Battery cell, module and pack level charge/discharge cycle testing solutions designed to provide high accuracy measurement with advanced features. Regenerative systems recycle energy sourced by the battery back to the channels in the system or to the grid.
Battery simulation for testing battery connected devices in all applications to confirm if the device under test in performing as intended. Battery state is simulated which eliminates waiting for the charge/discharge of an actual battery. Real time test results include voltage, current, power, SOC%, charge/discharge state and capacity.
GM reaches agreements with two suppliers of cathode materials
Ascend Elements to invest up to $1 billion in Kentucky battery materials facility
MAHLE introduces new electric motor for EVs
Curtiss-Wright unveils a new generation of its traction inverters
Ricardo and Pratt & Whitney to develop hybrid-electric aerospace tech
LG Energy partners with Compass Minerals to secure US lithium supply chain
Smackover lithium prospect called one of the largest in North America
Battery recycling firm SiTration raises $2.35 million
Natrion reveals solid-state pouch cell prototype
Stellantis enters joint ventures for manufacturing in France bp to invest £50 million in new UK battery R&D center
Eberspaecher presents new thermal management solutions for electric buses
Littelfuse acquires C&K Switches
GKN Automotive introduces new inverter for 800 V systems
Wildcat raises $90 million for commercialization of EV “Super Cell”
Electrofit launches its first electric crate motor for EV conversions hofer’s new 800 V EV inverter to use VisIC gallium nitride chips
Skeleton Technologies and Siemens to build supercapacitor factory in Germany
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.
In my last column, I wondered if the US EV market could soon face major political headwinds. However, three months can be a long time in politics, and now the picture looks a lot brighter, thanks to several recent developments.
California has nalized its plan to phase out fossil-fuel vehicle sales by 2035. On the face of it, a 13-year timeline may not seem impressive, but the law contains interim targets that will start to bite much earlier—in 2026, 35% of cars sold in the state must be ZEVs. Furthermore, California is a trend-setter, and at least 14 other states are expected to follow its lead. e EV advocates we’ve heard from are delighted with the law—former EPA exec Margo Oge called the Advanced Clean Cars II regulation “probably the single most important action that the US is taking to address climate change.”
Another bit of good news: all 50 states (plus DC and Puerto Rico) have submitted EV Infrastructure Deployment Plans in order to qualify for their shares of the federal infrastructure funding provided under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It’s encouraging to see that every state intends to participate in the infrastructure build-out, and that the process is proceeding with a sense of urgency, getting the dollars out there before a new regime in DC has a chance to step on the brakes.
e big news, of course, is the passage of the In ation Reduction Act, which has been called the most signi cant climate legislation in US history, and contains a grab bag of pro-EV measures. In this issue (page 62), Senior Editor Charles Morris lists the various goodies contained in the new law, and discusses some of the likely consequences (intended and otherwise).
e general consensus is that the IRA should catalyze a great leap forward for the US EV industry, and help us to start catching up with our Asian and European rivals. However, naturally, such a sweeping law has its critics. Some fear that the price limits and made-in-America provisions of the revamped federal EV tax credit program could be counter-productive. is is a discussion we need to have, but let’s remember that the intent of the new regulations is to encourage (or force) carmakers to o er less-expensive EVs, and to develop a supply chain that doesn’t depend on imported raw materials. It will take some time, and much wrangling with regulators, for the details of the new rules to become clear, so at this point apocalyptic predictions that the changes will be the ruination of the industry are just pessimistic speculation.
ere is another potential pitfall—the European Union has expressed concern that some of the law’s sourcing requirements could discriminate against European battery and/or mineral producers, and break World Trade Organization rules. is is a developing story, and it remains to be seen what it will take to resolve this con ict.
e anti-EV headwinds could still develop—another lawsuit that’s intended to hobble the EPA, and one that seeks to revoke California’s right to set its own emissions standards (and nullify its ICE ban) are currently making their way toward the Supreme Court. However, the politicos tell us that the IRA was carefully cra ed to withstand anticipated court challenges. And legislation that creates popular nancial bene ts for individuals and companies tends to be hard to undo (see the failed attempts to repeal Obamacare).
Meanwhile, the technological tailwinds grow stronger every day. More drivers and eet operators are discovering the bene ts of EVs, and innovative companies (which you’ll read about here in Charged) are continually coming up with new ways to make EVs better, faster, cleaner and cheaper.
Christian Ruoff | PublisherEVs are here. Try to keep up.
LG Chem and GM have announced a binding agreement for the supply of cathode active material (CAM), a key battery material consisting of processed nickel, lithium and other materials that represents about 40% of the cost of a battery cell. LG Chem plans to supply more than 950,000 tons of CAM to GM from 2022 through 2030, enough for approximately 5 million EVs. e CAM will be used by Ultium Cells, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, at its battery cell plants in Warren, Ohio; Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Lansing, Michigan.
GM and LG Chem will also explore the localization of a CAM production facility in North America by the end of 2025.ecathode materials that LG Chem plans to supply are NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum) materials, which LG Chem describes as “a product that combines LG Chem’s best material technology and is characterized by its excellent stability and output.” In the latest formulation, aluminum has been added to strengthen stability while decreasing the amount of cobalt used by 70% compared to GM’s previous generation of
“LGbatteries.Chem has demonstrated technical expertise, high quality and mass production capabilities of cathode active materials over the last decade. GM now has contractual commitments secured with strategic partners for all battery raw material to support our goal of one million units of EV capacity by the end of 2025,” said Je Morrison, GM Vice President, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain.Meanwhile, GM has reached a separate agreement with lithium supplier Livent.
Livent will provide battery-grade lithium hydroxide, made primarily from lithium extracted at Livent’s brine-based operations in South America, to GM over a six-year period beginning in 2025. Over the course of the agreement, Livent will increasingly supply LiOH from its manufacturing facilities in the US, with the goal of transitioning 100% of Livent’s downstream processing for GM to North America.
Ascend Elements , a vertically integrated battery recycling and engineered materials company, has announced plans to invest $310 million in the rst phase, and up to $1 billion total, to build a battery materials facility at the Commerce Industrial Park II in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. e new manufacturing facility, Apex 1, will be home to the company’s proprietary Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process technology. Ascend says it will take in feedstock (black mass) from recycled EV batteries, and produce enough precursor and cathode active material to equip up to 250,000 EVs per year. e 500,000-square-foot Apex 1 plant will feature onsite chemical recycling capabilities and a wastewater treatment plant. Groundbreaking is expected in Q4 2022, and operations are to begin in late 2023.
“Clean energy and climate technology industries are bringing good jobs to communities across the country, and we couldn’t be happier with our decision to locate Apex 1 in southwest Kentucky,” said Michael O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements. “We’re building something in Kentucky that doesn’t exist anywhere in the United States—a domestic source of sustainable lithium-ion cathode material for EV batteries.”
O’Kronley said the company looked at more than 50 locations for the facility. e Hopkinsville site o ers easy access to transportation, clean renewable power, and proximity to EV manufacturers and lithium-ion battery factories in the southeast US. e Ascend Elements Base 1 battery recycling facility in Covington, Georgia will be a key source of recycled battery feedstock (black mass) for the Apex 1 facility.
Automotive supplier MAHLE has introduced a new electric motor designed for electric passenger, commercial, construction and tractor vehicles. e company says it has “developed the most durable electric motor available.” e durability of the SCT E-motor, MAHLE says, is based on its integrated oil cooling system, which also uses waste heat in the vehicle’s system.
e SCT E-motor is a traction motor composed of a permanently excited motor design and neodymium magnets in a compact unit. “Despite its very compact and light design, its continuous output is more than 90 percent of its peak output,” says the company.
e SCT E-motor is also available without rare earth magnets. “ anks to the unique contactless transformer developed by MAHLE, the magnet-free variant would also be wear-free and run e ciently, while only requiring slightly more assembly space,” says MAHLE.
Sensor, control and subsystem company Curtiss-Wright has introduced the second generation of its traction inverters, which are designed for on-highway and o -highway commercial EVs and hybrids.
e new 420 kW traction inverter measures current and temperature directly on the IGBTs, and is compatible with a range of motors, including AC induction, permanent-magnet synchronous and interior permanent-magnet“Havingdesigns.successfully logged over two billion on-road kilometers since launching the rst production units, these second-generation CWTI models have been engineered to be the very best performing and most e cient IGBT inverters on the market today, using state-of-theart technology to ensure end users receive peak performance,” says Curtiss-Wright Industrial Division GM Jason Watkins.
e company says: “Using the CWTI can improve the e ciency of the drive system (motor plus inverter) by 2%, resulting in an increase of up to 14% in vehicle range.”etraction inverter is available for single- or dual-motor applications.
Global consulting rm Ricardo has signed a multi-year deal with Pratt & Whitney Canada, a manufacturer of aircra engines. e Ricardo aerospace engineering team will support P&W in the development of hybrid-electric propulsion technologies for next-generation aircra .
e project is part of Pratt & Whitney Canada’s regional hybrid-electric ight demonstrator program. e company is targeting a 30% improvement in fuel e ciency compared to today’s most advanced turboprop engines for regional aircra .
e Pratt & Whitney Canada Regional Hybrid-Electric Flight Demonstrator is based on a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 experimental aircra .
Adrian Scha er, President of Emerging Mobility at Ricardo, said: “ is project will help us build on our existing reputation for the innovative design and delivery of future-forward solutions for aerospace customers, creating clean, e cient, and integrated propulsion systems for next-generation aircra .”
Jean omassin, Executive Director of New Products and Services, Pratt & Whitney Canada, said: “Hybrid-electric propulsion technology is a core element of our strategy for continually advancing the e ciency of aircra propulsion systems, in support of the industry-wide goal of achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions for aviation by 2050. Our collaboration with Ricardo brings valuable expertise around component design, system integration, and testing, which will ultimately enable us to demonstrate the potential of this technology, with ground testing starting later this year and eventual ight tests in 2024.”
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LG Energy Solution has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP), a provider of essential minerals for producing battery-grade lithium.
Under the terms of the MoU, Compass Minerals would supply LGES with lithium carbonate and hydroxide.
LGES would purchase as much as 40% of Compass’s planned annual phase-one lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide production for 7 years starting in 2025.
LGES says Compass is the rst US lithium producer to partner with the company as it works to solidify its supply chain in the US and cater to the growing EV demand in North
“SecuringAmerica.keyraw materials has become critically important, in order to maintain our lead position in the global battery market,” said Dongsoo Kim, Senior VP of Procurement Center at LG Energy Solution. “LGES will make sure to support establishment of a steady supply chain in North America, while it continues to seek and acquire environmentally friendly battery-grade lithium worldwide.”
Galvanic Energy has announced some results from an lithiumasSmackoverGalvanicreportEnergy,Accordingprospect120,000-acreoverevaluationindependentofitsSmack-Formation—alithiuminArkansas.toGalvanicthe“resourcehasvalidatedEnergy’sprospectoneofthelargestbrineresourcesin
North America.”
Geological consulting rm APEX Geoscience provided a resource report based on its evaluation. According to Galvanic Energy, “Certi ed third-party analyses of brine drawn from deep test wells penetrating the Smackover Formation within Galvanic Energy’s prospect yielded lithium concentrations ranging from 290 mg/L to 520 mg/L, some of the highest reported values in North American brines.”
e report “estimates the Galvanic Energy Smackover prospect to have an inferred resource estimate of 4 million tons lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 10 million tons elemental bromine,” says Galvanic Energy. “ e lithium resource estimate is substantial given that the USGS currently estimates the US lithium reserve at 750,000 tons and a total inferred resource of 9.1 million tons, including ‘oil eld brines’ such as the Smackover.”
“Testing also revealed bromine concentrations of 3,700-6,000 mg/L,” says Galvanic Energy.
Galvanic says it has nished well testing and reservoir modeling of the prospect, and that it has been “evaluating multiple direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology providers to determine which of those processes is best suitable for developing this world-class lithium asset.”
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Battery recycling technology startup SiTration has raised $2.35 million in pre-seed funding for hiring and for the development of its patented separation technology for materials extraction in battery recycling.
“By replacing the chemical and thermal separation methods used in battery recycling today with an electri ed approach, SiTration is unlocking ultra-e cient recovery of materials foundational to a more sustainable future,” says co-founder and CEO Brendan Smith.
“Built upon years of R&D at MIT, SiTration’s patented conductive membrane technology can reduce the energy needed for materials extraction by as much as 10 times, while enabling a recovery yield over 95 percent,” says the company.
Battery cell producer Natrion has revealed its rst solid-state pouch cell prototype.eprototypes continue to be developed at a Natrion facility in Champaign, Illinois. “Natrion now has the capability to produce multilayer pouch cells up to 4 Ah in size,” says the company.
e company plans to start sharing samples with possible customers, and to develop a pouch cell with a lithium-metal anode and the company’s patented LISIC solid-state electrolyte.
e company previously raised $2 million in funding from investors, which it plans to use on its R&D, facilities and products.
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Stellantis has invested in two joint ventures for manufacturing in the Lorraine region of France. e company says it has “deployed a vertical integration strategy designed to increase control of the global electri cation value
Emotors,chain.”a
50/50 joint venture with French motor manufacturer Nidec Leroy-Somer, will start production this year. e rst product will be the M3, an e-motor that’s designed to operate at 400 volts and to deliver 115 kW of power, and is set to debut on a Stellantis BEV by the end of Stellantis2022.says it expects the capacity of the plant to reach more than 1 million motors per year beginning in 2024.e-Transmissions will be a 50/50 joint venture with Belgium-based Punch Powertrain, which will produce electri ed dual-clutch transmissions (eDCTs) at a plant in Metz. e eDCTs will be available for 48 and 320 V systems as well as PHEVs and hybrids. Stellantis aims to increase annual production of eDCTs to 600,000 by 2024.
bp has unveiled plans to invest up to £50 million (around $60 million) in a new, stateof-the-art EV battery testing center and analytical laboratory in the UK.enew facilities, which are planned to open by the end of 2024, will be located at bp’s existing global headquarters for its Castrol business in Pangbourne, Berkshire, and will support the technology, engineering and science roles housed there today. e site already undertakes research and development of fuels, lubricants and EV uids.
