In the USA, ChargeNet Stations has opened its first ultra-fast charging stations at a South San Francisco Taco Bell. More than 100 California Taco Bell restaurants are set to be “electrified” in the next year. At Taco Bell restaurants ChargeNet says that its stations "innovative" … | Continue reading
The British lithium-sulphur battery specialist Oxis Energy is apparently on the verge of going out of business. As the company could not "raise the investment required to continue its product development", Oxis is now to be wound up and the patents auctioned off. As the British a … | Continue reading
The Chinese battery cell manufacturer CATL will build another cell factory in Europe. The second location after Erfurt is Debrecen in Hungary. CATL already has an important customer on its hands: the cell factory is to supply the Mercedes-Benz vehicle plants in Germany and Hungar … | Continue reading
The Chinese manufacturer Niu plans to launch its first electric two-wheeler with a sodium-ion battery next year. The manufacturer appears to put battery cost over concerns with weight. Niu CEO Li Yan told Chinese media, that Niu wants to keep costs under control in the face of ri … | Continue reading
Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions (Toshiba ESS) has entered into a partnership with Echandia, a Swedish company engaged in fuel cell systems for maritime applications. The partnership will focus on the development of fuel-cell technology combined with batteries to accelerate t … | Continue reading
Volkswagen's partner for solid-state batteries, Quantumscape, claims to make bold strides in its Q2 letter to shareholders. The company says it is now successfully building and testing prototype 24-layer cells - up from 16 layers just a few months ago. Solid-state battery develop … | Continue reading
Siemens has acquired a minority stake in wireless charging specialist WiTricity for 25 million dollars (€23.3Mn). The companies will work together to drive the adoption of open, interoperable standards, while Siemens also becomes Witricity's licensee. Siemens expects the wireless … | Continue reading
ZeroAvia, a company that specialises in hydrogen flights, has announced a new partnership with ZEV Station to develop green hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. The companies will work together on developing a regional airport to showcase the feasibility of hydrogen-powered commer … | Continue reading
BMW, Bosch, Hexagon Purus and Testnet Engineering are working together on a flat hydrogen tank for the underbody of future fuel cell cars. The first prototypes of the 700 bar high-pressure storage tank are to be developed by the end of 2022. The declared goal is for the hydrogen … | Continue reading
In Germany, Audi's main plant in Ingolstadt will only produce electric cars from 2028. This means that the electric A6 successor will probably be built at the main plant rather than in Neckarsulm. These plans are quite ambitious seeing as the Ingolstadt plant hasn't produced a si … | Continue reading
Rock Tech Lithium announces the construction of a production plant for battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Guben, Brandenburg - 60 kilometres from Tesla's plant in Grünheide. The plan is to produce around 24,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year there, or enough for around 500, … | Continue reading
CATL has presented a sodium-ion cell along with plans to start production in 2023. What are the advantages and disadvantages of replacing lithium? Christoph M. Schwarzer evaluated the technology by speaking to battery experts from P3 Automotive and Prof. Dr Markus Hölzle from ZSW … | Continue reading
Tesla has handed over the first Model Ys to customers in Europe. As social media posts show, the first handovers are in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. There are also new rumours about the battery technology of the Model Y to be built at Giga Berlin. In view of the first del … | Continue reading
The first Tesla Model Ys have arrived in Europe. A German manager of the electric car manufacturer made this public on his LinkedIn channel. The official start of deliveries is still scheduled for September, but it looks like the first deliveries could take place in August. This … | Continue reading
Solid-state battery specialist and Volkswagen partner QuantumScape has announced the development of ten-layer battery cells in a recent quarterly report. The goal is to lead the new cells to similar capacity retention and cycling behaviour as the previous single- and four-layer c … | Continue reading
The pedelec start-up Bio-Hybrid has finally failed. After the management had to file for insolvency in April this year, the search for investors was unsuccessful. The start-up was dissolved in the commercial register in mid-July. Prior to this, the Nuremberg District Court had op … | Continue reading
Varta CEO Herbert Schein has now confirmed the rumour that the company also wants to produce battery cells for electric cars in the future and revealed more details about the initiative. Production is scheduled to start in 2024 at the latest. Varta presented impressive performanc … | Continue reading
The electric car startup Byton that started with such promise looks to be on the brink of collapse. According to the company, it will cease operations for half a year from 1 July – whether it will continue after that is open. After it was announced in April that Byton had furloug … | Continue reading
Tesla has set its sights on a particular plot of land for its planned next US plant near the Texas capital Austin. US Media reports that the electric car manufacturer has already bought the land in Travis County were, however, later corrected by Elon Musk on Twitter. Tesla has an … | Continue reading
Airbus, Aeroports de Paris and the Paris Transport Authority are exploring the feasibility of using autonomous flying taxis to carry visitors from Charles de Gaulle Airport into the city during the 2024 Olympics. While the press release speaks of a study, there is more real-life … | Continue reading
