IONNA is a fledgling charging network with big goals, 30,000 charging bays by the end of 2030 with just five years to accomplish it.  Their first IONNA Rechargery broke ground in October of 2024 and the network came out of beta just in February this year, IONNA's shorter-term goal is for 1,000 charging bays open by the end of 2025. 

In April, IONNA opened six new Rechargeries, doubling their location footprint to 12 locations with 120 charging bays.  The number of Rechargeries under construction is more than double their current footprint with another 15 locations under active construction.

Back in February, IONNA had announced 100 locations under contract. That number in April has doubled to 200 locations with an additional 2,000 charging bays agreed on and in the pipeline. Late last year IONNA partnered with gas-station chain Sheetz in a strategic partnership to add Rechargeries at more than 50 Sheetz locations in the Eastern and Midwestern US. 

As part of this growth plan and to get the word out about their new network, IONNA is offering "Friends and Family" pricing to everyone at all IONNA stations with no subscriptions or additional fees. 

IONNA's founding member companies have begun rolling out Plug & Charge to select vehicles allowing for easy transactions through their respective branded apps. Additionally, some founding manufacturers are offering discounts at IONNA stations.

• BMW: Plug & Charge already live today. All IONNA locations and charge points are fully digitally integrated and accessible through the My BMW App and the in-vehicle navigation system. Special offers applicable to IONNA in the future.
• General Motors: Plug & Charge rolling out Q2 2025. GM EV drivers can easily find and access IONNA charging stations directly through their GM MyBrand apps, with full integration for a seamless experience.
• Honda: Plug & Charge in the future. Special offers applicable to IONNA.
• Hyundai: Plug & Charge is rolling out soon. 2025 IONIQ 5, IONIQ 5 N, IONIQ 6 and 2025 Genesis drivers who choose the Charging Credit offer receive up to $500 of charging credit through the ChargePoint app, with credits usable at IONNA stations. 
• Kia: Plug & Charge coming soon. Kia America’s recently launched Kia Charge Pass program allows “find, charge & pay” capability within the Kia Access App.
• Mercedes-Benz: Plug & Charge live today.  Model Year 2025 EV owners have the option to add a $1,000 public charging voucher to their MB.CHARGE PUBLIC account and apply it to charging sessions on the IONNA network. 
• Stellantis:  Plug & Charge coming soon. Certain model year drivers of the Jeep Wagoneer S, Dodge Charger Daytona and Fiat 500e who chose the Free2move Charge Go Package can apply the $600 of public charging credits at all IONNA Rechargeries.
• Toyota: Discounts coming soon.

All Rechargery stations feature a combination of NACS and CCS plugs making compatibility with most modern EVs a breeze (Sorry Nissan Leaf owners, no CHAdeMO). Each dispenser can operated up to 400kW with 200kW available per vehicle.  Many Rechargeries will feature pull-through facilities to accommodate EVs that are towing.

IONNA was founded in 2024 by eight of the largest auto manufacturers with a mission to build a coast to coast nationwide network of reliable electric vehicle charging coupled with the amenities travelers need.

Donut Lab started with the dream of a light weight fast in-wheel motor and they delivered it in a 17" form factor that packed 150 kW (201 HP) with 1200 Nm (886 lb-ft) of torque in a 21 kg (46 lbs) weight. Welcome to the TS Ultra from the Verge Motor cycles company. 

Experience Life on the Verge - Verge Motorcycles

Besides delivering on the dream of a possible light cycle from the movie TRON, the performance is amazing when you consider the instant torque with a 0 - 60 mph of 2.5 seconds and a max range of 233 miles.

Yet, then we have the company division that has been setup to expand on what this motor potential could be and with it, the Donut Lab company has taken this in multiple directions.

Donut Platform - Redefining Electric Mobility

Donut Lab has stated the following: Build the highest-performing EVs with game-changing specifications, outpace the competition, and achieve unparalleled efficiency. With reduced costs, faster time to market, and no need for high-budget R&D, our plug-and-play platform makes creating revolutionary vehicles simpler than ever.

While there is much more to this company as they also have battery packs, controllers, software, and robots, we will focus on the Motor, the key to the future of transportation.

Per Donut Lab, this is Direct Drive Reimagined, thus delivering the following benefits:

• Lighter & Compact
  • Direct drive minimizes unnecessary weight and takes up less space, making vehicles lighter, more agile, and allowing for increased design flexibility.
• Cost Reduction
  • Reduces costs by eliminating unneccesary transmission components while reducing wear and extending lifespan.
• Streamlined Design
  • A more straightforward design with fewer components reduces overall system complexity.
• Low Maintenance
  • With fewer moving parts, direct drive requires significantly less maintenance. This ensures customer satisfaction with reliable, long-term performance.
• Maximum Efficiency
  • Enhances energy transfer efficiency for improved performance. This translates to greater power output and lower energy consumption while extending range.
• Optimized Cooling
  • Generates less heat, reducing the need for additional cooling systems.

Here is their Press Release this week:

Pretty much Donut Lab has delivered their motor design in the following packages:

• Drone (120mm) - 3 kW (4 hp) power, 20 (15 lb-ft) Nm torque, 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) mass
• Scooter (12") - 15 kW (20 hp) power, 300 Nm (221 lb-ft) torque, 8 kg (18 lbs) mass
• Motorcycle (17") - 150 kW (201 hp) power, 1,200 Nm (885 lb-ft) torque, 21 kg (46 lbs) mass
• Automotive (21") - 630 kW (845 hp) power, 4,300 Nm (3,172 lb-ft) torque, 40 kg (88 lbs) mass
• Semi-truck (21") - 200 kW (268 hp) power, 3,000 Nm (2,213 lb-ft) torque, 40 kg (88 lbs) mass

Donut Lab has created a portfolio of options and yet one question that engineering minds always ask, "What about the unsprung Mass"?

Donut Labs response is as follows: Donut Lab motors offer the highest torque and power density, thus reducing the unsprung mass to an imperceptible level, all without sacrificing performance.

Donut Labs responded with the following message about their design simplicity:

The Donut Platform redefines vehicle design, drastically lowering the threshold for creating new vehicles. By eliminating unnecessary moving parts, the architecture and engineering processes become significantly simpler and more streamlined.

With our solution, vehicles are not only lighter, but the cost of the powertrain is also reduced compared to traditional systems. This simplified design brings multiple benefits: decreased weight leads to greater efficiency, reduced manufacturing complexity minimizes costs, and fewer components translate to lower maintenance needs over the vehicle’s lifetime.

The result is a powerful, efficient, and elegant architecture that empowers innovation and makes cutting-edge vehicle development more accessible than ever before.

Donut Lab stated the following for one of many use cases:

Hypercar
Donut Platform empowers hypercars with unparalleled agility, power, and design flexibility — setting a new benchmark for performance-driven innovation.

• Weight savings - Achieve a 108kg reduction on a 1,450kg vehicle
  for enhanced efficiency and performance.
• Performance - Delivering 1,500kW and 9,000Nm of total wheel torque,
  with acceleration from 0-100km/h in under 2 seconds.
• BOM cost saving - Reduce drivetrain Bill of Materials
  (BOM) costs by 55%.
• Space saving - Free up 200 liters of packaging space, enabling improved
  aerodynamics and increased cabin storage capacity.

You can read the various use case studies here: Industries - Donut Lab

A commonly held perception about lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and hybrids may not be true according to a Stanford University study that shows the batteries lasting longer than earlier lab tests had shown.

In a paper published on December 9th, researchers from the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory monitored differences in battery health when the batteries were subjected to two types of battery charge and discharge cycled. 

The most commonly used method of lab testing batteries involves charging and discharging the batteries using a constant current. Another more involved test, called Dynamic Cycling, mimics real-world activity more closely with surges in use followed by rest and regeneration cycles. 

The researchers found that the batteries subjected to the dynamic cycle test fared better in in health metrics such as the degradation of electrodes and lithium.

The team tested four charge-discharge patterns to 92 sample batteries over two years and found that the closer to real world use the pattern was, the better the health results of the battery at the end of the test with up to a 40 percent improvement over the standard test.

The results were unexpected because the researchers thought rapid changes in charge-discharge in the dynamic cycling test would cause faster degradation of the battery components. 

Fear of expensive battery replacement costs had impacted the adoption of electric vehicles despite the likelihood that they will last 12 years or more.

EVgo, a publicly traded national company offering public fast charging stations across North America teamed up with various auto companies like GM, Toyota and Subaru to offer fast charging stations access to customers of newly purchased electric vehicles.

EVgo had 1,000 public EV stations in August of 2023, and a year later in 2024 they opened their 2,000th DC fast charging station and are on pace to finish out 2024 with 2,850 DC fast charging stations nationwide. This is 390 locations in 45 metropolitan markets across 32 states. This is part of a longstanding collaboration to expand public access to EV charging in amenity-rich locations, such as grocery stores, retail centers and city centers. EVgo believes they can offer a convenient charging experience for those that cannot charge at home or work and include those such as renters living in apartments or multifamily dwellings where there is no local charging available.

The newest EVgo charging stations are five dual 350kW chargers serving 10 vehicles simultaneously. EVgo plans to take this new format forward into the future across the U.S. with their newly closed $1.25 Billion guaranteed loan from the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") loan program under title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program which will go to pay for building our EVgo's reliable public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

This secured loan will allow EVgo to construct 7,500 new DC Fast charging stations nationwide. This buildout will bring EVgo's total owned and operated network to at least 10,000 fast charging stations, tripling the EVgo footprint by 2029.

EVgo CEO, Badar Khan stated;

“As one of the nation’s leading public fast charging providers, we are well-positioned to deploy the infrastructure needed to support both current and future domestic investments in transportation electrification. This public-private partnership will help us continue to scale our operations to serve the influx of vehicle options that will be available to American consumers in the coming years.”

EV's now account for 9% of new vehicle sales and with the investments by the auto industry in EV with more and more new models coming out for sale, this will give increasing consumer confidence in the availability of public charging.

This DOE loan will not only allow EVgo to expand and grow their company but will be contributing to the creation of more than 1,000 jobs in the U.S., over 700 of which will be contacted resources by EVgo that will encompass roles in construction, engineering, development, and operations and maintenance.

The closing of this loan marks the conclusion of a thorough 18-month process.