Castrol will use the new facilities to work with car manufacturers and suppliers to co-engineer future battery technology and associated thermal management uids. It will also look to develop future technologies required for the ultra-fast charging which underpins bp pulse’s growth strategy.
Castrol ON e- uids manage temperatures within battery packs. e technologies and engineering can also be applied to other industries such as thermal management uids for data centers.
“ e growth of EV uids is a huge opportunity, and we aim to be the market leader in this sector,” said Castrol CEO Michelle Jou. “Two thirds of the world’s major car manufacturers use Castrol ON EV uids as a part of their factory ll, and we also supply Castrol ON EV uids to the Jaguar TCS Racing Formula E team. is signi cant new investment will allow us to build additional strategic technologies and capabilities to further advance EV uids for the future.”
Richard Bartlett, Senior VP, bp pulse, added: “At bp pulse we aim to provide the fastest and most reliable charging experience to our EV customers. is investment will help us co-develop battery and charger technology and digital solutions with our OEM partners.”
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Littelfuse, a circuit protection specialist, has acquired electromechanical switch company C&K Switches. C&K Switches designs and manufactures switches and interconnect systems for the industrial, transportation, aerospace and datacom markets.
Germany-based automotive supplier Eberspaecher presented its portfolio of eco-friendly AC systems for buses and coaches at the recent Prawaas 3.0 trade show in Hyderabad, EberspaecherIndia.hasdeveloped an all-electric AC system for hybrid and battery-electric buses, especially for customers in India, the Middle East and Asia—the AC135 AE platform. is thermal management system for large and mid-size buses comes with an integrated inverter, battery thermal management and customer-speci c so
AE platform is available in di erent versions, providing heating and cooling performance levels from 30 kW to 40 kW.
By producing the AC135 AE in Bangalore, Eberspaecher aims to further strengthen the signi cance of its Indian plant as a hub for the Asia-Paci c region. Eberspaecher produces all-electric bus AC systems in Poland and Mexico to supply the European and American markets.
“ e combination of our companies signi cantly expands our technologies and capabilities, enabling us to deliver comprehensive solutions to our broad customer base, across a wide range of vertical end markets,” says Senior VP and GM of the Littelfuse Electronics Business Deepak Nayar.
GKN Automotive has launched a new inverter, which is designed for EVs with 800 V systems, but also compatible with 400 V systems. It’s part of the company’s eDrive product line.
“ e performance we have been able to deliver with the new inverter is an important next step in our mission to drive a cleaner, more sustainable world, as we’ve been able to vastly increase performance and improve e ciency,” says Director of Systems Engineering at GKN Automotive Christoph Gillen.
Compared to the previous generation of its inverter, the company says the new inverter increases power output by 20%, boosts power density by 50%, raises the power-to-weight ratio by 60% and decreases the copper content by 63%.
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Battery innovator Wildcat Discovery Technologies has raised $90 million in a Series D funding round led by Koch Strategic Platforms (KSP), a subsidiary of Koch Industries (yes, that Koch Industries). Eastman Kodak (yes, that Kodak) also participated in the round.Wildcat will use the new funds to further develop and commercialize a “Super Cell,” which it envisions as “a transformational battery cell combining three Wildcat proprietary technologies currently in development, including a cobalt- and nickel-free high-energy cathode, a composite solid-state electrolyte and a lithium metal anode.”
e goal is to have the Super Cell ready for commercialization in two years.
“ e next generation of EV batteries requires innovation, resources, and unique capabilities that we are delivering with an impressive consortium of leading investors and partners,” said Mark Gresser, CEO at Wildcat. “Eastman Kodak brings industry-leading technical and scale-up expertise to the consortium. Coupled with Wildcat’s unique high-throughput research capabilities, we have all the ingredients necessary to bring these breakthrough products to market
Eastmanquickly.”Kodak is involved with Wildcat on several levels—it has taken a minority stake in the battery developer, and is also providing coating and engineering services, which take advantage of technology Kodak has already developed for the making of lm.
In a recent interview with WXXI News, Kodak CEO Jim Continenza explained why it makes sense for a lm company to get involved in making EV batteries. His company has repurposed a machine that had been used for coating lm to produce battery materials.
‘‘Probably a $70-million or $80-million machine, and we were selling it extremely cheap, [less than] $2 million,” said Continenza. “And it’s like, ‘no we’ve got to put this back to work. is is an incredible piece of equipment.’ And we realized, accidentally, George Eastman made a battery company, he just didn’t know it. It’s identical to making lm and coating on batteries.”
Continenza said that Kodak is also considering using its coating and chemical expertise to work with other companies on battery technology. “It’s not just EV batteries, there’s home storage and there’s di erent technologies, we’re looking at doing some solid-state stu for others. We’re also doing hydrogen, hydrocell. We know how to manufacture these things.”
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Electro t, an EV conversion parts company, has introduced its rst electric crate motor.
e CM100KW1 is a permanent magnet synchronous motor with a built-in inverter, a continuous power rating of 50 kW, a con gurable peak power rating of 100-150 kW and a weight of 54 kg. e company says the builtin inverter “signi cantly reduces cost (a typical inverter costs around £3,000) and complexity of integration.”
e motor is compatible with existing gearboxes and OEM single-speed transmissions. “Electro t can also provide a matched OEM single-speed transmission that is designed to sync perfectly with the motor,” says the company. “ e motor and transmission combined will provide an impressive front-wheel-drive setup of 260 Nm of torque.”emotor
also includes a 500 mm power cable, communications cable, coolant pipe connectors and installation instructions. It is shipped worldwide in a 600 x 600 x 760 mm crate that weighs approximately 56 kg.
e motor is available for £5,250 (about $6,208) plus VAT, and the Electro t single-speed transmission is being o ered for £1,000 (about $1,182) plus VAT.
Automotive powertrain maker hofer powertrain is using semiconductor manufacturer VisIC Technologies’s gallium nitride chip in its new inverter. hofer powertrain has selected the gallium nitride D3GaN Direct Drive D-Mode chip for its new traction inverter. e high-frequency 3-level inverter is designed for 800 V battery systems in automotive applications.
“hofer powertrain’s development paves the way for a breakthrough in GaN inverter performance, which is superior to silicon and silicon-carbide-based designs for high e ciency,” says Senior Product Manager at VisIC Technologies Ilia Bunin.
“Based on the guiding principle ‘develop fast and learn fast,’ hofer powertrain achieves quick results: the team develops a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) to investigate and prove the capability of using 650 V gallium nitride semiconductors in an 800 V 3L NPC inverter application,” says VisIC Technologies.
According to VisIC, “ e new 3-level GaN (gallium nitride) inverter proves its strong capabilities on the test bench, con rming signi cantly better switching speed and smaller and lighter package size, reducing total system cost.”
“ e upcoming sample stage (A1) has already started, and is expected to perform well in real test conditions with a permanent synchronous motor,” says VisIC . “ e team aims to validate and benchmark existing systems using test cycles like the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) and prove its outstanding potential for the entire automotive powertrain.”
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Skeleton Technologies, an energy storage device maker, is working together with Siemens on a new supercapacitor factory in Germany. “ e collaboration aims to achieve the digitization of Skeleton’s entire value chain—from supercapacitor cell design to production and services—and scale up the production of next-generation supercapacitors,” says Skeleton.
“With our holistic automation and digitalization portfolio, we can use the appropriate tools and our industrial know-how together with Skeleton, from green eld planning to factory simulation and optimized highend production, to realize a highly e cient, fully automated production line that is unique in the world,” says Head of Siemens Digital Industries Germany Guido Feind.
“ e economies of scale provided using Siemens’s cutting-edge technology, combined with the use of Skeleton’s patented ‘curved graphene’ material, are expected to lower the production costs by almost 90% a er the completion of this 5-year project,” says Skeleton.
e modular commercial and industrial real estate company ecoPARKs is supporting the new factory. “Our ecoPARK currently under construction will have the highest environmental standards, based on circular economy, energy e ciency and the use of solar energy on the full roof area for local consumption,” says ecoPARKs Executive Partner Wilm
Schwarzpaul.SkeletonTechnologies
says it will invest €100 million ($101.5 million) in manufacturing equipment and an additional €120 million ($121.8 million) in scale-up e orts and R&D on the new factory, which is scheduled to begin production in 2024, and will produce up to 12 million supercapacitor cells per year.
Compared to its rst manufacturing site in Saxony, Skeleton Technologies says the new factory will have 40 times more output. e rst manufacturing site in Saxony “will continue as an R&D factory in the future.”
“ is ramp-up will allow us to meet market demand for our next-generation products, and make our new factory the largest and most modern supercapacitor factory in Europe,” says COO of Skeleton Technologies Dr. Linus Froböse.
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o someone who isn’t involved in power electronics design, it might seem unreal that the amount of power a component can handle depends more on how e ectively waste heat can be removed from it than it does on the speci c electrical ratings. Sure, the voltage and current ratings are important (especially the voltage rating), but the most important specs concern the thermal performance and limits. More speci cally, it is the maximum allowed junction temperature and the thermal resistances that really dictate power rating.
It is the maximum allowed junction temperature and the thermal resistances that really dictate power rating.
For example, a few key specs from the datasheet for a modern Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFET in a standard TO-247 package will illustrate the point:
• Maximum junction temperature
TJ[max] – 175° C
• Maximum continuous drain current (with case @ 25° C)
Id – 115 A
• Drain-source on-resistance
RDS[on] – 16 mΩ typical; 28.8 mΩ max
• ermal resistance, junction to case
Rth[j-c] – 0.27° C / W
From this we can infer that the maximum allowed power dissipation with the case at 25° C is 555.5 W (from a 150° C rise in junction temp divided by the junction-to-case thermal resistance of 0.27° C / W). e power dissipated at 115 A can be found from Ohm’s law (W = I2 * R), which comes out to a range of 211.6 W at 16 mΩ to 380.8 W at 28.8 mΩ, for the typical and maximum values of drain-source on-resistance, respectively. So far, so good, as the junction temperature should only rise by 57.1 to 102.8° C over ambient, and we have 150° C of rise available. is is forgetting one very crucial detail, however: that thermal resistance spec assumes that the proverbial “in nite heatsink” is being used to keep the case at 25° C. In the real world, the thermal resistances of case to heatsink, and heatsink to ambient, can’t be ignored. Granted, these latter thermal resistances are totally outside the control of the component manufacturer, but when working backwards from the known parameters, it will be seen that the maximum allowed thermal resistance for the entire journey from junction to ambient is 0.394° C / W to maintain a 150° C rise in junction temperature at a possible 380.8 W of dissipation, and with 0.27° C / W of that already consumed by the junction-to-case thermal resistance, that leaves a paltry 0.124° C / W for both the thermal interface to the heatsink and the heatsink itself. Parts in the TO-247 package o en need an electrical insulator between their case and heatsink, and, unfortunately, good electrical insulators are o en good thermal insulators. (To be fair, there are plenty of exceptions…like diamond, for example…what, that’s not practical?) One example of a high-performance electrically-insulating
Most electronics engineers are familiar with the rule of thumb that the lifespan of an electronic compo-
Semiconductors will fail to turn off above a certain temperature due to charge carriers (electrons and holes) acquiring enough energy to jump atomic valence bands, which then dislodges more carriers from other atoms until “avalanche conduction” occurs.
nent is halved for every 10° C increase in its temperature. It is perhaps less well-known that this rule—which comes from the Arrhenius equation, named a er the Swedish physicist/chemist and Nobel laureate—is the same one that describes how the rate of a chemical reaction changes with temperature. Of course, the Arrhenius equation only tells part of the story here: above a certain temperature, things will fail immediately, rather than just at a faster pace. For example, once the plastic dielectric in a lm capacitor gets hot enough to melt, it’s game over (and spectacularly so). Similarly, semiconductors will fail to turn o (or remain o ) above a certain temperature due to charge carriers (electrons and holes) acquiring enough energy to jump atomic valence bands, which then dislodges more carriers from other atoms until “avalanche conduction” occurs. Since the semiconductor device is supposed to be o , failure invariably occurs
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within a few nanoseconds from uncontrolled current ow. is is the same failure mechanism as when an excessive reverse voltage is applied to a semiconductor device, except in that case it is the electric eld across the depletion region in the semiconductor junction that accelerates the charge carriers, rather than thermal energy. So: di erent proximate cause; same ultimate result.Excessive temperature is an unsurprising cause of device failure, but perhaps less appreciated is the fact that cycling the temperature back and forth between, say, 30° C and 90° C, can cause device failure even more quickly than simply leaving it at 90° C continuously, due to thermal fatigue. In this failure mode, it is the di erence in the coe cients of thermal expansion between each material in a device—such as between the silicon die and
the die attach solder, or between the metallization on a lm capacitor and the dielectric lm itself—that sets up stresses at each interface that can cause tiny cracks to form. Typically these cracks a ict the least-compliant material rst (e.g. the silicon die in a semiconductor device or the metallization in a lm capacitor), but even more compliant materials like the die-attach solder are not immune to this failure mechanism. In the latter case, thermal cycling can open up any existing voids in the solder from imperfect application or wetting during the manufacturing process, which then leads to hot spots in the semiconductor. Hot spots are especially a problem for bipolar devices like IGBTs and pn-junction (or conventional) recti ers, because in them the voltage drop across the junction declines with temperature. If a hot spot develops, then more current will get steered towards it, heating that spot up even more, and so on, until device destruction occurs. Unipolar devices like MOSFETs and Schottky recti ers are largely immune to this failure mode because their on-resistance increases with temperature, so current is steered away from any hot spots that might develop.
