Nissan and Eaton have announced a partnership that will use their respective expertise in lithium-ion batteries and power electronics to create commercially viable energy storage and control centers that offer a productive second life for Nissan’s EV batteries after their days on the road. The two companies will deploy a module that combines retired LEAF… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "DOE"
ARPA-E awards $6.6 million to two projects for solid-state battery electrolytes
The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) has awarded $125 million to 41 energy-related R&D projects under its 2015 OPEN funding program. Two of these have to do with ceramic electrolytes for solid-state EV batteries. A consortium led by the University of Michigan won $3.5 million for a project called “Transitioning Advanced Ceramic… Read more »
Hitachi researchers demonstrate thermally durable solid-state Li-ion battery
A research team sponsored by Hitachi and Tohoku University’s Advanced Institute for Material Research (AIMR) has demonstrated technology that reduces the internal resistance of all-solid-state Li-ion batteries through the use of LiBH4-based complex hydrides as solid electrolytes. A conventional Li-ion battery uses a volatile organic electrolyte solution with a maximum operating temperature around 60˚ C…. Read more »
Tesla continues expanding with over 1,600 job openings
Do you dream of working for Tesla? The opportunities are there. Typically for a fast-growing company, Tesla has increased its headcount 15-fold since its 2010 IPO, to more than 14,000, and much more expansion is on the way. The Silicon Valley trendsetter currently has over 1,600 job openings posted on its website. Positions are available… Read more »
Tanktwo says that its smart swappable cells will save big on battery pack costs
Tanktwo’s smart cells represent much more than another concept for battery swapping. The system is based on a tank full of “string cells,” which contain lithium-ion battery materials as well as electronics for sensing, routing, and communications. Understanding Tanktwo’s system requires throwing out any preconceptions of how battery packs are supposed to work. Tanktwo CEO… Read more »
Elon Musk personally interviewing software engineers for Autopilot program
If you need convincing that Tesla does things differently from other automakers, take a look at the latest set of tweets from CEO Elon Musk: Ramping up the Autopilot software team at Tesla to achieve generalized full autonomy. If interested, contact autopilot@teslamotors.com. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2015 Should mention that I… Read more »
UCLA study: HOV access for plug-in cars drives sales
One of the goodies that many governments offer to encourage EV sales is access to special highway lanes. In California at least, it seems that such policies are very effective. A new study conducted by UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation, with funding from the California Air Resources Board, has found that state legislation that opened… Read more »
Tesla says Model S reliability issues have been cut in half
Tesla responded quickly to Consumer Reports’ embarrassing statements about Model S’s mediocre reliability. In a public tweet, and again in a conference call with stock analysts, Elon Musk assured us that most of the early problems with the drive units have been fixed, and that the powertrains now rolling off the line are “excellent.” The… Read more »
Joint Center for Energy Storage Research looks beyond Li-ion for battery advances
The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a consortium of national labs, universities, and private firms, was founded in 2012 with funding from the DOE with the objective of developing a battery five times more powerful and five times cheaper than the current state of the art within five years. At the recent Bay… Read more »
Daimler uses smart EV battery packs in German electricity balancing market
Daimler, together with partners The Mobility House and GETEC, has built what it says is the world’s largest second-life battery storage unit. The stationary storage unit is to go into service at the beginning of 2016 at the site of REMONDIS, a recycling, service and water company in the German town of Lünen. It uses… Read more »