CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Issue 59 Jan/Feb 2022 by CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE

ISSUE 59 | JAN–MAR 2022 | CHARGEDEVS.COM

BrightDrop p. 46

GM’s silent push into electric commercial vehicles

Motor efficiency: effects of operating speed, torque and control strategy

Britishvolt wants to build battery gigafactories around the world

WattEV aims to operate 12,000 electric trucksas-a-service

Emporia Energy prepares for the bidirectional future

p. 22

p. 28

p. 66

p. 74

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THE TECH CONTENTS

22 Motor efficiency

The effects of operating speed, torque and control strategy

28 Britishvolt

The startup that wants to build gigafactories around the world

current events 12

Metis Engineering’s new sensor monitors pack health, detects cell venting LG Energy Solution to invest $1.7 billion to expand its plant in Holland, Michigan

Sakuu develops the first battery in its new solid-state product line Hino Trucks starts validation of Allison’s 100D e-axle dSPACE launches modular BMS test system

Sion Power’s experimental lithium metal cells deliver 2,500 cycles BASF inks land purchase agreement for battery site in Canada

Altair buys power-electronics simulation company Powersim

15 16 17 18

Scheugenpflug integrates inspection systems into its dispensing products Defense Production Act could boost domestic production of battery minerals Battery manufacturer Sparkz to build plant in West Virginia Vestaro launches new generation of EV battery packs Storedot says its silicon-dominant battery cells can last for 1,200 cycles

19 20

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DOE announces $5 million to launch battery workforce initiative Hankook launches new line of tires for EVs Retriev Technologies buys Li-ion recycler Battery Solutions

Mercedes battery pack plant in Alabama will shorten supply chain

5/2/22 2:07 PM

THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

46 BrightDrop

GM’s silent push into electric commercial vehicles

current events 36

Textron to acquire electric aircraft pioneer Pipistrel USPS orders 50,000 new delivery vehicles, 10,019 of them electric

37 38

Chicagoland bus operator Pace purchases 20 Proterra ZX5 electric buses

New Hyundai plant to produce EVs in Indonesia Flux Marine raises $15 million to manufacture electric outboards in US

Ford announces pricing for its bidirectional home charger Florida’s PSTA receives $18-million federal grant for electric buses

41 42

Rivian working on 800-volt architecture, in-house drive units and battery cells GM and Honda to codevelop affordable EVs California drayage fleet operator orders 20 Kenworth T680E electric trucks

GreenPower’s Nano BEAST is a purpose-built electric Type A school bus

Hino Trucks offers all-inclusive solution for fleets

Plug In America joins with NADA to train dealers to sell EVs Shyft Group introduces Class 3 electric delivery van

LG Energy Solution and Stellantis to build battery plant in Ontario

IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (ISSN: 24742341) January-March 2022, Issue #59 is published quarterly 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. NOTE: Beginning in 2022 with Issue #59, CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (ISSN: 24742341) changed publishing frequency from bi-monthly to quarterly.

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44 5/2/22 12:29 PM

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE CONTENTS

66 Electric Trucksas-a-Service WattEV aims to operate 12,000 electric

trucks and a network of public charging stations to support them by 2030

74 Preparing for the bidirectional future Emporia’s energy management system gives you total control of power usage

current events 58

UK grocery chain Tesco installs free public chargers at 500 sites Incharge Energy launches Charging-as-a-Service program

59 60

Electreon and Jacobs partner to deploy wireless charging infrastructure bp pulse to invest £1 billion in UK EV charging infrastructure ChargePoint and Gatik develop “ecosystem” for autonomous electric trucks

St Louis’s new fleet of 18 New Flyer electric buses powered by ABB chargers City of Boulder saves $270 per month from Fermata Energy’s V2X application

Toyota and ChargePoint partner to offer home and public charging Ford and GM test bidirectional charging with PG&E

AMPLY Power’s new Elevate infrastructure maintenance service for EV fleets Electrify America upgrades charging stations with solar canopies

Wallbox to sell its home EV chargers through NAPA Auto Parts Rocsys to supply autonomous charging solutions to Port of Oakland

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63 5/2/22 12:32 PM

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For more information, visit evtechexpo.eu Iss 59 copy.indd 7

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Publisher Christian Ruoff Associate Publisher Laurel Zimmer Senior Editor Charles Morris

Contributing Writers Matt Cousineau Jeffrey Jenkins Charles Morris Christian Ruoff Tom Spendlove John Voelcker

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

Account Executives Jeremy Ewald Cover Image Courtesy of BrightDrop Technology Editor Jeffrey Jenkins Graphic Designers Tomislav Vrdoljak

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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Publisher’s Note

A bright EV future, clouded by volatile growing pains

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It’s a maddeningly frustrating situation—after years of slow-walking electrification, automakers are finally actively marketing their EVs, and consumers are clamoring to buy them. But thanks to shortages up and down the supply chain, production has slowed to a trickle. Lately, everyone seems to be asking us for advice about buying an EV, but unfortunately, many of these folks, once they look at what’s available, and the prices on offer, are opting not to buy a new car at all. Of course, these problems pale in comparison to the horrors of the war in Ukraine. Will the fact that the world’s fossil fuel addiction is directly financing this war finally convince everyone that it’s time to embrace localized, sustainable energy production and consumption? After all, EVs can be powered by whatever local energy source you have available. The most recent estimate I read is that European Union imports of Russian fossil fuels since the war began on February 24 will exceed $50 billion in May. Even when we desperately want to, the world can’t cut off its addiction. It seems like a clear national security risk to be so dependent on fossil fuels, right? So, will this awful, pointless war we’re witnessing finally convince a majority of the public, and politicians, that it’s time to fast-track an electric, renewable future? The signs are mixed. The UK recently proposed an “energy security strategy” that would promote energy efficiency, renewables and nuclear, but also expand offshore oil drilling. A German official recently said that the country would stop importing Russian gas “very soon,” and several measures designed to speed up the transition to renewables are in the works. However, both countries have also opted to extend the lives of coal plants that were previously marked for closure. In the US, the Biden administration has called on companies to drill for more oil, and ordered a significant release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And with an eye toward the future, President Biden added critical battery minerals to the list of items covered by the 1950 Defense Production Act, which allows the president to use emergency authority to make large orders of certain products or expand production capacity and supply. Battery material shortages represent a serious bottleneck that could sabotage the momentum that’s finally building towards true energy independence. Rivian’s CEO recently predicted that current supply chain issues will seem insignificant compared to future battery supply chain problems. “Semiconductors are a small appetizer to what we are about to feel on battery cells over the next two decades,” RJ Scaringe told the Wall Street Journal. In our interview with the team at Britishvolt (page 28), the startup explained the challenges of building out the new battery manufacturing capacity that the auto industry is starting to demand—from finding qualified battery engineers to sourcing raw materials and manufacturing equipment. A battery manufacturing equipment supplier recently told us that it estimates there are over 100 cell gigafactories currently being built around the world, and hundreds more to come in the next decade. Will there be enough resources to run them? The long-term outlook for sustainably powered electric transport is as bright as ever—driven by many things, like technological innovation, consumer interest and OEMs finally buying in. But volatility and unpredictability seem sure to rule for the next few years.

Christian Ruoff | Publisher

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THE TECH

LG Energy Solution to invest $1.7 billion to expand Michigan plant

Metis Engineering’s Battery Safety Sensor monitors pack health, detects cell venting Image courtesy of Metis Engineering

Metis Engineering’s Battery Safety Sensor is designed to monitor the health of a lithium-ion battery pack and detect cell venting, an early sign of catastrophic battery failure. The company has now released a beta version that features a new streamlined design, optimized for manufacturing in the high volumes required by automotive OEMs. The sensor is designed to pick up a range of environmental parameters, including Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Pressure Change, Humidity and Dew Point. An optional Accelerometer can record shock loads. This data can be used to crosscheck with other inputs, such as cell temperatures, to detect cell venting. The sensor relays the data over a configurable CAN interface to a control unit, and can also trigger a process to cut the circuit to the battery pack, allowing it to cool down and hopefully prevent thermal runaway. Metis explains that standard battery management systems (BMS) are designed to monitor the health of the battery pack, but typically have only one temperature sensor for every few cells. “This system works fine if it happens to be the cell with the temperature sensor that goes bad, but if the cell is a distance away from the sensor in the pack, by the time the sensor registers the change in temperature, if at all, it would very likely be too late.” The Metis Battery Safety Sensor, however, “typically detects venting within seconds.” “The sensor is already on trial in electric sportscars, buses, aircraft and vans, and the feedback has been universally very positive. My team plan to make one or two minor modifications before we sign off the final spec [which will be] ready for delivery in Q3 this year,” said Metis Engineering Managing Director Joe Holdsworth.

LG Energy Solution plans to invest $1.7 billion at its battery component factory in Holland, Michigan, an expansion that’s expected to quintuple the plant’s capacity. The facility manufactures large lithium-ion polymer battery cells and packs for EVs. The company is one of the largest employers in the community, and now has 1,495 employees in Michigan. LG has a long-standing relationship with GM, which recently announced $7 billion of new investment in Michigan, including up to $2.5 billion to build a third Ultium Cell battery cell plant under a joint venture between GM and LG. LG says its state-of-the-art Michigan plant will use the most advanced and efficient battery cell manufacturing processes. The facility will manufacture the company’s new long-cell batteries, which allow engineers to more fully utilize the space within the battery pack. LG says its long-cell batteries offer improved energy density and simplify the overall structure of the battery pack. The Michigan Strategic Fund approved a package of incentives to support the company’s new battery manufacturing facilities, including several million dollars in performance-based grants. The city of Holland has proposed a property tax abatement. “LG Energy Solution’s $1.7-billion investment in Michigan will create 1,200 good jobs in West Michigan and enable us to continue to lead in building and deploying next generation transportation solutions,” said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. “Thanks to LGES’s continued investment in our state—which spans more than a decade— Michigan’s leadership role in battery manufacturing will only get stronger as the automotive industry moves toward an electric future.” “LG Energy Solution is at the forefront of green business, promoting sustainability, electrification and innovation,” said President of LG Energy Solution Michigan Bonchul Koo. “Michigan was a natural choice because of its rich pool of talent, being close to the geographic epicenter of the automotive industry, and its strong support.”

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Image courtesy of dSPACE

Image courtesy of Sakuu

Sakuu develops the first battery in its new solid-state product line

Battery tech developer Sakuu says it has developed a lithium metal battery that achieved an energy density of 800 Wh/l in recent testing. The cell demonstrates an energy retention rate of 97% after 200 cycles, and Sakuu expects it to reach an 80% retention rate after 800 cycles. “The arrival of a safe, sustainable, and high-performance solid-state battery, manufactured with a novel 3D printing method, can solve critical supply chain and safety issues while moving beyond limitations of today’s lithium-ion batteries,” says founder and CEO Robert Bagheri. “We are on track to develop that ‘holy grail’ solid-state battery by 2023, and this first-generation benchmark is a validating accomplishment on the roadmap to significantly better batteries.”

Hino Trucks starts validation of Allison’s 100D e-axle Image courtesy of Allison Transmission

Hino Trucks has begun testing and validation of Allison Transmission’s eGen Power 100D electric axle, which is designed for heavy-duty EVs. The eGen Power 100D has a 23,000-pound gross axle weight rating, and is composed of a two-speed gearbox, differential lock functionality and two electric motors. Each motor can generate 454 kW of continuous power and 652 kW of peak combined power. “The next generation of our eGen Power 100D is now being built at our Auburn Hills, Michigan electric axle development and manufacturing facility,” said Allison Transmission VP Rohan Barua.

dSPACE launches modular BMS test system Simulation and validation technology firm dSPACE is launching a modular test system composed of its cell voltage emulation board, SCALEXIO products and ASM Electric Components software. The system is designed to test the battery management systems (BMS) of EVs and power grids. The cell voltage emulation board can simulate a cell voltage as low as 300 µV and as high as 1,500 V. The company says the board’s safety compartment makes it easy to wire the cell channels, shortens the wires to the test system and eases calibration to the individual cells. The board is also able to simulate different cell balancing scenarios by supporting peak currents up to 20 A per channel, and to simulate short circuits, cable breaks and defective battery cells. Through IOCNET, the emulation board can integrate with the company’s SCALEXIO line of processors designed for calculating simulation models. The company says the integration of these components supplies fast updates on cell voltages. The board can be integrated with the company’s ASM Electric Components software, which supplies a library of battery models. The system’s modularity is designed to make it scalable and flexible. “With the new cell voltage emulation board and the scalable system concept, we present a powerful solution for testing BMS systems at the high-voltage level that satisfies even the most demanding test requirements,” said dSPACE Product Manager for Electromobility and Electric Drives Stefan Walter. “Our customers will be able to effectively validate and optimize their BMS, thereby benefiting from shorter time to market.”

JAN-MAR 2022

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Image courtesy of Sion Power

THE TECH

Sion Power’s experimental lithium metal cells deliver 2,500 cycles Sion Power says one of its multilayer lithium metal pouch cells has performed for over 2,500 cycles, retaining 70% of its initial capacity. The cell was charged for 180 minutes at the C/3 rate and completely discharged in 45 minutes at the 4C/3 rate. The experimental cell is part of Sion Power’s Licerion product line. Licerion batteries have lithium metal anodes and are compatible with LFP and NMC cathodes. The company says its 6 Ah Licerion cell can be fastcharged to 80% capacity in less than 15 minutes. An independent test lab validated its achievement of 800 cycles at the C/3 rate and the 4C/3 rate. Also, the firm says a 17 Ah version was independently verified to reach an actual specific energy of 400 Wh/kg and an energy density of 780 Wh/l. “This excellent R&D achievement demonstrates the headroom of our technology when it comes to developing products for commercial trucking and automotive applications,” said Sion Power CEO Tracy Kelley.

BASF inks land purchase agreement for battery site in Canada Cathode active materials (CAM) producer BASF has signed an agreement to purchase land for a future CAM materials production, battery metals recycling and refining site in Quebec. The site, which is located beside the Saint Lawrence River in Bécancour, will “rely on competitive hydropower to further reduce the carbon footprint of its products compared to the industry average.” BASF says the site “allows for ample space to expand [production] up to 100 kilotons of CAM per year.” It also has “potential for fully integrated precursor cathode active materials (PCAM) supply.” Subject to necessary approvals, project commissioning is expected to begin in 2025.

Altair buys power-electronics simulation company Powersim Software provider Altair has acquired simulation and design tool specialist Powersim. “The addition of Powersim’s technologies and experienced technical team, who have deep domain knowledge in power electronics, rounds out Altair’s offerings for electric motor design and many other applications,” said Altair founder and CEO James R. Scapa. Powersim’s flagship product is its PSIM software for simulating power electronics, including power supplies, motor drives, control systems and microgrids. Altair plans to integrate PSIM into its Flux and FluxMotor design software, its Embed tool for embedded code generation and its SimLab software for combined cooling and thermal analysis.

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Image courtesy of Scheugenpflug

Scheugenpflug integrates inspection systems into its dispensing products Scheugenpflug has announced that its dispensing system products will now integrate an inspection system. The systems are designed for automated production lines with dispensing systems. Germany-based Scheugenpflug offers systems for adhesives, dispensing and potting operations. The company’s dispensing systems will include Quiss’s RTVision 2D or 3D inline inspection systems. The 2D version uses an LED light source to sense width and application continuity. The 3D version uses six lasers to measure these dimensions as well as height. The company says the integrated inspection system enables customers to determine the quality of the adhesive or sealant as soon as it is applied, which saves cycle time and resources.

