UH team lands $2.9M DOE grant to develop next-gen magnets with AI

critical minerals

The high-performance permanent magnets are vital components in electric vehicles, industrial motors, generators, electronics and other advanced technologies. Photo courtesy UH

University of Houston researchers are leading an effort to find alternatives to a key element of the U.S. economy.

A UH-led coalition is exploring the use of AI to design and manufacture next-generation permanent magnets for the energy and industrial sectors. The project seeks to develop new, more sustainable magnets that reduce U.S. reliance on vulnerable foreign sources of critical minerals, primarily China.

A nearly $2.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy supports the work.

“Rare earth elements, critical minerals, and magnets are indispensable to American energy, industry, and national security,” Conner Prochaska, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, said in a news release. “These projects will accelerate domestic mineral discovery and develop ultra-powerful magnets to mobilize U.S. critical mineral reserves, safeguard supply chains, and protect American energy and economic interests.”

Over the three-year grant period, principal investigator Jakoah Brgoch, a chemistry professor at UH, will head the Guided AI for Magnetic Boride/Carbide Intermetallic Technologies (GAMBIT) project. Brgosh was one of seven new senior members from UH named to the National Academy of Inventors earlier this year.

Other members of the team include Joshua Bocarsly, an assistant professor in the UH chemistry department; scientists at Rice University; and Houston-based startup Newfound Materials, which occupies space at Greentown Labs.

The UH-led team aims to surpass the properties of neodymium iron boron, the current industry-standard material for high-performance permanent magnets. These magnets are vital components in electric vehicles, industrial motors, generators, electronics and other advanced technologies.

“Strong magnets are used all over our economy. For example, many modern air-conditioning systems rely on permanent-magnet motors to drive compressors and blower fans,” Brgoch said.

“This has been a longstanding challenge to think about how we replace these magnets with high-performing and more reliable materials, and optimization by just replacing elements is not working,” Brgoch added. “Our goal is to use AI to find entirely new materials while simultaneously balancing these supply constraint concerns.”

The research team will work on discovering and testing potential magnet replacements. According to UH, the project’s ultimate goal is to commercialize the magnets through a new startup or by expanding Newfound Materials’ business units. The local startup has developed a predictive engine for materials research and development.

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Eventually, Zook's purpose-built electric vehicles will be on Houston streets. Photo courtesy of Zook

Amazon's EV robotaxi service Zoox is set to arrive in Houston

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Amazon-owned electric robotaxi ride-hailing service Zoox is zooming into Houston in September.

Initially, self-driving retrofitted SUVs with safety drivers on board will serve downtown Houston, centrally located tourist hotspots, and certain residential neighborhoods. The SUVs will test Houston roads before Zoox rolls out autonomous robotaxis, the company says.

Zoox takes Houston for a test drive

At the outset, Zoox says, a limited number of vehicles will be driven by people to gather data about Houston roads.

“This helps create a detailed picture of each street, from road geometry to traffic lights,” the company says. “Once we have mapped out an area, we will test autonomous driving capabilities. Safety and operational readiness govern the pace of our rollout.”

Zoox says its robotaxi differs from vehicles operated by other ride-hailing services.

The all-electric robotaxi “is purpose-built for autonomous ride-hailing and designed for riders from day one,” the company says. “It has no traditional driving controls and instead has carriage-style seating, sliding glass doors, and features that let the rider personalize their journey.”

To help manage the fleet, Zoox plans to open a depot in Houston for vehicle charging and maintenance, a representative says via email.

Along with Houston, Zoox is launching this month in San Diego. The ride-hailing service already operates in Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Zoox breaks into “sprawling” Houston market

Zoox describes Houston as its “most sprawling market to date.”

“Driving here means navigating complex service-road networks, unique merging scenarios, and challenging environmental conditions, including severe heat, heavy rain, and urban flooding,” the company says. “It’s a rigorous test of our technology across geography and terrain.”

Zoox will join two other autonomous ride-hailing services in Houston:

Waymo began rolling in Houston in February. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, owns Waymo.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla began offering robotaxi services earlier this year.

A third Zoox competitor is arriving within the next year. A partnership comprising rideshare provider Uber, EV manufacturer Lucid, and autonomous technology company Nuro plans to launch a robotaxi service in Houston by mid-2027.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Wood Mackenzie predicts EVs will account for 20 percent of the U.S. personal and commercial vehicle fleet in 2040. Photo via Unsplash

EV surge could shutter 40 refineries by 2040, Wood Mackenzie report warns

ev outlook

The rise of electric vehicles could spell trouble for Houston’s oil and gas sector, a new report suggests. But the oil and gas industry stands to benefit from potential sluggishness in U.S. adoption of EVs.

