Important Innovations Collection

Germany's Innovative New Sources of Green Energy                             Source: Renewable Energy stock images 2020 Record Year for Renewable Energy In Germany Germany's prestigious Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) has determined that 2020 is a record year for renewable energy production and use in Germany.  Renewable energy sources equalled 53% of national public electricity production from January to October 2020 in Germany.  Last year in the same period, 46% of energy in Germany was from renewable sources.  The acceleration in renewable energy sources is historic and it demonstrates Germany's commitment to a green, carbon free future.. Solar Energy is Dominating as a German Energy Source According to German Energy Provider Eon, solar energy has provided 43 billion kilowatt hours of electricity into Germany's national grid in 2020.  That's 1 billion kilowatt hours more than in 2019. Solar energy in Germany is now covering the electricity nee

GM's New eCrate Conversion Kit                                                                      Source:  GM 1977 KS  Blazer From Gas Guzzler to Electric Vehicle GM has come up with a great new idea.  It's a kit to convert gas guzzling cars to electric.  It's called the eCrate conversion kit.  And GM just demonstrated the results on a 1977 KS Blazer-E converted to electric power.  The kit uses Chevy Blazer EV batteries.  The big question is:  how difficult is the kit to use? GM Says Easy Electric Conversion GM claims the eCrate makes for easy electric conversions.  GM also says there is tremendous demand for this upcoming kit as people want to build their own electric vehicles.  They'll sell it through Chevrolet Performance starting in the second half of 2021. eCrate Components The kit is formally known as the Electric Connect and Cruise package and it's based on the Chevy Bolt EV powertrain.  The kit contains: 60 kWh battery pack 200 horsepower electric motor DC

Holland's PAL-V                                                        Source:  PAL-V Authorized on Roads in the Netherlands The world's first commercial flying car - the PAL-V Liberty made by Dutch company PAL-V - has been approved for use on roads in the Netherlands.  The Liberty is a gyrocopter.  Rotors on the top of the vehicle provide it lift to fly.  The rotors are powered by a separate propeller engine in the back of the vehicle.  Liberty can hover like a helicopter but it doesn't take-off and land vertically like a helicopter.  It needs a runway of at least 590 feet to gain speed for take-off and 100 feet of runway for landing. Drive & Fly Time The Liberty can drive up to 99 mph on the road and when flying has a maximum speed of 112 mph.  Switching from the driving to the flying mode takes a few minutes.  Clearance will be needed from regulators for flying the flying car.  PAL-V says they expect to get clearance from the European Aviation Safety Agency in 2022.

 Goes from Driving Car to Flying Car in 3 Minutes Source:  Klein Vision AirCar V5 Travel Innovation on the Cutting Edge A team of engineers at Slovakia's Klein Vision have created a next generation flying car, the AirCar V5 that transitions from a road vehicle to an air vehicle in just three minutes.  That transition from driving to flying is triggered by the push of a button. The flying car has been successfully tested and flown.   Successful Test Flights AirCar completed two 1500 feet flights in Slovakia this week that included two takeoffs and landings - all successful.  Klein Vision took their flying car concept and turned it into a flying prototype in just 18 months.  They plan on delivering 2 seat and 4 seat models, a twin engine version and an amphibious version. The AirCar tested is the two seat model.  According to a company news release, it has a powerful BMW 1.61 engine that has a power output of 140 HP and a range of 621 miles.  In the air it can reach speeds of 124 mph

 Metal Asteroid Valued at $10,000,000,000,000,000,000                                                        Source:   NASA Psyche Spacecraft Artist Rendering 16 Psyche Asteroid NASA just struck gold!  NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a rare, heavy and tremendously valuable asteroid called "16 Psyche".  The metal asteroid is located between Jupiter and Mars in the Solar system's main asteroid belt.  It's about the size of West Virginia and is 230 million miles from Earth.  Unlike most asteroids that are rocky or icy, 16 Psyche is almost entirely metal. The research team that made the discovery thinks it may be made of iron and nickel.  Given its size and metal content, 16 Psyche is valued by experts at $10,000,000,000,000,000,000.  That is 10,000 times more valuable than the value of the global economy. New Psyche Mission In 2022, NASA Discovery Mission Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.  An orbiting probe will reach Psyche in 2026. 

