Power Briefing recap: week of Nov. 18

Those of us in the U.S. are preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday next week. If you were out buying a turkey, here’s what you might have missed this week in Power Briefing:

• Industry analyst Oliver Dixon attended IAA 2024 in Germany, and he was underwhelmed by the lack of consensus at the show on how to address decarbonization in global trucking.
• The tried-and-true technology that is lead-acid batteries is alive and well in many applications, such as material handling and aerial work platforms. Slovakian company PowerXtender said they have developed an additive that can double the batteries’ effective lifespan.
• Because of its power density, diesel tends to be the benchmark against which alternative energy sources are measured. One company, though, seems to be seeking the ultimate power density by harnessing the atom in the form of nuclear microreactors to power microgrids.
• Renewable diesel has many benefits over its fossil counterpart, in that it’s almost chemically identical to the fuel but contains none of the compounds that make for nasty emissions. New York City sees it as a way to decarbonize its ferry fleets, and it’s piloting the fuel on the Staten Island Ferry and NYC Ferry fleets.

In other news, Nikola is dealing with another recall, an MIT study addressed zero-emission trucks and Daimler Trucks received funding for fuel cell trucks.

Power Briefing recap: week of Nov. 11 An updated Cascadia tractor, nontraditional modes of public transit and an autonomous ag robot.

Power Briefing recap: week of Nov. 4 China and India not decarbonizing, Schulte on Deutz growth and decarbonization problem solvers.