VTT

Between 10%-15% of all new cars sales in Finland will be electric car sales, according to the country’s VTT Technical Research Centre. In its new TransSmart programme, VTT says the percentages mean that around 15,000 electric cars would be sold a year by 2020. VTT researchers believe rechargeable hybrid cars will increase in popularity.

Research carried out in Finland reveals that an innovative new gasification method can turn forestry waste into biofuel with less than €1/litre. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland says that lignocellulosic biomass can be processed using new technology developed in Finland to transfer of more than half the energy of wood raw waste into fuel.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will soon begin test runs with an electric prototype bus in Espoo. The non-passenger carrying electric bus is a test vehicle for testing the performance of components from various manufacturers in laboratory conditions and in demanding Finnish climate conditions. The results will enable comparison of component properties with other products on the market. The project aims to help Finland’s electric vehicle industry to design competitive components or subsystems for t

A new technology developed by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland provides drivers with warnings of black ice on the roads. This automatic detection system will warn a driver in advance that a road is dangerous due to the presence of ice. According to VTT, this uses a novel, real-time method of obtaining information on road surface friction and employs data collected from the car’s in-built sensors. This compares the speeds of the drive shafts and axles in an array of driving conditions, with an al

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Emtele are developing sophisticated mobile traffic surveillance solutions that can measure the speed and height of passing vehicles. This new equipment can also measure the distances between vehicles as well as assessing the condition of brakes in heavy vehicles. In the future, these tools will also be able to measure the weight of a moving vehicle and the friction of the road surface. These innovative automated traffic surveillance solutions feature machine visi

An International research project into the effects of extreme weather on Europe’s transport network has shown that rain causes the most problems. Heavy rain can cut off or submerge low-lying areas, cause bridge scour, flood underpasses and damage earthworks. The Project is headed by the Finnish research body VTT and is investigating the impact of extreme weather on transport further.

Up to a third of fuel consumption in cars is is spent in overcoming friction. However, both fuel consumption and emissions can be reduced by the use of new technology. This news comes from a joint study by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in USA. Innovative new technology can reduce friction by anything from 10-80% in various components of a car according to the study. And it should be possible to reduce car fuel consumption and emissions by 18% withi

New technology could improve safety at intersections by up to 80%. The innovative vehicle and infrastructure technology being developed in the European INTERSAFE-2 research project is targeting known issues of road safety at intersections.

An International research project into the effects of extreme weather on Europe’s transport network has shown that rain causes the most problems. Heavy rain can cut off or submerge low-lying areas, cause bridge scour, flood underpasses and damage earthworks.

A partnership between the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Mobisoft and the Finnish Meteorological Institute and other bodies has developed a communication system for drivers to inform them about weather and road conditions.