British-Australian multinational mining and metals company Rio Tinto and global lithium producer Arcadium Lithium, headquartered in Ireland, have made an agreement under which Rio Tinto will acquire Arcadium in an all-cash transaction for $5.85 per share.  The deal will bring Arcadium’s lithium business into Rio Tinto’s portfolio of commodities that include aluminum, copper, high-grade iron… Read more…

Eaton, a multinational power-management manufacturer, has partnered with German electronics manufacturer Munich Electrification to develop and market a battery configuration switch (BCS) for 400-volt/800-volt dual-string battery packs in EVs. This allows 800 V vehicles to effectively charge via a 400 V charger. Eaton says the new switch simplifies the system and streamlines packaging and assembly… Read more…

Lithium-ion battery technology and manufacturing company Electrovaya has received a C$2 million ($1.45 million) investment from the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) to make automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and capacity enhancements at its Mississauga, Ontario manufacturing facility. “This funding will help assist the company in its… Read more…

Student transportation provider First Student is working with New York electric utility Con Edison to demonstrate a Smart Energy Hub that will support the electrification of school buses in Brooklyn. First Student has around 2,000 electric school buses under contract in school districts across the US, and more than 360 EVs deployed. The Brooklyn project… Read more…

The Loan Programs Office at the US Department of Energy (DOE) has made a conditional commitment for a direct loan of up to $670.6 million to Aspen Aerogels Georgia to help finance the construction of an aerogel blanket manufacturing facility in Register, Georgia. Aspen’s PyroThin aerogel thermal barriers are used as a protective layer within… Read more…

As it did in previous decades, Honda has used another maker’s car to enter a new US segment. Honda is often known as the world’s largest maker of internal combustion engines—more than 14 million of them a year. It sells those engines in a variety of containers, from home generators and lawn mowers to ATVs… Read more…

The dry electrode coating process has the potential to enable the production of better, greener, more cost-effective batteries. It relies on advanced fluoropolymer binders with Teflon™ For a few years now, Charged has been reporting on how dry electrode coating processes have the potential to revolutionize battery production by eliminating the use of hazardous, environmentally… Read more…

Heavy on heritage and light on details, the launch event showed Scout’s concepts for an EV 4×4 that’s every bit the equal of Jeep or Bronco. Scout Motors, the startup electric-truck maker owned by Volkswagen, took the wraps off concepts for its first two 4×4 models outside Nashville on Thursday evening. The Terra truck and… Read more…

Researchers at the US Geological Survey (USGS) say they have located high concentrations of lithium brine in the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas.  Dating back to the Jurassic period, the Smackover Formation is a relic of an ancient sea that left an extensive, porous and permeable limestone geologic unit that extends under parts of Arkansas,… Read more…

US manufacturing and technology company Honeywell has launched two new technologies to optimize electric vehicle (EV) safety for drivers and manufacturing for gigafactories. Honeywell Process Solutions is partnering with ultrasound-based battery interrogation systems supplier Titan Advanced Energy Solutions to integrate its scanning technology into the Honeywell Battery Manufacturing Excellence Platform (MXP). Titan’s ultrasound scanner enables… Read more…

Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), headquartered in Portland, Oregon, has delivered 20 Freightliner eCascadia Class 8 tractors to the Golden Brands—East Bay and Harbor Distributing—Huntington Beach warehouses of Reyes Beverage Group (RBG), a Chicago-headquartered nationwide distributor of alcoholic beverages.  Nine more of the vehicles are scheduled to be delivered to RBG’s Gate City Beverage San… Read more…

Build your own microgrid in a few days: Q&A with Paired Power CEO Tom McCalmont As fleet operators know (or soon find out), deploying EV charging infrastructure involves much more than buying some chargers and running some conduit. Obtaining adequate power at a site is often a challenge, and it almost always takes a long… Read more…

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor has announced it will take a 25% stake in ChargeScape, a software company that connects electric utilities, automakers and drivers, and that it is deploying two power management systems using second-life batteries from the Nissan LEAF. ChargeScape is a joint venture founded in 2023 by BMW, Ford and Honda, each with… Read more…

German technology company Siemens has integrated its numerical control system, SINUMERIK ONE, into the latest model of Prima Power’s 3D laser cutting machine, Laser Next, for automotive manufacturing. Prima Power, a manufacturer of sheet metal working machinery and 3D laser cutting technology, said it has enhanced its machine’s compatibility and integration capabilities. Incorporating the advanced… Read more…

Lithium-sulfur batteries, which feature high energy density, and don’t need problematic minerals such as nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite, are widely seen as a possible replacement for today’s lithium-ion batteries. Lyten, which calls itself a “supermaterial applications company,” has long been a pioneer in Li-S technology. Now the company has announced plans to invest more… Read more…

PhoenixEV, a division of California-headquartered commercial EV manufacturer Phoenix Motor, plans to deliver four 35-foot electric transit buses to the University of California San Diego in early 2025. The new buses will bring the university’s fleet to 20% electric as part of its commitment to decarbonization by 2045. “This project will mark the third University… Read more…

Austria-based Miba Battery Systems has introduced its new Terra #11 battery system equipped with 46xx cell technology for off-highway vehicles, construction machinery and utility vehicles. Terra #11 operates at 650 V, and has a capacity of 42.8 kWh. Its dimensions of 1700 x 700 x 140 mm give manufacturers the flexibility to integrate it into… Read more…

Battery technology provider A3 Global’s NuVant Systems subsidiary has introduced its new LVc-40 tool for diagnosing, repairing, balancing and reconditioning hybrid and EV batteries. The LVc-40 features 40 individual channels and includes an integrated computer, enabling it to run NuVant’s Pack-Builder software and leverage AI-driven algorithms to maximize battery performance. The system provides key diagnostic… Read more…

Mercedes-Benz Trucks, a division of Daimler Truck, has received an order for 75 Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 trucks from Netherlands-headquartered logistics service provider Simon Loos, which plans to expand its electric fleet to a total of 135 trucks. Simon Loos was the first company outside Germany to start practical tests of the near-series prototype eActros 600…. Read more…

US-based battery manufacturer Enovix has started shipping EX-1M battery cell samples from its new Agility Line in Malaysia. The start of shipments follows the shipping of initial samples from the company’s Fab1 in California, and the opening of the high-volume Fab2 in Malaysia this summer. The company says it is on track to commence high-volume… Read more…