The debate over hydrogen fuel cells refuses to go away. The founders of Tesla considered hydrogen and other energy storage media before deciding that batteries were the best choice for electric powertrains, and have explained their reasoning in great detail several times since. Toyota, on the other hand, continues to insist that fuel cell vehicles… Read more »
Lane Transit District (LTD) in Oregon has ordered 11 New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE forty-foot electric buses, along with 7 ABB depot chargers. The purchase was supported by Federal Transit Administration Low or No- Emission funding. LTD has long been committed to sustainability. After receiving a silver level certification for the American Public Transportation Association’s sustainability… Read more »
In 2019, over 59,000 tons of nickel and 14,400 tons of cobalt were deployed globally in passenger EV batteries, a one-year increase of 39% and 34%, respectively, according to data from Adamas Intelligence’s EV Battery Capacity and Battery Metals Tracker. Panasonic used 51% of the global market share of nickel (down from 56% in 2018),… Read more »
The race is on to develop batteries that are less expensive, safer, longer-lasting, more energy-dense, and easily recyclable. All-solid-state batteries show promise, but obstacles to their wide-scale adoption remain. In a review article published in Nature Nanotechnology, nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) offer a research roadmap that discusses four challenges of… Read more »
Daimler Trucks has launched six heavy-duty Freightliner eCascadia and two medium-duty Freightliner eM2 106 as part of its Customer Experience (CX) fleet. Fourteen customers from a variety of sectors will operate the test vehicles over a period of 22 months. The eCascadia is designed for local and regional distribution and drayage. At the start of… Read more »
EV batteries require pressure compensation both under normal operation and during emergency ventilation. Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ DIAvent component combines these two functions into a single design, which will be used in the ABT e-Caddy and ABT e-Transporter, two Volkswagen vans that are popular in Europe and Mexico. To reduce battery weight and size, ABT uses… Read more »
Sponsored by Arkema With the electric vehicle market driving a surge in demand for lithium-ion batteries, research is intensifying to develop new electrolytes that not only ensure battery performance, lifetime, and safety, but also enable high-energy anode materials, such as silicon, and cathode materials, such as NMC 811. High purity electrolyte components are crucial to… Read more »
Tesla plans to drastically reduce staffing at its Nevada Gigafactory due to the coronavirus crisis, the local county manager said on Thursday. “Tesla has informed us that the Gigafactory in Storey County is reducing on-site staff by roughly 75% in the coming days,” Austin Osborne said in a post on the county’s web site. A… Read more »
By Markus Beck, Sensata Technologies In advanced battery systems, the quality of the power electronics helps determine the quality of the final product, its level of functionality, and its reliability. This is emphasized in the latest battery power management and charging systems that use wide-bandgap semiconductors and improved power topologies. In such advanced electronics, if… Read more »
KEMET Electronics Corporation has launched a new family of metal composite power inductors for the automotive market. The inductors are designed for switching power supplies in Electronic Control Units (ECUs). Available in various industry-standard SMD footprints, MPXV inductors can operate at temperatures up to 155° C, and can be used in all areas of the… Read more »