July 8-15 proved an especially exciting week for cleantech transportation technologies, with investments and acquisitions in biofuels, electric vehicles, efficient engines and car sharing companies.

Leading the pack last week was Elevance Renewable Sciences with a $104 million Series E round led by new investor Genting Genomics Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Genting Berhad. Elevance’s olefin metathesis technology can be applied to the production of biofuels, but, like many other biotech companies waiting for the economics to work out, Elevance currently focuses the bulk of its production capacity on high-performance waxes, functional oils, anti-microbials, lubricants, additives and other chemicals. Genting Berhad was joined by existing investor Total Energy Ventures in the round.

Protean Electric raised $84 million in a Series B round from GSR Ventures, New Times Group, and Oak Investment Partners. Protean is a developer of an in-wheel electric drive motor for hybrid and electric vehicles.

Zipcar continued to expand its footprint in the European car-sharing market with its acquisition of Denzel Mobility CarSharing, also known as Carsharing.at, last week. The Austrian car-sharing firm has 10,000 members and 200 cars in its fleet and gives Zipcar a presence in Vienna, in addition to its existing hubs in London and Barcelona.

In solar power, lots of news poured out of the downstream PV project development space last week. Swiss private asset manager Capital Dynamics announced the close of a$282 million fund to invest in commercial solar projects in the U.S., and Gehrlicher Solar and Valos Solar Ventures formed a strategic partnership to develop utility-scale solar PV projects in California. The encouraging news from the downstream segment of solar PV was contrasted by the announcement that Centrotherm Photovoltaics would launch insolvency proceedings. The manufacturer of poly-crystalline ingots, wafers and modules as well as CIGS thin film modules is only the latest among many German PV manufacturer to have succumbed to the persisting global oversupply of PV modules.

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