Minimizing the temperature swings in the key power-handling devices is a noble objective, but it’s not something that’s entirely under the control of the engineering design team. For example, the designers can’t control how much power will be demanded from the traction inverter at any given moment—they can only restrict the available power if the temperature
Cu bond wire Cuinsulatorbaseplate Cu metalization Si dieLess appreciated is the fact that cycling the temperature back and forth between, say, 30° C and 90° C, can cause device failure even more quickly than simply leaving it at 90° C continuously, due to thermal fatigue —caused by the difference in the coeffi cients of thermal expansion between each material in a device.IGBT cutaway illustrating the multilayer construction of materials with different coeffi cients of thermal expansion
climbs too high. Consequently, the most practical objective is simply to try to move the heat from the components generating it to the ambient as e ciently as possible, and as might be expected, the ways of doing this range from the mundane—like the natural convection heatsink—to the exotic—like immersion in a refrigerant. And as also might be expected, the complexity and/or cost of the more exotic schemes will o en exceed the cost of simply adding more components in parallel (to both increase the raw power handling capability and spread the heat out over more area). It also bears mentioning that both the risk of failure, and the consequences thereof, go up with increasing complexity.
e natural convection heatsink is usually a plate of material with high thermal conductivity (e.g. copper, aluminum, aluminum nitride, etc) with many ns, pins, etc protruding from it to give it a high surface-area-to-volume ratio. e higher the thermal conductivity of the heatsink material, the farther heat will travel along it for a given temperature di erence (i.e. between case and ambient). Since pure copper has a thermal conductivity of around twice1 that of the aluminum alloy most commonly used for heatsinks (6061-T6), it would seem to be the superior choice overall in this application,
1) Trying to nail down hard numbers for thermal conductivity (in watts per meter per degree Kelvin) is an exercise in futility, as no two sources report the same value, but 380 W / m-K for Cu and 180 W / m-K for Al are typical.
but copper is much more dense than it is thermally conductive, so the heatsink ends up being a lot heavier anyway, and furthermore, using copper is much more costly per unit weight than, say, simply adding a fan to a cheaper and lighter aluminum heatsink of the same size.
is segues nicely into the next step up in e ectiveness, which is to blow air across the ns with a fan—aka forced convection—as even a little bit of air ow2 will dramatically reduce the thermal resistance (i.e. the reciprocal of thermal conductivity) of a given heatsink design (10x or better is easily achieved). As might be expected, the reliability is greatly reduced, both because a fan will fail much sooner than the chunk of aluminum it’s cooling, and because dust will accumulate on the heatsink ns/pins much more rapidly, leading to a progressive increase in thermal resistance unless regularly cleaned.
e heat-removal method most likely to be employed when a lot of heat is produced in a small volume (such as the traction inverter) is the “cold plate.” is is simply a block of aluminum, copper or other thermally-conductive material through which a liquid coolant is circulated (usually along a serpentine or multiply-parallel path) which conveys heat to a fan-cooled radiator located some distance away. is scheme combines forced conduction (via the pumped coolant) and forced convection (via the fan on the radiator) so it is far more expensive and a lot more prone to failure than the fan-cooled heatsink solution, but it can reduce thermal resistance by about another 10x, which is necessary if trying to remove more than about 50-75 W of heat per TO-247 size package (i.e. - approximately 200 mm2 of contact area), and there are a whole bunch of them to cool, for example.
Finally, there is the most exotic scheme—though not necessarily the most complex, as we’ll soon see— which is to use a coolant (or refrigerant, to be more precise) with a boiling point that is above the highest expected ambient temperature, but su ciently below the maximum junction temperature to account for the thermal resistance from junction to case. is is called
2) A thumb rule is that 2 m/s (only 4.5 mph!) is the sweet spot for improvement in thermal resistance vs air ow velocity.
When heat is applied to one end of a heat pipe, the water inside boils, and this vapor travels to the other end of the tube, to which is attached a natural- or forcedconvection heatsink, where it condenses.How a heat pipe works Image courtesy of Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. CPU cooler heat pipe application
a compressor, etc) would be a very complicated way of implementing phase-change cooling, you can get all of the bene ts without the hit to reliability by using heat pipes, which are sealed copper tubes with a roughened interior surface, and which most commonly contain a small amount of water under a partial vacuum so it will boil at less than 100° C. When heat is applied to one end of a heat pipe, the water inside boils, and this vapor travels to the other end of the tube to which is attached a natural- or forced-convection heatsink, where it condenses. e roughened interior surface then conveys the liquid back to the hot end via capillary action (and gravity, if oriented properly) where the cycle repeats. is is so e ective at moving heat that if you hold a 6-8 mm diameter x 150-200 mm long heat pipe in your hand, you can use it slice through an ice cube in record time (or for as long as your hand can withstand the freezing cold conducted to it, anyway). Consequently, a heat pipe can allow the use of a natural- or forced-convection heatsink to cool devices running at such a high heat ux (or amount of heat per unit area) that a cold plate would otherwise be required, but without the pump, coolant reservoir, etc, hence this massive increase in e ectiveness is also more reliable, overall. Heat pipes are a rare case of a win-win situation in engineering, and highly recommended for dealing with the most vexing heat-removal problems.
Multiphysics simulation helps in the development of innovative battery technology by providing insight into mechanisms that impact battery operation, safety, and durability. The ability to run virtual experiments based on multiphysics models, from the detailed cell structure to battery pack scale, helps you make accurate predictions of real-world battery performance.
» comsol.com/feature/battery-design-innovation
By Charles Morris
As the old saw goes, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. As the EV ecosystem develops, there will be an increasing need to measure and manage the performance of battery cells.
Cell manufacturers need a standardized way to evaluate test data for new cells; EV designers need to predict how different cells will perform in their vehicles; fleet opera tors need a way to monitor the health of the packs in their vehicles; providers of second-life battery applications need to measure the remaining capacity of used batteries; and used-car buyers would like to have some clue about the health of the batteries they’re buying.
The German firm TWAICE was founded in June 2018 by Dr. Michael Baumann and Dr. Stephan Rohr to address these needs. Since then, it has built an extensive database of information about how different cells from different manu facturers age and perform over time. It has also developed a platform that can simulate the real-world performance of different cells, and can evaluate the state of health of existing battery packs. TWAICE is also working with TÜV Rheinland (Technical Inspection Association, a network of
companies in Germany and Austria that test, inspect and certify technical systems, roughly similar to UL or Inter tek) to build a test and certification system for used EV batteries.
Charged spoke with co-founder Michael Baumann about the many applications of his company’s battery analytics platform.
Q Charged: Tell us about the origins of the company.
A Michael Baumann: I’ve always been a very technolo gy-passionate and technology-driven person, and I wanted to make an impact with technology for the planet and for our society. This is why I studied mechatronics, and finished my studies with battery management systems for electric vehicles. And this was also the motivation for doing a PhD in that space to dig a few steps deeper. This was where I met Stephan Rohr, my co-founder—we met at the beginning of our PhDs in 2014, when we investigated second-life batteries.
Stephan did a techno-economic analysis of that—all
Image courtesy of TWAICEthe di erent economical aspects, when the second life makes sense, how much revenue can you generate, and so on. And I speci cally concentrated on the technological challenges which come along with batteries, but which are especially important for second life.
What’s the key challenge with batteries? Batteries age over time, but the question is, what in uences the life of a battery? How can you get insights about the life and the performance of batteries? Back then, there was no way to do this—there were a lot of uncertainties when it came to batteries, which is a bad thing when you have uncertainties on a very costly component. is was the motivation for my PhD thesis, and then later on, also for TWAICE. We said, ideally, you have this digital twin of a vehicle battery, which is like a model of the physical battery system. is is connected with all the individual batteries in the eld, and gets all the data on the vehicles or stationary storage or whatever. And then you are able to tell [from] the digital twin, how each individual battery in the eld performs, like how it ages over time and also how we can in uence this
Earlybehavior.on,the idea [was to address] the eld of second-life vehicle batteries, but Stephan and I soon realized that you actually can apply it to the whole life cycle of batteries.
at’s what TWAICE is doing—battery analytics, all along the life cycle and for di erent industries. ere are a lot of reasons why it makes sense to [study] the whole life cycle, because you can then really generate the value in these individual steps. So, starting from the development phase where you help to speed up the development process, [you can] save time, save costs, get a faster time to market. And then it stretches to end of life—potentially second life, quantifying residual value and so on.
Back in our PhD [days] we saw the potential of this technology, and no one else was doing this. Nowadays, there are other startups popping up in this eld, which
is also good, because it’s a lot of market education in this new market. But back then, we really saw the potential of this and decided to spin this o a er our PhD, which we did in 2018.
A Michael Baumann: e product in the end is a battery analytics so ware platform, which we are building out—it addresses the whole life cycle of batteries, and can be used by di erent industries. is platform has di erent solutions, and these solutions can be very speci c. To give you some examples, we have a development tool, which is at the moment used by automotive OEMs—all the big German ones for example. It’s a simulation tool, which can virtually test and model individual cells, but also complete battery systems.
It models the electric, the thermal and the aging behavior, and it is used by battery engineers to design the battery pack and then simulate, see if it stays within
Starting from the development phase where you help to speed up the development process... then it stretches to end of life— potentially second life, quantifying residual value and so on.
certain temperature boundaries, how long it will actually last in the eld. Is it oversized? Is it undersized? What about the thermal cooling system, and so on? So, it addresses these questions, but then when we take a look into in-life, there we have di erent solutions depending on whether you are an automotive OEM and want to monitor your vehicles in the eld, whether you are a eet operator and you want to determine the best charging infrastructure for your bus eet, or if you’re a stationary energy storage operator and you need to determine which kind of operating strategy you should run on your storage. So, these can be very different solutions for our customers, but they are all built on top of the same battery analytics platform, which uses the same technology, algorithms and models.
Q Charged: Taking a step back, how do you get the core data?
A Michael Baumann: at’s a very good question. ere are essentially two ways and also two types of data we distinguish. One is lab data. I mentioned this development tool [with which] you can simulate batteries. In the development process, you typically don’t have eld data yet, because you are developing the system, there are no vehicles in the eld yet. We parametrize these simulation tools with in-house measurements in our own battery laboratory on cells and/or modules.
We have a laboratory in Munich, which we are also extending right now. Typically, customers send us some sample cells, and then we do measurements—electric and thermal measurements, aging measurements—and then we parametrize our so ware and ship them the so ware back, which they then use in their applications. So that’s one step.
e other data source is of course eld data. Once vehicles and systems get into the eld, we then get the data from these vehicles. ere are di erent ways how we can
Q Charged: What was the most popular application that people started using this data for? And what do you think in the future would be next-generation stu for your platform?
A Michael Baumann: In our rst customer calls, we really rst had to explain the problem to our customers, and why they need battery analytics so ware to solve it. is has improved now quite a lot, but the market is still very, very young, I would say. We always talk about the battery super-cycle in this context. What we mean is that the
We parametrize these simulation tools with in-house measurements in our own battery laboratory on cells and/or modules.
combustion engine has now had a century of optimization and development. With batteries, we are probably at the starting point of this century, perhaps it’s just decades, but it de nitely will take some time. And we are now developing the tool to optimize these batteries to maintain them, to monitor them, and so on. But this also means we have to develop ourself with the market. What we see now is that a lot of our customers have their biggest pains in the development of the systems. When you take a look at automotive OEMs (but I think it’s even worse in other industries like buses, or trucks), they are really now developing the rst generations of electric vehicles. So, there’s really a need for good tools to do a proper design of these systems, like fast testing, also virtual testing, not only doing physical testing in the eld or in the lab, to really speed up the development process.
is is also why we have a lot of customer engagement with our development tool, our simulation tools, and within the development process, but it’s also moving more and more into in-life, because that’s naturally the next step in the life cycle. And this also has tremendously changed when we take a look at the last one or two years. [In] the energy industry, we now really see a large ramp-up of certain players.
at’s also a reason why we set up an o ce in the US last year.
ere are already a lot of really mature energy players like Fluence and Eaton, also customers of ours, and now we are starting rst projects with them. But they have very aggressive plans for hundreds and thousands of megawatt-hours over
the course of the next months and years, so we are slowly but steadily moving more towards in-life. For instance, we formed a joint venture with [testing organization] TÜV here in Germany to develop a solution to quantify the residual value of used car batteries.
Q Charged: e energy players you mentioned, you’re talking about stationary storage on the grid?
A Michael Baumann: Yeah—it’s essentially three levels, we always say. ere are these really large grid storage [systems], which have hundreds of megawatt-hours, sometimes even gigawatt-hours. en there’s kind of the middle layer, which is also industrial storage, can be like tens of kilowatt-hours up to megawatt-hours. And then there’s the residential storage market—essentially storage in your cellar with a few kilowatt-hours. And we are now active in all of them.
Q Charged: For the smaller bus and truck companies designing their rst or second generation of EVs, what decisions are you helping them to make? Are they choosing between di erent cell suppliers? Is it pack size? What exactly is your tool helping them evaluate?
A Michael Baumann: Multiple questions there—one you already mentioned is supplier benchmarking and selection. A typical use case there is that you want to investigate and simulate di erent cells in order to nd out what’s the best one for your application, in terms of energy density, power, power density, costs, lifetime, safety, and so on. And we have one tool called Model Library in our o ering, which does exactly that. It’s a library of cell models—di erent suppliers, di erent sizes, cylindrical, pouch, prismatic, di erent chemistries. And you can get a license for that and then choose di erent cell types in our online platform.
en you download the model and you can directly simulate the behavior of these cells. And then you can see whether it ts your application or not, and then select the cell and move forward in your design process.
