Wednesday Tech News Roundup: Next-Gen Lithium, Porsche’s EV, Undead Tom-Tom, and Hybrid UPS

[Editor’s note: This is The Drive‘s morning tech news roundup to start your (week-)day fully updated. The news are pulled off the ethernet by our fledgling newsbot (be kind, it is still learning), and they are curated by a human. Direct your news items, complaints, criticisms and compliments at ed [at] thedrive [dot] com, and help us help you stay informed about the exciting and dynamic world of mobility technology. ]

• Porsche goes green with leather-free electric sports car – Reuters: Porsche is making a leather-free version of its new Taycan electric sports car in the latest attempt by a German automaker to play up green credentials as …
• Mitsubishi invests in an app that wants to replace cars – The Detroit News: Mitsubishi joined Toyota Financial Services as an investor in a Finnish firm that seeks to offer a viable alternative to car ownership
• Self-driving cars could ease future evacuations – Axios: but in the future, networks of automated vehicles could help shuttle people out of harm’s way more efficiently.
• Opinion: Does Porsche have the brand appeal of Tesla? – Autocar: Porsche has a brilliant past and present, but Tesla”s reign as the cool kid of EVs means brand competition is fierce Porsche, purveyor of extraordinary sports cars. Tesla, purveyor of sometimes-questionable-quality electric cars. Today, the day which many Porsche traditionalists might never have thought would come, marks the arrival of Porsche”s first electric car, the Taycan. Suddenly, two of the most aspirational brands in motoring collide. New Porsche Taycan arrives as pivotal electric sports
• FCA to spend nearly 1 billion euros on Alfa compact SUV, hybrid Panda – Reuters: Fiat Chrysler will invest almost one billion euros ($1.1 billion) to start production of the new Alfa Romeo compact SUV Tonale and of the light hybrid version of its Panda small car at its Pomigliano plant, unions said on Wednesday.
• China’s CATL to buy stake in Australian lithium miner Pilbara – FT: China’s largest battery company CATL has agreed to pay A$55m for an 8.5 per cent stake in Australian lithium miner Pilbara Minerals, in a vote of …
• Researchers to develop batteries that could ‘transform’ range of EVs – Environmentjournal: Researchers at the University of Sheffield have been awarded £11m from the Faraday Institution to develop the next generation of lithium-ion battery, …
• Michigan automotive companies feeling pressure to join California deal on clean car standards – Thenewsherald: General Motors and other automakers are debating whether to join a deal to keep clean car standards high.
• Hyundai Mobis and Cognitive Pilot to develop ‘neural brain’ for self-driving cars – Just-auto: Hyundai Mobis and Russia-based company ‘Cognitive Pilot’ have announced the completion of a software module for active safety and autonomous driving.
• Porsche Unveils Its First-Ever Electric Car – Bloomberg: Porsche chose Niagara Falls, a Chinese wind farm and a solar site in Germany to unveil its first all-electric sports car, underscoring the new Taycan’s central role …
• Embattled Ford partner Zotye Auto Traum division goes bust – report – Just-auto: Reports out of China claim that the financially troubled Zotye Auto has suddenly closed its Traum division. Staff salaries have supposedly not been paid for months and dealerships are said to be shutting their doors, according to portals Gasgoo and China Car News.
• Autonomous Village opens to boost development of driverless cars – Google: A new facility for testing self-driving cars has opened in Bedfordshire. Developers of driverless technology will be able to take advantage of the UK’s …
• First commercial freight platoons to appear on UK highways by 2025 – Fleetpoint: 09:29. No Comments. 0 Views. Autonomous Vehicles, Connected Vehicles, Driverless, Electric Trucks, Electric Vehicles, Fleet …
• Volkswagen do Brasil develops its first vehicle for international market; MQB-based “New Urban Coupé” – Greencarcongress: For the first time, Volkswagen do Brasil is developing a vehicle based on the modular transverse toolkit MQB completely in-house; the model is also to be …
• Production Version Honda e Comes with Two Power Levels and Voice Control – Autoevolution: Two years after it debuted its first fully electric car as the Urban EV Concept, Honda is now getting ready to storm the market with that car’s production …
• Germany, land of the car, develops taste for electric cargo bikes – Reuters: Think tricycles for the age of global warming: A rising number of environmentally conscious Germans are buying electric cargo bikes, which last year outsold electric cars in a country known for its love of the combustion engine.
• TomTom, back from the dead, is mapping out a new future – Techcentral: Once a household name for its satellite navigation for cars, TomTom has taken a backseat in recent years as smartphones, loaded with apps like Google Maps, …
• China ahead in genomics but lags in semiconductors – It-online: … equipment; industrial robots; consumer robots; consumer electronics; and electric vehicles. * Software: Autonomous driving; shared mobility; and AI.
• Why The World Needs The Internet Of Trusted Things – Ibtimes: From driverless cars to smart homes and even smart cities, devices are increasingly autonomous and interconnected. This is what is commonly called …
• UPS introduces hybrid-electric vehicles to UK fleet – Businesscloud: The new hybrid vans, known as range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs), are designed to use electric power without compromising on the ‘range …
• Samsung Electronics successfully introduces domestically produced high-purity hydrogen fluoride – Hani: Samsung Electronics successfully introduced domestically produced high-purity hydrogen fluoride (etching gas) to its lines in its semiconductor …
• Hydrogen fuel cells are taking off in China – Hydrogenfuelnews: The country’s installed capacity of hydrogen fuel cells increased 642.6 percent year-on-year to 45,876.9 kilowatts in the first seven months of 2019.
• Astrocast raises $9.2 million, grows target IoT constellation size to 80 satellites – Spacenews: Its prototypes and eventually its future operational satellites carry a subsystem equipped with four global navigation satellite system receivers that can …
• BMW Perks Up X5 PHEV & MINI Countryman PHEV With Larger Batteries & More Range – Cleantechnica: September 4th, 2019 by Steve Hanley. While we wait for BMW to bring more fully electric cars to market, the company is adding some zest to its plug-in hybrid …
• Amazon India to weed out single-use plastic packaging by June 2020 – Reuters: Amazon.com Inc’s India unit said on Wednesday it would replace all single use plastic in its packaging by June 2020 with paper cushions, the latest major company to join the country’s fight against environmental pollution.

And finally ….

• Florida Man Parks Car In Kitchen To Protect From Hurricane Dorian – Motor1: Photos on Facebook show a two-door smart parked in the kitchen of a Florida house. Being a Smart ForTwo means there’s still plenty of room in the house.