Toyota has filed a series of patents in the US for simulating a manual gearbox in an EV (writes Nick Flaherty). The set of eight patents would have an impact on the design of the central motor controller, influencing the torque of the motor based on the operation of the accelerator and a ‘pseudo-clutch’ pedal. […] More…

Airbus is combining its two short-range electric aircraft designs – the rotor-based Vahana and the fixed-wing CityAirbus NextGen concept – for a collaboration in Germany (writes Nick Flaherty). “The first is for a long hover times, for example for rescue operations, while the Vahana is for longer flights, for example from Nuremberg to Munich,” says […] More…

KULR has developed a passive propagation resistant (PPR) system to protect maritime battery packs against the risk of fire (writes Nick Flaherty). The US Coast Guard is launching new safety requirements for passenger vessels, and the PPR developed by KULR provides additional battery safety options for the cargo ships, fishing trawlers and cruise liners. A […] More…

Omni Powertrain Technologies has released details about its new electrohydraulic pump combination. The unit was developed for low-voltage mobile applications, and is said to be ideally suited to the needs of hybrid equipment builders facing spatial constraints.  The system includes a Flo-Torq gear pump packaged with an axial flux motor and controller from Omni’s Magelec […] More…

Pionix in Germany has developed an open source software stack to address the fragmentation of EV charging infrastructure (writes Nick Flaherty). The EVerest software is a minimal Linux system that can run on any device, from chargers using a home socket to public DC charging. It uses a modular, customisable software stack that abstracts the […] More…

Henkel has launched two new protective coating products – Loctite EA 9400 and Loctite FPC 5060 – that are designed to shield EV battery housings against heat and fire in case of a thermal runaway. Designed for automated mass production, they can both be applied by ‘spray’ or ‘flat stream’ nozzles, and both are compatible […] More…

Aaron Gillmore, the CEO at wireless inductive charging system developer WAVE, believes that the market has reached a take-off point in commercial medium- and heavy-duty commercial EV fleets (writes Peter Donaldson).  “The technology is here now,” he says. “Over the last 10 years the WAVE team has put in a lot of work to design […] More…

Amprius Technologies has demonstrated a charging rate of 6 minutes to 80% from 0% state of charge for its silicon-based batteries (writes Nick Flaherty). This exceeds the targets for 2025 set by the US government for charging a battery cell to 80% in less than 15 minutes.  Using silicon nanowires avoids the problems of the […] More…

Quantron, a systems provider for battery-powered and hydrogen-electric mobility for commercial vehicles, is presenting its portfolio of commercial vehicles to investors, customers and press representatives from April 26 to 28. The company will give exclusive insights and showcase new vehicles from its Q-Light and Q-Heavy ranges. A highlight of the event will be the world […] More…

The Airport Technology division of Goldhofer is equipping its zero-emissions Sherpa E cargo and pushback tractors and Phoenix E towbar-less aircraft tractor with battery-powered motors and inverters supplied by Aradex. The newly configured electric powertrain is used in both vehicles, and provides a torque of up to 1200 Nm for the Sherpa E and 4000 […] More…

Visteon has launched a wireless BMS and added smart junction box technology to simplify battery pack designs (writes Nick Flaherty). The company has been involved in BMS development since the earliest days of EV production when it supported the 1998 Ford Ranger EV. The wireless BMS uses chips from Analog Devices to eliminate the traditional […] More…

In the West we are still addicted to the car as the ultimate embodiment of personal mobility (writes Peter Donaldson). However, there is growing awareness of the total carbon footprint of transport, and even the most efficient electric cars represent large tonnages of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere in their manufacture. This awareness is […] More…

A cell technology holding 900 Wh/kg – three times the energy density of state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery chemistries – that is safer and cheaper thanks to the use of abundant and easily accessible sulphur for the cathode in place of nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) is an exciting prospect (writes Peter Donaldson). Batteries that use sulphur […] More…

Researchers in Japan have developed a lithium-air battery that has a far higher energy density than current lithium-ion batteries (writes Nick Flaherty). Lithium-air batteries have the potential to be the ultimate rechargeable packs, as they are lightweight and have high capacity, with theoretical energy densities of 3150 Wh/kg – several times that of the lithium-ion […] More…

Light at the end of the tunnel Solar cell technology is near the point of becoming mainstream in EVs, but some obstacles to their use still need to be overcome. Peter Donaldson reports According to the NASA Earth Observatory, an average of 340 W/m2 of solar power reaches the Earth. Over an hour that would […] More…

Examples of classic vehicles converted to electric power abound, but SC Innovation’s reworking of the rugged skid-steered 6 x 6 All-Terrain Mobility Platform (ATMP) is remarkable because, rather than adding a high-tech twist to an exercise in nostalgia, it brings new capabilities to a machine that has filled niches in military, agricultural and other utility […] More…

The PAT-Cell-Force is an operando test cell in EL-CELL’s PAT series for adjusting and measuring the mechanical force applied to a cell stack. Its wide range of forces makes it suitable for aprotic lithium-ion chemistries with liquid electrolytes as well as solid-state batteries. It allows the force on a cell stack to be set to […] More…

Following a one-off project in 2018, BMW is now offering a service to convert the classic petrol-driven Mini to electric propulsion (writes Nick Flaherty). The original was launched in 1959, created during an oil crisis and based on the idea of saving fuel and transporting four occupants and their luggage in the smallest possible footprint. […] More…

Liquid displacement As batteries that use solid instead of liquid electrolytes begin to appear, Nick Flaherty cautions that challenges remain in bringing them to market Solid-state batteries (SSBs) are seen in some areas as a key way forward for e-mobility applications. For one thing, replacing the liquid electrolyte in lithium-ion cells can help to reduce […] More…

Power Integrations (PI) has launched its first high-voltage switch chips for automotive battery packs that use a SiC MOSFET (writes Nick Flaherty). The package for the InnoSwitch3-AQ integrates a 1700 V SiC MOSFET for 800 and 1000 V battery packs where a 1200 V device would not be able to handle the peak voltage that […] More…