Terms of EVgo $1.25 Billion Guaranteed Loan

This loan allows EVgo to move forward with offering innovation of next generation charging systems that EVgo will have joint development and secured domestic intellectual property rights. This new system will allow EVgo  more control over the full customer experience, streamlining the charging process as it delivers energy efficiency and cost savings.

The new architecture will be rolled out nationally beginning in the second half of 2026 in partnership with Delta Electronics. This collaboration will allow the next generation of DC fast chargers to offer an all-in-one power electronics, contactless payment interface while delivering a minimum of 400kW dispensers using extended cable lengths that allow easier maneuverability to reach any charging port.

EVgo is focused on giving the consumer an easy tap to pay system using current chipped credit/debit cards or giving a richer experience to those that choose to sign up for an EVgo account. This delivers on EVgo focus to serve all EV drivers, regardless of the make or model of their vehicle.

The joint development of next generation charging stations will allow EVgo to implement a variety of station configurations that will serve individual EVs or those with trailers easier to maximize the customer experience. The new system will deliver a faster, more efficient charging experience by taking advantage of each EVs unique charging curves, allowing to maximize the re-charge of ones battery while reducing energy consumption and costs.

Electrify America, the largest open Hyper-Fast charging network in the U.S., and Costco Wholesale are offering electric vehicle charging at five Costco Wholesale locations. The charging stations feature Hyper-Fast chargers- capable of speeds up to 350 kW- and will help meet the growing demand for open and convenient fast charging.

Electrify America - Costco Wholesale Station Facts

• Five charging stations in operation in California, Colorado, and Florida.
• In collaboration with Electrify America's Electrify Commercial® team, the charging stations are owned by Costco Wholesale.
• Costco Wholesale’s charging stations will be compatible with nearly all-electric vehicle (EV) brands, and pricing is set by Costco Wholesale.
• The charging stations are integrated into the Electrify America charging network, enabling customers to seamlessly locate the stations and pay for charging sessions via the Electrify America app.

Open Costco Wholesale stations:

• Clermont, Florida – 4600 Collina Terrace – 6 Hyper-Fast chargers
• Denver, Colorado - 4717 Airport Way – 6 Hyper-Fast chargers
• Loomis, California - 4107 Sierra College Blvd. – 14 Hyper-Fast chargers
• Pleasanton, California – 7220 Johnson Drive – 10 Hyper-Fast chargers
• Sacramento, California - 3881 E Commerce Way – 10 Hyper-Fast chargers

Electrify Commercial - the business unit from Electrify America designed to deliver turnkey EV charging solutions to retailers, convenience stores, travel centers, and electric utilities – is implementing EV charging programs tailored to fit customers’ individual needs. Electrify Commercial presents a unique opportunity for businesses like Costco Wholesale to own their own charging stations while leveraging Electrify America’s experience building the largest open, DC-fast charging network in the U.S.

Toyota Motor Corporation has joined the IONNA network to support their EV auto's is the first part of what has happened with IONNA, but the next is that IONNA broke ground on building their first 10 Covered Stall Fast Charging station that will offer both CCS and NACS along with a place to relax and refuel the body.

The 10 stalls will offer charging at up to 400kWs and 800+volt charging service. The location of this first station is APEX North Carolina.

Ionna has also finally appointed a CTO for the company, this person is Jackie Slope as CTO of the new venture.

Today, Toyota announced that it will join the seven other manufacturers already involved in IONNA as the eighth founding and investing member.  This move will grant Toyota and Lexus buyers access to the growing DC Fast Charging network.

The IONNA charging network was founded in July 2023 to provide an alternative to the fragmented and sometimes unreliable third-party networks currently available. Several non-Tesla manufacturers expressed frustration with frequent outages reported at Electrify America charging stations, the largest non-Tesla provider at the time.  Toyota joins the seven original manufacturers, BMW, Honda, General Motors, Kia, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis. 

IONNA began operations in February 2024 with the aim of the first charging stations coming online later this year. The charging stations will be located near food and retail establishments with canopies for shade. A mix of NACS and CCS adapters will be available at each station, covering the vast majority of electric vehicles currently offered. (Sorry certain Nissan LEAF owners).

Toyota currently offers two electric vehicles in North America, the Toyota bZ4X and the Lexus RZ and has announced plans for two all-new three-row electric SUVs built in Kentucky. Toyota plans to offer 30 BEV models globally across its Toyota and Lexus brands by 2030. 

Electric vehicle infrastructure news has been booming in the last few weeks and months.  Last week, Choice Hotels announced they would be rolling out EV charging at most of their properties following similar announcements by Marriott and Hilton back in September, in December Pilot / Flying J and General Motors Partnership opened their first 17 High-Speed Charging Locations, and IONNA, a charging network founded by seven auto manufacturers, commenced operations earlier this month.

In a recent press release about store remodels, Walmart announced they would be building a charging network of their own, beginning with 650 stores slated for remodeling in 2024 and another 150 new stores due to be built this year. Walmart's goal is to introduce coast-to-coast charging at thousands of locations across the US over the next five years.  As of April 2023, Walmart has 1,300 fast charging stations at 280 Walmart and Sam's Club locations nationwide.

While the hardware vendor has not been announced, Walmart will own and manage its charging infrastructure, with customers paying for charging sessions through the Walmart app.

In July 2022, Walmart announced that it was purchasing 4,500 Canoo Electric Delivery Vans for its stores.

Back on July 26th, 2023, we reported that seven automakers came together to form a charging network to rival that of Tesla.  Today, they announced that on February 1st, 2023, CEO Seth Cutler started IONNA operations in Torrance, California with the announcement of having received approval from regulatory authorities, and is commencing operations.

This joint venture of these foremost automakers will bring a open charging network that is accessible to all electric vehicles with both NACS and CCS connectors. The aim is to provide a seamless, vehicle integrated, best-in-class charging experience.

IONNA's charging stations will offer canopies to park under while charging wherever possible with additional customer amenities, such as restrooms, food service, with retail nearby or in the same complex, in digitally integrated and appealing locations. These locations will offer unprecedented comfort with network functions and services that facilitate seamless integration with participating automakers in-vehicle and in-app experiences, encompassing reservations, intelligent route planning and navigation, payment applications, transparent energy management, and additional features to come.

Aligning with the sustainability strategies of the seven automakers, IONNA has a target of 30,000 high-powered fast charging stations strategically positioned throughout North America, backed where possible by renewable energy and storage.

The first high-speed fast charging stations will open in the United States in 2024 followed by stations in Canada shortly thereafter.

IONNA LLC aims to become a leading force in providing convenient, accessible, and reliable North American Fast-charging infrastructure to significantly enhance the appeal of zero-emission driving for millions of customers.

Choice Hotels has announced a deal with Tesla to install chargers across its range of properties.  Participating brands Radisson, Quality Inn, Cambria, Comfort, Country Inn & Suite, and other Choice brands can add four or more Tesla Universal Wall Connectors for guests to use.  Guests are able to filter their hotel search to find properties offering charging inside the Choice Hotels app.  Customers who have one of Choice Hotels' branded credit cards will be eligible for points bonuses when used for charging at Choice Hotel locations.

The Tesla Universal Wall Connector is a 240-volt unit that uses a 48-amp circuit and can provide 11.5 kW of power. Its primary connector is the North American Charging Standard (NACS) format while a J1772 adapter is stored in the unit itself.  While not a fast charger, the availability of these units at a hotel solves the issue of charging while traveling.  For a Tesla Model-3, this charger can add up to 44 miles of range per hour. The Tesla Universal Wall Connector costs $595 per unit at the time of this writing and is natively compatible with virtually all new EVs on the road today.  Owners of the Nissan Leaf and other older EVs, however, are out of luck.

The Cambria brand of Choice Hotels has been aggressively expanding its EV charging availability, with 41% of properties already offering at least one charger and a goal of 100% by the end of 2024. The Choice Hotel footprint includes over 7,500 hotels in 46 countries.

Choice Hotels joins the Marriott and Hilton hotel chains' similar recent announcements of expanding EV charging access.

Our take: Charging while you sleep has always been one of the selling points of EVs, so charging while you sleep away from home makes perfect sense.

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Read More:

Hilton Adding EV Charging to Over 2,000 Hotels in North America
Marriott and EV Connect Partner to Install EV Chargers in North America

In a vague press release today, automobile supplier Magna announced they have signed a contract with a North American based vehicle manufacturer to produce a high-power, electrified, rear-drive unit for a high-end vehicle at an unnamed brand, with production commencing "in the next couple of years".  While details of the vehicle are cagey, there are some clues as to where the drive unit might end up.

Based on Magna's eDS Duo, the unit will utilize 800v architecture and be capable of roughly 974 horsepower and a mind-blowing 5,900 lb-ft of torque. Comprised of 2 motors, 2 gearboxes, and 2 inverters, the drive unit is built to be placed at the rear axle, but unlike Magna's eBeam unit, is set up for an independent rear suspension.  This tells us that the Magna contract is for a luxury, full-size product with rear-drive and a need for high and low range.

From here, we can speculate:

It's unlikely that General Motors needs such a unit as they already have the Hummer products in production, and the Escalade IQ has already been announced, so there would be no need for Manga to be circumspect about the announcement. Ditto Tesla, the CyberTruck is already in production and wouldn't need this announcement.

The Stellantis STLA-Large platform is 800-volt capable, and Ram has recently been talking about adding hybrid options to the Ram 1500 series line-up over and above the RAM 1500 REV. However, we don't think a Ram 1500 would get an independent rear suspension.   Could it be for an EV Grand Wagoneer? We think if Stellantis is the customer in this case, a Grand Wagoneer EV is the most likely recipient.

We think Lincoln is the most likely recipient at this point. Ford's EV platform is not yet 800-volt capable. However, they are hard at work on the next generation of their EV platforms.  With the rest of the industry coalescing around 800-volt architecture, we think it is unlikely that they won't go there also.  Additionally, the crosstown rival Cadillac, with their new Escalade IQ, could be making Lincoln green with envy.  Additionally, while building components in-house might make sense for a higher-volume model like the Ford F-150 Lightning, a lower-volume vehicle such as a Lincoln Navigator EV would make sense to outsource components to Magna for.  Magna and Ford have a long-standing partnership, with Magna even setting up shop at some of Ford's facilities in Michigan. Magna already provides a significant amount of components to the F-150 Lightning. The timing sounds right for Lincoln.  In May of 2021, Lincoln announced they would be working on a Navigator EV, but no date was set for release. It would also match with the product cadence at Ford for the 2026-2027 time frame.

