Is Nissan is thinking of closing its US and British battery plants? According to Reuters (via Green Car Reports), the company may end up sourcing cells from South Korea’s LG Chem. Nissan currently produces its own batteries through a joint venture with NEC. With the help of governments eager to aid domestic manufacturing, it built battery plants in… Read more »
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US automakers firmly on track to meet EPA fuel-economy goals
EV lovers may consider this good news or bad, but the US auto industry is making better progress than expected toward meeting the EPA’s long-term fuel-economy standards, as Ward’s Auto reported this week (via Green Car Reports). “Innovations are coming at us faster than originally anticipated,” says Michael Olechiw, Director of the EPA’s Light-Duty Vehicle… Read more »
GM redesigns Spark EV battery, consolidates all battery assembly at Brownstown plant
General Motors plans to bring all its EV battery building capabilities in-house, producing battery systems for the 2015 Chevrolet Spark EV at its battery assembly plant in Brownstown, Michigan, which also manufactures battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt, Opel Ampera and Cadillac ELR. The Spark’s redesigned battery system has a capacity of 19 kWh, and… Read more »
IHS Automotive: global plug-in production will increase 67 percent this year
According to IHS Automotive, EV sales are about to take off like a Model S on a freeway onramp. The research firm predicts that worldwide production of plug-ins will soar to more than 403,000 in 2014, a 67% increase. The Europe, Middle East and Africa region will account for the largest share of production at… Read more »
Battery makers expect to cut prices in half by 2020
Executives at two leading battery makers said this week that the cost of lithium-ion batteries is steadily declining, and could well drop to half of today’s price by 2020. “We have an internal target to go down by at least a factor of two by 2020,” said LG Chem Power CEO Prabhakar Patil, at this… Read more »
EVs made (and powered) in America
Publisher’s Note – CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine Issue 9 – August 2013 The Wall Street Journal recently published an article on Kentucky’s Republican congressman Thomas Massie. The piece was about a few idealists in the GOP that are bucking the party leaders and blocking their agenda. The most interesting departure from Republican talking points is… Read more »
Samsung SDI to supply batteries to Tesla?
Tesla is looking to diversify its supply of lithium-ion batteries, and is close to an agreement with Korean firm Samsung SDI, the Korea Herald reported, citing unidentified industry sources (an SDI official has denied the report). “We understand SDI and Tesla are undergoing last-minute tests before the Korean company starts to supply its batteries,” said… Read more »
Navigant Research releases Leaderboard Report on lithium-ion battery manufacturers
In a new report, Navigant Research profiles 11 Li-ion battery vendors that are active in the EV market, and rates them on 13 criteria, including systems integration, safety engineering, chemistry performance, geographic reach, manufacturing and product performance, pricing, and overall corporate financial health. According to Navigant, “Li-ion batteries have won the race to be the chemistry… Read more »
GM to produce next-generation EVs in South Korea
General Motors plans to produce its next generation of electric cars at its Bupyeong, South Korea, plant, as the US automaker increases its investment in the fast-growing vehicle technology. GM Korea head Sergio Rocha told journalists at this week’s Seoul Auto Show that the new model will be designed from the ground up as an… Read more »
Volt battery supplier forced to return $842K in DOE funds
The bad news: a colorful scandal has emerged at another of the companies that received DOE funds to build EV-related components. The good news: this time the feds got wise to the hanky-panky in time, and are forcing the company to make amends. In 2009, Korean battery maker LG Chem received a $150-million federal grant,… Read more »