Tesla’s recent announcement that it will make its charging connector design available to colleagues and competitors has been getting mixed reviews. Some pundits poo-pooed Tesla’s announcement—one commenter wrote, “This is not the way standards are developed.” However, we saw it as a step in the direction of a more interoperable EV ecosystem, which could… Read more »
Tag: The Tech
CorePower Magnetics receives $5-million ARPA-E grant to scale magnet production for EVs
CorePower Magnetics has received a $5-million grant from the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy Technologies (SCALEUP) program, which it will use for scaling its magnetic solutions for EVs and EV charging. The company is also planning to open a new manufacturing line in Pittsburgh. Commercialization partners Eaton and… Read more »
FREYR Battery to build Giga America battery plant in Georgia
Another day, another announcement of a new battery gigafactory. FREYR Battery has purchased a site in Coweta County, Georgia for its planned Giga America battery plant, and will begin detailed project engineering “in the coming months.” FREYR plans to invest some $1.7 billion in the first phase of Giga America, which will be a cell… Read more »
Solenoid fundamentals: magnetic latching solenoids for EVs
One of the most challenging parts of new product realization is identifying optimal technology from the onset of a system concept. With the rapid development of the next generation of mobility technology in the form of vehicle electrification, alternative fuels such as hydrogen fuel cell technology, and the overall drive for higher efficiency, the landscape… Read more »
Interplex releases new stackable multi-row board-to-board connectors for EVs
Interplex, a manufacturer of interconnect products, has released a new product that allows multiple connector units to be stacked together. The company’s Multi-Row Board-to-Board (BTB) connector product features a proprietary “snap-in biscuit design.” According to Interplex, this allows interconnections to be appropriately sized, eliminating the need for custom-built units. The new BTB connectors feature copper… Read more »
New battery structure relies on internal thermal modulation to increase charging speed
A team of researchers at Penn State has developed a new battery structure that uses internal thermal modulation to optimize battery temperature, which could lead to faster charging times. The researchers describe their work in “Fast charging of energy-dense lithium-ion batteries,” published in Nature. Batteries operate most efficiently in an optimal temperature environment, as team… Read more »
China is firmly ensconced in the lithium-ion battery supply chain
The development of local battery supply chains is a high priority in both North America and Europe, but as an infographic from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence demonstrates, removing China from the equation will be a difficult task, as the country currently dominates the processing of battery minerals. Most of the world’s lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese… Read more »
Canoo to build EV battery module manufacturing facility in Oklahoma
Canoo plans to build a battery module manufacturing facility at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma. Once built, the facility will be capable of producing approximately 3,200 MWh worth of battery modules per year. Canoo selected the location due to its proximity to a facility owned by battery cell partner Panasonic, and to Canoo’s future… Read more »
Flexible and scalable EV battery cycler: 150 kW SiC-based power for EV battery testing
The need to quickly increase EV battery testing capacity is making validation labs harder to manage and forcing engineering teams to explore ways to sustainably scale up their test lab operations. From few to dozens of test cells, managing power from the battery cyclers is one of the main challenges that impacts lab efficiency, CO2… Read more »
BorgWarner to invest $500 million in Wolfspeed for its silicon carbide devices
Tier 1 supplier BorgWarner has formed a strategic partnership with silicon carbide specialist Wolfspeed. Under the multi-year agreement, BorgWarner will invest $500 million in Wolfspeed and will be entitled to up to $650 million worth of silicon carbide devices annually. BorgWarner expects to earn $4.5 billion in EV-related revenue by 2025—a huge increase compared to… Read more »
