Governments are fond of setting numerical milestones for EV adoption, and sometimes those objectives are actually met. A few years ago, as part of the LA Green New Deal, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) set a goal of deploying 10,000 commercial EV chargers in the city by 2022. According to the… Read more »
Most automakers may have rejected hydrogen as an energy storage medium for passenger vehicles (Toyota is the notable exception), but the technology may yet find applications for industrial processes, and in other forms of transportation such as aviation and shipping. Some envision the lightest element as a medium to store energy from intermittent renewable sources,… Read more »
Charging power levels are on an upward trend, as OEMs and charging providers strive to enable longer ranges and faster charging times. Volkswagen is planning a major expansion of the charging infrastructure at its company facilities in Germany—some 750 new charging points are planned for 2021, and some of these will be High Power Charging… Read more »
Electric school buses seem like a no-brainer at this point—although they cost two to three times more up front than diesel buses, at about $230,000 each, they save money in the long run, as fuel and maintenance costs are about 80 percent lower. They’re also prime candidates for future vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications, which could generate… Read more »
Current Direct, a new €12-million research and innovation project funded by the European Commission, aims to develop a new type of lithium-ion cell, as well as a swappable containerized energy storage system, both optimized for waterborne transportation. The project’s aim is to develop and demonstrate an interchangeable battery system and Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) platform in an… Read more »
American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) and Suzhou Inovance Automotive have announced a technology development agreement that will accelerate the development and delivery of scalable, next-generation 3-in-1 electric drive systems, which integrate an inverter, electric motor and gearbox. The companies will focus on enhancing the power density, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of integrated EV drivetrains. AAM and… Read more »
A team led by Professor Zhao Tianshou of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has proposed a novel cathode design concept for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Li-S batteries are regarded as attractive alternatives to Li-ion batteries. They are known for their high energy density, while their major component, sulfur, is abundant, light, cheap and… Read more »
EV sales soared in Europe in 2020, and at least two legacy automakers, Daimler and Volkswagen, appear on track to meet the EU’s stringent emissions targets for the year. For the Volkswagen brand (part of the larger Volkswagen Group, which also includes Audi and Porsche), 2020 was “a turning point [and] a breakthrough in electric… Read more »
BNSF Railway and Wabtec, a provider of equipment, systems and services for freight and transit rail, have collaborated to develop a battery-electric locomotive. Now they have begun testing the technology in revenue service between Barstow and Stockton, California. The battery-powered locomotive will be situated in a consist [a sequence of locomotives and/or cars] between two… Read more »
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have developed a new family of cathodes with the potential to replace the costly cobalt-based cathodes typically found in today’s lithium-ion batteries. The new class, called NFA (nickel, iron, aluminum), is a derivative of lithium nickelate that’s used as a cathode material. These novel cathodes are designed to be… Read more »
