Sponsored by TTI and Aptiv. As automakers unveil one battery-electric vehicle platform after another, high-voltage (HV) interconnects are emerging as one of the most important automotive components. They enable power delivery from chargers to batteries and from there to inverters, electric motors, power distribution systems and auxiliary devices such as air conditioners.  Because of their… Read more…

Polish bus manufacturer Solaris has scheduled 2024 delivery of as many as 55 Urbino 15 LE electric buses to Swedish public transport operator Nobina for service on suburban Stockholm routes.   The low-entry, tri-axle, 52-seat buses feature a 240 kW central motor and battery packs with total capacity of more than 550 kWh, designed for all-day… Read more…

Li-Metal, a Canada-based vertically integrated battery materials company, has announced the successful production and shipment of its first batch of lithium metal ingots. These were produced at Li-Metal’s recently commissioned lithium metal reprocessing and casting facility in Markham, Ontario, which has the capacity to process up to 15 metric tonnes of anode scrap material per… Read more…

Germany-headquartered Daimler Truck has begun production of its electric Freightliner eM2 at the Portland, Oregon, manufacturing facility of its subsidiary Daimler Truck North America. The medium-duty truck, designed for pickup and delivery applications, is the tenth Daimler Truck electric model in production worldwide. The first Freightliner eM2s will be delivered in the US to Ferguson,… Read more…

Swedish EV charging infrastructure developer and operator Nima is in the process of building more than 150 EV charging points in Sweden as part of its plan to open a total of 1,250 in the Nordic region by the end of 2026. The company is building charging points with power levels of up to 400… Read more…

Fans of Jeeps, with their rugged, noisy, militaristic image, would seem to be unlikely buyers of EVs. But if you look at vehicle performance rather than demographic identity, a different picture emerges. As prolific EV writer John Voelcker recently noted, off-roading is actually an ideal application for EVs. “Maximum torque at extremely low motor speeds,… Read more…

QuantumScape, a US battery company, has announced that its 24-layer A0 prototype cell retained over 95% discharge energy over 1,000+ full cycle equivalents in lab testing. QuantumScape stated that no automotive-format lithium-metal battery has exhibited this discharge energy retention across a similar cycle count at room temperature and modest pressure. The single-layer cells that QuantumScape… Read more…

Is Toyota a sleeping giant, poised to exploit the wimpy waffling of GM and Ford, and become the EV powerhouse it should be? Or will the company continue paying lip service to e-mobility while clinging to 20th-century technology? Who knows? We won’t presume to read the green tea leaves, but we are happy to report… Read more…

Battery innovator StoreDot is collaborating with Polestar on an engineering project to demonstrate how StoreDot’s XFC battery cell technology can be applied to an existing platform, and show what a production-level solution could look like. Following Polestar’s investment in StoreDot, the two companies are working to demonstrate StoreDot’s production-ready XFC technology at full scale in… Read more…

Amsterdam-headquartered multinational automaker Stellantis plans to invest some €1.5 billion to acquire 20% of Chinese EV maker Leapmotor. Stellantis will take two seats on Leapmotor’s board of directors. The deal also outlines the formation of Leapmotor International, a Stellantis-led joint venture that will have exclusive rights to the export and sale of Leapmotor products as… Read more…

EV charging station provider and network operator FLO, headquartered in Québec City, Canada, has sold its 100,000th charging station, a FLO Home X5 unit to be installed in Toronto by Ridgeline Electric. FLO’s 100,000 charging stations encompass private and residential locations as well as a network of 75,000 public sites. They accommodate more than 1.5… Read more…

Back in 2019, EV startup Rivian scored a great coup—an order for 100,000 electric delivery vans from Amazon. The fat order from the delivery giant gave Rivian what every young company dreams of: a solid source of income that gave it the resources to pursue its true passion (which, for Rivian, means pickups and SUVs… Read more…

The news that GM, Ford and other automakers plan to slow down production of EVs in response to slower sales growth (EV sales grew by only 50 percent last quarter) was like an early Christmas for the various varieties of EV-haters. For most of us in the EV industry, it was more like a visit… Read more…

Revel, the Brooklyn-based EV infrastructure and rideshare provider, has opened its third public EV fast charging station in New York City, and its first in Queens. The LIC Superhub is located in the accessory garage of the JACX, a mixed-use development in Long Island City. Located near the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s main driver support… Read more…

The worst aspect of the old EV tax credit was that it could only be applied to a buyer’s income tax liability (not self-employment tax, state taxes, etc) and, unlike some other tax credits, could not be carried over to a future year. The practical effect of this was that the only people who could… Read more…

Norwegian fuel cell company Nel has decided to build its next gigafactory in Plymouth Charter Township, a Detroit suburb. The electrode manufacturing plant will produce 4 GW of alkaline and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer technology annually. The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) has awarded a $10-million Michigan Business Development grant to the project. The MSF… Read more…

Engine maker Briggs and Stratton is familiar to anyone who’s ever mowed a lawn. The company’s Vanguard brand, which provides commercial battery and  motor products and solutions, showed its brand-new MVG Series of motors and MC Series of motor controllers at the recent Equip Exposition, along with a range of equipment applications powered by Vanguard… Read more…

Holman provides a wide variety of automotive-centric services, from fleet management to vehicle fabrication and upfitting to component manufacturing to retail auto sales. Now the company has introduced a comprehensive collection of fleet electrification solutions designed to simplify the transition to EVs for fleet operators. Holman’s suite of fleet electrification solutions include: home charging management;… Read more…

French electronics company SERMA has signed a new partnership with the French carmaker Renault for EV development in France. SERMA has opened a 3,500-square-meter testing center inside Renault’s Lardy Technical Centre as part of a seven-year cooperation. This infrastructure will support Renault’s electrification efforts by providing sufficient capacity for electrical and abuse testing across its… Read more…

Public charging operator EVgo has developed a prefabrication approach to new station installation that it says could halve the average station installation time and deliver substantial savings on station construction costs, while ensuring consistent, high-quality assembly in a controlled environment. The scalable design packages six or more DC fast charging stalls, along with power cabinets… Read more…