The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved a grant of $2.4 million to the South Coast Air Quality Management District to build and test seven hybrid fuel cell Class 8 trucks to transport cargo at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The goal of the project is to develop a vehicle architecture that… Read more »
The future of Saab lies in China. National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), which inherited the Saab brand in 2012, and has been laboring like a mythical Nordic hero to bring it back to life as an EV, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the giant Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corporation. Dongfeng will help NEVS… Read more »
SK Innovation, a unit of SK Group, is a small fish in a sea of Asian battery suppliers like Panasonic, Samsung and LG, but its automotive customer base is growing, and it is rapidly ramping up production. Since the Korean firm opened its battery plant in Seosan in 2012, it has been enlarging its production… Read more »
Rare earth elements, prized for their magnetic properties, are used in a wide range of modern technology, including advanced electric motors. Unfortunately, they are expensive, and some are available only from problematic parts of the world. To make it easier to recover and recycle rare earth minerals, the DOE’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI) has developed… Read more »
Sales of plug-in vehicles in China are quickly ramping up, spurred by generous government subsidies, which in turn are motivated by choking air pollution in the country’s major cities. Yonghe Huang, Director of Policy Research at the China Automotive Technology Center, highlighted the explosive growth in a recent presentation. In 2014, automakers in China produced… Read more »
In May, Audi said that it is developing “a sporty SUV with electric drive,” to be launched in 2018 (the company also plans to sell two plug-in SUV models in Asia in 2016). Now Audi has released teaser images of its e-tron quattro concept, which will be unveiled next month at the International Motor Show (IAA) 2015… Read more »
The new and improved 2016 LEAF, which may reach dealers in October, is expected to have substantially increased range, but that’s about all we know at this point – Nissan has yet to release any details. However, it may be that an Indiana Nissan dealer has just spilled the beans. Andy Mohr Avon Nissan ( via Green… Read more »
Here’s the latest must-have item that you didn’t know you must have: a lighted charging cable. Leoni, a European provider of automotive cable systems, has developed a new charging cable that is illuminated along its entire length. The Leoni iEVC visibly tracks charging progress by changing the color of the cable jacket. A driver can… Read more »
The DOE has announced up to $10 million in funding to establish graduate-level training programs for engineers in power electronics. The five-year program will begin in the fall 2016 school year. Citing the important part that power engineers play in advanced energy technologies, the DOE expects them to be in high demand in the growing… Read more »
Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché has acquired Trineuron, a business unit of the Belgian company Emrol that specializes in lithium titanate battery technology. With this acquisition, Leclanché adds a new development center and 10 engineers, and expects to increase its development capability, especially in transport applications such as electric/hybrid buses, ferries, mining vehicles, and automated guided… Read more »
