By Scott Shepard, Senior Research Analyst with Navigant Research’s Transportation Efficiencies program Vehicle-grid integration (VGI) is a topic that tends to be at the fringes of coverage of transportation electrification. Developments in the VGI field are often overshadowed by Tesla Model 3 delivery timelines or by the range specs of the next-generation Nissan LEAF. Regardless,… Read more »
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Questions and concerns: Battery power in marine applications
Experts discuss the special concerns when designing battery technology for marine environments. There is growing worldwide demand for electric-powered vessels and for broader electrification in maritime operations, particularly in ports. Consider the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, for example. Air pollution from those ports is a top concern for environmental and public health… Read more »
Lithium-ion battery inspired by safety glass could reduce fire risk
Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a way to mitigate the risk of battery failure during automobile accidents by including slits along the electrodes. In “Limiting Internal Short-Circuit Damage by Electrode Partition for Impact-Tolerant Li-Ion Batteries,” published in the journal Joule, the research team explains how this technology could allow manufacturers… Read more »
Predicting the properties of lightweight carbon fiber composites
Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics represent a promising lightweight replacement for heavy steel. However, for carbon fiber to be widely adopted, new, more economical composites need to be developed. Unfortunately, carbon fiber properties are difficult to model, as they depend on complex features such as fiber loading, length distribution and orientation. Now researchers at the DOE’s Pacific… Read more »
Workhorse to spin off SureFly personal helicopter business
Workhorse Group (NASDAQ:WKHS) has several electric irons in the fire, so to speak. It says it has pre-orders for over 5,000 units of its W-15 plug-in pickup truck (profiled in the May/June 2017 issue of Charged); it has an electric truck on the short list to be selected as the next delivery vehicle for the… Read more »
ARPA-E issues $100-million funding opportunity for early-stage energy R&D
The DOE has announced up to $100 million in funding for new projects as part of ARPA‑E’s latest OPEN funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0001858). Areas of research covered by this FOA include all aspects of transportation, including electrification and energy efficiency. Under the Transportation Technical Category, subcategories include: electric motors; fuel cells; alternative vehicle designs such as… Read more »
Here’s what you need to know about EV charging station safety
Sponsored by ClipperCreek After deciding to buy a plug-in electric vehicle, often the next decision is to purchase a Level 2 charging station for faster charging at home. The technical name as defined in the National Electric Code for these products is EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), commonly called charging stations. Safety might not be the first consideration… Read more »
Chinese shipyard launches all-electric cargo ship – for hauling coal
A shipyard in Guangzhou, the capital of China’s Guangdong province, has launched what it says is the world’s first all-electric cargo ship. According to China Daily, the 230-foot vessel uses a 2,400 kWh battery system comprised of 1,000 individual lithium-ion packs. Range is 50 miles with a load of 2,200 tons of cargo and a… Read more »
Battery management device reconfigures battery modules to extend EV range
A pair of Vanderbilt University researchers have developed a battery management device that could increase the useful range of a battery pack by controlling each cell individually. Ken Pence, Professor of the Practice of Engineering Management, and Tim Potteiger, a PhD student in electrical engineering, used the open-source Tesla battery to model their technique, adding… Read more »
SAE J2954 Recommended Practice enables automated wireless charging to 11 kW
SAE International has published a new Recommended Practice (RP), SAE J2954, which provides the first worldwide specification for wireless power transfer (WPT) up to power levels of 11 kW (WPT 3). This follows the organization’s previous Technical Information Report J2954, which dealt with power levels up to 7.7 kW (WPT 2). The new RP also… Read more »