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Defense Production Act could boost domestic production of critical battery minerals Shortages of battery materials represent a serious bottleneck that’s sabotaging environmental goals and costing consumers a bundle, and the supply crunch seems likely to be with us for some time. President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act in order to encourage domestic production of critical raw materials. Doing so added critical battery minerals to the list of items covered by the 1950 Defense Production Act, which allows the president to use emergency authority to make large orders of certain products or expand production capacity and supply. “The United States depends on unreliable foreign sources for many of the strategic and critical materials necessary for the clean energy transition—such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and manganese for large-capacity batteries,” said Biden. “Demand for such materials is projected to increase exponentially as the world transitions to a clean energy economy. To promote the national defense, the United States must secure a reliable and sustainable supply of such strategic and critical materials. The United States shall, to the extent consistent with the promotion of the national defense, secure the supply of such materials through environmentally responsible domestic mining and processing; recycling and reuse; and recovery from unconventional and secondary sources, such as mine waste.” The White House will work closely with the departments of Energy and the Interior to implement a presidential determination, a source told CNN, adding that any actions would “in no way” bypass permitting or environmental review processes for mining these minerals. It doesn’t sound like any truly radical action is being considered. According to the source, the administration doesn’t plan to make loans or direct purchases of critical minerals, but rather to fund feasibility studies, co-product and by-product production at current operations, and productivity and safety modernizations. Both Biden and his predecessor Trump invoked the Defense Production Act during the Covid-19 crisis. “Today, lithium and nickel are the most important materials in EV batteries, and most of the world’s production of those metals for the first half of this decade has already been reserved by battery makers and car companies,” says Dr. Qichao Hu, CEO of battery manufacturer SES. “Tomorrow’s EV future will hinge on batteries that use more earth-abundant materials like iron, and an efficient supply chain.”

5/2/22 12:41 PM

Battery manufacturer Sparkz to build plant in West Virginia, hire former coal workers Battery manufacturer Sparkz has announced that it will begin construction in 2022 of a gigafactory in West Virginia, which will initially employ 350 workers, to commercialize its zero-cobalt battery. Sparkz founder and CEO Sanjiv Malhotra made the announcement at a ceremony in the state capital, Charleston, which was attended by a very diverse group of policymakers, including Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, and Senator Joe Manchin, a bête noire for climate activists who received more money from the fossil fuel industries than any other US senator in the most recent election cycle. Sparkz says it will focus on “creating a strong and diverse workforce capable of competing against foreign batteries made in China and securing the supply chain.” The company will partner with the United Mine Workers of

America to recruit and train dislocated miners to be the first group of production workers hired at its new facility. Malhotra says the company “will invest significant resources in workforce development and training for…West Virginians transitioning into the new energy economy.” “Sparkz is re-engineering the battery supply chain by eliminating cobalt and setting our sights on making other battery components in America to end China’s dominance,” said Malhotra. “The Biden Administration’s efforts to support economic revitalization in energy communities is extremely important for workers and job creators like us as we scale to full commercial production. America’s clean energy future will reach its potential when we innovate and manufacture the next generation of energy storage domestically.”

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5/2/22 12:42 PM

Image courtesy of Storedot

Image courtesy of Vestaro

THE TECH

Vestaro launches new Storedot says its silicongeneration of EV battery packs dominant battery cells can last Germany-based Vestaro, a joint venture of specialty for 1,200 cycles chemical provider Evonik and composite material developer Forward Engineering, has launched a new generation of its EV battery packs. The new Pure Performance battery pack is composed of a composite housing made with sheet molding compound (SMC) technology, a semi-integral modular design and LION Smart’s LIGHT battery cells. Vestaro’s glass fiber battery pack cover is based on Evonik’s epoxy curing agent VESTALITE S. According to the company, the SMC materials deliver performance equal to that of previous metal-based enclosures, and substantially reduce weight. The new pack housing is designed to improve both bottom impact performance and vehicle integration. The designers took advantage of the design freedom of the versatile SMC material. The old bottom structure was replaced with an aluminum sandwich plate, which increases the performance in terms of the bottom impact, and also plays a key role in the semi-integral vehicle concept. The designers were able to remove the additional side deformation elements and use the freed space for more battery cells. Also, due to the improved bottom impact performance of the sandwich floor, the space required for the module mounting could be reduced. The creation of these extra spaces for battery cells allowed the designers to increase capacity from 65 to 75 kWh, while retaining nearly the same outer dimensions as the group’s previous-generation battery pack.

Israeli battery tech developer StoreDot says its silicon-dominant cells have achieved a lifetime of 1,200 cycles in testing. Using a specially designed testing form factor, StoreDot’s engineers have exceeded 1,200 cycles with cells that are charged to 80% of capacity in 15 minutes, then discharged for one hour. The company says the results were achieved with a specific energy of 300 Wh/kg (energy density of 680 Wh/liter) in real-world conditions at room temperature and with no additional pressure applied. The company is now beginning to advance to B-samples, using larger form factors, which it will ship to global automotive manufacturers later this year for testing in future EVs. StoreDot says its extreme fast charging (XFC) batteries will be available in both pouch and cylindrical 4680 form factors. The company expresses its goals in terms of “100 in x,” meaning that a battery can add 100 miles of range in x minutes of charging. The long-term target is to deliver “100 in 2”—that is, 100 miles of range in just 2 minutes of charging—within a decade. “1,200 consecutive cycles of extreme fast charging is a critical milestone that would have been unimaginable just two years ago,” said Yaron Fein, StoreDot’s Vice President of R&D. “This…reaffirms our roadmap of delivering ‘100 in 5’ cells for global automotive manufacturers within two years.”

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DOE announces $5 million to launch battery workforce initiative The US Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with the Department of Labor and the AFL-CIO, has announced the launch of a national workforce development strategy for lithium-ion battery manufacturing. As part of a $5-million investment, DOE will support up to five pilot training programs in energy and automotive communities, and advance workforce partnerships between industry and labor for the domestic battery supply chain. The pilot training programs are designed to lay the foundation for the development of a broad national workforce strategy, supporting industry-labor cooperation and providing sites for job task analyses and documenting worker competencies. Insights gained will support the development of national industry-recognized credentials and inform the development of broader training programs to support the overall battery supply chain. Recent reports underscore the need for America to develop a robust workforce for the domestic battery supply chain. This initiative is part of suite of announcements from President Biden’s Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization—a partnership among the White House and nearly a dozen federal agencies committed to supporting communities dependent on fossil fuels as the nation transitions to a clean-energy economy. “American leadership in the global battery supply chain will be based not only on our innovative edge, but also on our skilled workforce of engineers, designers, scientists, and production workers,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, “President Biden has a vision for achieving net zero emissions while creating millions of good-paying, union jobs—and DOE’s battery partnerships with labor and industry are key to making that vision a reality.” The DOE also recently released two Notices of Intent authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to provide $3 billion to develop domestic battery manufacturing and recycling. The new funding will support domestic refining capacity of minerals such as lithium, as well as production plants, battery cell and pack factories and recycling facilities. The DOE’s Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER) program has also made $44 million available to fund research to increase the mineral yield, while decreasing the required energy and subsequent emissions, to mine and extract critical minerals such as lithium, copper, nickel and cobalt. “While I remain concerned about our dependence on China and other foreign countries for key parts of the lithium-ion battery supply chain, engaging our strong and capable workforce to manufacture batteries domestically is a critical step toward reducing our reliance on other countries and ensuring we are able to maintain our energy security,” said Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

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Image courtesy of Hankook

THE TECH

Retriev Technologies buys Liion recycler Battery Solutions Hankook launches new line of tires for EVs Tire manufacturer Hankook Tire has introduced a new EV tire product line. The new iON tires are designed for high-performance and premium EVs, and will be available in sizes ranging from 18 to 22 inches. The company says the tires are composed of sustainable natural oils and aramid fibers that counteract the deformation forces of high-torque EVs. “With an improved range per battery charge, this new generation of tires will help to further optimize the efficiency of electric vehicles in everyday use,” said CEO and President of Hankook Tire & Technology Sooil Lee. The lineup includes the Ventus iON S summer tire, which will be available in Europe starting in May of 2022; the Winter i*cept iON tire, which will be available beginning in September of 2022; and the Ventus iON A all-season tire, which will be sold in the North American market. “We are particularly proud that the new Hankook iON summer tire, for example, has achieved an A/A/A rating on the EU tire label. This corresponds to the highest performance in terms of rolling resistance, wet grip and tire noise,” says Executive Vice President and CTO of Hankook Tire Bonhee Ku.

Lithium battery recycling company Retriev Technologies has purchased battery recycling management firm Battery Solutions. According to Retriev, the acquisition makes the expanded company “the first and only comprehensive battery management solution in North America.” “Our combined assets and talented team enable us to be the only player in the industry that has the capability to collect, transport, sort and process every type of battery at every touchpoint from the end of one life cycle to the beginning of another. This creates a substantial material resource for auto OEMs and battery manufacturers in the circular supply chain,” said Retriev Technologies CEO David Klanecky. Battery Solutions operates a battery-centric logistics network and two US facilities for its current customers in the EV, telecommunications, consumer and waste management markets. It has processing, sorting, fulfillment, logistics and storage capabilities at its 95,000-square-foot facility in Michigan and 60,000-square-foot facility in Arizona. Retriev Technologies maintains battery recycling and sorting facilities in Ohio, California and British Columbia. The company says it is the “oldest and largest lithium-ion battery processing operation.” Retriev says combining with Battery Solutions will enable it to develop customized solutions, serve small and large customers, simplify the collection process and shorten conversion time.

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Mercedes battery pack plant in Alabama will shorten supply chain, reduce emissions Mercedes-Benz has opened a battery pack factory in Bibb County, Alabama, near a plant in Tuscaloosa where the company will soon be building its new EQE and EQS electric SUVs for the US market. The new plant will not be manufacturing cells, but rather assembling purchased cells into packs for the EQE and EQS. The Stuttgart-based automaker has invested $1 billion to convert production lines to its EVA2 platform and build the battery assembly plant. “The opening of our new battery plant in Alabama is a major milestone on our way to going all-electric,” says Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius, adding that the company’s “comprehensive approach” includes “a local cell sourcing and recycling strategy.” At the new plant, “high-performance lithium-ion batteries are assembled into a complete system on a production line around 984 feet long with more than 70 work stations,” says Mercedes. The battery system uses a modular design. The cell chemistry contains nickel, cobalt and manganese in a ratio of 8:1:1. Cobalt content has been reduced to around ten percent. The US battery assembly facility is one of nine that Mercedes has built or is planning around the world, most of them situated near vehicle plants. Locations include Beijing, Bangkok and Jawor, Poland, as well as Hedelfingen and Kamenz in Germany. Separately, Mercedes plans to build eight gigafactories for cell production, with a total annual capacity of more than 200 GWh, together with partners. Mercedes says Envision AESC will supply battery modules to the Bibb County plant beginning around 2025, from a new cell plant to be built in the US. (The automaker hasn’t disclosed who will supply the cells until then.) “Envision AESC will be a major supplier securing capacity for the next generations of our Mercedes-EQ products built in the US in the years to come,” Mercedes CTO Markus Schäfer said. “With Envision AESC’s net-zero carbon solutions and battery technology, this new cooperation underlines our holistic approach regarding our sustainable value chain.” Emissions produced in the manufacture of batteries represent a sore point for automakers (and a subject of endless exaggeration and disingenuous distortion for EV-bashers), so it’s interesting that Mercedes claims that production of the batteries for the EQS and SUV will be CO2-neutral. The new battery plant incorporates several energy-efficient features, including solar water heating, rainwater capture, LED lighting, environmentally friendly HVAC refrigerants and energy-saving process technology. Forklifts are powered by hydrogen. The automaker says the Bibb County site’s entire electricity needs will be met through renewable energy sources from 2024 onwards, once planned solar energy projects gain approval. Mercedes is also focused on recycling. “With a view to the future return of lithium-ion battery systems from Mercedes-EQ vehicles, the company is expanding its global battery recycling strategy. Mercedes-Benz is starting to build its own battery recycling plant in Germany, based on hydrometallurgy.”

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THE TECH

HOW A MOTOR’S OPERATING SPEED, TORQUE AND CONTROL STRATEGY

AFFECT ITS EFFICIENCY By Jeffrey Jenkins

econd only to power output, efficiency is one of the most fudgeable ratings that applies to traction motors for EVs (right up there with capacity and cycle life claims for Li-ion batteries…). For common 3-phase industrial AC motors, most of the specmanship shenanigans have been dealt with by NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association), a voluntary industry organization that outlines standards for everything from the size and design of motors to electrical enclosures and even power plugs and receptacles (for example, the standard 120 VAC outlet found everywhere in the US is designated NEMA 5-15R). For industrial motors intended to be supplied directly from the mains, NEMA always specifies a motor’s efficiency at the nameplate rated voltage and frequency. When a motor is supplied by a variable frequency drive, however, determining its efficiency becomes a far more difficult task. This is because, of the four relevant parameters that need to be accurately measured to determine efficiency (which, after all, is the ratio of mechanical output power to electrical input power), only speed and current are potentially easy to measure, whereas getting accurate voltage and torque values tends to be far more troublesome. The usual solution for measuring a motor’s speed and torque simultaneously is a dynamometer, or dyno, and there are two main types (and many subtypes) which are used for evaluating EVs: the chassis dyno, which measures power with

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When a motor is supplied by a variable-frequency drive, determining its efficiency becomes a far more difficult task.

JAN-MAR 2022

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THE TECH the motor still in the vehicle; and the bench dyno which, as the name implies, requires removing the motor for testing. The chassis dyno is far easier (and likely the only real choice) for the EV owner to use (though beware—the very common inertial dyno is little better than hand-waving when it comes to accuracy), whereas a bench dyno is more likely to be employed by the OEM during motor (and inverter) development, and then for quality control spot checks in production, as it gives a purer assessment of the motor, without any losses from the rest of the drivetrain and the tires. Either type of dyno can use a 3-phase motor and an inverter operating in regeneration mode as the load, and by doing so can either recycle most of the traction motor’s output back into the battery pack, or even to the mains (though that requires another inverter operating at a fixed frequency and synchronized to the mains, or grid-tied). From the electrical input power side of things, it’s relatively easy to get an accurate current measurement on each phase, despite the fact that the applied voltage is a series of duty-cycle modulated pulses. This is because the phase windings have considerable inductance, so the voltage pulses will set up a (relatively) slowly changing current in them. The observed voltage waveforms will remain as distinct pulses, however, which makes getting an accurate RMS (root mean square) value for them a bit of a challenge. If the inverter switching frequency isn’t too high, it might be possible to use a “true-RMS” digital multimeter to get an accurate voltage magnitude, but this won’t show the relative phase angle between said voltage and the corresponding phase current, and both are needed to accurately calculate real (as opposed to apparent) input power to any motor besides a PM synchronous type operating in the normal (i.e. not field-weakened) mode. This is because the PMSM can present as a unity power factor load—effectively as a pure resistance—whereas all other types of AC motor appear considerably inductive in nature (so current lags voltage). In fact, for the AC induction motor, the phase angle between the current and voltage waveforms more or less varies inversely with percent load. At no load, the current on each phase of an ACIM will be displaced from its voltage by nearly 90 degrees, giving a vector sum of near zero real power. This so-called “reactive” current sloshes back and forth between the inverter DC link capacitor and the inductance of the phase windings, incurring some losses in the switches, windings, etc, but otherwise very little actual

