Month: January 2022

Scientists at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology—a graduate school and research university—have developed a new carbon-based anode material that may increase the durability of batteries and shorten charging times. The scientists calcinated a polymer called polybenzimidazole at 800 degrees Celsius to construct a carbon-based anode with 17...

Proterra and Scale Microgrid Solutions are collaborating to install a microgrid and EV fleet charging system for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). The project, which just secured a grant from the California Energy Commission, includes solar panels and a battery energy storage system. In the event of an...

Massachusetts-based solid-state battery developer Factorial Energy raised $200 million in a Series D funding round from Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis. It will use the funding for research and development, commercial production and the deployment of batteries with its Factorial Electrolyte System Technology (FEST) electrolyte. While Stellantis announced 2026 as its goal...

Tesla’s new 4680 cell features a new chemistry that promises to boost efficiency and reduce costs. Now Panasonic says it is investing heavily in the development of the new cell, and plans to start mass production as early as 2023. The new cell is about twice the size of Tesla’s...

Q&A with Hakan Ekmen, Managing Director umlaut For the second year in a row, Charged has partnered with the global engineering and consulting firm umlaut to test and compare the user experience at the top DC fast charging networks and bring you the 2021 EV Charging Infrastructure Benchmark. In 2020,...

Tesla’s latest earnings report, for the fourth quarter and full year 2021, was another strong one. Deliveries grew by 87% in 2021, earnings per share and revenue each beat analyst estimates by a healthy 6%, and the company claimed that it achieved “the highest quarterly operating margin among all volume...

Automated testing, data acquisition and control system provider Bloomy has introduced a test system for battery management systems. The FLEX BMS Validation System is designed to evaluate hardware, software and firmware, and is intended for the electrification and test lab markets. The FLEX BMS Validation System simulates vehicle electronic signals,...

Dutch civil engineering company Bam Infra Nederland has commissioned yellow-machine builder Wirtgen and Dutch powertrain developer New Electric to convert an asphalt spreading machine into “the world’s first fully electric paver.” The conversion team replaced the paver’s stage V motor with an electric drive consisting of a 270 kWh battery...

GM has announced new investment of more than $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites, calling it “the single largest investment announcement in GM history.” Most of the new investment, which is expected to create 4,000 new jobs, is aimed at increasing battery cell and electric truck manufacturing capacity. Projects...

Toshiba has introduced a 20 Ah-HP lithium-ion battery cell that is available for order throughout the world and is intended for the EV, industrial equipment and energy storage markets. It’s part of the SCiB product line, and the company says it is designed for conditions of high-power input and output...

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German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon introduced the EiceDRIVER 2ED4820-EM gate driver with an SPI interface, which is designed to protect 48 V lithium-ion battery systems from negative and positive voltages. It’s part of the EiceDRIVER APD product line, and is in production now. The new dual-channel high-side gate driver can withstand...

Sponsored by Dana Dana brings together its expertise in hydraulics and fluid controls with TLX Technologies’ proven capabilities in control valves and electronics to deliver customized on-off and proportional fluid-routing e-Valves for electric vehicle applications. The Rise of the e-Valve e-Valves are not a new technology; however, with the acceleration...

Bridgestone Retail Operations, a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas, plans to expand its electric and hybrid vehicle services at 44 of the company’s Firestone Complete Auto Care and Wheel Works stores in Austin, Texas and San Francisco, California. While EV services today account for less than 10% of total services at...

Charging specialist CTEK has integrated its EV chargers with billing software from Fuuse Billing, a brand of the England-based company Miralis Data. Customers with CTEK Chargestorm Connected 2 chargers can now link their chargers to Fuuse Billing software to generate revenue. The payment card industry-compliant software supports payment collections from...

Ford Pro, the division of Ford that caters to commercial fleet customers, has introduced Ford Pro Intelligence, a cloud-based platform to support EV fleet operations. Ford Pro Intelligence combines Ford Pro’s suite of services, including telematics, with Salesforce’s cloud-based CRM system. It’s designed to help fleet operators keep track of...