If worldwide EV adoption rises as expected, global oil demand could fall by five million barrels per day by 2040, accelerating the closure of about 40 oil refineries, says the report, published by energy research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. The firm’s North American hub is in Houston.

Those closures might spell trouble for refinery operators with a sizable Houston-area presence, including BP, ExxonMobil, Marathon, Saudi Aramco, and Valero. In 2025, the five companies collectively earned roughly $33 billion from downstream operations, including refineries. One caveat: Each company assigns a different definition to “downstream.”

Refineries in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, including the U.S. but excluding Middle Eastern heavyweights, “are most at risk due to their high energy costs and carbon prices,” the Wood Mackenzie report says.

On the flip side, an abundant U.S. oil supply means American drivers have less of an incentive to switch from traditional cars to electric vehicles, despite stubbornly high fuel prices, according to the report.

Wood Mackenzie predicts EVs will account for 20 percent of the U.S. personal and commercial vehicle fleet in 2040, up from three percent in 2025. That compares with a global forecast of 25 percent in 2040, up from 4 percent last year.

Another U.S. roadblock to EV adoption cited in the report: the country’s relative lack of advanced battery manufacturing.

“Without advanced battery technologies, the U.S. auto sector is at risk of ceding its home market to non-Chinese EVs and falling behind competitors internationally,” the report says.

Furthermore, according to the report, Chinese investment in EV manufacturing in the U.S. probably will remain a no-go and tariffs on Chinese EV imports likely won’t be lifted, even if Democrats resurrected EV incentives following a White House win in 2028.

“Competition among EV manufacturers in international markets will only intensify,” the report notes. “Companies that can offer competitive products in high-growth markets will be best positioned for long-term success.”

Homeowners can now connect some vehicles right to their home’s breaker box. Getty Images

Automakers enter the energy space with vehicles offering backup power

Power Boost

Winter Storm Uri, the multiday freeze that slammed Texas in February 2021 and pummeled the state's power grid, has been on Kenneth Kovar's mind ever since. Though the resident of New Braunfels didn't lose power at the time, he wasn't able to run his septic tank — it is independent from local systems. He had to fill his toilets with water from his backyard pool.

So when Kovar, 64, bought a Ford F-150 last fall, his hope was to be better prepared for any new crisis.

“I was interested in trying to find some sort of power backup situation,” he said.

Now, Kovar has a setup from Ford that allows drivers of certain F-150 models to plug their vehicle directly into their electric meter to power parts of their home during an outage.

It is the latest example of automakers broadly adapting their electrification technologies to the home energy business, especially as demand on the grid increases and sales of electric vehicles slow. Car companies are looking to leverage their multibillion dollar EV investments to tap into a promising market in vehicle, home and grid technology, both for backup power and for supporting electrical grid resiliency.

“They’re trying to look for other businesses that they might sell into,” said Parth Vaishnav, assistant professor of sustainable systems at the University of Michigan.

Ford's latest connects F-150 drivers to their meter

Drivers of the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid and F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks can now plug in a one-foot long adapter to a 240-volt outlet onboard. That adapter — which Ford made with company Global Power Products — makes the vehicle compatible to plug into a longer, separate cable. That cable connects to a transfer switch installed directly on one's electric meter.

Through the adapter and cable series, homeowners can connect their vehicle essentially right to their home’s breaker box. The homeowner simply turns on and off which breaker switches they want for which devices they want powered.

“The way we think about it, especially for customers who already have a compatible vehicle is, you already own the power source, it’s in your driveway,” said Amanda Roraff, Ford's grid and energy services business acceleration lead.

The Lightning might provide power for two to three days, depending on what home devices are being used, and the PowerBoost Hybrid, up to five days on a single tank of gas.

The automaker says its solution is a less expensive way to supply backup power. Conventional, diesel-powered portable generators and full-home standby setups require expensive installation, costing several thousands of dollars. This solution, which also requires professional installation at the meter, starts around $1,100.

The setup only applies to about 200,000 vehicles so far, and it is also exclusively for outages. Ford also offers its Home Integration System for bidirectionality, sending power both from the vehicle to the home and from the home to the vehicle, while also being able to feed the grid.

The capability is an important lifeline amid EV sales slowdown

Not only is this business critical amid growing grid demand and increasing power outages, experts say automakers need to pivot with the EV market less active under current U.S. federal policy. Pure EV sales in the U.S. year-over-year are down 23.8%, according to a July Cox Automotive report on the first half of 2026. This demonstrates what an asset that EV and hybrid ownership can be.

