Jaguar recently offered a first look at its I-PACE electric SUV concept in an online virtual reality event ahead of the car’s debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The production version of the I-PACE will be revealed next year, and is scheduled to be on the road in 2018. The I-PACE, which Jaguar calls… Read more »
California-based ADOMANI and Quebec-based bus manufacturer Lion Bus have announced a new dealership relationship. ADOMANI will be the exclusive dealer of electric eLion buses in the states of Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The eLion TM4 electric motor provides equal power to the equivalent legacy diesel, and delivers a range of 50, 75… Read more »
Yet another fast charging corridor will soon connect the cities of the Western US. DRIVEtheARC, which will link the metro areas of Monterey, San Francisco, Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, recently broke ground with a star-studded ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new network is a joint project of the state of California and NEDO, a Japanese R&D organization…. Read more »
Tesla has announced plans to acquire Grohmann Engineering, a German company that the California carmaker called “one of the world leaders in highly automated methods of manufacturing.” Grohmann currently has around 700 employees, and had revenues of 123 million euros ($136 million) in 2015. It has developed battery production lines for several automakers. The company… Read more »
Forge Nano, formerly PneumatiCoat Technologies, is a Colorado-based startup that has developed a technology to enable precision nano-coatings at scale for manufacturing of Li-ion battery materials. The company recently closed a Series A investment of $20 million to expand its manufacturing capacity and fuel its growth. A nano-coating is an ultra-thin layer that improves how… Read more »
The UK government has announced an investment of an additional £4 million ($4.9 million) to the Plug-In Van grant scheme, extending eligibility to larger electric vehicles. Electric trucks above 3.5 tons will now be eligible for grants of up to £20,000 ($24,300). The grant amount is automatically deducted from the price of the vehicle by… Read more »
Daimler has been exploring various energy storage applications in Europe since 2015, and now plans to expand its stationary storage business to the US market. The new Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas will source batteries from Daimler subsidiary Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE, and will bring initial product offerings to the US early in 2017. Daimler’s scalable energy storage concept… Read more »
In the quest to increase the energy density of Li-ion batteries, Yuan Yang, an Assistant Professor at Columbia Engineering, has developed a novel approach: reducing or eliminating capacity loss that occurs when a battery is first manufactured. In a paper recently published in Nano Letters, Yang and colleagues explain how this new method could improve… Read more »
Several countries and US states have established, or are considering, renewable portfolio standards, which require a certain percentage of the electricity supply to come from renewable sources. A new study from the University of California Irvine investigates the connection between a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and intelligent EV charging. In “Charging a renewable future: The… Read more »
ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) has introduced what it calls the industry’s most compact 650 volt, 50 ampere intelligent power module for controlling vehicle AC compressors and other high-voltage auxiliary motor applications in hybrid and electric vehicles. The FAM65V05DF1 integrates IGBTs, freewheeling diodes and gate drivers in an automotive-qualified package with a footprint of 12 square… Read more »