Tesla has submitted a new patent for improved battery cell chemistry under the title “Dioxazolones and nitrile sulfites as electrolyte additives for lithium-ion batteries”. This is intended to increase the performance and service life of the batteries as well as reducing costs. T … | Continue reading
The Chinese automobile industry is facing tough times: due to decreasing sales, several bankruptcies may emerge. Zotye appears not to be in the best shape, long before the state subsidies are set to expire. Zotye was already sued in May for failing to pay their battery supplier, … | Continue reading
Exactly 6,086 electric cars were newly registered in Norway in September. With a market share of 54.5 per cent, around one in two new registrations was a passenger car with pure electric drive. The most successful model of all drive types was the Tesla Model 3. For the second tim … | Continue reading
The Volvo and Geely electric car subsidiary Polestar has published the final list prices for Polestar 2 in European countries where the Tesla Model 3 competitor will be launched. In the UK, for example, the base price is 49,900 GBP. Production of the Polestar EV, which can alread … | Continue reading
The British Labour party, currently in opposition, is taking a stand on electric mobility for the new elections that are likely to take place soon in the wake of Brexit chaos. In the event of an election victory, Labour wants to massively promote the purchase of electric cars wit … | Continue reading
An electric water taxi developed by the French startup SeaBubbles was stopped by the police during a test drive on the Seine in Paris under suspicion of speeding. But while the Seine normally has a speed limit of 12 km/h, the SeaBubbles prototype hydrofoil had already been grante … | Continue reading
VW is negotiating to develop a second MEB-based electric car as part of the cooperation with Ford, which was sealed in July. The original agreement provided for Ford to purchase 600,000 MEB kits from Volkswagen for its first own model. Now it could become significantly more. Acco … | Continue reading
The British Ministry of Finance is providing £400 million to further develop the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles on the island. The first 70M pounds will go to 3,000 new charging points, which will be increased to 5,000 in the UK. The charging infrastructure investm … | Continue reading
At the Cannes Yachting Festival, Volvo Penta and Fountaine Pajot presented the prototype of an electric sailing catamaran. The electric propulsion system will take over from the diesel for entering and leaving the port. The Lucia 40 model from Fountaine Pajot was equipped with an … | Continue reading
According to the New York Times, with its MEB platform, VW has already achieved costs of less than 100 US dollars per kilowatt-hour for the batteries in ID.3 due to economies of scale, years before expected. At the same time, VW negotiations with battery maker SK Innovation look … | Continue reading
Volkswagen will start selling its own wallbox for the ID.3 in November. The ID. Charger offers a charging capacity of up to 11 kW and is offered at an introductory price starting at 399 Euro. For this price VW offers a wallbox with permanently mounted 4.5 metre long charging cabl … | Continue reading
Before its debut at the IAA, VW has announced the price of the new e-Up and lists it in Germany for 21,975 euros. This makes the new e-Up, with a range of up to 260 km cheaper than its predecessor. VW already lowered the price of the e-Up from 26,900 to 22,975 euros at the … | Continue reading
According to the latest CAM ‘Electromobility Report’, in which 212 series innovations in e-mobility have been evaluated by 30 car manufacturers over the past five years, German automobile manufacturers still have catching up to do. According to the study by the Center of Automoti … | Continue reading
The Volkswagen Group Components (VWGC) is reportedly turning the electrification of vintage cars into a new business model. An electrically powered Beetle will be presented at the IAA. For this undertaking, VW has partnered with eClassics based in Renningen near Stuttgart, German … | Continue reading
Battery cells with a solid electrolyte promise high energy densities. Batteries in electric cars could thus become smaller and lighter – and the range could increase. Christoph M. Schwarzer spoke to experts and to analyse the current situation for electrive. Whether and when all- … | Continue reading
Wheel-hub motor specialist, Protean Electric, has presented a new module that combines powertrain, steering and suspension technologies in a single component. Called Protean360+, the module allows unrestricted 360-degree steering capability. The British company describes the moto … | Continue reading
The Swedish firm Candela has developed an electric speed boat that is hydrofoiling, so it is sort of flying. Top speed is 30 knots (55 kph) and the 40 kWh battery enables a range of more than 50 nautical miles (93 km) – and, they’ve taken it to series production. The formula goes … | Continue reading
The VW ID.3 pre-series production is rolling at the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau. This also affects the Volkswagen Group Components division. VW has now published where the individual plants of the unit manufacture their parts for the ID.3. electric car. There is no doubt that ID. … | Continue reading
The prototype of the electric off-road vehicle for the planned new Extreme E racing series in the world’s most extreme climates has now been unveiled. Initially known as the “E-SUV”, the standardized racing car seems to have become a kind of electric off-road buggy. The concept c … | Continue reading
Toyota plans to invest $2 billion in the development of electric vehicles in Indonesia over the next four years. Initial investments will go into hybrid cars. Toyota president Akio Toyoda and the Indonesian government agreed the on the plan in Osaka on Thursday, Reuters reported. … | Continue reading