Once you’ve selected a cell, then you typically need to design the modules and the system around it, and that means you have to select what voltage level you need. Serial connections of cells, energy content, parallel connections of cells, then what about temperature and climate conditions? Do I need a cooling system or not? And essentially, you can build this in your simulation environment, then simulate the
So that’s like a typical development work ow in a nutshell.
Q Charged: Can you tell us more about the analysis tool you are developing with TÜV that OEMs or individuals can use to evaluate a used vehicle?
A Michael Baumann: at’s one very, very big problem right now, because when you buy a used EV as an end customer, you are essentially buying a black box with the battery system, and the battery system makes 30% to 50% of the vehicle costs. So, now in this joint venture with TÜV [Technical Inspection Association], we are addressing exactly this. e idea is that we have a product that, when you are selling a car, or when you want to buy a car from someone, you can drive this car to a workshop of the TÜV or other partners, then we connect a charger to it, like an
You can drive this car to a workshop of the TÜV...we perform a certain charging profi le...then you will get a certifi cate which states the residual state of health of the battery.Image courtesy of TWAICE
11-kilowatt charger. We perform a certain charging pro le for half an hour or so, then we process the measurements we get from the car, really low-level measurements of voltage, current, temperature and so on, within our platform. en you will get a certi cate which states the residual state of health of the battery. It will also give you a number in terms of dollars or euros, what the battery and also the vehicle is worth. is of course gives a lot of trust and removes the uncertainty in the used electric car market.
Q Charged: You recently opened an o ce in the US. How big is your current team?
A Michael Baumann: Right now, we are around 120 people all in all, and we have three o ces. e headquarters are in Munich, we have one o ce in Chicago for our US business, and we have another one in Paris for the Southern European market. We are a purely venture capital- nanced company. is was very important for Stephan and myself to keep TWAICE independent. We didn’t want to bring in some strategic investor to give the company a strategic angle. We really want to build this battery analytics platform as an independent third party in the market, so this is why we decided on venture capital. We have had ve rounds so far, and have raised around $75 million US in these ve rounds. e second-to-last was led by Energize Ventures. at’s a fund based in Chicago, a very operational and hands-on fund in the energy and electric mobility space. is was kind of a strategic decision for us, why we picked Energize, because they really helped us enter the US market.
Q Charged: is seems like a great platform and business opportunity, because everyone from cell manufacturers to used car buyers have a need for this type of battery analysis. Are you working on any other interesting applications that we haven’t discussed?
A Michael Baumann: Battery analytics will be a tremendous market in the next ve to ten years, and it will be super-important to really make electri cation and renewable energy a success story. We set out to de ne this market, and to be the key player in this, but we not only want to do this by ourselves and not purely by our product, but also actually to re ect certain partner approaches.
I already mentioned the joint venture with TÜV. ere are also two other things which go in that direction. One is that we have a collaboration with [German multinational insurance company] Munich Re, with whom we are o ering insurance solutions for battery storage for the stationary eld, but also in the future, for mobility. And then another exciting example is that we work together with companies like ViriCiti, who got acquired by ChargePoint. ey are o ering eet management so ware for electric bus eets, and we are giving them the battery insights, which they then also pass to their customers. So that’s one important thing—we are very much working on certain partner approaches to really build out an ecosystem of battery analytics and battery analytic-powered solutions in the future.
Evolito, a manufacturer of electric motors and controllers for aerospace applications, has acquired the business and assets of Cheltenham, UK-based aerospace battery maker Electro ight. Electro ight will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evolito, and will focus on delivering next-generation battery technology to complement Evolito’s motors and controllers.
Evolito says its axial- ux motors and controllers are smaller, lighter and safer than competing electric propulsion technology. Electro ight has “a proven track record of delivering safety-critical, innovative battery solutions for the electri cation of the aerospace industry.”
Ajay Lukha, Chief Commercial O cer at Evolito, said, “ e combined capabilities [of the two companies] will enable us to deliver exible solutions for our customers, from best-in-class motor and controller subsystems to fully-integrated electric powertrains.”
BMW’s i3 was a ground-breaking EV that introduced a number of new technologies when it went on sale in 2014. It was always a bit of a niche vehicle—a small but classy city car—and sales in the US have been fairly modest. In some European markets, however, it’s been a pretty big hit, and BMW has seen t to keep it in production even as most of the other early EV models of its era fell by the wayside.
BMW has faced a lot of criticism for failing to follow up on the market leadership it seized with the i3—the automaker is only now getting serious about a new generation of EVs. Be that as it may, the Bavarian brand is moving on to bigger and better things, and has announced the end of serial production of the i3.
e BMW Group Plant in Leipzig, Germany, where all i3s were produced, recently built unit #250,000. e futuristic compact EV has been sold in more than 74 countries, and BMW says that it gained a large share of the EV segment in many markets, and brought many new customers to the brand.
e Leipzig plant will continue to be a center of BMW’s electric e orts. e company has been producing high-voltage battery modules there since May 2021, and “further e-drive components will be manufactured there with immediate e ect.” Next year, the next generation of the electric MINI Countryman will be manufactured at Leipzig.
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GM is expanding its e orts to educate rst responders in how to respond to EV-related emergencies throughout the US and Canada. e company’s latest EV First Responder Training program will focus primarily on personnel in re services, providing instruction and sharing of best practices on how to support emergency situations involving EVs.
GM’s EV First Responder Training is designed to o er emergency responders key information about EV technology and dispel misconceptions. For example, many people believe water is dangerous around an EV battery, when in fact a large volume of water is the recommended method to suppress a lithium-ion battery re. is program will be divided into both live presentations and other training formats, including combinations of expert presentations, videos, animations and virtual demonstrations.“
e re service has had more than 100 years to gain the knowledge needed to respond to ICE res, and it is critical that they are now educated on EV safety,” said Andrew Klock, Senior Manager of Education and Development at the National Fire Protection Association.
Following successful pilot events in Michigan, GM’s training and outreach events will expand across Michigan and in Fort Worth, Texas, followed by metro New York City and Southern California later this summer. First and second responders can go to: gmEVFirstResponderTraining.com to learn more about this hands-on training opportunity.
EAVX, Morgan Olson and REE Automotive (Nasdaq: REE) recently hosted live demonstrations and customer evaluations for the Proxima Powered by REE, a new drive-by-wire walk-in step van, which features a body designed by EAVX and Morgan Olson, paired with REE’s at, modular P7 chassis and x-by-wire technology.
“ ese events are an opportunity for delivery companies and eet managers to see rsthand how Proxima paired with the REE chassis can answer the call for electri cation options that are quick, e cient and o er a low total cost of ownership,” said Daniel Barel, co-founder and CEO of REE. “ ese live demonstrations will convey the value and e ciencies REE’s x-by-wire technology can bring to eets, as well as the power of pairing this revolutionary chassis with EAVX and Morgan Olson’s high-tech body.”
e vehicle’s drive-by-wire, steer-by-wire and brakeby-wire functionality eliminates mechanical connections, which reduces under oor turbulence and enables a low and at load oor. A smart digital infrastructure by EAVX enables all connected systems throughout the vehicle to exchange information and aid the driver. Visibility improvements are designed to enhance driver and pedestrian safety.
“Initial discussions have already been met by praise from customers large and small across a number of delivery segments,” said Mark Hope, COO of EAVX. “ e customer evaluations are an important next step as we move closer to bringing the Proxima body to market.”
GMofcourtesyImageAutonomy, which o ers electric vehicles to customers through a subscription model, has partnered with automotive retailer AutoNation in order to expand its vehicle o erings beyond the Tesla Model 3, and to expand its operations across the US.
Over the next 12-18 months, AutoNation will supply Autonomy with up to 20,000 EVs from several automakers. AutoNation will provide vehicle preparation and delivery services in connection with Autonomy customer activations, as well as maintenance, repair and reconditioning
“AutoNationservices.and
Autonomy’s shared vision for how consumers gain access to electric vehicles is the basis for this partnership,” said Scott Painter, founder and CEO of Autonomy. “ is partnership allows Autonomy to drastically accelerate and diversify its vehicle lineup while paving a clear and aggressive path for national expansion. It also allows Autonomy to remain capital-e cient andAutonomyinfrastructure-light.”saysitssubscription model provides an easy and a ordable option for EV drivers that does not require the long-term debt or commitment that comes with buying or leasing. Autonomy drivers have the exibility to subscribe month-to-month a er a three-month minimum period.
Colorful electric truck startup Nikola Motor (NASDAQ: NKLA) will acquire energy storage specialist Romeo Power (NYSE: RMO) in an all-stock transaction. e deal values Romeo’s equity at approximately $144 million.Headquartered in Cypress, California, Romeo is focused on designing and manufacturing battery modules and packs for commercial vehicles. As Romeo’s largest customer, Nikola expects the acquisition will allow for signi cant operational improvement and cost reduction in battery pack production.
“Romeo has been a valued supplier to Nikola, and we are excited to further leverage their technological capabilities as the landscape for vehicle electri cation grows more sophisticated,” said Nikola CEO Mark Russell. “With control over the essential battery pack technologies and manufacturing process, we believe we will be able to accelerate the development of our electri cation platform and better serve our customers.”
“Nikola has been a cornerstone of our development and growth, and this is a natural evolution of our relationship,” said Romeo Power Board Chairman Robert Mancini. “Our products provide critical energy density important to heavy-duty vehicles, combined with safety performance and battery management so ware.”
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US new-vehicle sales in the second quarter were up only a tiny bit from the previous quarter, and down over 20% from Q2 2021. However, Kelley Blue Book tells us that sales of pure EVs soared to 196,788, a record high and a 13% increase from Q1. KBB’s Q2 Electri ed Light Vehicle Sales Report contains estimated Q2 sales gures for all electri ed models (EVs, PHEVs, hybrids and fuel cell vehicles) on the US market, and it’s mostly cheerful reading.Teslaremains at the top of EV sales, although its share of the EV segment is shrinking—the company’s 66% EV market share in Q2 represents a 9% decrease from Q1. e automaker’s newer vehicles have eclipsed their elders— Model Y took 30.4% of the US EV market, and Model 3 grabbed 27.8%, while Model S scored 4.6% of the segment and Model X 3.3%. However, all Tesla models delivered year-on-year sales growth ranging from respectable (X) to spectacular (3 and S).
Cox Auto also notes that in Q2, Tesla was the top-selling luxury brand in the US, outselling Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, Mercedes et al. Tesla’s competition is growing rapidly. e hottest new entrant was the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which logged 7,448 sales in Q2, followed closely by its sister model, the Kia EV6, which sold 7,287.
e best-selling non-Tesla was the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which sold 10,941 units to take 5.6% of the EV segment.
A er a months-long production pause due to battery problems, the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV sold almost 7,000 units in Q2 to take a respectable 3.5% market
Arguablyshare.the
biggest news of all is that EVs’ share of the overall US auto market climbed to 5.6% in Q2, double the year-ago gure (electri ed vehicles as a whole accounted for 12.6%).
Bloomberg believes that this over-5% market share represents a tipping point, and portends a rapid transition to the mass-market phase. According to Bloomberg’s analysis, this trend has held true in 18 countries, and the US is poised to be the next nation to join the plug-in club.
High prices remain a major impediment to EV adoption, although the reality is not as dire as Kelley’s analysis makes it sound. According to KBB, the average price for a new EV in June was over $66,000, compared to the industry average of $46,000. However, these numbers are misleadingly skewed by the large number of high-priced, low-volume EV o erings. e 2023 LEAF is going for $27,800, the 2023 Bolt starts at $26,595, the Tesla Model 3 starts at $46,990, and the Chevy Blazer EV will theoretically cost around $45,000 when it hits the market in 2023.
On the supply side, various shortages are holding back sales. Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen all report that they could have delivered more EVs in Q2 if they had been able to build them faster. “ e transformation is real,” Ford CFO John Lawler told the New York Times. “Electric vehicle demand is well beyond what we can supply.”
BYD Auto Japan, a unit of Chinese automaker BYD, has announced its entry into the passenger vehicle market in Japan with the launch of three EV models: the Atto 3, Dolphin and Seal.
e Atto 3 is expected to go on sale in Japan in January. e Dolphin and Seal will follow later in 2023.
BYD is no newcomer to the Japanese market—it began selling rechargeable batteries there in 1999. Since then, BYD has sold energy storage products, electric buses and electric forkli s in Japan. e rst batch of zero-emission buses was delivered to Kyoto in 2015, and the company says that “large-scale operation has been achieved in cities including Fukushima, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagasaki and“OverOkinawa.”theyears,
BYD has been deeply engaged in the Japanese market and has accumulated a good market and brand foundation through its pure electric buses, energy storage systems, pure electric forkli s and other businesses,” said BYD Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu. “Today, BYD o cially hits the new energy passenger vehicle market in Japan. We are devoted to providing Japanese consumers with leading technologies, excellent products and high-quality services.”
e Geely Holding Group has launched a new EV brand, Radar Auto, which it describes as an “electric outdoors lifestyle vehicle brand.” e rst model from the new make will be an “adventure vehicle,” the RD6 pickup truck.e
Radar brand is “starting with trucks, but is much more than just trucks.” e lineup will also include SUVs, ATVs and “other lifestyle products.”
Radar has an R&D facility in Hangzhou and an EV production facility in Zibo, Shandong, where it will begin production of the Radar RD6 in the fourth quarter of 2022.Few
details of the RD6 have been announced—the company says only that it will be o ered in single- and dual-motor versions, and that it will sport a front trunk under the hood as well as an external charging feature.
