Luxury sportscar marque Wiesmann has revealed further details of its all-electric convertible roadster, codenamed Project Thunderball.   The two-seat, rear-wheel-drive EV has twin electric rear mid-mounted motors delivering up to 500 kW (680 bhp) and 1100 Nm of torque, for a targeted 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) and an acceleration time of 2.9 seconds.   The […] More…

Ampaire’s Eco Caravan, a nine-seat regional aircraft, has made its first flight on an integrated hybrid-electric propulsion system. Ampaire expects it to be the first electrified regional aircraft to enter commercial service and the first in a series of larger Ampaire hybrid-electric aircraft. Fully electric aircraft are range-limited because of the weight and energy capacity […] More…

While many shipowners are considering battery power for propulsion, what is holding them back is the availability of shore-side power, the slow speed of charging and the capacity for it. The Sea Li-ion project has therefore been set up to address the knowledge gaps in battery use for ship propulsion. The EU-funded project has now […] More…

Twists in the tale Ryan Maughan explains the pros and cons of the various ways to measure motor torque As the market for electrified vehicle powertrains develops, so the quest to deliver improved efficiency and performance in electric drive systems continues. Maximising vehicle range for a given battery capacity is a key target of every […] More…

British EV technology company Electrogenic has revealed details of its newly expanded range of ‘drop-in’ EV conversion kits for some of the world’s automotive icons.  The kits, for the Land Rover Defender, Jaguar E-Type and Porsche 911, will be offered by UK-based Electrogenic’s ‘Powered by Electrogenic’ arm. They will be offered globally through an international […] More…

Hydrogen-powered commercial vehicle manufacturer Hydrogen Vehicle Systems (HVS) has announced a hydrogen-electric commercial vehicle that has been produced from a clean-sheet design.  The Scottish company is showcasing its hydrogen powertrain in the form of a 5.5 t technology demonstrator, intended as a nod to its planned 40 t zero-emissions HGV (heavy goods vehicle) and with […] More…

Display on demand Peter Donaldson explains the essential characteristics for an EV’s user interface to be accessible, effective and intuitive. While governments’ plans to phase out IC-engined vehicles on short timelines is pushing individuals and companies towards EVs, they remain a small proportion of vehicles on the road globally. Most drivers will be new to […] More…

Although global demand for new EVs is strong, the whole industry is still being disrupted by factors including the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on supply chains, sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine, and inflation (writes Peter Donaldson). At September’s Battery Show in Novi, Michigan, LMC Automotive’s senior manager, powertrain forecasting, Kevin Riddell, […] More…

Hyundai Motor Company says its Ioniq 6 EV has a drag coefficient of 0.21 and an all-electric range of 614 km (WLTP-rated) on a single charge, thanks to lessons learned from some of the most streamlined shapes in automotive and aircraft history, as well as in nature. From the automotive realm, it cites the 1947 […] More…

VivoPower International has announced that it and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tembo e-LV, have entered into a definitive agreement with Energy Trading Company Mauritius (ETC Mauritius) to sell, distribute and market Tembo electrification conversion kits for Toyota 4×4 second-hand vehicles in the Republic of Kenya. Under the deal, ETC Mauritius has committed to sell a minimum […] More…

Researchers in South Korea have developed a new method of modifying conventional anodes to improve the cycling performance of a battery cell (writes Nick Flaherty). The team, at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, used a layer of graphene oxide – a single atomic layer of carbon – on a silicon anode to prevent […] More…

Just push the button Cutting-edge research and prototype factories are helping to advance the automation of EV component manufacturing, writes Nick Flaherty Some car makers have had fully automated assembly of vehicles for many years, and EV makers are looking to achieve this ‘lights out’ approach, but with added issues for the assembly of lithium-ion […] More…

STMicroelectronics has launched a family of microcontroller chips designed specifically for electrified drivetrains (writes Nick Flaherty). The Stellar P microcontrollers are automotive qualified and combine the CAN-XL in-car comms standard to handle the demand for more real-time data with actuation functions. The controllers are built on a 28 nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD SOI) process. […] More…

Adhesive tape manufacturer tesa, bonding machinery manufacturer Vulkan Technic, and construction machinery manufacturer Liebherr have announced a partnership to develop a fully automated assembly line for battery packs. Tesa is contributing its ACX 76730 Box Seal adhesive application, Vulkan Technic is delivering the appropriate application concept, and Liebherr is responsible for implementing the production process. […] More…

As many readers know, competitive engineering of e-mobility systems takes more than just high-quality electric parts: there is far more to an EV than its battery, motor and inverter. Many of the most cutting-edge and game-changing electric road, off-road, sea and air vehicles simply would not exist without innovations in non-electric components. When it comes to maximising actual kilometres per kilowatt, attention has to be paid to subsystems such as transmissions, suspensions, tyres and lightweight materials. More…

Researchers in the US have developed a solid-state lithium metal battery for use in future EVs that would fully charge in as little as 3 minutes (writes Nick Flaherty). The technology, which has a lifetime of 10,000 cycles, has been licensed by Harvard University to Adden Energy to scale up to pouch and then prismatic […] More…

Magna’s 48 V hybrid transmission has been fitted to the Jeep Renegade, Compass e-Hybrid, Fiat 500 X and Tipo, the first models from Stellantis to be equipped with the system. The transmission is said to offer improved driving dynamics due to electric torque vectoring and traction support. Magna says the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission provides a […] More…

Silicon Mobility has announced that its OLEA APP-T222 motor control application for traction inverters is now certified to ISO 26262 ASIL-C. The company says this makes it the first to offer an ISO 26262-certified full-stack automotive solution, which includes the ASIL-D OLEA T222 FPCU chip, the OLEA Composer development framework and the OLEA LIB libraries […] More…

Pumping air into an engine so that more fuel can be burned is a long-established means of persuading the engine to provide more power and, in the case of turbocharging, greater fuel efficiency (writes Peter Donaldson). These days, the same technique is being applied to fuel cells and for the same reasons. Cummins, for example, […] More…

Research into sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) began in the 1970s and ’80s but was overtaken by lithium-ion battery (LIB) research in the 1990s. However, NIBs have recently re-emerged as a potential sustainable and less expensive alternative to LIBs as the demand for lithium drives up its cost, and there is growing concern over the safety of LIB cells, which can be prone to short-circuits and thermal runaway. More…