CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Issue 50 JUL/AUG 2020

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE

ISSUE 50 | JULY/AUGUST 2020 | CHARGEDEVS.COM

BMW X3 2020

PLUG-IN HYBRID

FINALLY WORTH PLUGGING IN

p. 54

BMW’s X3 xDrive 30e is one of a coming wave of low-volume luxury plug-in hybrid SUVs Technical challenges of bidirectional chargers

Li-Cycle recovers usable batterygrade materials

Enel X offers full-service EV-fleet installations

ENERGY STAR for DC Fast Chargers

p. 24

p. 32

p. 72

p. 78

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THE TECH CONTENTS

24 Technical challenges of

24

bidirectional chargers

32 Solving battery recycling Li-Cycle recovers usable battery-grade materials from shredded Li-ion batteries

32

current events 12

ROHM introduces new 4th-generation SiC MOSFETs for EV powertrains Sensata’s new GV210 series contactors for EVs

13 14

Linear Labs to build new electric motor plant in Texas Sunstone Engineering’s new battery welding system Nexperia’s next-gen 650 V gallium nitride technology

14

16

New ams position sensors for high-speed electric motors ZF CeTrax electric drive goes into production

17 18

Freudenberg develops thermally conductive elastomer for EVs Infineon’s new silicon carbide power module for EVs Mercedes announces partnership with battery cell manufacturer Farasis

20

Researchers develop novel battery electrolyte for lithium metal batteries TE introduces high-voltage terminal and connector kits

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21 22 23

Munro offers BMW i3 teardown report for $10 AEM EV’s new vehicle control unit Volkswagen increases stake in battery specialist QuantumScape

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THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

54 BMW X3 plug-in hybrid

54

Finally worth plugging in

current events 42

Hyundai to spin off IONIQ as an EV-only brand, launch three new EVs by 2024 Québec transit operator orders 27 Lion electric school buses

43

New study: EVs are cheaper than diesels for ride-sharing in European capitals Peugeot reveals e-Expert electric commercial van

44

42

Plug-in market share powers past 8% in the UK, Germany and France New study: EV fuel cost savings vary widely across the US

45 46

Rivian raises $2.5 billion in new funding Clean Cars Nevada initiative aims to establish zero-emission standard Aptera finalizes design, is ready to build super-efficient EV

48

Candela Seven electric boat’s hydrofoils reduce energy consumption by 80% Former Tesla VP Chris Porritt joins Rimac Automobili as CTO

49 50 51 52 53

Tesla increases Model S range to 400 miles with technical advances

48

EV startup Arrival reveals new electric bus Two new Audi EVs coming in 2021: Q4 e-tron SUV and Sportback SUV Coupé Danfoss Editron provides powertrain for hybrid vessels ZeroAvia completes test flight of fuel cell airplane

IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (ISSN: 24742341) July/August 2020, Issue #50 is published bi-monthly by Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC, 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259. Periodicals Postage Paid at Saint Petersburg, FL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine, Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC at 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE CONTENTS

72 Turnkey transit bus electrification

Enel X offers full-service EV-fleet installations for city and school buses

72

78 ENERGY STAR fast charge

EPA issues draft performance requirements for DC fast charger specification

current events 62 63

GM to fund expansion of EVgo fast-charging network for electric cars Nissan to switch from CHAdeMO to CCS in US and Europe: Is the war over?

62

ABB breaks ground on new EV charger factory to meet global demand

64

Easelink tests its automated conductive charging system with car-share service Japanese utilities partner to install 250 ABB fast chargers

65 66

New Siemens charger interacts with building management systems ClipperCreek’s new AmazingE FAST offers 7.7 kW charging in compact package Volkswagen tests fast chargers in the scorching desert heat

67 68

Trojan Energy scores £4.1 million in funding for on-street charging solution

68

Electrify America completes cross-country LA-to-DC route Swiss highway charging stations to feature ABB energy storage

69

West Coast utilities map out a possible electric truck charging network along I-5 New highway charging station in Georgia has solar panels and 175 kW of power

70

Jaguar I-PACE electric taxis charging wirelessly in Oslo Lightning Systems’ new energy division offers turnkey fleet charging solutions

71

FreeWire’s battery-integrated Boost Charger maximizes charging power Envision provides solar-powered DC fast charging along California corridor

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© 2020 Chroma Systems Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Publisher Christian Ruoff Associate Publisher Laurel Zimmer Senior Editor Charles Morris

Contributing Writers Paul Beck Jeffrey Jenkins Michael Kent Tom Lombardo Charles Morris John Voelcker

For Letters to the Editor, Article Submissions, & Advertising Inquiries Contact: Info@ChargedEVs.com

Associate Editor Markkus Rovito Account Executives Jeremy Ewald Technology Editor Jeffrey Jenkins Graphic Designers Deon Rexroat Kelly Quigley Tomislav Vrdoljak

Contributing Photographers Nicolas Raymond Christian Ruoff Cover Images Courtesy of BMW Group Special Thanks to Kelly Ruoff Sebastien Bourgeois

ETHICS STATEMENT AND COVERAGE POLICY AS THE LEADING EV INDUSTRY PUBLICATION, CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE OFTEN COVERS, AND ACCEPTS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM, COMPANIES THAT ADVERTISE IN OUR MEDIA PORTFOLIO. HOWEVER, THE CONTENT WE CHOOSE TO PUBLISH PASSES ONLY TWO TESTS: (1) TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE THE INFORMATION IS ACCURATE, AND (2) IT MEETS THE INTERESTS OF OUR READERSHIP. WE DO NOT ACCEPT PAYMENT FOR EDITORIAL CONTENT, AND THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY OUR EDITORS AND WRITERS ARE IN NO WAY AFFECTED BY A COMPANY’S PAST, CURRENT, OR POTENTIAL ADVERTISEMENTS. FURTHERMORE, WE OFTEN ACCEPT ARTICLES AUTHORED BY “INDUSTRY INSIDERS,” IN WHICH CASE THE AUTHOR’S CURRENT EMPLOYMENT, OR RELATIONSHIP TO THE EV INDUSTRY, IS CLEARLY CITED. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ANY OPINION EXPRESSED IN THE CHARGED MEDIA PORTFOLIO AND/OR WISH TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR VIEW OF THE INDUSTRY, PLEASE CONTACT US AT CONTENT@CHARGEDEVS. COM. REPRINTING IN WHOLE OR PART IS FORBIDDEN EXPECT BY PERMISSION OF CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE.

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A growth market and all that comes with it Last issue, I cautiously predicted that the global trend toward electrification would keep moving forward, despite the economic challenges of the coronavirus crisis. Two months later, I’m even more confident about the EV industry’s prospects.

After a decade of enduring “EVs aren’t selling” articles in the media, we learned in June that plug-in vehicles captured over 8% of monthly new car sales in Europe’s top three markets (the UK, Germany and France). Automakers are now struggling to meet the demand—Der Spiegel reports that some buyers are facing waits of up to a year for new EVs from the German brands.

The stock market has taken notice, and investors have been pouring money into EV companies. One stock pundit recently called the EV industry one of the most exciting segments of the market. Another referred to a “frenzy” for EV-related stocks. Everyone has been watching TSLA’s Ludicrous levitation, and the few other publicly traded EV-makers have also seen their stock prices soar. Shares in newcomers Nio and Nikola have been on roller-coaster rides, and Workhorse, the sister company of Lordstown Motors (profiled in our March/April issue), recently rocketed to an all-time high.

Startups in the EVSE space have also been raking in investment cash— several of these have recently been covered in our pages, including AMPLY Power, FreeWire Technologies and Australian fast charging specialist Tritium. Electric bus-maker Proterra, a frequent topic in Charged, is considering an IPO. Companies in tangentially related industries, such as copper production, have also benefited from the expected EV boom (nickel producers may be cashing in too, after Elon Musk made an impassioned plea for more nickel supplies).

Two of several ways in which the gathering EV explosion is reminiscent of the 1990s internet boom: the proliferation of small startups built on innovative ideas and head-scratching company valuations. The relationships among revenue, earnings and market capitalization of EV companies will fuel debates on Wall Street talk shows for years to come.

Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out exactly what these companies are selling until we speak with them directly—we find ourselves using the term “solution provider” a lot. This is probably an inevitable feature of a new and complex industry. As the clean energy/electromobility ecosystem develops, we’ll see demand for a lot of specialty products and services that nobody had even thought of a few years ago.

It’s fascinating to talk to the visionary entrepreneurs who form companies to fill these niches. We’ve covered hundreds of such young companies over the years (and yes, some of them have gone bust since then). In this issue, we’ll introduce you to two more innovators: Li-Cycle, which has developed a fascinating model for recycling Li-ion batteries; and Enel X, which offers a variety of smart charging solutions and turnkey electric bus fleets for transit agencies.

Christian Ruoff | Publisher

EVs are here. Try to keep up.

www.hesse-customersolutions.com

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ROHM introduces new 4thgeneration SiC MOSFETs for EV powertrains ROHM Semiconductor has announced its 4th-generation 1,200-volt SiC MOSFETs optimized for EV powertrain systems, including the main drive inverter, as well as power supplies for industrial equipment.

ROHM says that the new SiC MOSFETs deliver low ON resistance with high-speed switching performance, contributing to greater miniaturization and lower power consumption in a variety of applications, including automotive traction inverters and switching power supplies.

Bare chip samples will be available starting in June 2020, and discrete packages will be offered in the future.

Sensata’s new GV210 series contactors for EVs Sensata Technologies has announced the availability of its new GV210 series of hermetically sealed, gas-filled contactors for applications carrying up to 150 A at 12 to 900 VDC. The series is the latest addition to Sensata’s GIGAVAC brand product line, and is suitable as the main contactor for applications such as forklifts, home energy storage and small EVs, as well as the pre-charge contactor in larger battery pack applications such as utility-scale energy storage and large EVs. Sensata says that the GV210 can carry up to 150 A continuously with low power losses. Capable of high pulse currents for fuse coordination, the contactor is also able to switch loads, enabling safe operation. The hermetic seal exceeds IP67 and IP69 and prevents oxidation, allowing for reliable operation in corrosive or wet applications across a mechanical life of one million cycles.

The GV210 series is designed for use in a wide variety of installations in hazardous operating environments.

This series is suitable for the following types of battery systems:

Image courtesy of Sensata

Image courtesy of ROHM

THE TECH

• Main contactor solution for EVs with small battery packs • Applications with continuous power levels in the 3 kW to 100 kW range, such as forklifts, aerial work platforms (AWPs), automated guided vehicles (AGVs), golf carts, motorcycles, drones, home energy storage and small battery pack chargers • Li-ion battery chargers • Battery charger applications in which contactors play a critical safety role, such as keeping the plug unenergized when it is not plugged into a compatible battery pack • Pre-charge contactors for large battery system startup • Pre-charge circuits in applications such as utility-scale energy storage and large EVs

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Image courtesy of Linear Labs

Linear Labs to build new electric motor plant in Texas The city of Fort Worth and electric motor company Linear Labs have signed a $68.9-million economic incentive package.

Linear Labs plans to secure a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility to support thousands of new skilled jobs over the next 10 years. The research and production center will create electric motors for EVs, robotics, HVAC and last-mile micromobility, in addition to various industrial applications.

The new Linear Labs facility will serve as an R&D center as well as a manufacturing location to produce electric motors. The company says the factory’s automation will continuously evolve as manufacturing technology evolves. Dark Factory methodology will be implemented to allow for robotic automation with human oversight.

“Fort Worth is our home, and we can see the strategic moves the city is making to shape its infrastructure into the next major technology hub,” said Brad Hunstable, co-founder and CEO of Linear Labs.

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Image courtesy of Sunstone Engineering

Sunstone Engineering’s new battery welding system enables copper and nickel tab welding

Image courtesy of Nexperia

THE TECH

Sunstone Engineering, a manufacturer of hightech micro-welding and engraving solutions, has developed a new battery welding system that’s capable of welding copper and nickel tabs to power cells.

Sunstone’s Omega PA250i includes new welding technology that clears a path for battery manufacturers to use pure copper or nickel tabs in the production of power cells. The high conductivity of copper tabs can improve the performance of a power cell. However, until now, battery manufacturers have been limited to mixed metal tabs, which are easier to produce but offer less efficient conductivity.

The Omega PA250i can be configured in three different ways to match the needs of the manufacturer. For R&D, the stylus configuration provides the lab with 5X optics and pulse arc welding technology. For mid-size production facilities, a weld held configuration may be more suitable. For large-scale production facilities, the Omega PA250i, with its PLC capabilities, connects to a CNC-mounted weld head.

As are many of Sunstone’s micro-welders, the Omega PA250i is controlled by a mounted touchscreen interface.

The operator can digitally control all aspects of the weld, from power to waveform to agitation. When the operator enters the type and thickness of the metals to be welded, the Omega will automatically set the weld parameters for an optimum weld for that combination of metals and thickness.

The Omega’s digital control also offers the ability to save welds, then load and apply those settings to similar jobs in the future. Weld settings can also be cloned from one unit to another, which saves time in setting up production processes.

Nexperia’s next-gen 650 V gallium nitride technology Nexperia has announced a new range of GaN FETs featuring next-generation high-voltage GaN HEMT H2 technology. The devices will be available in both TO-247 and the company’s proprietary CCPAK surface-mount packaging. Nexperia says its devices achieve superior switching FOMs and on-state performance with improved stability, and simplify application designs.

Because the parts are configured as cascode devices, they can be driven by standard Si MOSFET drivers. Both versions meet the demands of AEC-Q101 for automotive applications.

The new GaN technology employs through-epi vias, reducing defects and shrinking die size by around 24%.

RDS(on) is reduced to 41 mΩ (maximum, 35 mΩ typical at 25° C) in the TO-247 package, with high threshold voltage and low diode forward voltage. RDS(on) will be 39 mΩ (maximum, 33 mΩ typical at 25° C) with CCPAK surface-mount versions.

Dilder Chowdhury, Nexperia’s GaN Strategic Marketing Director, said, “Customers need a highly-efficient, cost-effective solution for high power conversion at 650 V and around the 30-40 mΩ RDS(on), where applications include on-board chargers, DC-DC converters and traction inverters in EVs.” Nexperia’s CCPAK surface-mount packaging adopts the company’s copper-clip package technology to replace internal bond wires, which Nexperia says reduces parasitic losses, optimizes electrical and thermal performance, and improves reliability. CCPAK GaN FETs are available in top- or bottom-cooled configurations.

650 V GAN041-650WSB in TO-247 and GAN039650NBB in CCPAK are sampling now.

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THE TECH

New ams position sensors for high-speed electric motors Austrian sensor manufacturer ams is introducing new position sensors to enhance the electrification of safety-critical vehicle functions such as power steering, active damper control and braking.

The ams AS5147U is a magnetic rotary position sensor chip for use in electric motors that run at speeds up to 28,000 rpm. The new AS5247U is a dual stacked-die version, which provides the redundancy required for ASIL D-rated functional safety applications.

The sensors incorporate new DFS (Dynamic Filter System) technology for position measurements at rotational speeds. The DAEC (Dynamic Angle Error Correction) technology in the sensors enables real-time angle measurement.

The devices embed a comprehensive set of self-diagnostic features to support automotive manufacturers’ programs for complying with the ISO 26262 functional safety standard. The new AS5x47U sensors also implement a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) protection on communications with external devices.

The company says its position sensors are inherently immune to interference from stray magnetic fields, thanks to their patented differential sensing architecture, and therefore require no shielding.

The AS5x47U products are integrated position measurement solutions incorporating magnetic sensor elements, analog signal conditioning and a DSP-based processing engine. The sensors provide a choice of output formats: • ABI incremental outputs (industry standard), now in a higher 14-bit resolution vs 12-bit outputs from earlier versions of the AS5x47 family • UVW outputs for implementation in the commutation scheme of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor • Digital PWM signals, which can be handled directly by an external microcontroller or microprocessor • High-speed standard serial peripheral interface (SPI) now protected by 8-bit CRC

ZF CeTrax electric drive goes into production ZF has announced that the production of its CeTrax electric drive will start in the third quarter of 2020. CeTrax will be ZF’s second electric drive to go into volume production.

Bus builder Solaris has chosen CeTrax to power its new Urbino 15 LE electric bus. “CeTrax is another building block on the way to emission-free public transport, which ZF supports to the best of its ability,” says Dr. Andreas Grossl, ZF’s Head of Axle and Transmission Systems. “Winning over bus manufacturers with a market entry electric drive shows that we are on the right track with our strategy.”

ZF designed CeTrax for use in buses, and presented it to the public for the first time in a ZF test vehicle in 2017.

