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The state government will offer $1 million of support for CSIRO and Swinburne University’s hydrogen refuelling station. The joint venture is set to establish a ‘Victorian Hydrogen Hub’ (also known as VH2) with the aim of building a hydrogen refuelling station for fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

The hub is expected to create opportunities for students, researchers and the industry to become a place where the community can learn about hydrogen as a sustainable energy source.

Victorian Minister for Higher Education, Gayle Tierney, and Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, said that the facility would stimulate Australia’s hydrogen sector and establish Victoria as a leader in developing clean, efficient and reliable energy sources.

“We are proud to be investing in this innovative project that will drive the state’s COVID-19 recovery – by giving Victorians more opportunities to learn and find pathways into meaningful careers,” Mr Tierney said.

The VH2 will create about 300 new full-time positions, with 50% of its PhD and master’s scholarships to be given to women to increase female participation in the sector.

“This hub will help give Victoria the skills and experience we need to unlock the hydrogen industry – driving down emissions while creating green jobs in a growing industry,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

Construction is set to commence in early 2022 and will take approximately 18 months. A twin facility is slated for Stuttgart, Germany, to help foster an international hydrogen development partnership.

VH2 is a crucial part of the Victorian Government’s Renewable Hydrogen Industry Development Plan, which is due to be released in the coming weeks. It will be the foundation to create a thriving hydrogen economy in the coming decade.

Swinburne University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pascale Quester, said, “We’re grateful to the Victorian Government and our partners for their support as we work for advancements in hydrogen technology and focus on wider technological advancements for Victoria, Australia and the world.”

VH2 allows another step to be taken in developing a workable supply chain for FCEVs, which includes the new Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo, which are currently available for business and fleet purchase.

The refuelling station will be located at CSIRO’s Clayton campus in Victoria. It’s seen as a crucial component of the CSIRO’s ‘Hydrogen Industry Mission’ as advocates claim it could add $11 billion a year to Australian GDP, create more than 8,000 jobs and support a low emissions future.

“As Australia considers energy alternatives, we know hydrogen is clean and will be cost-competitive – but a major barrier to it becoming a fuel source for cars and trucks is how to refuel, and the lack of refuelling infrastructure,” said Nigel Warren, executive director of growth at CSIRO.

“The refueller is a significant step towards removing that barrier.”

Toyota Australia, who are developing their own hydrogen infrastructure at its former Altona car assembly plant in Melbourne’s west, will also be engaging in the development of VH2. It is hoped that Toyota Australia will help support the future adoption and supply of FCEVs in Australia.

Toyota’s Manager of Future Technologies, Matt MacLeod said, “This is a significant step towards having the necessary refuelling infrastructure to help grow hydrogen opportunities in Australia.

“Toyota Australia is delighted to support the development of this new hydrogen refuelling station in Victoria with next-generation Mirai FCEVs.

“This is a significant step towards having the necessary refuelling infrastructure to help grow hydrogen opportunities in Australia.

“We look forward to working closely with CSIRO and their partners on this exciting project.”

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Ford has named Google Cloud as “its preferred cloud provider to leverage Google’s world-class expertise in data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML)”.

As Ford’s preferred cloud provider, starting later this year, Google says it “will help Ford leverage Google Cloud’s AI, ML and data analytics technologies to accelerate the automaker’s digital transformation, modernise operations, and power connected vehicle technologies with Google’s trusted, secure, and reliable cloud.”

The partnership will commence in 2023 and will last for six years. Millions of future Ford and Lincoln vehicles at every price point will be powered by Android, with Google based apps and services built-in. Fortunately for Apple users, Apple Car Play will still be offered despite the recent Google partnership.

In an effort to encourage ongoing innovation, Ford and Google established a new collaborative group called Team Upshift.

To take advantage of the talent and assets of both Ford and Google, the new cooperative “will push the boundaries of Ford’s transformation, unlock personalized consumer experiences, and drive disruptive, data-driven opportunities”.

Projects might include developing new retail experiences when purchasing a car and creating new and unique ownership offers based on data.

For Ford’s Australian team, we’re told “this partnership is exciting news for Ford’s large Australian engineering team, which will be responsible for integrating the technology in the vehicles it develops for 180 markets and millions of consumers around the world. This will enable Ford’s Australian team to accelerate its capabilities in tech-auto integration even more rapidly, positioning it to become a world leader in this vital and growing space.”