It should be obvious that resistive losses are a quadratic (square) function of current, but it’s not quite so obvious that windage losses are a cubic function of RPM. power (and therefore energy) will be demanded from the battery. The best—and really only practical—solution is to use a modern 4-channel oscilloscope with waveform math capabilities intended for power factor and harmonic analysis. Oh, and don’t forget that the scope needs isolated channels, or the voltage probes need to be the differential type to avoid blowing up the scope. The efficiency of an unloaded spinning motor, or one with its shaft stalled, will be 0% in both cases because no useful work is being done, but stepping away from these extreme edge cases, what about when the motor is 1% loaded while spinning at high RPM, or when its shaft is turning at 1 RPM while delivering maximum torque (such as at the beginning of accelerating from a stop, for example)? As might be expected, efficiency is pretty low in both cases, though for very different reasons. For the barely loaded motor, the major loss contributors will be windage, or the aerodynamic losses incurred by the rotor having to push air out of the way as it spins, followed by various AC electrical losses in the stator windings, rotor, and “back iron” (the part of the motor housing that completes the magnetic circuit linking the rotor and stator together), and finally, by friction and drag losses in the bearings (which hopefully come in a very distant third place to the first two). For the nearly-stalled motor, virtually all of the losses are from I2R, due to the resistance of the stator windings for all motor types, as well as that of the shorting bars in the rotor for the ACIM, specifically. It should be obvious that resistive losses are a quadratic (square) function of current, but it’s not quite so obvious that windage losses are a cubic function of RPM. For example, a motor that incurs 10 W of windage loss at, say, 3,000 RPM will rack up 270 W of loss at 9,000 RPM. Another potential downside to operating a PMSM, specifically, at high enough speeds to require field-weakening is that this actually costs energy, as some portion of the sta-

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tor current then goes towards opposing the field produced by the rotor magnets, rather than working with it to produce torque. The opposite applies to the ACIM— weakening the field actually saves some energy because the field has to be induced into the rotor by the stator in the first place (so just induce less, et voila, the field is weakened). Also, applying too much field-weakening to a PMSM can permanently demagnetize its erstwhile permanent magnets. As for I2R losses incurred during acceleration from a stop, a common question is whether it’s better to spend less time at a higher torque (i.e. current) to get up to speed, or a proportionally longer time at a lower torque. The most appropriate equation for energy in this case is I2R * t (which is just another expression of the product of watts and time) but one missing factor is how torque varies with current, and that depends greatly on the type of motor and the specific control strategy used by the inverter. Generally speaking, though, torque in most motors is a linear function of current up to a certain current level (saturation), at which point it either peaks and levels off, or actually starts falling again (e.g. breakdown torque in an ACIM). The most notable exception to this rule is the series field DC motor, in which torque is a quadratic function of current up until saturation of the field structure, at which point it reverts to a linear function (until the motor self-destructs from overcurrent, anyway). At any rate, since losses from current are quadratic while torque is linear, this means losses

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THE TECH Broadly speaking, FOC is better at maintaining a constant speed and delivering smooth torque, particularly at low RPM, while DTC has better dynamic response and much less need to predict the motor parameters to operate correctly. Sensored FOC Scheme

DTC Scheme are twice as high if accelerating twice as quickly but for half the time to reach a given speed. (That said, don’t be that person who takes over a minute to hit 60 mph when merging onto the highway because of this.) Finally, there are minor differences in efficiency due to the actual control strategy of the inverter. The vast majority of 3-phase inverters for traction applications will use what is generically called vector or field-oriented control, but there is another approach called direct torque control,

which was originally developed because it was far less computationally-intensive. Back when the most powerful microcontrollers were 8 bits wide (and had to be programmed in assembly language, rather than more human-friendly languages like C or C++), the modest computing demands of DTC were very compelling, but just as Microsoft Windows has gotten ever more bloated as CPU speed and memory size have increased, so too have inverter design engineers been spoiled by the massive increase in computing power available in modern microcontrollers, DSPs (digital signal processors) and FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays). In what almost seems like a redux of the Betamax vs VHS war of yesteryear, FOC is far more commonly used despite the fact that for best performance (read: getting the maximum torque per ampere and widest possible speed range) it requires a fearsome amount of calculations per second and an often-impractical level of knowledge of the motor parameters (because a lot of those parameters either have loose tolerances to begin with—like the permeability of electrical steel—or change with temperature—like the bulk resistivities of all metals). There are a huge number of permutations of both DTC and FOC, but broadly speaking, FOC is better at maintaining a constant speed and delivering smooth (i.e.

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non-pulsating) torque, particularly at low RPM, while DTC has better dynamic response and much less need to know and/or predict the motor parameters to operate correctly, and therefore is much less sensitive to changes in such. As for differences in overall efficiency (i.e. motor plus inverter), the edge theoretically goes to FOC, if only because it has much less torque ripple, but in the real world it’s probably a toss-up, especially when paired with a PMSM. With an ACIM, however, classic FOC attempts to maintain full field flux at all times regardless of how much torque is being demanded to give the best transient response (from, for example, suddenly hammering on the accelerator pedal), whereas DTC with Space Vector Modulation (aka SVM, which most—if not all—modern implementations use) just picks the appropriate (or closest, anyway) voltage vector from a lookup table based on an internal motor model to deliver whatever field flux and torque is required for the load at that moment. One thing to be very skeptical of, though, are claims of delivering (or maintaining) good performance without rotor speed (ACIM) or position (PMSM) feedback, aka “sensorless” operation. Generally speaking, the maximum achievable torque per amp—and therefore the ultimate efficiency, really—is reduced when the inverter is deprived of rotor speed/ position information, and this should be considered a limp-home mode, rather than a normal mode of operation.

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THE TECH

BRITISHVOLT

WANTS TO BUILD BATTERY GIGAFACTORIES

AROUND THE WORLD By Charles Morris

attery “gigafactories” are under construction all over the world—and none too soon. As EV sales grow, it is critical to establish local battery production and shorten supply chains. However, state-of-the-art cell packaging and chemistries are evolving quickly these days. How will cell manufacturers future-proof their cell production facilities? How flexible will these new plants be to modify formats and chemistries? These are a couple of the questions Charged asked Britishvolt’s Richard LeCain, Director of Cell and Process Engineering, and Ben Kilbey, Director of Communications and Media. Britishvolt’s goal is to create domestic battery production all around the world, and the company is currently building its first cell factory in the UK. The site in the Northeast of England was selected because of the abundance of renewable energy—it has access to the North Sea Interconnector, so the company can take hydropower-created electricity from Norway and feed wind power back.

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THE TECH

The company recently signed agreements with UK auto manufacturers Lotus and Aston Martin to develop cell technologies designed specifically to support the two brands’ electrification roadmaps. For Aston Martin, a joint R&D team will design, develop, and industrialize battery packs, including bespoke modules and a battery management system. Britishvolt is also currently looking at sites in the Canadian province of Quebec for its second factory, where it also plans to “create domestic IP.”

One year ago we weren’t making any cells, but by the end of 2021, we were going through campaigns to build thousands of cells.

now, and what are the next steps to get to production?

ment, and cell design, to satisfy an array of customers throughout the EV sector. Right now, I’m sitting in Coventry at an organization called UKBIC [UK Battery Industrialisation Centre], who we’ve partnered with to execute that scale-up work. One year ago we weren’t making any cells, but by the end of 2021, we were going through campaigns to build thousands of cells.

A Richard LeCain: Britishvolt is in the early stage of development and scale-up. We’re trying to address the EV market’s challenges, so we are selecting materials and chemistries that align with specific market requirements. We know who we’re trying to reach, and we cascade that understanding into material selection, supplier develop-

Ben Kilbey: Britishvolt was founded in 2019 by our CEO Orral Nadjari. When I joined in 2021 we had around 20 employees. Now, we number nearly 200, so we’re growing very quickly. We received government backing at the beginning of 2022, and we announced our first successful A-samples coming out of the UKBIC facility.

Q Charged: What stage of development are you at right

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5/2/22 1:19 PM

THE TECH

It can take three months to gather enough data to get a good sense of how your chemistry performs. You can perform accelerated life testing of cells to try and get a look at early failures but it still takes time to cycle the cells properly. Prior to Britishvolt, I spent 17 years at A123 systems in the US, where I led a group that was focused on developing LFP cells. Q Charged: Has that process changed significantly since

you started doing it at A123, or is it basically the same? A Richard LeCain: There are always new chemistries,

new advances and new claims. And it’s up to us to verify those claims and make sure those chemistries work in our cells. Leveraging some of the work that’s been done on the

modeling and simulation side is an area in which Britishvolt is trying to lead. We’re working with places like Imperial College London, where they’re using modeling and simulation tools to better predict performance of cells with new materials. That’s how we are trying to improve cell development cycle times, by making it less iterative. We hope to be able to cut down on the number of experiments and the amount of work that we’ll perform on new materials, which will speed up our development process. Q Charged: Is the bottleneck for development still the

huge number of cycles you have to do to get the right amount of data to have an idea of where you’re headed?

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A Richard LeCain: It can take

three months to gather enough data to get a good sense of how your chemistry performs. You can perform accelerated life testing of cells to try and get a look at early failures, but it still takes time to cycle the cells properly and get a real-world look at how they’re going to perform. Q Charged: A battery manufac-

turing equipment supplier recently told us that it estimates there are somewhere north of 100 cell gigafactories in the world being built. That must be a huge demand on the suppliers. Do you see your suppliers being pulled in different directions? A Richard LeCain: We’ve seen

some constraints in the field around equipment suppliers, material suppliers and people. Battery

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THE TECH

The world wants terawatthours per year of battery capacity, and I think you need about one thousand people for every 10 gigawatt-hours. That’s a lot of battery engineers, and there may not be enough to go around in the world. companies all want the same people with the same skill sets. The world wants terawatt-hours per year of battery capacity, and I think you need about one thousand people for every 10 gigawatt-hours. That’s a lot of battery engineers, and there may not be enough to go around in the world. Britishvolt is working on initiatives to collaborate with universities in the UK to foster the next generation of battery engineers to help fill that space. A clear example of how we overcome potential challenges with tailored solutions. Ben Kilbey: One of the things we’ve done in the Northeast to counter the human capital challenge is the creation of the Britishvolt FutureGen Foundation. The idea is to take people who don’t have relevant skill sets and train them. They don’t have to come and work for Britishvolt, however our goal is to create a connection with academia and business to ensure that these bottlenecks and challenges have the potential to become future opportunities. And with these opportunities, come solutions. Q Charged: Are there other gigafactory projects in the

UK that you know of?

A Ben Kilbey: The UK already has the Envision plant in

the Northeast. There are rumors of more to come. The Advanced Propulsion Center in the UK estimates that by 2030, around 90 gigawatts of production will be re-

quired to satisfy UK demand. Britishvolt’s full production capacity towards the end of the decade will be about 40 gigawatts. That leaves a demand of 50 gigawatts to satisfy. There is so much activity which is driving the risks around the supply of raw materials. We were already looking at huge inflation. Raw material prices have been going through the roof, and the invasion of Ukraine hasn’t helped. I also think we have to factor in all the gigawatt- or terawatt-hours that are being forecasted or spoken about. How many will come to fruition? We have a clear strategy to partner with the supply chain and ensure we have the correct raw materials, sourced in the right and responsible way, in line with our ESG Principles and Commitments. For instance, our responsibly-sourced cobalt supply deal with Glencore and the recent deal with VKTR for nickel sulfate out of Indonesia. I think people are starting to realize that making batteries isn’t easy. If it were, then everyone would already be doing it. I think you’ll see a failure rate where people don’t make it to market. But if you look at our world-class team, including Richard, our CTO, Dr. Allan Paterson, and our CSO, Isobel Sheldon, we’ve got a really strong team of people, and the UK ecosystem.

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We’re hoping the Britishvolt Effect will bring more gigaplants to the country. So, what we’ll do is create this first business in the UK, and use that as a blueprint to replicate across the world. Ideally, that powers up the whole economy, and other people will come and build their gigaplants and create a holistic ecosystem—the Britishvolt Effect in action. Q Charged: Once you get into

production, are you going to focus on one chemistry and one form factor, or will you be delivering different ones? A Richard LeCain: Britishvolt

aims to build a 40 GWh-per-year factory, which we’ll build out in phases. You wouldn’t build a 40 GWh factory all at once based on one form factor and one chemistry, because as the industry evolves, some OEMs will want different chemistries. You want a phased buildout to remain flexible and on the cutting edge. You should end up with a very flexible factory that can accommodate different chemistry types and form factors to satisfy an array of customers.

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THE VEHICLES

USPS orders 50,000 new delivery vehicles, 10,019 of them electric

Textron to acquire electric aircraft pioneer Pipistrel Image courtesy of Textron

Textron (NYSE: TXT), home to the Cessna, Beechcraft, and Bell aviation brands, has agreed to purchase Pipistrel, a developer of electric aircraft based in Slovenia and Italy. Textron plans to form a new business segment, Textron eAviation, focused on the development of sustainable aircraft, which will include Pipistrel. Pipistrel founder and CEO Ivo Boscarol will remain a minority shareholder as well as Chairman Emeritus, consulting on future product plans and strategies for a two-year period. The companies say the acquisition will give Pipistrel access to greater resources, technical and regulatory expertise and a global aircraft sales and support network, enabling it to accelerate its development and certification of electric and hybrid aircraft. “Under my 30-year leadership, Pipistrel’s team has achieved a unique prime position in personal, affordable, environmentally friendly and electric aviation. The trend and foundation for future projects has clearly been set,” said Boscarol. “To drive Pipistrel’s ambitious goals and to continue its story of success, the joining of Textron and Pipistrel provides deep expertise and resources which would otherwise be inaccessible to Pipistrel alone.” “Pipistrel puts Textron in a uniquely strong position to develop technologies for the sustainable aviation market and develop a variety of new aircraft to meet a wide range of customer missions,” said Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly. “Today’s announcement supports Textron’s long-term strategy to offer a family of sustainable aircraft for urban air mobility, general aviation, cargo and special mission roles. Textron is committed to maintaining Pipistrel’s brand, headquarters, research and development, and manufacturing in Slovenia and Italy, while making additional investments in Pipistrel for the development and production of future products.”

The US Postal Service has doubled the number of EVs it will include in its first order for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs). The initial $2.98-billion order with Oshkosh Defense is for 50,000 vehicles, of which 10,019 will be battery-electric vehicles. The agency says it has identified 10,019 specific delivery routes that present the best applications for EVs. It expects the NGDVs to begin appearing on carrier routes “in late 2023.” “We have determined that increasing our initial electric vehicle purchase from 5,000 to 10,019 makes good sense from an operational and financial perspective,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “Today’s order demonstrates, as we have said all along, that the Postal Service is fully committed to the inclusion of electric vehicles as a significant part of our delivery fleet even though the investment will cost more than an internal combustion engine vehicle. That said, as we have also stated repeatedly, we must make fiscally prudent decisions in the needed introduction of a new vehicle fleet.” Originally, the postal service said it would buy 165,000 NGDVs, only 10 percent of which would be EVs. President Biden has called for the postal service, which presents an ideal use case for EVs, to fully electrify, but DeJoy, an appointee and ardent supporter of Trump, has refused to do so. DeJoy has presented the decision not to electrify as a financial one—the USPS has lost more than $90 billion since 2007. Congress recently approved a $50-billion rescue package. It remains to be seen whether the agency will follow through and continue to buy more EVs—it would need to purchase 6,500 more in future rounds in order to meet its original 10-percent goal. According to reports, it’s not clear whether Oshkosh, a defense contractor that has never delivered an EV, can meet the demand at a time when all vehicle-makers are struggling with shortage of semiconductors and other necessary components. Just before we went to press, 16 states, 4 environmental groups and the United Auto Workers union filed lawsuits seeking to block the USPS’s ICE-centric plan—the plaintiffs argue that the agency failed to comply with environmental regulations.

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Pace Suburban Bus, which serves a vast swath of Chicago’s suburbs—an area nearly the size of the state of Connecticut—has awarded a $26.5-million-dollar contract to commercial vehicle OEM Proterra to acquire 20 Proterra ZX5 Max electric transit buses and two Proterra megawatt-scale fleet chargers. Proterra’s US-made 40-foot ZX5 Max features 675 kWh of energy storage, which the company claims is the highest capacity currently available in an e-bus in North America. The Proterra Energy business unit offers a turnkey charging package to fleet operators, including infrastructure design, construction, financing, operations, maintenance and energy optimization.

