MAHLE has commissioned a test bench for electric drives near Stuttgart, Germany. This equipment will be used to develop and test e-axles and e-drive units for a wide range of EVs. The company has invested around €3 million in the new facility. “With the commissioning of the test bench, MAHLE continues the targeted expansion of… Read more »
Automakers often issue very different, even contradictory, press releases for different audiences—for us EV journalists, they play up their plans for plug-in vehicles, while for the car mags they celebrate ever-more-gigantic SUVs. Hyundai recently announced plans for 12 new or updated SUVs, and vaguely hinted that one of them might be an electrified model. This… Read more »
Momentum Technologies, a Dallas-based materials science company focused on extracting critical metals from electronic waste, has licensed a process developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for recovering cobalt and other metals from spent Li-ion batteries. Several critical elements, such as cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese, are used in EV batteries. Using ORNL’s Membrane… Read more »
Sponsored by EA Elektro-Automatik In today’s fast-paced world the need to create quicker, more mobile mechanical devices is steadily increasing. One primary method for doing this is to replace traditional gas-powered or plugged-in devices with battery power. Batteries have become smaller and increasingly efficient as a result. In order to keep up with the rate… Read more »
Fujitsu has expanded its automotive relay offering with a new 12 VDC PCB relay featuring a switching capacity of 50 A at 14 VDC. The FBR53-HC offers a higher contact rating than its 40-amp FBR53-HW counterpart, yet occupies the same 12.1 x 15.5 x 13.7 mm footprint, and weighs the same 6 grams. With a… Read more »
Volvo Trucks North America has won $21.7 million in grants to deploy 70 VNR Electric trucks in Southern California for regional freight distribution and drayage. The EPA’s Targeted Air Shed Grant Program will provide $20 million, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District will add $1.7 million for charging infrastructure. Volvo Trucks will deliver… Read more »
The Geely brand Lotus plans to launch a luxury electric SUV in 2022. The vehicle, code-named Lambda, has been in development since 2016, and was originally planned to be a hybrid, but the growing market for EVs, especially in China, inspired the company to make it an all-electric model. According to Autocar, the new Lotus… Read more »
Battery manufacturers are striving to increase capacity, reduce charging time and ensure an adequate supply of raw materials. BASF developed its new Licity range of binders in order to meet these needs. Depending on their requirements, customers can choose a series with a certain application focus, such as binders suitable for pure graphite or silicon-containing anodes…. Read more »
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) claim to have increased the conductivity of copper wire by about five percent. That may seem like a small amount, but it could make a big difference in motor efficiency. Higher conductivity would also mean that less copper would be needed for the same efficiency, which could reduce… Read more »
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has announced a Notice of Funding Availability for $57 million for the purchase of electric Type C or Type D school buses to replace comparable diesel buses. The grants are part of Florida’s Beneficiary Mitigation Plan, which also includes EV infrastructure projects. Only school districts within an Air Quality… Read more »