Dr. Ling Shi Quan, the new CEO of Radar Auto, said, “Understanding this new market segment and creating a new brand speci cally for these unique users has been the highlight of my career so far. Radar Auto will be purpose-driven from the outset and that purpose is to allow users to explore the world in a more sustainable way.”
Automotive designer Peter Horbury has been lending his design support for the development of the Radar brand from his design studio in the UK. “ e Radar product portfolio is focused on electric pickup trucks and SUVs,” he said. “ is direction challenges us to mix functionality and usability with aesthetic form.”
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Walmart has made a de nitive agreement with Canoo (NASDAQ: GOEV) to purchase 4,500 electric delivery vehicles, beginning with the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), with the option to purchase up to 10,000 units.
Advanced deliveries, which will serve to re ne and nalize vehicle con guration, will take place in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Canoo expects to begin production of the LDVs beginning in Q4 2022, and they’re expected to begin hitting the road in 2023.
Canoo’s Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV) is an American-made commercial EV optimized for last-mile delivery use cases. e LDV o ers 120 cubic feet of cargo volume, and is engineered for high-frequency stop-and-go deliveries. All Canoo vehicles are built on a proprietary multi-purpose platform (MPP) architecture that integrates the motors, battery module and other critical components. Canoo says steer-by-wire technology helps to reduce moving parts and cabin intrusion, resulting in more usable interior space, better driver ergonomics and the addition of a panoramic window to improve road visibility.
“Our LDV has the turning radius of a small passenger vehicle in a parking-friendly, compact footprint, yet the payload and cargo space of a commercial delivery vehicle. is is the winning algorithm to seriously compete in the last-mile delivery race,” said Tony Aquila, Chairman and CEO of Canoo. “Walmart’s massive store footprint provides a strategic advantage in today’s growing ‘need it now’ mindset and an unmatched opportunity for growing EV demand.”
Last year, Canoo selected Bentonville, Arkansas, as its headquarters and Pryor, Oklahoma as the site for its US manufacturing, placing it in Walmart’s neck of the woods.
“We’re encouraged that by being located in close proximity to the Canoo headquarters, we have the advantage to collaborate and innovate in real-time as well as the opportunity to aid in the creation of manufacturing and technology jobs here in our home state of Arkansas,” said Guggina.
Epiroc, a Swedish manufacturer of mining and infrastructure equipment, has won an order valued at over 100 million Swedish Kronor ($9.7 million) from mining giant Glencore in Canada for battery-electric equipment and automation solutions that will be used at an all-electricGlencore’smine.
Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations has ordered a full eet of battery-electric equipment for use at the Onaping Depth Project in Ontario, Canada. e nickel and copper mine is located below the existing Craig mine, and is being developed to start production in Epiroc2024.
notes that more and more mining companies are adding battery-electric machines to their eets. e bene ts of electri cation include eliminating emissions in operations, reducing noise pollution, and lowering costs by reducing the need for ventilation and cooling— this is especially important as underground mines keep gettingGlencoredeeper.has ordered 23 machines, including Scooptram loaders, Minetruck haulers, Boomer face drilling rigs, Boltec and Cabletec rock reinforcement rigs, and Simba production drilling rigs. e Simba rigs can be operated remotely from the comfort of a control room. All units will be equipped with Epiroc’s Rig Control System, making them ready for automation and remote control, as well as Epiroc’s telematics system.
“Epiroc scored high on safety, design and testing of the entire battery system,” says Peter Xavier, Vice President of Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations.
Orange EV may not be well-known to the general public, but it has outlasted a lot of early entrants to the commercial EV space, and is now in its 10th year of operations. e company has 450 terminal trucks in use by more than 130 eets across 28 US states, Canada and the Caribbean.Yardtrucks (aka terminal tractors or yard goats) are one of the best, if not the best, EVs for eets to implement today, according to a recent report from the North American Council for Freight E ciency (NACFE), and Orange EV can take much of the credit for electrifying theNowsector.Orange has closed a $35-million institutional funding round led by S2G Ventures and CCI. e company will use the new investment to scale its manufacturing to meet demand increases, expand to new markets, and develop new technologies for the Class 8 commercial vehicle
trucks are cheaper to operate, safer, 10 times more reliable, and higher-rated by drivers and managers compared to legacy diesel trucks. e company says each truck eliminates over 1,700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over a 15-year lifespan.
“Orange EV’s mission is to deliver electric vehicles that are better than legacy diesel ones in every way—for the Earth, people, and the business bottom line,” said Kurt Neutgens, Orange EV co-founder, President and CTO. “With this funding, Orange EV will be able to further scale its impact through continued investment in manufacturing to meet the demand that is outstripping our current facilities, as well as advance R&D to develop and deliver other products.”
EpirocofcourtesyImageIn 2019, Amazon ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian. It was an impressive vote of con dence in the startup EV-maker, and it remains one of the largest orders for commercial vehicles in the US market. Now those vehicles have started hitting the road in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, St Louis and other cities. Amazon expects to roll them out in more than 100 cities by the end of this year, and to have the full 100,000 in service by 2030.
Amazon has been testing deliveries with preproduction vehicles since 2021, allowing Rivian to continuously improve the vehicle’s performance, safety and durability in various climates and geographies. Rivian has completed certi cations with the National Highway Tra c Safety Administration, California Air Resources Board and Environmental Protection Agency. e custom vehicles, which are built at Rivian’s factory in Illinois, include features such as:
• A safety- rst design with a large windshield to enhance driver visibility
• Driver assist technology such as automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and collision warnings
• Embedded technology that integrates the delivery work ow with the vehicle, enabling seamless access to routing, navigation and driver support
• Features to enhance the driver experience, such as automatic door locking/unlocking as the driver approaches or leaves the vehicle, and a powered bulkhead door
• Batteries designed to last the lifetime of the vehicle
Amazon has added thousands of charging stations at its delivery stations across the country, and will continue to invest in charging infrastructure.
“Amazon is partnering with companies who share our passion for inventing new ways to minimize our impact on the environment,” said Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. “In addition to being sustainable, these new vehicles are also great for drivers—they were designed with driver input and feedback along the way, and they’re among the safest and most comfortable delivery vehicles on the road today.”
“To say this is an exciting moment is an understatement,” said RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian. “We’re thrilled to see this partnership has kick-started decarbonization projects across the logistics delivery industry.”
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RivianofcourtesyImageDaimler Truck has launched the Mercedes-Benz eEconic, a new e-truck designed for municipal use. e key technical speci cations of the eEconic are largely identical to those of the eActros urban delivery truck, which went into series production last October.
e eEconic will soon go into series production at the company’s Wörth site in southern Germany. e rst unit will be handed over to Urbaser A/S, a waste disposal company in Denmark, and other customer deliveries are to follow over the course of the year.
e eEconic will be manufactured on the existing Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks assembly line, alongside legacy ICE trucks. A er the vehicle has been largely assembled, the eEconic’s electri cation continues in the Future Truck Center, where it is equipped with the electric drive components.
“ e exchange with our customers has shown: cities and municipalities want CO2-neutral vehicles for their eets. Especially with regard to large cities, there is a need for quiet, clean and safe logistics and waste disposal solutions. And we o er just the right truck for this,” said Dr. Ralf Forcher, Head of Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks.
“In the fall of 2021, we were given the go-ahead for series production of our electric trucks here at the Wörth plant with the eActros, and now we’re following up with the eEconic,” said Dr. Andreas Bachhofer, Head of Production and Plant Manager at the Wörth plant.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks has launched a new phase of practical tests for the eActros, which has now been approved as a truck-and-trailer combination with a total weight of 40 tons. e combination has been handed over to transport rm Logistik Schmitt in the northern Black Forest for endurance testing. e vehicle is already available to order for customers in this con guration.
“Starting an intensive exchange with customers at an early stage is an integral part of our vehicles’ development,” said Ste en Maier, Head of Customer Testing, Mercedes-Benz Trucks.
“ e eActros as a truck-and-trailer combination is ideal for our purposes,” said Rainer Schmitt, Managing Partner at Logistik Schmitt. “In combination with the trailer, the electric truck now not only o ers a higher total weight, but also signi cantly more transport volume. is means we can transport twice as many load carriers on the same Accordingtrips.”toGerman
law, in order to tow trailers over 10 tons, tractor vehicles of heavy-duty truck-and-trailer combinations must use a continuous braking system. In the eActros, this is provided by a special trailer brake (high-power brake resistor) for battery-electric vehicles.
e eActros is available with either three (eActros 300) or four battery packs (eActros 400), each of which o ers an installed capacity of 112 kWh and a usable capacity of around 97 kWh. e eActros 400 version has a range of up to 400 kilometers.
e drive unit sports an electric rigid axle with two integrated electric motors and a two-speed transmission. Each of the liquid-cooled motors generates a continuous output of 330 kW and peak output of 400 kW.
Mercedes-BenzofcourtesyImage DaimlerofcourtesyImageThe PowerStrip 9580 was designed with a focus on high-precision processing, excellent production output and a high degree of production flexibility to cover a wide range of applications. High Voltage cables used in EV applications can be measured, cut and stripped in one automated operation. All processing and functional modules can be retrofitted at a later date, making it a futureproof investment.
High-precision processing of a wide range of wire processing applications
Modular, flexible and retrofittable machine concept
Innovative machine control for high productivity and process reliability
Short changeover times and intuitive machine operation
The car that once advertised itself as “The Standard of the World” will go all-electric. the US brand reinvent itself for a modern era...and for
Among cutting-edge automotive buyers—the glitterati of Los Angeles, the tech millionaires of Silicon Valley, the nance titans of Wall Street—only one Cadillac is widely recognized. It’s a truck, speci cally the Escalade SUV, the gussied-up, very successful ultra-luxury version of the Chevy Suburban.
Almost 19 feet long, almost 3 tons in curb weight, the Escalade ESV (most o en in black) is a staple of a uent driveways and high-end car services across the country. It seems about as relevant to the electricvehicle transition as a Caterpillar excavator.
Yet Cadillac is leading the high end of General Motors’ ambitious move into EVs for all its brands. It’ll never sell in the numbers Chevrolet will, but GM has said Cadillac’s lineup will be all-electric by 2030—only one full product cycle away. It’s the rst of GM’s brands to dispense with internal combustion engines. In part, this is because Cadillac is hugely important for GM’s continuing presence in China, a market that gets more challenging for the US carmaker every year.
Lyriq launch pulled ahead e model intended to put US shoppers on notice that Cadillac now o ers EVs is the 2023 Lyriq, a mid-size ve-seat crossover utility vehicle with an estimated range of up to 312 miles. ( e EPA hasn’t yet released its o cial rating.) It o ers a far more elegant interior than Cadillac’s similarly sized XT6 crossover, and the starting price is just above $60,000, though most will likely sell for $10,000 to $20,000 more, given the array of options and available features. e degree of technology in the car should delight tech a cionados getting tired of their Teslas, with the added bene t that Cadillac has retained hard buttons for some of the most frequently used controls. Unlike in the Rivian, passengers can adjust the air vents manually, rather than having to go through multiple menu levels. Tech features include a syncopated “light show” using the entire front end for a display as a user (er, driver) approaches the Lyriq; a 33-inch curved display facing the driver; and seat adjustment levers mounted on the door, Mercedes-style.
GM has said Cadillac’s lineup will be all-electric by 2030—only one full product cycle away.
Images courtesy of GM
e 2023 Lyriq isn’t initially available with all-wheel drive, though that option will arrive late this year. Its battery capacity is rated at 102 kilowatt-hours, and for early models, a single electric motor estimated at 250 kilowatts (340 horsepower) powers the rear wheels. e rear seats of the Lyriq are spacious—which should help with childhauling duties in a uent suburbs—though the middle rear seat is the short straw among the three positions.
Cadillac was able to pull the US launch of the Lyriq ahead by nine months—early production units were built in March at its assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and the rst customer deliveries took place in June. It’s worth noting that production of 2023 Lyriqs is entirely sold out. Orders for the 2024 models will open up during autumn 2022, for deliveries starting in 2023. Eager shoppers can put down a refundable $100 deposit for a “preorder” that can be converted into an actual order then.
Production of any electric Cadillac models will remain low for the balance of 2022, due simply to limited availability of the new Ultium battery cells that power them.
GM and its joint-venture cell partner LG Energy Solutions plan to build and equip a likely total of ve cell production plants in North America, but the rst of those—in Lordstown, Ohio—won’t start producing cells in the necessary volumes until the end of this year.
Meanwhile, cells for the small number of Ultium-based
Production of 2023 Lyriqs is entirely sold out. Orders for the 2024 models will open up during autumn 2022, for deliveries starting in 2023.2023 Cadillac Lyriq
EVs GM builds this year, including not only the Cadillac Lyriq but the GMC Hummer EV, will come from a low-volume pilot production line set up at GM’s Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. ( at leaves the small Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV as the company’s only high-volume EVs this year—their batteries use an older LG Chem cell from established production lines.)
Ultimately, GM will build Ultium-based EVs in North America for its four existing brands (Cadillac, GMC, Buick
We pioneer
Being open to technological change is one of our biggest strengths. We consider the bigger picture and don’t hesitate to re-think convention. Together with our customers, we develop advanced systems that drive the vehicles of the future—and in the process—deliver smart, high-quality components that reduce fuel consumption, emit less carbon dioxide, and last longer. To learn more, visit: schaeffler.us
Images courtesy of GM
and Chevrolet) plus one model each for Honda and Acura. ey will be supplied by cell plants not only in Lordstown but also in Spring Hill, Tennessee; Lansing, Michigan; and likely two further locations to be announced.eUS
Department of Energy will loan the company $2.5 billion to build those plants, it said in July, under its Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) low-interest loan program. Dormant for a decade, that Obama-era program initially loaned money to Ford, Nissan, and Tesla (which all paid back their loans) and Fisker, which declared bankruptcy and lost the department more than $100 million.
