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How green is an EV? A PHEV? A hybrid? Most Charged readers understand that the answer depends on many factors, including the efficiency of a particular model, the region in which it operates, and the type of driving it’s used for. The clever folks at MIT have devised the ingenious Carbon Counter, an online tool

Are investors farsighted or foolhardy? A little of both, in our view—but there’s no question that Wall Street believes in an electric future. EV startup Rivian went public last week, raising nearly $12 billion to give the company a valuation of around $77 billion. Since then, RIVN stock has soared, making the company one of

Indian charging provider EVRE will soon be rolling out charging solutions for retailer FreshWorld’s electric fruit and vegetable vending carts in Bengaluru, India. FreshWorld is a startup that offers a farm-to-home concept, selling fruits and vegetables in a distinctive street vending format using battery-operated carts. The company owns and operates a large EV fleet for

Battery supplier SES has built a pilot production line capable of scaling up high-concentration, solvent-in-salt electrolyte production. The pilot line is capable of synthesizing SES’s proprietary solvent and manufacturing a high-concentration solvent-in-salt electrolyte formulation designed for SES’s hybrid Li-metal automotive batteries. The facility is currently capable of producing 5 tons of electrolyte per year, and

BMW looks to be readying a sleeker, sexier design for its next-generation 5-Series. A prototype was spotted and reveals a number of clues about the new design. An electric 5-Series, likely dubbed the i5, is also coming. 2024 Porsche 911 Turbo S E-Hybrid test mule spy shots – Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien The first hybrid 911,

DFDS, a shipping and logistics firm based in Northern Europe, has placed an order with Volvo Trucks for 100 Volvo FM Electric trucks. The deal is the largest commercial order to date for Volvo electric trucks. Deliveries of the trucks will start in the fourth quarter of 2022 and continue throughout 2023. Volvo Financial Services

Allison Transmission will participate in the initial public offering of electric motor, inverter and propulsion system supplier Jing-Jin Electric (JJE), making a strategic investment of approximately $42 million. FAW Group will also participate as a strategic investor in the IPO. Allison’s investment in JJE follows a recently announced strategic partnership between the two companies, and

UK charging infrastructure specialist Connected Kerb is rolling out on-street chargers at an impressive pace. The company has installed 1,000 chargers so far this year, and expects to have 5,500 installed across the UK, with contracts secured for 30,000 more, by the end of 2022. By 2030, the company hopes to have 190,000 chargers installed.

Faced with heavy demand for grants for residential charging stations, the German government has topped up funding for the program by €300 million, bringing the total available to €800 million ($926 million). Private individuals, housing associations and property developers are eligible for a grant of €900 ($1,042) towards the purchase and installation of a private

Acura has taken the wraps off of its new Integra prototype at an event in Los Angeles and the new five-door hatchback is intended to signal the return of affordable performance to the Acura lineup. A few details that we had previously guessed at were confirmed, starting with the powertrain. Under the hood will be

Electric aviation is in its infancy—as far as we know, no e-planes are yet carrying passengers in commercial service. However, several firms are rapidly developing electric aircraft—Rolls Royce, Bye Aerospace, Heart Aerospace and Eviation are developing battery-electric planes, while ZeroAvia is placing its bet on hydrogen fuel cells. California-based Wright Electric is taking what appears

The DOE has announced $209 million in funding for 26 new laboratory projects focusing on EVs, advanced batteries and connected vehicles. The DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory also announced the Li-Bridge, a new public-private partnership to bridge gaps in the domestic battery supply chain. The 26 national laboratory projects announced today will address four critical goals:

Mitsubishi has revealed a new fourth generation of its Outlander PHEV crossover SUV. Sales will commence in Japan in December, followed by Australia and New Zealand in the first half of 2022 and North America in the second half. The redesigned Outlander is built on a newly developed platform, and features several updates. The newly

Semiconductor supplier SemiQ has released its second-generation silicon carbide power switch, a 1,200 V 80 mΩ SiC MOSFET. The company currently sells SiC rectifiers at 650 V, 1,200 V and 1,700 V. The MOSFET is designed to provide a trade-off of conduction and switching losses, and maintain its efficiency advantage over a wide range of

Hyundai recently revealed two restomods of important models from its past with electric powertrains. Over the weekend, the automaker unveiled an EV concept based on the first-generation Grandeur. Launched in 1986, the Grandeur was Hyundai’s first attempt at a flagship luxury sedan, setting the stage for today’s Genesis luxury brand. The Grandeur EV restomod retains

