At the CES this year, Hyundai and Uber have announced their cooperative effort to build air taxis to be used on the Uber platform Elevate. The two companies also presented the S-A1, a prototype for such an electrically powered vertical take-off aircraft.
British battery specialist Oxis Energy is cooperating with US aircraft manufacturer Bye Aerospace to develop lightweight lithium-sulfur cells for battery packs in future Bye Aerospace electric aircraft.
The ride-share company Uber is working on the development of electric air taxis and announced their first research and development center outside of the USA, which will open in Paris in Fall this year.
ChargePoint has taken the Uber Elevate conference in LA as an opportunity to unveil a new dedicated charging solution for electric aircrafts and electric trucks not unlike the Megacharger Tesla is planning for their own Semi.
Uber has brought their latest flying cab design to their second annual Elevate conference in Los Angeles. The ride hail company hopes to be using their drone-like “flying car” for personal taxi transport as of 2023.
SK quadruples battery production: The South Korean company SK Innovation announced that it will quadruple production capacities for EV batteries. It will open a new plant in Seosan, which is said to increase yearly output to 3 GWh by 2018. pulsenews.co.kr
Uber plans flying EVs: The company says it is working on Uber Elevate, setting up an on-demand service for electric aircrafts from 2021. These will feature helicopter-like EVs that do not need a runway for takeoff or landing. businessinsider.de, wired.com
Google monetarises autonomous cars: Google’s self-driving cars business CEO John Krafcik confirmed that his business unit will soon evolve into an independent entity outside of Google. The internet giant sees itself more as a technology and mobility provider, than a carmaker. forbes.com, nikkei.com
New e-racing series: The Red Bull Global Rallycross will add a new electric car class from 2018. The Red Bull GRC CEO described e-mobility as a “hot topic,” saying that manufactures are recognizing the technology’s potential. Reason enough to “embrace” it on the track. autoweek.com, autocar.co.uk