What do you think? Which U.S. manufacturer needs a low-volume, high-power, rear-drive EV unit for a luxury product?

Every automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has their own platform, or they have signed an agreement with another OEM to use their EV platform.

The following chart lists all of the current North American Automotive OEMs and the platform details that they have released.

While there are a few oddball platform voltages such as the Toyota/Lexus/Subaru platform with a 355-volt system or the Lucid with a 924-volt system, the bulk of the OEM auto manufactures have gone with a 400-volt or 800-volt system. Many of these OEMs are already planning or have moved to an 800-volt platform such as Tesla with the production start of their Cybertruck that is based on an 800-volt system running a 48-volt electrical system compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) autos that run a 12-volt system to run electronics while burning gas or diesel. 

While the chart above pretty much answers the question of what is the voltage as of today for every North American OEM platform, this still leaves the bigger question of does the voltage make a difference?

In short YES, voltage does make a difference in how the battery pack of an EV charges.

The transition of moving from 400-volts to an 800-volt EV charging system offers the following advantages:

• Weight savings
• Enhanced performance
• Increased efficiency and charging power

The largest drawback if you consider this a drawback is the need to convert existing charging stations to support the higher 800-volt specification and the need to redesign electrical components to support the higher voltage system. Lucid has one such platform as they say it can handle over 1000-volts though it is officially rated at 924-volts.

The current leaders of an 800-volt architecture are as follows:

• Porsche
• Audi
• Hyundai
• Genesis
• Kia
• Volvo
• Polestar
• Bentley
• Lamborghini
• Tesla Cybertruck only

What makes up an EV Charging system? For this I use a diagram from the ev charger design website.

The basics are pretty simple that make up the EV charging system:

• Battery
• Motors
• Controller
• Sensors
• Wires
• Electrical paraphernalia

As one can see above in the diagram you have two types of charging, DC fast charging which is a connection right into the battery pack delivering the largest and fastest charge possible. Second is the AC Charger, this can be from level 1 or 2 public chargers or from your own place of living, home, condo, townhouse, apartment and goes through an on-board controller and then into the battery pack.

Now that we have covered the basic of an EV charging system, let's take a look at what makes up the charging of a battery system. Charging of a battery system breaks down into a simple 4 stage system.

• Stage 1 Constant Current - Voltage rises at constant current
• Stage 2 Saturation charge - Voltage peaks, current decreases
• Stage 3 Ready mode - Charge terminates
• Stage 4 Standby Mode - Occasional topping charge

As the battery cells get saturated with power, the current drops off and this is why charging slows down as the battery pack fills up.

DC Fast charging will power up the battery pack till it reaches a preset charge level that is usually set by the EVs built-in software and then charging stops, and nothing is ever added as to why some public charging stations including Tesla stations now charge for connections that are not charging to an auto as they want to free up the charger for other EV users.

AC charging will charge up a battery pack to full but has the ability to sense if the battery level drops to top off the battery pack. This comes in to be very useful in extreme hot or cold environments where the battery pack needs to either be chilled or warmed up. End result is when you go to leave in your EV, you always have a full battery pack, based on the setting of the EV software. This could be 80%, 90%, etc. that you the end user chooses.

800-volts is the future replacement for the current 400-volt systems in use by the majority of auto OEMs. So what does this 800-volt system get us?

• Faster charging power
• Performance enhancement
• Efficiency
• Weight reduction

End result is that the 800-volt system reduces the amount of time it takes to charge a battery pack, getting one on the road that much faster. This equates to the minimal time it takes to fill a gas tank in a traditional internal combustion engine auto.

Currently the average gas fill-up takes approximately 5 minutes per the U.S. government.  This in comparison to the average charging time of an EV:

• Level 1 charging can take 2 to 3 days @ 110 volt
• Level 2 charging can take 7 to 15 hours @ 240 volt
• Level 3 charging can take 15 to 45 minutes to reach 80% state of charge on a current 400-volt system

The charging information above is based on a 60kWh battery pack from empty to full (80%) using a 7kW charging point. This can for level 1 and 2 change based on each EVs built in controller speed. See the chart above for controller charging speed by OEM.

If the EV built in controller was to handle 14kW, then the Level 1 charging time would be 1 to 1 1/2 days. Level 2 charging would be 3 1/2 hours to 8 hours. Reduced even further the higher the controller kW is capable of handling.

Faster DC charging also allows for EVs to have smaller battery packs (weight reduction) when you can quickly charge up the battery pack allowing for reduced battery pack size. Even with the average commute of auto owners being between 30 to 50 miles, range anxiety is an issue that has been blown up in the media depending on each media's agenda in support or against EVs. This is where weight increases have come from as people tend to have come to feel having 300 miles of range is a must in an auto.

This also brings up the future of Solid-state batteries that in early prototype have shown to be four to ten times energy dense as current lithium-ion batteries. This allows the OEMs to then reduce the overall size of batteries, thus reducing weight of an EV.

Another benefit that comes with 800-volt battery packs is the ability to charge in serial or parallel mode. This multi-charging system allows ease of working with all formats of 400-volt or 800-volt charging stations.

Per a Harvard research release, solid-state batteries will dramatically reduce charging times. Researchers have proven that Solid-state lithium batteries can last 20 years with minimal degradation while recharging in minutes. They used the example of a 110kW battery pack that would be equal to today's 60kW lithium battery fully charging in only 10 minutes at 800-volt and could be reduced even further if charging was pushed to 1,200-volts or higher.

Here we end up with smaller battery packs and faster charging by using 800-volt systems, add in solid-state batteries and you end up reducing the size and weight of the battery along with speeding up charging times.

Yes, there are plenty of writeups showing the pros and cons of 400-volt to 800-volt with the biggest con being that money has to be spent by the companies to upgrade their auto design, components, etc. to handle the higher 800-volt charge, yet if they want to be competitive, then they cannot sit on the sidelines.

End result is faster charging for all with an 800-volt system over the 400-volt systems allowing for a far superior experience by end users.

Auto EV Platform Info 2023.xlsx

United States Postal Service (USPS) has taken an interesting road to updating their fleet of mail delivery vehicles. 

Lets start with March 24th, 2022 the USPS signs a contract with OshKosh Defense to the tune of $2.98 billion dollars for 50,000 mail trucks and 10,019 are to be EV. These new trucks are to replace the very aged fleet that is currently running on empty and lack many modern conveniences.

The LLV or Long-Life Delivery Vehicles lacked many things from AC to a wide variety of safety items and on top were not very efficient for actually delivering mail on top of the fact that the 190,000-vehicle fleet has an average age of 30 years.

In comparison, the NGDV or Next Generation Delivery Vehicle will feature air conditioning, improved ergonomics, and some of the most advanced vehicle and safety technology — including 360-degree cameras, advanced braking and traction control, air bags, a front-and rear-collision avoidance system that includes visual, audio warning, and automatic braking. The vehicles will also have increased cargo capacity to maximize efficiency and better accommodate higher mail and package volumes.

The NGDV were supposed to be built and on the streets starting the end of 2023 but have since been pushed back to a June 30th, 2024. The electric version will follow some time in 2025.

USPS on December 20th, 2022, updated the NGDV to be a contract of 60,000 mail delivery vehicles with a minimum requirement of 45,000 to be EV and the rest to be ICE (internal combustion engine) or gas powered for rural routes. At this same time, USPS indicated that they are now focused on replacing not only the 190,000 mail delivery trucks but will also replace their large parcel delivery vans also bringing the total to 220,000 vehicles as congress had approved an additional $3 billion dollars to make the fleet green provided as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

With delivery to 163 million addresses six days per week, the fleet of mail and packages delivery autos are now costing far more money to run than replacing them with modern autos. The bulk of these delivery autos on average only cover 10 to 15 miles a day.

March 1st, 2023, USPS selected Ford Motor Company's E-Transit vans to replace aging parcel vans. Ford will deliver 9,250 electric vans starting in 2024. Ford will build the needed infrastructure at their Kansas City Assembly Plant to build by their UAW workforce these vans.

We move forward to January 22nd, 2024, and USPS with Ford announce the first delivery of E-Transit vans for use in their Atlanta Sorting and delivery center with the prototype OshKosh NGDV.

This Atlanta center also has the first large scale charging network and is the first of 400 sorting and delivery centers across the U.S. that will be converted to support a majority EV focused auto fleet. This charging station was manufactured by Siemens and is the start of a 14,000-charging network to be installed in 2024. Siemens, Rexel/ChargePoint and Blink will be the suppliers of choice by contract to install these charging stations across the U.S. through 2028.

Now lets move forward by two days, January 24th, 2024, and the USPS signs a contract with Canoo a maker of their Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle for six of their delivery vans to test against the Ford E-transit for possible inclusion in future EV auto purchases.

Canoo will deliver these six EVs called the LDV 190 in Q1 2024 or by the end of March.

The USPS has dedicated $40 billion dollars to the modernization of their whole fleet from the residential mail delivery vehicles to parcel delivery vans and mid to class 8 semi trucks to reduce their carbon footprint. These six vans will be used in 2024 to allow USPS to consider Canoo as a potential supplier of modern EV delivery vehicles.

Per Canoo press release:

“The multi-purpose platform with steer-by-wire technology and a unique low-profile suspension system allows for a readily configurable right-hand drive system while maintaining desired roll and ride stability,” said Tony Aquila, Investor, Executive Chairman, and CEO of Canoo.

This is part of a committed USPS 10-year Modernization plan expected to be complete by 2034.

USPS has stated that Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) will now play a critical role in helping modernize the 220,000-delivery vehicle fleet of which OshKosh will make up 60,000 plus potentially more.

Pilot-Flying J and General Motors opened the first seventeen locations of their partnership for high-speed charging across the U.S., with twenty-five total targeted to be open by the end of the month. The chargers are part of the EVgo network and can deliver up to 350 kW charging.  The partnership is targeting an additional 175 locations open by the end of next year.

The newly opened locations are spread across 13 states and feature round-the-clock staff, food and restroom amenities, and free wifi.  The charging stations themselves will be pull-through to allow for the charging of EVs that are towing, and for vehicles equipped with it, will feature plug-and-charge compatibility for a seamless charging process.  The locations will appear natively in GM's onboard navigation apps, the Pilot myRewards app, the EVgo app, Plugshare, and others.  Pilot will offer extra discounts on charging for GM EV drivers, plus the ability to reserve a charger in advance. Other EV drivers using Pilot's myRewards app will receive additional discounts on food and merchandise.

