The US and Canada have created a Rail Decarbonization Task Force to explore ways to reduce emissions from the rail sector. According to a joint statement from the US DOT and the Canadian Transport Ministry, “The decarbonization of the rail sector is a crucial component of our global efforts to reduce emissions and meet the… Read more…

NETZSCH, a developer of positive displacement pumps, has demonstrated its fluid pumping solutions for lithium battery manufacturing. NETZSCH’s NEMO progressive cavity pumps are positive displacement pumps that have a rotating rotor and stationary stator. Rotors are round-threaded screws with one side hinged or elastically attached. The output axial position oscillates. Elastic hollow stators have the… Read more…

The Plight of the Drivewayless—those poor souls who live in urban locales where they can’t charge their EVs at home—has emerged as a major drag on the speed of EV adoption. Solutions from the clever to the silly have been proposed, but if we look at dense cities where adoption is already well advanced, we’re… Read more…

Northvolt has introduced a sodium-ion battery for energy storage systems. The cell has been validated for specific energy exceeding 160 Wh/kg at Northvolt Labs in Västerås, Sweden. Northvolt developed the sodium-ion technology for the battery together with research partner Altris. The battery uses abundant iron and sodium and is safer, cheaper and more sustainable than… Read more…

Transit bus OEM Gillig has delivered six Battery Electric buses to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), which serves Charged’s home city of St Petersburg, Florida—the first deliveries under a 5-year contract with Gillig for 62 Battery Electric buses. Each of the 40-foot buses sports 686 kWh of onboard energy storage. PSTA’s investment also includes… Read more…

EV charging network Electrify America, which operates in 47 states and the District of Columbia, and California-headquartered Kia America, have agreed to provide 1,000 kWh of complimentary charging to first-time owners of the 2024 Kia EV9 SUV.  The offer is redeemable through the Electrify America app at any of the company’s charging stations for three… Read more…

Iconic school bus OEM Blue Bird has delivered 23 electric school buses to Carter County Schools in Kentucky, which operates 11 schools serving some 4,200 students. Carter County Schools purchased the electric bus through Blue Bird’s authorized dealer Central States Bus Sales in Lexington, Kentucky. The district received a $9,085,000 grant through the EPA’s 2022… Read more…

Smart charging specialist IoTecha has developed a verticalized platform including hardware, embedded software and cloud services, that’s designed to power turnkey EV charging solutions. The IoT.ON platform was recently upgraded with a new processor (the brain of a Smart Charger) that includes the STMicroelectronics STM32MP1 MPU along with the ST33 Trusted Platform Module. Key features… Read more…

EcoPro BM, a South Korean cathode materials company, has won a 5-year, $33.4-billion (43.87 trillion KRW) contract to supply high-nickel NCA cathode material to battery manufacturer Samsung SDI. The contract runs from 2024 through 2028. The sales unit price for the actual transaction will be determined by applying the price of raw materials (nickel, cobalt,… Read more…

Duplicitous doublespeak has become de rigueur dialect in the auto industry. “We remain committed to an all-electric future,” says GM as it announces a rollback of its electrification plans. “We strongly believe in EVs,” say auto dealers as they support efforts to slow the EV transition. “The greatest responsibility for us as a company is… Read more…

Sodium-ion batteries have long been touted as a possible successor to the lithium-ion kind—they may have lower energy density, but they rely on more abundant sodium rather than lithium, perform better in cold temperatures, and above all, tend to be cheaper. Now, after years of anticipation, cars equipped with sodium-ion batteries have begun rolling off… Read more…

US school bus manufacturer Blue Bird and sustainable investment company Generate Capital have formed Clean Bus Solutions, a joint venture (JV) designed to meet increasing demand for electric school buses.  Blue Bird recently opened its 40,000-square-foot EV Build-up Center, designed to enable the company to increase its electric school bus production capacity to as many… Read more…

Ford and home automation company Resideo Technologies have announced a joint V2H simulation project called EV-Home Power Partnership.  The project involves pairing the bidirectional EV charging of Ford’s F-150 Lightning with a Resideo smart thermostat to explore the potential of the EV batteries to optimize home energy management, reduce customer electricity costs and relieve strain… Read more…

The trucking industry has a serious driver shortage, and operators are exploring all kinds of ways to improve driver recruitment and retention. Meanwhile, trucking industry trade groups are fighting tooth and nail against electrification. They might be surprised to learn that deploying EVs could be a major hiring advantage, because drivers love them. In a… Read more…

One’s a three-row midsize SUV under $60,000; the other’s a compact hatchback that starts in the mid-30s. Now we’ve driven both. Choosing “best of” or “most important” new cars is always dicey, and doubly so with electric vehicles. New entries are announced virtually every month, and picking the 2025 models that will be most important… Read more…

When it comes to electrifying by the magic date of 2030, automakers talk a great game—but if you want to know which companies are serious about electrification, look into which ones are lining up supplies of critical battery minerals. According to a recent report from Transport & Environment (T&E), automakers in the European market have… Read more…

California-based EV charging software developer WeaveGrid and Spanish EV charging equipment supplier Wallbox have partnered to expand North American Wallbox owners’ access to utility-managed charging programs, beginning with Xcel Energy’s Charging Perks Program in Colorado. The program optimizes residential EV charging times to align with low power grid demand and high availability of renewable energy… Read more…

Freight management and logistics company Uber Freight and commercial truck charging network Greenlane are collaborating on the development and installation of public charging infrastructure for heavy-duty battery-electric vehicles. The aim is to augment Greenlane’s data analysis with Uber Freight’s network data to determine corridors that are prime candidates for electric truck deployment, as well as… Read more…

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will delay enforcing some of the registration and reporting provisions of its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, which had been scheduled to take effect at the end of 2023. Under the rule, drayage fleets and other “high-priority” fleets had until December 31 to register any legacy combustion-powered trucks operating at… Read more…

UK-based EV battery testing, repair and remanufacturing company Autocraft EV Solutions has begun operations from its new site in Arnhem, the Netherlands. The new center can repair 1,340 battery packs per year, and has road and sea transport links to reduce the logistical and environmental challenges of long-distance battery transportation. The company has deployed its… Read more…