Image courtesy of Proterra

Chicagoland bus operator Pace purchases 20 Proterra ZX5 electric buses

“As transit agencies across the country begin to purchase electric buses, we are excited to be able to get our first order for electric buses in the queue. This puts us ahead of our anticipated schedule and will allow us to get electric buses on the road even sooner,” said Pace Executive Director Melinda J. Metzger.

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Image courtesy of Hyundai

Image courtesy of Flux Marine

THE VEHICLES

New Hyundai plant to produce EVs in Indonesia Hyundai has launched a new automotive plant that will produce Indonesia’s first locally assembled EV. In 2019, Hyundai said it would invest $1.55 billion in the plant by 2030. Initial capacity is 150,000 vehicles per year, and this will later be expanded to 250,000. The new assembly plant will be linked with a Hyundai-LG joint venture battery plant that’s scheduled to open in 2024. LG Energy Solution and Hyundai started construction of the $1.1-billion EV battery plant last September. At full capacity it’s expected to produce 10 GWh worth of battery cells per year. Indonesia is a major producer of raw materials used in EV batteries, including nickel, cobalt, bauxite (aluminum ore) and copper. President Joko Widodo says developing a full EV supply chain using the country’s mineral resources is one of his key economic goals. By 2024, all EVs produced in Indonesia will use locally made batteries and other key components, he said. At the plant’s inauguration ceremony, “Jokowi” said his government has provided incentives and eliminated red tape in order to encourage investment in EV development. “We need to be an important player in the global supply chain of electric cars,” he said.

Flux Marine raises $15 million in Series A funding, will manufacture electric outboards in US Flux Marine, a developer of electric outboard motors and battery systems for watercraft, has raised $15.5 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by Ocean Zero. The company will use the new funding to expand manufacturing, recruit additional talent, and continue to develop its technologies. Flux Marine says its outboard motors “reflect years of proprietary engineering in solid-state components, thermal systems, and battery technology,” and provide “unmatched acceleration, optimal range and zero maintenance without increasing the overall weight of a boat.” Boaters can now preorder the company’s 15 hp, 40 hp and 70 hp standalone electric outboards, or choose from electric boat packages with up to 100 hp. A Flux Marine 100 hp outboard mounted on a 22-foot dual-console hull delivers top speeds nearing 35 knots and a range of more than 75 nautical miles. According to Flux Marine, recreational boats, which are not required to have catalytic converters in the US, release vast amounts of particulates into the atmosphere, and discharge as much as 150 million gallons of unburned gasoline into rivers, lakes and oceans annually. Flux Marine’s mission is to seriously reduce the release of these pollutants. Flux Marine says its electric outboards also eliminate the maintenance grief of standard combustion engines: impeller replacement, spark plugs, hoses, filters, lubrication systems and winterization.

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September 13-15, 2022

For more information, please visit

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Image courtesy of Ford

THE VEHICLES

Ford announces pricing for its bidirectional home charger Ford has launched its new Ford Charge Station Pro, a bidirectional home charging station designed to work with the upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. Ford designed the system in collaboration with Siemens. The system enables an F-150 Lightning to be used for backup power and other V2G applications. (It isn’t clear whether it would also work with other bidirectional-capable EVs such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5.) The Ford Charge Station Pro is included with the F-150 Lightning Extended Range variant. For buyers of the Standard Range Lightning, it will be available for $1,310 (not including installation). We say “will be” because the product is currently listed as sold out on the Ford web site. At first glance, $1,310 might sound steep for a home charger—a good, basic UL-listed charger can be had for as low as $400—but the Ford Charge Station Pro is rated at 80 amps, twice the current of most home chargers, and Ford says it can add 30 miles of range per hour to the F-150 Lightning Extended Range—if you can install a beefy 80-amp circuit to your residential panel. The real star of the show, however, is Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power bidirectional charging, which can provide up to 9.6 kW of power to your home when combined with Ford’s Home Integration System.

St Petersburg, Florida’s PSTA among recipients of $409 million in federal grants for e-buses The DOT’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded $409.3 million in grants to 70 projects in 39 states to modernize and electrify America’s bus systems. One of these grants will go to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, which serves Charged’s home city of St Petersburg, Florida. The PSTA grant is for $18,399,000, the second-largest amount awarded in this round. PSTA says it plans to buy 12 electric buses, 12 depot chargers and 2 inductive wireless chargers with the new funds. The agency hopes to add 60 electric buses to its fleet over the next five years, contingent on funding. FTA says it received 303 eligible project proposals, representing over $2.5 billion in funding requests. “Under President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, an additional $5.1 billion in formula and competitive grant funding is authorized under the Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program over the next five years,” says the agency, “meaning more projects can be funded.” Another grant, for $11.4 million, went to the Connecticut Department of Transportation to buy battery-electric buses. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada will receive nearly $5 million to buy hydrogen fuel cell buses and to install “renewable energy lighting.” However, by no means all the grants are earmarked for electrification projects. The city of Gainesville, Florida (which unveiled three e-buses in 2021) received $10.7 million “to replace older buses that have exceeded their useful life and build a new bus transfer station.” Atlanta’s MARTA scored $15 million to build a new bus maintenance facility. Ohio’s Laketran landed $14.7 million for building projects.

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Rivian working on 800-volt architecture, bidirectional charging, in-house drive units and battery cells EV startup Rivian’s Q4 2021 Shareholder Letter is reminiscent of the ones we used to see from a certain other Californian EV startup in its idealistic younger days—full of forward-looking technical innovations. Rivian appears to embracing several current trends on the EV scene—going bidirectional and moving towards 800 volts, LFP cells and more in-house production of key components. When it comes to sales, we find the same doleful dichotomy every automaker is reporting these days: plenty of orders, but a disappointing number of deliveries, thanks to supply chain snafus. Rivian reported sales of 1,410 vehicles so far in 2022, and 1,015 in 2021, for a total of 2,425 units sold up to the date of the report. Rivian claimed to have about 83,000 preorders from North American customers for its R1T trucks. Partly due to supply problems, it was forced to halve its forecast for 2022 deliveries, to 25,000 units. The company will continue to make “significant investments in our next-generation vehicle platforms and in-vehicle technologies, including our proprietary 800-volt architecture, which includes a new in-house family of drive units for both Dual and Quad-Motor configurations. This 800-volt architecture also includes an integrated on-board charger, DC-DC converter, and DC-AC converter, where the power stages of the DC-AC and AC-DC are bidirectional and share semiconductors, magnetics and the controller.” Rivian’s trucks use a 400-volt battery pack and system voltage. However, as CEO RJ Scaringe told Green Car Reports in 2018, they were designed from the start to be upgraded to 800 volts. Other new developments at Rivian include “a bidirectional home charger and home energy products,” and “a heat pump-based thermal system for improved cold-weather efficiency as well as a range of new battery packs including both high-nickel and LFP chemistries.” Rivian says its 260-mile Standard pack will include “a new pack architecture” with lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) cells in place of the high-nickel NCA cells used in its other variants. LFP cells, which have been the norm in the Chinese EV industry for years, don’t offer as much energy density as NCA cells, but Tesla and other global EV-makers are giving them more respect these days. They tend to be cheaper and—a big plus considering the current doleful geopolitical situation— they contain no nickel or cobalt. Rivian also noted that it’s developing battery cells in-house. The automaker has a new in-house-developed motor technology, which will debut in its RCV platform—the basis of the EDV vans it’s selling to Amazon. Rivian says it has some 100 pre-production drive units and is currently doing validation testing. The new motor tech will appear in the vans by the end of 2022, then migrate to the R1 vehicles in the second half of 2023. “By using this motor in both our consumer and commercial platforms, we intend to gain cost efficiencies, provide accessible price points, and expand our addressable market,” says Rivian.

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5/2/22 1:26 PM

Image courtesy of Kenworth

THE VEHICLES

GM and Honda to codevelop affordable EVs General Motors and Honda have announced plans to codevelop “a series of affordable electric vehicles based on a new global architecture using next-generation Ultium battery technology.” The two automakers have been working together on electric and autonomous vehicle technologies for some time—in 2018, Honda joined GM’s battery module development efforts, and in 2020, they announced plans to codevelop two EVs, including the Honda Prologue and an Acura electric SUV. Now they say they will work together “to enable global production of millions of EVs starting in 2027, including compact crossover vehicles, leveraging the two companies’ technology, design and sourcing strategies.” The pair will also work toward standardizing equipment and processes, and will discuss future battery technology collaboration opportunities. “GM and Honda will share our best technology, design and manufacturing strategies to deliver affordable and desirable EVs on a global scale,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “By working together, we’ll put people all over the world into EVs faster than either company could achieve on its own.” “Honda and GM will build on our successful technology collaboration to help achieve a dramatic expansion in the sales of electric vehicles,” said Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe. “Our collaboration with Honda and the continuing development of Ultium are the foundation of this project, utilizing our global scale to enable a lower cost foundation for this new series of EVs for millions of customers,” said GM Executive VP Doug Parks. “Our plans include a new all-electric product for North America positioned at a price point lower than the upcoming Chevrolet Equinox EV, building on the two million units of EV capacity the company plans to install by the end of 2025.”

California drayage fleet operator orders 20 Kenworth T680E electric trucks 4 Gen Logistics, a provider of drayage services at ports and logistics terminals in California, has placed an order for 20 Kenworth T680E electric trucks. David Duncan is an owner of 4 Gen Logistics and a VP of Phoenix-based Duncan and Son Lines. The two companies currently operate a combined 147 Kenworth T680s. He decided to order the electric version after test-driving one at a recent Kenworth customer event. “I was very impressed,” he said. “I especially noticed that the T680E is very quiet and responsive.” The Kenworth T680E is designed for pickup and delivery, regional haul and drayage applications, and is available in a day cab configuration as either a tractor or straight truck. It has an 82,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating and an estimated 150-mile range, depending on the application. To help support the purchase of the 20 EVs, 4 Gen Logistics qualified for voucher incentives through the California Air Resource Board (CARB) Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP). The company also applied for grant money from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) in Southern California. “We worked closely with David through the Kenworth EV grants and incentive program to help find and secure funding assistance toward the company’s T680E purchases,” said Jim Walenczak, Kenworth Assistant General Manager for Sales and Marketing. Kenworth also offers the Class 6 K270E and Class 7 K370E cab-over electric trucks, which are designed for pickup and delivery and short regional haul operations. The electric powertrain is available with battery packs of 141, 209 and 282 kWh, which deliver ranges of 100, 150 and 200 miles, respectively.

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GreenPower Motor Company (NASDAQ: GP), a manufacturer and distributor of electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, has launched the Nano BEAST: a purpose-built, battery-electric Type A school bus with a range of up to 150 miles. The Nano BEAST (Battery Electric Automotive School Transportation) features a clean-sheet design that “facilitates optimal battery pack placement and weight distribution.” GreenPower will begin initial deliveries to its customers in the coming months, and anticipates that the pace of deliveries will increase by the end of the year. According to GreenPower, approximately 9,700 new Type A school buses are sold every year, and approximately 500,000 yellow school buses are currently running across the US. Various state vouchers and federal funding programs are available to help school districts go all-electric. GreenPower developed the Nano BEAST using its purpose-built EV Star Platform. The company has delivered approximately 200 vehicles built on the platform throughout North America, for applications including paratransit, airport shuttle, micro-transit, cargo delivery and vanpool service. “The Nano BEAST offers unprecedented levels of safety and reliability for a zero-emission, Type A school bus. We’ve seen the EV Star Platform exceed expectations in other industries, and we look forward to carrying this over into the school bus industry,” said GreenPower President Brendan Riley.

Image courtesy of Hino Trucks

Image courtesy of GreenPower Motor Company

GreenPower’s Nano BEAST is a purpose-built electric Type A school bus

Hino Trucks offers all-inclusive solution for fleets Hino Trucks, a Toyota Group company, manufactures a lineup of Class 4-8 commercial trucks in the US. The company is developing electric trucks, which it hopes to bring into low-volume production by 2023. Now the truck-maker has introduced Hino INCLUSEV, a portfolio of end-to-end EV solutions that includes customer EV consulting, intelligent charging, warrantied infrastructure, 24/7 customer service and financing. Partners in the program include ChargePoint, EnTech Solutions and Mitsubishi HC Capital America. “Hino INCLUSEV eliminates the complexity, frustration and inferiority of searching out multiple third parties to achieve the needed solution,” said Glenn Ellis, Hino Trucks SVP of Customer Experience. “INCLUSEV is a solutions portfolio poised for evolution and expansion through innovation, integration and partnerships.” Charging network operator ChargePoint (NYSE: CHPT) will offer end-to-end electrification services, from deployment to on-going support, to Hino customers. Infrastructure solution provider EnTech Solutions will provide design work, installation and management.“Hino INCLUSEV keeps the dealer and customer unified through the ownership journey, leveraging Hino Truck’s leadership in delivering the Ultimate Ownership Experience,” said Hino Director of Brand Experience Dominik Beckman. “Our dealers are engaged every step of the way and consult with customers from start to finish. Our dealers will help determine if EV is the right solution for a fleet and if so, support in setting up what is needed—including a site evaluation, charging solution spec’ing, grant applications, end-to-end financing, installation, maintenance, optimization and service. Our dealer network is fully equipped to ensure businesses can be electrified seamlessly. This is turnkey in its truest form.”

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Image courtesy of The ShyftGroup

THE VEHICLES

Plug In America joins with National Automobile Dealers Association to train dealers to Shyft Group introduces sell EVs Class 3 electric delivery van, Auto dealerships have long been considered a roadblock for EV adoption, as salespeople lack the necessary expercommercial EV chassis and tise to inform customers about how EVs work. Advocacy group Plug In America has been working hard to change charging solution this. Now the group has announced a partnership with the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) to educate franchised auto dealerships nationwide on EVs. The partnership is supported by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which will engage all vehicle manufacturers to expand dealership participation. “Franchised dealerships play a valuable role in the national transition to electric transportation, and this training program will educate dealers about charging options, EV infrastructure, service requirements and other aspects of EV ownership,” says PIA. “This online, interactive program will be designed to complement automakers’ training and offer quick, easily digestible talking points that allow sales staff to confidently encourage potential EV buyers.” Upon successful completion of the course, dealership sales staff will receive Plug In America’s PlugStar Bronze certification. “The transition to electric vehicles is now inevitable and dealers play an important role in helping consumers as they make the switch,” said Joel Levin, Executive Director of Plug In America. “We are excited to work with NADA and CSE to help dealers educate consumers about the many benefits of EVs, from cleaner air to convenience to the great driving experience.” “By bringing these two EV-focused powerhouse organizations together with NADA, we will efficiently educate dealers and help accelerate the mass market adoption of electric vehicles in the US,” said NADA President and CEO Mike Stanton. “The dealership training program leverages the strengths of each organization and will ensure dealers are more than prepared to sell and service the EV future.”