Once complete, the project will include 500 locations with up to 2,000 fast chargers.  Pilot's and Flying J's locations on rural interstate routes makes them especially attractive to EV drivers on a long-distance drive.

Factorial loves to quote Thomas Edison who in 1883 said the following:

"The storage battery is, in my opinion, a catchpenny, a sensation, a mechanism for swindling the public by stock companies."

Factorial states that this sentiment is true and has been held over the last 138 years till now.

Investing in solid-state battery R&D over the last 6 years has allowed Factorial to create their proprietary FEST (Factorial Electrolyte System Technology).

Factorial held their grand opening ceremony at their state-of-the-art solid-state battery production facility in Methuen, Mass.

Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial stated the following:

“We are thrilled to open our next-generation battery facility in Massachusetts as we scale our batteries for mass production,” said Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial. “This facility will enable us to manufacture cells to meet the needs of our automotive partners and progress our mission to commercialize solid-state batteries. As a U.S. company, we’re also proud to contribute to the onshoring of battery manufacturing for EVs and advancement of battery innovation for a differentiated supply chain.”

This opening represented a $50 million investment and creation of over 150 local jobs. The current footprint of this facility will enable Factorial to ramp up Solid-State battery production to a maximum output of 200MWh annually, making this the largest solid-state battery assembly line in the U.S.

Former Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America and current Executive Chairman of Factorial, Joe Taylor made the following statement:

“Factorial continues to drive the battery industry forward and this milestone is no exception, automaker demand for American-made batteries is high to produce electric or hybrid vehicles that qualify for incentives. Our facility will manufacture automotive-sized solid-state batteries at pre-production speed and volume, illuminating a clear path to mass production and reaching economies of scale.”

Factorial quasi-solid-state batteries are designed for higher energy density and safety compared to today's lithium-ion wet batteries.

Factorial Energy Press Release

At the start of October 2023, Factorial started to ship to EV auto companies' samples of their 100+Ah lithium-metal battery cells sized to meet the needs of the auto industry and certified passing the UN 38.3 safety tests.

Stellantis, one of the few auto manufacturers to go on record has stated that Factorial Energy solid-state batteries are 30% denser than today's lithium-ion batteries. This allows Stellantis to deliver two ways, lighter vehicles and those that have a much longer driving range.

Stellantis back at CES 2023 keynote stated that they are working with Factorial to deliver a second-generation version that will be 50% denser than today's lithium-ion batteries. 

The 100 Ah solid-state battery cells are delivering on the promises Factorial has made and looks that a second generation battery cell expected by 2030 could give Stellantis and other auto companies that have invested a future of where the auto industry will be going in this decade as Factorial has stated that their solid-state cells will provide a 20 to 50 percent higher energy density based on use case and that it directly translates to a 20 to 50 percent greater range.

Could this be a potential jump on finally moving society to EVs?

What happens when you take a CALSTART Advanced Transportation graduate with a marketing and product development leader and connect them with Lee Iacocca, many others who are specialists in the EV industry and a connection to NASA?

EV FOR EVERYONE (orbiselectric.com)

You get a brain trust of individuals who have access to funding and additional folks that have helped set Bonneville Salt Flats speed records with a passion to help people convert to electric vehicles in minimal time.

ORBIS ELECTRIC believes if there is a better way to allow folks to convert their vehicles to electric vehicles in minimal time, that the adding of gigatons of CO2 to the atmosphere can be slowed down and eventually stopped.

Orbis Cofounder Marcus Hays and Chance Claxton believe that the hurdle to EV adoption is not the vehicles, but the parts.

Orbis electric has reinvented the wheel to deliver EV for EVERYONE! They are the designer and creator of automotive parts engineered to radically accelerate the global conversion to electric vehicles. Their guiding principle is hyper-efficiency, resulting in affordable solutions that bring immediate and lasting benefits to consumers, OEMs, and the planet.

How It Works

How does this work you ask, simple, Orbis patented ring-wheel and disk brake assembly re-engineered the architecture of conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) by distributing the power and weight across 2-4 in-wheel motorized spindle inserts.

The two current packages offered are the

• EV IN A BOX/160 (120kW/160hp)
• EV IN A BOX/560 (420kW/560hp)

Revolutionary by Design

• Ready to go assembly for rapid EV conversion of passenger and Class 1-8 vehicles
• 40%-70% fuel mileage gain
• Instantaneous torque
• Runs on 110V, can charge anywhere; LDVs require no more than household current
• Innovative battery design, allows stacks and swaps
• Proven 10% more efficient, 25% lighter, which equate to 35% better range over current EVs
• Architecture frees up space and weight for cargo or passengers
• Smaller mass and lighter weight, no unsprung weight penalty
• Transform fleets and solo ICE vehicles into fuel efficient, emissions compliant EVs and Hybrids for pennies on the dollar

Environmentally Driven Performance

ORBIS Products are positioned to meet the new EURO 7 regulations on emissions which are the toughest in the world.

We have covered their EV in a box conversion package that Orbis has stated can be done by company certified installation experts in 3hrs or less at a starting cost of $7,500.

EcoWave Brake Technology

Orbis also has what they call their ECOWAVE brake. The Orbis hyper-efficient ECOWAVE brake operates as a freestanding brake, providing lighter, cooler, safer and greener alternative to traditional brakes. EcoWave is the first in a line of Orbis Brakes designed for each market segment, covering EVs, PHEVs and traditional ICE vehicles.

• 50% reduction in brake assembly mass, reducing overall weight and manufacturing costs
• 50% smaller brake pad yields 50% fewer brake dust particles
• 25% reduction in brake temperatures prevents additional brake dust and Non-Exhaust emissions
• ZERO dangerous brake fade

June 5th 2022 was when Orbis Electric and NASA announced the EVOWAVE, but now the products are finally shipping.

6522-Orbis-Brakes-Debut-Press-Release.pdf (orbisbrakes.com)

About Orbis Electric

According to the financials about Orbis Electric, the company is a private company, founded in 2014 by 3 private investors and has 20 employees. They are located in Santa Rosa, California.

The company has 39 patents filed, with 7 granted to date and has stated the following 4 things is what drives the company.

Orbis approach is to be a lighter EV package compared to today's heavy solutions, be cooler for the environment while producing less brake dust, greener by supplying longer range, lower emissions, and a smaller carbon footprint and smarter by offering the first comprehensive EV solution that fits in a box.

Are you ready to join the EV revolution and consider possibly converting your current ICE to EV with EV IN A BOX?

Many folks that have thought about converting their favorite auto to EV have hit the same wall as just about everyone else. A complete solution that makes it easy to undertake this project as till today, there has been no real boxed solution, just various EV resellers of parts and while they have tried their best to direct you to all one needs, there has always been what have I forgotten to have a complete EV conversion solution.

Fresh off Hilton's partnership announcement with Tesla to install 20,000 chargers, Marriott has announced a partnership with EV Connect to deploy, manage, and service EV chargers at Marriott locations across the U.S. and Canada.  Marriott brand hotel operators will have a turnkey solution from EV Connect to add and manage charging stations at their properties.

Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, EV Connect offers various charger capacities, including DC Fast Charging, tailored to the individual property's needs. EV Connect's interface will allow hotel operators to offer incentives and discounts to customers as well as control access.

Over 6,000 Marriott-branded hotels qualify for the EV Connect package, however, each property will need to opt in.

Read More:
Hilton Adding EV Charging to Over 2,000 Hotels in North America
Choice Hotels Signs Agreement with Tesla to Install Chargers

Hilton has announced that they will install up to 20,000 Tesla Universal Wall Connectors at 2,000 hotels across North America, creating the largest EV charging network in the hotel industry.  The project will start in early 2024 and include at least six chargers at each selected hotel. Hilton says that customers are increasingly searching for EV charging at their hotels, with the charging availability filter being the second highest attribute that converts a search to a booking. For Hilton, allowing EV owners to charge where they park means no unnecessary stops along their journey and that adds value to Hilton's product.

The Tesla Universal Wall Connector natively supports both NACS and J1772 type plugs, covering the vast majority of the new EV market, however, owners of older EVs with CHAdeMO or the Nissan Leaf will not be able to use these chargers. Using a standard 220-volt / 48-amp circuit, the 11.5 kW Tesla Universal Wall Connector can charge a Tesla Model-3 up to a rate of 44 miles of range per hour.

When set up in groups of six, the Tesla Universal Wall Connector is capable of managing access, allowing locations to monitor when and who is using the charging stations.

Our take: Building a charging network at locations where people naturally spend a significant time parked brings in additional customers who might otherwise go elsewhere.

Cheers and Gears is reader-supported. If you purchase through the links provided, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Read More:
Choice Hotels Signs Agreement with Tesla to Install Chargers
Marriott and EV Connect Partner to Install EV Chargers in North America

BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis announced a new venture today to build out an EV charging network to rival Tesla's.  The aim is to install at least 30,000 high-speed charging points in urban and highway locations across then country.  The first chargers will go online in the U.S. in the summer of 2024, with chargers in Canada following shortly after.

Of the manufacturers in this venture, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz recently announced agreements with Tesla for access to their SuperCharger network. While Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Mercedes-Benz, have all committed to Tesla's NACS charging connector.

The network will use the 350-kw / 800-volt and offer both Tesla's NACS and CCS connectors. What wasn't announced was support for the V4 version of the NACS standard, which supports 800-Volt peak charging, but 800-Volt charging is a key feature of GM's Ultium technology, so we expect it will be offered.

The as yet unnamed network will be powered by renewable energy and will be open to all makes and models that use either the NACS or CCS connectors.  Sorry, Nissan Leaf and Kia Soul EV owners, you're out of luck.

This move reflects a frustration by manufacturers regarding the reliability and build-out speed when relying on third-party charging networks. Electrify America, one of the largest non-Tesla fast-charging networks, has a reputation for broken and error-prone charging stations.  With EV adoption being a Chicken and Egg problem, this move by the manufacturers is an attempt to squeeze the egg out of the chicken.

To put a project of this size into perspective, the Tesla SuperCharger network offers 20,400 fast-charging ports at 1,900 locations while Electrify America offers 3,600 fast-charging ports at 800 locations, but EA's network is mostly at the slower charge rate of 150kw rather than 350kw.

