09-01-2016, 03:31 AM
09-24-2016, 03:45 AM
Auto executives are traveling to a remote Austrian town where three brothers are designing electric cars they say can go faster and further than anything made by Tesla Motors Inc. Kreisel Electric GmbH says it’s fielding 20 inquiries a day from automotive icons including BMW AG, Mclaren Automotive Ltd. and Volkswagen AG. They’re asking the Kreisel brothers for help negotiating a U-turn away from fossil fuels to join the electric-vehicle revolution.
Three Brothers Seek to Overtake Tesla With Souped-Up Plug-In Cars - Bloomberg
Estes is currently the CEO and chief product architect of SunCulture Solar, and the inventor of SolPad -- a first-of-its kind integrated solar-plus-storage solution designed for the masses. Each unit features a high-efficiency solar panel, a built-in solid-state battery, an inverter system, and software that uses gamification to promote sustainable energy use, all contained in a single device. Traditionally, solar and home energy management devices are bought and installed separately. “With our groundbreaking component miniaturization and integration, we’ve transformed solar -- much like the smartphone revolutionized the personal computer sector -- combining numerous components into a single device that’s significantly less expensive, more powerful, and easier to use than conventional systems,” said Estes, who introduced SolPad at an event last night in San Francisco... By simplifying the installation process and the reducing the number of components that need to be deployed with each install, SolPad Home is estimated to reduce the total cost of installed solar and energy storage by up to 50 percent when compared to existing product offerings. The savings are primarily achieved through the integration or elimination of balance-of-system parts and by reducing soft costs, such as labor.
Meet SolPad, an Integrated Solar-Plus-Storage Solution Fresh Out of Stealth Mode | Greentech Media
10-20-2016, 01:27 AM
Faraday Future, the Chinese-backed, California-based electric-car maker, remains secretive about its plans to develop a record-breaking battery. The company announced a supply agreement with Korea’s LG Chem earlier this month, saying the collaboration would result in “in the world’s highest energy density for a production automotive battery.” The announcement is typical for Faraday -- lots of hype, but few specifics.
Faraday Future Makes More Big Claims—but Fails to Back Them Up With Any Details | Greentech Media
The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) has developed technology that it claims is capable of increasing the storage capacity of rechargeable batteries by 50%. A spin-off company, LeydenJar Technologies, has been formed to commercialise the invention. The technology replaces the conventional graphite anode (of a lithium-ion cell) with a pure silicon anode, increasing the storage capacity of this component of the lithium-ion battery by a factor of ten and the storage capacity of the whole battery up to 50%. However, the problem with silicon is that it expands when the battery is charged and that component increases in size three-fold, which can make silicon layers brittle and cause the battery material to fall apart. ECN applies the silicon in columns onto copper foil using a plasma-based nanotechnology, thus creating enough space for expansion and allowing the battery to remain stable. The layer ultimately needs to be 10 microns thick for commercial application, which is ten times thinner than a sheet of paper.
Research spin-out claims 50% increase in Li-ion battery storage | Electronics EETimes
But, as first reported by Bloomberg, Fisker is back and working on an electric car under the newly minted Fisker Inc. that will be revealed in 2017. Fisker is currently producing his supercar, the Force 1, though VLF automotive. He is best known as the automotive designer behind iconic cars like the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9. Fisker has promised his new electric car will have a range exceeding 400 miles — which would be huge, considering the longest range currently belongs to the high-end version of the Model S, which gets 315 miles on a single charge. We took a closer look at the battery tech Fisker is promising to use, which he refers to as "the major leap, the next big step."
Henrik Fisker is using revolutionary battery tech for electric car - Business Insider
As electric cars continue to improve, so do the efficiencies — or the ability to input a unit of energy and to realize more output. In fact, traditional cars running on an internal combustion engine have a 30 percent efficiency. The rest is lost to heat, sound and energy. Just refining a gallon of gasoline takes 7 kilowatts-hours per gallon, says Thor Hinckley, a electric vehicle and renewable energy expert with CLEAResult, a consulting specializing in energy efficiency. But vehicles that run on electricity have an 80 percent efficiency rate, or they convert 80 percent of those Btus to energy, he explains. The efficiencies are greater because of the superiority of the electric motor over that of the internal combustion engine — not because one unit of energy is better than another.