Where There Is Water, There May be Life                                                                                         Source:  NASA Moon Big Scientific Discovery Push Is Underway NASA's SOPHIA Telescope has discovered water on the Moon.  That is a very big finding because the presence of water holds the potential of the presence of life.  Areas with the presence of water on the Moon and on other planets are the prime locations that NASA targets to search for new forms of life in space. NASA's Critical New Questions NASA is now asking a series of critical questions about the findings.  How much water is there in the places that SOPHIA has spotted?  How can the water be used by future astronauts in the 2024 Artemis mission to the Moon?  NASA says it is using rovers, spacecraft, telescopes and more in pursuit of answers to these critical questions. What We Know Now & What's Upcoming in 2028 NASA findings have already confirmed that there is more water on the Moon

Partner to Develop Self-Driving Semi Trucks                                                            Source:  Daimler Trucks and Waymo Driverless Big Rigs Daimler and Alphabet/Google Waymo announced today that they are collaborating on the development of self-driving Class 8 semi trucks.  Specifically, they plan on incorporating Waymo's automated system into Daimler's Freightliner Cascadia semi trucks.  These are very big rigs capable of hauling 33,000 pounds. Big Win for Waymo This is a big win for Waymo which has been trying to collaborate with major, established automakers.  Waymo CEO John Krafcik, during a conference call about the deal, said it will take some time to develop the braking, steering and other technologies needed to bring fully self-driving semi trucks to market in high volume.   Highly Competitive Traffic with Tesla Daimler and its competitor PACCAR control more than 70% of the Class 8 semi truck market in the US.  But, the competition is heating up.  In 20

Going for Global Investor Gold Source:  Ant Group $34.4 Billion IPO  Chinese financial technology giant Ant Financial Services Group is launching a dual listed IPO on the Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.  The IPO is aiming to raise nearly $35 billion. That would be the world's largest share price offering in history. Investors are racing for a piece of the fast growing company.  Ant is Alibaba's financial affiliate. Alibaba is a giant China-based technology and e-commerce multinational company. Ant offers a suite of financial services, including the widely popular Alipay digital payment system, known as China's wallet. The IPO deal would value Ant at more than $313 billion.  That is more than the world's biggest bank by assets, The Industrial and  Commercial Bank of China. Regulatory and Trade Concerns Overshadowing the market debut is a threat by the US State Department to add the company to its trade blacklist.  There is also some concern over growing regulator

Elon Musk Says Solar Roofs are His Next Killer Product                                                  Source:  Tesla Tesla Hiring Hundreds of Roofers Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk says the company's next killer product is solar roofs.  He made the announcement during his Q3 2020 conference call.  He says solar roofs will be very hot in 2021. Tesla is hiring hundreds of roofers to get ready.  Musk promises a future of beautiful, tough, resilient solar roofs alive with energy.  Musk feels that is an energy future that we all want and he's building it into a big business.  The Tesla solar roof is composed of solar tiles not solar panels.  It provides the protection of a roof but also generates solar powered electricity. Green Energy Business Ratcheting Up Musk says his solar roof business is accelerating.  Deployments more than doubled in Q3 2020 to 57 MW compared to the previous quarter.  Musk told investors and analysts on the conference call that roof deployments are almost

Hitting Financial and Sales Targets                                                  Source:  Tesla Rolling Out Full Self-Driving Software With Caution Tesla, the world's largest electric vehicle automaker, and CEO/founder Elon Musk are on a roll.  The company just recorded its 5th quarterly profit and it sold and delivered 139,300 vehicles in Q3 2020.  That puts it on target for selling 500,000 vehicles for the year 2020.  That is a milestone that CEO Musk has been pushing hard to achieve.  Meanwhile, Musk has just started a high stakes rollout of his Full Self-Driving (FSD) software for autonomous driving Teslas. FSD's High Stakes Beta Testing Musk has started limited beta testing of his software architecture re-write of FSD with a small group of selected Tesla customers. This new version of FSD provides more advanced autonomous perception capabilities of stop signs, traffic lights and a higher degree of driver assist on city streets.  It also has another new feature - Naviga