Jim Farley, President and CEO of Ford said: “As Ford continues the most profound transformation in our history with electrification, connectivity and self-driving, Google and Ford coming together establishes an innovation powerhouse truly able to deliver a superior experience for our customers and modernize our business”.

With Google Cloud, Ford says it plans to:

– Further improve customer experiences for customers with differentiated technology and personalised services
– Accelerate modernisation of product development, manufacturing and supply chain management, including exploration of using vision AI for manufacturing employee training and even more reliable plant equipment performance
– Fast track the implementation of data-driven business models resulting in customers receiving real-time notices such as maintenance requests or trade-in alerts.

According to Ford, “In future, customers may benefit from tech that will reduce incidents on the road, move traffic through lights more efficiently and reduce traffic jams, and, as will be the case with the Ford-Google partnership, offer personalised and seamless integration of their digital ecosystems with their vehicles”.

For more information, read: https://ford.to/2YDykpv

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Touted as ‘medium-duty’, the 8-pallet truck is meant for city-based deliveries and is the first mass-produced, manufacturer-developed electric truck of its size in Australia.

The evaluation model that arrived in Australia last week is said to be powered by a 600 volt, 200kWh battery pack that powers the 200kWh and 425Nm motor.

Volvo has yet to confirm the estimated kilometre range for the electric truck. The range will be determined once the validation testing is complete.

Volvo has partnered with Linfox subsidiary and Australian alcoholic beverages logistics company BevChain to test out and trial the new technology in the Australian climate in April 2021.

“It is very clear that both our customers, and our customer’s customers, are demanding a cleaner and quieter urban transport environment,” says Vice President, Volvo Trucks Australia Tony O’Connell.

“Momentum is building globally to create safe and clean cities and the arrival of this truck in Australia marks the first step on that journey for Volvo Trucks Australia.”

“The introduction of electric vehicles opens an exciting chapter for both Linfox and Volvo,” said Peter Fox, Executive Chairman Linfox Pty Ltd.

“Our investment in sustainable vehicles will significantly help reduce our emissions in the foreseeable future.

“Adopting a greener fleet is an ongoing part of our commitment to act sustainably, as we strive for zero net environmental emissions and play our part to mitigate climate change.

“As our nations’ freight demand grows, it is vital we meet that need safely, efficiently and with reduced environmental impact.”

This is a tell-tale sign of progress for electric truck development in Australia, succeeding Toyota’s partnership with Australian-based electric truck manufacturer SEA Electric to build Hino light medium-duty trucks with electric and hydrogen fuel options.

SEA Electric already converts a range of commercial trucks to electric using its own SEA-Drive technology, with the retrofitted product achieving up to 350km.

The heavy-duty Volvo FL Electric truck launched in Europe in 2019, with the highest capacity 300kWh battery with a range of up to 300km.

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Named the Kurumask, the filter was released as an accessory for the updated Japanese-market Honda N-Box kei-car in December 2020. It was designed to remove microbes inside the car cabin within 15 minutes, Honda claims.

Testing was conducted in the Honda N-Box kei-car and was fitted to the car’s air conditioning system while in-air recirculation mode was used.

E.coli bacteria was used in the test and results showed that 99.8% of the droplets containing the bacteria were removed within 15 minutes and 99.9% of any traces on surfaces were removed after 24 hours.

How does the Honda kurumask work?

According to Honda, the air filter catches the virus droplets on its special surface, reducing their shape and damaging them in the process. The technology uses a zinc phosphate chemical conversion treatment which is also used to prevent vehicles from rusting.

The kurumask destroys existing viruses inside the cabin like those that you may catch when you go into any public spaces or a quick grocery run.

Designed as a part of a project to create a vehicle that can safely transport COVID-19 patient without infecting the driver, as the filter is a consumable accessory, it must be replaced annually or after 15,000kms, according to Honda.

Currently, the Kurumaku is only for sale to Japan-based owners for an MSRO of 6,400 yen, roughly AUD $80. The new component can be retrofitted to the N-Box’s current clean filter. However, Honda have confirmed that it will roll out the air filter to other models in the near future.

