Last month at the SAE World Congress in Detroit, Charged came across a very interesting booth in the career development section. Atieva, a company we’ve heard little about, is hiring a lot of engineers for a new EV project. “Atieva is designing and creating a breakthrough electric car in the heart of Silicon Valley,” says the… Read more »
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How close did Google come to buying Tesla? (UPDATED)
[Updated 5/10/15 to include Elon Musk’s comments on talks with Google. Originally posted 4/22/15.] Since shortly after Tesla began its automotive adventures, folks have been speculating that the company might be acquired by one of the cash-rich technology giants, but more industry-savvy observers have generally poo-poohed the idea. In a new biography of Elon Musk,… Read more »
Tesla batteries already powering Wal-Marts
Tesla’s new residential and utility-scale batteries, which have the potential to revolutionize the energy market, are expected to be publicly unveiled this week. Invitations to the April 30th event teased the new product line as “the missing piece.” The company has been quietly installing systems for a while now – in a California pilot with… Read more »
Bloomberg article highlights growth of EV sales, predicts decline of Big Oil
We’ve become used to the mainstream press insisting that EVs aren’t selling, and that cheap gas will be the final nail in the electric coffin (most recently in a widely-cited report from Edmunds that found that car buyers are rushing to trade in their “hybrid and electric cars” for gas-guzzling SUVs). Bloomberg, however, has long… Read more »
Meanwhile, Massachusetts extends its EV rebate program
As other states, including Georgia and Illinois, are eliminating their tax incentives for EV purchases, Massachusetts has allocated an additional $2 million to its Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV) program, which offers rebates of up to $2,500 to residents who buy or lease plug-in or fuel cell vehicles. The MOR-EV program was initially… Read more »
Georgia reverses policy on EVs, eliminating tax credit and imposing yearly fee
As expected, last week Georgia’s legislature passed a highway funding bill that not only eliminates the state’s $5,000 tax credit for EV purchases (effective July 1), but imposes a yearly user fee – $200 for personal vehicles and $300 for commercial EVs. Other states have introduced, or are considering, fees for EV drivers, but Georgia’s… Read more »
A123 shifts focus to starter batteries
Since battery-maker A123 was acquired by China’s Wanxiang Group, it has shifted its focus to concentrate on starter batteries, and has big plans to produce batteries for microhybrids, aka start-stop systems. A quarter of the company’s revenue still comes from EV battery packs – its factory in Hangzhou is running at full capacity to supply… Read more »
Chinese automaker BYD to triple production of batteries
Chinese automaker BYD aims to be a major player in the battery business, adding 6 gigawatt-hours of global production in each of the next three years, company spokesman Matthew Jurjevich told Reuters recently. If it continues at that pace, BYD’s capacity will be some 34 GWh of batteries by the beginning of 2020, putting it about… Read more »
Battery giants square off for court battle over lithium-ion patents
Two of the world’s biggest industrial companies are preparing for a high-stakes court battle over an arcane battery chemistry, and the outcome could have important implications for next-gen EVs, according to Quartz. Chemical colossus BASF and the Argonne National Laboratory have filed a lawsuit against Belgian battery-maker Umicore, accusing it of selling a battery component to… Read more »
VW may use solid-state battery in its next-generation EV
Volkswagen has acquired a 5% stake in US battery startup QuantumScape, with an option to buy more, and it is evaluating the company’s solid-state battery tech with an eye to using it in VW’s next generation of EVs. Last November, Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn said he saw “great potential” in solid-state batteries, which potentially… Read more »