Maxwell Technologies, a manufacturer of energy storage and power delivery technology, has sold its high-voltage product line to Renaissance Investment Foundation for $55.1 million in cash and up to $15 million in future payments. Included in the deal were Maxwell’s Swiss subsidiary, Maxwell Technologies SA, and its CONDIS line of high-voltage capacitors. Maxwell will now… Read more »
Cars are becoming computers, and Tesla has always been at the forefront of that trend. For years, the company has worked with the “white hat” hacker community to pro-actively identify and fix security flaws in its vehicle software. Electrek reports that, over the past few years, Tesla’s bug bounty program has paid out serious money… Read more »
Wolfspeed (a Cree company), has introduced its 5th-generation SiC Schottky diode, which is optimized for renewable energy, industrial power and EV applications. The 1,700 V C5D is commercially available in both bare die and package formats. It joins the current line of 1,700 V MOSFETs, which feature an optimized TO-247-4 Plus package that provides extra… Read more »
Johnson Controls and Toshiba have partnered to develop low-voltage lithium-ion batteries, which they’ll pair with existing lead-acid batteries for dual-battery systems. Paired systems require fewer powertrain alterations than other electrified powertrains, and achieve up to eight percent better fuel efficiency than conventional systems, according to Johnson Controls. Global information provider IHS Markit forecasts that dual-battery… Read more »
Manufacturing batteries for EVs requires specialized equipment, and battery makers require different systems depending on battery type, tab material and thickness, and production volume. Amada Miyachi Europe is a company that provides a range of resistance and laser welding equipment for just this purpose. Most recently, the company provided resistance welding equipment to German battery… Read more »
Battery system manufacturer BMZ is launching a long-term cooperation with Samsung SDI, and plans to order just under $1 billion worth of Li-ion cells over the next five years. BMZ says its European automotive customers will double their EV production volumes in the coming year, and is responding by expanding manufacturing capacity of its Li-ion… Read more »
ZF Friedrichshafen, a German-based automotive driveline and chassis manufacturer, is set to invest €800 million in the electrification of its transmission technology. Over the next four years, ZF will put the investment into its primary transmission plant located in Saarbrücken, Germany. “The share of hybrid drives in production will increase tenfold over the next few… Read more »
Toshiba is removing its SCiB battery business from the Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions (TISS) subsidiary, and making it an independent business unit within Toshiba. By positioning the business as an independent operation, Toshiba says it hopes to remove layers of management and allow for more rapid decision-making. TISS will continue to handle business operations… Read more »
Erik Prince, founder of the controversial private military company Blackwater, has launched a fund to invest in metals used in EV batteries, he told the Financial Times. The fund aims to raise up to $500 million, and will invest in deposits of metals such as cobalt, copper and lithium, largely in Africa and Asia. Prince… Read more »
Sumitomo Electric’s new V-groove superjunction transistors, which it developed through a joint research project with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) use silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, and the company claims they offer the lowest on-state resistance yet achieved in an SiC transistor. Sumitomo has already developed V-groove MOSFETs that use a… Read more »