General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, which are both building out their own charging networks, will continue to do so separately from this plan.

Related Articles:
Mercedes-Benz Announces Their New EV Charging Network
Tesla Supercharger Network of North America Now a Benz Charging Option
Rivian Latest to Join the NACS Camp
NACS the North American New Charging Standard?
Ford EVs Gain Access to Tesla SuperChargers, Ford to Adopt Tesla NACS Charge Port

Today June 29th, 2023 the North America largest independent charging station company, Electrify America (EA) has announced their commitment to a broad charging solution for Electric Vehicles today by adding NACS connectors to their stations.

EA will continue to provide CCS-1 connectors throughout their network of charging stations and will add the Tesla NACS connector option to all existing and future charging stations by 2025.

Robert Barrosa, president and CEO of Electrify America stated the following:

“Since our founding, we have focused on building an inclusive and open hyper-fast charging network to facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles. We look forward to continuing to support industry-wide standards that increase vehicle interoperability and streamline public charging.”

EA has also joined the newly created (ChargeX) National Charging Experience Consortium where they will focus on strengthening the national charging infrastructure and improving EV ownership experience.

EA has stated that as e-mobility accelerates, EA will continue to deliver what the customer needs. The addition of the NACS connector continues this commitment. EA network has 850 charging stations and growing across North America. The 4,000 individual charges as of today in the U.S. and Canada are either 150 kW or 350 kW and will continue to be improved.

EA has committed to spending $2 billion dollars in upgrades and new charging stations in 2023.

Part of this expansion is the partnership with TravelCenters of America.

EA is just the latest in the growing group of auto and charging companies to support the Tesla NACS connector.

You can find more information on the other companies here:

NACS the North American New Charging Standard? - Automotive Industry - Cheers & Gears (cheersandgears.com)

January 26th, 2022 Mercedes-Benz signed a partnership with ProLogium in developing next-generation batteries for electric vehicles. Mercedes has committed to a complete all electric auto portfolio starting in 2030. As such, having easily accessible supplies of battery packs would be needed on top of planning for next generation battery cells known at solid-state.

Mercedes with a heavy financial commitment to R&D under ProLogium and a seat on ProLogium's board is looking for ways to increase energy density and reduce costs as they change into EVs globally with a 2030 commitment to no longer producing ICE auto's.

Through the 2022 calendar year, ProLogium took a solid-state concept for next generation battery cells and took it into a physical form and tested to validate that said design.

While current Lithium-ion battery cells such as the famous 2170 or newer 4680 design are very safe, there have been the occasional time where a battery pack has caught fire and burnt down. Still safer than gasoline auto's, the understanding is for mass adoption of EVs globally, that battery cells will need to move to Solid-State design removing all chance for fires while increasing energy density.

June 14th to 16th in Munich Germany at the ees or electrical energy storage tradeshow, ProLogium revealed their break-through innovation in a next-generation solid-state battery cell design called Large-Footprint Lithium Ceramic Battery or LLCB. 

ProLogium has committed to having evaluation units into European auto companies by the end of 2023 as they have started to build their first mass-production LLCB plant in Dunkirk, France. This $5.2 Billion Euro investment for a planned battery capacity of 48 GWh with room to expand will serve as a manufacturing base to supply the European EV market. This will allow ProLogium to localize R&D and supply chain ahead of competitors for the european market.

ProLogium has pointed out that to reduce the number of cells in a battery pack is an effective way to optimize the battery pack while reducing the cost of the pack. This is why the industry is moving away from 21x70mm cells (2170) to 46x80mm cells (4680). 

This same concept can be applied to the solid-state cells. Taking advantage of the solid-state unique structure and manufacturing process, ProLogium has surpassed the liquid type limits of the 2170 or 4680 cells and has developed a large-footprint, high-capacity battery pack cell. 

LLCB flat shape have superior thermal conductivity allowing for less complex cooling system, optimizing space utilization. The design of the LLCB flat pack allows for simplified pack structure giving ease of maintenance and reduction of ownership costs.

ProLogium see's greater design flexibility for EV's. As Simon Wu, Assistant VP of ProLogium stated:

“For the same space as the mainstream 2170 EV battery pack, the LLCB pack’s volumetric energy density can be nearly doubled, and for the same total energy, the LLCB pack’s weight can be cut by up to 115 kg. More importantly, the LLCB production processes will produce less waste in terms of substrate materials, and the reduced number of cells will require less raw materials, which means increased sustainability and affordability.”

What this means is that as an example, the EQE 350+ that has a 90 kWh battery pack could go with a lighter battery pack and a weight savings of around 254lbs. Or Mercedes could stay with the over all current size of the battery pack and double the power to 180 kWh, increasing the driving range by 79% in the EQE 350+.

Polun Cheng, Global Project Management AVP of ProLogium Technology stated the following:

“ProLogium is currently cooperating with FEV, a globally leading engineering provider in the automotive industry and internationally recognized leader of innovation across different sectors and industries, to carry out verification tests of the LLCB and design applicable solutions. Samples are targeted to be delivered to European car OEMs for testing as early as the end of 2023.”

Third party validation in testing the LLCB across a wide range of different sectors and industries will confirm and validate the benefits of LLCB cells.

According to the news story from NIKKEI Asia The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has designated battery cells as a crucial part of Japan's economic security and has secured $330 Billion Yen in supplementary fiscal budget to support the Japanese sector.

Beneficiary of this is that $120 Billion Yen or $853 million dollars will go to Toyota Motor Corporation to support their R&D in developing the 900-mile solid-state battery that Toyota talked about in their revolutionization of the auto.

Toyota New Technology to Revolutionize the Future of Autos - Toyota - Cheers & Gears (cheersandgears.com)

This financial aid comes as China, Korea, Europe and the U.S. governments have decided to invest in R&D to support home grown battery production. Japan currently holds less than 10% of the automotive battery industry with the bulk of this being Tesla supplier Panasonic, while Chinese suppliers' control over 50% and the remaining 30ish percent is from Korea, Europe and the U.S.

Toyota has had to commit yen to yen to qualify for this state aid. Toyota has stated that this subsidy will go into expanding the Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, a joint battery venture with Panasonic, Japan's leading EV battery manufacturer.

Toyota says that the battery R&D will allow them to increase their range on all Hybrids almost immediately as well as develop class leadership in EV battery packs for EV production in 2026 or 2027.

The Ministry also stated that $160 billion yen will go to Honda Motor and GY Yuasa for their battery investment plans. 

These investments will cover about 1/3rd of the capital investments for building the new assembly lines and about half of the R&D costs.

Japan once led the automotive battery industry with over 50% market share at the end of 2015 but have now been replaced by Chinese and Korean companies that have greater production and supply for the EV segment. Japan currently relies on raw materials from China and finished cells from Korea to build their battery cells for use in EVs.

China leads the world in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Toyota is working on Bipolar LFP technology, which is seen as a alternative to the Chinese cells.

The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act signed into law last year includes incentives aimed at bolstering the EV supply chain in the U.S. which is seeing massive investment from South Korea with global Automakers as they ramp up to take advantage of the IRA benefits.

This has Japan trailing Korean, European and U.S. auto companies that have or are currently moving EV production to the U.S. to take advantage of these financial benefits.

The last couple of weeks has seen a flurry of announcements in signing on with Tesla corporation around their charging stations and their NACS charging standard.

First, let understand that the Tesla NACS was offered to the auto industry that snubbed it and went to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) who developed the CCS1 connector that combined the standard J1772 connector with two high-speed charging pins. Currently the existing EVs other than Tesla and plugin Hybrids use this connector for Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 (DC fast charging).

For those wanting to learn more about this you can read on it here: Combined Charging System - Wikipedia

It looks like this:

This same SAE governing body has come up with CCS2 for higher speed charging which is still a rather big bulky connection used in Europe. You can read about this at the above link also.

With this charging interface of CCS1 in North America, CCS2 in Europe and China having their own proprietary interface you have the following for the existing 3 types that cover 80% of all EVs/Hybrids Globally.

While Europe and China have rapidly built out their own charging stations and the only other option has been Tesla where Tesla Ships their EVs with CCS2 in Europe and their proprietary NACS in China along with an adapter for GB/T, North America has been left to the CCS1 standard that has been viewed as Bulky, and has had positive and negative views across Canada and the U.S. as depending on what region one is in, you can either have a good experience or a bad one, especially if the chargers are blocked by petro powered autos known as Icing or they have been damaged and not fixed leaving Tesla to be the only 12,000 strong charging stations across North America.

Ford announced on May 25th 2023 that starting with the 2025 model year, all electric vehicles built for the North American market would change to the NACS charging interface. This is a Tesla standard that would allow all Ford Customers instant access to the 12,000 Tesla Charging stations and growing across North America in addition to the 10,000 plus BlueOval Charge Network.

Musk has stated that all companies that sign on to support the NACS standard would have the same access and charge rate that Tesla customers have at their stations. Currently according to Tesla, charging stations contributed $9.96 Billion in revenue in 2022 and is expected to generate by 2025 over $25 billion a year annually.

Back before SAE ever got involved, Tesla built their own charging stations with their own interface focusing on ease of use and comfort by the user. This NACS allows fast charging while making it easy to use. Tesla has been upgrading their charging stations from version 1 to the current highspeed version 4 using this NACS connector.

So how does this connector compare to the CCS specification you might ask? Easy, the black image (NACS) shown below over the grey (CCS) image is the difference in size.

For those in Europe that have an Older Tesla where they have the NACS port, they have to use an adapter to connect to the CCS2 plugs across Europe to charge. This puts considerable stress on the small NACS port from Tesla but looks like this.

This gives an even better comparison to the electrical charging port standard differences.

This understanding of the port differences brings us squarely to the question of this writeup, is the NACS plug the new North American Standard?

One might just gather that it is when you have the following announcements to consider about supporting and changing over to the NACS standard. 

GM with their 2025 Model year EVs will move to the NACS port replacing the CCS1 port. Adapters will be needed for current EVs that have the CCS1 port to allow them to use Tesla stations. Thus giving us EVs for Everyone with NACS ports.

Date June 8th 2023 - General Motors Doubles Down on Commitment to a Unified Charging Standard and Expands Charging Access to Tesla Supercharger Network (gm.com)

GM's announcement has since been followed over the last four days by the following charging equipment companies that are moving forward with supporting the charging equipment with NACS charging cords replacing CCS1.