Under the In ation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden in mid-August, automakers will soon have to
source increasing proportions of their battery components from North America in order to qualify for federal tax credits. e three GM-LG plants now under constructions should neatly meet those requirements.
In March 2020, just a week before the global Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down businesses and travel, GM held an “EV Day” in Michigan for invited auto media. No photos were allowed, but the company showed a dozen future EVs it said it intended to build. All but the pair of Chevy Bolt models were based on the new Ultium
Perhapsarchitecture.themoststartling were two Cadillacs in addition to the Lyriq—since a midsize luxury electric SUV
Cadillac Celestiq concept
wasn’t a surprise even then.
e rst was a massive, square, Escalade-like three-row SUV (unnamed), about which we’ve heard nothing more since.
e other was a large, low, sleek fastback sedan called the Celestiq. Very long, very wide, the Celestiq is to serve as a new agship and halo vehicle for GM’s global luxury brand. It will be hand-built, with a degree of customization Cadillac has never o ered. According to GM Product Chief Mark Reuss, it will also be the rst vehicle tted with Ultra Cruise, GM’s next generation of autonomous driving system following its
Images courtesy of GM
current hands-o Super Cruise highway system.
In July, GM unveiled the Celestiq concept to the world—and con rmed very low-volume production to start in model year 2025. It features a 55-inch dashboard display that lets a front passenger view video content that’s not visible to the driver. ere’s also a glass roof with four individual quadrants that each passenger can customize to let in more or less light, as they wish. e car will be hand-built at GM’s Global Technical Center starting late next year—in volumes of just 400 per year.
e Celestiq is an audacious bid to take Cadillac back into the highest end of the ultra-luxury vehicle market. It will be priced at $300,000 and above, putting it above top-end models from Audi, BMW, Lexus and MercedesBenz, and up against more rari ed marques: Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and perhaps Mercedes-Maybach. e US brand hasn’t played in the highest end of luxury in many decades. Its hand-built Eldorado models of the late 1950s may have been the last truly ultra-luxury models it o ered—and that was at least three generations of car shoppers ago.
e Celestiq is not a make-or-break car for Cadillac. You could view it as an experiment, a low-volume attempt to see whether the brand can reach customers for whom money is truly no impediment, but who value rarity, exclusivity and features found in no other vehicle driven by their peers.
China likely has more of those buyers than does North America, and they may be less resistant to a very, very high-end Cadillac. is is a market in which the brand has the advantage of novelty, and a chance to build a new image from the ground up, unencumbered by previous decades of missteps and multiple reinventions.
It’s China that may determine Cadillac’s future more than North America. e Lyriq is designed as much for that market as for US buyers. Deliveries of locally-built Lyriqs
China is a market where the brand has the advantage of novelty, and a chance to build a new image from the ground up.Cadillac Celestiq concept
in China will start in late September or early October for the rear-wheel drive version, said Mike Albano, Executive Director of Cadillac Communications. e all-wheeldrive version will follow by the end of the year.
How important is China to Cadillac’s future? e brand’s best year in the US this century was 2005, when it sold 235,000 vehicles. But Cadillac sales in China surpassed those in its home market back in 2017, and the numbers have been steadily diverging ever since. at year, it sold 173,000 vehicles in China, versus 156,000 in the US.
From 2018 through 2021, the disparity between sales in the world’s two largest auto markets grew. In 2018, Cadillac sold 228,000 vehicles in China against 155,000 in the US. For 2019, it was 214,000 vs 156,000. In the two Covid years that followed, China sales were 231,000 and 233,000, versus 129,000 and 118,000 at home.
China is by far the most aggressive global market in promoting electric vehicles. It intends to capture the world’s biggest share of EV sales and EV battery production, and government policy is oriented toward that goal—just as it has already captured the world’s biggest share of solar photovoltaic cell production. In 2021, 31 percent of vehicles sold in China had plugs—versus 19 percent in Europe and just 5.2 percent in the US.
So, you can view the new electric Cadillacs as largely aimed at young, a uent, entrepreneurial Chinese buyers seeking the cachet of a Western luxury brand that di ers from the same old German brands their friends drive. A couple of hundred ultra-pricey Celestiqs provide a halo e ect to the Lyriq crossover they are more likely to end up buying. If, that is, all goes right for Cadillac in China— which is always an uncertain prospect.
Meanwhile, US consumers who can overlook Cadillac’s recent history will be o ered some very advanced electric luxury cars—that aren’t the same old Teslas their friends drive. We look forward to driving them.
You can view the new electric Cadillacs as largely aimed at young, affl uent, entrepreneurial Chinese buyers seeking the cachet of a Western luxury brand.2023 Cadillac Lyriq
Images courtesy of GM
he recent passage of the In ation Reduction Act—a sweeping package of tax, health care and climate measures—was like the happy ending to one of those heartwarming “Save Christmas” stories. We may never know what Machiavellian machinations persuaded Senator Manchin to release Santa Claus, but the merry old elf is coming to town with a bag full of goodies for EV advocates.
e provision that’s gotten the most press is a redesign of the federal EV tax credit—that’s only natural, because it’s the policy that’s most likely to directly a ect the average consumer, and because politicians love to talk about tax breaks. However, there are a number of other
important measures in the bill, including some “sleeper” elements that could prove to be far more in uential than they seem at rst glance.
Credit where credit is due e revamped tax credit scheme is clearly a great improvement over its predecessor. It addresses several long-standing criticisms of the previous law: the bias towards high-income car buyers; the bias against early-moving EV makers; and the lack of a provision for used-car buyers. It also appears that auto dealers may be able to convert the credit into a cash-on-the-hood discount for their customers.
e existing cap of 200,000 EVs sold per automaker has been eliminated. is is good news for Tesla, Nissan and GM, which have been selling EVs for years, but have recently been at a disadvantage against companies like Toyota and Stellantis, which sat on the sidelines until the EV bandwagon picked up speed.
However, two aspects of the new rules are controversial: the price caps and the assembly and sourcing requirements.etax credits will now be available only for sedans priced at $55,000 or less, and for pickups, vans or SUVs at $80,000 or less. Some fear that the new rules will penalize startups such as Lucid and Rivian, which are selling
pricey luxury vehicles, presumably as the rst phase of an iterative strategy to work their way to more a ordable EVs (as Tesla originally planned to do). Lucid’s sedans currently start at over $80,000, and Rivian’s pickups start at $72,500. (It’s the total sales price, including options, that determines eligibility.)
However, both theory and practice suggest that the price caps are unlikely to signi cantly harm sales of high-end EVs. Marketing gurus tell us that luxury buyers don’t tend to be very price-sensitive—if you can a ord an $80,000 car, a few thousand bucks one way or the other is unlikely to a ect your purchase decision. Tesla provides a real-world example—it lost access to the tax credit years
The most contentious feature of the new law is a set of requirements aimed at encouraging automakers to produce vehicles and components in North America.
ago, and has raised its prices several times since then, with no discernable negative e ect on demand.
e most contentious feature of the new law is a set of requirements aimed at encouraging automakers to produce vehicles and components in North America. To be eligible for the full credit, a vehicle must be assembled in the US; at least 50% of the components in the battery must come from the US, Canada or Mexico by 2024, and 100% by 2028; and at least 40% of the raw minerals in the battery must come from the US or “a trade ally” in 2024, and 80% in 2026.
e New York Times’ Jack Ewing writes that the package “aims to achieve two goals that are not always compatible: Make electric vehicles more a ordable while freezing China out of the supply chain.” To qualify for tax credits under the new rules, “the cars and their batteries have to meet made-in-America requirements that many carmakers cannot easily achieve.”
is is a legitimate area of concern, but the naysayers seem to be assuming that automakers won’t be able to change their strategies in response to the new rules. Like fuel economy standards, the new tax credit regime can be seen as a “technology-forcing” regulation. Automakers who fail to meet federal mileage standards are subject to nes, but the point of the standards isn’t to collect nes— it’s to force companies to improve their technology in order to avoid the nes (and more importantly, to avoid being at a disadvantage vis a vis their competitors).
Likewise, the point of the new price targets and Buy American provisions isn’t to single out certain automakers for punishment, but rather to force all automakers to o er cheaper EVs, and to localize and clean up their supply chains. Mark Wake eld of consulting rm AlixPartners told the Times that the new rules would lead to “a laser focus on getting below the $80,000 and $55,000 caps,” and would increase adoption of battery chemistries such as LFP, which use more widely available minerals.
Complying with these provisions will obviously require a major restructuring of EV supply chains. is is widely considered to be a worthy goal, both for reasons of national security and sustainability, and it’s a goal that automakers and suppliers are already working towards.
Unnamed industry executives told the Times that they should be able to revamp their supply chains enough for their products to qualify for tax credits within ve years. Others are even more optimistic. Joe Britton, Executive Director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association,
told the Times he would be “shocked” if it took as long as ve years to bring the industry into compliance. Some of the supply chain restrictions are subject to interpretation by regulators, and may not end up being as onerous as they appear. It appears that all manufacturers will be eligible for the $7,500 credit through next year, before content restrictions take e ect in 2024. Furthermore, it appears to be up to regulators to decide exactly which components would be proscribed. For example, would batteries produced in the US by a Chinese company fall foul of the law? e point of the tax credits is to put more EVs on the road quickly, and hopefully regulators will interpret the rules accordingly.
e two leading legacy American EV-makers are on board. e goals of the new law “cannot be achieved overnight,” but the legislation “will be part of the catalyst that helps us move forward,” said GM CEO Mary Barra during a recent appearance with President Biden. “While its consumer tax credit targets for electric vehicles are not all achievable overnight, the bill is an important step forward to meet our shared national climate goals and help strengthen American manufacturing jobs,” said Ford in a statement that urged the House to pass the legislation.
It’s also worth noting that the sourcing requirements could create new business opportunities in the eld of supply chain traceability. A company called Circulor provides mapping and analysis of supply chains—it says it can prove where an EV battery’s materials are mined and manufactured, and that it is already providing such ser-
The package aims to achieve two goals that are not always compatible: Make electric vehicles more affordable while freezing China out of the supply chain... The cars and their batteries have to meet “cannotrequirementsmade-in-Americathatmanycarmakerseasilyachieve.”
$7,500 consumer credit for the purchase of an EV, PHEV or fuel cell vehicle.
• To claim the full credit, a certain percentage of battery raw materials must be extracted or processed in the US or a Free Trade Agreement country, or recycled in North America. Required percentage increases from 40% in 2024 to 80% in 2026.
• To claim the full credit, an EV must be assembled, and a certain percentage of battery components must be sourced, in North America. Required percentage increases from 50% in 2024 to 100% in 2028.
• Only cars priced at $55,000 or less, and pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans priced at $80,000 or less, are eligible.
• Only buyers with annual income of $150,000 or less ($300,000 for joint lers) are eligible.
• e cap of 200,000 vehicles sold for each automaker is eliminated.
Used EVs or PHEVs are eligible for a credit of $4,000 or 30% of vehicle cost, whichever is less.
• Vehicles must be at least 2 years old, and have a maximum sale price of $25,000.
• Only buyers with annual income of $75,000 or less ($150,000 for joint lers) are eligible.
Class 1-3 (under 14,000 lbs) commercial vehicles are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit. Class 4-8 (over 14,000 lbs) vehicles are eligible for a tax credit of $40,000, or 30% of vehicle cost, whichever is less.
Tax credit of 30% of the installed cost of charging stations, up to a lifetime bene t of $100,000 per site.
$3 billion in funding for USPS to convert its eet to EVs.
Various tax credits to help manufacturers establish or expand manufacturing of EVs and batteries in the US.
$1 billion in grants for up to 100% of costs for heavy-duty EVs (school buses, refuse trucks, etc). States, municipalities, Native American tribes, and nonpro t school transportation agencies are eligible.
$100 billion in new funding for existing DOE loan programs and up to $250 billion in new loan guarantees.
anks to the Bipartisan Policy Center (www.bipartisanpolicy.org) for these gures.
vices for customers including BHP, Volvo Cars, Polestar and Jaguar Land Rover. e EU is expected to enact a new regulation later this year that will require all batteries to have a digital “passport” that documents their CO2 footprints and the sources of their raw materials.
Some believe that the IRA’s incentives for buying com-
mercial EVs could be more signi cant than the more widely-publicized passenger vehicle credits. e Rocky Mountain Institute predicts that the Quali ed Commercial Clean Vehicle tax credit, which provides an incentive of up to $40,000 per vehicle, will “turbocharge adoption of electric medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks.” According to RMI, the new tax credit makes owning an electric truck cheaper than owning a diesel truck in most use cases, and
urban and regional electric trucks will become cheaper than legacy diesels as soon as 2023.
To obtain the full tax credit, commercial EVs will have to meet North American nal assembly requirements, but apparently are not subject to the same battery and critical mineral requirements as the Clean Vehicle Credit for individuals.eIRAalso provides a 30% tax credit for installing charging infrastructure—a huge sweetener for eets that are considering going electric.
Several other sections of the bill could encourage adoption of zero-emission trucks. ere’s $1 billion in funding for a Clean Heavy Duty Vehicles rebate program, which is designed to help states, municipalities, Indian tribes and school districts to electrify bus and truck eets. e IRA also extends existing renewable energy tax credits for utilities, which could make EV charging cleaner and cheaper.
