Overseas News

Germans enter our ARENA

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced that it will play a key role in the development and delivery of the German-Australian Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator known as HyGATE.

ARENA will team up with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), to administer HyGATE which will support realworld pilot, trial, demonstration and research projects along the hydrogen supply chain. The Australia-Germany Hydrogen Accord, executed by the two countries, builds on respective strengths, with Australia looking to be a major hydrogen exporter and Germany holding expertise in hydrogen technology and planning to import significant quantities of hydrogen in the future. Australia and Germany have committed up to AU$50 million and €50 million, respectively, to invest in new renewable hydrogen projects. The objective of HyGATE is to strengthen the Australian-German cooperation regarding the implementation of a value chain for hydrogen produced from renewables and stimulate the innovation process in both countries. All projects funded under the HyGATE initiative are required to be linked to hydrogen from renewables, have a forwardlooking approach and advance novel solutions on a pilot-scale under real-world conditions, and to progress renewable hydrogen towards commercialisation. A key element of the initiative will be bringing together Australian and German industry and research partners to deliver the projects.

LA shows off with plenty of electricity

At the LA Auto Show Hyundai and Kia unveiled their all-electric concept cars and plug-in hybrids. While there were plenty of ICEpowered vehicles the big news came in the form of battery power.

Everything was there from the all-electric Nissan Ariya SUV, the Toyota bz4x and its twin the Subaru Solterra to the all-electric Porsche Sport Turismo sedan and wagon. Hyundai unveiled the SEVEN SUV concept with vertical airflow, antibacterial copper and even a UVC sterilizer. Fisker’s Ocean was revealed with prices ranging from US$37,499 to US$68,999 in four spec grades. Hyundai’s SEVEN large crossover concept will eventually make its way into production as the Ioniq 7 in 2024, joining the recently launched Ioniq 5 and yet-to-bereleased Ioniq 6. Hyundai says the SEVEN can offer more than 480 kilometres of driving on a single charge and can be topped up from 10 to 80 percent in as little as 20 minutes using a 350kW unit. Its 3200mm-long wheelbase would allow the Ioniq 7 to accommodate three rows of seating when it reaches production. The Kia Concept EV9 provides a look at what we can expect when the production version arrives next year which will have the E-GMP electric architecture, shared with the Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and forthcoming Ioniq 7 large SUV. Vietnamese carmaker VinFast debuted two new electric vehicles the VF e35 medium and VF e36 large SUV no prices yet.

Third gen LiDAR offers level 2 automation

Valeo presented its third generation scanning LiDAR set to make its market debut in 2024.

This new technology offers significantly enhanced performance, makes autonomous mobility a reality and provides previously unseen levels of road safety. Valeo’s third generation LiDAR delivers unrivaled performance in terms of range, resolution and frame rate. It reconstructs a 3D real-time image of the vehicle’s surroundings at a rate of 4.5 million pixels and 25 frames per second. Compared with the previous generation, the resolution has been increased 12-fold, the range 3-fold and the viewing angle 2.5-fold. This new LiDAR can see things that humans, cameras and radars cannot. This means that driving can be delegated to the vehicle in many situations (level 2 automation and above), including on the highway at speeds of up to 130km/h. Even in such situations, a vehicle fitted with the third-generation scanning LiDAR can manage emergency situations autonomously. Valeo’s scanning LiDAR detects, recognizes and classifies all objects located around the car. If the objects are moving, it measures their speed and direction. The scanning LiDAR can adapt to all light conditions, whether it’s dazzlingly bright or pitch black. It even measures the density of raindrops to calculate the right braking distance. It tracks nearby vehicles, even when they are no longer in the driver’s line of sight and uses algorithms to anticipate their trajectories and trigger the necessary safety manoeuvres. Up to 30% of premium new vehicles are set to reach level 3 automation by 2030, and to do so will need to be equipped with LiDAR technology.