EVgo Further Extends Fast Charging Network to Tesla Drivers

Tritium Announces Support for NACS Connector | Tritium DCFC Limited (tritiumcharging.com)

ChargePoint Will Soon Offer NACS Connector Options for Its Charging Solutions | ChargePoint

Blink Charging Announces Final Design and Development of New EV DC Fast Charger with Dual-Port CCS and NACS Connectors at EVS36 : Blink Charging

FLO Stations to Offer North American Charging Standard (NACS); Supports Broader Use

The question to ask is who in the Legacy Auto industry will be next to change over?

Hyundai / Kia / Genesis of Korea?

VW/Audi/Porsche/BMW/Mercedes of Germany?

What about the Japanese who are not only late to the EV market but have yet to launch anything in North America?

Is the NACS plug the new standard moving forward ignoring the work done by the SAE group?

Sound off on your thoughts on the EV charging standard.

FUD stands for "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" and is a communication tactic used to influence people towards having a negative perception of something, generally through deliberate misinformation or inciting fear. The term has been in use since the 1920s and has also been used to mean "fear, uncertainty, and disinformation". FUD can also refer to a general mindset of pessimism about a particular asset or market, as well as the manipulation of investor or consumer emotions so that they succumb to FUD.

This psychological war for the hearts and minds of folks will always go on in any industry depending on the money and power to be gained.

EVs or Electrical Vehicles are at the start of their life cycle to the population of this planet. You can agree or disagree with climate change, the data about if we will ever run out of fossil fuels, etc. Here I am only hoping to inform you that there is change coming and that change can be of a positive nature for those that choose to embrace EVs / BEVs. 

Let's start off with some basic knowledge about EV's that is missing in much of the press lately, that is about the charging nature of EVs in general. Some auto companies realize they need to support a customer first world class experience and others feel they are being forced into building these autos while they believe another way is better. Either way, the goal here is to inform you the potential EV customer.

TERMS - Here are some of the most common basic terms:

AMP

Short for ampere, this is a unit of electricity that refers to the steady current produced by one volt applied across a resistance of one ohm.

BATTERY

An essential EV component, this is an electric storage unit in which chemical energy is converted into electricity and used as a source of power. Federal regulations require automakers to cover EV batteries under warranty for at least eight years or 100,000 miles (whichever comes first). See also Lithium-Ion Battery.

CHARGING

The process of replenishing an electric vehicle’s battery with electricity; this can either be accomplished at home via a standard wall outlet or a 220-volt line, or via a public or workplace-based charging station.

DC FAST CHARGING

See Level 3 Charging.

EV

Short for “electric vehicle,” it refers to any mode of transportation that uses one or more electric motors powered a rechargeable battery for propulsion. It’s alternatively called BEV, for “battery electric vehicle.”

HORSEPOWER

This is a measurement of an engine or motor’s maximum power output; an electric motor’s output can also be expressed in terms of kilowatts (kW).

ICE

Short for “internal combustion engine,” this acronym describes any vehicle that runs on fossil fuels.

KILOWATT

A measurement of electrical power, usually abbreviated as “kW.” When used to express an electric motor’s maximum output, this is roughly equivalent to 1.34 horsepower.

KWH

Short for "kilowatts per hour," this is a measurement of electricity that’s equivalent to the amount of energy expended in one hour by one kilowatt of power. An EV’s battery capacity is expressed in terms of kWh. The Environmental Protection Agency uses the number of kilowatts per hour needed to run a vehicle for 100 miles (shortened to “kWh/100 mi”) to express an EV’s energy consumption.

LEVEL 1 CHARGING

The slowest way to charge an electric vehicle, Level 1 charging uses a standard 110-volt wall outlet. Depending on the model it may take between 8-24 hours to fully replenish a drained battery.

LEVEL 2 CHARGING

Level 2 charging, accomplished via a dedicated 240-volt electric circuit like those used for large electric appliances, roughly slashes charging time in half over Level 1 charging. You can have a Level 2 unit installed by a professional electrician at home, and it’s the type of charging used most often in public and workplace charging stations.

LEVEL 3 CHARGING

This is the quickest way to replenish an EV’s battery, though it’s limited to what is still a relative handful of public charging stations. Also called DC Fast Charging, it’s able to bring a depleted battery up to an 80% charge in around a half hour. If you’re taking an extended road with an EV, you’ll want to plan the route around the availability of Level 3 pubic charging stations.

LITHIUM-ION BATTERY

This is a type of high-energy rechargeable battery, used in EVs and other products like laptop computers, that leverages lithium ions as a key component of its electrochemistry. 

MPGE

This is a miles-per-gallon equivalent measurement the Environmental Protection Agency created to help consumers compare an electric car’s energy consumption with those that run on fossil fuel. MPGe is calculated based on a conversion factor of 33.705 kilowatt-hours of electricity equaling one gallon of gasoline.

RANGE

The number of miles an EV can travel before the battery becomes fully depleted.

REGENERATIVE BRAKING

A system used in EVs (and hybrid-powered cars) that recovers energy otherwise lost during deceleration and braking and sends it back to the battery pack to help maintain a charge. Some EVs, like the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Nissan Leaf, can maximize the regenerative braking effect to slow down – and even bring the vehicle to a stop – without using the brakes. This is commonly called “one pedal” driving.

REX

Also called a “range-extended electric vehicle,” this refers to an EV with a small gasoline engine that kicks in to run a generator that, in turn, operates the motor once the battery becomes depleted. At that point the vehicle’s operating range is limited only by the amount of gas in the tank. This effectively eliminates worry over being stranded at the side of the road with a dead battery, which is often called “range anxiety.” The BMW i3 is available as both a pure EV and a REX.

STATE OF CHARGE

Also known by the acronym SOC, it refers to the meter on an EV’s instrument panel that displays the current battery level as a percentage. 

TORQUE

Torque is officially defined as the twisting force that causes rotation. It’s the force you feel when you’re pressed into your seat as a vehicle accelerates aggressively. Electric motors deliver 100% of their available torque instantaneously, which enables fast launches and strong passing abilities. Having a higher torque rating otherwise makes an engine or motor with limited horsepower feel quicker.

ZEV

This abbreviation stands for “zero emissions vehicle,” which means it produces no tailpipe emissions. All pure electric vehicles are of the ZEV variety.

AUTO CHARGING

Here let's take an important look at the EVs themselves and what the critical part is for charging. The auto industry has set the following specification for EVs. 400V and 800V systems are the two electrical spec systems that are being used and while some say there is no reason to do 800V yet, compared to 400V due to the nature of Charging available at home and public, let's look at what the real difference is between them.

Doubling of the Voltage in an Electric auto means that the time to charge up the EV battery is effectively cut in half. This also means that cabling and components can be thinner, smaller and gives us a more efficient auto that is also lighter. End result is 400V gives you a longer charging time compared to 800V that is on par with ICE autos for fueling up at a charging location, get your drinks, snacks, etc. and get back on the road. This means charging up in minutes compared to hours.

Understanding Volts and currents is important as the reason 800 volts gives us faster charging is that the battery receives more power from the charger. In a 400 volt system, there is double the amount of energy loss because the current is high. Current creates resistance losses in the conductor (energy loss) so it is inefficient, especially at rapid charging speeds.

Think of it this way, a higher voltage pushes through more power not by increasing the power draw, but by reducing resistance in the wire. Resistance has an energy penalty, so it makes absolute sense to use 800 volts in electric auto's.

400V

The 400V architecture is cheaper than an 800V system to design, components are more readily available, 400V and lower has been used in a variety of hybrids allowing companies that are looking to reduce costs to go the cheap route. Drawbacks are the 400V systems create more heat, are slower in many faucets of their use/implementation. This includes the slower charging with reduced power retention over the life of the battery. The biggest reason of using a 400V system is it's backwards compatibility to electric motors and batteries in Hybrid such as the Toyota Prius and that it was already compatible with the existing electrical infrastructure. 

Tesla went the 400V route due to building their own charging network allowing them to optimize their Charging system for optimal charging times.

800V

The benefits of the 800V system over a 400V system is the 50% reduction in charging times. This doubling of the voltage lowers the current required for charging, resulting in reduced heat generation and better power retention that contributes to longer driving range and higher performance with smaller battery pack size.

800 volts unlocks faster charging due to the heat generated by DC fast chargers which can overheat batteries, especially those with 400V architecture, which is why charging speeds drop of quickly upon hitting 80% charge. The 800 volt architecture solves this problem by changing the way the cells are connected inside the battery, allowing a lower current but a higher voltage to be used. 800V batteries have the cells connected in series., thus improving thermal efficiency, stopping the battery cells from overheating at higher charging speeds.

So it would be understandable to ask the question, if 800 volts is so great why is it not everywhere or was built from the start into EVs? This is due to the primary fact of electrical parts from chips to controllers, motors, etc. not having been engineered yet compared to the hybrid world where 400 volts was the standard. As more and more technology companies engineer components to support 800V EVs this will change and is expected to change with the roll out of 2025 model EVs.

800V will not affect how fast an EV will charge at home due to electrical supply limitations. 

HOME CHARGING

This can be either Level 1 @ 120V or Level 2 @ 220V AC chargers. But a bigger thing to focus on is the Amps that either a level 1 or 2 charger uses as this affects just how fast the charger can flow power into your battery pack and then of course is the other important part which is the controller built into the EV.

Level 1 chargers tend to top out at 12 amps and add about 1.4kW of power to an EV which usually can equal about 3 to 5 miles per hour. The slowest and why EVs get bad raps in the media is due to the focus on 110/120 volts charging.

An example of a Level 1 charger @ 12 amps being used on a Ford Mach-e with an 88kWh battery pack is 63 hours from empty to 80% charge. So a couple of days plus.

Level 2 chargers tend to come in a much higher range of amperage. One such company that offers Level 2 home chargers is enelXway that has 32, 40 and 48 amp chargers. Most 3rd party Level 2 chargers are around 40 amps on average with an average power recharge rate of around 7.7 kW of power. 

Using the same Ford Mach-e you are then down to an 11 1/2 hour charge time from zero to 80%, way better than 63 hours.

A critical item to consider is when you buy an EV is what Charging Controller options do you have? 

