The Chevy Bolt was supposed to be a game-changing vehicle, but so far, it’s followed the same old disappointing storyline. By all accounts, it’s an excellent EV, but GM will probably produce just enough to satisfy those pesky government regulations. Or will it? The company recently took out full-page ads in major newspapers for the… Read more »
Electric buses are appearing on the streets of US cities, and one of the leading vendors is the Chinese automaker BYD. This isn’t a case of American jobs being shipped overseas however – the buses are built at BYD’s plant in Lancaster, California. Now the company has made a further commitment to supporting the community,… Read more »
The Mercedes-Benz plant at Untertürkheim, Germany, the home of Daimler headquarters, will make a transition from producing legacy engines, transmissions and axles to producing powertrain components for EVs. This will include new battery production, and the assembly of electric modules for front and rear axles. The Untertürkheim plant, which was built in 1904 and currently… Read more »
Replacing a liquid electrolyte with a solid electrolyte could offer major advantages for both safety and energy storage capacity, but so far, attempts to develop a practical solid-state cell have run into major obstacles. Liquid electrolytes can be flammable, and are also prone to the formation of dendrites -thin, fingerlike projections of metal that build… Read more »
Porsche has installed a charging station using its new 800 V 350 kW fast charging system at its technology center in Berlin-Adlershof. The Porsche High Power Charging (HPC) station is liquid-cooled, and uses CCS connectors. The new tech center also features a 25-meter-high solar pylon that is expected to generate up to 30,000 kWh of… Read more »
UK engineering firm Ricardo has developed a new Battery Management System (BMS) that uses model-based control methods to optimize the performance of both existing and next-generation cell chemistries. According to Ricardo, the more affordable and lighter-weight cell chemistries of the future are likely to require a more intensive level of model-based management and control than… Read more »
Faraday Future is navigating a hilly stretch of road. In January, it revealed its production-ready FF91 vehicle. In February, it ran into financial trouble and was forced to scale back its EV lineup and reduce the size of its planned Nevada factory. In July, the FF91 performed an impressive feat at the 2017 Pikes Peak… Read more »
Charging network operator EVgo has opened its 950th fast charger in the US, at Molly Pitcher Service Area on the New Jersey Turnpike. Located in Cranbury, NJ, the service area sees a huge amount of traffic – almost two million visitors in 2016. The Molly Pitcher station includes two 480 V fast chargers, each of… Read more »
Elon Musk had a number of interesting things to say at the recent meeting of the National Governors Association – the video (Musk’s portion, that is) is worth watching in full. By now, most folks understand that vehicles are going electric. The big question is, how quickly will it happen? Musk told the governors that… Read more »
The DOE is awarding $19.4 million to 22 new cost-shared research projects in the fields of advanced batteries, lightweight materials, emission control, and energy-efficient mobility systems. Fifteen of these are Phase 1 Battery Seedling projects, aimed at battery materials and approaches that complement the Battery500 Consortium’s research. Promising Phase 1 awardees will be competitively weeded… Read more »