Asian bus manufacturer Gemilang International plans to deliver 140 electric school buses to California customers in 2022. The order of 120 units of 12-meter school buses and 20 units of 7.5-meter school buses is the company’s largest single order for electric buses to date. Based in Johor, Malaysia, GML has...

Primobius has reached an option and licensing agreement with Stelco Holdings to commercialize Primobius’s proprietary EV battery recycling and processing technologies in North America. Operations are expected to begin in 2023. Germany-based Primobius is a joint venture of Neometals and the German engineering company SMS group to commercialize the recycling...

Mining giant Rio Tinto has ordered four battery-electric locomotives for use in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Wabtec will produce the four 7 MWh FLXdrive locomotives in the US, beginning in 2023, and Rio Tinto plans to conduct initial trials in the Pilbara in early 2024. The e-locos will...

Tesla has racked up an impressive collection of superlatives: largest global automaker by market cap; best-selling vehicle in several countries (Switzerland is the latest); and most compelling brand since the Grateful Dead. Now the company has added another feather to its corporate cap: Tesla’s Fremont factory has been named the...

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a lithium-sulfur battery which they estimate will be able to achieve 1,000 real-world cycles with fast charging. In an article published in Nature Communications, the researchers write: “Lithium-sulfur batteries have a high specific capacity, but lithium polysulfide (LPS) diffusion and lithium dendrite...

Volvo Trucks North America is currently delivering its Volvo VNR Electric Class 8 truck to fleets across the US. Now the company has announced that production of a new model, which features an 85% increase in range, faster charging, and more configurations for heavy-duty transport, will begin in Q2 2022....

The Rimac Group has spun off Rimac Technology as a wholly-owned independent company. Sister company Bugatti Rimac (previously Rimac Automobili) is jointly owned by the Rimac Group, which has a 55% stake, and Porsche, which owns the remaining 45%. Bugatti Rimac will continue to focus on building “hypercars,” while Rimac...

Sponsored by Infineon While consumers are keen to reduce their carbon footprint, the move to E-Mobility, especially private electric vehicles (EV), is hindered by the limited charging infrastructure, most notably in fast charging. This white paper reviews the charging landscape and examines implementation approaches for fast DC chargers. Specific focus...

Automotive and security technology firm Rheinmetall is setting up a joint venture company with capacitor supplier PolyCharge America to develop, produce and market PolyCharge’s DC-link NanoLam capacitors for automotive, military and industrial markets. Rheinmetall has also invested enough money in PolyCharge to hold about 13% of the shares in the...

EV Connect has announced the general availability of its Fleet Charging Management Platform. The new fleet management solution is designed to provide complete control over fleets and their energy consumption for fleet service providers as well as in-house-managed vehicle fleets. As a lead customer, the City of Porterville, California is...

Based on a life-cycle assessment being performed by sustainable mining specialist Minviro, NOVONIX says preliminary results suggest that its GX-23 synthetic graphite anode product generates a 60% decrease in CO2 emissions compared to graphite mining in two areas of China. The unfinished life-cycle assessment, which has not been subjected to...

General Motors has announced a new strategy to offer its EV technology to other vehicle-makers and commercial customers. The company estimates that the total addressable market for electrification components could reach $20 billion by 2030, as a growing number of industries introduce their own emissions reduction goals. “GM has an...

Polar bears are the poster animals for the dangers of climate change, so it’s a tragic irony that taking a tour to observe them in their vanishing natural habitat means riding in a giant diesel-belching off-road vehicle. Now one tour operator in Churchill, Manitoba has taken a small step to...

A new report from IHS Markit foresees the possibility of an electrical steel shortage, beginning in 2025, that could pose a threat to automakers’ electrification plans. Electrical steel is an iron-silicon alloy with magnetic characteristics that make it well suited for electric motors. Non-Oriented Electrical Steel (NOES) is one form...