The BMW Group will present 5 EVs at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show, including one new production vehicle, the BMW i3s. BMW recently reported that EVs and PHEVs now account for 5.5% of total sales in the US. By 2025, the company plans to offer 25 electrified models, 12 of them pure EVs. The… Read more »
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New in-depth video review compares Model 3 with Model S
Tesla’s Model 3 is floating in a strange sort of scarcity-induced stealth mode. Mainstream auto mags can’t seem to get their hands on units to review, but video reviews from owners and internet-era citizen journalists are starting to appear: Doug DeMuro, writer of the Oversteer column on Autotrader; Trevor Page and Kenneth Bokor, the founders… Read more »
ODU offers the complete EV connections solutions for OEM and Teir 1 customers
Sponsored by ODU-USA Although mass-produced hybrid and electric cars have been commercially available since the 1990’s, the field is still very much in an evolutionary state, driven largely by two key factors: Greater vehicle range Shorter stops at re-charging stations The second of these does not necessarily imply actual re-charging. A more recent innovation involved… Read more »
BMW takes steps to ensure more responsible production of cobalt
And the dirty little secret of EVs is…cobalt. The metallic element is used in significant quantities in EV batteries. Unfortunately, about half the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a war-torn land in which working conditions are bad, and child labor is common. In 2014, as many as 40,000 children worked… Read more »
Former EPA official: US automakers’ EV strategies are irrational
These days, not a week goes by without an announcement of some major electrification initiative from a major carmaker: Nissan’s new LEAF is coming to the US soon, GM is actually advertising its Bolt EV, VW and Daimler have each announced a range of new EVs (for China, at least), and Volvo and Jaguar have… Read more »
Rumor: Tesla may use Magna to produce Model 3 in Europe
German media site Der Aktionär has reported (via InsideEVs) a rumor that Tesla is considering outsourcing European production of Model 3, possibly to Magna International, a global firm that provides parts to many OEMs, including Tesla, and in some cases even assembles complete vehicles under contract. Peter Haidenek, Finance Chairman of Tesla supplier Polytec, told… Read more »
alpha-En wins grant to commercialize lithium metal anodes
New York-based alpha-En has won an award of $750,000 from the DOE’s Office of Technology Transition Technology Commercialization Fund. The funding will be used to commercialize Argonne National Laboratory’s proprietary highly conductive solid-state electrolyte coating for alpha-En’s lithium metal anodes. alpha-En says its lithium metal is purer than what is currently available on the market,… Read more »
Making a motor: Many automakers rely heavily on third party motor-winding experts like Odawara Engineering
Electric motors are everywhere: in household appliances, in hand tools, in buildings, in consumer electronics, and increasingly in automobiles. Motors are used in windshield wipers, power windows, throttle controllers, and, more and more, in the drivetrains of electrified vehicles. Electric motors abound, and Odawara Engineering knows how to make them. Charged spoke with Odawara’s Chris… Read more »
A closer look at wire in EVs
Wire is not the most glamorous of components, but it is the enabler of our modern society – especially of our even more modern mode of transport, the EV – and a surprising amount of technology and engineering goes into making, selecting and using wire. How wire is made The modern method of manufacturing copper… Read more »
Tesla Model 3: Will this machine kill the Oil Age?
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of the Tesla Model 3 (although the media has been doing its best). There’s no question that it’s a momentous motorcar on (at least) three levels. First, Model 3’s success is widely assumed to be an existential issue for the company – if it fails to deliver on its… Read more »