OXIS Energy Ltd

Hybrid vehicle battery recycling system

Toyota's established nationwide battery recycling system collects end-of-life Nickel metal hydride batteries safely from the market and makes sustainable use of limited resources possible.

Blunt motor and battery talk at EV Japan

The conference speakers were surprisingly blunt in their appraisal of batteries and motors for electric vehicles at last week's EV Japan conference. Batteries control the cost of pure electric vehicles by a big margin and they are the largest part of the cost of hybrids, though a lesser percentage.

Blunt vehicle talk at EV Japan Conference Tokyo

You have to listen to the world leader in electric vehicles, Toyota, because it pulled even further ahead of number two in the last year. Its hybrid car sales nearly doubled to about 1.32 units in 2011, more than all other hybrid cars put together.

Sion Power announces $50 million equity investment

Sion Power Corporation, announced that BASF invested $50 million to acquire an equity ownership position in the company.

EV event uniquely reflecting the new realities

We have entered 2012 with an electric vehicle scene that is very different from that which was envisaged not long ago. There are now six key enabling technologies not three and vehicle makers increasingly make some of them, so suppliers increasingly have to compete with their largest potential customers. Precious metals in EV components are being removed remarkably rapidly.

Polymer lithium sulphur EV battery

The world's 1st commercial pure electric vehicle battery system powered by OXIS's Polymer Lithium Sulphur chemistry and technology.

Latest EV trends and dead ends

Europe's largest electric vehicle show eCarTec, that has just taken place in Munich Germany, was an excellent place to see the latest trends and dead ends in electric vehicles.

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.

Much Bigger e-mobility picture revealed

Electric vehicle parts are not evolving: they are changing completely. Sometimes, the traction battery will be replaced by a supercapacitor or supercabattery and the dumb skin of the vehicle by smart skin. Energy harvesting and range extenders are new key enabling technologies and AC motors are often replacing DC motors. This is an industry in ferment.

Electric vehicle value chain is changing

Currently the key enabling technologies in electric vehicles are motors, batteries and control systems. For the next ten years, add to that energy harvesting, supercapacitors (ultracapacitors) and range extenders that replace internal combustion engines in hybrids, notably fuel cells and mini turbines.

Research into batteries to give electric cars the same range as petrol

Research is being conducted at Risø DTU into the development and manufacture of new battery materials, e.g. improved electrode and electrolyte materials for the next generation of Li-ion and Li-air batteries. This requires insight and 'nano-scale engineering' as well as detailed understanding of the underlying processes.

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.

Two devices will replace lead acid traction batteries

It is like waiting for a bus. You wait and wait then two come at the same time. Alternatives to short lived, toxic lead acid traction batteries, with their indifferent performance, have been sought for over 100 years. Now both lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors are near to replacing lead acid traction batteries in the many traction applications where they are still used.

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.

Range extenders for hybrid vehicles - second vs third generation

We are in the decade of the hybrid electric vehicle despite the fact that most off road and underwater vehicles are pure electric.

Electromobility has a new key enabling technology

Foreign manufacturers of electric cars in China can own only minority shares and they must surrender intellectual property on at least one of what the government considers to be the three key enabling technologies for e-mobility. These are batteries, motors and control electronics. In exchange, foreigners gain access to a market they hope will be large enough to create cash flow that can be repatriated if the dominant partner approves.

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 military supercapacitor funding

ADA Technologies, Inc. has been awarded a $70,000 contract from the U.S. Army to begin Phase 1 of the development of an electrochemical supercapacitor (ultracapacitor) for use in hybrid military vehicles.