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According to data from JP Morgan, car listings at Carsales were down 20.5% in the second half of 2020. Private listings dropped 45.7% in the second half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

Similarly, dealer listings decreased by 7.3% compared with 2019. New and demonstrator listings also declined by almost 25%.

The reason for this is the global car shortage of both new and used cars.

Declining Turnover

Michael Brisson, Senior Economist at Moody’s Analytics data firm says that, “new vehicle supplies have remained low because of production and supply chain slowdowns that have occurred worldwide due to the pandemic.”

Mr Brisson says that used vehicle stocks have been constrained because of lease extensions and that a decrease in kilometres driven by fleet companies have led to a lack of need for turnover in fleet sales. In conjunction with this, a lack of trade ins has been inversely tied to the decrease in new vehicle sales.

General Manager of Motor Vehicles at Pickles, Brendon Green, says that the automotive auctions company has witnessed a significant decline in listings in 2020 which was almost entirely driven by the fleet management and finance repossession segments.

“Less than 10 per cent of our inventory comes from private sellers, the majority comes out of government fleets and financiers and turnover in both those segments has been down due to social distancing and a lack of new vehicles,” Mr Green said.

Sale prices skyrocket

Mr Green says that stock remains about 35% down on 2020 levels, however as a result, sale prices have gone up 30% compared to pre-COVID levels.

Mr Green says that if an individual were to sell their car privately, it would be best to do it as quickly as possible. “I suspect early parts of 2021 will be strong, but then we will see a softening in mid-2021 from the dizzying heights we’re at at the moment.”

Mr Green’s ‘dizzying heights’ refers to the used car prices being 32% higher compared to 2019 and are still climbing, according to Moody’s Analytics data.

“People looking to sell their cars now will be pleasantly surprised compared to if they had looked to sell in December of 2019,” Mr Brisson of Moody’s Analytics says.

Untraditional listings soar

While traditional used-car sales outlets are experiencing a decline in listings, untraditional outlets like Gumtree are experiencing a rise, potentially driven by people looking to unburden cars quickly or even avoid human contact.

JP Morgan recorded a rise in automotive listings on Gumtree for 12 weeks straight.

Recent data revealed that the total automotive listings on Gumtree were equivalent to almost 70% of Carsales’ overall listings. Private listings on Gumtree corresponded to 215% of Carsales’ private listings.

Mr Green says that he has seen an increase in the usage of Pickles’ DIY Inspect App which allows private sellers to have their vehicles valued and collected via a contactless process.

Utes and SUVs in demand

Regardless of the avenue in which you sell your vehicle, utes are the ones showing the greatest increase.

Mr Green says that there’s been a shortage of light commercial vehicles and demand for them has been high, as many tradespeople are taking advantage of the instant asset write-off scheme.

CJ Jayasinghe, CEO of Westside Auto, a Perth-based car wholesaler, says that holidayers are also pushing up prices on family SUVs.

“As COVID hit we saw companies not turn over their vehicles as frequently due to the uncertainty that existed, which dried up a lot of that stock from March to around September,” Mr Jayasinghe said.

“[But also during this period,] the appetite for upgrading personal cars to more rugged adventurous vehicles like Toyota LandCruisers started to occur because Australians wanted to explore their own backyard more.

“This meant our stock was predominantly higher spec’d vehicles and resulted in our average sale price being in the mid $30,000s [it’s typically around mid to high-$20,000s].

“The market is starting to normalise now, and we have 2112 vehicles in stock as of today, which is getting close to pre-COVID-19 levels.”

For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/2LIzRYa

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The total sum of new car sales for November was tallied at 95,205, an increase of 12.4% (10,497 units) compared to November 2019, which recorded 84,708 units.

Year-to-date, 821,316 sales were recorded which is a 16.1% decrease for the same period in 2019 where 978,628 units were recorded. While the decrease has been attributed to COVID-19, travel restrictions have contributed positively to Australians buying cars and holidaying locally.

The highest selling car was the Toyota Hilux, which is on its way to being Australia’s top selling car for the fifth year in a row, with 5,038 units sold in November, compared to 3,687 units in the same period last year.

Trailing second is the Toyota Hilux rival, the Ford Ranger with 4,260 units sold, up from 3,491 in November 2019.

Of the top ten cars sold in November, Toyota took five of the spots, no doubt continuing its reign and large market share.

