Dutch students smash world record for most efficient hydrogen car

A student team from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has set a new Guinness world record for the longest distance driven by a hydrogen car without refuelling. The student team, called Eco-Runner, succeeded in driving their ultra-efficient city car no less than 2,488.4 km in three days using just one kilogram of hydrogen fuel — equivalent to driving from Berlin to Istanbul. The marathon feat, which took place from 23-25 June, smashed the previous record of 2,055.7 km. The Eco-Runner student team smashed the current world record by over 400km. Credit: Eco-Runner/TU Delft The team headed to…

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Solar-hybrid car explodes, killing two Italian researchers

Two Italian researchers have died after a solar-powered hybrid car prototype they were test-driving exploded last week near the city of Naples. The vehicle, a rejigged VW Polo, was being developed as part of an EU-funded project to convert old combustion engine cars into solar-powered hybrids. The prototype caught alight last Friday during a test drive, leaving the two occupants in critical condition. Maria Vittoria Prati, a researcher at Italy’s National Council of Research (CNR), died of complications from third-degree burns on Monday.  Earlier this week, the CNR paid tribute to Ms Prati as “a brilliant researcher” and “an expert…

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Opinion: We can’t engineer ourselves out of the climate crisis

Let’s face it — climate change is humanity’s greatest screw-up. We’ve known about it for almost a century. The science is clear. And yet, we’ve done nothing. It’s a f**king embarrassment.  Now, finally, global leaders are scrambling to clean up the mess. But, even though most of the climate solutions we need already exist, we can’t seem to get our arses in gear to deploy them at the pace and scale required.  In short, the world is heating up, and we are failing to cool it down. Humans emitted more CO2 into the atmosphere last year than ever before (uh…WTF?).…

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Spain launches space agency in big boost for local startups

Spain has officially launched its own national space agency, at a time when Europe looks to establish itself as a global space industry leader. Plans for the Spanish Space Agency, or Agencia Espacial Española (AEE), were first announced in May 2021, and finally got the political thumbs up last month. The agency will be based in Seville, near the Arenosillo launch facility in Huelva, which was built in the 60s as part of a collaboration between the Spanish government and NASA. Initially, around 75 personnel will be based at the site.  The agency will serve to “guarantee Spain’s strategic action…

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Paris bids ‘au revoir’ to e-scooter startups

Parisians overwhelmingly voted to ban e-scooters on Sunday, in a hotly-debated referendum that has divided the French capital. Voters were given two choices: “for” or “against” a city-wide ban on shared e-scooters. 89% voted in favour of the ban, but the overall turnout was low, with only 7.5% of eligible voters casting ballots.   The vote was non-binding but city authorities have vowed to “abide by the decision”, said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. The streets of Paris will be cleared from shared e-scooters by September 1, the mayor said. That’s when the contract with Dott, Tier, and Lime — the three…

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BMW backs German startup to deliver ‘next generation’ of EV motors

BMW has invested in DeepDrive, the German startup behind a new type of “ultra-efficient” motor for electric vehicles.  The €15m Series A funding round also saw participation from the likes of UVC Partners, the Continental Corporate Venture Capital Unit, and former board member and CTO of Audi and Volvo, Peter Mertens.   Founded in 2021, the Munich-based startup has developed a radial flux dual-rotor motor that boasts the highest torque and power density of any EV motor available today, the startup claims. It also has low noise emissions, and is built using far fewer rare earth materials.   All of this translates…

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Big Tech gives EU access to thousands of user accounts each year

Most of us share huge amounts of personal information online, and Big Tech companies are in many ways the gatekeepers of this data. But how much do they share with the authorities? And how often do governments request user data?  According to new research by VPN provider SurfShark, the answer is a lot, and a lot again.  As detailed in SurfShark’s new report which analysed user data requests that Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft received from government agencies of 177 countries between 2013 and 2021, Tech giants get a lot of requests for user data, and the majority of the time,…

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