Electric vehicles

This conference concerned petrol stations in the UK. They have collapsed in number from 35,948 in 1971 to a mere 8,434 today. The collapse would have been worse were it not for hypermarkets opening new stations.

The IDTechEx Show! in Berlin, Germany on 10-11 May is Europe's most important event for those involved in technology scouting and product innovation, bringing together emerging technologies with global brands.

IDTechEx analyst Dr Laura Baers gives an overview of solar fuels and explains why artificial photosynthesis is still difficult to bring to market.

They call it Airborne Wind Energy (AWE). It started with kites flying higher than a conventional wind turbine to create electricity from the familiar figure of eight trajectory where winds are much stronger and more consistent than those tapped by conventional wind turbines on land or even offshore.

Recently, there has been a sharp increase in development activity with electric aircraft, as examined in the new report from IDTechEx Research, Manned Electric Aircraft 2017-2027.

IDTechEx are at the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Conference in Sindlefingen, Germany where 48V mild hybrids are rightly a strong focus.

In the IDTechEx report,"Fuel Cell Vehicles 2016-2026" we predicted that the window of opportunity for fuel cell vehicles is closing as battery pure electric vehicles grab their target markets.

China may be gearing up to have 100,000 pure electric taxis with zero emissions in use soon but at least the iconic British black cab is going to be made in Britain as a hybrid - by a Chinese company.

For the first time, air pollution in the UK is now primarily caused by road vehicles. Legal limits for the year were exceeded in the first four days of the 2017. London schools are being built where the children are forced to suck in four times the approved amount of acid gas.

The technology of Airborne Wind Energy AWE has progressed in leaps and bounds recently as many developers prepare to sell them.