These days when most Americans think of Swedish engineering, they probably remember a frustrating experience with an Allen wrench and one too few pieces of particle board. But we didn’t always buy our Swedish creations under the same roof as our Swedish meatballs. Any American old enough to drink remembers a friend whose parents drove… Read more »
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NRG EVgo on the move: Its DC fast charging network passed major milestones (Full Interview)
Q&A with Arun Banskota and Brendan Jones. In the past year, the NRG EVgo network has quietly passed some major milestones in the EV charging industry. The company now has more public DC fast charging sites than anyone else – even more than Tesla’s vast Supercharger network. EVgo also has the highest number of CHAdeMO and… Read more »
Tesla may not spend on advertising, but it is actively selling
A bit of conventional wisdom about Tesla, repeated often in the media, is that the company does no advertising – as Elon Musk has said, if you create a truly revolutionary product, the marketing takes care of itself. Tesla has not indulged in the mass marketing activities that are so important to other automakers –… Read more »
DOE study: Battery second use offsets EV expenses, improves grid stability
A recent analysis from the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has confirmed the value of something that several automakers are already investigating: repurposing used EV batteries for stationary storage applications. The NREL found that battery second use (B2U) strategies are capable of offsetting the costs of recycling vehicles at the end of their lives,… Read more »
South Korean plan turns ordinary 220V outlets into charging stations
Ironically, South Korea, home to some of the world’s leading producers of Li-ion batteries including LG Chem and Samsung, still has a comparatively tiny EV market. Total plug-in sales in 2014 were 850, far below a tenth of 1% of total vehicle sales. Neighboring Japan has around 110,000 plug-in vehicles on the road, compared to around 1,800… Read more »
DOE report examines opportunities for US battery manufacturers
Asia currently dominates automotive lithium-ion cell production – it controls around 79% of the market. However, a recent report by the DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC) found that the US has a growing opportunity in the industry, which is expected to swell from the current $9 billion to $14.3 billion by 2020. The… Read more »
Volkswagen to install 12,000 charging points in its German parking lots
Volkswagen has announced what must be one of the world’s largest workplace charging programs – it plans to install 12,000 charging points at its company parking lots in Germany over the next few years – 10% of the company’s 120,000 employee parking spaces. CEO Martin Winterkorn made the announcement at the recent National Conference on… Read more »
Tesla Superchargers may be too popular for their own good
Giving away free stuff can be a winning business strategy, but it can backfire if customers start gaming the system. At Tesla’s recent shareholders’ meeting, Elon Musk complained that some Model S owners living near the company’s free Superchargers are using them to charge up for everyday driving, rather than for road trips as Tesla… Read more »
Sumitomo Chemical increases production capacity for battery separators
Sumitomo Chemical is ramping up production capacity for its Pervio lithium-ion secondary battery separators. Production at the company’s Ohe Works in Niihama, Japan will be raised to approximately 1.3 times the current capacity by next spring. The company also plans to build a new plant for Pervio at its subsidiary in South Korea, to start… Read more »
VW Golf GTE concept plugs in and gets sporty
Volkswagen unveiled a concept Sport version of the Golf GTE PHEV at a recent festival in Austria. Featuring a carbon fiber body and a three-motor AWD system, the Golf GTE Sport does 60 in 4.3 seconds, boasts a top speed of 174 mph, and offers an electric range of 31 miles. The powertrain includes a 1.6-liter TSI… Read more »