News

WAFIOS has introduced the SpeedFormer, a new approach to the production of hairpins for EV motors. SpeedFormer combines three bending techniques from conventional wire and tube bending machines into one system. One of the bending techniques has been used for decades in WAFIOS CNC spring and wire forming machines and has now been modified and

Commercial EV specialist Endera has acquired Metro Titan, a school and shuttle bus manufacturing company.  The acquisition gives Endera the capability to deliver electric commercial vehicles in all 50 states. From its Ohio-based facility, Endera will manufacture electric Type A school buses, shuttle buses, and paratransit vehicles for the DOT, healthcare, airport, university, corporate, municipal

In a virtual meeting with investors, Ford outlined a plethora of plans to expand its electrification efforts. There was a big bundle of news, which will take the media some days to fully unpack, but the gist of it is that, under a plan dubbed Ford+, the automaker will be allocating capital to three priority

SSC’s been busy. In January it set a production-vehicle land-speed record of 282.9 mph. Now the automaker’s ready to expand the Tuatara lineup. On Thursday, the Washington-based supercar maker announced the Tuatara Striker and Tuatara Aggressor. The new models evolve the hypercar with more downforce, more power, and more customizable options. SSC Tuatara Striker—Image credit

For those who were wondering whether Porsche buyers would embrace an electric car, here’s your answer: last quarter, sales of the new Taycan EV were only a hair below sales of the iconic 911 model. Porsche delivered 9,072 Taycans during the first quarter of 2021, trailing the 911 by 61 units. Porsche unveiled the Taycan,

EconCore has developed new honeycomb cores for laminated sandwich panels made with SABIC’s NORYL GTX resin. The new honeycomb core is designed to provide higher heat performance, better dimensional stability and lower water absorption compared to honeycomb structures made with traditional thermoplastics. SABIC says the new core material can be used in EV applications and,

WIMA, a maker of film capacitors, employs Wevo potting compounds in its supercapacitor PowerBlock—a cascaded, double-layer capacitor module whose capacitance, rated voltage and dimensions can be individually adapted to a desired application. This allows a range of mobility applications, such as engine starter modules in large construction and agricultural machinery, ships, locomotives, trams and buses,

We make no bones about or apologies for our love of the Porsche 911. It shows up unerringly in our Best Car To Buy awards as often as it shows up in our work-day Skype chats. If there’s a 911 perfected, it’s the 911 Turbo S, which we’ve tossed around on north Georgia’s roads often

SVOLT will begin commercialization of lithium-ion batteries using safety technology from Soteria Battery Innovation Group (BIG), which, the company says, eliminates the root cause of thermal runaway and improves battery safety.      SVOLT’s new portfolio, which will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2021, uses thin metalized film current collectors that improve energy density

Netherlands-based charging network Fastned is teaming up with Tesla to build a huge dual-branded charging station in Oxford. Fastned has deployed some 137 fast charging stations in several European countries. Early on, the network tried to appeal to Tesla drivers by adding Tesla CHAdeMO adapters to its stations. Now that Tesla uses the CCS standard

Q&A with environmental lawyer Maureen Gorsen California has led the nation in the fight against air pollution. The state has consistently implemented clean-air rules that are stricter than those imposed at the federal level, including the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires automakers to produce a certain number of electric vehicles. The Trump administration attempted

The Florida Public Service Commission has approved Duke Energy Florida’s latest rate settlement agreement, which includes plans for a new multi-part EV initiative that the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy calls “the largest electric transportation program in the state’s history.” Duke secured approval for a $7-million EVSE pilot called Park and Plug in 2017. The

The Mirabito convenience store chain plans to install DC fast charging hubs at five locations in central New York. The five hubs, which are to go into service by this fall, will offer a total of 19 chargers. The project is part of the New York Power Authority’s EVolve NY charging network, which will be

A prototype for Bugatti’s Chiron-based Centodieci was spotted testing at the Nürburgring this week, and we have some video footage. Bugatti will build just 10 examples and the first one will be delivered sometime in 2022. Lamborghini Huracan STO in likely Nürburgring record attempt – Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien Another car spotted at the Nürburgring this

NH Research, a provider of battery test solutions for the EV and renewable energy markets, has launched Enerlab 2.0, a new battery test lab management solution. Enerlab 2.0, which uses the Enerchron test executive, has a new design that includes a GUI focused on improving the user experience and productivity.  Enerchron is a battery test

