Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed a solid-state electrolyte which they claim is non-combustible (which is good, because it’s heated to over 1,800° F during manufacturing!) and not vulnerable to dendrite formation due to a stabilizing ceramic layer. The electrolyte has special properties that allow for increased capacities and faster charging rates as well. Current… Read more »
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Paris pulls the plug on Bolloré’s Autolib electric car-sharing service
French conglomerate Bolloré launched its Autolib electric car-sharing service in Paris in 2011, and later expanded to other French cities, as well as London, Indianapolis and Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the Paris operation has died. After a very public dispute, the syndicate that brought together the 103 partner municipalities, including Paris, in Île-de-France, terminated its contract… Read more »
DOE awards $19 million for extreme fast charging research
The DOE is awarding $19 million in funding to 12 cost-shared research projects focused on “extreme fast charging,” which is defined as a system with power levels up to 400 kW and typical charging times of 15 minutes or less. Nine of the selected projects focus on advanced anodes, electrolytes, and battery cell designs: UC… Read more »
Wildcat sorts through the avalanche of new battery materials to find the best
As automakers and cell manufacturers begin to realize the complexity of benchmarking new battery materials, Wildcat Discovery Technology is using its high-speed R&D technology to help find clarity If you follow battery technology news on a regular basis as we do, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the volume of new announcements. There are… Read more »
Garnet ceramic electrolyte helps block dendrite formation
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a new template that they hope will enable a safer alternative to liquid electrolytes, which have several drawbacks, including flammability, leakage and dendrite formation in the electrodes. In “Lithium-ion conductive ceramic textile: A new architecture for flexible solid-state lithium metal batteries,” published in Materials Today, UMD researchers… Read more »
UK’s Faraday Institution awards £42 million to four battery research consortia
The Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent national battery research institute, has announced up to £42 million ($58 million) in new government funding to four UK-based consortia to conduct research aimed at overcoming battery challenges. The topics for the four projects were chosen in consultation with industry, to ensure that the research is producing solutions that… Read more »
Volkswagen coordinates EV platform strategy with suppliers
Volkswagen’s Board of Management recently held what it called an MEB Supplier Summit to discuss its new Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB), a platform that will be used for the company’s next generation of EVs, with key suppliers. “To date, more than 100 suppliers have already been nominated within the framework of our electric offensive,”… Read more »
Is Toyota changing its tune? 10 new EVs in the pipeline
Toyota, the world’s second-largest automaker, and one of the largest electrification skeptics (its execs have made statements disparaging battery EVs, and its Lexus subsidiary has run ads mocking EVs), now says it plans to launch 10 new pure EVs by “the early 2020s,” and to add electrified variants to its entire lineup by 2025. “As a mass-market… 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 »
Dyson to build “radically different” EV
When British inventor Sir James Dyson’s eponymous company acquired Michigan solid-state battery pioneer Sakti3 in 2015, we suspected it wasn’t about better batteries for handheld vacuum cleaners. Now Dyson has announced that it has had 400 engineers working since 2015 on an EV that will be “radically different” from current models and go on sale… Read more »