Energy Storage

AFC Energy is pleased to announce that one of its hydrogen fuel cells is being showcased at Air One - the world's first fully operational Urban-Air Port, situated in Coventry, which opened last week. The hydrogen fuel cell being supplied by the Company is being used to charge Air One's fleet of EV service vehicles.

Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action formally announced its "Battery Pass" project and its eleven consortium members, including Circulor, the leading supply chain traceability provider, as the project's technology implementor. The announcement marks the beginning of a three-year, German-funded R&D project to develop core data specifications and technical standards for a "passport", as well as a standardized dataspace to manage batteries that are manufactured or placed into service in the European Union.

The light transporter from Quantron offers a battery-electric cargo solution, ideal for sustainable deliveries over the last mile, in plant traffic and for municipalities.

SUN Mobility is an Indian battery swapping operator. Its open-architecture energy infrastructure solution, which includes smart batteries that can be swapped at quick interchange stations, is enabling electrification, especially in the shared mobility segments.

In 2007, the Fisker Automotive Company was founded by current CEO Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler. Fisker Automotive Company had a tumultuous existence with early setbacks jeopardizing the company's future and leading to its bankruptcy. In 2016, Henrik Fisker revived the brand and it is now on the way to mass production at the end of 2022.

SCHOTT AG is a large multinational company whose core is in specialty glassmaking. SCHOTT's product range encompasses virtually every area where glass is used, from telescope mirror materials to historical glazing for building restoration — this profile, however, focuses on its activities around augmented reality (AR), particularly in optical waveguide substrates. SCHOTT's head office is in Mainz, Germany.

If you could shrink enough for a fantastic voyage across a lithium battery electrode, you'd see the level of charge at every scale is highly uneven. This is not good for the battery's health. Researchers who recognize the problem worked to view in great detail how the various particles in an electrode interact with lithium during use.

Engineers have designed a heat engine with no moving parts. Their new demonstrations show that it converts heat to electricity with over 40 percent efficiency — a performance better than that of traditional steam turbines.

This premium article explores ChargedEVs, an online series of presentations relating to the electric vehicle market. This article will cover presentations relating to materials and components for the EV battery pack and electric motors, with a focus on thermal management and system protection.

As the population ages and with the advancements in medical technology, the number of patients using implanted electronic devices, such as artificial pacemakers and defibrillators, is increasing worldwide. Currently, the batteries of body-implanted devices are replaced by an incision surgery, which may lead to health complications. Accordingly, a new charging technique by wireless energy transfer is emerging that can also be used to charge the batteries of underwater devices, such as sensors, that are used for monitoring the conditions of submarine cables.

Statevolt will construct a 54GWh Gigafactory in Imperial Valley, southern California with an expected CapEx of $4 billion. To launch the new facility, Statevolt has also signed a Letter of Intent with Controlled Thermal Resources.

The VISION EQXX from Mercedes-Benz has now taken to the roads of Europe and has demonstrated its range and efficiency. Travelling from Sindelfingen across the Swiss Alps and Northern Italy, to its destination of Cassis on the Côte d'Azur, it covered more than 1,000 km in everyday traffic, on a single battery charge.

Glencore and General Motors Co.announced a multi-year sourcing agreement in which Glencore will supply GM with cobalt from its Murrin Murrin operation in Australia. Cobalt is an important metal in the production of EV batteries, and the cobalt processed from Australia will be used in GM's Ultium battery cathodes, which will power electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC HUMMER EV and Cadillac LYRIQ.

As stated at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in November 2021, Mercedes-Benz is committed to a faster transition to electric cars. The company aims to at least halve CO2 emissions per passenger car over the lifecycle by the end of this decade compared to 2020 levels.

Ample, a startup established in 2014 and based out of San Francisco, is developing a modular battery swapping solution. The company is focusing on fleets, has integrated its modular batteries into nine vehicle models across five different automakers, and has five swapping stations across San Francisco. Ample's goal is to offer fully automated battery swaps in around ten minutes at small, self-contained swap stations.

RWE is committed to investing €50 billion gross through to 2030 to expand its powerful and green generation capacity to 50 gigawatts, with up to €1.5 billion gross already earmarked for Ireland through current projects being developed.

Gogoro is a two-wheeler OEM based in Taiwan and was founded in 2011. It makes swap-capable battery packs, e-scooters, drivetrain platforms, and operates a network of battery swapping stations.

The researchers behind an energy system that makes it possible to capture solar energy, store it for up to eighteen years and release it when and where it is needed have now taken the system a step further. After previously demonstrating how the energy can be extracted as heat, they have now succeeded in getting the system to produce electricity, by connecting it to a thermoelectric generator. Eventually, the research could lead to self-charging electronics using stored solar energy on demand.

Just one week after Emirates Team New Zealand first christened their hydrogen powered foiling catamaran 'Chase Zero', the 10m prototype was up and foiling around the Waitematā harbour in Auckland.

Battery swapping is an emerging alternative to fast charging EVs that is taking off mainly in China. The battery swapping industry is seeing large investments and government support in China with a few brave players swimming against an overwhelming tide. While the majority of the business activity is occurring in China by local operators, some key players are demonstrating the viability of this technology in other parts of the world too. This premium article covers some of the key players involved in the battery swapping industry.