Albemarle Corporation has announced the opening of its new Battery Materials Innovation Center (BMIC), located at the company’s Kings Mountain, North Carolina site. The BMIC is expected to be fully operational in July 2021, and will support Albemarle’s lithium hydroxide, lithium carbonate and advanced energy storage materials growth platforms. It has been equipped to enable… Read more »
Tag: The Tech
How Williams Advanced Engineering built “the world’s most extreme battery”
Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) has been a battery supplier to the Formula E electric racing championship since 2014. Now the legendary engineering firm is the sole powertrain developer for the new Extreme E off-road championship. WAE Principal Engineer Glen Pascoe recently discussed the challenges of creating a battery that can power Extreme E’s enormous Odyssey… Read more »
Thinner anode strips could lead to longer lithium metal battery life
Researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have increased the lifetime of a lithium metal battery to a record 600 cycles. The research was done through DOE’s Innovation Center for Battery500 Consortium. The work was published in the journal Nature Energy. The PNNL team found a way to increase the battery’s lifetime using 20-micron-wide… Read more »
Faraday Institution develops ultrasonic recycling method
Faraday Institution researchers working on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries at the Universities of Leicester and Birmingham have developed a new method to recover materials from end-of-life EV batteries. The new process uses ultrasonic waves to separate valuable material from the electrodes. The researchers say it delivers a higher purity of recovered materials compared to… Read more »
Daikin’s new AC refrigerant features lower boiling point, could boost EV range
Japanese air conditioner manufacturer Daikin Industries has developed a refrigerant specifically for EVs, and plans to commercialize the product by 2025, according to a report by Nikkei Asia. At present, the most common refrigerant for use in EV air conditioners is R-1234yf, sold under the names Opteon YF by Chemours and as Solstice YF by… Read more »
New paper examines environmental impact of brine-based lithium extraction
A new paper from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) analyzes the process of extracting lithium from brine. In “Energy, Greenhouse Gas, and Water Life Cycle Analysis of Lithium Carbonate and Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate from Brine and Ore Resources and Their Use in Lithium Ion Battery Cathodes and Lithium Ion Batteries,” published in the journal Resources, Conservation… Read more »
Exro says its Coil Driver tech can reduce EVSE cost and complexity
Power electronics specialist Exro Technologies has announced a new application for its patented Coil Driver technology, which it says could dramatically reduce the cost and complexity associated with deploying EV infrastructure at scale. According to Exro, EVs currently require three different types of power electronics components to power the vehicles and charge the batteries: a… Read more »
Toyocolor to supply carbon nanotube dispersions to SK Innovation
Japanese ink and materials manufacturer Toyocolor has been tapped to supply its Lioaccum series of conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersions to the North American and European operations of battery-maker SK Innovation. Lioaccum dispersions are used as a conductive additive in Li-ion cathodes to help expand battery capacity. These batteries will be installed in EVs manufactured… Read more »
Dana and Switch Mobility partner on electric commercial vehicles
Drivetrain and e-propulsion specialist Dana (NYSE: DAN) has signed a strategic agreement with Ashok Leyland subsidiary Switch Mobility, a manufacturer of electric buses and light commercial vehicles. Dana will make a strategic investment in Switch Mobility, and will become a preferred supplier of electric drivetrain components for Switch’s vehicles, providing e-axles, gearboxes, motors, inverters, software… Read more »
Rolls-Royce delivers new PGS1 generator to testbed for hybrid aircraft
Rolls-Royce has taken delivery of a generator that will enable what the company calls “the most powerful hybrid-electric aero power and propulsion system in aerospace.” The generator for RR’s 2.5 MW Power Generation System 1 (PGS1), along with its related power electronics, was delivered to the newly-renovated Testbed 108 in Bristol, UK. The generator completed… Read more »
