Sunday, 26 July 2026

Airbus is developing a new electrical energy architecture for future commercial aircraft alongside partners from Europe and the United States through the LEIA project, according to electrive. The work is funded by the EU initiative Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking.

LEIA aims to advance technologies for high-voltage generation and distribution, moving from individual components to an integrated aircraft system, electrive reported. The project will culminate in a ground demonstration in 2027.

Airbus has not disclosed when the LEIA technologies might be deployed in a production aircraft, according to electrive.

The electrical architecture work sits alongside separate fuel cell efforts involving Airbus. The company was involved in the H2Sky research project, which developed an aviation-grade fuel cell stack with a capacity of 100 to 200 kW, electrive reported.

Aerostack is now working with Airbus and other partners on the follow-up project GENtwoPRO, developing a scalable fuel cell system designed for regional aircraft with up to 100 seats, according to electrive.

Saft will provide lithium-ion battery systems for Europe's next generation of naval submarines, moving away from lead-acid technology, according to Electrek. Saft said the packs deliver higher energy density and faster charging than the older chemistry.

Naval Group intends to fit Saft's lithium-ion battery energy storage systems on the Barracuda and Scorpene Class nuclear submarines, Electrek reported. The lead-acid units they replace have run on nuclear submarines since the Cold War, and the new systems are expected to bring improved performance, according to Electrek.

"This contract confirm that advanced battery technology is now a defining factor in submarine performance," said Cedric Duclos, Chief Executive Officer of Saft.

Saft is a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, Electrek reported. TotalEnergies views the contract as reinforcing its role in European defense programs and pointing to rising demand for its battery technology in maritime uses.

Plugin electric vehicles reached 37.7% of the German market in the second quarter of 2026, according to CleanTechnica. That share rose from 28.6% a year earlier in Q2 2025.

The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling battery electric vehicle in Germany during the period, according to CleanTechnica.

German auto volume in the first quarter reached 784,989 units, up about 6% year over year, according to CleanTechnica.

Domestic policy, not export markets, is deciding the future global car hierarchy, according to a CleanTechnica article on China's latest new energy vehicle (NEV) plan. The piece was authored by Ray Wills, Peter Newman AO, and Raphael Wellmann.

The authors write that China's NEV plan shows the ranking of carmakers is being set at home rather than through exports.

The article identifies Thailand as rising rapidly by following China's EV policy playbook, which it describes as striking success.

Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR have formed a joint venture with Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) built around the state producer's domestic and export crude pipelines, a partnership World Oil valued at USD 16 billion.

Proceeds from the transaction are put at USD 7.85 billion, money directed at upstream expansion and at Kuwait's target of 4 MMbpd of crude production capacity by 2035, according to World Oil.

Ownership splits 51% to KOC against 49% held jointly by the three investors, structured as a lease-and-leaseback running 20.5 years.

What the venture acquires is usage rights, not the assets themselves: 13 pipelines covering some 320 km. Ownership stays with KOC, as does operational control and the maintenance obligation.

No prior inbound deal in Kuwait has been larger, World Oil reported, describing the investment as the country's biggest foreign direct investment on record.

Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah, deputy chairman and CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, called the arrangement, named Project Peregrine, "a defining milestone for our country's economic development".

Expro has closed its purchase of Enhanced Drilling, bringing managed pressure drilling (MPD) and riserless mud recovery (RMR) technologies into its offshore well construction portfolio, according to World Oil.

The acquired business runs both technologies as proprietary systems. World Oil reported that Enhanced Drilling has deployed them in offshore basins including the North Sea, the Gulf of America, West Africa, the Caspian and Asia Pacific.

Expro said integration work is already running, and that service continuity for existing customers will be maintained through the transition, according to World Oil.

MPD controls annular pressure while a well is drilled, widening the drilling window in formations where the margin between pore pressure and fracture pressure is narrow. RMR returns drilling fluid and cuttings from the seabed to the rig without a marine riser, a method used on top-hole sections. Both sit on the well construction side of the offshore services market rather than in production or intervention work.

The deal gives Expro a technology set already proven across the basins listed by World Oil, spanning mature North Sea acreage and deepwater work in the Gulf of America and West Africa.