The design of the drive is based on a plug-and-drive approach. CeTrax can be installed in vehicles with a conventional driveline, as well as battery, trolley, supercap and fuel cell EVs. This makes it suitable for the development of new vehicles or for retrofitting existing platforms, allowing vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators to respond flexibly to market requirements and legal regulations.

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Freudenberg develops thermally conductive elastomer for EVs Engineers at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies have developed an elastomer that merges relatively high heat capacity with electrically insulating properties by combining silicone rubber with special fillers. Electronic components can be mounted in a thermally conductive aluminum housing, which dissipates heat through cooling water or convection.

Senior Application Manager Armin Striefler explains why Freudenberg decided to use silicone as the base material: “Our material retains its properties over a very high temperature range, from -50 to +250° C, but it can be deformed with relatively low force.�

When sprayed on a metal surface, it fills the tiny gaps caused by roughness, which the company says improves heat transfer and enables adhesion without additional surface treatments. The material has a dielectric strength of at least 20 kV/mm. Adding the fillers increases the heat conductivity from 0.2 to 1.5 to 2 W/mK. By comparison, air has a heat conductivity of 0.026 W/mK

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under normal conditions.

The first application for this new material class could lie in EV charging sockets, allowing temperature sensors to be electrically shielded. During rapid charging, the busbars used to connect battery modules and power electronics produce waste heat. Freudenberg is working on a module in which the thermally conductive silicone dissipates the waste heat from the busbars directly to the housing or a heat sink. The company says this could reduce the conductor cross-sections so that only about half of the normally used copper would be required. The first functional prototypes are expected to be tested this year.

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Image courtesy of Infineon

Image courtesy of Mercedes

THE TECH

Infineon’s new silicon carbide power module for EVs Infineon Technologies has introduced a new version of its EasyPACK module: a 1,200 V half-bridge module with an 8 mΩ/150 A current rating, featuring CoolSiC automotive MOSFET technology.

With the introduction of the CoolSiC automotive MOSFET technology into the EasyPACK, Infineon is expanding the range of uses for the module family to include high-voltage applications in EVs with high efficiency and switching frequency requirements. These include HV/HV-DC-DC step-up converters, multi-phase inverters and fast-switching auxiliary drives such as compressors for fuel cells.

CoolSiC automotive MOSFET technology is designed for traction inverters, with a focus on low conduction losses, especially under partial load conditions. Infineon says the module, combined with the low switching losses of silicon carbide MOSFETs, reduces inverter losses by around 60 percent compared to silicon IGBTs. The CoolSiC automotive MOSFET power module meets the AQG 324 Automotive Power Module Qualification Guideline.

Mass production of the EasyPACK CoolSiC Automotive MOSFET module FF08MR12W1MA1_B11A is underway. It will be available through distributors starting in September 2020.

Mercedes announces partnership with battery cell manufacturer Farasis Mercedes-Benz has launched a strategic partnership with the Chinese battery cell manufacturer Farasis Energy, and taken an equity stake in the company. Key elements of the agreement include the development and industrialization of advanced cell technologies as well as goals for cost competitiveness. The technological focus is on significant increases in range through advances in energy density and charging time reduction. The contract will provide a secure supply of battery cells for Mercedes-Benz’s electrification strategy, while Farasis gains security for its CO2-neutral battery cell plant in Bitterfeld-Wolfen.

“We are very pleased to further expand our partnership with Farasis in taking a decisive step within the implementation of our ‘Electric first’ strategy,” said Mercedes-Benz COO Markus Schäfer. “With this agreement, we contribute our expertise in the field of battery cell development. At the same time, we are providing a boost for Farasis’s new plant and promoting the sustainable development of a key technology and its establishment in Germany. We share with our partner the common vision of a more sustainable world through CO2-neutral mobility.”

Hubertus Troska, a member of Daimler’s Board of Management, added, “China is the world’s largest EV market, with tremendous potential for further development. By taking a stake in a Chinese battery cell manufacturer for the first time, we will further leverage the potential of advanced technology partners in the market, enabling us to pursue our electric strategy globally.”

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THE TECH

In a new study published in Nature Energy, Stanford researchers demonstrated how their novel lithium-based electrolyte design boosts the performance of lithium metal batteries.

“Lithium metal batteries are very promising for electric vehicles, where weight and volume are a big concern,” said co-author Zhenan Bao. “But during operation, the lithium metal anode reacts with the liquid electrolyte.

This causes the growth of lithium microstructures called dendrites on the surface of the anode, which can cause the battery to catch fire and fail.”

“In our study, we use organic chemistry to rationally design and create new, stable electrolytes for these batteries,” said co-lead author Zhiao Yu, a graduate student.

Yu and his colleagues explored whether they could address the stability issues with a common, commercially available liquid electrolyte.

“We hypothesized that adding fluorine atoms onto the electrolyte molecule would make the liquid more stable,” Yu said. “Fluorine is a widely used element in electrolytes for lithium batteries. We used its ability to attract electrons to create a new molecule that allows the lithium metal anode to function well in the electrolyte.”

The result was a novel synthetic compound, abbreviated FDMB, that can be readily produced in bulk.

“The FDMB molecule that Zhiao came up with is easy to make in large quantity, and quite cheap,” Bao said.

The experimental battery retained 90 percent of its initial charge after 420 cycles of charging and discharging. In laboratories, typical lithium metal batteries stop working after about 30 cycles.

“The anode-free battery in our lab achieved about 325 watt-hours per kilogram specific energy, a respectable number,” Cui said. “Our next step could be to work collaboratively with other researchers in Battery500 to build cells that approach the consortium’s goal of 500 watthours per kilogram.”

In addition to longer cycle life and better stability, the FDMB electrolyte is also far less flammable than conventional electrolytes.

TE Connectivity’s new EV solutions kits contain all of the company’s high-voltage terminals and connectors needed to create an assembly, now in a single package.

Kits are available for AMP+ HVA 280, AMP+ HVA 630, AMP+ HVP 800, AMP+ HVP 1100, and AMP+ IPT solutions designed for high-voltage EV applications.

“To make ordering and assembly easy, we are now offering these kits for high-voltage terminals and connectors,” said Product Manager Mike Brenner.

AMP+ HVA 280 finger-proof, touch-safe, two- or three-position low-medium current connectors and headers can be used with multi-core or individually shielded wire and include a discrete header design with a two-stage floating latch, multiple latching options and an integrated internal HVIL. AMP+ HVA 630 touch-safe two-, three-, four- and five-position low-medium current connectors and headers are designed to meet AK 4.3.3, LV215-1 specifications, and feature Connector Position Assurance. The AMP+ connectors and headers can carry up to 40 A at 140° C. The shielded and sealed two-position connectors are designed for high-voltage onboard chargers. The five-position connectors allow three-phase charging currents up to 32 A for maximum charging capacity with a necessary mating force below 70 N. The package includes an integrated HVIL. The touch-proof one-, two- or three-position high current connectors and headers found in the AMP+ HVP 800 kits are designed to meet AK 4.3.3, LV215-1 specifications. They can handle currents up to 200 A at 85° C. An integrated internal HVIL with multiple routing options is included, as well as a lever for low insertion force.

AMP+ HVP 1100 finger-proof, touch-safe, one-position high-current connectors and headers have a current-carrying capability up to 300 A at 85° C. The system provides an integrated internal HVIL. Finally, TE’s AMP+ IPT shielded ring tongue, available in one-, two- or three-pole housings, provides 360-degree EMC shielding and wire-to-device capabilities.

Image courtesy of TE

Researchers develop novel battery electrolyte for lithium metal batteries

TE introduces high-voltage terminal and connector kits

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Munro offers BMW i3 teardown report for $10 For many years, Munro & Associates has been performing teardowns—taking cars apart to find out what their components are, where they come from and how much they cost—and selling enormous, highly technical reports to automakers for five-figure prices, mostly unnoticed by anyone outside the auto industry. More recently, because of the huge interest in the company’s Tesla teardowns, and because of his highly engaging and entertaining speaking style, CEO Sandy Munro has become something of a household name in the EV world.

Now the company is inviting the public into the inner sanctum, so to speak, offering its complete benchmarking analysis report on the BMW i3 for just $10. The 23,000+ page document, which previously sold for $89,000, covers every component in the vehicle—the carbon fiber monocoque, battery pack, electric motor,

range-extending gas engine, HVAC system, electronics and more.

According to Munro, the report, which analyzes more than 54,000 parts in great detail, cost the company over $2 million to develop, and has been purchased by “most of the OEMs in the world.”

Granted, this particular report on a seven-year-old car probably isn’t finding many buyers at full price these days. However, the i3 was a highly innovative vehicle when it was new, and this report could provide a master class for an aspiring automotive engineer, or a priceless trove of inspiration for the next great EV entrepreneur.

In his promo video, Sandy Munro recounts a story from his younger days, when an admired mentor sold him a box of valuable tools for next to nothing. “I think there’s another Elon Musk out there,” says Sandy.

THE MARKET LEADER IN BATTERY TESTING AND EVSE CERTIFICATIONS Key Standards Include: • UN 38.3 • IEC 62133 • IEC 61851, 62196 • SAE J1772, 2953 • SAE J2464 • CE / E-Mark Approvals • UL 2954, 2202 • UL 1642, 2054, 1973 A Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory in North America and a CB Scheme Certification Body For more information please contact, 1-800-WORLDLAB, icenter@intertek.com or intertek.com/energy-storage

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THE TECH

Developing the Future of Safer & More Efficient EV Technology • High capacity electrical contactors and fuses • Precision motor position sensors • Battery runaway detection

AEM EV has released a new addition to its line of vehicle control units. Built on OEM hardware, AEM’s VCUs are intended for high-performance EV street-conversion and motorsports applications. They are designed to allow the calibrator to create customized torque management strategies applicable to a range of EV systems.

In its default configuration, the new VCU200 Vehicle Control Unit can manage a single inverter/motor system, communicate with up to four independent CAN bus networks, and be used on direct-drive and indirect-drive EV setups. Multiple motor control systems may be possible, depending on the application.

Features of the AEM VCU200 include:

Image courtesy of AEM

AEM EV’s new vehicle control unit

• Input characterization, including accelerator pedal, brake switch, PRND switches, and other inputs • Redundancy and arbitration features for all safety-critical inputs • Startup and shutdown sequencing of high-voltage components, including independent contactor control • CAN message translation for BMS, inverter, PDUs and other CAN accessories • Motor torque management dependent on vehicle operating states and other driver-selectable modes • Closed-loop motor speed regulation for indirect drive transmission applications • Dynamic torque limits • Accessory control of cooling pumps, cooling fans, lights and more • Diagnostics and fault detection including CAN message timeouts, thermal limits, contactor and inverter enable cross-checks • IP6K7-rated enclosure (dustproof and waterproof) AEMcal software allows engineers to customize the power delivery strategies and control the ancillary subsystems of EVs through a graphical interface that combines tables and graphs for implementing strategies for torque delivery, launch control (stationary and dynamic), traction control, regenerative braking, speed limiting, map switching and more.

The VCU200 currently supports all Cascadia Motion PM Series inverters and compatible motors, the Orion BMS2 battery management system and the Isabellenhuett IVT-S Series Smart Shunt for battery management, and has an integrated current, voltage and temperature sensor in conjunction with a BMS. It can also control the EMP WP32 water pump through the CAN bus.

www.sensata.com

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Image courtesy of Volkswagen

Volkswagen increases stake in battery specialist QuantumScape Volkswagen has increased its stake in QuantumScape, making an additional investment of up to $200 million in the US battery specialist. “We are making technological progress with our partner QuantumScape. The additional investment will effectively strengthen and accelerate our joint development work,” said VW Chairman Thomas Schmall. Volkswagen and QuantumScape have been collaborating in a joint venture to enable industrial-level production of solid-state batteries since 2018.

“Volkswagen is taking e-mobility to the mainstream.

A strong position in batteries is a decisive factor in this regard,” said Frank Blome, Head of VW’s Battery Cell

business. “We are securing our global supply base with efficient producers, gradually building up manufacturing capacities and driving the development of cutting-edge solid-state battery technology. Our focus in this context is on long-term strategic partnerships.”

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Integration of Integration of single cells cells into larger single into modules with larger modules electronic management with electronic management

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Integration into Integration into electric vehicles,vehicles, renewable electric energy and storage renewable energy solutions worldwide and storage solutions worldwide

Learn more at: SealantEquipment.com/Battery

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THE TECH

TECHNICAL CHALLENGES OF

BIDIRECTIONAL CHARGERS 24 Iss 50 pg 18-31.indd 24

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By Jeffrey Jenkins

For years, we’ve been hearing about an EV technology that promises to be a game-changers: Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) bidirectional charging.

My recent work on bidirectional chargers has convinced me that V2G has found its proverbial killer app: load peak shaving for commercial/industrial energy customers.

My recent work with one V2G charger developer, Fermata Energy, has convinced me that V2G has found its proverbial killer app: load peak shaving for commercial/ industrial energy customers. This article is going to concentrate on the technical aspects of bidirectional chargers, but understanding why the added headache of bidirectional operation is worth the price paid never hurts. Larger commercial/industrial energy customers are charged not only for the total energy in kWh consumed each month, as all customers are, but are also assessed a penalty for the peak power demanded over a given sampling interval (typically 15 to 30 minutes), as well as a penalty if their average power factor is too high (or a discount if it’s low). For example, my local utility, TECO, assesses a demand charge of $11.03/kW for the average power drawn over any given 30-minute period, so a facility that draws 10 kW most of the time but spikes to an average of 50 kW for at least 30 minutes would be assessed a penalty of $551.50! This is called demand billing, and the idea behind it is to encourage larger energy consumers to take steps to flatten out their load profiles and/or improve their average power factors, so the utility doesn’t have to spend so much on upgrading the grid. A bidirectional DC fast charger that can detect when a peak load comes online and switch from charging to inverting can shave off at least some of that peak demand, and that does rather shift the economics of installing one at a facility from merely being a nice gesture (or even just a token nod towards “being green”) to one that is strongly compelling.

The first prerequisite for using a DC fast charger—bi-

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THE TECH

Isolation can be inserted in either location

M1

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Figure 1

Basic bidirectional charger circuit for 3-phase mains

directional or not—is that it and the EV have compatible DC charging ports, which is more of a problem than it really should be, as these ports are not standardized across OEMs, and are often only offered as an expensive upgrade.

For example, Nissan uses CHAdeMO, most other OEMs use CCS-1 in the US or CCS-2 in the EU, and Tesla might use any of the above or its own proprietary port design depending on the model year, country of sale and particular whim of the customer. It’s pretty much the epitome of the old engineering cliché: “standards are great because there are so many to choose from!”

Two other critical requirements for bidirectional chargers are that they must be galvanically isolated from the AC mains, and they must immediately cease operating as an inverter upon loss of power (in other words, they can’t be used as a standby generator or UPS). That last is also known (somewhat more infamously) as the “anti-islanding” provision, whose questionable rationale is to protect utility workers from being electrocuted from a power source at the load end backfeeding onto the mains (despite the fact that utility workers are trained to treat all wires as hot until bonded to earth ground, and to wear gloves when handling them). Another common regulatory requirement is that the charger operate at very close to unity power factor (that is, it must employ Power Factor Correc-

Two critical requirements for bidirectional chargers are that they must be galvanically isolated from the AC mains, and they must immediately cease operating as an inverter upon loss of power. tion, or PFC), but this functionality more or less comes for free in any charger that is bidirectional. In fact, not only can a bidirectional charger source back to the grid at near unity power factor, it can also correct bad power factor to some extent, at least for the loads downstream, and some utilities will even pay you for doing so.

There are a myriad of different circuit arrangements that could be used to make an isolated bidirectional charger which meet the above criteria, but for the sake of brevity I’m going to concentrate on just two approaches: a 3-phase active rectifier/inverter front end (i.e. the mains-side converter) coupled to a bidirectional buck/boost converter back end (i.e. the EV-side converter), and with isolation either provided by (1) a conventional mains-frequency transformer or by (2) inserting a high-frequency DC-DC

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■

■■■

Elektro-Automatik

There are a myriad of different circuit arrangements that could be used to make an isolated bidirectional charger which meet the required criteria.

converter in between the DC link that would otherwise directly join the other two converters (e.g. between C4 and C5 in Fig. 1). The main reason for choosing this topology is that it is pretty much the simplest one for a bidirectional EV charger that can perform power factor correction over a wide range of EV traction battery voltage relative to that of the mains. Referring to Fig. 1, the three voltage sources on the far left, V1-V3, represent the 3-phase AC mains (wired in wye, though they could be wired in delta with no functional difference), while the battery symbol on the far right, V4, represents the EV traction battery. MOSFETs M1-M6, along with inductors L4-L6, operate as a 3-phase boost converter when in charging mode, and a buck converter in discharging mode, and as long as the DC link voltage (buffered by reservoir

EUROPE: Tel. +49 (0) 21 62 / 37 85 - 0 • ea1974@elektroautomatik.com www.elektroautomatik.com/evm USA:

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Tel. +1 858-836-1300 • sales@elektroautomatik.com www.elektroautomatik.us/psb

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THE TECH

M1

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Figure 2

“DC Transformer” isolation stage inserted between C4 & C5 in Figure 1

capacitors C4 and C5) is higher than the peak voltage of the AC mains, near unity power factor can be achieved.