Austin’s Capital Metro Transportation Authority has ordered 26 of New Flyer’s Xcelsior CHARGE NG forty-foot electric transit buses, and four Xcelsior CHARGE NG sixty-foot buses. The five-year contract includes options to purchase up to 126 forty-foot and up to 15 sixty-foot battery-electric buses, and up to 427 chargers (197 depot plug-in chargers, 197 depot overhead

NI, formerly National Instruments, has announced two new projects for EV traction inverter validation: a new Inverter Test System (ITS) and a collaboration agreement with D&V Electronics for power-level inverter testing. Both projects are designed to accelerate innovation for EVs by integrating tests earlier in the product development lifecycle. By simulating EV powertrains to perform

Sensata Technologies has released new high-voltage junction boxes designed to provide safe and reliable power distribution for high-power charging of commercial EVs. The new DC charging boxes support megawatt charging of medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks at up to 850 volts and 1,300 amps. Combining Sensata’s current production contactor, fuse, and controller components into a

Commercial vehicle OEM Proterra is collaborating with construction and mining equipment specialist Komatsu to electrify next-generation underground mining machines using Proterra’s battery technology. Proterra will supply its H Series battery system technology to Komatsu for the development of battery-electric Load Haul Dump (LHD) vehicles, drills and bolters for underground hard rock mining. Komatsu plans to

After their moment in the spotlight is over, concept cars are often forgotten. But Volkswagen recently took a look back at eight of its concepts from the past 30 years, including some fairly unusual ones the world has forgotten about. One of the earliest concepts in VW’s retrospective is also one of the weirdest. Unveiled

FREYR Battery has formed a joint venture with Koch Strategic Platforms (KSP) to develop an initial 50 GWh of battery cell manufacturing capacity in the US based on 24M Technologies’ SemiSolid platform technology. KSP and FREYR have invested $70 million in convertible notes with 24M. 24M’s SemiSolid technology reduces the number of steps required to

Allison Transmission is accelerating the development of electrification technology for the US Army’s ground combat vehicle fleet, including tracked infantry fighting vehicles and the main battle tank. Military benefits of electrified vehicles include silent mobility to reduce enemy detection and increase survivability, exportable power provisions for on-board and off-board systems, and flexible operational modes capable

EVSE installation specialist Qmerit has teamed up with Ford to offer home charging station installation services. Ford offers customers two options for at-home charging: the Ford Mobile Charger, a portable Level 1/Level 2 charger; and the Ford Connected Charge Station, a 48-amp hard-wired Level 2 charger with intelligent features and connectivity. Qmerit operates a network

Solid Power has partnered with SK Innovation to manufacture automotive-scale all-solid-state batteries using Solid Power’s sulfide-based solid electrolyte, proprietary cell designs and production processes. SK Innovation has also agreed to invest $30 million in Solid Power. The two companies will cooperate on cell development, validation and production in order to enable Solid Power to deliver

Acura on Friday revealed the first details of the 2022 MDX Type S. Pricing for the SUV will start in the “high-$60,000 range,” with deliveries scheduled to start in December, Acura said in a press release. Instead of the standard MDX’s naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V-6, the Type S gets the same turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 as

CSM has released C (Connector) variants of its High-voltage Breakout Modules (HV BM) for measuring current, voltage and power. The C variant connection is designed to facilitate handling, reduce measurement setup time, and easily unplug for calibration. The new HV Breakout Module 1.2C is connected to the HV power cables via a PL500 connector system

LiNa Energy has closed a £3.5-million ($4.78-million) late seed funding round. LiNa is commercializing a cobalt- and lithium-free solid-state sodium battery. The company claims its design has the potential to exceed the performance of both lithium-ion and sodium-ion technologies at a cost of less than $50/kWh.  The funding, along with recently obtained grant money, enables

Australian petrol giant Ampol plans to deploy DC fast chargers at more than 100 of its retail sites around the country, as part of a $100-million commitment towards future energy projects. The first charging sites will be located in the greater Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth regions, as well as regional centers, including Newcastle, Wollongong,

Allegro MicroSystems has introduced the new A89307 automotive-qualified gate driver integrated circuit (IC). Designed for battery cooling fans and HVAC systems in EVs and hybrids, the A89307 offers ultra-low noise and vibration by using a Field Oriented Control (FOC) algorithm to drive continuous sinusoidal current to the load. The company claims its algorithm can help

Hyundai on Wednesday provided a teasing look at a concept that previews a large electric crossover set to join the automaker’s Ioniq family of battery-electric vehicles in 2024, possibly as the Ioniq 7. The concept is called the Seven, which backs rumors of the Ioniq 7 name being used for the production model, as well