What's Driving The Move To Electric Vehicles?
Moreover, Bloomberg New Energy Finance is predicting that electric cars will be just as cost effective as traditional vehicles by 2022. The firm’s analysis assumes the price per barrel of oil is between $50-$70 a barrel. By 2040, it expects electric vehicles to make up 35 percent of the transportation market. According to the Energy Information Administration, electric vehicles are now 1.6 percent of the overall car market. But that could increase in 2025 to 6 percent. “If we think forward, the discussion moves to the price per mile,” says Hinckley. “The studies I’ve seen show that the price per mile is 30-50 percent less for an electric vehicle. This assumes the cars cost roughly the same amount of money.”
What's Driving The Move To Electric Vehicles?
Siemens believes a recently launched thermal storage concept for wind power could deliver energy at significantly below €0.10 per kilowatt-hour (USD $111 per megawatt-hour). The cost would be for large-scale deployment of what Siemens is calling its "Future Energy Solution" (FES) and would depend on the exact nature of the storage application or applications involved, Till Barmeier, Siemens project manager, told GTM. If achievable, the cost would beat U.S. gas peaker levelized energy costs of between $165 and $218 per megawatt-hour, as calculated by Lazard last year. It would also outdo other forms of storage analyzed by Lazard, including pumped hydro, with a lower limit of $188 per megawatt-hour.
Siemens Tests Breakthrough Thermal Storage System for Wind | Greentech Media
11-16-2016, 06:01 AM
Researchers at Columbia University ((New York, NY)) have developed a new method to increase the energy density of lithium (Li-ion) batteries by up to a third. The team, led by Yuan Yang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Columbia Engineering, has built a trilayer structure that is stable even in ambient air, which makes the battery both longer lasting and cheaper to manufacture. "When lithium batteries are charged the first time, they lose anywhere from 5-20% energy in that first cycle," said Yang. "Through our design, we've been able to gain back this loss, and we think our method has great potential to increase the operation time of batteries for portable electronics and electrical vehicles."
New Li-ion battery design method promises higher energy density | Electronics EETimes
Lithium-ion battery costs have declined by 65 percent since 2010, which have helped automakers close the gap on sale prices with convention vehicles. Also, the range of EVs have extended, as the figures mentioned above associated with new models indicate. More EV models will satisfy a range of consumer needs. Moreover, refueling infrastructure, one of the most critical pieces of the puzzle, continues to improve as well. The number of EV refueling stations have surged by 89 percent over the last three years.
11-19-2016, 06:32 AM
Toyota has been vocal in its belief that hydrogen-powered vehicles like the Mirai will eventually replace gas and diesels. But this insistence makes the company's recent decision to launch a long-range EV similar to the Tesla such a surprise. Reuters (via Nikkei) is reporting that the carmaker will quietly reverse its longstanding resistance to pure all-electric vehicles in the very near future. It's believed that Toyota will launch a new EV with a range of around 186 miles on a charge by 2020 as it looks to make all of its products emissions-free by 2050.
Toyota could abandon hydrogen in favor of EVs
Toyota Motor Corp is setting up a new in-house unit to develop electric cars, offering its strongest endorsement yet of a technology it has not embraced wholly, as take up of a rival technology it pioneered remains slow. Japan's biggest automaker said on Thursday it will launch next month a unit that will start with four persons and be responsible for planning a strategy for developing and marketing electric cars to keep pace with tightening global emissions regulations.
Toyota sharpens focus on electric cars through new in-house unit | Reuters
Lithium-ion battery costs have declined by 65 percent since 2010, which have helped automakers close the gap on sale prices with convention vehicles. Also, the range of EVs have extended, as the figures mentioned above associated with new models indicate. More EV models will satisfy a range of consumer needs. Moreover, refueling infrastructure, one of the most critical pieces of the puzzle, continues to improve as well. The number of EV refueling stations have surged by 89 percent over the last three years.
