LiTHIUM BALANCE

Opportunities for power electronics in electric vehicles

The day is coming when electric vehicles (EVs) land, water and airborne are as much as 80% electronics and electrics if we include the power components.

Report on EVS26

EVS26 in Los Angeles this month reminded one of the children's chant, "When she was good she was very, very good but when she was bad she was awful". The networking opportunities were superb, the welcoming reception and the Gala Dinner being truly memorable.

Electric Vehicles Land, Sea and Air USA 2012 - Award winners

The entries were judged by Dr Zafer Sahinoglu, Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs; Ed Benjamin, Chairman Light Electric Vehicles Association and Dr Brien Seeley, President Café foundation.

Electrovaya to provide lithium ion battery systems for Chrysler

Electrovaya Inc announced that it has signed a contract to supply Chrysler with Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery systems for 25 Town and Country minivans that will be part of a demonstration fleet of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles that Chrysler Group LLC has developed in partnership with the United States Department of Energy.

Can Sony Li-ion batteries recover market share?

Sony was once the leader in the lithium-ion "Li-ion" battery market. In 1991, it was the first in the world to commercialize them. It has focused mainly on compact batteries for PCs and mobile phones. The lithium-ion battery market continues to expand, driven by strong demand for mobile phones, PCs and now electric vehicles. For example, such batteries are seen in an increasing minority of pure electric forklift trucks and boats, in most off-road electric vehicles and in virtually all Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUVs, electric aircraft and electric airships, not just in on-road electric vehicles from buses to trucks, cars and some e-bikes. Sony is noticeably absent from all this vehicle activity, despite Sony CEO Howard Stringer announced plans, in 2009, to enter the automotive battery business.

Electric vehicles become electronic

About 80% of the value of a military jet aircraft lies in the circuitry, up from almost nothing a century ago. Civil airliners are about 50% electric and electronic, whereas the family car is around 30% so far, all these percentages steadily rising. The point is that an aircraft has far more than the radar, communications and other instruments accessed by the pilot: it is a sea of sensors, fuel controls and servo systems in the engines, wings and elsewhere. Even the family car adds much more than the satnav, phone, proximity sensors and other electronics directly assisting the driver, the MEMS accelerometer controlling the air bags being just one of an increasingly huge number of out-of-sight safety and other measures controlled by circuitry.

Comprehensive line-up for Electric Vehicles Land, Sea & Air

Analysts IDTechEx have added a number of carefully chosen best-in-class speakers to the lineup for their unique event that covers the whole subject for the first time. There are six on-road vehicle manufacturers plus two companies involved in off-road electric vehicles. Six organisations describe electric aircraft work and four speakers cover their inland and seagoing electric boats.

Electric Vehicles - But Not As We Know Them

Today's electric family cars are useless in telling us anything about the future. The design and adoption of electric vehicles is subject to sudden change driven by surprising factors. The unique event "Electric Vehicles - Land Sea Air" in Stuttgart, Germany is alone in looking at the big picture in order to clarify what is really going on.

New top speed record set for electric motorcycle

The SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing team has set a top speed record for an electric motorcycle of 190.6 mph in the Mojave Mile Shootout.

European battery project SOMABAT begins

The SOMABAT (SOlid MAterials for high power Li polymer BATteries) project is a recent venture that aims to produce working prototype lithium polymer batteries for use in commercial electric vehicles. Various parameters will be explored by a European research conglomerate consisting of 13 partners with the primary goals set to decrease environmental impact, increase stability and enhance performance.