Charged Magazine

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany has established an organization that aims to teach companies experienced in manufacturing combustion engines how to transition their skills to EV technologies. The Transformation Hub Electric Mobility, which will target small to medium-sized companies, has been funded with €2.6 million from the …read more

Polestar, Volvo’s electric performance sub-brand, has unveiled its first pure EV.
The Polestar 2 is an “avant-garde 5-door fastback” that offers all-wheel drive, 300 kW of power, 660 Nm of torque, an estimated range of 275 miles, and a 0-100 km/h time of less than five seconds. It sports front and …read more

Automotive supplier BorgWarner has acquired two Oregon-based companies specializing in EV technology: Rinehart Motion Systems and AM Racing. The two newly acquired companies will be merged into a single company called Cascadia Motion.
Cascadia Motion will target customers with low-volume, specialty EV applications. Before the acquisition, Rinehart Motion Systems developed propulsion …read more

A group of investors has filed a class action lawsuit in San Diego federal court to stop Tesla’s acquisition of battery and ultracapacitor innovator Maxwell Technologies. Bloomberg Terminal reports (via Electrek) that the litigants are calling the price of $4.75 per share (over $200 million total) and the process …read more

The European Parliament and the Council have reached provisional agreement on a regulation that will set strict CO2 emission standards for trucks in the EU. Emissions from new trucks will have to be 15% lower by 2025 and 30% lower in 2030, compared to 2019 emissions. The text of the …read more

PolyPlus, a Californian company that’s developing a rechargeable lithium metal battery with a conductive glass separator, has entered a development agreement with Korean energy and chemical company SK Innovation.
The collaboration is focused on PolyPlus’s solid-state lithium anode laminate. The companies’ initial goal is to produce and test prototype cells to …read more

Electric motor manufacturer YASA has announced the signing of a long-term joint innovation agreement with an unidentified global automotive OEM. The two companies will collaborate to develop custom electric motor and controller solutions for the OEM’s line of EVs and PHEVs.
“This agreement brings together one of the world’s best-known automotive …read more

German EV rental company nextmove, Tesla’s largest customer in Germany, plans to add 100 Model 3s to its fleet this year. The company recently took delivery of the first four units of the new sedan (the Performance version) at Tesla’s facility in Berlin.
nextmove’s mission is to make EVs accessible to …read more

Chargeway, a software startup that has developed a simple visual language for charging and selling EVs, has launched a digital kiosk to be placed in auto dealerships and EV showcases. The kiosks, called Chargeway Beacons, are designed to educate potential EV buyers on the various available public charging options. The …read more

France and Germany have announced a joint effort to turbocharge battery cell production in Europe, taking aim at a business currently dominated by Asian firms.
As Bloomberg reports, German Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier and French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire have announced that Germany will invest one …read more