Amprius Technologies has announced an expansion of its product portfolio of silicon anode batteries. The new SiCore batteries are based on a proprietary silicon anode material system. Amprius claims its batteries deliver performance that surpasses that of today’s state-of-the-art graphite-based cells: specific energy up to 400 Wh/kg, and cycle life up to 1,200 cycles at… Read more…
Author: chargedevs
The real reason Hertz is selling EVs
It’s the kind of headline EV boosters hate, and EV boo-birds trumpet: just two years after announcing that it would buy 100,000 Teslas and a raft of other EVs, rental giant Hertz announced that it would sell 20,000 of its Teslas and replace them with tried-and-true gas-guzzlers (at this writing, the company is offering around… Read more…
Video: Qnovo uses BMS software to increase battery lifespan and charging speed
It’s widely believed that frequent DC fast charging stresses a battery, shortening its useful lifetime. However, the long-term effects of frequent fast charging can be mitigated with properly designed charging limits. (Battery data specialist Recurrent recently released the results of a study on the subject.) Can BMS software eliminate this problem and push the limits… Read more…
RecycLiCo secures investment for battery recycling joint venture
RecycLiCo Battery Materials, a battery recycling company, has received investment approval from the Taiwan Department of Investment Review for its 50/50 joint venture with Zenith Chemical. RecycLiCo will invest 24 million Taiwan dollars ($768,000) initially, and subsequent investments will be determined as needed through construction and commissioning. The joint venture, Recyclico Zenith Battery Materials Technology,… Read more…
Siemens acquires heavy-duty EV charging specialist Heliox
Electronics giant Siemens has completed its acquisition of Netherlands-based DC fast charger manufacturer Heliox. Siemens says the acquisition will complement its existing eMobility charging portfolio, adding charging solutions ranging in power levels from 40 kW to over a megawatt for commercial EV depots. Heliox’s portfolio also extends Siemens’s market reach, primarily in Europe and North… Read more…
US Army orders 88 EV ARC off-grid EV charging systems from Beam Global
Beam Global has secured an order from the US Army Corps of Engineers for 88 more EV ARC off-grid charging systems. The EV ARC systems will be deployed across 21 locations in 16 states. Executive Order 14057 calls for 100% zero-emission federal fleet vehicle acquisitions by 2035, including 100% light-duty acquisitions by 2027. This could… Read more…
A wood-burning EV charger?
EV chargers come in all shapes and sizes to fit a variety of use cases, but we’ve never heard of a wood-burning EV charger until now. Florida-based Air Burners, a manufacturer of air curtain burner systems, collaborated with Rolls-Royce and Volvo Construction Equipment to develop a portable machine that turns biomass waste into energy. The… Read more…
Webinar: Maximising EV gains – a strategic guide to location-driven profitability
The rapid rise of alternative energy vehicles has caused a seismic shift in the fuel market, offering unprecedented opportunities for operators of EV charging stations and opening new revenue streams for gas station owners, convenience stores, and retailers. Our webinar provides you with a nuanced understanding of the crucial role of location technology and data… Read more…
The US and EU take different approaches to the threat of Chinese EV imports
Governments in North America and Europe are seriously concerned about China’s growing dominance of the EV industry. Chinese automaker BYD recently surpassed Tesla as the world’s leading seller of EVs, and it’s only one of several Chinese-owned brands that are already selling cars in the US and the EU. However, the world’s #2 and #3… Read more…
Rheinmetall wins new order for 800 V electric coolant pumps
German automotive and arms manufacturer Rheinmetall has won an order for several hundred thousand high-voltage electric coolant pumps. This is the customer’s first electric truck division order and is worth a figure in the mid-two-digit million-euro range. High-voltage CWA 2000 pumps are designed for use in 800 V architecture. Glandless design and bearings made for… Read more…
Phoenix completes purchase of Proterra’s electric transit vehicle business
Proterra’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection took the EV industry by surprise, but the blow was softened by the company’s plan to sell off its business units: Proterra Powered (powertrain and battery technology); Proterra Transit (electric buses); and Proterra Energy (charging infrastructure). In November, the Volvo Group was selected as the winning bidder for Proterra Powered…. Read more…
New studies indicate that battery-electric aircraft with 800 km range could be practical
Several companies are working on battery-electric aircraft, but electric aviation is a tougher nut to crack than electric cars, for physical reasons. It simply takes a lot more energy to keep an aircraft aloft than it does to propel a vehicle along a road, and every additional pound of battery weight takes a steep toll… Read more…
Amazon finds utility approvals to be the biggest EV charging infrastructure bottleneck
Many fleets are going electric, but to the best of our knowledge, none are doing so on the same scale as Amazon. The company says it’s now operating some 10,000 of the delivery trucks that it co-developed with Rivian, and it hopes to roll out 100,000 electric trucks by 2030. Building the trucks appears to… Read more…
Carbon Brief offers a raft of resources to debunk misinformation about EVs
Here at Charged, we don’t devote much time to debunking anti-EV misinformation—the enemies of the future flood the zone with FUD 24/7, and responding to even a fraction of it might leave no time for anything else. However, a recent article in Carbon Brief is so comprehensive and well-researched that we just had to bring… Read more…
Costco warehouse installs off-grid solar to power its EV fleet
Retail giant Costco has installed on-site solar generation at a new electric truck charging project in southern California. Costco contracted Washington-based Trinity Structures to design and build an off-grid rooftop solar system at its distribution center in Mira Loma. Trinity completed the project in four months. The “solar electrification structure,” as Trinity calls it, is… Read more…
Plug In America receives DOE funding to expand its EV education programs
EV education and advocacy organization Plug In America has received a grant from the DOE for a three-year, $5-million consumer education project, the largest grant in the organization’s 15-year history. This grant is part of a slate of 16 projects to advance transportation electrification that will be funded throught the DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office to… Read more…
Littelfuse’s new overtemperature detection solution for EV battery packs
Circuit protection specialist Littelfuse has introduced a new overtemperature detection platform for Li-ion battery systems. The new TTape system is designed to help vehicle systems manage premature cell aging effectively while reducing the risks associated with thermal runaway incidents. Littelfuse explains that TTape is suited for a wide range of applications, including EVs, hybrids and… Read more…
The heavy-duty electric truck market could break out in 2024
Electrifying heavy-duty trucks is essential if we’re to fight climate change and air pollution, but the pace of the transition has been painfully slow—many, many pilots, but few truly large-scale orders. For example, shipping giant Schneider acquired 92 Freightliner eCascadias in 2023—a good start, but only that, considering that the company currently operates over 10,000… Read more…
DOT awards $623 million in grants for public EV charging projects
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced $623 million worth of grants for public EV charging projects, the first tranche of $2.5 billion that will be invested under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program. The CFI program complements the $5-billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program, which is administered by… Read more…
Gelion and Ionblox to develop battery sans nickel, cobalt and graphite
UK-Australian battery manufacturing company Gelion and California-based battery technology company Ionblox have inked a joint development agreement (JDA) to create a battery without nickel, cobalt or graphite. The companies aim to deliver safe, high-energy-density, low-cost lithium silicon sulfur (LiSiS) cells for the global EV, eVTOL and drone markets before moving to stationary energy storage. LiSiS… Read more…