MOSFETs M7 and M8, along with inductor L7, comprise a bidirectional DC-DC converter that can operate as a buck when M7 is modulated and M8 is freewheeling, or as a boost when M8 is modulated and M7 is freewheeling.

Those of you paying close attention will have noted that L1-L3 have yet to be mentioned. These inductors—more commonly referred to as line reactors in this position—are inevitably required to meet surge and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements, so they are typically purchased ready-made as pre-approved components.

That just leaves the proverbial elephant in the room, which is providing galvanic isolation between the mains and the EV, and the only practical way of doing that is with a transformer. As mentioned above, this could be a mains-frequency (and likely 3-phase) type inserted in between the bidirectional charger and its connection to the mains, or a high-frequency (HF) ferrite type inserted in between the other two converters. The biggest upsides to the mains-frequency transformer are that it will be very robust and almost certainly pre-approved as meeting worldwide safety standards, so incorporating one into the charger can make getting through safety agency testing much easier overall. Furthermore, isolation on the mains side also al-

That just leaves the proverbial elephant in the room, which is providing galvanic isolation between the mains and the EV, and the only practical way of doing that is with a transformer. lows a much simpler circuit to be used for the bidirectional charger (basically the one shown in Fig. 1). The biggest downside is that the size and weight of a transformer go up as operating frequency goes down. For example, a commercially available mains isolation transformer rated for 15 kVA (or 15 kW at unity power factor) will weigh about 90 kg (200 lb), and come in a cabinet approximately 0.5 m (20 in) on a side, while a 12.5 kW/200 kHz ferrite transformer I recently designed fits in the palm of the hand and weighs about 1 kg (2.2 lb). There is an equally dramatic difference in price between both transformers, too—the mains version costs $1,100, while the ferrite one can be built in modest quantities (~100 units) for less than $100.

However, the mains transformer will provide bidirectional isolation right out of the box, and can be easily wired in

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The simplest approach is to use identical full bridges on each side of the transformer, which are driven synchronously with a duty cycle just under 50% so that little filtering is required. between an existing non-isolated charger with little or no effect on the latter’s operation. In contrast, the ferrite transformer will need a whole bunch of switches and the support circuitry to drive them to operate at HF, and all of this has to be inserted into the DC link between the AC-DC active rectifier/ inverter on the mains side and the DC-DC buck/boost converter on the EV side. Hence, it has to be designed into the charger from the get-go, and since every HF ferrite transformer is bespoke, all of the burden of meeting safety agency requirements will then fall upon the charger OEM (or the magnetics design firm subcontracted for the job). All of this narrows the price differential between the two approaches, or outright inverts it, and that’s not even factoring in the much higher development effort and regulatory burden when going

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THE TECH

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Figure 3

Bidirectional Series Resonant DC-DC Converter (CLLC)

the HF ferrite transformer route.

Things get really interesting in bidirectional charger design when you consider all the support circuitry needed to use a HF ferrite transformer for isolation, as the circuits that do the active rectification/inversion (on the AC side) and buck/boost DC-DC conversion (on the EV side) are relatively straightforward. The simplest approach is to use identical full bridges on each side of the transformer, which are driven synchronously with a duty cycle just under 50% so that little filtering is required (see Fig. 2). This allows energy to flow in either direction at any time, effectively making it a transformer that operates on DC. In fact, an electromechanical version of this circuit—with relays replacing the semiconductor switches used today—was employed to supply HV to the vacuum tubes in early car radios. This topology is formally known as the synchronous bidirectional full-bridge, but it is more commonly referred to as a DC transformer, because that is effectively what it is. Applying PWM to this topology is notoriously difficult (because the input and output can flip sides at any time), but operating at a fixed duty means there is no way to limit overcurrent except by totally shutting down all of the switches simultaneously. Also, the leakage inductance of the transformer and the output capacitances of the switches can exact a hefty penalty on efficiency and

One particularly compelling option is to make use of the transformer leakage inductance as part of a series resonant network by inserting a calculated amount of capacitance. reliability, limiting the allowable switching frequency as power goes up (right when you need it most).

There are numerous circuit variations that address some or even all of the aforementioned downsides—adding either passive or “lossless” snubbers is the most obvious— but a particularly compelling option is to make use of the transformer leakage inductance as part of a series resonant network by inserting a calculated amount of capacitance (and, optionally, additional inductance) in series with each side of the transformer, then driving the bridge switches with a fixed duty cycle at the resultant resonant frequency (see Fig. 3). This changes the shape of the current waveform from squarish to sinusoidal, which dramatically reduces switching losses, and it also absorbs any other stray

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This changes the shape of the current waveform from squarish to sinusoidal, which dramatically reduces switching losses, and it also absorbs any other stray inductances into the series resonant networks.

C

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CoolTherm® Materials

The Next Evolution in Thermal Management

Y

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MY

inductances (besides transformer leakage) into the series resonant networks, eliminating the need for snubbers and allowing much higher-frequency operation.

There are two downsides to series resonant operation: output can only be regulated by varying the frequency so it still can’t limit overcurrent when operated at a fixed duty cycle; and the stability of the resonant frequency depends on the value of components (and strays) not drifting too much with time and temperature. Both of these issues have prevented wider adoption of this topology, but DC fast chargers are expensive and relatively low-volume products, so having to tweak the frequency on a per-unit basis isn’t quite so painful as it would be for, say, a Level 1 charger.

CY

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As electric vehicle technology evolves, so should your expectations.

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Our customizable products help electric vehicles go longer, charge faster and have higher reliability by managing heat in batteries, chargers, motors and power electronics. Ready to think differently about heat? It’s time to experience a different kind of cool. lord.com/cooltherm

8/18/20 6:20 PM

THE TECH

SOLVING BATTERY RECYCLING LI-CYCLE RECOVERS USABLE BATTERY-GRADE MATERIALS FROM SHREDDED LI-ION BATTERIES

By Charles Morris

Image courtesy of Li-Cycle

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Q&A with CEO Ajay Kochhar

t’s usually one of the first objections cited by EV naysayers: batteries can’t or won’t be recycled, and they contain hazardous materials that will end up in landfills. In fact, no such sinister scenario is likely—most of the components of Liion batteries are valuable, and it’s quite feasible, technically and economically, to recycle them. Several auto OEMs, research institutes and other industry players around the world are developing systems to do just that.

However, it is fair to say that it’s early days for battery recycling, and that there is much work to do to build a recycling regimen that will be able to handle the volume once substantial numbers of vehicles are electrified.

Charged spoke with Li-Cycle’s Co-Founder, President and CEO, Ajay Kochhar, who explained what his company is doing to build a sustainable battery recycling ecosystem.

Ajay Kochhar, a chemical engineer, and Tim Johnson, a mechanical engineer and Chartered Financial Analyst, founded Li-Cycle (pronounced LIE-cycle) in 2016. “We come from the lithium industry,” Kochhar told Charged.

“We used to work for companies that produced lithium chemicals that go into cathodes, cells and, ultimately, battery packs. Way at the other end of the supply chain— mining and refining, particularly the refining piece.”

I

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THE TECH Image courtesy of Li-Cycle

Kochhar chatted with Charged about the company’s history, its unique system for collecting and processing materials, and the future of the battery recycling ecosystem.

Q Charged: What inspired you to start Li-Cycle?

A Ajay Kochhar: We were leading a practice, a consul-

tancy, essentially consulting with companies to build large chemical plants. And we’d be asked as lithium consultants and experts to look into these looming questions: “How environmentally friendly are batteries? And what’s going to happen to all these batteries?” It was very opaque, hard to figure out what was happening. Sometimes you can’t even figure out who is dealing with the batteries. So, we didn’t find very satisfying answers.

It’s all about critical material supply—supply of lithium and nickel and cobalt to go back into batteries. We’d be asked, what’s actually happening to all these batteries, at end of life? Is there really some sort of recovery of these materials to go back into batteries? And again—this is now four or five years ago—it was very opaque, unclear.

Most of the time we concluded, for some materials like lithium, there really wasn’t any recycling happening to process that material back into lithium-ion batteries.

Q Charged: So, all of the batteries used in laptops and

phones, there’s not been much material recovery?

A Ajay Kochhar: No, not so much has been recovered.

I’d say the general approach has been reuse. It’s typically either mom-and-pops or individuals that are—in the case of laptop batteries—taking them apart, and selling the cells. There’s a lot of that that happens.

Or, if it’s large quantities, it usually is a waste approach.

You have these generalized “recyclers” that deal with those batteries. They often thermally treat them—they’re burning off plastic and electrolyte in the batteries and are not really focused on the material recovery. It’s mainly the cobalt, the nickel and the copper that they can get via that method, but that’s usually it. Lithium is burned off, or it goes into a waste fraction. Other components, like plastics, electrolytes, graphite, they’re all essentially burned off, typically. It’s not usually overtly apparent—you have to dig in and understand. Our team has been to a lot of these facilities, and that’s usually the case—it’s usually a waste approach, not resource recovery, and not very efficient.

Q Charged: So, you guys came along to fix that.

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Overall, it’s 95% recovery, and the materials that we make are equivalent grade, if not better, to mined and refined materials, and very competitive in terms of price with virgin materials.

A Ajay Kochhar: Exactly. We launched the company in

2016, after a couple of years of intense R&D. Instead of a thermal process, what we do is a mechanical and chemical process. It’s two steps. Both are patented, owned by the company. We handle all types of lithium-ion batteries, from laptop and cellphone batteries all the way up to EV batteries. There’s not a large quantity of end-of-life EV batteries yet, but we’re starting to see some here and there.

In the first step, we basically size-reduce the batteries. It’s a shredding process, which may not sound that spectacular, but it’s really all about safety—how do you do that without risk of fire or a thermal event?

In the second step, we take those physically separated materials, and we reprocess that intermediate material to recover battery-grade end chemicals—lithium, nickel, cobalt—that are suitable to go back into cathodes again.

Overall, it’s 95% recovery, and the materials that we make are equivalent grade, if not better, to mined and refined materials, and very competitive in terms of price with virgin materials.

At a high level, this is very different from what’s been happening in the industry to date. Materials don’t actually go back to the lithium-ion battery supply chain, they go to some other lower-quality use, typically. So, ours is a completely different approach.

We’ve had a couple of years of R&D, and now we’re in the commercial operations and building phase.

Q Charged: Would you say this is analogous to the

process for recycling lead-acid batteries, in which they reuse the materials?

A Ajay Kochhar: Yeah, that’s where we’re trying to get to.

Lithium-ion is quite a bit more complex, obviously, than lead-acid. With lead-acid, you have a few different types,

but on the whole it’s pretty homogenous. The complication with lithium-ion—and this is why there’s the need for innovation—is that there are so many different types. It keeps on getting innovated, keeps on changing year-on-year. You have different chemistries, different flavors, different form factors. It doesn’t end. So, that’s the challenge. How do you get a process that’s agnostic, and at the same time is going to be economic no matter what, on a mixed basis? That’s been our mantra from the start—to ensure that you can take any lithium-ion battery in a mixed fashion and ensure it’s scalable. And now, we’re operating at commercial scale and on the verge of expanding internationally.

Q Charged: You said step one is to safely shred the batteries. Can you tell me a little bit about how you do that safely? Do you fully discharge them?

A Ajay Kochhar: It’s a Hub-and-Spoke model, like a

wheel. The Spokes are the decentralized satellite sites that do the shredding, and the Hub is the refining, the chemical process.

A big problem in this industry has been logistics. If I’m an automotive company, and I have a battery I have to get rid of, if I have to pay somebody to take care of the battery, that’s a big issue. Because you have to pay quite a bit to ship these heavy batteries any distance. So, the solution to that is our Spokes. We get close to the source. Modular, scalable plants, low-footprint, almost “Lego-built” facilities. That’s how we set it up for them, regionally deploying these sites to get batteries close to the source, convert into not-a-battery and then ship that intermediate material, which is now safe, can’t catch fire, and is cheaper and easier to ship in bulk.

Q Charged: I know there’s a lot of regulations around

shipping lithium-ion, so this gets you around that, I imagine.

A Ajay Kochhar: It does. So, how to deal with this safely?

We’re essentially shredding in such a way that there’s no access to oxygen. There’s a variety of ways to do that—we do it in a particular way, it’s patented. But from a safety standpoint, it’s not only the actual processing, but there’s a lot of standard operating procedures and health and safety requirements around storage, logistics, handling. We’ve had to develop a lot of this safety stack of approaches.

JUL/AUG 2020

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THE TECH

Safe Size Reduction (Spoke)

Safe size reduction of all types of lithium-ion batteries form a charged state, in a scalable manner, to an inert product

Hydrometallurgical Processing (Hub)

Refining of recovered electrode materials to produce battery-grade end products for reuse in lithium-ion battery production or use in the broader economy

Li

Q Charged: When you have a barrel of your shred-

ded material, what is handling that like? Are there any special precautions you have to take with the shredded stuff ?

A Ajay Kochhar: Handling the shred products is way easier. It’s basically mixed metals—quite inert. At the Spokes you get batteries going in, any type, minimal dismantling. Mixed small and large, one stream, one process. And coming out the other end we have separated plastics, copper, aluminum. And the key fraction, which is the most valuable, is the cathode and the anode in the battery. The cathode always contains lithium, and potentially nickel, cobalt, other metals. And the anode is usually graphite.

So, that cathode/anode mixture, that’s the most valuable.

All that’s inert, not a big deal to be shipping that around relative to batteries. There are some key regulatory aspects you have to ensure that are met, but way easier than batteries. That black powder is the feed to our Hub process, the refining process.

Q Charged: So then, at that step you use chemical

processes?

Cu

Ni

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Co

Handling the shred products is way easier. It’s basically mixed metals—quite inert. At the spokes you get batteries going in, any type, minimal dismantling. Mixed small and large, one stream, one process.

A Ajay Kochhar: That cathode/anode material, we

recover everything in it: graphite; lithium, you recover that as a lithium chemical; cobalt, you recover that as a cobalt chemical; nickel, as a nickel chemical, and so on. There are about eight different products from our hub facility.

In the first step, it’s a lot about safety and automation. In the second step, it’s mainly about dealing with the variability. You get such a large variation of different types of lithium-ion batteries. You have types that are really high cobalt, types that are really high nickel. So, that’s the difficulty and the innovation that we’ve now had to deal with.

Around the world you have a lot of [variation]. In China, for example, you have a lot of refineries that are taking this cathode/anode material and recovering cobalt

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and nickel. But the interesting thing is that they don’t usually recover lithium. There is basically no commercial, battery-grade, lithium chemical recovery from any facility around the world. You have a lot of people that are doing bench-scale work, pilot work. But the reality is, in the market there’s no one who’s actually getting the lithium out of a lithium-ion battery, which is very ironic.

We do. We actually get the lithium, in a battery grade, out of lithium-ion batteries. And I think we’re the only facility in the world that can do that. So, it’s another key differentiator of what we’re doing.

Q Charged: Is that just due to

the market cost of lithium?

A Ajay Kochhar: I think it’s two

things. If you rewind about 10 years, lithium prices were way lower than they are today. So that’s probably part of it. I think the second is that this industry is on the precipice of turning from a niche business with low volumes into one that’s going to have quite high volumes in the future. It’s going to take some time to get there, but if you still have these old, inefficient, generalized processes, you’re losing out on a lot of the material in those batteries that can be recovered.

Q Charged: When a battery dies

or loses capacity, it’s largely due to side chemical reactions that are unwanted and build-up or damage to the interfaces of the electrodes, etc. But all the originally materials are still

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THE TECH There’s a number of ways that batteries can die, but commonly you have, call it lithium inventory, it ends up in parts of the battery that it shouldn’t be, it gets locked up in these side products.

York in the old Eastman Kodak business park, which has now turned into a hub of activity for cleantech, which will be live later in 2020.

Where we’re going is twofold: we’ll continue to grow in North America. And, outside North America, what we’re doing is partnering up via joint ventures. Our philosophy behind that is that this is a very regional market, the nuances are very regional, regulations are very regional.

