Tightening emissions regulations make diesel cars more expensive to make, so it is only a few years before pure electric cars will be cheaper to make. This was predicted ten years ago by IDTechEx to be around 2022 for small cars and that date is now confirmed by several car manufacturers.

Hyundai Motor Group and AUDI AG have entered into a multi-year patent cross-licensing agreement, covering a broad range of fuel cell electric vehicle components and technologies. Under the new partnership, the world's fifth-largest auto-making group and the German premium car maker will make joint efforts in developing FCEVs, to lead the automotive industry to a more sustainable future.

John Deere Electronic Solutions is pleased to announce a new distribution and support agreement with Rational Motion GmbH, which is headquartered in Cologne, Germany.

John Deere Electronic Solutions is pleased to announce the PD400 inverter as a key component in the Fuso eCanter fully electric truck.

Magna announced its intention to form two new joint ventures with Beijing Electric Vehicle Co Ltd for complete vehicle manufacturing as well as engineering of electric vehicles.

Audi is taking the idea of electric mobility beyond the automobile in offering its customers a tailormade system offering. To that end, the brand is teaming up with two new partners to connect its electric model Audi e-tron with the user's home infrastructure.

The VTT robot car Marilyn is currently undergoing tests on fully autonomous parking in the area furthest from its driver, at a distance of up to a hundred metres. The Internet of Things assists the car in finding and driving into a free space.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 5 July titled Advances in Fiber Laser Technologies.

The Federal Ministry of Transport (BMVI) has submitted a subsidy policy for environmentally friendly trucks, which has been published in the Federal Gazette at the beginning of June.

Jaguar Vector Racing have broken the outright world and national electric speed records in a battery-powered boat. The unique Jaguar Vector V20E recorded an average speed of 88.61mph across the two legs of the famous 1km course on Coniston Water, England.

Researchers are developing technology for unmanned aerial vehicles that has given them the ability to fly for more than 12 hours by harvesting energy from the atmosphere and the sun.

It has been announced, Birmingham is to host the world's first zero emission vehicle summit as exemplar of the government's Industrial Strategy. Due to be held in September 2018, the summit will focus on vehicle technology to tackle carbon emissions and to find ways to improve air quality.

IDTechEx is hosting a free webinar on Thursday 28 June 2018 titled Electric Trucks and Delivery Vans.

Electric Vehicle startup XING Mobility presented their rally-inspired supercar to an audience of business leaders and industry analysts. XING Mobility celebrated electric mobility's impact on global progress by presenting Miss R, their 1 Megawatt supercar, elevated above its 4116-cell, 98-module battery pack to expose what the company consider to be "the core of their electric powertrain systems".

A portable complete system that can operate using Lithium-ion batteries and be independent of any specific type of delivery vehicle.

In this article IDTechEx gives a short overview of the topic of wide bandgap semiconductors covering the fundamental material science, the key players, the market potential. The impact on a range of applications will also be discussed, with a focus on renewable energy systems and microgrids.

The Chicago Transit Board awarded a $32 million contract for the purchase of 20 new, all-electric buses - the latest investment by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the CTA to completely modernize the agency's bus fleet.

Aquaculture is going offshore into the bigger waves and there is rapid proliferation of electricity-gobbling ocean floor mining robots, autonomous underwater vehicles, oil and gas subsea equipment and much more.

IDTechEx attended the event last week to meet with key stakeholders including industrial OEMs, power module manufacturers, established semiconductor companies and innovative new GaN (gallium nitride) and SiC (silicon carbide) developers to report back on the current and future trends. The following article is the second of two parts and provides a summary of some of the key GaN related developments and at the event and their impact on various industries and applications.

In the recently published IDTechEx market report titled Fiber Lasers 2018-2028: Technologies, Opportunities, Markets & Forecasts, Dr Nilushi Wijeyasinghe explores how recent fiber laser technology developments affect the growth of key market segments.