A team of researchers has identified a new class of non-flammable electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries, based on perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs). In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team reports that these electrolytes exhibit thermal stability beyond 200° C and a transference number of at least 0.91 (more than double… Read more »
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Brammo announces 2014 Empulse and Empulse R electric motorcycles
Oregon-based Brammo has released details of its 2014 Empulse and Empulse R electric motorcycles. With a top speed of 110 mph, the Empulse claims to be the world’s fastest electric motorcycle in serial production. It sports a water-cooled motor and a six-speed gearbox that translate 90 Nm (66 lb-ft) of torque to over 880 Nm… Read more »
First look at the Energica Ego, an Italian electric superbike
Bringing four decades of racing heritage with it, Italian 3D-printed parts manufacturer CRP enters the world of electric street motorcycles with its high-performance superbike, the Energica Ego. Throughout Italy, racing pervades the culture. Within a 30-mile radius in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, you’ll find the headquarters of Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Ducati, representing… Read more »
CalBattery’s new SiGr anode material hopes to break the battery bottleneck
California Lithium Battery took advantage of national and local government programs so it could focus on its revolutionary silicon-graphene anode material. Now with EV, electronics, and energy storage customers lining up, it hopes to break the battery bottleneck. When you think about a bottleneck, you think about constriction – something that moves in a particular… Read more »
2014 Cadillac ELR: Technology trickling up
Nowadays, when the in-crowd thinks of the planet’s coolest car, a Model S or one of the European brands might come to mind, but there was a time when the unchallenged monarch of automotive luxury was the Cadillac. Surely no other car has been mentioned in as many classic movies and blues songs. And a… Read more »
NC State University to lead new institute for next-generation power electronics
President Obama has announced the selection of a consortium of businesses and universities to lead a manufacturing innovation institute for next-generation power electronics. Last May, the President committed $200 million in federal funding to three new regional hubs, designed to bridge the gap between applied research and product development, and launched a competition to select… Read more »
New microscopy technique gives researchers a better look inside batteries
Electricity may seem invisible, but storing it in batteries has some very physical effects. As a battery is charged and discharged, electrons and ions rush around from place to place, sometimes causing electrodes to change their shapes over time. As researchers experiment with improved electrode materials, it’s critical to get a microscopic view of what… Read more »
The most interesting part of the 2014 Cadillac ELR is the software
We often hear automotive engineers talk about the need for a better understanding of the components of an EV. Some have said that there is an inherent inefficiency in many systems because the parts – like the battery cells, motors and inverters – have historically been developed independently of each other and then integrated together…. Read more »
Rumors grow of redesigned Volt and another new Chevy EV in 2016
It’s technically still a rumor at this point, but it’s beginning to sound likely that Chevrolet plans to launch not only a next-generation Volt, but a new EV with a 200-mile range, around 2016. A recent article in Bloomberg Business Week about Mary Barra, who will take over from Dan Akerson as CEO of GM… Read more »
Researchers demonstrate major advance in lithium-sulfur battery chemistry
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have demonstrated a lithium-sulfur (Li/S) battery that has more than twice the specific energy of current lithium-ion batteries, and that lasts for more than 1,500 charge/discharge cycles with minimal capacity loss. This is the longest cycle life yet reported for any lithium-sulfur battery. The results were reported in the… Read more »