The Shyft Group (NASDAQ: SHYF), which has a 50-year history of specialty vehicle chassis manufacturing, has created a new brand called Blue Arc EV Solutions, and introduced three new products: a commercial-grade purpose-built EV chassis; an electric Class 3 walk-in delivery van; and a portable, remote-controlled charging station called the Power Cube. Shyft’s proprietary battery-powered chassis features an all-new design built from the ground up to accommodate the duty cycles of commercial vehicles. Its modular design can accommodate multiple weight ratings and classifications, and its customizable length and wheelbase make it suitable for a wide range of medium-duty truck applications, including last-mile delivery, work trucks, mass transit and recreational vehicles. The expected range is 150 to 175 miles, and more will be available through expanded battery options. The Blue Arc van is a battery-electric Class 3 commercial vehicle designed for high-frequency, last-mile delivery fleets. The cargo area has 635-800 cubic feet of storage, and offers a choice of vocational packages. The van features an integrated solar roof package, aluminum honeycomb shelving, and a lightweight aluminum and composite body design. Vehicle lengths of 14 to 18 feet and payload capacities of up to 5,000 lbs are available. Blue Arc plans to integrate driver safety technology such as 360° cameras, large in-dash HD camera displays, lane departure and proximity sensors, and keyless and automated entry. Vehicle prototypes will be delivered to customers for route testing in the coming months. Shyft expects to begin building the chassis and electric delivery vans at a plant in the southeastern United States by mid-2023.

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LG Energy Solution and Stellantis to build battery plant in Ontario A joint venture between battery-builder LG Energy Solution and automaker Stellantis will invest more than $5 billion Canadian ($4.1 billion US) to build an EV battery manufacturing plant in Windsor, Ontario, just across from Detroit. The battery facility will have an annual production capacity of 45 GWh, which will supply Stellantis plants in the North American market, and is Revolutionary XLPO expected to employ around 2,500 people. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, and production is to start in the first quarter of 2024. The facility will be fully operational by 2025. The development of the plant has enjoyed strong support from the municipal, provincial and federal governments. “Through our Driving Prosperity auto plan, strategic investments across our integrated supply chains, and by reducing the cost of doing business in Ontario by nearly $7 billion annually, our government is staking Ontario’s claim as a leader in the emerging North American EV battery industry,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “Attracting this multi-billion-dollar investment will secure Ontario’s place as a North American hub for building the cars and batteries of the future,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “We’re also connecting resources, industries and workers in northern Ontario with the manufacturing might of southern Ontario to build up home-grown supply chains. Every region of Ontario will benefit with thousands of jobs being created.” Ford is a recent convert to electrification, to say the least. In 2018, his government canceled Ontario’s EV rebate program, and scrapped a capand-trade alliance with Quebec and California. In 2019, he had EV chargers removed from transit lots, and canceled other green energy projects. These days he’s a champion of EVs and the jobs they support, and has made it pretty clear that his polarity reversal has to do with an election that’s coming up in June. “Our joint venture with LG Energy Solution is yet another stepping stone to achieving our aggressive electrification roadmap in the region aimed at hitting 50 percent of battery-electric vehicle sales in the US and Canada by the end of the decade,” said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. Mr. Tavares has also been an outspoken EV skeptic, even as his company has been taking a number of steps to prepare for electrification. Last December, he told Reuters that the costs of the transition to EVs would be “beyond the limits” of what the auto industry can sustain. Some parsed his comments as a thinly-veiled appeal for government subsidies, and policymakers in Ontario seem to have gotten the message. “We are grateful to the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government for their support and commitment to help position Canada as a North American leader in the production of electric vehicle batteries,” said Tavares.

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THE VEHICLES

BRIGHT DROP GM’S SILENT PUSH INTO ELECTRIC COMMERCIAL VEHICLES By John Voelcker

Upcoming electric passenger vehicles and light trucks from GM get most of the attention, but its new commercial EV brand is a quiet and very serious push too

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THE VEHICLES

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any US drivers now have a vague idea that General Motors is doing something with electric vehicles. They’ve seen Super Bowl ads for the GMC Hummer EV, or heard news about the lengthy, painful Chevrolet Bolt EV battery recall. More knowledgeable shoppers may even be able to name some upcoming EVs from GM: the Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup, the Cadillac Lyriq luxury SUV, or the EV versions of Chevy’s Equinox and Blazer compact crossover utilities. But very few consumers will come up with BrightDrop, the name GM has given to a new unit that builds electric commercial vehicles: full-size vans and even electric cargo containers. BrightDrop offers a fascinating window into the breadth of GM’s EV plans, though even many people in the auto industry know little about it.

Kill four, then add one Roll back the clock to the dark days of 2009, when two of the three US automakers collapsed into bankruptcy and were restructured by the White House Auto Task Force in the early days of the first Obama administration. GM then had eight separate brands, and the Task Force proposed that the company should shutter all but two: Chevrolet and Cadillac. That would give the radically slimmed-down GM a mass-market brand and a luxury brand. Just like, say, Ford—which was then in the process of killing Mercury, to leave it with only Ford and Lincoln. Executives at GM told the Task Force that, for profitability, two other brands should survive. GMC started as a commercial-truck brand, and made largely the same light-duty trucks as Chevrolet. But an ongoing luxury revamp meant it could sell them at far higher prices, ensuring that the brand was consistently profitable. Buick, meanwhile, was vitally important for the Chinese market, where today more than four times as many Buicks are sold as in North America. The Task Force ultimately agreed. Thus, the restructured GM was composed of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, while the Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn brands died. Sure, the Hummer is now back as a 9,000-pound EV truck, but it’s sold under the GMC luxury-truck brand. The other three: R.I.P.

Images courtesy of GM

BrightDrop’s Trace electrified container

JAN-MAR 2022

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THE VEHICLES The BrightDrop brand encompasses both on-road electric delivery vans of various dimensions and other electrified cargo vehicles, including rolling pallets and containers. The idea that GM would launch another brand just 12 years later would have been anathema to the White House Task Force. But that was then, and this is now.

Fastest development in GM history Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2021, the BrightDrop brand will sell only battery-electric commercial vehicles. Crucially, that encompasses both on-road—delivery vans of various dimensions—and other electrified cargo vehicles, including rolling pallets and containers. The road vehicles are all based on GM’s flexible Ultium architecture for EVs, which includes various battery packs, cell types, motor placement (front, rear or both), and configurations that span light- and medium-duty trucks and passenger cars. It will be used in more than a dozen vehicles to be sold in the US by 2025. “BrightDrop’s mission is to decarbonize the world’s deliveries,” said BrightDrop CEO and President Travis Katz in January. “We leverage the best of two worlds: the innovation, agility, and focus of a technology startup with the engineering and manufacturing might of GM.” That combination enabled the company to produce its fi rst vehicle, the Zevo 600 large delivery van (originally dubbed the EV600), in just 20 months, from conception in January 2020 to a complete vehicle rolling off the line in September 2021. That line was located at a US “supplier partner” that is building low volumes of the Zevo 600 while GM converts its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, for mass production of Zevo 600 vans. The company has committed $800 million to that conversion. Production of the gasoline Equinox at

Images courtesy of GM

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THE VEHICLES As for the name, the BrightDrop Zevo 600 van has 600 cubic feet of cargo volume. CAMI will end in April, and the fi rst Zevo 600s should come off the lines seven months later, in November. Early Zevo 600s were delivered in December 2021 to FedEx, which was announced as the fi rst BrightDrop customer when the brand debuted in 2021. The delivery giant said then that it had reserved 500 Zevo 600s. That number rose to 2,500 a year later, to be delivered “over the next few years.” FedEx will also test BrightDrop’s Trace electrified container in 10 markets this year. The Trace will have a built-in electric hub motor to help reduce the physical strain on workers. The operator can adjust the speed up to 3.1 mph to match their walking pace. The company said it is “working on a plan to add up to 20,000 more in the years to follow,” though negotiations remain underway. As for the name, the Zevo 600 has 600 cubic feet of cargo volume. More name-brand customers followed, including the third-party fleet-management company Merchants Fleet, which said it was negotiating to procure 12,600 Zevo 600s, the fi rst of which are to enter its clients’ fleets early in 2023.

Images courtesy of GM

Second van: Zevo 400 Next came Verizon, in September 2021. The telecom fi rm said it would order unspecified volumes of a second BrightDrop vehicle, the Zevo 400—again, named for its 400-plus cubic feet of cargo volume. Th is van is intended for shorter, more frequent trips with less cargo than its larger sibling. Just 20 feet long, the smaller Zevo 400 is expected to fit into standard parking places (at least in some areas) but will offer the same projected range—up to 250 miles—as the Zevo 600. Th is past January, retail giant Walmart joined the queue of customers. At CES 2022, the company said it had agreed to reserve 5,000 BrightDrop vans, split between the Zevo 400 and the Zevo 600. They will be used to support Walmart’s expanding network of lastmile deliveries from its stores and distribution centers directly to customers’ homes.

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THE VEHICLES

At CES 2022, Walmart joined the queue of customers. The company said it had agreed to reserve 5,000 BrightDrop vans, split between the Zevo 400 and the Zevo 600. BrightDrop hasn’t publicly released either technical specs or pricing for either vehicle, but both are said to share a battery pack and motor, and to have a gross vehicle weight under 10,000 pounds. Battery size, motor power and most other details remain unknown. GM has been coy in general about specs and capacities of its emerging lineup of Ultium electric vehicles, though it’s thought that the Hummer EV—which we know has a stacked pair of Lyriq packs—has a battery capacity of about 200 kilowatt-hours. Given their size and cargo volumes, these vans could well have batteries of 100 kWh or more.

Images courtesy of GM

Why not GMC? Ford recently launched its E-Transit electric delivery van as an electric variant of its well-known existing Transit model. However, GM chose not only to build its electric commercial vehicles on a dedicated platform, but also to create an entirely new brand for them. Ford says the E-Transit benefits its existing fleet customers, allowing them to transfer expensive custom “upfit” gear—tool racks, gear cupboards, and much more—directly from a Transit with an engine to a very similar-looking Transit powered by a battery. Those Transits largely aren’t used for last-mile delivery—they’re concentrated in small businesses across multiple trades, not companies delivering packages to households. GM didn’t really have the option of adapting an existing model. Chevrolet retains a strong foothold in the commercial fleet market with its light-duty pickup trucks, but it doesn’t have a modern commercial van

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www.RhombusEnergy.com

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THE VEHICLES

Creating a new, all-electric brand may have been the smart decision. It guarantees that any company running a BrightDrop van will instantly be seen to use an EV. that competes with Ford’s Transit or the Ram ProMaster from Chrysler’s truck brand (now part of Stellantis). It still sells the Chevrolet Express cargo van, but that archaic vehicle is now more than 25 years old. Worse, GM was forced to shut down its mediumduty truck division during bankruptcy in June 2009, pretty much taking it out of the commercial fleet market. The company announced four years ago that it would reintroduce some medium-duty trucks in a partnership with Navistar, but those are not delivery vehicles. As a result, GM’s van shelves were essentially bare. Meanwhile, GMC has evolved from a commercial-truck business rarely visited by retail buyers into a high-profit luxury truck brand—a niche GM has no intention of disturbing. So, creating a new, all-electric brand may have been the smart decision. It lets Chevy focus on passenger vehicles and SUVs, along with fleet sales for its pickups. It guarantees that any company running a BrightDrop van will instantly be seen to use an EV. And the electrified pallets and cargo containers may offer clients an option that Ford and Stellantis can’t match.

CEO Mary Barra has frequently said that GM sees electric vehicles as “additive” to its sales, not substitutive. If BrightDrop can earn a substantial piece of the growing EV delivery-vehicle market, she’ll be proven right.

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GM's Ultium battery packs

Images courtesy of GM

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UK grocery chain Tesco installs free public chargers at 500 sites Charger manufacturer and public charging provider Pod Point, in partnership with Volkswagen and UK grocery chain Tesco, plans to install free charging points at 600 supermarkets around the UK. Pod Point’s network, which the company says uses only renewable energy, now includes 1,000 chargers at 500 Tesco supermarkets in the UK. 100 of these are 50 kW DC rapid chargers, which currently offer charging at a price of 28 pence per kWh (37 US cents). There are also 7 kW and 22 kW AC chargers, which are free to use. “Pod Point’s mission is to put an EV charge point everywhere you park,” said Pod Point founder and CEO Erik Fairbairn. “The network is helping customers visiting Tesco who need to save time and charge while they shop,” said Jason Tarry, CEO at Tesco UK. “This latest milestone highlights the commitment across the business to our goal of carbon neutrality in the UK by 2035.” “These chargers aren’t just for Volkswagens, and can be used by any electric car brand,” said Sarah Cox, Head of Marketing at Volkswagen UK. “Drivers of over 220 models from almost 40 different brands have already benefited from free, green top-ups while shopping at Tesco.”

Image courtesy of Incharge Energy

Image courtesy of Tesco

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

InCharge Energy launches Charging-as-a-Service program Fleet electrification specialist InCharge Energy has launched a new turnkey solution that offers commercial fleets EV charging subscriptions pegged to an uptime standard and paid for on a monthly or variable basis. InCharge as a Service customers can choose to pay either by the mile or by the kWh. InCharge as a Service is “a perfect option for fleets wanting a flexible EV charging solution that will scale as they add more EVs to their ranks,” says the company. “InCharge Energy bundles all the costs of an EV charging infrastructure into a monthly fee that varies based on utilization, making it much simpler for fleets to forecast and shifting the cost from a capital expenditure (CapEx) to an operating expenditure (OpEx).” InCharge as a Service includes the following offerings for fleet customers: • Planning and engineering of charging infrastructure • Commissioning and installation of charging hardware and other equipment • Service and maintenance, with 24-hour issue response times • In-Control software platform for charger monitoring • Processing of government incentives and carbon credits “Our first fleet partners are already appreciating focusing on what they do best—operating their fleets— because we are focused on operating their chargers,” said Terry O’Day, COO of InCharge Energy.

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Image courtesy of Electron

Electreon and Jacobs partner to deploy wireless charging infrastructure Wireless charging specialist Electreon has announced a strategic collaboration with Jacobs, a global provider of technical professional services. The companies will join forces on selected wireless EV charging projects for fleet operators across the US, including city and state authorities. The two companies are already cooperating on a project to implement a public in-road charging system. In February, Electreon was awarded a Michigan Department of Transportation contract for a dynamic wireless charging pilot in downtown Detroit—a project supported by Jacobs, Ford, NextEnergy and others. Electreon’s patented technology has been integrated with a wide range of vehicles—the company collaborates with auto manufacturers including Renault, Stellantis, Iveco and Volkswagen. Jacobs recently acquired mobility analytics pioneer StreetLight Data, and entered into a strategic relationship with Microgrid Labs, a software and consulting company specializing in planning commercial fleet electrification and microgrids. “This collaboration with Jacobs marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter as Electreon increases our presence across the US,” said Oren Ezer, co-founder and CEO of Electreon. “Aligning ourselves with Jacobs allows Electreon to continuously realize opportunities for growth and expansion.” “Continuing to collaborate with Electreon supports Jacobs’s focus on innovation,” said Jacobs VP and Global Transportation Market Director Patrick King. “Jacobs is committed to providing our transportation clients with access to innovative, technology-enabled solutions for the specific challenges they face—from congestion mitigation to carbon emission reduction to full fleet electrification.”

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Image courtesy of ChargePoint

Image courtesy of BP

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

bp pulse to invest £1 billion in ChargePoint and Gatik join to UK EV charging infrastructure develop an “ecosystem” for For better or for worse, oil companies are on a buying autonomous electric trucks spree in the EV charging industry. Oil giant bp claims that its EV charging business, bp pulse, is the most used public charging network in the UK. Now the company has announced plans to invest £1 billion over the next 10 years to add more rapid and ultra-fast chargers in key locations, expand fleet products and services, and launch new home charging products and services. bp pulse plans to approximately triple the number of public charging points in its UK network, accelerate the rollout of 300 kW and 150 kW ultra-fast charging points, and upgrade its current EV charging technology across its public charging network to improve reliability (hallelujah!). bp pulse also aims to play a role in electrifying the UK’s fleet vehicles. It is already working with the Royal Mail, Uber and emergency services in both London and Scotland. “Convenient, reliable and affordable charging is key to our green revolution and this investment from bp will make it easier for drivers up and down the country to go electric,” said UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who visited bp pulse’s office in Milton Keynes to unveil the government’s EV Infrastructure Strategy. “EVs benefit from lower fuel, running and maintenance costs than their petrol and diesel equivalents and the strategy hopes to encourage drivers across the nation to make the switch.”

