Mobility

EVs, batteries, trains, ships and the future of transport

In Mobility, ECOnews covers electric vehicles and EV batteries, e-bikes, trains and public transit, ships, aircraft and space travel. These are the innovations, infrastructure and policies changing how people and goods move by land, sea and air.

Blue Wuppertal Schwebebahn trains suspended above the Wupper River in Germany

Germany built a “flying train” above a crowded river valley in 1901 because there was barely any room left on the ground, and 125 years later the eight-mile suspended railway still carries more than 80,000 passengers every day

By ECONEWS

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September 14, 2026 at 2:45 AM

Semi-truck carrying an oversized concrete utility pole base beside damage to an Oklahoma Turnpike bridge.

One unpermitted truck load hit six Oklahoma bridges in a single trip, and the mistake cost nearly half a million dollars

By ECONEWS

—

September 11, 2026 at 4:15 PM

ACUA Ocean Pioneer uncrewed SWATH vessel operating in rough seas.

A 46-foot robot boat found a distress beacon off Plymouth, and its steady hull may matter more to navies than hydrogen

By ECONEWS

—

September 9, 2026 at 6:52 PM

Interstate 10, the Katy Freeway, with its stacked managed lanes and frontage roads in Houston.

Houston built a 26-lane freeway to beat traffic, but the cars came back and exposed the trap behind wider roads

By Adrian Villellas

—

September 6, 2026 at 6:30 PM

Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive kicks off its coast-to-coast tour in Sacramento.

Union Pacific’s Big Boy crossed America at 1.2 million pounds, and the diesels behind it were not secretly doing the work

By ECONEWS

—

September 6, 2026 at 5:00 PM

Satellite image of Hurricane Isaac approaching the Gulf Coast in August 2012.

Stanford researchers paired seismometers with infrasound microphones to capture hurricane forces near the surface, offering a new data stream for forecasting storm intensity without waiting for landfall

By ECONEWS

—

August 19, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Metropolitan Police officers inspect an electric bicycle during a roadside enforcement operation targeting illegal e-bikes in London.

London police have seized more than 2,500 illegal e-bikes in seven months, already beating all of last year, and the roadside machine they now use explains why so many failed

By ECONEWS

—

August 13, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Battery pack from a Kia e-Niro electric vehicle, the model that recorded the highest battery health in a study of nearly 10,000 used EV battery tests.

A study of nearly 10,000 battery tests found used EV batteries hold up far better than feared, with the Kia e-Niro still at 97% capacity after 62,000 miles

By ECONEWS

—

August 7, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Permeable sponge pavement installed in Marrakech as part of urban climate resilience efforts to improve drainage and reduce heat.

Morocco is testing a porous ‘sponge’ pavement to replace scorching black asphalt in Marrakech and Agadir, and pilot data show it can run up to 16°F cooler

By ECONEWS

—

August 6, 2026 at 6:30 PM

Three generations posing beside a restored 1953 Allis-Chalmers WD tractor on a family farm

A 1953 Allis-Chalmers WD tractor returns to the grandson of the farmer who bought it new for $2,200

By ECONEWS

—

August 4, 2026 at 7:45 AM

Computer rendering of the JetZero Z4 blended-wing aircraft in Japan Airlines livery flying above clouds.

The aircraft, designed to replace the traditional tube-and-wing configuration, will seat 250 passengers and have a range of nearly 5,800 miles, though it still faces several major uncertainties

By Adrian Villellas

—

August 1, 2026 at 4:50 PM

Used electric vehicle battery prepared for recycling at an auto salvage facility.

The cheapest and longest lasting electric car battery is the one nobody wants to recycle, and Colorado passed a law to fix the math before those packs become hazardous waste

By ECONEWS

—

July 29, 2026 at 5:00 PM

Electric car charging at a public station in Spain as lower energy costs continue driving EV adoption.

Driving 100 kilometers in an electric car can cost just 2 or 3 euros compared with 10 to 15 euros in gasoline, a difference that is starting to hit wallets hard

By ECONEWS

—

July 27, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Changan Nevo A06, the first mass-produced passenger electric vehicle powered by a sodium-ion battery developed with CATL.

China has introduced the first electric vehicle with a sodium-ion battery capable of driving 400 km on one charge, a bet that could make the next generation of cars cheaper

By ECONEWS

—

July 27, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Aerial view of dozens of red articulated TransMilenio buses parked in rows at a Bogotá depot.

China will send 269 electric buses to a Latin American city and turn it into one of the first with a fully electric public transit fleet, the kind of urban leap that does not happen every day

By ECONEWS

—

July 21, 2026 at 6:39 PM

Automated assembly line places cell packs into an electric-vehicle battery while a technician checks connections.

Electric vehicle batteries are beating expectations after hundreds of thousands of miles, and that could knock down one of the most common fears about EVs

By Adrian Villellas

—

July 21, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Windrose electric truck with Trailer Logistics branding parked at a Chilean warehouse, owner Hernán Searle standing in front.

