ION Energy, a battery technology company that specializes in battery management and intelligence, has launched the FS-XT, a battery management system targeted at EVs and grid-scale storage systems. To manage the high-voltage batteries needed in EVs, the FS-XT has a modular design based on a master-slave configuration. This allows manufacturers to use the BMS for… Read more »
As charging technology improves, power levels are going up, and charging times are coming down. As usual, Tesla is at the forefront of this trend (for now). The company recently launched the next-generation Supercharger V3, which is capable of charging at rates up to 250 kW. Tesla also announced plans to increase the power levels… Read more »
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and in China say they’ve developed a new version of the cathode. The researchers describe the cathode as a “hybrid,” since it combines aspects of intercalation-type and conversion-type cathodes to increase gravimetric energy density (per-pound energy output) and volumetric energy density (per-liter energy output). The cathode has… Read more »
EVELOZCITY, a Los Angeles company working on EVs available only via subscription, has announced that it has changed its name to Canoo. Canoo hopes to offer four EVs in select cities by subscription only. In an effort to reduce design and production costs, it plans to use a single standardized EV platform. The company also… Read more »
China has announced substantial cuts to existing subsidies for EV purchases. The subsidy for pure EVs with ranges of 400 kilometers (250 miles) and above will be halved, to 25,000 yuan ($3,700) per vehicle, the Chinese Ministry of Finance said (via Bloomberg). The minimum range to qualify for any subsidy will also be raised from… Read more »
Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have modeled the wafer cost of gallium oxide (Ga2O3) semiconductors, and determined the cost could be three times lower than that of silicon carbide (SiC). The finding could lead to lower costs for power electronics such as those used in EVs. The researchers created a bottom-up cost model… Read more »
When it comes to vehicle autonomy, you could hardly find someone more experienced than Larry Burns, who was deeply involved with GM’s autonomy and electrification efforts as Corporate VP of R&D and Planning from 1998 to 2009, and later an important consultant to Google’s Waymo. In “Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car –… Read more »
Sponsored by EBG Resistors High-power resistors are used in the EV industry in a variety of applications including power converters for charging systems, power control unit, power distribution unit (PDU), motor control unit and battery modules. EBG Resistors focuses on the cutting edge development of resistor technology and works hand in hand with the engineers to… Read more »
Tesla owners are used to receiving little goodies from time to time, but the latest over-the-air updates for Model 3 represent substantial increases in power and range. Tesla is rolling out an increase in peak power output to all Model 3s as part of firmware version 2019.8.2. “Your vehicle’s peak power has been increased by… Read more »
The “Dieselgate scandal,” or as we like to call it, the “dirty diesel debacle,” was a catalytic event (pun intended). It led to some major changes at Volkswagen, and shook up the European auto market. However, only time will tell how much of this change will prove to be permanent. The Volkswagen Group has announced… Read more »