Volta Zero                                                       Source:  Volta Zero Zero Emissions, With Body Made of Flax & Biodegradable Resin Startup Volta Zero of Sweden has innovated an electric truck built for deliveries in cities.  It is a 16 ton, all electric delivery truck that's smaller than a big rig.  It has a range of 125 miles on a charge. The EV is powered by lithium ion phosphate batteries which are modular and allow Volta to customize the vehicles to the customers' specific needs.  Incredibly it is made of sustainably sourced Flax material and biodegradable resin in its exterior body panels.  Volta Zero says it will change the face of road travel. London's Ultra Low Emissions Zone The European delivery service DPD will start testing the Zero in London's Ultra Low Emissions Zone starting in the first quarter of 2021.  The company has forged significant partnerships with another 8 customers.  Experts say Volta Zero could have a significant role in sh

Second Launch This Week of Fleets of Satellites Today                                                       Source: SpaceX Promise of Inexpensive, High Speed Internet SpaceX today successfully launched into orbit another fleet of 60 internet satellites.  It was the second Starlink launch this week as SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk continue to build their growing mega-constellation of satellites to deliver inexpensive, high speed internet from space.  Musk now has in orbit more than 800 Starlink satellites. Remarkable Technology The technology that Musk has developed at SpaceX is remarkable.  Today, nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 rocket's 1st stage booster that boosted the satellites into space returned to Earth and successfully landed on one of SpaceX's drone ships, known as Just Read the Instructions,  in the Atlantic Ocean.  The precision of the landing is awesome. The 60 satellites continued into space for their low Earth orbits.   This is the 19th launch for SpaceX in 20

Invention Could Make Electricity Dramatically Cheaper, Faster, More Powerful Source:  University of Rochester New Discovery - University of Rochester University of Rochester engineers have created a super, superconductor that could save the world billions of dollars in annual electricity costs.  The engineers created a material composed of hydrogen, carbon and sulfur which becomes a superconductor when squeezed between two diamonds.  Superconductors are materials that effortlessly conduct electricity with no resistance and no energy lost.  Until the University of Rochester breakthrough, superconductors only worked at extremely cold temperatures of minus 100 degree Fahrenheit and below.  The new superconductor works at room temperature of 59 degrees.  That opens up the possibility of widespread use. Why This is Such a Big Deal This breakthrough superconductor could usher in an age of dramatically cheaper, faster and more powerful electricity.  According to the research team, widespread

Switzerland and Sweden Leading the Way                                                                 Source:  Stock Image of Innovation 2020 Global Innovation Index (GII) The 2020 Global Innovation Index ranks Switzerland and Sweden as the #1 and #2 Innovation countries in the world.  For Switzerland, this is the 10th year of ranking number 1.  Europe has clearly become the global epicenter of innovation.  Eight of the top 12 leaders in innovation are European countries:  Switzerland #1, Sweden #2, UK #4, Netherlands #5, Denmark #6, Finland #7, Germany #9, France #12.  The US came in #3 in this year's annual ranking of 131 nations using 80 metrics to evaluate the level of innovation around the world. COVID-19's Impact The GII experts say COVID-19 is "severely pressuring" the long term build-up in global innovation, while it is also accelerating innovation in specific areas, particularly health care.  GII says the leading nations in innovation show year-to-year stabi

New Travel Innovation: E-Urban Mobility Vehicle                                                  Source:  KOMMA Part Car and Part MotorBike KOMMA is a brand new electric vehicle for city travel from innovators in Switzerland. The startup says it is an alternative to conventional means of city transportation.  The KOMMA Urban Mobility Vehicle (UMV) is a crossover between a conventional car and a motorbike.  It's electric, has the comfort and safety of a car but with a much smaller footprint.  It's being billed as a brand new means of travel around and between urban areas. KOMMA's Approach and Mantra Could Be Transformative KOMMA's mantra is to create better ways to move around cities than by cars and vans.  The approach of their new technology is by blurring the lines between travel vehicles as we know them.  Their brand new KOMMA UMV is planned for production in 2022.  They believe the small size of their vehicle, the light construction, aero design and its electric pow

Perfect Day and Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger                                             Source:  Perfect Day Animal-Free Dairy Startup With $360 Million in Funding Europe and the US are leading the way in the development of animal free food and investors are bankrolling new startups.  A great example is the animal-free dairy startup Perfect Day.  Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger just made a significant investment in the company and now has a seat on its board of directors.  This after Perfect Day raised $360 million in investment funding this year.  The company has a unique history, innovative technology and commercially available products like its dairy-free ice cream. Transatlantic Roots Perfect Day was founded in Cork, Ireland by two young scientists Ryan Padya and Perumal Gandi.  Their approach to creating animal-free dairy products garnered global interest.  They've developed animal-free milk, cheese, yogurt, butter and ice cream.  Now headquartered in Berkeley, Calif