The tech is not without challenges.

On the industry side, these systems have to undergo third-party testing to ensure they meet safety standards, and the vehicle and the charger need to be programmed to communicate. It also requires the approval of the utility where the capability is being used. It could take years to get an interconnect agreement.

On the customer side, homeowners need to understand their vehicles' abilities and how to self-manage their system. It also just brings another generator of power into the home mix.

Still, experts see opportunity, especially with interest in EV sales high outside of the U.S.

“We already know during an outage, its impact, providing electricity to the home,” said Scott Samuelsen, engineering professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine. “This is going to become very, very popular.”

Uber's robotaxis will ride into Houston in 2027 Photo courtesy of Uber

Premium EV robotaxis from Uber will roll into Houston next year

Rolling On

More autonomous vehicles are expected to hit the roads in Houston next year.

Ridesharing giant Uber announced that it plans to roll out its premium robotaxi service in the Bayou City in mid-2027. Houston will be Uber’s second planned market for the program, following the San Francisco Bay Area, where the program is expected to be rolled out later this year.

Uber, Nuro and Lucid Group will bring the robotaxi program to Houston with more markets planned for the future. Currently, Nuro is conducting autonomous on-road testing with safety operators in Houston. Testing includes simulation, closed-course testing and supervised public-road testing.

“Houston is a city Nuro knows well, and we’re excited to help bring this robotaxi service to the city through our partnership with Uber and Lucid,” Andrew Chapin, chief operating officer at Nuro, said in a news release. “Houston’s large, complex metro area is an ideal market for demonstrating how Nuro’s universal autonomy platform can generalize across different geographies and operating environments. We look forward to continued engagement with the community as we prepare to launch service in 2027.”

The fleet of 100 vehicles across California and Texas will feature Lucid Gravity EVs and future Lucid Midsize vehicles equipped with Nuro Driver technology, Nuro’s Level 4 universal autonomy platform, plus a redundant sensor suite with cameras, lidar, radar and a roof-mounted halo.

The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber and its fleet partners and made available to riders through the Uber network, according to the company.

In addition to the fleet of autonomous vehicles, Uber also announced that it has secured a 50,000-square-foot depot facility and dedicated charging pitstop in Houston. The facility will allow Uber and its partners to control vehicle maintenance, repairs, charging, cleaning, and day-to-day operations.

“Houston marks an important next step in our partnership with Lucid and Nuro as we expand autonomous mobility to more riders throughout the world,” Sarfraz Maredia, global head of autonomous mobility & delivery at Uber, added in the release. “Together, we’re combining best-in-class vehicle and autonomy technology with Uber’s scale, fleet operations expertise, and infrastructure capabilities to build a service that can grow across dozens of markets in the years ahead.”

Waymo launched its autonomous vehicle program in Houston in February.

The company later suspended its driverless car services in Houston, other major Texas cities, and Atlanta, after one of its vehicles was stranded by flooding during heavy rains. However, according to the Houston Chronicle, the fleet has resumed activity in Houston and is fully active.

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This article originally appeared on InnovationMap.com.

Greelane Infrastructure plans to develop a high-power charging site for commercial trucks in the Houston area. Image via drivegreenlane.com

Electric truck charging network expands to Houston-Dallas freight corridor

electric trucking

Greenlane Infrastructure, an electric public charging station developer and operator, is expanding outside of its home state of California and into Texas.

The Santa Monica-based company plans to launch its high-power charging sites along the Dallas–Houston I-45 corridor, which is one of the highest-volume commercial trucking routes in the country, according to a news release from Greenlane.

The sites will feature 6-8 pull-through lanes with chargers supporting combined charging system (CCS) and megawatt charging system (MCS) connectors that allow electric truck drivers to recharge their vehicles during standard rest periods. They will also offer tractor parking and charging, as well as operations that will allow for overnight stops.

Drivers can reserve chargers in advance, monitor charging activity in real time, and manage billing from the Greenlane Edge platform.

“Our customers are making commitments to electrify their fleets, and they need a charging network that can grow alongside them,” Patrick Macdonald-King, CEO of Greenlane, said in the release. “This is the first leg of the Texas triangle, one of the more important freight arteries in the country, so bringing high-power charging there is the next logical step in building a network that serves how freight moves across America.”