Charging network operator ChargePoint and logistics provider Gatik, which launched a driverless delivery service with Walmart in 2021, have announced a strategic partnership to develop an electric ecosystem for autonomous vehicles. According to the companies, customers of Gatik’s autonomous electric delivery fleet will have access to ChargePoint’s expertise in site design and interoperability validation, as well as ChargePoint’s fleet-specific software, which provides customer-configurable telematics intelligence along with modular charging hardware that’s designed to minimize upfront costs by reducing required electrical capacity. “Our partnership with Gatik will help more fleets to realize their e-mobility and decarbonization goals,” said Rich Mohr, VP, Fleet at ChargePoint. “ChargePoint has proven experience across multiple customer applications and use cases.” “Gatik’s autonomous electric fleet is uniquely positioned to increase efficiency and reliability across the supply chain’s middle mile,” said Arjun Narang, co-founder and CTO at Gatik. “Our partnership with ChargePoint will ensure that we’re not only meeting intensifying demand for our product offering and service, but offering our customers access to national charging infrastructure and a wealth of technical advantages.”

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The city of St Louis, Missouri fleet plans to deploy 18 electric buses on the city’s busiest routes. Charging infrastructure for the 60-seat New Flyer buses will be provided by Swiss/Swedish electronics giant ABB. St Louis transit agency Metro Transit says it expects the e-buses to reduce carbon emissions by 100 to 160 tons per year, and to deliver up to $125,000 in maintenance savings and $400,000 in fuel savings over their 12-year lifespan. ABB will provide 23 Buy America-compliant chargers, with a total of over 4.35 MW of charging capacity. ABB’s sequential charging system consists of 20 plug-in depot chargers, each with 150 kW of power, and three additional pantograph chargers. St Louis’s buses can be fully charged in one hour. ABB says its fast-charging system easily integrates with existing transit schedules, so cities can switch to zero-emission buses without disrupting existing routes. “The adoption of electric buses is where large cities can make a meaningful impact,” says Bob Stojanovic, SVP of ABB E-mobility, North America. “Our mission is to ensure that our EV charging solutions contribute to a zero-emission future. We are confident that the deployment of our intelligent technologies will reduce operational costs and inspire increasing electric bus adoption in a safe, smart and sustainable way.”

Image courtesy of Fermata Energy

Image courtesy of New Flyer

St Louis’s new fleet of 18 New Flyer electric buses powered by ABB chargers

City of Boulder saves $270 per month from Fermata Energy’s V2X application Fermata Energy’s mission is to use its vehicle-to-everything (V2X) software and hardware platform to turn EVs into energy-storage assets. The city of Boulder, Colorado has partnered with Fermata Energy on a vehicle-to-building (V2B) pilot that began in December 2020. Fermata says the project has demonstrated how V2B can deliver savings on a utility customer’s electricity bill. At the city’s North Boulder Recreation Center, a 2020 Nissan LEAF is connected to Fermata’s V2X system, which consists of its FE-15 bidirectional EV charger and proprietary energy management software. The software continuously monitors the building’s electrical load, looking for opportunities to reduce peak loads using energy from the EV’s battery. In 11 months of usage, the city has realized an average savings of almost $270 per month—approximately equal to a typical monthly payment for a LEAF. “The results we achieved in Boulder offer compelling evidence of how a municipality can leverage an electric vehicle asset for both mobility and facility management,” said Fermata Energy founder and CEO David Slutzky. “Through Fermata Energy’s cloud-based V2X software and metering technology, we were able to continuously monitor the building’s energy usage, and during peak energy events, optimize the discharge of the EV’s battery to support the building’s electrical loads and to reduce peak demand charges.” At a site in Rhode Island last summer, Fermata says its V2X technology earned over $4,200 by participating in a utility demand response program in partnership with Electric Frog and National Grid.

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Image courtesy of ChargePoint

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Toyota and ChargePoint partner to offer home and public charging In preparation for the launch of its new bZ4X electric SUV later this year, Toyota has announced that it will work with ChargePoint to offer customers home and public EV charging solutions. For home charging, bZ4X customers will have the option to purchase a ChargePoint Home Flex Level 2 charger from participating Toyota dealerships or directly from ChargePoint. The Home Flex is ENERGY STAR-certified and WiFi-enabled, can be installed indoors or out, and comes with a 23-foot charging cable. Qmerit has been selected to help guide bZ4X customers through the process of installing a home charger. Toyota will use ChargePoint’s public charging APIs in order to enable drivers to find, use and pay for public charging via the Toyota App. “We want to instill a feeling of confidence in our bZ4X customers by providing a variety of charging options both at home and away to serve each customer’s unique charging needs and preferences,” said Christopher Yang, VP of EV Charging Solutions at Toyota. “This arrangement combines Toyota’s market leadership in technology and quality with ChargePoint’s leadership in delivering accessible charging solutions. Together with Toyota, we want to provide a high-quality charging experience for new bZ4X drivers at home and on the road,” said Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint.

Ford and GM test bidirectional charging with PG&E Both GM and Ford have recently announced collaborations with California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to explore the possibilities of going bidirectional charging. GM and PG&E are developing a pilot program that will allow “a small subset” of residential customers to use their EVs as backup energy sources during power outages. The two companies say that they will test the pilot program’s first vehicle-to-home-capable EV, with the associated hardware, by summer 2022, and hope to start larger customer trials by the end of the year. GM notes that the average California home uses about 20 kWh of energy per day—less than a tenth the battery capacity of GMC’s new Hummer EV. The companies will develop a software interface for the functionality, and decide on a core hardware set that will include a smart inverter and transfer switch. “It’s just too soon to tell what any of this looks like,” said Aaron August, PG&E’s VP for Business Development and Customer Engagement. “That’s exactly why we are in this testing phase and want to move into a pilot— we want to be able to learn and figure out what’s the right way to begin to structure some of these things.” Meanwhile, Ford has announced a separate partnership with PG&E. Unlike GM, Ford already has a new EV with bidirectional capability: the F-150 Lightning. Ford plans to begin installations of its Intelligent Backup Power hardware for the F-150 Lightning this spring. The system can turn the electric truck into an intelligent backup power source capable of powering a typical home for up to 10 days. Through what the companies call “an early adopter opportunity” in “a small number of customers’ homes,” PG&E will explore how that system interconnects with the grid, and how the functionality enabled with bidirectional charging might support resiliency during grid outages. The two companies have yet to release details on additional hardware for this study. As it is, the Lightning’s configuration requires an 80-amp Charge Station Pro smart charger, and uses a dark-start battery and transfer switch with a power inverter to send power to a home at up to 9.6 kW in the event of a loss of grid power.

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Fleet charging management provider AMPLY Power has introduced a new service offering for charging infrastructure maintenance. The new Elevate service, which includes a 99.9% uptime guarantee, offers customers the same maintenance included in AMPLY’s Chargingas-a-Service (CaaS) model, but as a standalone service for fleets that need maximum flexibility. As are all of AMPLY’s products and services, Elevate is designed to be technology-agnostic, supporting fleets that operate various types of EVs and charging hardware. Alongside OMEGA, AMPLY’s flagship charge management system, Elevate offers end-to-end support for charging infrastructure maintenance and operations. Any alerts or errors are triaged by AMPLY’s Network Operations Center, which will troubleshoot the issue, dispatch onsite technicians if needed, and oversee any necessary equipment repairs and replacements, including working with equipment manufacturers through the warranty process. OMEGA also uses AI to predict potential equipment failures and take preventive action. AMPLY Power customer Hallcon made the transition to electric shuttle buses, backed by AMPLY’s EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) services and OMEGA Charge Management System. Through the onboarding process, compatibility issues between the vehicles and chargers were identified, along with power quality issues. AMPLY worked with the vehicle and charger manufacturers and site electricians to assess and solve all the problems. “Hallcon Corporation has been advancing an aggressive EV infrastructure vision to support the transition of clients to sustainable fleets,” said Hallcon CEO John R. Stoiber. “AMPLY Power, one of our valued collaborators and partners in executing this vision, has contributed expertise and creative problem-solving that ensured successful outcomes for our clients.” “With the introduction of Elevate, we are filling in a gap that exists in the EV charging industry today that often leaves fleet operators in the lurch as they attempt to navigate disjointed EVSE warranties, supplier management, maintenance and service policies, compatibility issues, and more,” said Vic Shao, CEO of AMPLY Power.

Image: Electrify America

AMPLY Power’s new Elevate infrastructure maintenance service for EV fleets Electrify America upgrades charging stations with solar canopies, battery storage, more customer amenities

Electrify America’s Charging Station of the Future will add design and comfort elements such as solar canopies and awnings, customer waiting areas and other customer-focused services, at select locations. The company will showcase the transition in 2022 and 2023 at new “flagship” charging facilities in California and New York. “Electrify America will be reinventing the look and feel at many of our charging stations to meet and exceed the expectations of customers moving from a gas-powered vehicle to an electric lifestyle,” said CEO Giovanni Palazzo. Some of the new showcase stations will feature up to 20 ultra-fast (150 kW and up) DC chargers. Some locations will add customer lounges, overhead solar canopies to shield customers from the weather, security cameras and additional lighting. Stations at shopping locations may offer valet charging and curbside delivery options. Electrify America is currently adding solar awnings to 400-500 individual chargers at 100 stations across the country. In addition to providing shelter from the sun and rain, the solar awnings will help power the stations’ operations. The company is also adding on-site battery energy storage systems to more than 150 stations, which will help manage the energy load to the grid and capture excess solar energy. EA’s next-generation charger will offer up to 350 kW of charging power, and will feature a new design that reduces the footprint of the charger, an improved touchscreen and an all-new cable management system. “Our customer research shows the need to transition to a more inviting charging experience that accommodates the human experience with waiting areas and other conveniences,” Palazzo said.

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Image courtesy of Rocsys

Image courtesy of Wallbox

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Wallbox to sell its home EV chargers through NAPA Auto Parts

Rocsys to supply autonomous charging solutions for electric yard tractors at Port of Oakland

Charging station manufacturer Wallbox (NYSE: WBX) has announced that NAPA Auto Parts will be an authorized dealer of Wallbox’s Pulsar Plus smart home charger, online and in-store at more than 6,000 locations across the US and Canada. Pulsar Plus models 40A and 48A are Wallbox’s best-selling home chargers. Features include flexible amperage setting, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, charge scheduling and power sharing. Wallbox’s proprietary energy management solutions Eco-Smart and Power Boost are designed to offer users increased control over their charging. “Showcasing Pulsar Plus through an established brand like NAPA can help expand the awareness of our products as we continue to take steps aimed to accelerate the adoption of our smart home EV charger across the United States and Canada,” said Douglas Alfaro, General Manager of Wallbox North America. “Bringing the Wallbox brand to the NAPA network builds on our EV product selection, and is another step forward in our commitment to being first to market in providing emerging EV technology to our customers,” said Susan Starnes, VP Emerging Markets of NAPA parent company Genuine Parts.

Rocsys, a maker of autonomous conductive charging solutions, has signed an agreement with marine terminal operator SSA Marine to supply ROC-1 autonomous charging systems, which will autonomously charge part of SSA Marine’s electric yard tractor fleet at the International Container Terminal at the Port of Oakland. Autonomous charging is designed to enable reliable and fast charging while reducing the wear and tear on charging cables and connectors. Drivers only have to park yard tractors near charging stations, rather than manually connecting vehicles to the chargers. Rocsys’s ROC-1 system works with DC charging stations that use a CCS-1 charging connector, providing the capability to autonomously charge vehicles from existing EVSE. Rocsys will also provide its Automated Charge Port Cover, which automatically opens and closes, enabling a fully autonomous charging experience. This project is funded in part by a $50-million grant from the California Air Resources Board to support low-emission equipment and vessels at three California ports. The Sustainable Terminals Accelerating Regional Transformation (START) project will deploy over 100 pieces of zero-emission terminal equipment and port drayage trucks in Long Beach, Stockton and Oakland.

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ELECT THE INFRASTRUCTURE

By Charles Morris

WattEV aims to operate 12,000 electric trucks and a network of public charging stations to support them by 2030. lectrifying commercial vehicles is a critical part of reducing emissions, so it’s frustrating that the pace of fleet electrification has been so slow. Viable commercial EVs have been around for years, but fleet operators insisted on conducting years-long pilots to prove their reliability. Now that phase is over, and companies are starting to place substantial orders, but they’re running into another hurdle—charging infrastructure needs to be built out, and managing it is a complex affair. California-based WattEV is building a network of charging hubs designed for electric trucks, incorporating solar generation, battery storage and active energy management. These megawatt charging sites will be open to all fleet operators. However, the company

also has a more ambitious strategy—by 2030, it hopes to have a gigawatt of charging capacity installed to support 12,000 of its own trucks, part of a Truckas-a-Service business model that it will offer to fleet operators. The first piece of the puzzle, which is now under construction, is the Bakersfield Electric Truck Stop, a 110-acre, 40-megawatt, solar-powered, electric-only public truck stop. Strategically positioned between the Central Valley and the Los Angeles megalopolis, the charging hub will feature a solar microgrid with battery storage, plus grid energy from PG&E. Charged spoke with Salim Youssefzadeh, WattEV’s CEO, about the company’s vision of a profitable zeroemission transport fleet.

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CTRIC T R U C KS AS-A-SER

VICE

Image courtesy of WattEV

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE Q Charged: You’ve broken ground on your first

facility. Is it all designed and planned out? Have you chosen the vendors for the charging stations and the other hardware? A Salim: Yeah. We’ve started construction, and are looking forward to having the site operational by the end of 2022. On the solar field, we were originally looking at single-axis tracking, but as we dug into it, we saw that it becomes very costly. We started looking at alternative designs, and came across an Australian company called 5B that has a containerized solution all pre-wired. The panels are fi xed, but they’re on east-west inclinations. It comes in a container, and pulls out like an accordion, and you actually have a higher density of solar panels in a smaller area. So, we are able to get to 40 megawatts, and our annual energy production is equivalent to [what it would be if we used] single-axis tracking, but our cost is significantly lower. On the battery storage side, we plan to use [energy storage provider] Stem’s solution, with Tesla Megapacks with about 4.5 megawatt-hours of capacity. Long term, as our trucks go through their useful life cycles, we plan to demonstrate their viability as second-life battery storage in future phases. For the EV chargers, we’re going to be using CCS dispensers from [power supply manufacturer] Phihong originally. But we evaluated all of the manufacturers that produce EVSE, and we quickly realized that a lot of them don’t have the true dynamic charging capability that we are looking for. And many of them are far from having MCS [the Megawatt Charging System, a new high-power standard for charging heavy-duty EVs]. So even though we’re installing Phihong chargers for some of the initial charge dispensers up to 360 kilowatts, we’re also, in parallel, designing our own true dynamic charging equipment. Q Charged: You’re going to develop your own propri-

etary charging station?

A Salim: Correct. We’ve already submitted patents,

and are about to start designing it and building out prototypes. The one that we are designing will have 4 MCS connectors and 16 CCS connectors in a single

For our Bakersfield facility, we’re going with 16 MCS connectors and 64 240 kW CCS connectors, so there’ll be 4 of our containerized solutions going in there. containerized unit of 4 megawatts. Because of its unique switching capability, it can dynamically allocate power to each of those dispensers as needed, and depending on the size of the project, you can add a number of containers. For our Bakersfield facility, we’re going with 16 MCS connectors and 64 240 kW CCS connectors, so there’ll be 4 of our containerized solutions going in there. Q Charged: So, depending on what kind of truck pulls

in, some can charge with CCS and some can use MCS.

