Nissan was an early EV pioneer, but although the LEAF is still a common sight on the streets, sales have been flat in the US. In Japan, however, things look different. According to Nikkei, the LEAF and Nissan’s hybrid models accounted for 25% of sales in fiscal 2018, and the company aims to expand this… Read more »
Ohio is one of several US states that impose taxes on EVs that are far higher than the amount paid in gas taxes by a typical driver of a legacy vehicle. A recently introduced bill aims to change that. Ohio’s current EV tax, which was enacted in 2019, imposes an annual fee of $200 on… Read more »
Vishay Intertechnology recently introduced a line of high power resistors that meet the AEC-Q200 automotive qualification. Designed for direct mounting on a heatsink, the Vishay Sfernice LPSA 300, LPSA 600, and LPSA 800 deliver high power dissipation and pulse handling capabilities intended to reduce component counts and lower costs in automotive applications. With power ratings… Read more »
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) have announced that over $24 million is available to replace diesel-powered transit buses with new all-electric buses. As part of the state’s $128-million allocation from the federal Volkswagen Settlement, NYSERDA will invest $18.4 million to fund… Read more »
The BMZ Group, an international company headquartered in Germany, produces Li-ion batteries for everything from power tools to stationary storage to industrial vehicles such as forklifts. Now the company is seeing a surge in demand for its batteries from makers of a wide variety of medical equipment, especially ventilators. In some cases, the volume of… Read more »
Cold weather poses a challenge for EVs (though hardly a deal-breaker, as thousands of Norwegian drivers can attest). Not only does battery performance take a hit in low temperatures, but the resistance heating systems used in most EVs consume power, reducing range. Tesla has addressed that issue with the design of the Model Y, which… Read more »
Electric powertrain manufacturer Equipmake has teamed up with additive manufacturing company HiETA Technologies to develop a next-generation motor, codenamed AMPERE. The project is the group’s attempt to produce a lightweight, efficient, low-cost electric motor with peak power density of more than 20 kW per kg. AMPERE is made using additive manufacturing, which allows its metal… Read more »
In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how they can overcome the dendrite problem to create a metal battery that performs nearly as well as a lithium-ion battery but relies on potassium, which the researchers say is a more abundant and less expensive element…. Read more »
Editor’s note: This information is current as of the evening of March 19. Further updates may follow. After several days of contradictory information, and what appears to have been a valiant attempt to keep the vehicle production lines open, Tesla issued the following statement Thursday: Despite taking all known health precautions, continued operations in certain… Read more »
BorgWarner´s latest coolant heaters are expected to appear in 2021 on the next generation of passenger electric cars produced by global OEMs. The company has been chosen as a supplier for cabin heating and battery conditioning solutions for several high-volume vehicle programs. “Our Battery and Cabin Heater has become the technology of choice for some… Read more »