In every region of the world it’s going to have a different approach, so you really do need regional partners to help you get to speed at scale.

Q Charged: In terms of a business model, are you buying

present, so your process separates those and starts from scratch, correct?

the used batteries, or are they paying you to process them?

A Ajay Kochhar: Yes, exactly. The way the batteries

A Ajay Kochhar: It really depends on the type of battery,

usually die is through these side, or parasitic, reactions.

And usually it’s a physical change or morphological change within the battery. There’s a number of ways that batteries can die, but commonly you have, call it lithium inventory, it ends up in parts of the battery that it shouldn’t be, it gets locked up in these side products, so you lose the ion, which is basically the thing shuttling back and forth to create the charge. Over time, the inventory of that changes. That’s actually the most common way that the battery dies. So, you lose your capacity because the “runner” got stuck somewhere, or a few of the “runners” got stuck in some other places and now you can’t use them to create electrical charge.

It’s a location or a form change that’s happened in the actual physical form. We go back to the fundamental building blocks. The actual lithium is still there, it’s just in a different form. We’re basically going back to the fundamental atoms, then we’re rebuilding those chemicals that are reused in a lithium-ion battery.

and the region around the world. In some regions there’s a norm that groups pay for batteries and in other regions it’s the norm that it’s a service. Within that there’s variability, because some batteries have a lot of valuable materials, and some don’t. But from a high level, if you talk to any vehicle manufacturer, anybody that has batteries that will need to be recycled in the future, what they want is for this not to be a liability. They want it to be either zero-cost or even, ideally, a value. That’s why we started this company, in large part, was a customer need. It’s basically folks saying, “Why are we paying for this? Isn’t there a lot of valuable material in here? Why hasn’t there been an innovation to solve this?”

As the scale gets there in the next five to ten years, we believe we can transform that norm and make it clearer. Is this a cost? Is it net zero? It’s a bit immature today, but in the medium and long term, our objective is to change that into a clear economic position.

Q Charged: You’re entering a new phase now, into a

on the open market?

commercial process. Can you tell me where you are now and where you’re headed next?

A Ajay Kochhar: Right now, we’re the largest recycler of

lithium-ion batteries in North America. In pretty quick order that’s become the case. We have an existing facility in Ontario, which grew out of our R&D center and is now a commercial facility—North America Commercial Spoke 1. And we have a second facility (North America Commercial Spoke 2) that we’re building in Rochester, New

Q Charged: Are you currently selling the raw materials

A Ajay Kochhar: We actually do commercially sell a lot

of our materials back to the market today. It is a very rigorous process to qualify the material, convince people of its quality. Usually, you start with a small sample and then you get to a medium-size sample and then a larger sample, and that’s the thing that basically leads, ultimately, to a contract. That takes a long time. And we’ve progressed to that for a lot of the materials that we produce. We’re delivering materials under contract to groups that make

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battery materials that go back into batteries again.

Where I’d love to see us go in the next, say, three to five years— and this isn’t quite there yet in the market—is the circular economy model. Say you get battery materials from a certain manufacturer and you recover the materials out of that, then you integrate that right back into the same manufacturer’s supply chain or a few suppliers’ supply chains. We’re getting there, we can definitely enable that, but that’s going to be a medium-term reality.

The biggest impact is none at all.

Q Charged: In terms of the qual-

ity of the materials that are the product, in most cases it’s identical to the virgin material?

How do you quantify that for people for graphite, for example?

A Ajay Kochhar: Yes. There are a

variety of nuances as it relates to the quality of lithium and nickel and cobalt. And in graphite, for example, these are almost tailored, specialty chemicals. You have a specific customer, they’re going to want a little bit less of this and a little bit more of that, etc. There’s a generalized specification that you can work to, but the reality is that when you actually engage with specific groups they’ll say, “Actually, we want a little bit less of that.”

And, “Oh, that’s too high.” We’re talking about levels of parts per million—very, very small levels of materials. So, we’ve gone through that qualification with a variety of groups for lithium and nickel and cobalt.

We make lithium carbonate and nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate.

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THE TECH That’s gone very well, and it just takes iteration. Being in the market, having materials to market, iterating the physical properties of that specification, etc.

Lithium, for example, that goes to a cathode manufacturer, it has to meet a certain spec. There are certain impurity sensitivities, and you have to be below those thresholds. So, we supply to meet that spec and then they would use that lithium in making a new cathode. That’s one example where it integrates back into the supply chain.

There are, however, parts of the battery where it’s tougher and it’s going to cost a lot and maybe it’s not worth it, or there are difficulties, and graphite is one of those examples. So, we make the graphite, say technical grade or concentrate material, that can go back to other applications of graphite, like electrodes or pencils, whatever it might be. But graphite is very sensitive. It’s down to the physical properties of it. You have different types of graphite—synthetic, natural. We are getting the complete mix of all that. In one stream, we get synthetic, mixed, this size, that size, etc.

So in theory, yes, you could go back to a graphite battery-grade product, sure. But there’s some strategic decisions where we’ve looked at it and tried a variety of things, and we just said, “No. There’s not as much net value.”

It’s a big step up not to be burning graphite, which has been the norm to date. We’re giving back to the economy, that’s important. But there are some technical realities.

You can’t be taking this mixed feed in and getting a perfect graphite product. There’s some situations where we are trading back into the battery supply chain, and there’s others where it’s more difficult and the priority is to get it back to the economy through other markets.

automotive manufacturer that is responsible for the battery’s end of life.

Second, it’s about recovery. Typically, if you have regulations on recycling, they do mandate some level of recovery. For example, in Europe to date, the mandated recovery for lithium-ion batteries has been 50%. But there is an upcoming renewal of that regulatory framework that will likely push that number up. And that’s the same theme around the world. We see a lot of different regulations that are stipulating recoveries that are way above 50%, typically 70%, 80%, even 85% plus. And that’s really interesting because on the one hand, as a recycler that can achieve that, that’s great. That’s locking in a lot of acceleration for us. However, we have to be a bit careful about the staging.

In some parts of the world that solution may be available, in other parts not. And so, I think that’s typically the place that the automotive companies are trying to plug in and make sure that it’s not being introduced prematurely. That it’s being staged in the right way so that the solutions are available in the market to meet those requirements.

Q Charged: There are regulations that mandate the

Q Charged: What about the copper and aluminum and

It’s a big step up not to be burning graphite, which has been the norm to date. We’re giving back to the economy, that’s important. But there are some technical realities.

amount of lead-acid batteries that have to be recycled. Do you see that becoming the norm for lithium-ion as well?

the plastics? Is that stuff easily mechanically separated out in the grinding phase?

A Ajay Kochhar: Yes. If you had asked me about

A Ajay Kochhar: Exactly. It’s all automated, we use

maybe 12 months ago, I think it was much more unclear. But we’ve seen a lot of movement, even in the last year, from jurisdictions such as China, Europe, certain states in the US, provinces in Canada. There’s an emerging theme of two things. One is, there is an emerging priority of who is responsible for the battery at end of life. And that’s been a big question. Who is going to deal with this and who’s responsible? In the case of China, it’s been made very clear that it is the

physical properties to separate that out, no thermal processing, we don’t burn anything off. Then we put them into the standard copper, aluminum, plastic recycling supply chain.

Q Charged: What are the next steps for you? Are you

guys looking for customers? Are you looking for partners? If someone in China or Europe wanted to license your technology, would you do that?

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Image courtesy of Li-Cycle

We see a lot of different regulations that are stipulating recoveries that are way above 50%, typically 70%, 80%, even 85% plus...That’s locking in a lot of acceleration for us.

A Ajay Kochhar: Generally speaking, yes, that’s what we’re doing. The intent is not maybe so much via licensing. I think there’s a lot of, say, younger companies in this space where that’s what their business model is.

And now the reality is that, to put it very plainly, you have to do it. You have to show that what you’re doing is working at commercial scale before somebody else is going to take the risk and license it.

Just to sum up, let me say this. From a consumer perspective about EVs, I think there’s been a lot of questions about, “What are the end-of-life recycling solutions out there? Are they economically viable?” I

just want to say it loud and clear: There are solutions today, and they’re here. And this “end-of-lifecycle problem” with lithium-ion batteries and EVs, it’s not a problem. It’s taken innovation to figure it out, but the reality is, it can be done. All that needs to happen is that we continue to scale up to meet the market need over time.

There are solutions there, and that’s important for not only consumers to know, but government stakeholders and OEMs themselves. The whole supply chain, the whole ecosystem, really needs to have that awareness. Because in the absence of that, there is this clear, countercurrent narrative which homes in on [the lack of sustainable and economic recycling solutions for lithium-ion batteries], and it’s actually wrong.

Q Charged: You hear a similar thing with the long

tailpipe argument. People say, “You know, these things are fueled by coal.” And, “What are we going to do with all the batteries?” is the next thing they say, and my response is, those are both solved.

A Ajay Kochhar: Exactly. And they’re not solutions that

will be here in the future. They’re here today.

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Hyundai to spin off IONIQ as an EV-only brand, launch three new EVs by 2024 Hyundai has launched a new brand called IONIQ, which will be dedicated to battery-electric vehicles. The company plans to introduce three new IONIQ EVs over the next four years.

Hyundai’s existing IONIQ hatchback was introduced in 2016, and is available as a hybrid, PHEV or EV. Hyundai’s existing IONIQ hatchback was introduced in 2016, and available as a hybrid, PHEV and EV. Hyundai plans to launch a range of numerically named EVs under the new brand—the even numbers will be sedans, and the odd numbers SUVs. The first model under the IONIQ brand will be the IONIQ 5, a midsize CUV that will launch in early 2021. The IONIQ 6 sedan, based on the Prophecy concept that was unveiled in March, will follow in 2022. Next up will be the IONIQ 7, a large SUV, which is to drop in early 2024.

All the IONIQ brand models will be built on the company’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP).

Hyundai says the new vehicles will feature “fast charging capability, plentiful driving range, wireless connectivity and simple, intuitive and ergonomically designed user interfaces.”

“The IONIQ brand will change the paradigm of EV customer experience,” said Hyundai Executive VP Wonhong Cho. “With a new emphasis on connected living, we will offer electrified experiences integral to an eco-friendly lifestyle.”

Québec transit operator orders 27 Lion electric school buses Transdev Canada, a private operator of school buses, has ordered 27 new electric school buses from Québec firm Lion Electric, an investment of just under $4.5 million (Canadian).

The company’s fleet of 31 e-buses will be gradually introduced on school transport networks in the Estrie and Montérégie regions of Québec, beginning with the start of the school year in September 2020. Transdev’s ambition is to electrify 100% of its Québec school bus fleet by 2025.

Transdev, which operates in 20 countries, says its worldwide fleet already includes 800 electric buses, and will include 1,200 electrified buses (battery-electric and fuel cell) by the end of the year.

Transdev has chosen to develop an energy transition plan for school transportation in Québec, because most of the local energy is produced from hydroelectric sources, and therefore among the cleanest in the world. The introduction of the e-buses promises to reduce pollution by 99% compared to fossil vehicles.

“We wanted to demonstrate a strong commitment regarding energy transition, and in particular to serve the younger generations who are the public transportation passengers of tomorrow,” said Arthur Nicolet, CEO of Transdev Canada. “We have done so with two key partners: the Québec government, whose support is crucial to our electrification strategy, and Lion, a local Québec company with which we have been working for a long time.”

“We have been happy to support Transdev in their commitment to sustainable mobility since 2016,” said Marc Bédard, President and founder of Lion Electric.

With 31 100% electric LionC school buses in their fleet, Transdev’s green shift is certain to have a major impact on the environment and children’s health for years to come.”

Image courtesy of Lion Electric

Image courtesy of Hyundai

THE VEHICLES

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Image courtesy of Peugeot

New study: EVs are cheaper than diesels for ride-sharing in many European capitals As ride-hailing apps such as Uber, Lyft, Bolt and Kapten continue to explode in popularity, the environmental costs are becoming apparent. These services not only draw riders away from greener public transport options, but they result in more passenger-miles driven than when people drive themselves.

The need to electrify ride-hailing vehicles is obvious.

The good news, according to a new study by Transport & Environment (T&E), is that converting to EVs is becoming an attractive financial proposition in key European capitals such as Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Lisbon.

The economics of EVs—more expensive to buy but cheaper to run—are a perfect match for high-mileage, low-margin businesses such as ride-hailing and taxis.

According to T&E, medium-sized BEVs are on average 14% cheaper to run than diesels today. For drivers in Paris, the savings can be as high as 24%, or as much as €3,000 per year. T&E estimates that today’s EVs cut CO2 emissions by two thirds on average compared to diesel cars. Because of Uber drivers’ high mileage, the climate benefits of going electric are even greater.

“This is a win-win-win situation for drivers, citizens and the planet,” said T&E New Mobility Expert Yoann Le Petit. “The sooner Uber and taxis go 100% electric, the sooner citizens will enjoy cleaner air and quieter neighborhoods, the planet will have less climate-wrecking emissions and drivers will earn more money.”

Charging is a major roadblock to EV adoption by professional drivers. T&E finds that drivers need Level 2 charging stations in residential areas where they live, as well as dedicated fast chargers that they can use to top up during the work day.

Yoann Le Petit continued, “In the fight against climate change and air pollution, city dwellers need to be able to commute less, cycle more and hop on the bus or metro more often. But to realize the goal of cleaner cities, authorities will also need to clean up the car fleet. It makes perfect economic and climate sense to fully electrify high-mileage vehicles like Ubers and taxis.”

Peugeot reveals e-Expert electric commercial van Peugeot’s new e-Expert is an electric version of the popular fossil-fueled Peugeot Expert commercial van. It will offer two different range options and three body lengths.

The new van will be available with a battery capacity of 50 kWh of 75 kWh, depending on the body size. The Compact and Standard variants come with a 50 kWh battery pack, which offers a range of up to 143 miles (WLTP); the Standard and Long variants can also be equipped with a 75 kWh pack, which offers a range of up to 205 miles.

The battery pack is located under the floor, and Peugeot says it doesn’t cut into the amount of cargo space.

Payloads are up to 1,275 kg, and towing capacity is up to 1,000 kg, both the same as those of the legacy Peugeot Expert.

The e-Expert can be converted by coach-builders to enable various configurations (refrigeration, for example).

The new e-van is based on PSA’s EMP2 (Efficient Modular Platform). Its electric motor delivers maximum power of 100 kW and maximum torque of 260 Nm. Top speed is 80 mph, and 0-100 km acceleration is 13.1 seconds.

Two on-board charging options are on offer: the standard 7.4 kW single-phase charger, or an optional 11 kW three-phase charger. DC charging is also supported, at rates up to 100 kW, which is expected to deliver an 80% charge in 30 minutes.

There are three driving settings: Eco, Normal and Power; as well as two regenerative braking modes.

The Peugeot e-Expert will be produced at PSA’s plant near Valenciennes, France, and is expected to go on sale in Europe later this year.

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THE VEHICLES

New study: EV fuel cost savings vary widely across the US

Plug-in market share powers past 8% in the UK, Germany and France What a difference a few years (and some judicious government policy) makes. Back in 2014, the US was the center of the EV scene, and sales in Europe had yet to crack the one-percent mark. Now the Continent has left us behind.

In June, the market share of plug-in vehicles exceeded 8% in all of the three largest European auto markets.

With a slew of new models in the pipeline, and ever-tighter emissions regulations on the docket, there seems to be nowhere to go but up.

In the UK, plug-in market share hit 9.5% in June 2020, compared to 2.1% in June 2019. Pure EVs accounted for 6.1% of the total market, and PHEVs took a 3.4% share.

The plug-in market share figure for the first half of this year now stands at 7.7%. The Tesla Model 3 topped the list of EVs sold in June, and was the 9th-best-selling passenger vehicle of any kind.

The UK’s overall auto market was down only 35% compared to June 2019 (that’s considered good news in light of April’s 97% plunge and May’s 89% nose-dive).

In Germany, Europe’s largest auto market, plug-ins captured 8.4% of the auto market in June, up from 3.4% a year ago. France saw plug-ins grab 9% of the action in June, also a big leap from last June’s 2.5%.

EV drivers can save as much as $14,500 on fuel costs over 15 years compared to driving a legacy vehicle. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis conducted by researchers at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

The new report, Levelized Cost of Charging Electric Vehicles in the United States, published in the journal Joule, examines the cost of EV charging in greater detail than previous studies. It provides a state-level assessment, taking into account the thousands of different retail electricity tariffs around the country, and considers when, where, and how a vehicle is charged. It also considers the real-world costs of charging equipment and installation.

