Local Motors, the maker of the autonomous electric shuttle Olli, will cease operations on Friday, according to several posts on LinkedIn by various employees. The company has not yet made an official announcement. The reason for the presumed shutdown of Local Motors is said to be a lack of capital.
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Local Motors has placed a major order with British e-drive specialist Protean Electric as part of their existing cooperation. The new three-year contract calls for the supply of thousands of Protean’s in-wheel motors for use in Local Motors’ Olli 2.0 e-shuttles that run autonomously.
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LM Industries, the parent company of Local Motors, has received $15 million in financing. The money will be used to advance product development, production and deployment of the 3D-printed Olli autonomous electric shuttle bus.
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US Local Motors caught a lot of attention with a 3D-printed autonomous shuttle Olli as early as 2017. Fast-forward to 2020, and we sat down with Local Motors CEO John B. Rogers and his UK partners from Protean.
Read moreBattery project completed: The Greenlion project presented its achievements in the development of greener and cheaper batteries. Cell materials and components have been improved and module design optimised. Together with modern production methods, cost for batteries were indeed decreased without hampering energy density or safety.
cordis.europa.eu, greenlionproject.eu (project)
Tesla battery ageing recorded: Over 500,000 miles can be driven with a single power pack, data gathered from 286 Model S owners shows. During the first 50,000 miles, most Tesla batteries will lose about 5 percent of their capacity before the degradation slows down further.
electrek.co
Hydrogen from renewables: StratosFuel Inc. and Hydrogenics Corporation entered into a strategic partnership to build a 2.5 MW Zero Impact Production (ZIP) H2 facility in Palm Springs, California. It will use Hydrogenics’ PEM electrolysers to convert wind and solar energy into hydrogen once approved.
altenergymag.com
Olli test in Karlsruhe: Baden-Wuerttemberg reserves 2.5m euros to test autonomous vehicles. One of them is Olli, the electric bus by Local Motors and IBM that talks. It will hit the road in Karlsruhe from November 2017 for testing.
ka-news.de (in German)
ABT presents eCab: Car enhancer ABT Sportsline now dabbles in electric mobility. The eCab is a platform fit for various structures, is TÃœV-approved and has a range of 120 km. Ten eCabs are already being tested under real life conditions by DHL.
abt-sportsline.de
Higher energy density: The U.S. consortium Battery500 wants to develop a battery pack with an energy density of 500 Wh/kg using a lithium-metal battery. The U.S. government is funding the five-year project with up to 10m dollars.
greencarcongress.com
Denmark tests Olli : The Danish community of Vesthimmerlands is looking to put in place driverless shuttle buses. From September, they will test Local Motors bus Olli which was partly 3D-printed and features IBM technology Watson to answer passengers’ questions.
cphpost.dk, lokaltindblik.dk (in Danish)
Electric ferries in Norway: Norway’s Fjord1 will put two all-electric ferries into service from January 2018, which will be charged through fully automatic charging stations at the dock. Construction of the vessels will begin in Turkey in October.
passengership.info
Inductive commercialisation : Qualcomm has signed a license agreement with Lear. The supplier will add Qualcomm’s Halo technology for inductive charging in its product portfolio for manufactures of electric and plug-in hybrid cars, as well as charging infrastructure.
elektroniknet.de, greencarcongress.com
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Video tip I: IDTechEX took a closer look at the string battery concept from TankTwo (we reported), which apparently enables an EV to fully charge in just three minutes.
outube.com via electricvehiclesresearch.com
Video tip II: Meet Olli, the self-driving, talking bus from Local Motors and IBM, now roaming the streets of Washington D.C. (we reported). It is fitted with the IBM technology Watson and can therefore talk to passengers and answer their questions.
youtube.com via treehugger.com
Event for the upcoming week: FIA Formula E, Round 9 and 10 (July 02-03; London, England)
You can find a complete list of upcoming industry events at electrive.com/calendar
