Sponsored by TTI and TE Connectivity Automotive manufacturers have been building more electronic content into vehicles with powertrain electrification and increasingly sophisticated driver assist systems accelerating that trend. As a result, many sensor-driven control units with multiple printed circuit boards now have kilometers of new cabling and an exponential number of new connections all of which compete… Read more »
A group of state-owned companies in Indonesia will form a joint venture to produce Li-ion batteries. Partners in the new Indonesia Battery Holding joint venture include two mining firms: Mining Industry Indonesia (MIND) and PT Aneka Tambang; as well as state power utility Perusahan Listrik Negara (PLN), and state oil company Pertamina. Indonesia Battery Holding… Read more »
Lithium supplier Livent has announced its participation in a consortium to acquire the business and certain assets of Nemaska Lithium, located in Québec. Livent will invest in the company via a joint venture with The Pallinghurst Group. Livent has also extended its multi-year lithium hydroxide supply agreement with Tesla through 2021, and has committed to… Read more »
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced a new investment of $11 million to subsidize the deployment of DC fast charging stations. The unimaginatively-named Direct Current Fast Charger program will be administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Its main goal is to scale up charging infrastructure in areas… Read more »
Ultracapacitor manufacturer Skeleton Technologies has announced the completion of a €41.3-million financing round. All the company’s existing investors participated in the equity raise, and were joined by European entrepreneurs and international investors. Skeleton CEO Taavi Madiberk said, “The roadmap to zero emissions needs innovation and a mix of enabling technologies. Ultracapacitors are a key enabler for… Read more »
S&P Dow Jones Indices has announced that Tesla will be added to the benchmark S&P 500 index. “TSLA will be added to the S&P 500 effective prior to the open of trading on Monday, December 21, to coincide with the December quarterly rebalancing effective date,” the financial institution drily proclaimed. The California carmaker’s market cap… Read more »
Nissan has become the latest automaker to announce a regional phase-out of gas-only cars (Honda recently announced it would sell only hybrids and EVs in Europe after 2022). Now Nissan says all models sold in China will be either electric or hybrid by 2025. The Japanese automaker will introduce nine electrified (EV or hybrid) models… Read more »
Pritchard Companies, a commercial vehicle distributor that sells over 30,000 units annually to customers across all 50 states, has ordered 500 all-electric C-1000 delivery vehicles from electric truck maker Workhorse Group. (NASDAQ: WKHS). The vehicles will be distributed through Pritchard’s dealership locations across the country. Inventory financing will be provided by Workhorse’s financial partner Hitachi… Read more »
LEM, a global specialist in electrical measurement for industrial and automotive applications, has launched its new DC billing meter (DCBM), a compact billing solution for public DC fast chargers. The DCBM has a power measurement range from 25 kW to 600 kW, and is a legally certified meter that provides accurate customer billing. LEM’s new… Read more »
The National Science Foundation has awarded $39 million to a team of engineers and computer scientists at the University of California San Diego to build a test bed to better understand how to integrate distributed energy sources and EV batteries into the power grid. “We will be replicating the entire California power grid on one… Read more »