A Salim: Correct. The idea would be that the CCS ones

would allow for overnight charging and the MCS would be for rapid opportunity charging. We hope to install it toward the end of 2023.

Q Charged: I understand that the physical layout of truck charging sites is very important. I’m guessing that you consulted with some trucking industry experts about how to design the parking, the charging stalls, etc. A Salim: Absolutely. Yeah, it was a mix of going to truckers, and we had sent this over to Volvo and Daimler to comment on. But we’re also looking at the routing of the cabling, because that also becomes fairly costly, so this was designed considering the trucker’s routes as they go in and out of the charging areas, as well as how to optimize for the shortest cable runs. Q Charged: Looking at the preliminary rendering, I don’t see any restaurant, store or restrooms. A Salim: That’s a great point, and the idea is to add

those at a later stage. We wanted to keep the first stage fairly simple so that we can get it up and running as

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Images courtesy of WattEV

soon as possible. As we develop our site and go through the remaining phases, we will build out restaurants, but we’re also looking into food trucks for that first phase. Q Charged: Tell us about your Truck-as-a-Service

business model.

A Salim: We started WattEV with the intent of becom-

ing the main provider of public charging for electric trucks, but we quickly realized that it wasn’t enough for us to just build the infrastructure and expect the

demand to pick up naturally. That’s when we really started looking into the trucks, the capabilities that they have and the direction that they’re going in. The trucks that we have ordered for delivery in Q4 2022 have a two-to-three-hour charge time and a 250-mile range. This is far from the range that most diesel trucks offer, and a two-to-three-hour charge time is unacceptable to most drivers. In order to overcome these constraints, we came up with a “Pony Express” model where a truck can be picked up at one depot and swapped at another for a fully charged truck. This is ideal in the middle-mile sector, since most routes fall within the range of the vehicle, and we can strategically place our vehicles at our depots to allow for a charged truck to be available when needed. Identifying the routes for the Pony Express model is an interim problem we need to solve in order to maximize utilization of the assets and get the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) at par with diesel. Once trucks with MCS charging become available, this becomes less of an issue since the charge time is drastically reduced to about 30 minutes. By the end of 2022, we will have our sites in Bakersfield, Gardena and San Bernardino operational, along with 50 Volvo VNR Electric trucks. These three sites

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

fall into a 180-mile radius from each other, and are on major trucking corridors that are ideal for running our TaaS model. When a driver [drives] the route, they can just drop off the truck, pick up a fully-charged truck and continue on their route. Q Charged: So it’s like back in the old stagecoach days, when they would exchange tired horses for fresh ones at every stop? A Salim: Correct. Q Charged: What trucks do you have on order? A Salim: We have 50 phase-two Volvo trucks on

order, [which are] expected to be delivered at the end of 2022. We have also reserved 50 Tesla Semis, which we hope to get sometime in 2024. We know that out of the gate, Tesla will have MCS capability, whereas the Volvos will be using CCS. We plan to limit the number of CCS trucks we have on order for mainly getting operational, and to push the market towards MCS with all the OEMs. Q Charged: So, Tesla is going to have MCS capability

on the Semi.

A Salim: That’s what they’re advertising. They are an active member in CharIN [the organization responsible for standardization and development of MCS]. They were, for the most part, leading the development of the connector type. And I believe Tesla has installed a megawatt dispenser at their Nevada Gigafactory, which is currently being used for testing with one of the trucks. Q Charged: So, you’ve got the solar, you’ve got the

storage, you’ve got the EVSE. You must have some sort of a soft ware package that’s coordinating all that.

A Salim: Absolutely. There is a fairly large amount of

effort that goes into the energy management system and [calculating] how to best optimize between utility, solar and battery, so that we’re always using the most costeffective and greenest source of energy. Our entire system is packaged with California-based energy

Images courtesy of WattEV

management specialist Stem. They have a complete solution that they’re working on that’s able to take in all these inputs and give you an output using the most cost-effective solution. With our product that we’re developing, the MCS and CCS combination, it works with a complex switching matrix where we have a 4 MW power source, and the system can switch between the different dispensers. For instance, we have 16 CCS dispensers and 4 MCS dispensers all tied to this one box, and that box will be able to switch and dynamically allocate the power to each of those dispensers as needed. This would all be soft warecontrolled, and use the same standard protocols that are currently used for the charging equipment and the vehicles. We also have a lot of effort going towards development of the TaaS platform that manages everything from truck book to routes and charging. Q Charged: You're going to have your own trucks

under your TaaS model, but is this charging hub also going to be available to other fleets?

A Salim: Absolutely. All of our stations are going to be

publicly accessible.

Q Charged: As far as other fleets’ trucks coming in

and paying to charge, I think a lot of people expect that to be a pretty low-margin business. Would you say that your TaaS model is a way to make the numbers work out better?

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The Truck-as-a-Service model is an all-inclusive package that includes the vehicle, the charging, and maintenance, all at a price that’s on par with diesel. themselves. That allows us to get contracts for these loads and then we can offtake those to different drivers. Q Charged: The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are in the news quite a lot these days. Are you actively working with them as an organization? A Salim: Yeah, absolutely. The Truck-as-a-Service model

is an all-inclusive package that includes the vehicle, the charging, and maintenance, all at a price that’s on par with diesel. And because we’re able to essentially control our own energy source and how the assets are optimized, we can guarantee the lowest price possible and increase the utilization of our own fleet. The transportation industry is predominantly operated by contractors or owner-operators with one to five trucks in their fleets. And even with all the mandates and initiatives going towards zero-emission transport, there’s quite a few barriers that are preventing owner-operators from getting into zero-emission transport. The price of some of these electric Class 8 trucks is almost three times that of a new diesel. And you couple that with unknown range, insurance and maintenance, and there’s plenty of reasons why these drivers aren’t going to the dealerships and buying these trucks right away. Our solution is supposed to help remove a lot of those barriers, and make it more accessible and affordable to anybody that wants to get into zero-emission operations. Q Charged: So, your customer base could include the

truck drivers themselves, the owner-operators?

A Salim: Yes. And we’re already in discussions with a lot

of shippers that have sustainability goals. We pitch them on what we’re doing and show that they can meet their sustainability goals with no out-of-pocket capital from

A Salim: Absolutely. One of our upcoming sites that

we’re discussing is a facility that’s very close to the port. And our Gardena location as well is within five or ten miles from the port itself. We’re in active discussions with them on the initiatives that they have. For instance, [the ports are planning to impose] a fee of $10 per TEU [20-foot equivalent unit] for anybody that’s not operating green. When a driver goes into the port to pick up a vehicle, they’d be paying an additional $10 TEU fee if they’re not operating with a zeroemission truck. But we actually released a white paper on a different solution that we had in mind that incentivizes operators to drive using zero emissions, so it looks at it from an alternative perspective where rather than penalizing them, we reward them for using zero-emission vehicles. Q Charged: We’re believers in battery-electric trucks,

and I suspect you are too. But we hear a lot of talk about hydrogen, and a lot of elected officials sound pretty keen on it. What would you say to somebody that says hydrogen is a better solution?

A Salim: That’s a great question. We initially started looking at hydrogen, and we were looking at creating green hydrogen through the use of electrolysis, which is a lot more costly than the traditional way of [generating] hydrogen, which is using SMR, steam methane reforming. We actually went down the road of seeing

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what it would cost to build a solar field, and then power an electrolyzer using solar to create green hydrogen. We started looking into the cost of the equipment and the storage and transportation, and what we quickly realized is that, in order to transport green hydrogen, you have to liquefy it and get it down to very cold temperatures, which becomes very costly. And the energy density that you have is still nowhere near as effective as that of going directly to a battery. A lot of your loss is actually through heat dissipation. So, to those that are looking at hydrogen as a source, it’s been said that it’s [been] the fuel of the future for the past 20 years. It probably will continue to be so. But at the initial stage, zero emissions using batteryelectric is defi nitely the way to go, because you can get on the road right now using [existing] vehicles, and through the use of your network and how you place your infrastructure, you can increase the range of those battery-electric vehicles much more effectively than if you were to use hydrogen and build out stations everywhere. Q Charged: The engineering or scientific case for

battery-electric seems so obvious. Why do politicians seem so receptive to pitches for hydrogen?

Volvo VNR Electric Class 8 truck Image courtesy of Volvo

A Salim: I think they’re looking into it because they

don’t want there to just be one winner, right? If you look at the entire ecosystem, having competition in different solutions is defi nitely the way to go to evaluate different technologies. And I’m sure eventually there will be hydrogen trucks that have long range, but it’ll take quite some time. And if you look at some of these OEMs that are going in that direction, they’re saying that hydrogen is effective because you can reduce the weight and you can essentially increase the charge time, so you can fuel up faster than with a battery-electric truck. But with the way technology’s going with MCS, you’re increasing the battery density, so you can store more energy in that same weight of battery. And then with the charge time, you can bring it down to 30 to 45 minutes, which is close to diesel. But in terms of the entire ecosystem, I think it’s healthy to have many different technologies and solutions in the works at any given time.

Q Charged: As far as the trucks, you’re buying Tesla and Volvo and maybe Daimler. Are there any other OEMs out there that you see as promising? A Salim: Sure. We’ve looked at all of them, but our

long-term [goal] is to push the entire market towards MCS. The initial fleet that we ordered from Volvo is using CCS, but the idea is that, once we get delivery of those and put those into operation and really debug our soft ware and infrastructure, then we push them towards development of MCS-capable vehicles. Q Charged: What are the biggest technical challenges

to change over from CCS to MCS?

A Salim: I think the biggest factor for them is having

enough of a market demand to do that. Right now, essentially battery chemistry needs to change to what MCS requires. A lot of the OEMs don’t actually

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Image courtesy of WattEV

manufacture their own packs, they buy them from third parties, so they need to make sure that the voltage requirements meet the specs of MCS, as well as the battery density and the spacing between the cells. Then on top of that, you have to design for the cooling aspects, the connector is different, and the battery management system may be different. All of these changes contribute to cost. For these OEMs to make that change, they need to have a big enough demand from a large player to really start going in that direction and putting in their own CapEx to convert to MCS. Q Charged: So, the long-term plan is to use your first

three charging hubs as models for lots more all around the country?

A Salim: Yes. We’re very excited in getting these three

sites operational and making zero-emission transport accessible and affordable to a lot of owner-operators that

The initial fleet that we ordered from Volvo is using CCS, but the idea is that, once we get delivery of those and put those into operation and really debug our software and infrastructure, then we push them towards development of MCS-capable vehicles. are looking to get into this. And for the shippers, we’re allowing them to meet their sustainability goals much faster than if they were to do it on their own with their own CapEx. These three sites are the first of many that will be coming online within the next few years. Our vision is well beyond California to go nationwide as well. With Bakersfield we’re testing a lot of different technologies to really show that we can bring down the cost of the infrastructure significantly through solar and battery storage, as well as our own charging design. If we can demonstrate that there, then we can easily duplicate it anywhere else.

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PREPARING FOR THE

BIDIRECTIONAL FUTURE Emporia's energy management system aims to give you total control of power usage: from solar to EV and back to the house.

Images courtesy of Emporia Energy

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idirectional charging promises to completely transform the vehicle ownership experience. Once an EV can double as a stationary storage device, it will take its place as part of an energy ecosystem that includes rooftop solar and energy management—and could even become a source of revenue for owners and a valuable grid-balancing resource for utilities. Emporia Energy, which makes an energy management system for homes and small businesses, has launched a new smart Level 2 charger, and plans to offer bidirectional capability soon. Charged Publisher Christian Ruoff and Senior Editor Charles Morris spoke with Emporia founder and CEO Shawn McLaughlin about the company’s history to this point, and its future plans to enable a new era of energy efficiency. Q Christian: Could you start by telling us why you

founded the company?

A Shawn: I’m a commodities market trader by background. I spent 25 years buying and selling commodities, primarily focusing on North American energy— natural gas, crude oil, and then some electricity. Then I founded and sold a couple of different companies. The last one I was running is called Concord Energy. I launched Emporia in the spring of 2018 with co-founders Ted Graham and Franz Ketwig—we have worked together since 2006 in the commodities trading space, and they now share the Chief Technical Officer role at Emporia. [The company was based on] the idea that the energy transition is going to accelerate, and that we could apply our marketing and trading background and new technology to see if we can play a small role in helping to advance that. The first product we launched was an energy monitoring system. When we launched the company, we spent a lot of time studying the energy transition to see where we thought we could add value, and leverage our backgrounds of commodity marketing and trading. And we came up to two different [insights] at the end of that study. The first was that there’s been some great building automation systems, energy management systems developed for large commercial and industrial customers—Siemens, Johnson Controls, Schneider. However, they cost thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars to purchase and install. We didn’t feel like there was a good system for small

What if we could use new technology to deliver a real-time energy management system for small commercial and residential at a really attractive price point? That was the first opportunity we saw. commercial and residential, one that made sense for every homeowner in America when you looked at the return on investment. What if we could use new technology to deliver a real-time energy management system for small commercial and residential at a really attractive price point? That was the first opportunity we saw. The second thing we really became firm believers in was that bidirectional EV charging is a huge gain in technology that we think will accelerate the transition. This idea that you can store 75-plus kilowatt-hours of energy in your car and it’s sitting in your garage 95% of the time, and be able to tap into that as storage for distributing renewable generation, we think is a complete game-changer for accelerating the EV transition and solving some of the issues that the grid is having today. So, we developed an energy monitoring device, which we launched in the spring of 2019. You install it inside your electrical panel, and it collects energy usage data for the whole building and for each individual circuit inside the panel, a thousand times a second. We send data up to the cloud through the home area network once a second, and present it back to the consumer on a mobile app or a web app, so you can look at exactly how much energy your home is consuming—how much you are using for your HVAC, your dishwasher, your dryer, on a real-time basis, a daily, weekly, monthly and even annual basis. Q Charles: That sounds like a great system, but how

useful is it if your utility doesn’t offer a time-of-use tariff ? For example, I have a solar system at my house, but we don’t have a TOU program here in Florida. A Shawn: We actually have three different automated

energy management tools that come with that device. One

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE Trying to take advantage of that excess generation instead of sending it back to the grid is a big thing today. of them is time-of-use, which more and more utilities across the country are adopting, but we also have two others. One is a peak demand management tool. For over 95 percent of commercial buildings, half their bill is made up, not of how much energy they use, but what their peak 15-minute usage was during any time period during the month [Editor’s note: these demand charges are a major headache for owners of DC fast charging stations]. With our peak management tool, you’ll be able to set your goal, and as you exceed that goal, we’ll start turning off energy consumption in your home or building to maintain that. The third one, which you might be more interested in, is our excess generation manager. As you’re producing more solar than your home needs, instead of sending that solar back to the grid, we can do things like charge your EV right through our charger or through a car API, so that you’re taking advantage of your excess solar and charging that car. We can turn on smart plugs. We can actually adjust your thermostat. So you can say [for example], when I have excess solar, adjust my thermostat a couple degrees, so when a cloud comes or the sun goes down, I don’t have to pull from the grid right away. I can wait until my temperature balances back up. Trying to take advantage of that excess generation instead of sending it back to the grid is a big thing today. I know some of the folks that installed solar over the years have grandfathered into net metering, where they may be getting a one-to-one [credit] for the energy they send to the grid. Our system allows the customer to balance it a little bit themselves and not have to rely so hard on the grid. Q Charles: There’s a bill pending in California that would greatly reduce net metering rates. A similar bill in Florida was just killed, for now, but if current trends continue, a lot of solar users are going to lose net metering. Your system would allow them to schedule their EV charging or other big power draws for times

when excess solar generation is available. And you don’t need a bidirectional charger or a battery to take advantage of that? A Shawn: Correct. We have smart plugs that will turn on

all smart appliances. We’ve done third-party thermostat integration, so if you buy a Honeywell or an Emerson Sensi or Ecobee thermostat, you can adjust your HVAC. We’re just completing integration with the Tesla API, so we’ll be able to adjust charging, even if you have a Tesla charger, not an Emporia charger. And we’re going to continue to integrate Siemens and Eaton for smart panels, GE and Bosch for smart appliances, all kinds of good stuff, to give more control over your energy consumption through your smart home devices. You get access to all three tools—time-of-use, peak demand management and excess generation— through our software, and that comes free of charge. No subscription, just the purchase of the hardware, and you can use one or all three of them. Q Christian: Coincidently, I bought one of your energy monitoring systems a few months ago. I don’t have solar panels, I just wanted to know where I was using the most power in the house. I didn’t find any anyone else who made a system like yours, so it was an easy choice. I just wanted to have it log all my usage information because I was curious. And you can’t improve what you don’t measure. A Shawn: Some of the biggest savings comes from just

energy efficiency and awareness, which is why you bought the tool, right? For example, finding what they call vampire load. [Sometimes] when you look at a circuit level, you’re like, “What the heck? I haven’t been in that room in two weeks. What could be running?” And you realize that there’s some motor or pump or something on. We think that the average consumer will save about 10 to 15% just off that awareness. Also, we can send out push notifications, so you can alert yourself if you leave your oven on or if you leave your basement lights on. Or, if it’s raining and you’re not getting alerts that your sump pump is running, you could protect yourself against a flood. So, it’s a lot more than just managing that utility rate schedule. Q Christian: Now you have a Level 2 EV charger that

integrates with your system.

