Global battery supplier Octillion Energy has announced that it is now shipping over 1,500 battery packs per day. The company says rising EV sales in Brazil, India and China have contributed to the demand for its battery packs. In addition to electric buses in India and electric trucks produced by Brazilian automaker FNM, Octillion is… Read more »
Toyota has decided to locate a new automotive battery plant at the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite in North Carolina’s Randolph County. Toyota chose the site based on the availability of renewable energy, local support, on-site rail, and proximity to highways, four airports and two seaports. Together with lithium producer Toyota Tsusho, Toyota is planning to spend $1.29… Read more »
Bosch has started volume production of SiC semiconductors, and plans to expand its production capacity to a unit volume running into the hundreds of millions. The company is also working on a second generation of more efficient SiC chips. To meet steadily increasing demand for these semiconductors, Bosch added 1,000 square meters to the clean-room… Read more »
Hyundai’s new compact EV crossover is good enough to sell every unit the company imports—the question may be how high that number will be. The 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 is the Korean brand’s first dedicated electric vehicle, positioned at the heart of the fastest-growing part of the market: compact crossover utilities. The premium electric SUV… Read more »
Rivian Automotive is the brightest rising star in the EV firmament at the moment, and it’s flush with cash following a $11.9 billion stock offering in November. Now the company has announced plans to put some of that nest egg to work at a new $5-billion battery and assembly plant east of Atlanta, which is… Read more »
Automakers that are serious about producing EVs understand that they need to build new supply chains, including major battery manufacturing capacity and secure sources of raw materials. The Volkswagen Group has been steadily turning up the voltage, raising its planned investment in EV and self-driving technologies to 73 billion euros ($86 billion) over the next… Read more »
Microchip Technology is collaborating with Mersen on a new 150 kVA 3-phase silicon carbide power stack reference design. Mersen’s current offering provides designers with a compact, high-power silicon carbide system without the need for individual device sourcing, testing and qualification. The reference design includes Microchip’s SiC power modules and digital gate drivers and Mersen’s busbar,… Read more »
Commercial EV OEM Proterra (NASDAQ: PTRA) plans to open a new manufacturing plant in South Carolina to produce battery systems for its Proterra Powered division, which provides batteries for other EV-makers’ commercial vehicles, including delivery and work trucks, industrial equipment, buses and more. The new factory will be Proterra’s third battery production facility. In December… Read more »
Vehicle parts supplier Dana has announced that one of its business partnerships is planning to open an electric motor factory in Åmål, Sweden in late 2022. Called Dana TM4, the partnership joins Dana with Hydro-Québec to make electric motors for EVs. Production is to begin in the first half of 2023. US-based Dana designs and… Read more »
Will 2022 be the year of the electric pickup truck? Startup Rivian snatched the first-mover advantage with its impressive R1T, and Ford recently grabbed some headlines with the announcement that demand for its upcoming F-150 Lightning has been far greater than anticipated. Hope springs eternal that Tesla’s unorthodox Cybertruck will hit the road sometime in… Read more »