Can Trump Derail The EV Revolution? | OilPrice.com
Lithium is poised to be the longest-running mining bull market of the century, and independent, junior minors like Millennial Lithium Corp. are having their stocks pushed higher and higher as this market gets ready to explode under a soaring demand and tight supply situation.
All Eyes On Argentina As Lithium Boom Takes Shape | OilPrice.com
A Norwegian technology company has launched a fuel cell system to provide megawatts of power in the electricity grid. IMS ECUBES has launched a combined heat and power (CHP) system based around a fuel cell from US supplier Ballard Power Systems and power technology from Arcola Energy in the UK.
Fuel cell combined heat and power system launched | Electronics EETimes
A new engine that generates electricity from waste hot water could reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions for thousands of different businesses, from cargo shipping to data centres. So says Exergyn, a firm based in Dublin, Ireland, which plans to run the first industrial trials of its technology next year. Globally, Exergyn estimates that the heat lost in waste hot water from industrial processes amounts to around twice the energy in Saudi Arabia’s annual oil and gas output.
Energy-efficient engine turns waste hot water into electricity | New Scientist
11-25-2016, 09:42 AM
A team at the University of Central Florida has developed a process for creating supercapacitors with 20 times the battery life of current lithium-ion batteries. The flexible supercapacitors can also be fully charged in a matter of seconds, and can be recharged more than 30,000 times without degrading. Nitin Choudhary, a postdoctoral associate who conducted much of the research, said: “If they were to replace the batteries with these supercapacitors, you could charge your mobile phone in a few seconds and you wouldn’t need to charge it again for over a week.”
Breakthrough could lead to smartphone batteries that last for weeks
Fluidic Energy is a commercial-scale, zinc-air battery firm. Although the firm has raised more than $150 million in funding from strategic, venture and government sources, it has managed to keep a relatively low profile. That is, until now -- with recent news of the firm's memorandum of understanding in partnership with Caterpillar and PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, Indonesia's state-owned electric utility. Normally, we would apply Mehta's law to any MOU and discount the news. But Fluidic is in production and has shipped 50,000 of its battery cells, a total of more than 10 megawatts of battery storage for deployments in developing nations as a replacement for diesel generators or lead-acid batteries. Fluidic CEO Steve Scharnhorst admits that an "MOU is just a right to have a discussion," but notes that the company is moving fast and is already in the middle of contract negotiation..
Fluidic Energy Is the Biggest Zinc-Air Battery Startup You Haven’t Heard Of | Greentech Media
Over the past years, hydrogen fuel cell and battery propulsion technologies gave themselves a race about the pole position in electromobility. A joint study by the Stanford University and TU Munich (Munich Technical University) generated a rather significant hint which one makes more sense. Fuel cell fans must be very strong now: Battery electric cars are clearly superior over fuel cell, at least in terms of sustainability. The reason is that hydrogen requires a very costly infrastructure; batteries therefore are the more cost-effective solution.
Batteries more sustainable than fuel cells, study says | Electronics EETimes
11-25-2016, 09:46 AM
Attracting less attention on Wisteria Lane was Tesla’s Powerwall 2, a major upgrade of its home battery for electricity storage. When the original Powerwall was released last year, I was skeptical. Mostly, it was just too pricey for the amount of power it provided, especially in the U.S. where electricity is cheap and most people can sell their excess solar power back to the grid. Version 2 is a much different product. It packs more than twice the capacity—14 kilowatt hours versus 6.4 kilowatt hours—for a cheaper price after installation. It includes a built-in Tesla-brand inverter and comes with a ten year, infinite-cycle warranty.
No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming - Bloomberg
Devices with Quick Charge 4 technology can get up to 5 hours of battery life on a 5-minute charge, says Qualcomm.
Qualcomm can charge your phone faster than you can read this story - CNET
Researchers at the University of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) have developed a glow-in-the-dark dye that has potential for redox flow batteries for energy storage in the home. In experiments, a battery using a fluorescent dye called BODIPY - boron-dipyrromethene - operated efficiently and with longevity, running well after 100 cycles.
