When I was a kid, everyone had a favorite Beatle (mine was George). Now I have a favorite Tesla co-founder: JB Straubel. He’s a visionary who converted a Porsche to electric drive and built a solar-powered racer, long before EVs were cool. He’s the engineering genius who personally went through and redesigned almost every component… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "solid-state"
Atom Power to provide digital circuit breakers for NYC multi-family EV charging project
Atom Power has come up with a novel way to simplify charging stations, potentially reducing equipment and maintenance costs. Atom’s UL-listed solid-state digital circuit breaker centralizes the power management system—the smart technology that charges the vehicle resides in the electrical panel, and the charging pedestal or wall box does not contain high-tech electronics. Now technology… Read more »
GM expands its battery tech development at new Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center
General Motors has announced plans to build a new battery development facility on the grounds of its Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. The Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center will “significantly expand the company’s battery technology operations and accelerate development and commercialization of longer-range, more affordable electric vehicle batteries.” The facility is named after the… Read more »
Fraunhofer Institute’s new dry-coating process reduces environmental impact
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a new dry-coating process that’s designed to reduce the environmental impact of electrode manufacturing. The Institute says its new DRYtraec process uses machines that do not require long drying tracks, and will take up less space than conventional battery electrode manufacturing systems. The new coating process uses similar… Read more »
Faraday Battery Challenge to fund 17 new tech projects
The Faraday Battery Challenge, a project initiated by the UK government to promote advanced battery technologies, has announced a new £10-million round of funding, which will be shared across 17 projects being undertaken by businesses and research institutions across the UK. The funded projects cover a wide range of topics, including a new sodium nickel… Read more »
Atom Power expands into EV charging with digital circuit breaker technology
Circuit breakers are everywhere, providing critically important electrical safety in buildings, vehicles and electrical devices of all kinds. However, this mechanical technology has remained mostly unchanged for a century. Atom Power believes that this lack of innovation is hindering the clean-energy transition, and that digitizing power systems to enable smart communication between electrical sources and… Read more »
New CEO confirms Honda will go all-electric by 2040
Honda has become the first major Japanese automaker to set an official date for phasing out sales of fossil-powered vehicles. New CEO Toshihiro Mibe has announced that his company hopes to go all-electric by 2040. Mibe’s announcement confirms a shift that Honda has been hinting at for some months. In 2020, the company partnered with… Read more »
Ford EV head: “We are not in this to build a couple of trucks.”
Over the years, Charged has reported on many EV initiatives from major automakers. These have always been announced with great fanfare, and promises of “commitment” to electrification, but after a couple of years and a couple thousand EV sales, most of these “new eras” have quietly faded away (Ford’s 2012 e-mobility effort was just one… Read more »
Ford raises its EV game: 40% pure EVs by 2030, new platforms, new battery initiatives and more
In a virtual meeting with investors, Ford outlined a plethora of plans to expand its electrification efforts. There was a big bundle of news, which will take the media some days to fully unpack, but the gist of it is that, under a plan dubbed Ford+, the automaker will be allocating capital to three priority… Read more »
Wildcat ramps up its focus on EV Supercell breakthroughs
The lithium-ion battery has proven to be an excellent fuel tank for EVs, but there remains much room for improvement. We’re still far from what’s theoretically achievable in terms of Li-ion capacity, safety, cost and charge times. As battery manufacturers continue their quest for improved chemistry and material combinations, they rely on applied researchers like… Read more »