“Finding out the purchase price of a vehicle is relatively simple, but the savings related to fuel aren’t readily available, especially since electricity cost varies greatly for different locations and charging options,” said co-author Matteo Muratori, a Senior Systems Engineer at NREL. The cost to charge an EV varies widely. The key factors include differences in the price of electricity, the types of equipment used (slow or fast charging), the cost of installation, and vehicle use (miles driven). The researchers calculated that the national average cost to charge a battery EV ranges from 8 cents per kWh to 27 cents, with an average of 15 cents. This corresponds to an average lifetime fuel cost savings of $3,000 to $10,500.

However, in certain scenarios, the savings can be much lower or higher than the average. The researchers found that, in Washington state, an EV driver can save as much as $14,500. On the other hand, certain drivers in Alabama, Hawaii, Mississippi or Tennessee may fail to realize any savings compared to a legacy vehicle.

In calculating costs, the researchers also considered the nature of the charging stations. The average cost figure of 15 cents per kWh assumes 81% of charging is done at home, 14% at a workplace or public station, and 5% at a DC fast charger. Exclusively charging at DCFC stations increases the average cost to 18 cents per kWh, while charging exclusively at home brings it down to 11 cents.

EV owners who can take advantage of time-of-use pricing can see costs as low as 8 cents per kWh.

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Investors are pouring money into EV companies—as shares in Tesla, Nio and newly public Nikola soared, Rivian, which has attracted loads of media attention for its planned electric pickup and SUV, raised $2.5 billion in new funding in a round led by T. Rowe Price.

The company has raised about $6 billion in funding so far.

CEO Robert Scaringe said in June that Rivian had no plans to go public right away, but was open to more funding to support its aggressive growth plans.

“We’re well-capitalized to launch the products, but we are rapidly growing and accelerating some of our future products. We’re seeing demand being significantly higher than what we initially anticipated, which is leading us to [raise capital] for higher levels of volume.”

Scaringe told CNBC that Rivian is totally focused on launching its products. “We’re not planning or thinking about exit events, liquidity events at this point. We have access to private capital, which allows us to focus on execution. This is not easy—you need thousands of engineers working on the technical aspects, you need a production system that takes years to build and to launch, and you need commercial retail and service infrastructure,” Scaringe said. “We’re completely focused on getting all those pieces built.”

Rivian is investing more than $750 million to renovate and expand its factory in Normal, Illinois.

Rivian hopes to have its R1T pickup on the road by mid-2021, and some industry observers expect it to be the first to bring an electric pickup truck to market (though Lordstown Motors may have something to say about that).

“At this stage, [Rivian is] farther along than pretty much anybody,” Navigant Analyst Sam Abuelsamid told CNBC. “They’ve been developing this truck and platform for quite a long time. Certainly, longer than Tesla has been working on the Cybertruck or Nikola has been working on the Badger.”

Image courtesy of Rivian

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Image courtesy of Aptera

THE VEHICLES

Clean Cars Nevada initiative aims to establish zeroemission standard As the US federal government continues its war on emissions standards, an increasing number of state governments have adopted more stringent standards, based in whole or in part on those of California. The next Clean Air State could be Nevada, if a new proposal is adopted.

The draft Clean Cars Nevada initiative has two parts.

The Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV) standard will require automakers to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.

The Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) standard will set minimum sales goals for EVs as a percentage of all vehicles sold in Nevada.

The new rules are to go into effect starting with model year 2025. Automakers will be allowed to bank early lowand zero-emission credits starting with model year 2023.

Through 2021, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) will engage with stakeholders and convene public workshops to refine the regulation. The proposal will then need to be adopted by the State Environmental Commission and the Legislative Commission.

“Now more than ever, it is critical for Nevada to continue accelerating efforts to address climate change including capturing the many benefits of sustainable transportation options for Nevadans,” said Governor Steve Sisolak. “This kind of decisive action is the first of many steps we will be taking as part of my commitment to addressing climate change under the State of Nevada Climate Initiative.”

“Transportation is the number one source of greenhouse gases in Nevada,” said Bradley Crowell, Director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “To move Nevada’s climate future forward, we must reduce pollution from the cars and trucks we drive as well as modernize our urban planning efforts through transit-oriented development and electrification of our transportation infrastructure.”

Aptera finalizes design, is ready to build super-efficient EV Most EV startups are either following the Tesla template— aiming to produce a high-performance luxury vehicle—or targeting the money-spinning pickup truck segment. Aptera Motors is taking a very different path. The reincarnated automaker’s goal is to create the world’s most efficient vehicle—an EV with as much as 1,000 miles of range.

Now the San Diego-based company says it has finalized its development vehicle design, and is raring to start building.

Parts are being released to internal build teams and to outside suppliers. “All of our structural components are now released along with our suspension,” says the company. “We are now knee-deep in electrical engineering while finishing up the interior, exterior covers, and our lighting systems.”

The company has released several photos of components, including the composite molds that will be used to build the vehicle’s primary lower structure, or “tub,” which will hold the seats on the inside and the batteries below.

Weight is a major concern—Aptera has been working to lighten its suspension significantly, and says it has reduced the weight of its metal components by at least 50%.

The company has also shown photos of custom control boards that will be used to manage electrical components such as lights and heaters. “[The boards] are distributed throughout the vehicle, and allow us to use a very lightweight wiring harness to power all our devices. A typical automotive wiring harness could weigh over 50 lbs, and we cut that weight down to 20 lbs.”

Solar body panels are designed to provide the Aptera with almost 700 W of extra charging power. The company claims that, on a sunny day, the panels will add as much as 44 miles of range.

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THE VEHICLES

Candela Seven electric boat’s hydrofoils reduce energy consumption by 80% Image courtesy of Candela Seven

An electric boat that can fly? Candela Seven’s electric boat rises above the water in order to decrease drag and increase range.

Wing-shaped foils force the hull out of the water as the boat moves forward, which Candela says reduces energy consumption by 80 percent compared to an ordinary planing boat, and cuts fuel usage by 95 percent.

Candela’s engineering team has been working on the foiling technology and its computerized control system since 2015, and has tested it in several prototypes. The company has now begun serial production of the Seven at its Lidingö factory outside Stockholm.

A new video demonstrates the e-boat’s performance on a 37-minute cruise through the Stockholm archipelago.

The Candela Seven’s sensors and on-board computers are designed to deliver a steady ride in almost any conditions. In the video, we see the Candela powering through the wake from a cruise ship with minimal rocking and rolling.

The Candela Seven has a 40 kWh battery pack. According to the company, it consumes no more than 0.9 kWh of energy per nautical mile at a cruising speed of 20 knots, whereas a non-foiling fossil-fueled boat of the same size uses 6 kWh per nautical mile.

“The key to long electric range in boats is to reduce the friction from the water,” says Mikael Mahlberg, Communications Manager at Candela Speedboat. “The only way to achieve a decent range with batteries is to use hydrofoils. That’s how we get three times the range of conventional electric boats, even with a smaller battery pack.”

Croatian supercar builder Rimac Automobili has appointed Chris Porritt to the role of Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Porritt has spent over three decades in the automotive industry—previous positions include Chief Engineer at Aston Martin, VP of Engineering at Tesla, and lead at Apple’s Special Projects Group. He has overseen the development of several bespoke performance and electric vehicles, including Aston Martin’s One-77 hypercar and V12 Vantage Zagato.

Rimac is currently deep into the development of its next electric hypercar, codenamed C_Two. Prototypes are being built, tested, and crashed for global homologation. Rimac says the production version of the C_Two will deliver a 0-100 km/h time of under 2 seconds and a top speed of 258 mph. The company plans to hand-build 150 units of the vehicle on a new production line in Croatia, beginning in 2021. Rimac has developed and built all the major systems and components for the C_Two in-house.

Rimac’s partners include Koenigsegg, Automobili Pininfarina, Aston Martin, Porsche and Hyundai.

“I had concerns that people with great industry experience would not be a fit for our culture and company spirit,” said Rimac Automobili founder and CEO Mate Rimac. “However, as a car enthusiast through and through, who gets [his] hands dirty himself, Chris fit right in from the first moment. We share the same mindset: we want to develop cars that raise the bar, are fun and great quality. I can’t wait to see what we will be able to create together.”

“The opportunity to join Rimac Automobili is an engineer’s dream,” said Chris Porritt. “Since nearly every key component is designed and built in-house by Rimac, this gives us the freedom to create something that’s unlike anything else that has been done before in the hypercar world. Rimac is the perfect place to use my combined experience in the engineering of supercars at Aston Martin and the EV engineering experience I gained in California.”

Image courtesy of Rimac

Former Tesla VP Chris Porritt joins Rimac Automobili as CTO

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Tesla used a variety of technical advances to increase Model S range to 400 miles Tesla’s vehicles continue to get better. The company recently announced that all North American Model S Long Range Plus vehicles now have an official EPA-rated range of 402 miles—an increase of almost 20% compared to a 2019 model with the same battery pack design.

How did Tesla’s engineers achieve such a significant improvement? It was a combination of several technical advances.

New Tempest wheels have lower aerodynamic drag, and a new custom tire offers less rolling resistance—these two changes combined delivered a 2% range increase. The rear AC-induction drive unit features a new electric oil pump that optimizes lubrication and reduces friction compared to the previous mechanical oil pump. Improvements to the gearbox in the front permanent magnet synchronous reluctance motor, which is shared with Models 3 and Y, resulted in another 2% increase in range.

The upgraded Model S has a new drive feature called Hold, which blends regenerative braking with friction brakes, and returns more energy to the battery pack.

All these improvements delivered incremental increases in range, but it appears that the bulk of the gains came from significantly reducing the vehicle’s mass. “Mass is the enemy of both efficiency and performance, and minimizing the weight of every component is an ongoing goal for our design and engineering teams,” says Tesla. “Several lessons from the engineering design and manufacturing of Model 3 and Model Y have now been carried over to Model S and Model X. This has unlocked new areas of mass reduction while maintaining the premium feel and performance of both vehicles. Additional weight savings have also been achieved through the standardization of Tesla’s in-house seat manufacturing and lighter weight materials used in our battery pack and drive units.”

Oh, by the way, Tesla also recently reduced the price of the Model S Long Range Plus by $5,000.

From the grid to the road, increase efficiency with AVL’s tailored charging solutions. www.avl.com

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We have your traction motor magnetization solution!

Image courtesy of Arrival

THE VEHICLES

EV startup Arrival reveals new electric bus

World class measuring technology and calibration services.

precise•safe•fast•reliable MAGNET-PHYSIK Dr. Steingroever GmbH, Germany

The UK-based startup Arrival has garnered a lot of press interest for securing an order for 10,000 electric delivery vans from UPS, as well as €100 million in investment from Hyundai/Kia. Now the company has unveiled a new electric bus that boasts several innovative features.

There are video screens everywhere: a ring around the top of the exterior can be used to display boarding information; another ring around the top of the interior and a panel behind the driver can display information about upcoming stops, as well as advertising; and the driver has a Tesla-style screen that controls most of the vehicle functions.

Arrival says its bus will be far more connected than most current buses, providing passengers with better real-time information, and making it easier for operators to manage their fleets.

“Our buses are connected in ways that your typical bus is not connected,” Chief Experience Officer Kwame Nyanning told The Verge. “From a fleet management standpoint, you’re able to deploy your inventory of buses in a much more intelligent way to forecast and meet and track demand based on data that we’re able to pull from the buses. I think a lot of other bus manufacturers are just making buses. They’re not making systems.”

Arrival has released few details of its electric powertrains, but it has said that its delivery vans will be built on a modular platform that can be scaled up or down for different vehicles. The company is also developing electric taxis and delivery robots. All of these will be built at “microfactories,” built near customers’ facilities.

Nyanning hinted at plans for a range of vehicles. “Yes, we want to make this bus, and this [is] the best bus anybody’s probably ever ridden on. But the more robust and expansive our ecosystem grows, the more relevant it becomes. We introduce a van, we introduce the bus, we introduce taxis, we introduce other shared mobility solutions or mobility-as-a-service solutions, and all of a sudden, the cumulative value of all these systems and platforms working together to form a single solution becomes quite compelling.”

www.magnet-physik.de Magnet-Physics Inc., USA

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Audi’s Q4 e-tron concept, first displayed at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, is a compact electric SUV—a bit smaller than the original e-tron midsize crossover SUV, which has been on sale since May 2019. Now the company has presented two more Q4 variants: the Q4 Sportback e-tron and SUV Coupé.

Audi says the newly revealed cars are very similar to the versions that will go into production in 2021.

The two Q4 models are built on the Volkswagen Group’s modular electrification platform (MEB). They have almost identical dimensions, and share the same drive technology. Both versions do zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.3 seconds, and have a software-restricted top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph).

The 82 kWh battery pack weighs 510 kg (1,124 lbs), and takes up almost the entire space in the underbody area between the axles. Range is estimated at 450 km (280 miles, by the WLTP testing standard) for AWD versions, and 500 km (311 miles) for rear-wheel drive versions.

The thermal management system for the drive and battery pack features a CO2 heat pump.

The rear electric motor has an output of 150 kW and torque of 310 newton-meters (229 lb-ft); the front motor delivers 75 kW and 150 N-m (111 lb-ft). Total system output is 225 kW. There is no mechanical connection between the axles—torque is electronically distributed to achieve optimum traction in all weather conditions and on any surface. For reasons of efficiency, most of the torque is usually going to the rear permanently excited synchronous motor. If more power or more traction is needed, the electric all-wheel drive redistributes torque to the front asynchronous motor as required.

The Audi “virtual cockpit” features a screen with the most important display elements—speed, charge level and navigation—behind the steering wheel, plus a 12.3-inch touchscreen above the center console for infotainment and other vehicle functions. There’s also a large-format head-up display with an augmented reality function.

Audi says there will also be lower-powered versions, with a single motor and a smaller battery pack. The Q4 line is expected to start at under 40,000 euros ($45,000).

By 2025, Audi plans to offer over 20 pure EVs in its most important global markets, and achieve roughly 40 percent of its sales with electrified models.

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Image courtesy of Audi

Two new Audi EVs coming in 2021: Q4 e-tron SUV and Sportback SUV Coupé

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Image courtesy of Danfoss Editron

THE VEHICLES

Danfoss Editron provides powertrain for hybrid crew transfer vessels to serve offshore wind farm Danfoss Editron, a manufacturer of hybrid and electric powertrain systems for off-highway and marine markets, has secured an order from Danish shipbuilder and operator MHO-Co to deliver drivetrain systems for two hybrid crew transfer vessels (CTVs).

CTVs are used to transport technicians and other personnel to and from offshore wind farms. MHO-Co’s two CTVs, specifically designed to work in the offshore wind sector, will serve Ørsted’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, which will be located 55 miles off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea when it enters operation in 2022.

Each of the CTVs will be equipped with a Danfoss Editron serial hybrid system consisting of four propulsion motors, and including DC-DC converters for the vessels’ batteries. The system will be capable of operating in either fully electric or hybrid mode.

Each 35-meter CTV will be capable of carrying 24 passengers, and will be fitted with a lounge area and eight cabins. The vessels will also have an optional offshore access system on the front deck, allowing for the safe and efficient transfer of people and cargo to offshore structures.

The vessels are to be delivered in the second quarter of 2021.

“This project, the UK’s first hybrid CTVs and some of the first anywhere in the world, will open the market for more hybrid CTVs,” said Danfoss Editron’s Marine Director Erno Tenhunen. “Previously, the size of electric motors and components were too big for CTVs. Our compact and lightweight technology has overcome this issue, and solved the challenge faced by vessel designers, shipyards and end customers. Our Editron system can easily place all hybrid propulsion components into a limited space, and it allows flexibility on battery selection, system concepts and machinery room design.”

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ZeroAvia completes test flight of fuel cell airplane ZeroAvia says it has successfully completed a test flight of a commercial-scale electrified aircraft. New Atlas reports that the company’s HyFlyer, featuring the latest version of its hybrid hydrogen/electric powertrain, recently took off from Cranfield Airport in Bedfordshire, UK as part of a program to develop large, longrange, zero-emission aircraft.

While companies such as Magnix and Lilium are testing battery-powered aircraft, the weight of battery packs is a constraint, and some believe that hydrogen fuel cells represent a better solution, especially for large, longrange airliners. ZeroAvia says its HyFlyer’s fuel cell powertrain is comparable in performance to a legacy ICE engine, and lowers costs by reducing battery cycling.

The HyFlyer has already completed full-power ground tests, and is scheduled to make longer test flights over the next few months. The ultimate test will be a trip of up to 345 miles from the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

ZeroAvia says its Project HyFlyer technology is scalable in a short time. The company foresees 10-20-seat aircraft going into service in three years, 50-100-seat versions by 2030, and a 200-seat aircraft with a range of over 3,400 miles by 2040.