Beta Testing to Get Underway                                                       Source:  Tesla Future of Autonomous Driving The dream of autonomous driving is getting a lot closer.  Tonight, Tesla is rolling our the beta version of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system.  In a tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the rollout to a few, selected customers. They've received a software update that downloaded automatically into their Tesla vehicle to better steer and accelerate without human intervention.  Musk said the rollout and beta testing will be "extremely slow and cautious".  He didn't say where the self-driving test runs would be taking place. Highly Advanced Technology  Musk says Tesla has done a fundamental re-write of the entire Autopilot software system.  He said they are "re-labelling" 3D videos, meaning how the system understands the objects it sees with its eight cameras and how it should react to them.  Musk says the sophistication of the neural n

1000 Horsepower All-Electric Truck                                                            Super: GMC Targeting Tesla's Cybertruck GMC just unveiled its brand new Hummer electric "Super Truck with unprecedented off-road capability".  The EV has three motors that put out 1,000 horsepower.  It can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds. The driving range is 350 miles on a single charge.  And it has a fast charging capability that generates 100 miles of range in ten minutes.  This is GM's first electric pickup truck and it is pricey.  You can reserve the "Edition 1" model which starts at $112,595.  The EV has GMC's most powerful drivetrain.  With the Hummer EV, GM is clearly targeting Tesla's Cybertruck. EV Truck Wars The 2020's are ushering in electric pickup truck wars.  The new Hummer will be competing against a new lineup of e-trucks from Tesla, Ford, Rivian, to name a few.  The biggest competitor is Tesla CEO Elon Musk's pet project, t

SpaceX & Microsoft Tie-Up to Win Space Customers                                                  Source:  Tesla Starlink Starlink and Azure Cloud Computing This technology combination between Elon Musk's SpaceX and Microsoft is fascinating.  Microsoft is expanding its Azure cloud computing platform into space through a partnership with SpaceX's growing constellation of low earth orbiting satellites for inexpensive, global broadband internet - Starlink.  Starlink is a big space-based internet opportunity and is already being beta-tested in the northern US, in tribal communities and in southern Canada.  Starlink can give Microsoft's Azure a potentially big edge over rival Amazon's cloud computing platform for business. Cloud Business Demand Is Soaring Because of the restrictions of COVID-19, demand for cloud services are soaring as adults and children work from home.  Microsoft has tested its Azure cloud with satellites in space and established a space venture addres

Next Generation of Renewable Energy Source:  Virtual Power Plant stock image Homes, Working Together, Forming a Virtual Power Plant The concept of virtual power plants is compelling and already in practice.  The plant consists of homes powered by solar panels working together and turning neighborhoods into virtual power plants that can feed excess energy back to the grid.  These virtual power plants are already deployed in locations around the world such as public housing in South Australia and apartment complexes in Utah and California.  It's the next generation of solar power technology.  At some point in the future, virtual power plants may consist of fleets of electric vehicles. Gaining in Popularity Virtual power plants are gaining in popularity for a number of reasons.  They are a promising, green replacement for aging electricity infrastructure and their power plants powered by polluting fossil fuels.  Virtual power plants can distribute energy over a much wider area and mak

Grows to 835 Satellite System                                                                      Source:  SpaceX Starlink Launch Moderate Coverage for North America SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit on Sunday with another batch ready to launch on Wednesday.  The Sunday launch to build an inexpensive global internet service brings the total sats deployed to 835 satellites.  That is enough to reach CEO Elon Musk's target of 800 deployed satellites in low Earth orbit to start testing for moderate internet coverage for parts of North America.  This was Space X's 14th launch of Starlink satellites.  To achieve global broadband coverage, Musk says he plans to launch 120 new Starlink satellites per week. Incredible Technology Not just the Starlink technology is incredible, so too is the rocket technology for launch that's being deployed.    The Sunday launch was aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's sixth flight.  After the successful launch, the fi