Greenlane is also expanding across the West Coast, with five locations under development in California and Nevada. It opened its flagship Greenlane Center in Colton, California, in April 2025. The company plans to open locations in Blythe, California, and Port of Long Beach this year.

Greelane was founded in 2023 as a joint venture between Daimler Truck North America, NextEra Energy Resources and BlackRock. It has secured partnerships with electric long-haul truck developer Windrose Technology, Velocity Truck Centers and Volvo Trucks North America.

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Fervo produces first geothermal power at flagship Utah project

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Fervo Energy’s flagship project in Utah just generated its first geothermal power.

The electricity is now flowing to the power grid from one of Cape Station’s three generation units, Houston-based Fervo said in a news release. This represents an early but important milestone for the project, as the unit isn’t scheduled to deliver contracted power until Oct. 1.

The achievement, coming four months after Fervo’s roughly $2.2 billion IPO, demonstrates the viability of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).

“This is a gamechanger for the geothermal industry. It establishes EGS as the defining new power generation technology of our time, and we believe it shows that the commercial and technical maturity of EGS is ready to meet the urgent need for reliable, clean power,” Tim Latimer, co-founder and CEO of Fervo, said in the release.

The plant’s two other units are scheduled to launch commercial operations on Jan. 1.

The three units make up the project’s 99-megawatt first phase. The next phase, which will add 400 megawatts of capacity, is under construction. The second phase is set to go online in 2028.

Altogether, Cape Station will provide more than 4 gigawatts of capacity, with 900 megawatts already spoken for. The 900 megawatts of contracted electricity would be enough to power nearly 1 million U.S. homes per year.

“Cape Station works because we treated the subsurface like an engineering challenge,” Jack Norbeck, co-founder and chief technology officer of Fervo, added in the release. “Years of drilling, completion design, subsurface modeling, and flow testing led to this moment, and this is the validation that matters most.”

Enhanced geothermal continuously draws on heat that’s deep underground, producing electricity around the clock regardless of weather or time of day. That makes it one of the only carbon-free resources capable of constant power delivery, which is critical for data centers and AI infrastructure.

Expert: Houston Energy and Climate Week showcases a city building the future

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While hundreds of thousands descend on New York for Climate Week, Houston offered a different proposition: come where the work is being built. And last week Houston proved that it’s solving for more energy and fewer emissions; reliability and affordability; speed and durability. We are solving for the “&.”

That equation sharpened last week. On Sept. 14, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it had repealed most 2024 federal carbon-pollution standards for power plants and proposed rescinding remaining greenhouse-gas requirements. Policy matters, but it can pivot. The need to build does not.

HECW is a proving ground, not another conference stop. As I wrote in the Houston Chronicle, Mayor Sylvester Turner planted the seed by insisting we bring people together across the city and industry to drive Houston’s energy future. He knew false choices have no place here: oil and gas and clean technology; prosperity and stewardship; industry and lower emissions.

ECW joined the Climate Week Network this year, connecting Houston to a growing community of more than 500,000 people across 22-plus cities. We now have a seat at the global table—and a responsibility to use it well, building with other cities and the wider clean-energy-solutions world rather than merely talking at them.

The capital is already moving. Since 2017, Houston Energy Transition Initiative member companies have invested more than $95 billion in low-carbon infrastructure, technologies, and research and development. This is where the transition is financed, engineered, tested and operated. But the work requires more than capital. It requires capital allocators who understand the difference between a promising idea and a project that can scale, hire and endure.

Last week was Houston’s show and tell. At ARTECHOUSE, The &Bassador Reception & Awards brought art, technology, culture, philanthropy and energy together. Then the week went beyond downtown.

Sugar Land Town Square became the launchpad for the Metro Innovation Tour & Market: a place for an ecosystem conversation about smart cities, clean energy, equitable access and next-generation mobility before participants boarded three tour routes across greater Houston. It was also the starting point for the Bay City South Innovation Tour to Erthos Project Bravo in Matagorda County, where small groups saw Earth Mount solar modules being installed in real time. The conversation did not end at a panel. It went to the project site.

The HTX Tech Tours included a visit to the Erthos Project Bravo in Matagorda County. Photo courtesy

Approximately 100 startups from around the world pitched at Rice Alliance, Greentown Labs and Halliburton Labs events. At Astros Night at Daikin Park, builders, backers, and believers traded conference rooms for the diamond, creating an experience, not just another event. That is how this work becomes civic fabric.

Activation also means making the energy story felt, not merely explained. AY Young brought the Battery Tour for live performances. It was a reminder that the “Power of &” is not confined to a boardroom or a laboratory. Art and technology, culture and commerce, a new generation and established industry can share the same stage—and help more people see themselves in the work ahead.