Fluorescent dye holds promise for large-scale rechargeable batteries | Electronics EETimes
11-29-2016, 11:07 PM
A high penetration of renewables has started to cause resource-planning issues for some states, such as California and Hawaii. Not only do grid operators have to prepare for a spike in electricity usage in the late afternoon, they also have to account for negative pricing and potential over-generation in the late morning and early afternoon -- an issue commonly known as the duck curve. Electric vehicles (EVs), if managed properly, could offer a solution. The increasing complexity on the grid caused by renewables has created the need for more flexible resources. A recent set of reports from GTM Research identify EVs as an important part of the integrated resource planning process with the ability to mitigate duck curve issues.
How Electric Vehicles Are Becoming a Tool for Grid Stability | Greentech Media
Eighty years before Musk was born, Edison was urging U.S. cities to set up networks of charging stations so those newfangled horseless carriages could run on electricity rather than gasoline.
12-02-2016, 11:49 PM
The federal energy program that’s best-known for a failed loan to solar manufacturer Solyndra LLC is generating billions for the government, and probably won’t be going anywhere under Donald Trump. The incoming president can’t unilaterally kill the U.S. Energy Department’s loan programs office. Only Congress can do that, and it would require new legislation. And that’s doubtful, according to the program’s executive director and his two most recent predecessors, all appointees of President Barack Obama.
Trump Can’t Kill Solyndra Loan Program That Outperforms Banks - Bloomberg
It’s about the closest you can get to an energy industry beauty parade. Every year, InnoEnergy, an accelerator backed by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology, holds a two-day gathering to present the companies and projects under its wing to customers and investors. Called The Business Booster, this year’s event in Barcelona, Spain brought together 150 of InnoEnergy’s ventures. InnoEnergy, which usually holds a 10 percent share in the companies and projects it fosters, gives some of the most promising startups a 4-minute slot to pitch their concepts to the audience. Energy storage companies are getting increasing attention at the event. Here are some of the companies that took to the stage.
12 European Energy Storage Startups to Watch | Greentech Media
It was expensive but necessary to build the Superchargers as part of the overall Tesla ecosystem. But it's also akin to a traditional automaker opening its own gas stations to get people to buy cars. That's what the electric-car industry is now confronting: a potentially nightmarish added cost. It's moving forward, together — Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes, and BMW just partnered to develop a fast-charging network in Europe.
Automakers face charging problem for electric cars - Business Insider
12-02-2016, 11:52 PM
Authorities in London said that "at least" 20 brand new hydrogen buses would be delivered as part of a £10 million ($12.47 million) "part-EU funded project." Transport for London would provide at least £5 million of funding. Air pollution is an issue across the U.K. as a whole. A report earlier this year linked exposure to outdoor air pollution to roughly 40,000 deaths in the country a year.
Hydrogen-powered double-decker buses are coming to London
FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) says it will restructure to reduce costs and align production levels with current levels of demand. The company says it will reduce materials spend as well as implementing various cost control initiatives. A 17% workforce reduction of a total of 96 positions is included in the initiative. FuelCell says the production rate has been reduced to 25 megawatts annually, from the prior rate of 50 megawatts annually, in order to position for delays in anticipated order flow. The production level is anticipated to be temporary and will be reevaluated as order flow dictates.
“I think what Elon was trying to say is they have 300,000 Model 3 depositors, and SolarCity sells 100,000 residential systems a year, so you can see how the synergy between electric-vehicle owners and solar owners reverberates off of each other and ends up getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” said Jigar Shah, co-founder of Generate Capital, during a live taping of the Energy Gang at GTM’s Grid Edge World Forum on Wednesday. For Sonia Aggarwal, director of strategy at the think tank Energy Innovation who oversees America’s Power Plan, the opportunity to sell more products isn’t the most exciting aspect of the SolarCity deal. Rather, it's the potential to merge product offerings within a single entity and also sell grid services.