Amazon made a splash in the EV world last September when it ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from EV startup Rivian. Now the company says it will buy an additional 1,800 electric vans from Mercedes-Benz. The order includes 1,200 large eSprinter electric vans and 600 medium-size eVito electric vans. It represents Mercedes-Benz Vans’ largest order… Read more »
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Jilin University have investigated a promising anode material for future high-performance batteries: lithium lanthanum titanate with a perovskite crystal structure (LLTO). As the team reported in Nature Communications, LLTO can improve battery energy density, power density, charging rate, safety and cycle life without requiring a particle… Read more »
Charging time is the Achilles’ heel of EVs. Much faster refueling could be enabled by boosting the voltage of an EV’s battery system from the 400 volts used by most current models. The Porsche Taycan uses an 800-volt battery architecture, which means the current can be cut in half, so wires can be lighter and… Read more »
Lonestar Specialty Vehicles has partnered with Los Angeles-based In-Charge Energy to offer customers turnkey energy and charging solutions for fleet conversion to EVs. Texas-based Lonestar is a supplier of fully electric remanufactured commercial vehicles. The company has deployed more than 3,000 Class 8 trucks and tractors. Its mission is to provide an alternative to internal… Read more »
Q&A with Giovanni Bertolino, Head of E-Mobility at Enel X Some of the most compelling stories in the EV world these days have to do with charging. For an individual EV driver, charging may seem like a simple matter—plug in your car in the evening, and it’s ready to drive in the morning—and that’s part of the appeal of… Read more »
New-car salespeople have simple motivations: They want to spend the least time selling you a new car for the highest possible commission. You buy a new car every five years or so; they sell up to 25 cars a month. They make money on the difference in knowledge. That makes electric cars a problem: they… Read more »
The Chevrolet Bolt EV has earned some impressive reviews since its 2016 launch. Earlier this year, it performed the notable feat of increasing sales by 36% in the first quarter—a period during which overall Chevy sales were down (at least part of that success was due to heavy discounting). The Bolt is believed to be… Read more »
Mercedes-Benz and Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) are collaborating to create new battery technology for the high-volume electrification of Mercedes vehicles. The carmaker is accelerating its Electric First strategy, and plans to use carbon-neutral battery cells, modules and systems supplied by CATL. The agreement covers the full range of battery technologies, from cells to modules for… Read more »
A new survey reports that the use of aluminum is growing faster than that of any other automotive material, and is expected to grow to content levels of 514 pounds per vehicle (PPV) by 2026, up 12% from 2020 levels. The survey, conducted by DuckerFrontier, analyzes the latest information on material content for North American… Read more »
The transport treehouse podcast is a good place to hear some of the world’s top EV experts talk about trends in the industry. Hosts Chelsea Sexton and Russell Frost are two of the most experienced EV journalists out there, and they have an ongoing stream of guests who have expertise in various aspects of the… Read more »
