Charged Magazine

Intel’s recent acquisition of Mobileye, an Israeli provider of autonomous driving technology, for $15 billion, has three interesting implications. The first is obvious: self-driving tech is expected to be huge, and companies are busily investing money and R&D efforts to position themselves as players.
The second point, also apparent to observers in the tech world if not to the popular press, is that automotive OEMs will not be the only players, and perhaps not even the …read more

With a new administration in Washington, federal fuel efficiency and emissions standards for vehicle model years 2022-25 are being reconsidered, and automakers have high hopes that those standards will be relaxed. Their main argument for doing so is that the cost of meeting increasingly strict standards will be too high.
However, a new study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), the independent research group that helped expose the VW diesel emissions scandal, finds that …read more

The government of Canada will award $18.2 million to two companies to promote lighter vehicles and better battery management.
Auto parts manufacturer Astrex will receive up to $17 million to establish a facility that produces lightweight, high-strength aluminum components.
Another $1.2 million will go to GBatteries Energy Canada of Ottawa, which will work with eCAMION and S&C Electric Canada to develop an Active Battery Management System (ActiveBMS). The goal is to increase charging rates by at least …read more

MAN Truck & Bus will be testing a prototype electric semitrailer tractor unit with 9 of Austria’s largest logistics companies, in partnership with the Council for Sustainable Logistics (CNL). The test vehicles, which have gross weights of 12 to 26 tons, will be used in medium and heavy distribution transport beginning at the end of 2017.
“The CNL companies will test out these vehicles in daily use,” says Joachim Drees, Chairman of the Board of MAN. …read more

Symbio has integrated a 15 kW fuel cell range extender in a Nissan e-NV200 electric van. The new plug-in hybrid hydrogen vehicle will deliver at least 500 km of range. Symbio plans to introduce it to the European taxi market.
Symbio has already done something similar with several hundred Renault Kangoo ZE Maxi EVs. The converted Kangoos, which are in service in Europe, are equipped with a 22 kWh battery pack and a 5 kW hydrogen …read more

At the upcoming SAE World Congress Experience, a team from Honda R&D will present a paper entitled “Study of High Power Dynamic Charging System,” which describes their work on a dynamic charging system that uses high power to charge a moving EV, with the goal of realizing an unlimited vehicle range.
The current study is a follow-up to a paper, “Study of a Dynamic Charging System for Achievement of Unlimited Cruising Range in EV,” presented by …read more

As expected, Tesla recently raised about $1.2 billion in fresh capital by selling stock and issuing new debt. The company sold stock at $262 per share, bringing in about $350 million, and issued convertible notes worth another $850 million, according to a document filed with the SEC.
CEO Elon Musk personally bought $25 million in TSLA shares, presumably to reassure fickle financiers on Wall Street about his faith in the company (Tesla true believers need no …read more

Maxwell Technologies has agreed to acquire Nesscap Energy for $23.175 million, or about 1.1 times Nesscap’s annualized revenue. The purchase price will be paid by the issuance of approximately 4.6 million Maxwell shares. Nesscap has operations in Korea, Germany, and China.
As a specialist in small cell format ultracapacitor products, Nesscap provides R&D and manufacturing of energy storage solutions that complement Maxwell’s large cell format ultracapacitor product portfolio. Maxwell expects to capitalize on synergies to accelerate …read more