City, University of London has received a £121,000 grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Williams Advanced Engineering to test several promising thermal management technologies in a project known as Battery Integrated Power Electronics for EV Drive train (BIPED). The project seeks to distribute battery packs and circuitry in a way that… Read more »
Back in March, a Porsche exec said that the brand expected to make a profit from its planned network of fast chargers, a comment that was met with much skepticism in the EV industry. Now the company is sending a rather different message, saying that its US dealers will be expected to pony up between… Read more »
Bollinger Motors (profiled in the May/June 2018 issue of Charged) is building a “no-nonsense back-to-basics all-electric sport utility truck” that fills a gap in the current EV market. The Bollinger B1 is built for the farm or the job site, a rugged work truck designed to haul large, heavy objects. As Bollinger moves through the… Read more »
Tesla has announced a new version of Model 3 with a new Mid-Range battery pack and 260 miles of range that will sell for $45,000. That’s $4,000 less than the price of the Long Range battery pack version, which has a 310-mile range. The rear-wheel-drive option will now only be available with the new Mid-Range… Read more »
Support for EVs on Capitol Hill does not divide neatly along partisan lines, as a pair of dueling bills in the Senate illustrates. This week, Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada) proposed legislation that would lift the current cap on EV tax credits. Under current law, once a particular automaker sells 200,000 EVs, the tax credit will… Read more »
The UK’s ChargePoint Services (not to be confused with the US’s Chargepoint) and the Motor Fuel Group have been working together to install fast charging stations in forecourt (gas station) locations across the UK. The GeniePoint Network now has over 120 charger sites installed or under construction, and plans to have around 150 50 kW+… Read more »
Industrial sensor specialist Sensata Technologies (NYSE:ST) has reached an agreement to acquire privately-held electrification solution provider GIGAVAC for $233 million. Sensata is expanding its positions in electrical protection, thermal management and regenerative braking. The addition of GIGAVAC’s portfolio will enable Sensata to tap into the market for high-voltage contactors, which are critical components of both… Read more »
Public charging stations are proliferating, but some operators still make it inconvenient for drivers, requiring them to join a network in advance and carry around a special card. European charging network operator Allego has taken a major step towards eliminating this unnecessary bottleneck with the launch of a contactless payment solution that supports Visa, Mastercard… Read more »
Tesla has acquired a 210-acre piece of land in the Lingang region of Shanghai for its planned Gigafactory 3. No price has been announced. Lingang is located on the coast, about 47 miles from the center of Shanghai. Several automakers with foreign connections have facilities there, and unmarked test vehicles are often seen on the… Read more »
MIT Associate Professor of Metallurgy Antoine Allanore’s lab has received a nearly $2-million dollar grant to further develop copper collection methods from molten sulfur-based minerals using electricity. The resultant high-purity copper could be used in the production of high-quality wire used in growing markets like renewable energy and EVs. Current pyrometallurgy methods are tedious: sulfide… Read more »