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THE VEHICLES Image courtesy of BMW Group

NOTE: The information in this article was current as of July 2020. Given the uncertain course of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is always possible this article will have been superseded by breaking news. For the sake of our readers and their businesses, we hope not.

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- IN HYBRID

One of a coming wave of lowvolume luxury plug-in hybrid SUVs, the 2020 BMW X3 xDrive 30e offers 18 miles of electric range—and the ability to use it in the real world.

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By John Voelcker he 2020 BMW X3 xDrive 30e is the first conventional plug-in hybrid model from BMW that’s actually worth plugging in. It’s one of a growing number of sedan and utility models from the German maker to be offered in the States with optional plug-in hybrid powertrains, following a few earlier models that simply didn’t justify making the effort.

On the outside, the X3 PHEV is indistinguishable from any standard X3. New for 2018, this generation of the “compact crossover utility”—or “Sport Activity Vehicle” as BMW tends to dub it—has grown considerably from earlier versions. It’s now longer and wider, with a longer wheelbase, than the first X5 crossover launched in 2000, though it’s incrementally lower.

The plug-in hybrid X3 is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that drives all four wheels through an 8-speed automatic transmission. Combined output of the engine plus the 80 kW (107 hp) electric motor is 252 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque. It’s EPA-rated at 18 miles of electric range. Once the 12 kWh battery is depleted, the heavy SUV operates as a conventional hybrid, with a combined fuel economy rating of 24 mpg—versus a higher 26 mpg combined for the same X3 without the plug.

T

A plug-in hybrid version of the larger X5 utility will join the X3 for 2021. Compared to the plug-in X5’s previous generation, which was BMW’s first-ever SUV with a plug, it has a more powerful engine (a 389 hp turbocharged 3.0-liter inline 6 replaces the previous 308 hp 2.0-liter turbo 4) and a far larger battery (24 kWh vs 9 kWh). That gives it 30 miles of EPA-rated range rather than the previous 14 miles. The new, larger battery has as much capacity as the one in the 2014 BMW i3.

Both plug-in crossovers are tuned more for performance than for green credentials—the X5 45e sports a 0-60 acceleration time of 5.3 seconds and a towing capacity of up to 7,200 pounds. Both the X3 we tested and the 2021 X5 are built at BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Why plug it in?

Prior to the current generation, BMW’s plug-in hybrids had small batteries and electric motors that only

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We put 244 miles on the plug-in BMW X3 over several days, in a combination of highway travel and around-town errands.

Images courtesy of BMW Group

It’s one of a growing number of sedan and utility models from the German maker to be offered in the States with optional plugin hybrid powertrains. powered the car under light loads. The earliest ones— we drove a 2016 BMW 330e and a prototype 2016 X5 xDrive 40e—were so sensitive that even a whiff of uphill slope could cause the engine to flip on.

The current X3 xDrive 30e, on the other hand, automatically starts in Max eDrive (all-electric) mode if the battery has been charged. Absent emergencies or

lead-foot driving, it will stay there for more or less its EPA-rated 18 miles of electric range. That’s enough to do all or most of your local trips on electricity, and plug it in once you return home. And it’s an incentive for drivers to plug in for smooth, quiet, uninterrupted electric travel without the engine flipping on.

As befits a performance SUV, of course, when you floor it, both parts of the powertrain kick in and it takes off like a scalded cat (or at least a scalded cat that weighs 4,600 pounds).

That’s not the case for another luxury plug-in hybrid SUV, the 2020 Volvo XC90 T8, which, with three rows of seats, is considerably larger. On major hills and at highway speeds, its 11.6 kWh battery and 65 kW (88 hp) electric motor weren’t always enough to sustain the 5,400-pound SUV’s speed.

We put 244 miles on the plug-in BMW X3 over several days, in a combination of highway travel and aroundtown errands. We plugged the car in to recharge five

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THE VEHICLES

times, giving us a total of 78 electric-only miles in Max ePower mode. (The math may be confusing because we didn’t fully discharge the pack on all of those runs.)

At the end, the trip computer said 95.7 of the 244 miles were covered on electric power. That’s a bit deceptive, as it includes electric-only miles covered as a regular hybrid once the battery had been depleted. But the trip computer also indicated a combined gas-andelectric average of 47.2 mpg, which is stellar for an SUV of this size—and we’d only used three eighths of the tank of gas to do that.

Adventurous gives way to conservative BMW was the most adventurous of German makers in electric cars 10 years ago, but it hit the Reset button hard on its electrification efforts in 2016. A new CEO set the goal of stemming the flow of red ink from early experiments in EVs, and rolling out models that would meet stiffer carbon-emission rules at lower cost. The current range of models reflects that change, of course.

BMW’s first EV was the technically advanced i3, a small hatchback with a carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body shell. It delivered 81 miles of rated range, and offered an optional tiny two-cylinder range-extending engine that gave it another 70 miles or so. The combination made sense for European drivers living in crowded cities, but its small size, peculiar styling, limited range, and starting price above $40,000 limited its sales in the US. Here, BMW buyers want SUVs and sedans, not city cars or hatchbacks. Despite multiple range increases— the current EPA rating is 153 miles—over seven model years, BMW has sold fewer than 45,000 i3s in the US. Total US sales of its various conventional plugin hybrid models are roughly equivalent. Over five years, these have included versions of the 3, 5, and 7 Series sedans, and the X5. None of BMW’s various plug-in hybrid models have reached the 20,000-plus annual sales of the now-deceased Chevrolet Volt in its heyday. The highest one-year sales for its two bestselling PHEVs were 8,600 530e sedans (in 2018) and 6,000 X5 25e SUVs (in 2016).

Images courtesy of BMW Group

BMW was the most adventurous of German makers in electric cars 10 years ago, but it hit the Reset button hard on its electrification efforts in 2016.

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BMW, however, has no fewer than five plug-in hybrids on tap for 2021. The list for the coming model year includes: the 3 Series sedan (330e, with or without xDrive AWD); 5 Series sedan (545e xDrive); X2 transverseengine crossover (X2 xDrive 25e, not yet confirmed by the company); the X3 xDrive 30e we tested; and the larger X5 xDrive 45e. The company also sells a plug-in hybrid version of the Mini Cooper Countryman small crossover utility vehicle (whose underpinnings the X2 shares), which is rated at 18 miles of electric range.

PHEVs: compliance cars for the EU Those plug-in models, most of which will likely sell in modest volumes, underscore BMW’s commitment to electrification before its new all-electric

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THE VEHICLES It’s important to understand that plug-in hybrids serve an important function in Europe, where rules for reducing tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide really started to bite this year.

BMW's plug-in hybrid lineup models—the i4 that will compete with the Tesla Model 3, and its flagship iNext luxury SUV—hit showrooms in the next few years.

It’s important to understand that plug-in hybrids serve an important function in Europe, where rules for reducing tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide really started to bite this year. And a change in legislation has improved the electric range of all those PHEVs. Over the last two years, the European Union has switched from using the outmoded and wildly overoptimistic New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) tests to the more stringent Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), which requires lab tests to be backed up by on-the-road tests of real-world emissions and energy use. WLTP still produces more optimistic electric ranges than the test cycles used by the US EPA, but its results are considered closer to reality for European driving conditions.

Finally, European carbon-emission rules now give credit to plug-in hybrids only if their WLTP tested range is at least 50 km (31 miles). That’s why the latest round of BMW and other makes’ plug-in hybrids have far larger battery packs and ranges up to double the previous numbers.

BMW is hardly an outlier The policy of offering longer electric ranges in a wider range of PHEVs is hardly limited to BMW. Its German rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz, Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover, and the Chinese-owned Volvo of Sweden are all introducing more sedan, wagon and hatchback models with plugs, as well as the SUVs that dominate in North America.

Plug-In Hybrid Luxury SUVs for 2020 and 2021 2021 Audi Q5 55 TFSI e 2021 BMW X2 xDrive 25e* 2021 BMW X3 xDrive 30e 2020 BMW X5 xDrive 45e 2020 Land Rover Range Rover HSE 2.0L P400e 2020 Land Rover Range Rover Sport HSE 2.0L P400e 2020 Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring 2021 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e 4 Matic 2020 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid 2020 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Coupe 2020 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid 2020 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid Coupe 2020 Volvo XC60 T8 Twin Engine 2020 Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine * not confirmed by manufacturer

While most of these models are likely to sell in quite low numbers, together they will add up. They’ll also introduce more luxury buyers to vehicles with plugs.

And now, they’re more pleasant—meaning more consistently electric—to drive.

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Autonomous vehicles require batteries with lasting power.

Images courtesy of BMW Group

Visualization of the temperature profile in a liquidcooled Li-ion battery pack.

The stage of the load cycle, potential, local concentration, temperature, and direction of the current all affect the aging and degradation of a battery cell. This is important to consider when developing autonomous vehicles (AVs), which rely on a large number of electronic components to function.

When designing long-lasting batteries that are powerful enough to keep up with energy demands, engineers can turn to simulation.

The COMSOL MultiphysicsÂŽ software is used for simulating designs, devices, and processes in all fields of engineering, manufacturing, and scientific research. See how you can apply it to optimizing battery designs for self-driving cars. comsol.blog/autonomous-vehicle-batteries

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

By John Voelcker General Motors recently announced that it would partner with the EVgo charging network to deploy an additional 2,700 fast-charging stations by 2025. The announcement came shortly before the unveiling of the 2022 Cadillac Lyriq electric luxury SUV, the first of up to a dozen new battery-electric vehicles GM says it will offer in North America by 2025.

The new charging stations will be located in metropolitan areas, not on long-distance highway corridors. The goal is to provide fast charging “where people already are,” including shopping malls, grocery stores, pharmacies, playgrounds, parks, and other regularly visited locations. This will provide convenient fast EV charging to apartment dwellers, ride-hailing and delivery drivers, and others who may not be able to charge at home overnight.

The companies declined to say how much GM will invest; company CEO Mary Barra called it “pretty significant,” without specifying any dollar figure. They also would not discuss the total cost of the new stations overall, or the locations where they will be sited.

GM’s partnership with EVgo represents a change in direction for a carmaker that refused for a decade to invest in EV charging infrastructure. In January 2016, asked whether GM would provide any charging infrastructure

Images courtesy of GM

GM to fund expansion of EVgo fast-charging network for electric cars

for its then-new Chevrolet Bolt EV, its CEO and top electrification executives both gave a flat no.

“We are not actively working on providing infrastructure [for the Bolt EV],” said CEO Barra in 2016.

“We believe all our customers should benefit from any infrastructure spending,” added Electrification Executive Pam Fletcher.

But that was then, and this is now. Following the EVgo announcement, Barra said the company had “fast-forwarded since 2016,” when it launched the Bolt EV. “We’ve done extensive consumer research,” she said, “and as range anxiety has fallen to the background” with announcements by GM and others of 300-mile ranges on future EV models, “clearly they expect a robust public charging network” as well.

That makes the company’s investment in new fastcharging stations the “next logical step,” and GM chose EVgo because it already had a “robust charging network” nationwide.

The partners are looking at several markets for this rollout, which they called “very ambitious,” including those where they anticipate growth in EV sales. Those may include Florida, Texas, and Illinois, Barra said—notably omitting GM’s home state of Michigan.

EVgo CEO Cathy Zoi added that, while California has more charging stations than any other state, its population of EVs means that it too still needs more fast charging infrastructure than it has today.

The new stations will be open to all EV drivers who can use the CCS or CHAdeMO standards, and will not carry any special GM branding. The first of the new GM-funded EVgo fast charging locations will open early in 2021, the companies said, and all 2,700 will be completed by 2025.

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Images courtesy of ABB

Nissan to switch from CHAdeMO to CCS in US and Europe: Is the war over?

Fight fans have been following the fortunes of the competing DC fast charging standards, CHAdeMO and CCS, for the past several years, but it’s been apparent for a while that the tide of the struggle has turned. When we reported on recently released figures from the DOE showing that the two standards account for similar numbers of charging stations here in the US, commenters soon pointed out that the numbers were misleading.

In fact, there are only two EV models on sale in the US that still support CHAdeMO—the Nissan LEAF and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV—so the trend towards CCS is clear.

If the Korean automakers’ 2018 abandonment of CHAdeMO was Stalingrad, Nissan’s latest announcement was D-Day (younger readers, I’m making a reference to World War II here). The 2021 Nissan Ariya, which will supersede the LEAF, and is expected to launch in the US and Europe next year, will use the CCS standard.

As our colleague Tom Moloughney, writing in InsideEVs, noted, automakers have been defecting from CHAdeMO one by one. Kia switched to CCS in 2019 with its second-generation Soul EV, Hyundai went with CCS for the Kona Electric, and Honda became the first Japanese automaker to cross over when it released the Clarity Electric. Even Tesla has endorsed CCS, adding the Combo plug to Model 3s sold in European markets, and making a CCS adapter for Models S and X (but only in Europe, so far).

The eventual outcome of the war now seems plain, but the battles will drag on for a while. Nissan will continue to use CHAdeMO in Japan, where the standard dominates. Most new DC fast chargers in the US seem to be going in with both sets of connectors, though it’s unclear how long that trend will last. Moloughney also points out that the CHAdeMO Association recently introduced CHAdeMO 3.0, also known as Chaoji, which may become the new DC fast charging standard in China and/ or Japan.

ABB breaks ground on new EV charger factory to meet global demand Since entering the EV charging market a decade ago, ABB has sold over 14,000 DC fast chargers, in more than 80 countries. However, the Swiss-based electronics giant believes this is just the beginning. It has begun construction on a new production facility in San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy.

The company plans to invest $30 million in the 16,000-square-meter facility, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2021.

The new plant will produce ABB’s entire line of DC fast chargers, and will also include a dedicated 3,200-square-meter space for R&D and prototyping.

The facility will feature rooftop solar panels, an energy-efficient heating and cooling system, and a fleet of EVs for employees.

ABB also recently invested $10 million in a new global e-mobility headquarters and R&D center on the campus of Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, which is set to officially launch later this year.

“At ABB we have been driving progress in the sector for more than a decade, and this new state-of-the-art facility will contribute significantly to further advancing the global move towards zero-emission electric mobility,” said Giampiero Frisio, head of ABB’s Smart Power Division.

“As global demand for sustainable transport continues to increase, this new facility will ensure that ABB can meet that demand and remain the go-to provider for our end-to-end e-mobility solutions,” said Frank Muehlon, Head of ABB’s global business for E-mobility Infrastructure Solutions.

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Image courtesy of Easelink

Easelink tests its automated conductive charging system with Austrian car-share service

Image courtesy of ABB

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Austrian firm Easelink has developed a cable-free physical charging system. “The solution for comprehensive urban charging infrastructure in public spaces is a cable-free, automated conductive charging system installed within the parking space surface,” says Easelink founder and CEO Hermann Stockinger.

The company is now conducting real-world tests of its automated charging system in the Austrian city of Graz with a carsharing service called tim, which has over 2,100 users.

Easelink’s Matrix Charging system consists of two components: a connector in the vehicle underbody and a charging plate embedded flush in the parking space surface. Once an EV is parked, the connector lowers and connects with the charging plate, and the vehicle is automatically charged via the direct conductive physical connection. The system uses no charging pillars or charging cables, so there are no obstacles to the movement of strollers or wheelchairs, and no tripping hazard.

“The new technology should enable more reliable and efficient charging of the vehicles as part of our car-sharing service tim, both supporting the goal of barrier-free accessibility in public spaces and providing additional convenience to users of the Graz Holding electric car fleet,” explains City Counselor for Finance and Investments Günter Riegler.

“The feedback obtained from tim e-carsharing users will be particularly useful in the continued development of the charging technology,” says Hermann Stockinger.

Easelink will also submit the data to working groups at various international standardization bodies of which the company is a member.

Japanese utilities partner to install 250 ABB fast chargers Japan’s e-Mobility Power, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power, two of the country’s biggest utility companies, has chosen ABB’s new Terra 184 DC fast charger to modernize its existing charging infrastructure. eMP will replace obsolete chargers along highways and in other public locations with more than 250 Terra 184 units. Deliveries are scheduled to begin this fall.

Terra 184, the newest member of ABB’s Terra family of chargers, is a dual charger that’s designed to be compact, and supports both the CCS and CHAdeMO charging standards. Customizable features include cable management systems, user interface screens and credit card payment terminals. Terra 184 can also be connected via ABB Ability, a cloud-based system that offers centralized control and over-the-air software updates and maintenance.“The ABB Terra 184 chargers are the outcome of over a decade of expertise in EV charging solutions, and are designed to meet the needs of electric vehicles today and the potential of a fully electrified tomorrow,” said Frank Muehlon, Head of ABB’s global business for E-mobility Infrastructure Solutions.