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Images courtesy of Emporia Energy

A Shawn: Yeah, we’re super-excited about it. It’s our

newest addition. It is a Level 2, 48-amp smart charger with a 25-foot cable. If you look at the other best-selling products on Amazon, it’s right among the top-of-the-line specs, but we’re retailing it for $399. And if you look at other products with similar specs, they’re $700 or just under. Along with that price, you get the most robust feature set. You can combine it with our energy monitoring device. We can do things they can’t. We can pause your EV charger when your dryer or your oven kicks on. We can do solar-only charging, because we know when you have excess production. We think we have a more robust feature set at a really competitive price that’s driving a great consumer value. Q Christian: You’re moving into bidirectional

charging. What have you done so far, and what’s your vision for that? A Shawn: When we launched the company back in 2018,

this was a huge part of the business model. It was truly a decision made back then—can we start developing our bidirectional charger now, or is it too early? In 2018, there wasn’t a UL spec [for bidirectional charging] out yet—there was uncertainty whether EV adoption was going to explode, and it was less certain whether the bidirectional capabilities in vehicles were going to be enabled. So, we thought, let’s focus on this home energy management system, then when the time is right, we can plug the bidirectional charger in too. And we really feel like right now is that time. In the last

12 months, Volkswagen has announced that they’re going to support bidirectional charging for every vehicle built in 2022 and beyond. The Ford Lightning came out with bidirectional capability, and [Rivian, Hyundai and Kia plan to go bidirectional]. All of [the automakers] are not only spending billions of dollars upgrading their fleets to EVs, but the majority of them are also announcing that they’re going to support bidirectional charging. We feel like, if we can build a system that offers an amazing consumer value proposition, then we’ll be able to fit into that puzzle as it all comes together. I’ve been reaching out to players in the market, and really just fell in love with what Dr. Robert Erickson at Colorado University Boulder has done. He holds several patents and intellectual property that he developed for 38 years as a professor at CU. He literally wrote the book as a power systems control engineer—it’s the number-one selling power systems control engineering textbook ever, so he understands this better than anybody. He founded a for-profit company a couple of years ago that has an exclusive license from CU Boulder for all the patents and IP that he developed. And now we, with our partnership with him, can use those patents and IP to build our bidirectional charger. We think it’s going to allow us to deliver one of the smallest, lightest, least expensive chargers on the market. Q Christian: It seems like your devices now are mostly

geared towards residential. Will the bidirectional charger also be for commercial markets?

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A Shawn: As we talked about earlier, there seems to be a big void in small commercial and residential, and that’s where we’re really focused. About 85% of the buildings in North America are 50,000 square feet or smaller, and that’s the way we’re developing our products, to serve that market. It’s a ton of buildings, right? If we can offer a great value prop and a simple user experience, with the installation of our energy monitor, then we think that we can help serve a large chunk of that. It’s going to be 11.5 kilowatts and 48 amps of DC to the car. We’ll bring in AC from the home or from the power source. We have an onboard inverter that will convert it to DC power, send DC to the car. We’ll do the CCS charger, and then we will pull back DC from the car, convert it to AC and put it back into the house. Q Christian: So it’ll be 11.5 kilowatts both ways. A Shawn: Yep. It differs a little within a commercial

building. In a single split-phase [system] we are looking at 48 amps x 240 volts = 11.5 kW. For three-phase systems we are looking at 48 amps x 208 volts (line-to-line voltage in a three-phase system). Our first bidirectional charger will be single split-phase only. We will launch a separate threephase system in 2024. Q Christian: You’re going to be using the CCS standard, so the idea is that it’ll work with any of the future bidirectional-enabled EVs? A Shawn: Correct. Again, the car manufacturers have

been vague around this. There’s been a lot of work on the communication protocol ISO 11158-20. It’s in the final stages of publication and it’s been drafted, it’s been published for review and we think by this spring it’ll be slowly published. So yes, we’re building around CCS and the control language of communication we’re using is ISO 11158-20. We think that will be the open standard for communication—it’s how you talk to the car and do the handshake, and their bidirectional capabilities will be coming out here in the next couple of months. Q Christian: So then, the primary use case would be

for vehicle-to-building. We’re still a ways away from vehicle-to-grid, correct?

A Shawn: Yeah. “A ways away” is a great way to say it, because it’s uncertain. We still have a bifurcated market here, where there’s some federal regulation and a lot of state [utility board] regulation. We will see how that plays out, but initially, the idea is to be able to help consumers manage their energy behind the meter, around the utility rate schedule. [The difference between rates] in some spots can be quite large. In California, they have a time-of-use rate if you have an electric vehicle—it’s 5 cents during off-peak, 55 cents during peak. It’s literally 10 times [as much]. Even in other markets, it’s typically two or three times, maybe four times more during peak than off-peak, so if you can take 100% of that peak load and run it from the car, and then refill it during off-peak, you’re going to have absolutely huge savings on that utility bill—30-40% or more. And if you don’t have time-of-use, but you have solar, you’ll be able to store all your excess solar. You’ll never have to receive [a lower rate for energy returned to the utility]. At a $1,500 price point, we’re trying to get to the point where this thing will pay out well within two years. For some people, it can be quicker than that, just managing behind the meter. And then the next step is selling demand response services to the grid. Right now, they want to pay so they can control your thermostat. Well, the problem with that is no one wants to be hot on the hottest days of the year or cold on the coldest days. But with this, they can pay you to control your bidirectional charger. They can shift your load on and off the grid, and the homeowner won’t be inconvenienced at all. You won’t even notice the house shifted to the car and back, but the grid operator utility will be willing to pay for that flexibility. It starts just behind that meter. Quickly, you’ll be able to aggregate into a utility demand response program where they’ll pay you additionally. They say demand response is worth approximately $50 to $100 per kilowatt per year. If you figure you’re going to be able to move three, four or five kilowatts, depending on the size of your house, that’ll be an additional $100 to $500 a year that you can get from your utility on top of that money you’ll save on the meter. Then the third phase will be accessing the wholesale market and selling all the grid services. And when you get to that level, there’s been a lot of pilots done where they’re talking about savings from $500 to $2,500 or more for a 50-100 kWh [EV] battery. With a bidirectional charger, you can be saving up to $1,000 when you get to that. So, it’ll come in phases, though it is a ways away.

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Q Christian: I think in the short term, just emergency backup power will be a huge seller here in Florida. Generators are extremely expensive to have installed, and for people like us who live in hurricane zones, losing power is a regular occurrence. A Shawn: Absolutely, and if you’re not producing solar, you can drive [to another area] where power is working and fill up [your EV battery] and come back home and run your house. It offers a lot more flexibility, especially for those that have onsite generation and EVs. Q Christian: What are the next steps and biggest

challenges for launching this product?

A Shawn: The biggest challenge that we have is the same

as just about every tech company in the country, and that is finding top talented engineers. We’re constantly hiring. We do scrutinize quite a bit and are trying to bring in some of the brightest and best. That’s going to be the biggest challenge, and I know that sounds strange when we’re bringing a new technology to the market, but we have so much confidence in Dr. Erickson. He’s received nearly seven million dollars in grants from the DOE to develop this technology over the years, and he’s so far along with working prototypes already that it’s just a matter of customizing the control boards to our needs. So, we feel like the engineering and even the science part of this is very low-risk. It’s really just bringing in those talented folks so we can execute around this known technology that we have. Q Charles: What EV models out there right now that

support bidirectional charging?

A Shawn: The Nissan LEAF and the Mitsubishi Outland-

er PHEV. The reason why there are only two is that they’re the only ones to use CHAdeMO. The ChAdeMO bidirectional charging communication protocol has been out for several years, and there are bidirectional chargers you can use for those. The Quasar one actually just came to market—it’s 4,000 bucks. The reason why you haven’t seen them developed yet for CCS is because of that ISO communication protocol. So, the gateway issue for all this to start rolling is this communication protocol, ISO 11158-20, to be finalized and released. It was supposed to happen two years ago, and they

There seems to be a big void in small commercial and residential, and that’s where we’re really focused. About 85% of the buildings in North America are 50,000 square feet or smaller, and that’s the way we’re developing our products, to serve that market. keep postponing it, but now it is in final review. Once that communication is released, that will unlock the chargers for J1772 and CCS. Q Charles: In terms of when you’re going to release your product, it sounds like you’re also waiting on the automakers. A Shawn: The communication protocol is in final draft

form and review, and has been released to certain parties, and we’ve got access to it. So, we’re designing and developing right now around that communication protocol. We don’t have to wait for it. The final spec may have a couple of changes, but that would just be us tweaking our software. It’s a bottleneck for the whole industry to implement it, make it commercial, but we’re all still developing around it, so it’s not hindering the development of it. We’re going to launch with or without the car manufacturers being ready to support it. Now, we may sell in very small numbers if very few cars [are bidirectional-capable], but that’s not going to set our timeline. We’re going to offer something that consumers are going to demand, and that’ll help drive adoption. Honestly, the biggest gated item is UL certification, so we’re saying second half of 2023 [for launch], and the majority of that time is for UL certification. We’ll start submitting stuff to them this year. I think we’ll have formally kicked up manufacturing for UL prototype units, but we don’t expect to be able to actually get the certificate until the second half of next year.

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Yet another public charging woe: the expense s it starting to seem that all we do in this space is complain about the shortcomings of public charging? In past columns we’ve ranted about the dismal uptime performance of public chargers, the pitiful Plight of the Drivewayless, and the ominous trend of oil companies and utilities owning charging networks. Well, here’s another thing to hate about public charging: in some markets, it’s damned expensive. One of the main selling points for going electric is that the energy is cheaper, and for those of us who fill up at home (or at work), this is absolutely the case. Electricity and gas prices vary wildly around the world, but a very rough rule of thumb, widely used before the current geopolitical unpleasantness, was that charging up should cost between a third and two thirds as much as gassing up. How can you figure out exactly how much you’re saving? Go to fueleconomy.gov to find the efficiency figure for your EV, and check your electric bill to find the price you’re paying for electrons. Plugging in the figures for my 2015 LEAF tells me that I’m saving about 42% on my fuel bill versus a “comparable” dinosaur-burner such as the 2015 Nissan Versa. A March article from CNBC calculated the cost to add 100 miles of range to the average EV or ICE vehicle. Between 2019 and the present, the cost for gas users fluctuated between about $7.50 (in April 2020) and $14 (February 2022) while the cost for electron fans held to a narrower range, between $4.62 and $5.14 (February 2022). However, CNBC’s methodology arguably exaggerates the savings a bit, since the average car in the US is a huge truck, whereas EV buyers are more likely to be replacing a small ICE or a hybrid. CNBC performed the same analysis for Boston and San Francisco—two EV hotspots with extra-expensive electricity—and concluded that in all cases, “it’s still quite a bit more expensive to fill your gas tank than it is to charge your EV’s battery.” Many others have reached the same conclusion. The Wall Street Journal is generally a reliable EV skeptic, but an article published last December presented a pretty balanced picture of charging costs. The WSJ analyzed 15 cities, and found a wide range of savings for those who charge at home—$899 per year in Spokane, Washington, $428 in New York City. However, topping up on the road is quite a different proposition. On a typical 300-mile road trip, the WSJ found that an EV driver could expect to pay just as much as a gas-burner would, or more. In Los Angeles, which boasts some of the country’s highest gasoline prices, the driver of a Ford Mach-E would save a small amount on a 300-mile road trip compared to the driver of a Toyota RAV4. However, driving from St Louis to Chicago, the EV driver might pay $12 more for energy. On the other hand, savvy EV road-trippers can often add free miles at hotels, restaurants and other stops, so that 12-buck premium for driving an EV should be considered a worst-case scenario. The WSJ (oddly) didn’t mention Tesla Superchargers, but

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By Charles Morris

EVannex has calculated the average cost in the US to be around 25 cents per kWh, and Electrek figures it at around 22 cents. So, a full recharge to 250 miles of range might run approximately $22. It’s unfortunate that electric road-tripping isn’t cheaper, but it isn’t a deal-killer, except perhaps for the small subset of drivers who regularly make long road trips. However, there’s another, larger group of potential buyers who face a much more pitiful plight—urban apartment dwellers who lack not only driveways, but assigned parking spots of any kind, and thus are forced to depend on public charging. The Plight of the Drivewayless is a regional problem—it’s rare in the sprawling suburbs of the US heartland, and even in US cities, most multi-unit dwellings offer parking (in many places, building codes require it). However, it’s a major problem in China, and in the UK, where by some estimates, a quarter of households have no assigned parking. We’ve already written plenty about the inconvenience these poor souls face, and the array of solutions (from brilliant to daft) that have been proposed, so here we’ll confine ourselves to moaning about the cost. My nephew, who lives in London and drives a MINI PHEV, sent me one of his recent charging bills, and I found it ghastly reading. He’s been paying as much as 50 pence (65 cents US) per kWh at public chargers. Autocar reports that public charging rates in the UK range from 20p to 70p per kWh. Tesla Superchargers reportedly charge around 28p (that’s still almost 3 times what I pay at home in Florida). Network operator Pod Point offers DC fast charging for 28p, as well as free AC charging, at a growing number of UK supermarkets. Reasonable prices are out there, but they’re by no means accessible to all. Pricing schemes are confusing—some networks charge a subscription fee, some add a fixed per-session fee, and some charge by the minute. The UK’s hefty VAT tax gets added as well. We’ll spare you most of the math, but the bottom line is that, at pre-war petrol prices, non-Tesla EV drivers living in pricey London boroughs could have been paying more to charge an EV than they would have to gas up a Prius. I’m afraid this won’t do, old chap. Car buyers outside the wealthy elite are only going to go electric if they’re convinced that the fuel savings will offset the higher purchase price. For drivewayless drivers and frequent road-trippers, this isn’t necessarily the case—or at least that’s what I was going to write when I began work on this article. The horrifying war in Ukraine made the economics of driving electric better overnight, but it’s certainly not the mechanism we would have chosen for doing so—and it’s still important to find ways to make charging cheaper. If we’re to have a chance of mitigating climate change, and cutting of the main funding source for murderous dictators (there are many out there), EV adoption needs to spread beyond the world’s affluent suburbs, and for that to happen, public charging needs to be reliable, ubiquitous and cheap.

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