Google and the IEEE Power Electronics Society established the Little Box Challenge to stimulate the development of inverters, key components of both solar energy installations and EV systems. The challenge to engineers: “Figure out how to shrink an inverter down to something smaller than a laptop (a reduction of 10× in volume), and you’ll win… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "our next energy"
Greenlots and Hawaiian Electric demonstrate fast charger with storage and vehicle-grid integration
Greenlots and Hawaiian Electric Company have collaborated to demonstrate a fast charger that incorporates Greenlots’ SKY vehicle-grid integration (VGI) platform, as well as stationary storage. The Greenlots SKY Smart Charging platform, which uses OpenADR and the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), can respond to demand response load modification requests and allow Hawaiian Electric to remotely… Read more »
ARPA-E to award $30 million to increase performance of solid ion conductors for batteries
The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will award up to $30 million in funding for a new program focused on creating components for the next generation of batteries and fuel cells. ARPA-E’s Integration and Optimization of Novel Ion Conducting Solids (IONICS) program (DE-FOA-0001478) seeks to create transformational electrochemical cells by creating components built with… Read more »
Second life: Spiers New Technologies develops advanced battery classification techniques
Spiers New Technologies (SNT) is just over a year old, but its founder has been focused on developing the market and technology for secondary-use batteries as long as anyone in the business. Dirk Spiers is one of the more passionate figures in the EV industry. Like many entrepreneurs, he seems to have a clear view… Read more »
GKN’s new torque-vectoring axle combines an electric motor and dual-clutch system
Engineering firm GKN Automotive recently demonstrated a new torque-vectoring electric drive system to customers at its Wintertest proving ground in Arjeplog, Sweden. Torque-vectoring technology provides the ability to vary the torque to each wheel, generating a yaw moment in the car. By controlling the power to each wheel separately, a vehicle can respond to inputs with more stability, more… Read more »
Why don’t EV-makers offer battery upgrades?
If you buy an EV this year, chances are next year’s model will offer a slightly better battery for the same price. As a result, resale values for most EVs are terrible (or wonderful, if you’re looking to buy a used car). Three-year-old Nissan LEAFs are going for around a quarter of their original MSRPs…. Read more »
Lithium X acquires potential lithium lode in Nevada
The business of prospecting for lithium is still tiny compared to the worldwide oil exploration industry, but some companies are already buying up tracts of land that may contain motherlodes of the light white stuff. The lithium exploration and development company Lithium X Energy has announced its acquisition of the CVL Lithium Property in Nevada’s… Read more »
Bee pollen forms carbon microstructures for Li-ion anodes
Much research in the battery world focuses on finding a replacement for graphite as an anode material. One candidate is hard carbon, which can be formed in various morphologies to deliver the desired properties. But in fact, there are already millions of tiny factories around the world, cranking out as many carbon particles as could… Read more »
EV sales in Canada up 32% in 2015
It’s still a bit of a mystery why we Americans fell behind in EV sales in 2015. While US plug-in sales fell short compared to 2014 (a trend that has happily now reversed), sales in Europe almost doubled. Up north in Canada, sales also grew, by 32% compared to 2014 (actually a slower rate of… Read more »
EV Fleet CEO on building a highway-capable light-duty all-electric truck
There are a lot of great opportunities for companies building EVs for niche markets, but getting an independent automotive startup off the ground is anything but easy. EVs can be very practical from a financial point of view. So it’s a bit of a shame that for the world’s most practical vehicle buyer – the… Read more »