An example of this is on the Chevrolet Bolt/Bolt EUV which has a controller that can handle up to 11.5kW of recharge on level 2 @ 48 amps allowing for a much faster charging than stated for the Mach-e above @ 7.7kW.  Ford Mach-e onboard charging controller tops out at 10.5kW with no upgrade option depending on which of the level 2 charging options you pick for home installation.

Then we have Cadillac that by default has the 11.5kW charging controller but can be upgraded to a 19.2kW charging controller allowing for much faster home charging. The difference is as follows: 11.5kW controller adds 31 miles of range per hour to the EV where the 19.2kW charging controller adds 51 miles of range per hour to the EV.

Ford offers three home charging options with the top level 2 home charger being a 48 Amp 240 V charger. GM Ultium home chargers 

Many third party Level 2 home chargers top out at 48/50 amps. As with all technology, it is changing day by day and as of 2023 we now have a few of the newest level 2 chargers that require a 100 amp 208-240V dedicated circuit. Most owners will tend to go with chargers up to 40 amps with charging at 9.6kW on average due to the cost of the dedicated circuit and wire gauge needed. A 48 amp charger can charge faster on average of 11.5kW but requires heavy gauge wire that must be hardwired to the NEC code, therefore costing more than a 40 amp unit.

As with everything, depending on what you want to pay, will directly reflect on speed and your quality of performance.

PUBLIC CHARGING

This is where we go from AC to DC, DC chargers which are known as Level 3 chargers come in a variety of designs that cover from 400V to 800V. Depending on the design of the onboard DC controller and software for managing your battery pack can add as much as 200 miles of range within 15 minutes.

DC chargers are not compatible with home installation due to the wiring demands needed, the six figures cost and the fact that home building code just does not allow that kind of high power brought into a residential home.

More and more companies are building charging stations all over from shopping malls, grocery stores, strip malls, city streets, etc. Unlike gas stations, that require so much more to allow fueling of an ICE auto, EVs are far more easily recharged just about anywhere. 

Recharging is found on the West Coast super highway from Vancouver BC to Baja California in rest stops not requiring people to get off the I5 freeway system to recharge.  West Coast Green Highway: West Coast Electric Highway

We have the investment from the U.S. federal government on building out charging stations or what is called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - Electric Vehicles | Federal Highway Administration (dot.gov) Nevi is the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program that will cover the next five years of building out charging stations coast to coast in the U.S.A.

We also have plenty of private companies building out charging stations networks with one being Enel X Way that has announced the start of their North American DC public charging network that will cover 10,000 DC public charging stations across North America by 2030.

The Enel X Way DC chargers are four port chargers that can sustain constant 150 kW charging to each EV and is NEVI compliant. Enel X Way as with many other companies had applied and been approved to be part of the $1.2 Trillion five year electrical charging program and then they have expanded to include both Canada and Mexico in building out their North America Charging infrastructure.

Battery Technology

Here at Cheers and Gears we have covered many various announcements on new battery technology, especially on solid-state batteries which have shown that they can with the 800V charging technology reduce full battery pack recharging to less than 10 minutes for 200 miles, less than 20 minutes for 400 miles which is on par with fuel tank filling for todays fossil fuel auto's. Check out these stories on the News page of this website to read more on battery tech.

Luckily, we have a wide assortment of public charging maps to help you find various levels of charging stations that you can use various search engines to find. There are also these resources to check out:

• Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC)
• AmpUp
• ChargeHub
• Chargemap
• ChargePoint
• Chargeway
• Electrify America
• EVgo
• Google Maps – Simply search for EV chargers
• Greenlots
• Open Charge Map
• PlugShare
• Tesla Supercharger Map
• Tesla App

Current as of 4/15/2023 EV auto voltage design.

Tesla - Mixed bag based on model:

• Tesla 3 & X - 350V
• Tesla S - 375V
• Tesla Y - 400V

400V platforms

• Mercedes-Benz
• BMW
• VW
• Toyota
• Nissan
• Mitsubishi
• Renault
• GM - Bolt/Bolt EUV
• Rivian

800V platforms

• GM Ultium
• Hyundai
• Kia
• Genesis
• Audi
• Porsche
• Stellantis
• Lotus
• Polestar
• Volvo
• BYD
• XPeng
• Nio
• Li Auto
• Honda

Proprietary 924V system is used by Lucid that has proven to be the fastest charging EV in the industry truly allowing the EVs to take advantage of the full 350 kWh DC fast charging systems currently out there.

Many auto companies are planning to bring to market EVs around 2025 to 2026 and even the Supercar makers while having been mum have mentioned that they will probably move to the 800V system when they do start making EVs.

With this stated about 400V, 800V and a proprietary 900V system, the SiC traction inverters, WBG semiconductors, etc. are all in a race to provide the world with better and better chips for the EV industry and as such, many such chip companies are already testing out 1200V parts to reduce the charging speed and power handling that can improve everything from charging time to efficiency of an overall EV.

End result is we are in the newest revolution of transportation. Just as with the start of the 1900's and limited gas stations to support internal combustion engines, we are now moving into the next revolution of transportation with electric vehicles and change is the only constant you can count on.

Just make sure you pick the right EV for your needs as any EV will do fine today for local trips, work commuting, but road trips could be a bit more challenging if you do not plan for longer charging times based on the EV you choose to buy.

An example of this is a good story at Road Tripping in New Toyota Electric SUV Showed the Brutality of Bad EVs (businessinsider.com)

One could do a basic internet search and come up with plenty of stories on the top 8, Top 10 or Top 12 solid state battery companies in 2023. Here at Cheers and Gears we have done 9 such stories covering College Research turned into Battery Startup's that all have their own take on the ultimate Forever battery of Solid State design.

What is a solid-state battery and why is it considered a Forever battery?

To understand this discussion, we have to start with understanding the difference between a Conventional and solid-state battery.

Traditional EV batteries, pretty much any battery today as it has been used for the last century is made up of a cathode, anode, and electrolyte. The electrolyte under fast charging has an additional issue and that is one of catching on fire.

In the case of a traditional EV Lithium-ion battery, the electrolyte is a liquid solution connecting the two. All batteries have worked this way for decades.

Due to the electrolyte's physical limitations, we have reached the limit of the energy cell density. If consumers want their phones, watches, electric cars, etc. to last longer, charge faster, we need a fundamentally different battery cell.

Welcome to the Solid-state battery or what industry observers and creators are calling the "Forever Battery". But why call it this term?

Solid-state batteries have the potential to allow powering a heavily used cell phone for days, charging your smartwatch in seconds rather than 10's of minutes and yes, filling up an EV in minutes with driving for hundreds if not thousands of miles depending on the battery pack size. They also do not have the fire issue that you have with todays current batteries.

Yet with this, there is still a big problem with batteries and that is a known issue called DENDRITES. 

This video shows that through charging and discharging, dendrites is an issue that hits both traditional batteries of today with a liquid electrolyte and solid-state batteries. This video shows the growth of dendrites during the charging and discharging process. Once dendrites grow from the anode to the cathode they short out and will no longer hold a charge. This is also why over time batteries loose capacity of electrical charge.

Over the last couple of decades, college scientists working with venture capital firms across the globe have invested heavily in R&D to build solid-state batteries that are far more energy dense, does not have the dendrite issues that cause cracking in the battery and short circuiting. 

In just the last two years, college R&D has moved to prototype production lines as multiple research groups have moved into the startup phase with what they believe to be is a solution that cracked the code of a dendrite free solid-state battery. These designs allow for a fire safe, solid energy dense battery that is what the media has termed "Forever Batteries" as the current testing is showing that such battery packs should last a million miles at least if not longer, reducing the need to replace them every 7 to 10 years.

Solid-state batteries allow for a reduction in packaging size, while gaining energy density, fire safety, along with the packaging improvements.

There is also the benefit of multi-layering which increases energy density storage in both traditional batteries and solid-state. Solid-state wins here due to the reduced packaging size while increasing the energy storage capacity.

While the solid-state battery research started with a single layer battery cell, the last few years saw them move to 4-layer and 10-layer battery cells and many of these soli-state startups are now producing working prototypes of 16-layer cells of which the auto industry is testing. 

Companies such as QuantumScape a R&D group from Standford University and now a tech startup of solid-state batteries has shipped their first deliveries of batteries to auto companies for testing. A company that went into startup mode in 2010, QuantumScape is hoping to go full mass production of their solid-state, 16 layer cells in 2024. 

Many would ask and rightly so would want to know how this technology translates into real world applications. Solid-State batteries would on size alone be about a 20 to 25% reduction in physical size if kW to kW was the same over liquid. But then you have the energy density gains which are from 50% to 80% increase over the old standard Lithium-ion liquid battery.

This would mean if you had a 200 mile range Lithium-ion liquid battery, a solid-state battery would be 20 to 25% smaller and deliver 300 to 400 miles of range depending on the application at a minimum. 

Research on the life of current batteries is still limited due to the amount of EVs on the roads today and volume of battery production, but indications are that it is good and will only get better.

How Long Do EV Battery Packs Last?

Per the most current study, we have the following data:

• Battery replacements are quite rare. In our community of 15,000 cars, only 1.5% have been replaced (outside of big recalls like Chevy Bolt).
• Degradation is not linear. We're including battery degradation curves that illustrate how well these batteries hold up over time. There's some drop in the beginning then it levels out for a long period.
• Most replacements occur under warranty. For example, a new Rivian has battery coverage for 175,000 miles or 10 years. The federal minimum warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles.
• This is why Recurrent Reports are essential. Recurrent can give you insights into an EV battery without costly or invasive tests.

Auto makers are stating that they expect EVs to last between 15 to 20 years moving forward. Yet we do have the data going back over the last two decades.

This data has then been broken down by year of battery replacements where we see that the Nissan air temperature controlled battery and the Tesla S liquid temperature controlled battery have the highest percentage of battery replacements.

The study shows the following details of battery replacements as follows:

• 2013 Tesla Model S (8.5%)
• 2014 Tesla Model S (7.3%)
• 2015 Tesla Model S (3.5%)
• 2011 Nissan LEAF (8.3%)
• 2012 Nissan LEAF (3.5%)

This does take into account the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt recall, and the 2019 Hyundai Kona recall.

The Nissan Leaf and Tesla S both had early recalls on battery packs due to the early day chemistry of those cells before they changed over to the current hearty cell chemistry that everyone is currently using.