Perhaps no activation made the “Power of &” more immediate and real than the Houston, We Have Solutions open mic night. At Creatopia’s Innovation Studio, people took the mic—or simply listened—to share what they were building, the problem they could not stop thinking about, and the connection they hoped to make. It put founders, artists, community builders, researchers and future-makers in one room. That is collaboration in real time: different kinds of expertise meeting before anyone knows exactly what the solution will be.

FOX26 helped carry that story beyond the rooms we convened, hosting Erthos COO Jessica Knight, Mars Materials co-founder Aaron Fitzgerald, and investors Taylor Chapman and Juliana Garaizar to discuss building and backing the future in Houston. Our region should be proud—not as self-congratulation, but because the world is beginning to experience energy and climate solutions firsthand.

This was also a week to give back. Allies in Energy awarded $27,500 to nine organizations advancing energy and climate literacy, civil dialogue, workforce pathways and community action. NRG Energy’s Brighter Communities provided a founding gift to expand the week and fund local grants. It took partners, hosts, sponsors, volunteers, funders and community organizations. That is the “Power of &”: collaboration that leaves a stronger community behind.

The “Power of &” cannot stop at Houston’s city limits. Louisiana’s participation—through its support of the Digital Delta Symposium & Expo—made clear that Houston’s builder ecosystem is regional by necessity. Gulf Coast infrastructure, supply chains, talent, and industrial decisions do not recognize state lines. Neither should our collaboration. If we are serious about building more energy with fewer emissions, we must align capital, resources and opportunity across the entire Gulf Coast.

That same commitment to practical collaboration means listening, learning and adjusting. A builder’s mindset does not protect a plan simply because it came first; it improves the conditions for the work to succeed. That is why Houston Energy and Climate Week will move to April 4–10, 2027—better weather, more time and space for connection, and a stronger city-wide experience for the people building what comes next.

But the real test begins now. Can we keep widening the circle? Can we continue to turn research into projects, pilots into infrastructure, capital into good jobs and climate ambition into results that families and communities can see? Can we make every new solution stronger by bringing in the people who must finance it, build it, operate it, live beside it and benefit from it?

That is the work ahead. Turner understood that Houston does not move forward by asking who wins the argument. It moves forward by asking who is ready to solve the problem. His legacy—and the promise of the “&”—is an invitation to choose collaboration over division, action over performance and possibility over false choices.

The future does not need another city to talk about it. It needs Houston to keep building it. And it will only be built if we keep choosing the "&."

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Katie Mehnert is the CEO of The Bee Suite, and a recent partner to The Builder’s Movement.

Texas Gov. Abbott broadens crackdown on data centers by halting all permits

data center crackdown

Responding to public outcry, Gov. Greg Abbott has stepped up his campaign against data centers by temporarily halting approval of environmental permits for data center projects.

This and previous moves by Abbott essentially amount to a temporary freeze on the development of new data centers in Texas. His actions come at a time when Texas’ stature as a data center hub has been soaring.

On Monday, Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing permits for data center developments until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Public Utility Commission of Texas complete their review of projects seeking power grid connections.

With regulatory reviews underway and environmental permitting now frozen, state regulators currently cannot approve or deny requests from data center developers, Abbott said.

In a letter to the environmental quality commission’s executive director, Kelly Keel, Abbott said this directive is “consistent with my whole-of-government approach to ensure Texans’ natural resources and way of life are protected.”

Abbott previously ordered the Texas Water Development Board to require data centers to meet reporting requirements for water use. He also told the board to impose penalties for failure to comply with those requirements and to collaborate with ERCOT on its review.

Abbott launched his crackdown on data centers in August by ordering the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT to review data center projects in Texas. The audits will examine all data centers in the queue for interconnections before any more projects can move forward. Interconnections enable data centers to share power, data and computing resources.

In calling for those audits, Abbott cited concerns over data centers’ use of water and electricity, and the centers’ effect on infrastructure expenses and consumers’ utility rates.

“Simply put, Texans must come first,” the governor said.

During next year’s legislation session, Abbott will push for the elimination of state financial incentives for data center projects.

Ed Hirs, an energy fellow ⁠at the University of Houston, told Reuters that Abbott was backtracking on “his earlier pronouncements about data centers leading to lower electricity prices.”

Abbott’s actions come amid growing public backlash over data centers. A recent University of Houston survey found that nearly 63 percent of Houston-area residents opposed construction of a data center within a mile of their home.

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