Rising above the waters of the Mittelland Canal in Wolfsburg, Germany, four iconic smokestacks cut through an otherwise sparse skyline. These are the most recognizable – and among the last – vestiges of the original Volkswagen factory from 1938. Symbolically, however, the smokestacks represent much more than the symbols of a power plant that –… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "Solid-state batter"
Toyota opens up its fuel cell patents; BMW will also research FCVs
Taking a page from Tesla’s book, Toyota plans to make some 5,680 patents on fuel cell technologies available royalty-free. The motivation appears to be much the same – just as Tesla hopes to encourage other automakers to produce battery EVs, Toyota wants to “open the door to the hydrogen future” and “spur development and introduction… Read more »
Researchers develop dendrite-free lithium films, an important step toward lithium metal anodes
There’s a lot of interest in using lithium metal as an anode material, because of its theoretical high capacity of 3,860 mAh g−1 (around ten times that of the graphite anodes used in typical Li-ion batteries). However, it doesn’t measure up in terms of cycle life and safety requirements, and one reason is the formation of… Read more »
Tesla confident that Gigafactory can hit the magic number: $100/kWh
Tesla’s Gigafactory will mark a milestone in American manufacturing – to put it in trendier language, it’s going to be a game-changer. This is already obvious to readers of the EV press, and it’s starting to sink in among the mainstream media. The investing pundits of the Motley Fool have parsed some of Tesla’s statements… Read more »
E-Fuse based on Microchip’s mSiC™ Technology
EVs with 400 V battery systems were introduced over a decade ago and now we are seeing the industry migrate toward 800 V systems primarily to support DC fast charging. With the increased voltage and lessons learned from 400 V systems, designers are now focused on enhancing the performance of high-voltage protection circuits along with… Read more »
Li-Metal completes concept study for commercial-scale lithium metal plant
Li-Metal, a Canada-based developer of lithium metal technologies, has completed a concept study for a commercial North American lithium metal production facility with an annual capacity of up to 1,000 tonnes. Li-Metal expects its plant to require approximately 5,600 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year. The plant will use Li-Metal’s patented carbonate-to-metal (C2M) lithium metal… Read more »
South 8 says its liquefied gas electrolyte offers safe performance in extreme temperatures
As EV-haters constantly remind us, the liquid electrolytes used in current EV batteries can catch fire or even explode in emergency situations such as a charging fault or a crash, or in the case of a defective cell. Solid-state cells are expected to be much safer, but they’re just beginning to appear in limited numbers… Read more »
GENIUS allows vehicle-to-home bidirectional charging
GENIUS, a microgrid controller by Koben Systems, is designed to make vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology more flexible for EV owners, as energy can be automatically transferred from the vehicle to any load, or to the grid. This upgraded solid-state technology reduces peak electricity consumption and power disruptions in the overtaxed grid infrastructure, according to the company…. Read more »
Tesla is outselling Toyota in California
Tesla’s founders set out to sell “not just the best electric cars, but the best cars.” In several markets around the world, the company’s EVs have now become the best-selling cars. In Q2 of this year, Tesla had the two best-selling cars in California by a wide margin, helping to push the market share of… Read more »
PowerCo says its new cell production procedure saves huge amounts of energy and floor space
Volkswagen Group-owned battery manufacturer PowerCo SE plans to introduce a new battery cell manufacturing method in its plants in Europe and North America. PowerCo predicts that its new Dry Coating procedure may save 30% of energy consumption and 15% of floor area, saving hundreds of millions of euros annually. According to a Joint Development Agreement,… Read more »