Charged readers are already familiar with the tawdry tale of how the US Postal Service is being dragged kicking and screaming into the electric age. Postal delivery vehicles present a perfect use case for EVs, so advocates were appalled in 2021 when USPS announced plans to replace its eet of 212,000 ancient gas guzzlers with mostly new and improved gas guzzlers and a handful of EVs. Since then, there have been lawsuits, petitions, open letters and, presumably, behind-the-scenes arm-twisting, and the agency has gradually, grudgingly increased the proportion of EVs it plans to order.
To be fair, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a holdover from the Trump administration, has said all along that USPS would be open to electrifying its eet as long as Congress provided adequate funding. e latest gure cited was $3 billion, and the IRA awards the agency exactly that.
e IRA is a vast and sprawling edi ce, and there are several other sections that could directly or indirectly bene t the EVereindustry.areseveral di erent tax credits designed to help manufacturers bring production of EVs and batteries to the US. ere’s also a wide array of measures aimed at supporting renewable energy generation.
Existing federal loan programs for clean energy and EVs will be expanded. Last month, the Energy Department awarded a loan of $2.5 billion to GM and LG Energy Solution to build battery factories in Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. e department is currently reviewing 77 applications for $80 billion in loans that were submitted before the IRA was approved. e IRA will add $100 billion in funding for existing loan programs and up to $250 billion in new loan guarantees. Some of this funding is likely to nd its way to EV-related projects.
“ is is a sleeping giant in the law and a real gold mine in deploying these resources,” former Assistant Energy Secretary Dan Reicher told the New York Times. “ is massive amount being made available is a big deal.”
The latest fi gure Postmaster General DeJoy cited was $3 billion to fully electrify, and the IRA awards the agency exactly that.USPS’s Next Generation Delivery Vehicle Design
Tier 1 automotive supplier BorgWarner has acquired Rhombus Energy Solutions.
San Diego-based Rhombus provides EV charging and power conversion technology, including V2G applications. Rhombus supplies its patented technology to EV OEMs, including Proterra, as well as charging and grid service providers.
e transaction has an enterprise value of up to $185 million.“etechnology that Rhombus brings expands BorgWarner’s electric vehicle portfolio in North America and complements our existing European charging business,” said Frédéric Lissalde, President and CEO of BorgWarner. “ is transaction strengthens our electric vehicle positioning as we look to power the entire propulsion system from grid to wheels. As a supplier to the automotive and commercial vehicle markets, we are not only delivering innovative technology for electric drivetrains, but we are also focused on supporting certain key elements of the infrastructure for electric mobility, including charging.”
Oil giant bp has become one of the major players in Europe’s public charging industry. Now the company’s Aral pulse brand has opened its rst fast charging facilities aimed at the medium- and heavy-duty electric truck market.Aral’s retail site at Schwegenheim, Germany now has two 300 kW chargers for electric trucks, and the company says they’re powered by 100% renewable energy.
“Situated on the B9 major road, the Schwegenheim site provides truck drivers with a convenient, safe, well-lit station where an electric truck capable of charging at 300 kW could increase its remaining range by around 150200 km during a driver’s mandatory 45-minute break, and the driver has access to additional services such as food and drink, as well as toilets.”
According to bp, around 1,000 battery-electric trucks were sold in Germany in 2021. Aral pulse currently operates over 850 public charge points for cars and light commercial vehicles at its Aral retail stations.
“Truck manufacturers and truck eet operators are demanding low-carbon alternative fuels and electri cation is an attractive option,” said Emma Delaney, Executive VP, Customers and Products. “Schwegenheim is a perfect example of what the industry needs—ultra-fast charging with safe charging bays for trucks, close to strategic road networks and a place where drivers can take a break and refresh with food and drinks.”
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Volvo Trucks is joining up with Shell and three truck dealerships to develop a public medium- and heavy-duty EV charging network that connects several of California’s largest metropolitan areas. e Electri ed Charging Corridor Project has scored $2 million in funding from the California Energy Commission, and is expected to get underway in 2022. All ve stations should be online by the end of 2023.
“ is project will open the door to a truly electri ed freight future in which zero-tailpipe-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks are no longer limited to short-mileage, return-to-base operations, and can reach far and wide across the state,” said Peter Voorhoeve, President of Volvo Trucks North America. “We are excited to begin construction of the Electri ed Charging Corridor Project this year in collaboration with these pioneering truck dealerships so that we can further support eets in successfully integrating battery-electric trucks into their operations, including our Volvo VNR Electric model.”
During the next 18 months, the project will deploy high-powered chargers at several existing Volvo Trucks dealership locations in Central and Northern California, including TEC Equipment Oakland, TEC Equipment Dixon, Western Truck Center in Stockton, and A nity Truck Centers in Fresno and Bakers eld.
e goal of the project is to enable convenient charging for small eets that want to avoid making major nancial investments in charging infrastructure at their sites; eets looking to pilot EVs through rentals or leases; and eet that want OEM-neutral locations for opportunity charging along their routes.
“ is investment for an electric truck charging corridor is critical to accelerate customer con dence in today’s commercial battery-electric o erings,” said Matt Androski, Chief Commercial O cer, Shell Recharge Solutions.
Charge Across Town and the state of California to deploy hundreds of EV chargers at apartment buildings and condo complexes.“Driving electric should be possible for everyone, and this partnership recognizes that charging should be accessible where drivers live, work and play,” said John Schott, ChargePoint’s Director, Public Private Partnerships.Aspartofthis
work, ChargePoint has been awarded $4.25 million through the California Energy Commission’s Reliable, Equitable, and Accessible Charging for Multifamily Housing (REACH) program. Under the program, ChargePoint will partner with multifamily property owners and managers to install hundreds of CPF50 and CT4000 electric vehicle charging ports, and 75 percent of these will be reserved for buildings in disadvantaged or low-income communities.
ChargePoint will also work with Charge Across Town to educate building owners and residents about the bene ts of EVs and smart charging infrastructure. Charge Across Town’s work will include educational events at each building before and a er EV chargers are installed, and ongoing e orts to collect feedback from building management.“Onebarrier to EV adoption is the inaccessibility to home charging,” said Maureen Blanc, Director at Charge Across Town. “Working with ChargePoint in low-income and disadvantaged communities, we have the opportunity to educate both multifamily building owners and residents on how EV charging works, the a ordability and bene ts of going electric, and the many state and local incentives available to these communities.”
Automotive supplier Bosch has released two new EV chargers, both fully UL- and cUL-compliant to ensure safety.e
EV300 Level 2 charging station is “an a ordable compact indoor/outdoor EV charger.” It has a short 16foot cable to reduce clutter and the potential for tangling in areas with limited space, such as a garage. “ e simple and exible layout allows users to easily install the product as a permanent wall-mount plug-in charger,” says Bosch.Noapp is required to charge. Instead, owners can pre-set charging times and durations in the vehicle. e EV300 displays battery status with a blinking light. e EV3000 DC Fast Charger is designed for sites such as workplaces, public parking lots, dealerships and eet facilities. It exceeds IP 55 standards, and allows safe charging indoors or outdoors in all weathers.
EnergyHub, a provider of distributed energy resource (DER) solutions for utilities, has announced a new grid management solution called EnergyHub EV, which is built on the core of its Mercury DERMS platform.
EnergyHub works with some 60 utilities to aggregate and manage more than 700,000 thermostats, EVs and chargers, water heaters, energy storage systems and other devices as virtual power plants.
EnergyHub’s EV solution enables vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration. Optimized charging o ers daily load shi ing and targeted distribution capacity relief, laying the foundation for V2G services. A new mobile app will allow drivers to personalize charging preferences. e system also aggregates data, generates reports and manages various customer rates, incentives and rebate models. It supports all EVs and charging stations.
ChargePointofcourtesyImagee National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) requires each state and territory to submit an EV Infrastructure Deployment Plan (EVIDP) in order to qualify for its share of the rst round of the $5 billion of infrastructure formula funding (IFF) that will be made available over 5 years. e administration has announced that all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico (50+DCPR) have now submitted their plans, on time and with the required number of new acronyms.
“We appreciate the thought and time that states have put into these EV infrastructure plans, which will help create a national charging network where nding a charge is as easy as locating a gas station,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“Today’s milestone in our plans to build an interconnected national EV charging network is proof that America is prepared to act on President Biden’s call to modernize the national highway system and help Americans drive electric,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.“Ourpartnership
with states is critical as we build out this national network and we work to ensure every state has a good plan in place for using NEVI Formula Program funds,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack.
Now that all state EV deployment plans have been submitted, the Joint O ce of Energy and Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will review the plans, with the goal of approving them by September 30. Once each plan is approved, state departments of transportation will be able to deploy EV charging infrastructure through the use of NEVI Formula Program funds.
e NEVI Formula Program “will focus on building out the backbone of a national network along highways,” while the separate $2.5-billion competitive grant program for Charging and Fueling Infrastructure will “further build out the national network by making investments in community charging.”
Lightning eMotors (NYSE: ZEV) has unveiled its second-generation Lightning Mobile charger for commercial and consumer EVs. e new systems are available to order for delivery in late 2022.
e Lightning Mobile DC fast charger is designed to o er rapid deployment of charging in locations where installing static charging stations is not possible, or that only have Level 2 power available.
Each modular unit o ers between 105 and 420 kWh of battery storage capacity, and can provide up to 5 DC fast charging outputs. e modular unit features active thermal management for optimum battery performance, as well as telematics/analytics features.
“Lightning Mobile provides a much-needed charging solution for everything from mobile disaster relief and rescue to intermittent charging points at facilities like sports stadiums, which need an EV charging and power solution in various locations,” said Lightning eMotors CEO Tim Reeser. “It can also serve as a short- or medium-term charging solution for eets to rapidly deploy EVs while waiting for permanent infrastructure to be installed.”“Lightning’s next-generation mobile charger can support an accelerated rate of electric commercial vehicle adoption while depot charging is being installed, a process that, unfortunately, can take a long time,” said VP Brandon McNeil.
IKEA has announced a collaboration with Electrify America and Electrify Commercial to bring ultra-fast public charging stations and delivery eet vehicle charging to over 25 IKEA retail locations throughout the US. IKEA US aims to achieve zero-emission home deliveries by 2025, and to halve tailpipe emissions from customer and co-worker travel by 2030.
e new project will add more than 200 public chargers, o ering charging speeds of 150 kW to 350 kW, at IKEA retail locations in 18 states including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington. e rst locations are to open in late 2022, and the project is to be completed by the end of 2023.
Electrify Commercial, Electrify America’s business unit, will deliver turnkey charging solutions for IKEA’s EV delivery eet, providing more than 225 individual chargers across the sites.
“ is collaboration with Electrify America will not only bring ultra-fast public chargers to our stores for the rst time, but it will also help us take a big leap as we work towards our targets to become circular and climate-positive,” said Javier Quiñones, CEO and Chief Sustainability O cer, IKEA US.
As the UK sweated through an unprecedented heat wave, the rm 3ti presented its Papilio3, a “pop-up mini solar car park and EV charging hub,” as a timely reminder of how the power of the sun can be harnessed to address the climate crisis.
3ti’s Papilio3 is built around a recycled shipping container, and the company says it can be deployed within 24 hours. e system includes EV charge points with charging capacities of 7, 11 and 22 kW, along with solar electricity generation and battery energy storage with a capacity of up to 250 kWh.
e company installed a prototype in May at Surrey Research Park.
“Yield from our rst Papilio3 unit has already topped 4.86 MWh, and all 12 charging points have been in regular use,” says Tim Evans, 3ti founder and CEO. “In June, just one of our customer sites produced 290 MWh from a 2.2 MWp solar array. At current prices that’s over £65,000 worth of electricity. Papilio3 will play a prominent role in decarbonizing the UK transport sector with scalable technology that is easily deployed as a workplace and destination charging solution.”
e company has raised over £2,000,000 in multiple crowdfunding rounds, which it will use to accelerate the roll-out of Papilio3 and to expand the 3ti team.
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Spanish electric utility Iberdrola and global oil rm bp plan to jointly invest up to €1 billion to deploy about 11,000 fast charging points across Spain and Portugal by 2030. e companies also hope to develop “green hydrogen” production hubs in Spain, Portugal and the UK.
Iberdrola already operates more than 2,500 public chargers in the two nations, while bp operates a European network of over 10,000 charge points, mainly in the UK and Germany. bp expects to use some of its network of 1,300 retail gas stations in Spain and Portugal as locations for charging hubs for the new joint venture.
Fast charging network operator EVgo (NASDAQ: EVGO) has entered into a new supply agreement with Delta Electronics, a provider of power and energy management solutions. Delta will supply EVgo with 1,000 fast chargers featuring power levels of up to 350“ForkW.over 50 years, Delta has been leveraging its core competence in high-e ciency power electronics to provide energy-saving solutions,” said Kelvin Huang, President of Delta Electronics Americas Region. “Our e-mobility track record includes not only having shipped over one million EV chargers to our worldwide customers but also long-term cooperation with world-class EV manufacturers in North America, Europe and Asia.”
GM and Pilot Company (which operates the Pilot and Flying J truck stop chains) are collaborating to create a national DC fast charging network that will be installed, operated and maintained by EVgo.
is network of 2,000 charging stalls, located at up to 500 Pilot and Flying J travel centers, will be co-branded Pilot Flying J and Ultium Charge 360, and will be powered by EVgo eXtend. GM customers will receive special bene ts such as exclusive reservations and discounts on charging.echarging sites will feature DC fast chargers with power levels of up to 350 kW. Many will feature canopies to help protect customers from the elements, as well as pull-through capability to allow convenient charging for electric pickup trucks and SUVs pulling trailers.
EVgo, which is also working with GM on a separate project to deploy some 3,250 fast chargers in American cities and suburbs by the end of 2025, was chosen as a strategic collaborator due to its expertise in building, operating and maintaining DC fast charging infrastructure.