Silicon Labs has announced the addition of the Si828x version 2 to its isolated gate driver product family. This update allows the product family to drive silicon carbide (SiC) FET gates, addressing the growing market for half- and full-bridge inverters and power supplies that require improved power density, cooler operation and reduced switching losses. “The

Li-Cycle, the developer of a novel battery recycling system, has announced an agreement with Ultium Cells, a joint venture of GM and LG Energy Solution, to recycle up to 100% of the scrap generated by battery cell manufacturing at Ultium’s Lordstown, Ohio mega-factory. Using its patented Spoke & Hub Technologies at facilities in the US,

EVSE manufacturer JuiceBar has formed a new strategic partnership with UFODRIVE, an all-electric car rental company. The two firms aim to bring UFODRIVE’s software technology, including internet-of-things apps, to the US fleet industry, and is also working on pilot programs across Europe using JuiceBar’s hardware to provide charging to UFODRIVE’s rental and mobility software-as-a-service (SaaS)

The 2012 Lexus LFA was a high-water mark for Toyota’s luxury brand. The car never got a direct successor, but a practically untouched example with less than 500 miles is scheduled to cross the block at RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island auction on May 22. Finished in Steel Gray, this car isn’t as distinctive as the

NOHMs Technologies, a provider of electrolyte products for Li-ion batteries, has announced its relaunch as Sionic Energy, transforming its business to deliver complete battery cell designs that incorporate its technologies into a drop-in, rapidly commercialized, low-cost, high-performance Li-ion technology. Sionic’s silicon battery cell designs can be integrated into cylindrical, pouch or prismatic cell formats in

The most popular vehicle line in the U.S. now includes a battery-electric pickup truck. Is this the turning point for EVs? Wednesday evening, Ford unveiled its long-awaited battery-electric pickup truck, dubbed the F-150 Lightning. The name harkens back to “the fastest truck in the world,” the Lightning F-150 SVT, which launched in 2002 with a

The lithium-ion battery has proven to be an excellent fuel tank for EVs, but there remains much room for improvement. We’re still far from what’s theoretically achievable in terms of Li-ion capacity, safety, cost and charge times. As battery manufacturers continue their quest for improved chemistry and material combinations, they rely on applied researchers like

Lexus in March said it will have 20 electrified vehicles in its lineup by 2025, encompassing hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery- and hydrogen-electric vehicles. On Tuesday, the automaker announced that its first plug-in hybrid vehicle would arrive in 2021, and its first dedicated EV would arrive the following year. Lexus didn’t say what the vehicles

In Issue 49, we reviewed some of the more promising advancements in materials and construction techniques for EV traction motors, one of which—the axial flux design—will be the focus of this article. Despite being characterized as an advanced construction technique, the axial flux design is actually one of the oldest ways of constructing a motor—it’s

In 2019, Minnesota announced plans to join the 14 states that enforce their own strict vehicle emissions standards. Now an administrative law judge has given the proposed policy a green light, ruling that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) can move forward with plans to adopt the Clean Cars Minnesota program. The program will go

Electronics giant ABB has secured a contract with Spanish shipbuilder Astilleros Gondán to supply an electric power solution for urban passenger ferries that will operate on Lisbon’s Tagus river. The ten new ferries will be operated by the public ferry company Transtejo on three key routes linking Lisbon to Cacilhas, Seixal and Montijo on the

Battery material manufacturer 6K has announced the creation of a Center of Excellence for its 6K Energy division, which will focus on the development of sustainable battery materials for EVs, grid storage and consumer goods. The company will invest $25 million over the next two years to triple the size of its facility in North

Ford has opened a web page for “hand-raisers” to register their interest in the upcoming E-Transit, an electric version of Ford’s popular Transit commercial van. The order books are expected to be open by July. Ford says over 450 commercial customers in North America, including 200 fleet operators, have already expressed interest. The E-Transit will

Omni Powertrain has introduced a new electrified drive for driven axles in commercial vehicles, terminal tractors and railcar movers. The system features Omni’s F12L gearbox coupled with its tandem Magelec M27D motors. Gear ratios currently available are 1:1, 2:1, 2.97:1 and 3.94:1. The gearbox is rated for a maximum input torque of 1,200 Nm and

Ireland-based battery system manufacturer Xerotech and Agder Gruppen, a Norwegian supplier to the construction and mining industries, are working together to electrify over 200 units of construction and mining machinery over the next 5 years, using Xerotech’s scalable Hibernium battery platform. The collaboration represents Xerotech’s entry into the Scandinavian market, and Agder’s move into battery-electric