EDITOR'S CHOICE

Electric Vehicle Industry At Crossroads, Not A Dead End

27 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"Momentum is with the emerging electric vehicle industry even with many question marks surrounding energy policy as the [O.L.] administration takes office...Certain policies could potentially "slow down" growth domestically...that doesn't change the cost advantages nor the long-term trends...

"We are working really hard to make sure it's clear that transportation electrification is not a red or a blue issue, but it's really about what's better for the country, especially when you look at it through the lens of global competition."

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Parents Say Electric School Buses Make Children Happier, Survey Finds

27 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"...two thirds (65%) of U.S. parents would prefer their child ride on an electric school bus than a diesel-powered one...

"The survey data showed support for electric school buses is largely tied to parents' concerns about their children's health...two thirds (68%) of parents surveyed said they believe their child's overall physical health would improve as a result of riding an electric bus to school.

"Currently only 2.5% of the estimated 500,000 school buses in the U.S. are "committed" electric school buses."

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Explained: Getting Electric Airplanes Off the Ground

27 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

When building an electric airplane, the primary challenge is energy density. This is the amount of energy the battery contains per kilogram...AV Gas are exceptionally energy-dense at around 43MJ/kg or 12kWh/kg. By comparison, the best battery technologies today are around 0.3kWh/kg, meaning they are 40 time heavier...One business case that meets these tight constraints is flight schools.

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Federal EV Tax Credit At Risk - How Much Does It Really Drive Sales?

23 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"Some of the best-selling EVs on the market today - like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 - are ineligible for the federal tax credit...

"Across all of the electric vehicles sold in the United States, credit-eligible models sold at about 1.4 times the rate of ineligible vehicles...The difference between the two groups is likely even larger than the 1.4 times figure we found...ven before the discount from the federal EV credit, credit-eligible cars are nearly $9,000 less than their ineligible counterparts..."

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US Army Taps Raytheon To Replace Fuel Lines With Beamed Power

23 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"The average US soldier today carries up to 140 lb (64 kg) of gear on their back – and a lot of this is in the form of batteries to run their equipment...

"Raytheon's Advanced Technology team...[aims to beam] high-energy coherent microwaves that are transmitted from a secure generator to forward positions where it's converted back into electricity...series of demonstrations, with one in 1975 transmitting 475 W of microwave power across distance of a mile (1.6 km) and then converted to DC electricity with an efficiency of 54%."

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NIST Trains AI To Hear The 'Oh Crap' Moment Before Batteries Explode

23 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"The nature of lithium-ion battery fires is that by the time smoke triggers a traditional smoke alarm, the fire might be well under way...One hint that things might be about to go awry is when the safety valve breaks in a hard battery case to release the pressure caused by a chemical reaction within the unit...Overheating batteries were subsequently detected 94 percent of the time...the safety valve gave two minutes' notice in testing..."

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Northvolt CEO Resigns As Europe's Big Hope For A Battery Champion Files For Bankruptcy

23 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"Northvolt said it would continue functioning as normal during the restructuring process, which is expected to finalize in the first quarter of next year...the reorganization of the company would help it access approximately $245 million in new financing, totaling around $145 million in cash and $100 million debtor-in-possession financing...Northvolt Ett, the company’s flagship battery gigafactory...in north Sweden...will remain operational."

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This Street In LA Will Be The First In California To Wirelessly Charge EVs

20 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"The project at UCLA will the first in California...the school is also shifting its whole fleet of buses to electric.

"...as the fleet keeps growing, adding more charging infrastructure in one place is challenging because of the power demand, Bench says. Being able to charge throughout the day, in different places, will help. It also means that buses can keep running longer each day, so riders have better service."

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Tesla Has the Highest Fatal Accident Rate of All Auto Brands, Study Finds

20 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

"The study was conducted on model year 2018–2022 vehicles, and focused on crashes between 2017 and 2022 that resulted in occupant fatalities. Tesla vehicles have a fatal crash rate of 5.6 per billion miles driven...The average fatal crash rate for all cars in the United States is 2.8 per billion vehicle miles driven.

"..the Tesla Model Y - the best-selling vehicle in the world has a fatal crash rate of 10.6, nearly four times the average."

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CATL Will Put Its Second-Generation Sodium-Ion Batteries Into Production In 2025

20 Nov 2024 | Synopsis

CATL is already manufacturing sodium-ion batteries and is using them in its new Freevoy battery pack...is engineered specifically for use in so-called extended range EVs... Freevoy is the world's first hybrid vehicle battery with a range of over 400 kilometers and 4C super-fast charging... second-generation sodium battery can be discharged normally in temperatures as low as -40° C.

"...second-generation sodium-ion batteries sodium-ion batteries will have an energy density greater than 200 Wh per kg. That’s still a long way from the 300 Wh per kg of the best lithium-ion batteries today..."

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