Electric models, by the North Europe logistic company DFDS. With the latter order, the company has almost doubled its fleet of electric Volvo trucks, increasing it to 225 trucks in all: the biggest business fleet of electric heavy trucks in Europe.
Volvo electric trucks are currently in operation in Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Belgium and The Netherlands, and the new vehicles will be used in nine European markets, including United Kingdom, Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. Due to the growing fleet of electric trucks, DFDS has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1,516 tons within the end of 2023.
“The big increase of the electric truck fleet by DFDS demonstrates that the zero-emission transport is a feasible solution here and now. Our fleet of electric trucks in expansion will contribute in reducing the climatic impact of our activities and will also enable DFDS to support a bigger number of companies that are trying decarbonizing their supply chains”, stated Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks.
New electric SUV by Peugeot: 7 places and big range
According to what explained by Peugeot, today the new E-5008 is the only full electric SUV that can offer a space on-board for 7 passengers and electric range up to 660 km. Since the early phases designed as an electric model, the new Peugeot E-5008 is equipped with a range of zero-emission motors that offer an electric range from 500 to 660 km, including an AWD Dual Motor version and a Long Range version. The range of permanent magnet synchronous motors offers better efficiency: the 2-wheel drive version provides 157 kW (345 Nm) or 170 kW (345 Nm) and delivers a total power of 237 kW (157 kW at the front and 80 kW at the rear). The front motor supplies 345 Nm of torque and the rear motor 170 Nm. The lithium-ion 400-V high voltage battery with NMC (nickel, manganese and cobalt) chemical composition is placed under the floor and powers the electric motor for traction.
Peugeot E-5008 benefits from the new Stla Medium platform by Stellantis, in an elongated configuration compared to E-3008. Designed for the Group’s electric vehicles, it supplies a record energy quantity among wheels, with a maximum of 98 kWh.
Electrification in earth handling, the novelties by Yanmar
Yanmar CE will present its range of compact machines consisting of fully electric wheel loaders, excavators and tracked minidumpers. The three excavators powered by electric motor and equipped with a hydraulic open-centre hydraulic system with Load Sensing hydraulic pump are SV17e, V8e and C08e.
With a gross power of usable 23.5 kWh and 19 kWh, the air-cooled 48V model offer high excavation and lifting performances. The electric V8e 4.5 t wheel loader is instead equipped with an 800-l bucket and with a hydrostatic transmission and has a powerful 11 kW charge capacity in the standard configuration and of 22 kW in the quick optional charge. Finally, the C08 minidumper C08e by Yanmar, weighing 555 kg, combines compact sizes with a 11.5 kWh battery and a 24V capacity.
With the “electric” issue as thread wire of Yanmar CE participation in Intermat, V7 and V7-HW wheel loaders have been implemented on a new platform able to support both diesel and electric motors. Released in diesel configuration, they fill a gap in the smallest segment of the company’s range of wheel loaders. Lighter by around half ton in comparison with the other bigger machines in Yanmar range, V7 weighs 4,250 kg and has the 0.7 m3 capacity of the standard bucket, while the V7 H-W (Heavy Weight) – due to 200 kg of additional ballast integrated into the machine – weighs 4,450 kg, with a bucket capacity of 0.8 m3.
Self-driving airship, e-motors powered by solar panels
The idea developed by the FloFleet startup is to create self-driving airships with an electronic control unit linked to software and a ground-based operator to intervene manually in case of an unscheduled course change.
The airship should have been equipped with an electric motor alimented with solar panels and with the condition to install cameras for recording.
During the feasibility and development analysis by FloFleet, which had meanwhile been flagged in Polihub’s “Switch2Product” contest, virtual design and simulation software was used. The company was officially opened in April 2023, and Dassault Systèmes included it in its startup program and made the SolidWorks 3DExperience module available to it. A whole range of technical elements were needed to model the airship with an electric motor, electronic control unit, and cameras.
The CEO Andrea Cecchi affirmed «ours was a collaborative approach. As is normal among staruppers who, although from different sectors, compare and exchange ideas and suggestions, especially abroad. We believe that sharing know-how to grow an industry benefits all competitors. Then if one company or another is better at leveraging technologies and solutions, it will be the consequence of healthy competition. So as we found companies that tangentially could interest us, we contacted them».
The result was that from circus tent companies FloFleet received useful information for 3D modeling of the airship fabric and from swimming pool manufacturers’ indications of fabric welding. However, there was some difficulty in obtaining drawings of the e-motor mount structure from turbine manufacturers, in the aircraft industry.
After several 3D virtual prototypes, the group decided to start physical experimentation to test and improve the product in the field. What is now commercially available is the second prototype, on which the British electric motor are being tested.
Now that the product is marketable, thanks to Digital Twin it will be possible to improve its performance and make new, higher-performance versions, again at low cost. For all the autonomous driving programming parts, however, the startup used the Open Source Robot Operating System automation software. Decisive for the transition from a group of friends, students, and researchers, to entrepreneurs and resource managers was the meeting with Eni, which validated the project as part of its Joule Discovery Lab.
China, flying autonomously the first interurban electric air taxi
Between Shenzhen and Zhuhai cities, in Southern China, the five-seater Prosperity eVTOL aircraft by AutoFlight has hit a significant target, flying autonomously on the 50-km route. The flight from Shenzhen to Zhuhai through the delta of Pearl River is a travel that would take three hours by car but it lasted just 20 minutes with Prosperity, designed by Frank Stephenson, the famous designer who revolutionized Mini and Fiat 500 and created iconic designs for Ferrari, McLaren and Maserati, before engineering flying taxis.
This result marks the first public flight in the world of an eVTOL aircraft on a maritime and interurban route. This flight represents then a significant milestone in the development and in the course towards the certification of this new form of mobility. The route between Shenzhen and Zhuhai is part of the future scenario of the air traffic planned by the regional government while they are developing their strategy of “low-altitude economy” that will see the opening of thousands of vertiports and hundreds of eVTOL air routes across the Greater Bay Area in the south of China.
AutoFlight partner in the region, Heli-Eastern, an important company of general low-altitude aviation and supplier of services for helicopters, has recently signed an agreement with AutoFlight for the purchase of 100 eVTOL Prosperity passenger aircrafts.
The new electric design motorbike is coming
The new FSD 59 motorbike, designed by the famous Frank Stephenson, star signature for automotive brands, has a concept that embraces the aerodynamic research and new materials. Result of a rigorous and creative process that has implied the experimentation of various architectures and technologies in the field of motorbikes with electric powertrain, FSD 59 is equipped with an electric motor that offers high performances and efficiency. It is a bike sculpted by the airflow with possibility of application in the real world. The bike was born on a monocoque platform with a modular battery and proposes a dynamic regulation of the corner of the windshield, a man-machine interface enabled for the augmented reality and a one-piece fairing.