Month: October 2021

A pair of related announcements from GM indicate that, as the company moves steadily forward with electrification, it understands the critical importance of charging infrastructure. Ultium Chargers GM will introduce its own line of residential and commercial chargers under the Ultium brand. The new family of Ultium Chargers, which GM...

Ford plans to transform its Halewood vehicle transmission facility in the UK, in order to build electric power units—complete all-electric powertrains—for future EVs for the European market. The company will invest up to £230 million at Halewood (including support from the UK government). Production of the e-powertrains is expected to...

Choo need a charge with your chalupa? A Taco Bell in South San Francisco is installing six DC fast chargers, along with a carport-style solar array. The new chargers are built by Tritium, and will be managed by software from ChargeNet. The 75 kW Tritium RTM fast chargers will accept...

Auto dealers are a well-known bottleneck for EV sales, but it’s not (entirely) because they’re a bunch of gas-loving Luddites. EVs are unfamiliar to most consumers, and it takes valuable time to explain them to shoppers. Most salespeople don’t have the needed product knowledge, and EV sales are such a...

Tesla showed off its new 4680 cell—a tabless battery cell with a new chemistry that promises to boost efficiency and reduce costs—at 2020’s Battery Day event. Since then, several of the automaker’s battery suppliers have reportedly been working on production versions of the 4680 cell. Now Panasonic has unveiled its...

The Lion Electric Company has received a conditional purchase order for 1,000 all-electric LionC school buses from fleet operator Student Transportation of Canada (a subsidiary of Student Transportation of America). The purchase order is conditioned on STC receiving a grant from Infrastructure Canada’s Zero-Emission Transit Fund. Through the ZETF program,...

The Center for Energy Storage Technologies (CEST) is partnering with Hesse Mechatronics to develop battery technology with American vehicle and battery manufacturers. The aim of the partnership is to enable more seamless systems engineering capabilities, from cell testing and selection to module and pack design and prototyping.   CEST plans to...

Rock Tech Lithium, a company with offices in Canada and Germany, is planning to build a production plant for battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Guben, Brandenburg. The company has acquired a 12-hectare site in the Guben South industrial park—which happens to be just a few miles away from Tesla’s new Berlin...

The Dürr Group will supply German battery manufacturer Cellforce Group, a joint venture between Porsche and battery company Customcells, with electrode coating for high-performance battery cells. Dürr says its process for coating electrodes is unique, because the two sides are not coated one after the other, but simultaneously. This accelerates...

“More chargers! More chargers!” That’s the chorus we hear on a daily basis. But those of us who make it our business to test existing public chargers might add another request: “More reliable chargers, please.” Public chargers are often out of order, and those that work often deliver less power...

Marposs’s new LT400 test system is designed to perform partial discharge measurements on coils, motors and generators. With the LT400, companies can perform standard high-voltage tests with partial discharge measurements, allowing the discovery of defects not detectable with the standard tests. The LT400 integrates numerous tests, including EN60270 High-Voltage Tests,...

Of all the world records in the automotive world, there’s probably none more glamorous than that of the longest range for an electric commercial truck. The Swiss delivery firm DPD, together with vehicle manufacturer Futuricum and tire-maker Continental, recently claimed that coveted title, driving a Futuricum electric truck 1,099 kilometers...

Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) have developed a new lithium metal battery that they say offers an extremely high specific energy of 560 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) based on the total weight of the active materials. The team used a nickel-rich cathode that allows a large amount of...

Second-life EV batteries are being used in pilots around the world to demonstrate their suitability for a wide variety of stationary storage applications. California company B2U Storage Solutions is using repurposed Nissan LEAF batteries in a commercial operation. The company has been bidding into the California power market for over...

Three major players in the Brazilian air transport industry have announced a partnership to commercialize what they call “an eVTOL ride-sharing platform.” Aircraft leasing company Avolon, Brazilian airline Gol and transport operator Grupo Comporte will collaborate to launch an eVTOL ride-sharing service. As part of the agreement, Gol and Grupo...