The electric truck is no longer just a green promise: in Chile, a transport entrepreneur says its operating cost now matches diesel and may even beat it, a line that sounds like a turning point for heavy logistics

By Adrian Villellas

—

July 17, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Commuter riding a lightweight e-bike with Bosch Hub Line rear motor along a city waterfront.

Bosch has just broken with more than a decade of tradition in the e-bike industry with its first rear hub motor, a 5.1-pound urban system designed to integrate seamlessly into the wheel

By ECONEWS

—

July 16, 2026 at 6:30 PM

Row of parked cars along a quiet northern Italian street, with a low-emission zone sign that restricts older diesel vehicles.

A tiny emissions code on a car document could stop older diesel vehicles from entering northern Italy, and tourists may discover it too late

By ECONEWS

—

July 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM

TT Automotriz TT01 compact electric car on a rural road at sunset, showing circular LED headlights and minimalist grille.

Tlaxcala surprised everyone with its own solar-powered electric car, priced at less than 100,000 pesos: a locally manufactured vehicle that promises up to 250 kilometers of range and a rather outlandish idea—partially recharging using sunlight.

By Adrian Villellas

—

July 16, 2026 at 3:00 PM

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Mobility

Germany built a “flying train” above a crowded river valley in 1901 because there was barely any room left on the ground, and 125 years later the eight-mile suspended railway still carries more than 80,000 passengers every day

One unpermitted truck load hit six Oklahoma bridges in a single trip, and the mistake cost nearly half a million dollars

A 46-foot robot boat found a distress beacon off Plymouth, and its steady hull may matter more to navies than hydrogen

Houston built a 26-lane freeway to beat traffic, but the cars came back and exposed the trap behind wider roads

Union Pacific’s Big Boy crossed America at 1.2 million pounds, and the diesels behind it were not secretly doing the work

Stanford researchers paired seismometers with infrasound microphones to capture hurricane forces near the surface, offering a new data stream for forecasting storm intensity without waiting for landfall

London police have seized more than 2,500 illegal e-bikes in seven months, already beating all of last year, and the roadside machine they now use explains why so many failed

A study of nearly 10,000 battery tests found used EV batteries hold up far better than feared, with the Kia e-Niro still at 97% capacity after 62,000 miles

Morocco is testing a porous ‘sponge’ pavement to replace scorching black asphalt in Marrakech and Agadir, and pilot data show it can run up to 16°F cooler

A 1953 Allis-Chalmers WD tractor returns to the grandson of the farmer who bought it new for $2,200

The aircraft, designed to replace the traditional tube-and-wing configuration, will seat 250 passengers and have a range of nearly 5,800 miles, though it still faces several major uncertainties

The cheapest and longest lasting electric car battery is the one nobody wants to recycle, and Colorado passed a law to fix the math before those packs become hazardous waste

Driving 100 kilometers in an electric car can cost just 2 or 3 euros compared with 10 to 15 euros in gasoline, a difference that is starting to hit wallets hard

China has introduced the first electric vehicle with a sodium-ion battery capable of driving 400 km on one charge, a bet that could make the next generation of cars cheaper

China will send 269 electric buses to a Latin American city and turn it into one of the first with a fully electric public transit fleet, the kind of urban leap that does not happen every day

Electric vehicle batteries are beating expectations after hundreds of thousands of miles, and that could knock down one of the most common fears about EVs

The electric truck is no longer just a green promise: in Chile, a transport entrepreneur says its operating cost now matches diesel and may even beat it, a line that sounds like a turning point for heavy logistics

Bosch has just broken with more than a decade of tradition in the e-bike industry with its first rear hub motor, a 5.1-pound urban system designed to integrate seamlessly into the wheel

A tiny emissions code on a car document could stop older diesel vehicles from entering northern Italy, and tourists may discover it too late

Tlaxcala surprised everyone with its own solar-powered electric car, priced at less than 100,000 pesos: a locally manufactured vehicle that promises up to 250 kilometers of range and a rather outlandish idea—partially recharging using sunlight.

Voyager 1 is about to become the first human-made object one light-day from Earth, and NASA says nothing aboard the spacecraft will notice when it crosses the line

The UK is funding research on a planetary sunshade of 5,000 spacecraft between Earth and the sun, and the catch is that most of the material would likely have to come from the Moon

Australia planted 14,000 native plants around the solar panels on a rooftop in its first new city in a century, and the panels outperformed a conventional roof while a rare bee moved in

A scholar studying manuscripts in the Netherlands noticed familiar words on a scrap dismissed as unremarkable, and it turned out to be a 1,700-year-old fragment of the Odyssey that likely came from a pocket edition

A microscope video said to show a child’s airway cells won Nikon’s Small World in Motion contest, then lost first place over generative AI, and 469 people signed a letter questioning what it showed

Some Norwegian salmon are eating poultry by-products people don’t eat, and their producer says that could cut its feed’s carbon footprint by up to 16 percent, but wild fish in the recipe complicate the story

Poland is boring a Carpathian road tunnel with a 4,400-ton machine, and methane seeping from test wells forced engineers to refit it for potentially explosive air

Mobility

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