The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has released a new funding opportunity (FOA) to support innovative transportation technologies. This Vehicle Technologies Incubator FOA (not to be confused with ARPA-E’s OPEN 2015 FOA, which was also recently announced) will award a total of $14 million, and is open to “proposals that aim… Read more »
Like the other German and US automakers, Volkswagen has signed on to the SAE-sanctioned CCS standard for DC fast charging. CCS fast charging capability is included with the new e-Golf. Last week in Detroit, Michael Horn, Volkswagen’s US CEO, told Green Car Reports that it plans to include fast charging on all its future plug-in… Read more »
AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) has introduced a new EV charging station for commercial and workplace settings that is controlled through a smartphone app. TurboDock charges at Level 1 (12 amps/120 volts), or Level 2 (16 amps/240 volts), and has several features specially designed for commercial and workplace charging. When configured for 12-amp or 16-amp charging, TurboDock provides… Read more »
VIA Motors expects to sell 50,000 of its plug-in pickups and vans per year by 2018, Chairman Bob Lutz told Bloomberg this week. For 2015, he said, the company would be happy to sell about 12,000 vehicles. VIA will start selling the pickups to fleet customers in February and to individuals by the end of… Read more »
A team from the University of Waterloo in Canada and BASF has developed a way to stabilize cathodes in lithium-sulfur batteries, significantly improving performance and cycle life. Li-S batteries offer high theoretical energy density and low cost, due to the high natural abundance of sulfur. However, the insulating nature of sulfur and lithium sulfides requires… Read more »
BMW will promote its i3 electric city car to the most massive of mass markets – the Super Bowl. The Bavarian automaker has purchased a 60-second spot that will air during the first quarter of the game. “As one in three Americans will tune in to watch the Super Bowl, we are thrilled to use… Read more »
Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII), one of the largest makers of off-road vehicles, has acquired the electric motorcycle business of Brammo, and will act as a lead investor in a recapitalization of Brammo that will enable the company to focus exclusively on the design and development of electric powertrains. Polaris has been a strategic investor and… Read more »
The US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) has awarded a $299,000 contract to Seeo Inc. of Hayward, California. The nine-month technology assessment program will focus on testing of Seeo’s elevated-operating-temperature solid polymer battery modules. Under the contract, Seeo will deliver its DryLyte battery modules to USABC for testing and third-party validation. These modules are based on… Read more »
Automakers may not be investing in pure EVs as seriously as Elon Musk (and many others) would like, but there is a steady stream of announcements of new PHEVs. Mercedes-Benz introduced its 2016 C350 Plug-In Hybrid sedan at the Detroit auto show. This is one of three PHEVs (with the S500 and a new ML-class… Read more »
Metal-air battery technology could offer very high energy density, and is considered a promising candidate for “beyond Li-ion” next-generation batteries. Aluminum, which is abundant and cheap, is a likely anode material. Aluminum-air batteries have a theoretical specific energy of up to 8.1 kWh/kg, second only to lithium-air batteries (13.0 kWh/kg). A pioneer in the aluminum-air… Read more »