“ABB’s high-power fast chargers allow simultaneous charging of two vehicles, and are controlled and maintained remotely through OCPP, an international standard protocol,” said Shoko Yotsuyanagi, President of eMP. According to ABB, Japan currently has about 7,000 DC fast chargers and 18,000 AC chargers in operation.

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Siemens eMobility has launched a new generation of its VersiCharge AC Series commercial and residential chargers. The VersiCharge AC Series can interact with building management systems, enabling operators to monitor and adjust the system in real time. It offers tools for adjusting power demand, accurate metering of energy usage, and expanded network connectivity.

These UL/cUL-certified chargers offer up to 11.5 kW of AC charging power, and come in multiple configurations tailored to multi-family residences, workplaces, and utility applications.

They can be wall- or pedestal-mounted.

The VersiCharge AC Series is designed to facilitate smart load management. Its open protocols enable direct interaction with building management systems such as Siemens Desigo or similar third-party systems that control peak energy demand. It is designed to be comprehensively interoperable, and can work across all Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP)-certified charging networks.

The home version features a mobile app and flexible Internet connectivity. The commercial version is designed to fit any commercial location, and offers several networking methods to ease connectivity to the grid, enable secure transaction management, and seamlessly tie into many network topologies.

“Modularity, scalability, and a focus on open standards are key requirements for EV charging infrastructure,” said John DeBoer, head of the Siemens eMobility and Future Grid Business Unit. “Our next-generation product is designed to help both the commercial and residential sectors realize their carbon reduction goals with a solution that can effectively grow with them over time.”

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Image courtesy of Siemens

New Siemens charger interacts with building management systems and load management tools

8/18/20 6:55 PM

Image courtesy of Volkswagen

Image courtesy of ClipperCreek

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Volkswagen tests fast chargers in the scorching desert heat ClipperCreek’s new AmazingE FAST offers 7.7 kW charging in a compact package ClipperCreek offers a wide range of charging stations in many configurations and power levels, for residential and commercial applications.

The latest addition to the ClipperCreek line is the humbly-named AmazingE FAST, a compact Level 2 residential charger.

The AmazingE FAST operates at 32 amps and delivers up to 7.7 kW of power. It features a rugged waterproof enclosure and a 25-foot cable with a lockable SAE J1772 connector. It is ENERGY STAR-certified, has been safety-tested and certified by ETL, and comes with a threeyear warranty.

The AmazingE FAST comes standard as a hard-wired unit, but is also available with a NEMA 14-50 plug.

Available accessories include a wall-mount cable wrap and wall-mount connector holster.

Volkswagen wanted to determine what could happen when an EV is plugged into a 350 kW DC fast charger on the hottest days, so the company spent the past year building an EV charging test site at its Arizona Proving Grounds. The 50 charging stations, which feature a mix of standards and power levels from around the world, are designed to test how electric systems handle recharging at desert temperatures up to 120° F (49° C).

VW says knowledge gained from the site led to the development of a battery cooling system designed to help prevent thermal damage in emergency situations. It’s based on the technology used at the site to monitor the temperature of battery cells as they charge.

“The opening of this facility means one of the most sophisticated EV testing facilities in the world, with some of the toughest conditions on earth, will be right here in the United States,” said VW Chief Engineering Officer Dr. Wolfgang Demmelbauer-Ebner.

The Arizona Proving Ground site includes 25 DC fast chargers, ranging in power levels from 50 kW to 350 kW, along with 10 Level 2 AC chargers that simulate home charging. The chargers utilize charge plugs from the three standard connector types: US (CCS1), Europe (CCS2) and China (GB-T), along with equipment from different brands from around the world, to optimize testing variability.

The 16 parking spots include a remote-controlled canopy that can vary the level of sun or shade used for testing. The station is also designed to accommodate emerging technologies such as inductive charging.

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NEW PRODUCT

Trojan Energy scores £4.1 million in funding for on-street charging solution Image courtesy of Trojan Energy

Scottish start-up Trojan Energy has secured a £4.1-million round of seed funding to support the roll-out of its on-street flat and Revolutionary XLPO flush EV charging points. Equity Gap led a £1-million funding round; other investors include SIS Ventures, Alba Equity and the Scottish Investment Bank. The equity funding unlocked an additional £3.1 million from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.

Trojan Energy’s mission is to solve the problem of charging for vehicle owners without access to off-street parking, which is emerging as a major roadblock to EV adoption in urban areas. Trojan estimates that 10 million people in the UK, and 100 million in Europe, park on the street. Local authorities are understandably reluctant to install large numbers of conventional charging stations, which take up valuable sidewalk space. Several UK companies have developed innovative solutions, such as char.gy’s lamp post charging stations, and Urban Electric’s pop-up chargers.

Trojan Energy’s solution uses a charging point that’s flat and flush to the pavement, eliminating the need to sacrifice pedestrian space. Users carry a charging “lance”—a sort of plunger-size cylinder with a handle—in their vehicles, and plug the lance into the connector point to start charging.

Trojan Energy will use the new funding to advance testing and certification of its product. The company aims to install the first 200 units in Brent and Camden Councils by early 2021. A similar driveway product for homeowners is in the pipeline.

The UK is Trojan Energy’s immediate focus, but in the longer term, it hopes to export to Europe, India and China.

Trojan Energy CEO Ian Mackenzie said, “We want to ensure that the benefits of the low-carbon transition can be realized by everyone and not just those with a driveway. With this investment, our vision has moved a step closer.”

“Developing an innovative, non-invasive and cost-effective solution to the problem posed by on-street charging is essential. By drawing on years of engineering and commercial experience, we believe the Trojan Energy team can achieve that,” said Scottish Investment Bank Director Kerry Sharp.

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Image courtesy of Electrify America

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Electrify America completes cross-country LA-to-DC route Electrify America has completed its first coast-to-coast route, from Los Angeles to Washington DC. The electrified highway spans 11 states and over 2,700 miles, running along Interstates 15 and 70. Electrify America charging stations, which feature DC fast chargers with speeds up to 350 kW, are on average about 70 miles apart, in metro areas and near highway routes located conveniently by shopping and dining amenities.

Electrify America plans to open a second cross-country route by the end of this summer, from Jacksonville to San Diego, starting near I-10 and finishing along I-8. The network already includes a route covering much of the East Coast via I-95 from Portland, Maine to Miami, and another that unites the West Coast along I-5 from Seattle to San Diego.

To date, Electrify America has more than 435 operational charging stations with over 1,900 DC fast chargers, and over 100 more sites in development. By the end of 2021, the network plans to install or have under development approximately 800 charging stations with about 3,500 DC fast chargers.

“Electrify America’s primary goal has always been to advance electric vehicle adoption in the US, and that starts by instilling feelings of confidence and freedom in consumers when it comes to EV ownership,” said Director of Operations Anthony Lambkin. “The completion of our first cross-country route is a significant step towards that goal—by making long-distance travel in an EV a reality, we hope to encourage more consumers to make the switch to electric.”

Swiss highway charging stations to feature ABB energy storage and management Swiss electric utilities Primeo Energie and Alpiq E-Mobility have opened a pair of highway charging stations in Switzerland that feature battery energy storage and an energy management solution from ABB. Switzerland’s Federal Roads Office hopes to install chargers at approximately 100 motorway rest areas over the next few years. Many of these locations have little or no power supply, and as they may be served by different utilities, each can have its own specific cost structures and peak demand charges.

ABB’s “end-to-end solution” is designed to help operators manage costs in real time with intelligent energy management.

Each of the two new charging sites, which are located on the A2 motorway at the Inseli and Chilchbuehl rest stops, is equipped with an ABB Terra 54 charger, which provides one 50 kW DC fast charging point and one Level 2 charging point, as well as a 350 kW Terra DC fast charger with two additional charging points. ABB says dynamic power sharing between the charging posts will enable them to charge higher-power vehicles such as trucks or buses.

ABB also provided a 170 kWh battery energy storage system with power output of 330 kW to help reduce operating costs through peak shaving and to enhance system availability and reliability. Energy management is facilitated by ABB’s cloud-based Ability Optimax system. Thanks to the combination of storage and energy management, the local supply network does not have to directly cover the peak load during charging, which significantly reduces costs.

“ABB’s complete solution helps shave peaks in demand and reduces the associated higher tariffs they incur, optimizing operating costs and maximizing return on investment,” said ABB’s Frank Muehlon. “For energy suppliers entering the e-mobility sector, ABB chargers provide all the flexibility, connectivity and features needed to enable such new business models to succeed.”

Primeo Energie plans to deploy three more similarly-equipped highway charging stations in 2020.

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A large group of electric utilities in the three West Coast states have announced the results of a study that examined the possibility of building charging infrastructure to facilitate freight transportation along the Pacific Coast’s main highway corridor.

The West Coast Clean Transit Corridor Initiative study recommends adding charging infrastructure for freight haulers and delivery trucks at 50-mile intervals along Interstate 5 and adjoining highways.

The study’s final report proposes a phased approach for electrifying the I-5 corridor. The first phase, to be completed by 2025, calls for 27 charging sites at 50-mile intervals along I-5 for medium-duty EVs such as delivery vans. By 2030, 14 of the 27 sites would be expanded to add charging for electric Class 8 trucks.

Of the 27 proposed sites, 16 are in California, 5 are in Oregon and 6 are in Washington. An additional 41 sites on other highways that connect to I-5 are also proposed.

The report recommends expanding state, federal and private programs that provide funding for electrification.

Several California utilities already have programs aimed at supporting the adoption of electric trucks, but more support will be needed to meet state climate goals.

The report also found that most utilities in the three states have enough capacity in urban areas along I-5 to support interconnections with the medium-duty charging sites. In rural areas, however, the power capacity to support heavy-duty vehicles is lacking.

Fleet operators surveyed as part of the study said that access to public charging would accelerate their deployment of electric trucks.

“Electrifying transportation is a key component to reaching our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040,” said Bill Boyce, Manager of Electric Transportation for Sacramento-based SMUD, one of the utilities that commissioned the report. “Reducing diesel emissions in long-haul transportation will further our goals of clean air and sustainable communities in our region and along the entire West Coast.”

Image courtesy of ABB

West Coast utilities map out a possible electric truck charging network along I-5

New highway charging station in Georgia has solar panels and 175 kW of power The Ray, a nonprofit transportation lab, has overseen the opening of a solar-powered public fast charging station at the visitor information center on I-85 in West Point, Georgia. The station is strategically located to facilitate travel between the state capitals of Georgia and Alabama, and charging is free.

This charging location was originally opened in 2015 with a 50 kW charger. That has been upgraded to an ABB 175 kW Terra HP, a modular system that can be scaled up to 350 kW at a future date. The site features a grid-connected system with 12 solar panels.

“At The Ray, we want to demonstrate what’s next and showcase the electrification of transportation,” said John Picard, VP of The Ray. “With this new charger, we can show how easy it is to store energy and rapidly recharge.”

Cincinnati-based Donovan Energy served as the technology partner for the project. “We felt the flexible architecture of the ABB Terra HP high power solution was an ideal fit for what The Ray was looking to accomplish in this upgrade of their charging infrastructure,” said Jeff Martin, COO of Donovan Energy.

“Having EV chargers in convenient locations like rest stops is the next frontier for electric vehicle charging,” said Tim Echols of the Georgia Public Service Commission.

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Image courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover

Image courtesy of Lightning Systems

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Jaguar I-PACE electric taxis charging wirelessly in Oslo

Lightning Systems’ new energy division offers turnkey fleet charging solutions

The city of Oslo, the world’s EV capital, has partnered with Jaguar Land Rover, wireless charging pioneer Momentum Dynamics and charging operator Fortum Recharge to build a wireless, high-powered charging infrastructure for electric taxis.

Taxi network Cabonline will operate 25 Jaguar I-PACE EVs equipped with the Momentum Dynamics wireless charging system.

To devise a charging system that doesn’t require drivers to leave their routes during working hours, Momentum installed multiple below-ground charging plates, each rated at 50-75 kW, at taxi ranks. This allows each e-taxi to charge while waiting for the next fare. The system uses no cables, requires no physical connection between charger and vehicle, engages automatically, and provides on average 6-8 minutes of energy per charge.

The taxi can receive multiple charges throughout the day, each time it returns to the rank, maintaining a high state of charge and the ability to remain in service 24/7.

“The taxi industry is the ideal test bed for wireless charging, and indeed for high-mileage electric mobility across the board,” said JLR CEO Sir Ralf Speth. “The inherently safe, energy-efficient and high-powered wireless charging platform will prove critical for electric fleets, as the infrastructure is more effective than refueling a conventional vehicle.”

“We’re delighted to welcome private enterprises to help us to turn our vision into reality,” said Arild Hermstad, Oslo’s Vice Mayor for Environment and Transport. “By improving infrastructure and providing better charging to the taxi industry, we are confident that by 2024 all taxis in Oslo will be zero-emission.”

Lightning Systems, a Colorado-based manufacturer of commercial EVs, has launched a new division that will offer charging technologies and services to commercial and government fleets.

The new Lightning Energy division designs, installs, services and manages charging solutions, providing fleet operators with turnkey options to make electrification easier. Lightning Energy offers a range of purchased or leased charging stations and, optionally, charging as a service (CaaS), which includes the full infrastructure package: installation, permitting, utilities liaison, maintenance, ongoing management software and regulatory credit monetization.

“With 12 years of deep experience working with fleets, our team’s understanding of the specific charging needs of fleets of all sizes is extensive,” said Lightning CEO Tim Reeser. “We now offer a full array of vehicles and charging solutions as a one-stop shop for all of a fleet’s commercial EV needs.”

Reeser says fleets frequently get excited about deploying EVs, but wait until late in the buying process to determine how they are going to charge them. “Many fleets that plan to purchase vehicles don’t have the charging infrastructure in place to use them. The simple fact is that getting charging right is hard, complicated work, and it can take longer to install than most realize. Get it wrong and you either face fleet downtime due to insufficient charging, or you spend too much money on stuff you don’t need.”

“Our goal was to simplify fleet electrification as much as possible,” says Brandon McNeil, Executive Director, Operations.

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FreeWire’s battery-integrated Boost Charger maximizes charging power while minimizing load on the grid Image courtesy of FreeWire Technologies

FreeWire Technologies, a pioneer of flexible charging solutions, has deployed a new type of battery-integrated fast charger at an ampm fuel retailer and convenience store in Lodi, California.

FreeWire’s Boost Charger uses an integrated battery as a buffer, allowing it to deliver high power output without stressing the local power supply.

Boost Charger, which supports both CHAdeMO and CCS connectors, is designed to easily connect with a commercial location’s existing infrastructure, allowing the system to be installed in hours without requiring an expensive new power supply. “Boost Charger can be powered from a single-phase connection and installed in places that previously could not support higher power demand,” says FreeWire.

“Fueling stations and convenience stores have had very few options to provide EV charging until now,” said FreeWire CEO Arcady Sosinov. “With Boost Charger, EV drivers can get 100 miles of range in 10 minutes, and businesses can drive more revenue from new visitors to their stores—all at a dramatically lower cost.”

“We are always seeking ways to provide new, innovative services for our customers,” said ampm COO Kevin Kapala. “Offering ultrafast electric vehicle charging at our ampm stores supports our brand promise of delivering ultimate convenience.”

The first Boost Charger site is located along two major highways in California’s Central Valley. FreeWire expects to expand to additional locations over the next two years.

The ampm chain includes over 1,000 stores in five states, and is owned by BP (which is also a major investor in FreeWire).

Image courtesy of Envision Solar

Envision’s EV ARC provides solar-powered DC fast charging along rural California corridor California’s official goal is to install 250,000 public chargers, including 10,000 DC fast chargers, by 2025.

Charging stations are especially needed in rural areas, to facilitate long-distance travel, but providing grid power to remote locations can be prohibitively expensive.

That’s where San Diego-based Envision Solar’s EV ARC comes in. The EV ARC is a solar-powered DC fast charger that can be deployed with no trenching or construction, and can operate without a utility grid connection.

The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) have partnered to provide Envision’s EV ARC fast charging system at a rest area in Shandon, east of San Luis Obispo on California Highway 46. The Monterey Bay Air Resources District funded a similar deployment at rest areas on US Highway 101, north of San Luis Obispo in rural Monterey County.

