Newswire

New report: Some electric buses are already cheaper to run than legacy buses

If you talk to manufacturers of electric buses, such as Proterra and BYD, they’ll tell you that their lower fuel and maintenance costs make them a no-brainer for transit agencies. However, a new report jointly released by the Financing Sustainable Cities Initiative and Bloomberg New Energy Finance paints a more cautiously optimistic picture. According to… Read more »

Charging EVs with no card or app: Hubject and Daimler pilot a solution

Today, using most public charging stations requires having the right charging card or smartphone app. This can be a hassle, especially in Europe, which has a patchwork of charging networks. To simplify this process, Berlin-based Hubject, a joint venture of several German automakers and suppliers, has developed a solution that enables customers to access charging… Read more »

Subaru uses National Instruments’ hardware-in-the-loop tech to simulate road conditions

Subaru is using hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) technology from National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI) to simulate actual road conditions for EV testing. Traditionally, engineers have conducted vehicle tests using finished cars on test courses or public roads. However weather and fluctuating road surface conditions can make it difficult to conduct reproducible tests. Moreover, according to NI, EVs are… Read more »

EXOMO electrifies recreational aviation with electric paramotor

Yet another type of vehicle that’s going electric: the paramotor (a motor worn on a pilot’s back to power a paraglider). EXOMO, a collaboration between French paramotor school Aeronature and aeronautics specialist Aero Composites Saintonge (which made the E-Fan demonstrator for the Airbus Group), has introduced the Integral, a new design for electric paramotors that… Read more »

Bookmycharge builds peer-to-peer EV charging network in the UK

The UK, along with many other urbanized regions, has a special challenge to overcome if EV adoption is to take off: many drivers live in multi-family housing, and have no assigned parking spaces in which to install chargers. One possible solution is a peer-to-peer charging network that allows EV owners to share their home chargers… Read more »

PNNL research finds that optimal salt concentration increases battery life

Researchers at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have discovered that the “special sauce” of batteries is all about the salt concentration. By getting the right amount of salt right where they want it, they’ve demonstrated that a lithium-metal battery can undergo about seven times more charge/discharge cycles than batteries with conventional electrolytes. Finding an electrolyte solution… Read more »

New Hampshire Electric Cooperative pioneers off-peak EV charging rate

New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC), which serves some 84,000 homes and businesses in 115 communities, has become the first utility in the state to offer discounted off-peak rates to EV drivers. According to NHEC, the owner of an EV such as the Chevrolet Bolt who drives 16,000 miles a year can save about $20 a… Read more »

NREL scientists discover new approach for magnesium-metal batteries

Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have pioneered a method that enables reversible chemistry of magnesium metal in noncorrosive carbonate-based electrolytes. The technology has several potential advantages over lithium-ion batteries, including higher energy density, improved stability and lower cost. Magnesium batteries can theoretically store almost twice as much energy per volume as lithium-ion… Read more »

Fastned to deploy fast chargers with up to 350 kW in UK cities of Newcastle and Sunderland

Dutch charging provider Fastned has won a tender from the North East Combined Authority (NECA) and Newcastle University to deploy two fast charging stations in the city centers of Newcastle and Sunderland (where Nissan manufactures LEAFs for the UK market). Each “Go Ultra Low Filling Station” will house six DC fast chargers, two of which… Read more »

Neutron imaging improves battery filling process

Researchers from Bosch, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg are using neutron imaging to analyze the filling of lithium-ion batteries with electrolytes. Since very few neutrons are absorbed by the metal battery housing, they are ideal for analyzing batteries. In “Visualization of electrolyte filling process and influence of vacuum during filling… Read more »