Transportation
From autonomous EVs to electric planes, from hydrogen trains to biofuel transportation, check out the most recent developments on how we’re moving transportation towards a more sustainable future in the good news section below.
Amsterdam to ban diesel and gas-powered cars and motorbikes by 2030
As the world gets hotter and more crowded, we don't need our transportation to continue pumping dirty emissions into the air we breathe. The World Health Association lists air pollution as one of the most threatening global public health issues and estimates that 90 percent of the world’s Read More...
China’s huge electric bus fleet is paying off, both socially and environmentally
Making transportation greener has been a central theme to today's Optimist Daily. We've had a story on cargo ships, another on planes, and now another about electric busses. According to research, electric buses alone will save an astounding 270,000 barrels of diesel demand in 2019 – every single Read More...
Tesla’s new Gigafactory is as high-tech as you might have expected—and more
When it’s fully complete, Tesla’s Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, will be the largest building in the world, sprawling over 15 million square feet on a plot of land more than three times larger than Central Park. The building, which Elon Musk has called “the machine that builds the machine,” Read More...
Paris just made the biggest purchase of electric buses Europe has ever seen
Paris has taken a huge step forward in achieving its goal of cleaning up its entire bus fleet by 2025 in a grand effort to curb air pollution. The current bus fleet is mostly made up of old diesel buses, but that’ll change soon after Paris’ public transport operator announced it has ordered up Read More...
This Dutchman drove his electric car from Amsterdam to Sydney
In an attempt to prove to the world that electric cars are perfectly feasible transportation, Dutchman Wiebe Wakker set out on a three-year, 59,000-mile journey from Amsterdam to Sydney, Australia back in 2016. This past week, the “world’s largest electric car trip” came to a close after Read More...
A Swiss startup claims to have made a battery with more than 600 miles of range
City dwellers tend to make up the great proportion of electric car buyers, but if the range of EVs were to improve, those of us living in more rural areas would be more tempted to buy one. The good news is a Swiss startup by the name of Innolith says it has developed new high-density lithium-ion Read More...
Toyota is offering royalty-free access to 24,000 patents related to EVs
In a move rarely seen by major corporations, Toyota has announced it will allow royalty-free access to its nearly 24,000 patents for hybrid and other vehicles using electrification technology in a bid to expand competition in the market as the industry adopts stricter emissions regulations. Read More...
Volkswagen’s electric self-driving cars are hitting the streets of Hamburg
Anyone who truly cares about the environment probably shudders a little at the mention of Volkswagen. Nonetheless, Volkswagen has a goal of making automated driving a practical reality by 2025, and is hustling to make that happen. The German Automaker is now testing self-driving versions of its Read More...
Norway sets record as it sells more electric vehicles than gas and diesel ones
The EV revolution is blossoming and Norway is here to prove it. In a symbolic first, electric cars outsold fossil fuel-powered ones in the Scandinavian country last month. The country set a record in March when 58.4 percent of new cars sold in the country were battery-powered. To achieve such Read More...
A battery-swapping scheme is electrifying rickshaws in India
In India, where fewer than four million cars are sold annually, auto rickshaws (called tuk-tuks in other Asian countries) are one of the dominant modes of transportation. As India attempts to clean up the country’s troublesome air pollution, some manufacturers are now, for the first time, Read More...