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RUTHENIUM: New Ru-based catalysts can convert CO2 into useful methanol fuel

  • Date: 26-07-20
  • Category: RUTHENIUM
  • Source: Green Car Congress

Inspired by naturally occurring processes, a team of Boston College chemists used a multi-catalyst system to convert carbon dioxide to methanol at the lowest temperatures reported with high activity and selectivity. A paper on the work is published in the journal Chem.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: U.K. Grid Planning for 30 Million Electric Cars by 2040

The number of electric cars on Britain’s roads will jump to 30 million in the next 20 years, helped by government policies to phase out the sale of polluting cars.

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PGM PRODUCERS: Implats trading statement for the year ended 30 June 2020

A significant increase in the dollar basket price for PGMs, together with rand depreciation, has resulted in a higher rand PGM basket price received by Implats during the year ended 30 June 2020. Consequently, the Group is expecting headline earnings and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the period, to be significantly more than 20% higher than that reported for the year ended 30 June 2019. Headline earnings and HEPS for the comparative period were R3 038 million and 423 cents respectively

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AUTO SALES: Global Truck market snapshot for H2 2020

  • Date: 23-07-20
  • Category: AUTO SALES
  • Source: LMC Automotive

Global vehicle sales, including Medium and Heavy Truck sales, plummeted at an unprecedented rate over the March-May period as stringent lockdowns across the world brought activity to a near standstill. But economic growth is expected to normalise after the extreme shock in Q2 once the measures are lifted. The assumption of a relatively swift bounceback is based on the nature of the crisis: this is not a recession that has been triggered by economic imbalances or policy mistakes. Rather, it is th

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AUTO SALES: Commercial vehicle registrations: -33.7% first half of 2020; -20.3% in June

  • Date: 23-07-20
  • Category: AUTO SALES
  • Source: ACEA

In June 2020, demand for new commercial vehicle across the EU remained weak (-20.3%), although the rate of decline slowed compared to April and May. The drop was less pronounced in the van segment, easing the overall result. The truck and bus segments however are still struggling. Three out of the four largest markets in the region posted double-digit percentage declines last month: Germany (-30.5%), Spain (-24.2%) and Italy (-12.8%), while France recorded a modest increase (+2.2%).

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AUTO SALES: Audi Expects Pre-Pandemic Car Sales Levels by 2022/2023

  • Date: 23-07-20
  • Category: AUTO SALES
  • Source: New York Times

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen's luxury car unit Audi expects car sales to reach pre-COVID-19 levels only by 2022 or 2023, Chief Executive Markus Duesmann told a German business daily.

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PGM PROJECTS: Platreef mine development work now focused on equipping recently-completed Shaft 1 for first production

  • Date: 23-07-20
  • Category: PGM PROJECTS
  • Source: Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines’ Co-Chairmen Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun announced today that the company’s South African subsidiary, Ivanplats, has completed construction of the 996-metre-level station at the bottom of the project’s Shaft 1 – well ahead of the contractual schedule. Shaft 1 now is positioned to be equipped as Platreef’s initial production shaft, if Ivanhoe chooses to proceed with phased development to expedite production at the tier-one palladium-platinum-nickel-copper-rhodium-gold project on the Northern Limb of South Africa’s Bushveld Complex.

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HYDROGEN: Hydrogen investing is a lottery worth playing

  • Date: 23-07-20
  • Category: HYDROGEN
  • Source: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hydrogen is the energy buzzword of the moment. The chemical element could play a key role in the global push to produce carbon-free energy. That appeal is already evident in the toppy valuations of some of the industry’s main participants. Yet it’s still a lottery worth playing.

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