Hyliion Holdings

Hyzon becomes latest SPAC-backed startup to crash

Even with a stream of positive news releases, the signs and warnings for Hyzon were there. Now reality has arrived: Fuel cell developer Hyzon Motors is the latest startup to give up after going public during the SPAC craze of 2020-2021.

Hyzon fought through numerous obstacles, including a $25 million fine from the Securities and Exchange Commission related to fabricating orders for hydrogen-powered commercial trucks in China.

The spinoff of Singapore’s Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies chased the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/hyzon-becomes-latest-spac-backed-startup-to-crash

Could the flux capacitor solve hydrogen storage on Class 8 trucks?

The garbage-gulping Mr. Fusion from “Back to the Future” was pure fiction, but the flux capacitor that powered Doc Brown’s flying DeLorean is real. NASA made it. The space agency licenses it. And hydrogen-powered trucks might benefit from it.

A license like no other

“I actually have a license for the flux capacitor. How many people can say that?” Michael Kramer, founder of startup Novadev, told me. “The only one who’s made a lot of money on this program so far is my patent attorney. He got paid a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/could-the-flux-capacitor-solve-hydrogen-storage-on-class-8-trucks

Third-party validation: Table stakes for driverless trucking

In light of Aurora Innovation’s decision to push out commercial driverless trucking until next spring, it’s worth revisiting how third-party validation is becoming a price of entry for autonomous technology. Much of the public still fears it and would-be users know little about it.

Gatik and Outrider look outside for building confidence

Middle-mile autonomous business-to-business logistics leader Gatik and distribution yard autonomy startup Outrider understand their word about safety may not be...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/third-party-validation-table-stakes-for-driverless-trucking

Autonomous trucks in the long run

Aurora Innovation is the latest autonomous trucking developer to announce longer routes than hub-to-hub operations in Texas. It helps make the real-world case for long-promised over-the-road driverless trucking that could dramatically reduce the cost of freight shipping.

Aurora said this week it will begin driver-supervised routes from Fort Worth and El Paso, Texas, to Phoenix next year. It plans to go driverless by the end of 2025.

‘Real benefits of AV start to be unlocked’

“This is where you see...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/autonomous-trucks-in-the-long-run

A diesel reality check and a rebranding

The scrappy Diesel Technology Forum quietly rebranded itself as the Engine Technology Forum (ETF) 10 months ago, acknowledging that despite fighting the good fight for the long-established truck fuel, its name wasn’t helping its cause.

A necessary change

A Google search found exactly one story and the forum’s press release from October about the name change. Truck Tech doesn’t regularly cover diesel. We flat-out missed the name change. An ETF spokesperson wondered how that happened since its news...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/a-diesel-reality-check-and-a-rebranding

Could autonomous trucks help save the planet?

It’s understood that autonomous trucks boost fuel efficiency compared to human-driven big rigs.

But the potential energy efficiency gains could be far greater.

In a white paper released Tuesday, Aurora Innovation looked at immediate, medium- and longer-term opportunities and found some obvious and not-so-obvious savings.

The headline factoid: Autonomous trucks could achieve 13%-32% net energy efficiency improvement per loaded mile compared to human-driven miles. It is a lot to digest. 

Aurora makes...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/could-autonomous-trucks-help-save-the-planet

SEC smackdown and SuperTruck news overwhelm convention dispatches  

The annual Work Truck Week and American Trucking Associations Maintenance & Technology Council pile on stakeholder-specific dispatches each March. But this week bigger stories originated outside the convention halls in Indianapolis and New Orleans.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington is as good a starting point as any.

Lordstown Motors gets an SEC comeuppance

Nearly three years after Hindenberg Research set its sights on Lordstown Motors Corp., accusing the former special purpose...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/sec-smackdown-and-supertruck-news-overwhelm-convention-dispatches

Can Karno technology generate a buyer for Hyliion?

Unwinding the powertrain business at Hyliion Holdings was uncomfortable, especially for 175 employees who lost their jobs in November. But the leaned-out startup is making some progress in its pivot to energy distribution through a fuel-agnostic power generator.

Whether the plan is sufficient to generate revenue and perhaps attract a buyer for the once high-flying special purpose acquisition company are the big unknowns.

The Karno generator, which Hyliion purchased from GE in August 2022 for its...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/can-karno-technology-generate-a-buyer-for-hyliion

Are startup investors getting past the FOMU cycle?

The same driverless technology that Kodiak Robotics plans to put on highways in late 2024 has application to the military, which sees leveraging commercially developed innovation as smarter than creating everything itself.

Following Kodiak’s reveal of its Ford F-150-based prototype autonomous vehicle for the U.S. Army on Monday, Kodiak founder and CEO Don Burnette and I discussed dual-use technology, the recent comings and goings in the autonomous trucking space and a thawing of investor...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/are-startup-investors-getting-past-the-fomu-cycle

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