The charging stations provide both CCS Combo and CHAdeMO charging at a maximum power level of 50 kW. “Rest areas offer an ideal spot to pick up a charge while making a longer trip, but extending sufficient electrical capacity from the utility grid can be very expensive, time-consuming and environmentally impactful,” said Desmond Wheatley, CEO of Envision Solar. “The EV ARC uniquely solves that problem because its primary source of energy is the sun. There was no need to increase the electrical capacity at this remote location in order to serve up fast charging, saving money and time.

We view our ability to rapidly deploy DC fast charging in any location without the need for costly construction and electrical upgrades as a major opportunity and differentiator for our continued growth.”

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

TURNKEY TRANSIT BUS ELECTRIFICATION:

ENEL X OFFERS FULL SERVICE EV-FLEET

INSTALLATIONS

FOR CITY AND SCHOOL BUSES

By Charles Morris

Q&A with Giovanni Bertolino Head of E-Mobility at Enel X

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Images courtesy of Enel X

ome of the most compelling stories in the EV world these days have to do with charging. For an individual EV driver, charging may seem like a simple matter—plug in your car in the evening, and it’s ready to drive in the morning—and that’s part of the appeal of driving electric. However, behind the plug, there’s a complex ecosystem that’s still taking shape, and it’s full of challenges and opportunities for automakers, infrastructure providers and electric utilities.

Fleet operators are learning that they need help to manage charging in order to maximize the benefits from going electric, and utilities are discovering that EVs present a valuable new resource to make grids run more smoothly and to ease the integration of renewable energy. The opportunities are especially

S

rich for companies offering products and services that make all the pieces of the green puzzle work together.

One of the fastest-growing firms in this space is Enel X, a North American subsidiary of the Enel Group, a multinational power company headquartered in Italy.

Enel X is involved in several different sectors of the clean energy ecosystem, and it offers a broad range of solutions to help both individuals and commercial customers electrify their transport operations and optimize their energy usage. Enel acquired the innovative EV charger manufacturer eMotorWerks in 2017, and folded it into the Enel X brand in 2019. eMotorWerks was a pioneer in smart charging, distributed energy storage and vehicle-to-grid services, and now Enel X is taking these concepts to the next level.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE Images courtesy of Enel X

We first provide an advisory to understand which bus routes are best suited to use electric buses.

Charged recently spoke with Giovanni Bertolino, Head of E-Mobility at Enel X, and here’s what he had to say.

Q Charged: You provided over 200 electric buses, along with charging infrastructure, to Santiago, Chile in 2019. Tell us about that.

A Giovanni Bertolino: Our ideal is to provide a full

turnkey solution to our customers, the city of Santiago and the other cities we’ve been working with. We provide bus route analysis to understand which routes are best suited for electric buses. We then select the buses with the right characteristics to optimally convert those routes. We buy the buses, and we provide the charging infrastructure and set up the depots for the buses to be charged at night or during the day, whenever they are idle. Then we deploy

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the software to optimize the fleet management, the routes, and the charging of those buses. We also size the charging infrastructure for those depots. Everything is bundled into a turnkey service for cities.

We procure the buses, and in the case of Santiago, we deployed several hundred BYD electric buses and charging infrastructure.

When possible, we can also provide energy services, which means leveraging the bus batteries and Enel X smart chargers to provide flexibility to the grid in the form of demand response or, in the more advanced cases, we can also provide full V2G integration, where you can use the batteries to give back energy to the grid. We have a number of pilots already implementing V2G, and that’s definitely a part of our solution. There are still very few instances where that is becoming a reality, but we are ready to offer that as well.

Q Charged: Is this kind of turnkey service something that transit agencies are using in the US, or are they typically trying to find the electrification solutions themselves?

A Giovanni Bertolino: In the United States there are at least two, or maybe more, relevant markets when we talk about public transportation. There are transit buses and there are school buses. Transit buses are usually managed by transit authorities. School buses are sometimes operated by private companies, but in many cases, cities and school districts own the buses.

There are about 100,000 transit buses across North America, and there are more than 480,000 school buses.

Those buses are well suited to be substituted with electric buses. When it comes to transit buses, the penetration is already quite significant globally, because it makes economic sense today.

We believe that our solution might accelerate the transition to e-buses, providing an easier or less capital-intensive up-front solution for transit authorities, especially in this period of budget cuts and reductions due to COVID. We believe that, rather than them putting the money up front, or entering a financial lease, a solution of a fleet-as-a-service might be appealing. We have recently started bringing this solution to the United States.

There are about 100,000 transit buses across North America, and there are more than 480,000 school buses.

When it comes to school buses, the economics are more challenging. The cost difference between a conventional diesel bus and an electric bus is significantly higher. It’s expensive, regardless of how it is powered, so there is a missing finance issue, which is being solved through grants.

Some school districts and municipalities are willing to push for electrification of their school bus fleets because they are aware of the environmental benefits that they bring, but that investment can be more challenging, getting that funding. With our solution, we can provide easier access to electric buses, because we can package a turnkey solution and the benefits of participating in energy markets. In North America, there are several markets where packaging the solutions can also include the value of energy services that we are able to monetize, and that can make for a better deal for the customer. For electric school buses, this is especially relevant, because they spend much of the day idle, so they can be connected to provide grid services.

Q Charged: Why is the economic case so much differ-

ent for school buses than it is for transit buses?

A Giovanni Bertolino: Basically, it’s just that the battery pack is expensive. The cost of batteries is going down year after year, but it’s still a very significant cost of acquiring the bus. The fact is that the rest of the bus—the vehicle, the wheels and the rest for the school bus is pretty cheap.

When you add the battery pack and the electric transmission, the cost of a school bus goes from a range of $85,000 to $100,000 for a conventional bus to the $350,000 range for an electric school bus, so it’s three times more expensive.

When it comes to transit buses, first of all, they’re much bigger than school buses, they are more sophisticated, and they have better design and features. The hardware of the

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE bus, regardless of the drivetrain, is rather expensive, so when you add the battery pack, the percentage increase from a conventional bus to an electric bus is smaller. And if you couple that with the fact that the transit buses are driving many more miles than school buses, and driving electric saves money for every mile that you travel, transit buses have a business case advantage.

Q Charged: Tell us about your charging hardware,

particularly your JuiceBox line.

A Giovanni Bertolino: What we are providing to our

customers is a smart charging solution. It’s a solution because it’s hardware, software and services, depending on the customer. And it is smart because our chargers are connected to WiFi and the electric grid. JuiceNet, our Internet of Things software platform, connects all of our chargers, and enables a number of services. We provide a number of energy services for dozens of utilities, and also independently participate in energy markets.

We have a line of hardware products. The core product is what we call JuiceBox, which is a smart charger for EV drivers. It’s a Level 2 charger, and we have different power levels. Our lineup ranges from 32-amp to 40-amp to 48amp products. We also have JuicePump, a 50 kW DC fast charger for public and commercial use.

The Level 2 chargers are single-phase, 240-volt smart home appliances that you can install in your garage or in a parking lot, or that can be mounted on our mounting solutions. These boxes can be configured and managed through an app on your phone, and there is also a dashboard available through the web, through which you can access all the connectivity of the box. You can manage your settings and you can monitor your energy consumption, how much you are spending for driving your car, and other things.

The commercial version, our JuiceBox Pro, has an identification mechanism. Our JuiceNet Enterprise dashboard allows commercial customers to manage multiple charging ports and multiple locations, and so forth. The smart features allow the chargers to participate in utility programs that provide active and passive strategies like demand response or time-of-use rates.

In fact, we are partnering with more than 30 utilities in North America. We provide energy services, like enabling time-of-use rates, demand response, collecting behavioral

We are partnering with more than 30 utilities in North America. We provide energy services, like enabling time-of-use rates, demand response, collecting behavioral charging data, and so on. charging data, and so on. We have very good use cases with Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy, Sonoma Clean Power, Hawaiian Electric, Platte River Power Authority and many others.

We also provide services directly to grid operators. For instance, in California, we’ve aggregated thousands of our smart chargers, which together make about 68 megawatts of load. And we can manage that load as if it were a virtual battery, by participating in CAISO markets. The value we create by providing the flexibility of those chargers to the grid, we give back to our EV drivers through JuicePoints, a charging rewards program.

This is a rewards program for customers to keep their JuiceBox chargers connected to WiFi, so that they can participate in this program. And it translates into actual money that our customers get back by providing flexibility to the grid. Whenever there is a peak load in California, the CAISO [California Independent System Operator, which manages the grid] can dispatch a signal to reduce consumption to our JuiceBox chargers. So instead of charging the electric cars at full power, we will reduce [power to] all the smart chargers, or some of the chargers, depending on the settings that each customer has set on their phones. We can reduce the load and provide demand response service.

Another smart feature that we provide to our customers is what we call JuiceNet Green. This is a feature that the customer can activate, which keeps track of the generation mix at any moment in time in each grid. We know the carbon intensity of the electrons that are coming into the grid at any given moment, and we can optimize the charging of your car during the time available.

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Images courtesy of Enel X

We know the carbon intensity of the electrons that are coming into the grid at any given moment, and we can optimize the charging of your car during the time available.

Let’s say you plug in your car when you get home and you set on your phone that you need the car in the morning—that gives us about 11 or 12 hours to charge the car.

And we know, given the state of charge, that you will need a smaller number of hours to completely charge your car.

We can play with that flexibility, trying to optimize the moment when you charge so that we can minimize the carbon intensity of the electricity that goes into your car.

So, you’re driving a bit cleaner than if you were just adding a charger, and that’s something that more environmentally conscious customers really appreciate.

Q Charged: What are the main customer segments that you’re serving?

A Giovanni Bertolino: We’ve historically served the

residential market, and we have thousands of smart chargers in homes across North America—many in California, which correlates with EV adoption. This year, we expanded our product line to serve commercial customers, which is an area where we are planning to grow significantly.

In North America, 80 percent of charging happens at home, so we will continue to see demand for smart home chargers. However, this market is closely tied to EV sales, and we also expect to see significant acceleration in the amount of commercial EV infrastructure that will be installed at the workplace, in commercial spaces and with fleets. The more connected electric vehicles there are, the more value we can extract for all stakeholders to save money, through grid services.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

EPA ISSUES DRAFT

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR

ENERGY

STAR

DC FAST CHARGER

SPECIFICATION 78

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The goal is to promote energy-efficient EV charging in addition to establishing accurate, repeatable test methods.

ehicle chargers that earn the ENERGY STAR label are independently certified to save energy, based on criteria set by the EPA. The agency started with Level 1 and Level 2 chargers, and is currently in the process of expanding eligibility to include DC fast chargers.

Work on a test method has been completed, and draft performance requirements were distributed this summer for comment from industry stakeholders.

The proposed requirements address: equipment scope; energy efficiency during charging; maximum standby power losses; safety requirements; optional communications standards for demand response-

V

capable products; and testing lab requirements.

The goal is to promote energy-efficient EV charging in addition to establishing accurate, repeatable test methods that provide user groups, states, counties and utilities with a common set of product performance values to compare. The end result of this process will be a voluntary standard that manufacturers of DC fast chargers can meet to receive ENERGY STAR certification for their products. Additional drafts of the requirements will be released as needed, and fi nalization is expected by late 2020 or early 2021.

Manufacturers wishing to participate in the process and receive the latest documents can contact the EPA at evse@energystar.gov or Kwon.James@epa.gov.

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Advertiser Index ABB

84

Eaton

29

Nordson

23

AVL

49

Elantas

17

Odawara

15

Axalta

45

EuroGroup

2

Parker-LORD

31

Bitrode

15

EV Tech Expo Europe

81

Pi Innovo

8

BorgWarner

39

F&K Delvotec

47

Rubadue

51

Champlain Cable

67

Fujipoly

65

Schaltbau North America 19

Chroma

7

Hesse

10

Sensata – GIGAVAC

22

COMSOL

61

Intertek

21

TH Magnetics

19

LH Carbide

52

TTI

Danfoss Editron

9

11,13

delta-q

59

Maccor

53

Wildcat

47

EA Elektro-Automatik

27

Magnet-Physik

50

Wolfspeed

37

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Iss 50 pg 68-84.indd 80

8/18/20 9:56 PM

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8045_EHV_EU20_Flyer_MagazineAd_10.5x7.875in.indd 1 Iss 50 pg 68-84.indd 81

23/06/2020 10:09 8/18/20 7:02 PM

t’s now official: the world has turned upside-down.

A major oil company has called ongoing progress in EV and battery technologies “good news,” and suggested that a ban on ICE vehicles should not only stand, but should be brought forward by a few years.

In a LinkedIn post, Sinead Lynch, the UK Country Chair for Shell, referring to the UK government’s plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, wrote, “We believe that the right policy and incentives could allow the UK to achieve this as soon as 2030.”

Make no mistake: this isn’t the usual weak tea about “sustainability” or “grandchildren” that “energy companies” usually serve up. Ms. Lynch writes that “the speed of the transition needs to accelerate over the next decade,” and that “the [UK] Government needs to continue providing incentives to help customers go electric that are sustainable in the longer term.”

Yes, she does seem to be calling for the government to eliminate her company’s main line of business. But is this just an extreme example of oil industry greenwashing? Probably. Any plan with a ten-year timeframe, whether from government or industry, is by definition symbolic—the decisionmakers who bask in the media coverage of any such plan will be on the golf course long before it has to be implemented.

However, let’s take off our skeptic’s hat for a moment, and consider that Shell may be serious. Perhaps the company really is betting that it will be able to thrive in the post-fossil fuel era—and hoping that its competitors won’t. Shell (along with many other gasoline retailers) has been installing DC fast chargers at its stations in several countries. Lynch writes that EV drivers “will need an increasing number of faster, high-powered options at forecourts [gas stations] and other public locations,” and adds that “the market is ready to deliver these solutions.”

In fact, some oil companies are doing much more to prepare for an electric future than just adding chargers alongside gas pumps. A recent report from Hubject Consulting explains that Shell, along with Total, BP and Austrian oil firm OMV, are staking out positions at several points along the clean energy/electromobility value chain. Hubject calls EV charging “a major new business opportunity” for the oil majors, and believes they’re well-positioned to become “the primary energy suppliers for EVs.” In 2017, Shell acquired charging network NewMotion, and it now offers public charging in 35 countries. In 2019, Shell finalized its acquisition of sonnen, a German manufacturer of energy storage systems for homes and small business, which is developing a virtual power plant to offer load balancing services to the power grid. Shell has also invested in other charging companies, including Greenlots, a provider

I

Iss 50 pg 68-84.indd 82

Image courtesy of Shell

Are European oil majors angling to dominate

By Charles Morris the charging value chain? of EVSE solutions, and Adler Smart Solutions, a German company that’s involved in both solar energy and EV charging.

BP bought UK-based charging network Chargemaster in 2018. Total acquired French EVSE firm G2Mobility in 2018, and recently won a contract to install and operate 20,000 public chargers in the Netherlands. OMV acquired a 40% stake in SMATRICS, an Austrian network operator and EVSE manufacturer, in 2017.

It’s no coincidence that these four oil multinationals have European roots, and that their EVSE initiatives are mainly focused on the European market. It’s the EU’s tightening emissions regulations, along with a patchwork of ICE bans and zero-emission zones across the Continent, that are driving them to add electrons to their product lines. Only time (and an upcoming election) will tell whether a similar transition strategy comes into play in the US any time soon.

Be that as it may, it’s encouraging to see these four companies shifting from denial and/or obstruction to adaptation.

They understand that the charging ecosystem involves more than simply installing chargers, and they’re positioning themselves as players in several different segments of the EVSE market. Their long-term strategy will surely be to control assets at every level of the value chain, as they currently do in the world’s oil delivery infrastructure.

Of course, a couple of pitfalls are easy to see. . If oil companies simply try to replace gas pumps with DC chargers, they’ll be in for a rude awakening sooner or later. It’s true that many drivers, especially in Europe, don’t have the option of charging at home, but the convergence of better batteries, autonomous driving and wireless charging could eliminate this problem in a few years. Whatever the electric future ends up looking like, the backward-looking vision in which drivers make frequent stops at fuel stations to charge, spending on sodas and chips while they wait, is highly unlikely to materialize (thank goodness).

Likewise, any hope of hooking drivers on grey hydrogen, produced from existing natural gas reserves, is doomed to disappointment (Shell operates dozens of hydrogen fueling stations in Germany, and a few in the UK and California). As VW, Honda and GM have already acknowledged, hydrogen isn’t a viable solution for passenger cars. It may find applications powering aircraft, ships, heavy-duty vehicles and/or industrial processes (including oil refining), but it needs to come from green sources. Replacing today’s fossil fuel derivatives with another fossil fuel derivative would be pointless, and policymakers and consumers know it.

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8/18/20 7:03 PM

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