Signal switching and simulation company Pickering Interfaces has launched a new family of battery simulator modules for EV battery stack emulation in battery management system test applications. The 41-752A (PXI) and 43-752A (PXIe) modules enable direct voltage and current readback either through programming or using Pickering’s soft panel control. Accuracy...

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority of Buffalo, New York (NFTA-Metro) has issued a five-year contract to NFI subsidiary New Flyer of America, which includes a firm order for 10 Xcelsior CHARGE heavy-duty electric transit buses, along with an option to purchase up to 140 more. NFTA-Metro provides bus and rail...

Sponsored by TTI One key to empowering the all-electric society is through e-mobility. By 2040, studies suggest an estimated 65 percent of new car sales will be electric and 33 percent of the global car fleet will be electric. When it comes to charging stations, the components and output vary...

Are rental car customers ready for EVs? We’re going to find out. Rental giant Hertz theoretically began introducing EVs to its fleet in 2011, and competitors soon followed. However, they were offered only in select markets, sometimes at super-premium prices. Meanwhile, Teslas became popular on the peer-to-peer rental network Turo....

New York City has announced a new commitment of $75 million for EVs and charging infrastructure, part of the City’s plan to transition its entire vehicle fleet to EVs. New projects funded include: 300 EVs to replace fossil fuel-powered models275 fast vehicle chargers20 portable vehicle chargers11 new solar charging carports3...

Fleet management company Merchants Fleet and charging network operator EVgo have announced a partnership under which EVgo will provide a full range of infrastructure solutions to Merchants Fleet clients. The partnership will enable Merchants Fleet clients to use a combination of depot charging, dedicated charging networks and EVgo’s public network,...

Colorado-based Solid Power, a solid-state battery specialist that has backing from Ford and BMW, says recent third-party safety tests demonstrate that its battery cells, which use a sulfide-based solid electrolyte, are safer than current lithium-ion cells, which use a liquid or gel electrolyte. The tests aimed to simulate abuse and...

GaN Systems and engineering services firm EPowerlabs have partnered to develop a high-density DC/DC power converter (DDC48-1K) for a wide range of 48 V mobility applications for consumer, industrial and automotive customers. The companies say the new GaN converter is smaller and lighter than standard converters.  The converter’s input range...

It’s said that a crisis tends to accelerate changes that were already on the way, and we’re hoping that’s the case when it comes to the global semiconductor shortage. Stellantis, the multinational conglomerate made up of no less than 14 American, Italian and French auto brands, is now prioritizing the...

Amprius Technologies has been awarded a contract with the US Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office. The 18-month rapid prototyping contract includes the design, development, and validation of high-energy-density silicon anode lithium-ion batteries to be used in unmanned aircraft system applications. Amprius offers a silicon anode battery with high...

GM has promised to launch 30 new EV models by 2025, and the automaker teased a couple of these at the recent From Automaker to Platform Innovator event for investors. GM President Mark Reuss said that Chevrolet will launch an electrified version of the Equinox. “The Chevrolet crossover you see...

In the arcane world of federal fuel economy standards, automakers that fail to comply with the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements can buy emissions credits from an automaker that has excess credits to sell. This has turned into a lucrative side business for Tesla, the only company that...

Infineon has released the EasyPACK 2B EDT2, a flexible and scalable half-bridge power module. The 750 V device can reach a maximum power of up to 50 kW and current of 230 A rms. The module is optimized for inverter applications in hybrid and electric vehicles. The main feature of...

Charged is hosting a virtual conference on EV engineering that’s free to attend this week. The conference includes live webinar sessions with interactive Q&As and on-demand webinars. View the daily session schedule online here. All of the live sessions will be recorded and available to view after the broadcasts. You...

Britishvolt, a UK-based manufacturing firm that also has a strong presence in Canada, will soon be building battery cells in Quebec to serve the North American EV industry. Electric Autonomy Canada reports that Britishvolt is close to finalizing plans to build a 60 GWh battery cell factory, an R&D center,...