November new car sales figures

Toyota was also the top selling brand for the month with 23,204 sales, accounting for about 24% of all new vehicle sales, which is also a sharp increase of 36.9% compared to November 2019.

Japanese car maker Toyota had a large lead over the second top-selling car maker, Mazda, who sold 9,053 units in November. Hyundai came in third with 6,903 sales followed by Ford with 6,613 and Mitsubishi in fifth place with 5,488 sales.

In regard to market share for November, Toyota also led the way with a margin of 14,151 vehicle sales and 14.9% market share points. Second was Mazda and third, Hyundai.

November sales by brand

Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, said the industry welcomed the first signs of recovery in the new vehicle market.

“Recent Australian new vehicles sales have seen 31 months of straight decline. This has been caused by a number of well recognised factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and environmental and financial issues.

“With the Australian economy showing improvement, it’s good news to see new vehicle sales trending in a more positive direction,” Mr Weber said.

What has contributed to the positive results for November 2020? Mr Weber believes that one factor could be the rising optimism from the Australian public as restrictions continue to ease.

“This increase in consumer confidence is backed by government support programs during the pandemic, the easing of lending restrictions, and the current competitive automotive market.

“We also believe that, given our inability to travel internationally, many Australians are choosing to purchase a new vehicle and holiday at home this year – and we fully expect to see a notable increase in family driving trips over the Christmas season,” Mr Weber said.

November sales by vehicle class

As Australians are purchasing cars to holiday locally, it’s reflective in the increase in SUV’s being purchased as it accounted for 52.5% of total sales for November, up by 26.5%, whereas passenger cars saw a decline of 10.1% compared to the same time last year.

Despite the promising signs, the car industry remains cautious about market recovery. Industry sources say that approximately one-third of new cars reported as sold in November were orders placed in previous months as dealers were compensating for lost sales earlier in the year.

Car dealers are also struggling to source and deliver the sheer number of new cars due to the interruption in production and shipping because of COVID-19.

Read the report here: https://bit.ly/2VWNpRr

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Continuous research of human-vehicle interaction has shown over and over that systems made to automate driving, like adaptive cruise control, are far from being free from errors.

Recent data suggests that drivers’ limited comprehension of what these systems can and can’t do contribute to system misuse.

While there are issues plaguing the world of autonomous driving such as the imperfect technology and lukewarm reception of autonomous systems, there exists questions regarding legal liabilities. More specifically, what are the legal responsibilities of the human driver and the car manufacturer that built the autonomous driving vehicle?

Trust and accountability

In a study published recently in Humanities and Social Science Communications, the authors discuss the issue of over-reliant drivers and the resulting system misuse from a legal perspective. They delve deeper into what the manufacturers of self-driving cars should legally do to make sure that drivers understand how to properly utilise the vehicle.

One proposed solution required buyers to sign end-user licence agreements (EULAs), similar to those terms and conditions you must agree to when using a new software or computer. To get consent, manufacturers might need to employ the omnipresent touchscreen, which ow comes installed in most new vehicles.

This solution is far from ideal and safe. Another problem lies with the interface, as it may not provide enough information to the driver, which may lead to confusion about the nature of the request for agreement and their implications.

The main problem is that most end users don’t read the EULAs. A 2017 Deloitte study found that 91% of people agree to them without reading. In younger people, the percentage is lower with 97% agreeing without reading the terms and conditions.

Unlike using a new app or computer, operating a car has significant safety risk, regardless if the driver is human or software. Human drivers must give permission to take responsibility for the outcomes of the software and hardware.

Warning fatigue and distracted driving are other reasons for concern. For example, if a driver becomes irritated after receiving continuous warnings could decide to ignore the message. Alternatively, if the message appears while the vehicle is moving it could be seen as a distraction.

With the aforementioned restrictions and concerns, if this mode of attaining consent were to go ahead, it would not fully protect automotive manufacturers from their legal responsibility should the system breakdown or in the event of an accident.

Driver training is necessary for self-driving cars to ensure that drivers completely comprehend the system’s capabilities and limitations. This needs to happen beyond the vehicle purchase stage. Recent data shows that relying on information given by the dealership may not necessarily answer many pertinent questions.

The innovation of self-driving cars many not necessarily be as straightforward as one would assume.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/2VwoxQA

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