Charged Magazine

Canada-based GreenPower Motor Company has signed a contract to supply 10 of its EV350 40-foot electric transit buses to the City of Porterville, California.
The e-buses will be deployed on all 9 Porterville Transit routes. The $9-million order includes 11 charging systems to be installed at the city’s maintenance facility and …read more

Power management company Eaton has launched a new line of automotive-grade high-current power inductors for DC/DC converters, voltage regulators, battery-powered systems, multi-phase regulators and point of load modules.
Automotive manufacturers require components that endure a wide temperature range, corrosive conditions, noise, electromagnetic interference (EMI) and shock. HCM1A inductors are compliant with …read more

Tesla spends a considerable amount of resources on basic research into EV systems – as well it should. EV technology is very young compared to that of ICE vehicles, so it’s safe to assume that, in a few short years, the aggregate of many incremental technology advances could lead to …read more

New types of electrodes – positive and negative terminals – are considered essential for the development of a new generation of high energy-density batteries. As lithium-ion batteries begin to reach their capacity limits, many researchers are looking at lithium-sulfur as a solution. Sulfur is both lightweight and abundant, with a …read more

Falken Tire Europe, the European affiliate of the Japanese tire manufacturer Sumitomo Rubber, has launched a new summer tire with optimized rolling resistance.
The new Ecorun A-A is designed to save fuel and offer good braking performance in wet conditions. Falken used its 4D Nano Design to develop a tire compound …read more

A Danish-led consortium aims to advance the technology of EV grid integration. Partners in the Parker project include automakers Nissan, Mitsubishi and PSA, as well as the Technical University of Denmark and several electric utilities.
EVs can theoretically help to stabilize the electrical grid by charging their batteries when there is …read more

Another milestone on the road to self-driving cars was reached this week as Tesla released a software update that apparently brings the capabilities of cars with Autopilot 2.0 to near-parity with those of the first-generation Autopilot suite.
As aficionados know, Tesla vehicles built since October 2016 are equipped with second-generation Autopilot hardware (including eight cameras as well as radar and ultrasound sensors) that earlier models lacked. However, the software required to take full advantage of the …read more

Toshiba’s latest addition to its SCiB line of lithium-ion batteries, the SIP series of modules for automated guided vehicles (AGVs), will be available in April.
AGVs are mobile robots used to transport materials around factory floors, warehouses, hospitals and offices. Most current AGVs use lead batteries, which suffer from long charge times and short lifecycles.
SIP series modules integrate a battery management unit that manages voltage and internal temperature, which is designed to facilitate the replacement of …read more

Before a lithium-ion battery is installed in a vehicle, it must undergo a lengthy process called formation, in which it is charged and discharged to control the initial chemical reactions with lithium. Many of these reactions are irreversible and permanently decrease the battery’s available energy. The process requires expensive lithium to be part of the cathode, and it significantly increases manufacturing time. Finding a way to reduce or eliminate this process could substantially reduce the …read more

Canada-based Mkango Resources has teamed with UK-based Metalysis to develop and commercialize novel rare earth metal alloys for use in 3D-printed permanent magnets.
The two companies envisage a comprehensive R&D program, taking advantage of Mkango’s knowledge about the performance characteristics and demand outlook for rare earth magnets and Metalysis’s solid-state process, which it says can generate high margins from the manufacture of metal powders.
Rare earth permanent magnets are a critical component of many EVs. China currently …read more