Tesla’s pickup truck is surely the most eagerly-awaited new vehicle since…well, Tesla’s last vehicle. Pickups are the biggest segment of the US auto market, and electrifying them will be a major, and necessary, turning point for EV adoption. Ford, GM and startup Rivian all have electric pickups in various stages of development, but Tesla is… Read more »
The K11M, BYD’s 60-foot electric articulated transit bus, has passed durability road testing under the Federal Transit Authority’s (FTA) new Pass/Fail guidelines at the Model Bus Testing Program in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It is the first electric transit bus of its size to complete the full 15,000-mile durability test. Once Altoona and the FTA finalize the… Read more »
Public charging stations are proliferating around the world, but many drivers are unaware of them. Curious consumers often cite a lack of charging infrastructure as one of the top objections to buying an EV. A Swedish charging network operator believes a lack of signage could be part of the problem – there are more than… Read more »
Millbrook Revolutionary Engineering has opened a new EV driveline test facility in the San Francisco Bay area. The 25,000-square-foot facility will offer testing of inverters and vehicle-in-loop capabilities, battery simulators and e-machine testing at speeds of 20,000 rpm. The company has installed four electric drive unit test stands with a combined capacity of 2,880 testing… Read more »
Calex Manufacturing has launched the 24S53.19FXW DC-DC converter, the final product in the company’s FXW series of DC-DC converters. The new converter features a power density of 181 W/in³ over a 9-36 VDC input range. The 1,000-watt converter measures 2.5 x 4.7 x 0.52 inches. In a bid to optimize performance, Calex has equipped the… Read more »
Frito-Lay plans to make its Modesto, California manufacturing site, one of the company’s largest in the US, a “near zero-emission freight facility.” A grant from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (aka Valley Air) will cover half of the $30.8-million cost of the project. Frito-Lay will replace all its existing diesel-powered freight equipment… Read more »
Tesla has quietly acquired Ontario-based Hibar Systems, which specializes in battery manufacturing. The California carmaker has made no official announcement, but Electric Autonomy Canada learned from federal lobby registration documents that Hibar became a subsidiary of Tesla sometime between July and October. Hibar Systems was founded in the early 1970s to make small cell batteries,… Read more »
If you want to learn about the many influencing factors that impact both mechanical and electrical performance in a copper-to-aluminum bond, including geometric and metallurgical considerations, then tune into this free webinar featuring guest speaker Joe Kaiser, VP of Product Development at Materion. We will also discuss the electrical resistivity, mechanical characteristics and projected life… Read more »
Silicon carbide manufacturer Cree plans to build a new manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. The fabrication facility for 200 mm power and radio frequency wafers, which will have a footprint of 480,000 square feet upon completion, will help increase capacity for the company’s Wolfspeed SiC and GaN business. The facility is the result of… Read more »
Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and Japanese chemical manufacturer Piotrek have partnered to produce the next generation of solid poly electrolytes (SPEs) for lithium batteries, using Piotrek’s ion conducting polymers (ICP) and CSIRO’s reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymer technology. Piotrek General Manager Ihei Sada said, “This partnership will help Piotrek make our batteries safer… Read more »