NASA & Nokia's Bell Labs Building Lunar Connectivity                                                 Source:  4G stock image Wired, Connected Moon NASA and Nokia's Bell Labs are building a 4G network on the Moon.  Bell Labs has been awarded a $14.1 million contract for the project.  Bell Labs is partnering with spaceflight engineering company Intuitive Machines.  The purpose is to provide US astronauts with a more robust means of communications. 5G Coming Next As is happening on Earth, the 4G network on the Moon will be upgraded to 5G over time.  The 4G system is being built to withstand the Moon's radiation, extreme temperatures and space's vacuum.  The astronauts will use the 4G network for data transmission, control of lunar rovers, streaming of high definition videos and for real time navigation of the lunar surface.  Bell Labs will deploy small cell technology, which is much smaller and requires less energy than the traditional cell towers on Earth. 2024 Artemi

New Acela 2021                                                  Source:  Amtrak Speed Testing for 165 MPH America's fastest train, the Acela, is going to go faster.  It's being speed tested at a 30,000 acre facility near Pueblo, Colorado for its rollout in 2021.  The train will hit speeds of 165 mph in the Boston to Washington, DC corridor.  Amtrak is calling it "a gamechanger". The actual increase in speed is about 15%. More Energy Efficient The new Acela will use 20% less energy, carry 25% more passengers and cut 15 minutes off the train trip between Boston and Washington, DC which takes about 5 hours,  And, there is a lot of new technologies being incorporated into the Acela trains. US vs. Asia and Europe In terms of fast train technology, the US is behind both Europe and Asia.  The primary reason is the lack of investment in new infrastructure that can carry high speed trains.  Some parts of the Boston to Washington, DC train corridor are 100 years old.  Europe an

Green Hydrogen Trains from Siemens Energy & Siemens Mobility Source:  Stock Image of Hydrogen Trains Green Sustainable Energy and Green Travel Newly listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Siemens Energy has signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Siemens Mobility to jointly develop and sell hydrogen systems to power trains.  This is another new and important example of the hot and expansive development of hydrogen fuel cell technology.  The two companies have several goals.   They want to standardize the technology for fully hydrogen powered trains made by Siemens Mobility.  They also want to sell the technology to external companies to promote the "hydrogen economy of Germany and Europe". Smart Green Linkage Siemens Energy is developing green hydrogen, which is produced from renewable sources like wind and solar power.  Siemens Mobility specializes in transportation and is still part of the parent company Siemens.  Siemens Energy was spun off from the parent in

 Musk's Latest SpaceX and Tesla Breakthroughs                                                  Source:                                     Amazon  https://amazon.com/author/ekane #1 New Release on Amazon My latest book "The Elon Musk Factor" is now the #1 new release in Aeronautics and Astronautics and has been the #1 new release in Automotive Engineering on Amazon and Kindle.  It is listed in Amazon's Hot New Book list.  For a free preview, go to  https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B08KHCYGY9&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_WyYIFbN3CN1CB ... ...

Second Recent Jetpack Sighting Over LA                                                Source:  JetPack Aviation JetPack Aviation SPEEDER Gets Ready for Take-off Once again over Los Angeles, the sky offered an amazing sight of a pilot in a jetpack soaring 6,000 feet above the Earth.  It was the second similar sighting and the flights were apparently not authorized by the FAA.  Enter JetPack Aviation's flying motorcycle SPEEDER that's set to do its first test flight.  SPEEDER is the world's first jet powered, personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flying motorcycle.  JetPack Aviation says it had nothing to do with the two mysterious, jetpack flights over LA. Technology Promise of SPEEDER JetPack says with the flip of a switch SPEEDER will be able to hit 300 mph in the air, carry 600 pounds and fly at an altitude of 15,000 feet. They say that's the potential of their SPEEDER flying motorcycle technology.  That would make a trip from LA to San Diego possible in 20 min

  Nio, EV Maker Taking on Tesla                                                                                 Source:  Nio EP9 Sportscar Hot Global Stock Shanghai based electric vehicle maker Nio wants to take on Tesla and be the "Tesla killer".  It's share price on the NYSE has been soaring.  It's up 1000% since it cratered in March at $3.00.  It is now up to $26.50, Big Wall Street houses like Citi are calling it a buy.  They've put a target price of $33.20 on it because of it's "very strong order backlog", its efforts to cut battery costs and its growing market share.  Nio is back by two Chinese tech giants, Tencent and Baidu. The Nio EP9 sports car, shown above, is an example of Nio's fashionable, futuristic design in EVs. Nio's Different Approach Nio's business approach is innovative.  It has heavily focused on creating a brand, including selling Nio hats and merchandise on line. It offers battery-swapping, mobile power vans and &q