“We are committed to an all-electric, zero-emissions future, and ensuring that the right charging infrastructure is in place is a key piece of the puzzle,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “With travel centers across North America, Pilot Company is an ideal collaborator to reach a broad audience of EV drivers.”
“ rough EVgo eXtend, we are showcasing why EVgo’s technology and industry leadership make us the partner of choice to site hosts, automakers and drivers,” said Cathy Zoi, CEO at EVgo.
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Getting set up to charge an EV at home is easy and a ordable—except when it isn’t. For many, especially those who live in older homes, installing a home Level 2 charging station may require an upgrade to the home’s electrical service, and/or a new panel (breaker box). By some estimates, nearly half the homes in the US may need these types of electrical upgrades to allow the installation of a typical Level 2 charger, which requires a dedicated 240 V circuit providing 40-60 amps. Upgrading the panel is a substantial job for an electrician, and the cost can easily run to thousands of dollars.
Fortunately, there are workarounds for this problem— and opportunities for companies that can o er ways for homeowners to avoid expensive panel upgrades.
ConnectDER (pronounced kuh-nek-ter) is a young company that currently o ers a solution to a similar problem that some homeowners face when installing solar panels. Its clever products are based on a collar that connects to the meter socket, bypassing a building’s service panel. e company says it has some 15,000 collars installed nationwide for solar applications.Now
ConnectDER has formed a partnership with
ConnectDER’s meter collar working together with Siemens’s charging station could save up to 80 percent of installation costsImage courtesy of ConnectDER
Siemens, one of the world’s largest electrical infrastructure providers, to bring its meter collars to EV owners in need of a simpler charging solution.
Under the new agreement, ConnectDER will supply Siemens with a proprietary plug-in adapter for EV chargers. e new device will be designed and manufactured by ConnectDER exclusively for Siemens.
According to ConnectDER, the adapter will allow an EV charger to be installed in 15 minutes, and avoiding the need for electric panel upgrades could save a customer as much as 60 to 80 percent of the charger installation cost.
Charged spoke with Whit Fulton, CEO of ConnectDER, and Chris King, Senior VP of Strategic Partnerships at Siemens, to learn more about the two companies’ new partnership.
Q Charged: How did ConnectDER rst develop the idea of a meter collar, and why was solar the rst application?
A ConnectDER’s Whit Fulton: e whole idea behind the company was to take the friction out of connecting largescale assets like solar, electric vehicles, energy storage, into homes using an electric heater socket—it’s a giant socket you could use for an entire application there. We recognized that, and started the company about 10 years ago. And the low-hanging application was solar, because solar was growing really fast then. EVs were just on the horizon.
We realized that all the wiring challenges inside a house, especially service panel upgrades, could be completely avoided if you created a safe interconnection point, if it was plug-and-play with a circuit breaker in it, at the meter socket. And then that was it. How can we create a plug for this stu ?
Obviously, the technology footprint for distributed resources has evolved [since then], especially with the growth of electric vehicles and then vehicle-to-home, vehicle-to-grid applications. It was always our roadmap to really go a er that, to be able to support that segment of the market. And Siemens came along at the right time. Chris King reached out and said, “Hey, we’re interested in looking at how we can work together on these things.” And we said, “Your timing’s great. We’re already hard at work on this stu . Let’s talk about how we can put the pieces together.”
Q Charged: With this partnership between Siemens and ConnectDER, you’ll have a smart charger that talks to the meter collar and then balances the power of the whole system. Is that the idea?
A Siemens’s Chris King: ere will be di erent versions of the product over time. Initially, we’re keeping it very simple. Keep the cost down, keep the installation simple. It will act as a circuit breaker, so if the combined load of the EV and the house are approaching overloading the circuit, then it will shut o the EV charger.
Now this is actually something that we expect to happen very rarely, because you have to have basically all of your appliances on in your house to come close to your service load. You’ve got to have your electric oven on, and your cooktop, and your air conditioner and all that stu . We don’t expect that to happen o en, just as circuit breakers don’t go o very o en. for we work
Q Charged: You need to get local utility approval to install it, right?
A Whit: Yes, it requires utility approval or state-level approval from the regulators and whatnot, but we’re less concerned about that element of it at this point, given the fact that we’ve seen so much interest and appetite. It will take some time to go through the process to make sure utilities are comfortable with it, but we’re very con dent that we’ll have widespread deployment over the course of 2022.
Historically, utilities were not particularly keen on having things between the meter socket and the meter. Really, it’s the utility’s space, for safety reasons. But it’s just so valuable. e importance, the value of having a place you can just plug these things in has really shi ed the entire mindset around the value of using that meter socket for more things than just meters.
And utilities have really come around to that too. ey recognize the need for electri cation, they recognize the
need for decarbonization, and they’re looking at all the elements that are on the table around that to take advantage of. And so our solar product got o the ground. It took a while to get utilities to come around to the idea of it, but now it’s going really fast. And the EV aspect of this—utilities are really excited about providing ways for faster, cheaper electri cation. We’ve already got a lot of utility demand in the pipeline for this product set.
Q Charged: Talk us through the value proposition. What exactly does this solution replace? What are your key gures as to what you can save if you use this instead of going the traditional route on the solar side?
you’re done. at’s it. ere’s no going inside the house, no service panel upgrades, because it’s a completely separate circuit breaker, almost like a mini-service panel for the solar, that’s separate from the [main] panel.
e only di erence for the EV product is that solar’s pushing power in, and the EV is drawing power. So, if the EV is drawing power at the same time as your [service] panel’s drawing power, you have to make sure that those two things don’t combine to draw more than the service can handle. And that’s what our collar does.
Q Charged: Obviously, this system will have to be installed by a licensed electrician, correct?
A Whit: Just in thumbnail, the value propositions are very equivalent for EV and for solar. For solar, you need to have enough ampacity in your service panel, and also easy access to that service panel in order to tie the inverter into the service panel. So, solar comes o your roof, goes inside your house, goes wherever your service panel is, and that’s where it’s wired in. ere’s a circuit breaker there that’s associated with that solar system. A lot of that’s just like with an EV charger. at solar PV system needs to have a circuit breaker associated with it that has to t with the total limit of your service panel. What we’re doing for solar is exactly the same as what we’re doing for EV, with a little bit of extra magic on the EV side. We have a circuit breaker inside the collar that allows you to connect the solar into the collar and have the circuit breaker sized to the inverter. So, you just take the solar o the roof, tie it into your meter collar, and
A Chris: Yes, and Siemens has a network of existing installers that we work with. And this will be very simple—you get trained on it in ve minutes. It’s literally unplugging something, plugging the collar in, and then plugging the meter back into the socket. en the wire and conduit will run from wherever your charger is right into the collar. And that’s another convenience. A lot of meters are near driveways, so then it’s a really easy installation of the charger there.
Q Charged: You’re estimating that a customer could save 60 to 80% by using this and avoiding the need for electrical panel upgrades, is that right?
A Whit: Yes, It’s a 15-minute job for an electrician, but they’ll have a “get out of bed” cost they charge no matter what, just to come to your house. You can probably do the math as far as what the electrician will charge, and it’ll vary by state, but it isn’t a particularly big job. So, the total installed cost versus a service panel upgrade, it really is a fraction.
It will act as a circuit breaker, so if the combined load of the EV and the house are approaching overloading the circuit, then it will shut off the EV charger.Images courtesy of ConnectDER
Q Charged: We’ve been covering Siemens work in the residential EV charging market for many years now, so this seems like a natural partnership. Siemens is also in the commercial and eet charging space as well, correct?
A Chris: Yes. Our e-mobility business has a full range of hardware and so ware for EV charging. We break up the market into four segments. For Level 2, the residential and the commercial; and then for Level 3, DC fast chargers, it’s the public market and then the private depots like transit agencies and truck depots. We serve all of those markets. We have so ware that will manage eet charging as well, and then we can provide services. So, if you’re building a charging depot, we can do a turnkey service and provide the chargers. One of the di erences for us is that we also have electrical equipment, so we have all the make-ready equipment, the switch gear and circuit breakers and everything else to connect up to the grid interconnection, which could include a transformer if it’s a larger charging depot.
Q Charged: Is there a particular residential home size or age that you have identi ed as most in need of major electrical upgrades to accommodate Level 2 charging?
A Whit: ere’s one element that we really haven’t talked about it in the media too much, and that’s the overlap with
underserved communities that we can help unlock. ere’s a high level of overlap between 100-amp service panels in smaller homes and low- and middle-income customers. We feel there’s a particularly strong alignment here of what we’re doing to help unlock access to EV charging for a greater swath of people.
You pair that up with the incentives that federal and state governments are providing for EVs for low- and middle-income customers, and I think it’s a really nice alignment there. We’re really excited about those two things going hand in hand. We feel like there’s a really nice additional play on top of just being a bene t to everybody—there’s a particularly strong bene t to underserved communities.
There’s a high level of overlap between 100-amp service panels in smaller homes and low- and middleincome customers.Image courtesy of Siemens
For Mr. or Ms. Typical EV Driver, daily charging is simplicity itself: we plug it in in the evening, and in the morning it’s ready to go. But there are numerous applications for which things get more complicated: highway charging, eet charging, charging for drivers who can’t install home chargers.
e race to nd ways to cost-e ectively address these needs has led to an explosion of novel technological ideas—some are clearly clever, some are kind of crazy...and for some, we’ll have to say the jury is still out. (All the companies cited below have been featured in past issues of Charged, and/or in our Newswire blog.)
Clearly clever: Tesla Superchargers; the new Plug & Charge standard; the new MCS standard for heavy-duty vehicles; Momentum Dynamics’ wireless taxi stands; battery storage combined with on-site solar panels.
Could be considered crazy: a system we covered a few years ago that involved pouring hundreds of walnut-sized minibatteries into a tank on the vehicle, then sucking them out with a vacuum cleaner-like machine when they were depleted.
Battery swapping? When Better Place tried it a decade ago, it seemed crazy—there was zero chance that automakers were going to design their vehicles around a third-party swapping system. However, Chinese automaker NIO claims to have found a viable niche in taxi eets. Could it lock eet customers into buying its vehicles, as printer makers lock us into buying their ink cartridges?
ere are clearly viable applications for the various forms of mobile charging. Lightning eMotors, Heliox, EVgo, FreeWire, Volkswagen and others have developed portable chargers on wheels that incorporate battery storage. ese are handy for auto dealerships and public events (they also provide a use case for second-life batteries). It’s harder to see the value of the wheeled robots that are supposed to autonomously guide themselves around parking lots, summoned by an app. (What’s the big advantage over installing a much simpler and cheaper wired charger?)
Envision Solar’s EV ARC is a semi-portable charging station with battery storage and solar panels—it can be carried on a atbed truck and deployed in minutes wherever a semi-permanent solution is needed (events, disaster relief). A similar solution is 3ti’s Papilio3, a solar+battery charger that’s built around a recycled shipping container, and is designed to be deployed within 24 hours.
Other mobile charging solutions from Lightning eMotors and SparkCharge are designed to be mounted on a truck to o er roadside charging. Yes, this is a necessary part of the EV ecosystem (if only as an answer to the bozos who always ask, “What do you do if you run out of charge?”). We’ve also seen a roadside charging solution powered by natural gas, o ered by a Russian rm. We’ll simply note that the company’s timing is not good.
Some boosters see on-demand charging as an everyday solution for drivewayless EV owners who can’t install home chargers, but the economics of this aren’t promising. In most cities, rolling a truck and a driver to deliver a charge will surely cost at least 50 bucks per call, so it’s hard to see how these companies can sustain the introductory prices o ered. Before dismissing the idea as crazy, however, remember that some EV owners have paid $100,000 for their rides—such well-to-do drivers might not mind paying a couple of hundred a month for a convenient concierge charging service. Wireless charging, and its less-glamorous relative, automated conductive charging, have struggled to make it into the mainstream. ose who call it crazy point out that it involves adding a lot of hardware to gain a little convenience—and for individual passenger vehicles they’re probably right. But the idea moves into the clever category when you consider it in a eet context. ROCSYS, which makes a robotic charging system, told us that there are many reasons a eet operator might not want their drivers getting out of the vehicle to plug in a charging cable. Momentum Dynamics, which makes a wireless system for commercial and transit eets, explained how its system, by topping up a battery en route, can enable eets to deliver the same service with fewer buses and/or smaller battery packs.
What about the dozens of proposed solutions to the Plight of the Drivewayless? is is widely considered to be a major obstacle to EV adoption in dense cities. London in particular has become a laboratory for systems aimed at drivers who can’t install chargers at their homes. Some of these solutions are clever: Connected Kerb, Char.gy and Voltpost make chargers that can be incorporated into lampposts or other street furniture. Others are too clever for their own good: one solution calls for charging posts that rise up out of the pavement when needed; another requires a special “charging wand” that connects to a ush-mounted charging socket. Considering the abysmal reliability rates of plain old chargers, adding moving parts to the system seems like a move in the wrong direction.
In fact, when trying to distinguish between the clever and the crazy, one criterion stands out: simplicity. A cheap, easy-to-install-and-use, low-tech solution, even if it only addresses one aspect of the charging conundrum, is usually going to be preferable to gee-whiz sci- gadgetry. One of the most sensible solutions we’ve seen is a two-meter aluminum conduit, which allows some city dwellers to run a charging cable across the sidewalk to a street parking space, with no tripping hazard.
Now, just because we’ve had a little fun at the expense of some of the more adventurous entrepreneurs out there, don’t think we mean to discourage anyone. We’re happy to let a hundred owers blossom, and we wish all these companies well. We remember the days when the Tesla founders were called “crazy” and worse. e truly crazy people are those who cite the charging challenges described above as reasons to forget about EVs and stick with old-fashioned ICE vehicles.