There is much data at the link above if you wish to see more granular breakdown by actual OEM EV models. The benefit is that if an EV works for you needs today, you will get a long useful life out of the EV that is greater than many see with ICE auto's.

This leads us to the "Forever Battery", the solid-state darlings that are just now ramping up testing sample production for auto companies across the globe.

The following list of solid state battery companies that have moved into production from development today:

• Home - Solid Power (solidpowerbattery.com)
• Building the Best Solid State Battery | QuantumScape
• Ampcera – Solid State Electrolytes and Batteries
• Solid-State Li-Ion batteries utilizing proprietary polymer matrix electrolyte (PME) technology (brightvolt.com)
• ProLogium Technology Co., Ltd
• Toyota Solid-State Battery
  • Toyota Battery Manufacturing, North Carolina (TBMNC) - Toyota USA Newsroom
• ilika Solid State Battery
• Home of the World's Smallest Solid-State Batteries - Cymbet

Keep in mind that this is just a sample of the Solid-State Battery startup companies above and there are more that are mentioned below that you can look at.

Not all companies will survive in their current state as some will be swallowed up by legacy battery companies that do not currently have this technology.

End result is that we are on the start of a major battery revolution that will promise to change not only the auto industry but the rest of the industry that needs batteries from the smallest used in hearing aids to the largest that would be used to store excess power till it is needed.

Stories on Solid State Batteries over the last 18 months:

Today's electric vehicles (EV) all have battery management systems, these systems are either the old 400V system such as Mercedes-Benz uses or new 800V systems that General Motor and Hyundai / Kia uses. Depending on the size of the EV such as a subcompact where you have 66lbs of wiring from the battery pack to the controllers or a full-size EV where you can have 198lbs of wiring or more, wiring is an area that contributes mass to the overall weight of the EV.

LG Innoteck has announced their latest management system, a wireless battery management system (BMS).

Why is this such a big deal some would ask.

LG Innotek BMS Advantages

• Industry First 800V wireless battery management system (BMS)
• BMS combines the essential components for wireless communication into one module that is compatible with all communication chips.
• LG BMS implements an advanced inspection system for checking the communication performance, enhancing the convenience of its customers.

Lets start this off with a definition of BMS or Battery Management System: BMS is an essential component for electric vehicles that monitors the voltage, current, temperature, etc. of a battery in real time to optimize the performance and life span of the battery.  When the BMS receives data from a battery cell, the electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle controls the power input/output according to the state of the battery cell. Most of the electric vehicles produced up to now have wired BMS’s on them. Multiple BMS’s are connected via copper cables (wire harness) inside a battery pack. Because of this, the cables and connectors occupy a significant portion of the battery pack's volume and weight.

The key advantage of this wireless BMS system is the reduction of weight which is estimated to be as little as 66lbs of wiring in a subcompact EV to 198lbs in a full size EV. Everyone has complained about the bloat of EVs weight. This is the first solution that helps to reduce EV weight.

LG Innotek developed this wireless BMS solution using Radio Frequency (RF) communication modules.  Some would say big deal as we already have wireless stuff. Others will be excited to learn that once you remove all that copper wiring, you gain space throughout the EV. Bigger yet is that the space you gain 10-15% increases the battery pack size and or gives additional space for added flexibility of battery pack design, battery pack structure and more.

OEM adoption of a wireless BMS enhances the reliability of the EV still further. Cable or connector failure due to vehicle vibration is completely removed. This further increases reliability due to the assembly of battery packs can be totally automated by the reduction of battery cable connections allowing for further cost reductions in building EVs.

Charging duration decreases as the voltage increases, all Auto OEM's have stated they will move too or are going to build on an 800V system for their EVs and thus they now have two options, the original wired BMS that LG has been building since 2020 or the new wireless BMS system starting today in 2023.

Originally BMS systems were made up of multiple PCB boards of individual components, requiring more assembly and testing time for a finished BMS product. LG Innotek applied their decades of wireless knowledge in other products, especially RF communication to build a high-precision, high-density, multi-layer board. The RF communication module is composed of a four-layer board with dozens of wireless communication components, densely integrated into a single board. 

LG Innotek designed a global RF communication module to work with their BMS module so it is compatible with all types of communication chips, allowing ease of integration by all Auto OEMs.

LG Innotek has established a simulation, virtual inspection system to ensure inspection of the wireless BMS modules pass all required inspections for OEMs.

Mass production of the Wireless BMS is estimated to start early 2024. Current prototype evaluation by Auto OEMs is ongoing now to allow testing of the system for roll out into production EVs at the same time the wireless BMS system goes into mass production. 

LG Innotek has also stated that the Wireless BMS system will be used as a base starting point for an 800V EVCC or Electric Vehicle Charge Controller which is expected to be available soon after production of the BMS system. BMS and EVCSS market needs are expected to grow to significantly by 2030.

University of Maryland, director of Materials Innovation and lead author of the paper seems to think we can have a greener planet and healthier life by using shell fish or more specifically the Chitin that is found in the shellfish.

Crabs are among just one of the many shellfish that not just Americans, but pretty much the global population loves to eat leaving tons and tons of shellfish for the garbage dump until now. 

Lithium as we know has its own draw backs when it comes to mining and refining the material for our greener EVs. Yet this is the most common used material for the battery cells. Now we have the first research done that is thinking outside the box in regard to how to build battery cells. 

As the world transitions to deploying green energy solutions and electric vehicles, the batteries being used by this technology should also be evo-friendly. Currently the chemicals used in conventional batteries such as lithium-ion can take hundreds to thousands of years to break down. These same chemicals are corrosive, flammable and in cases of consumer-gadgets batteries have caught fire or caused fires that took place in either the products or recycling centers.

The Center for Materials Innovation at the University of Maryland has come up with a solution that is a proposed A Zinc coordinated chitosan electrolyte that they propose. This chitosan-Zn electrolyte enables the desirable Zn-deposition.

To quote the released paper:

Rechargeable aqueous Zn-metal battery is promising for grid energy storage needs, but its application is limited by issues such as Zn dendrite formation. In this work, we demonstrate a Zn-coordinated chitosan (chitosan-Zn) electrolyte for high-performance Zn-metal batteries. The chitosan-Zn electrolyte exhibits high mechanical strength, Zn²⁺ conductivity, and water bonding capability, which enable a desirable Zn-deposition morphology of parallel hexagonal Zn platelets. Using the chitosan-Zn electrolyte, the Zn anode shows exceptional cycling stability and rate performance, with a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.7% and >1,000 cycles at 50 mA cm⁻². The full batteries show excellent high-rate performance (up to 20C, 40 mA cm⁻²) and long-term cycling stability (>400 cycles at 2C). Furthermore, the chitosan-Zn electrolyte is non-flammable and biodegradable, making the proposed Zn-metal battery appealing in terms of safety and sustainability, demonstrating the promise of sustainable biomaterials for green and efficient energy-storage systems.

End result is that the energy efficiency of these battery cells are 99.7% after 1000 cycles of charging or about 400 hours of charging on the cell.

Benefits:

• Quick charge and discharge without significant performance degradation
• Not flammable
• Cells if disposed of in the ground breakdown in just 5 months due to microbial degradation leaving Zinc behind for recycling

Biomedical engineering has found that processing the food waste of shellfish into other uses is a booming business. Currently shellfish processed is now used in wound dressing as an anti-inflammatory treatment on wounds as another example.

Colleges in the U.K. and Spain have per reviewed the paper and agree that this has great potential to giving green energy creation a greener energy storage.

The researchers of the University of Maryland are being quiet at this time but are moving forward into prototype production of Chitin-Zinc battery cells for testing by both the automotive industry and energy companies.

End result is an EV battery that is good for 300 miles of range would be able to handle 1,000 charge cycles in a 10-year period with minimal loss of storage. In this case a Chitin-Zinc battery pack would only loose .03% of its storage capacity according to the research done to date.

End result is as we transition away from dirty energy sources, such as coal, the world will need a environmentally friendly source of storage for green energy such as wind, solar and hydro. Crustaceans could provide a solution that would reduce the reliance on lithium-ion batteries.

Coupe or Convertible, your choice in what could easily be a 21st century Bond car.

April 2022 Wiesmann revealed a Thunderball Concept EV to considerable excitement. This car features a classic two-seat, rear-wheel drive layout and lightweight carbon fibre construction, delivering performance, responsiveness, and engagement that enthusiasts demand. Wiesmann at the start of this year opened the books and as of this past Superbowl weekend, the first year production of the Wiesmann "Project Thunderball" is sold out. This is a big accomplishment for a sports sedan with a $320,000 dollar starting price. 

To quote Owner and CEO of Wiesmann, Roheen Berry:  “We are all extremely proud that Project Thunderball – the car which heralds the return of the storied Wiesmann brand – should resonate so strongly with driving enthusiasts from around the world. We knew that combining the timeless design, luxury, and hand-crafted finish that Wiesmann is renowned for, together with a state-of-the-art electric powertrain that delivers exceptional performance, range and charging and our own technology, including the innovative regenerative braking system, would result in a truly captivating and iconic car. To have already sold out the first year of production proves the unique appeal of Project Thunderball and represents a phenomenal start to a Wiesmann’s new, electrified era.” 

Project Thunderball has the initial details with more to come as they get closer to the 2024 delivery date.

• Targeted acceleration
  • From 0-62mph (0-100 km/h) 2.9 seconds
  • From 0-125mph (0-200 km/h) 8.9 seconds 
• 680hp (500kW) and 809 lb-ft (1,100Nm) of torque
  • Dual motor - 250kW each
• Transmission - Single speed limited slip
• Brakes
  • Front: 380 mm rotors, 6 piston calipers
  • Back: 380 mm rotors, 4 piston calipers
• Battery range of 310 miles (500km)
• 92kWh lithium-ion battery pack connected on an 800V state-of-the-art electrical system
• 300kW DC fast charging via the onboard 22kW charging controller
• Curb Weight - 3,747lbs (1,700kg)
• Power to weight ratio of 5.5lbs (2.5kg) per HP
• Weight distribution (% f/r) 48/52

Production will commence at the Wiesmann's "Gecko" facility in Dulmen, Germany.

Body and Chassis specifications:

• Body Type - Coupe/Roadster
• Chassis - Aluminum spaceframe
  • Wheelbase - 102 inches (2595 mm)
  • Track Front - 61.5 inches (1564 mm)
  • Rear - 68.6 inches (1668 mm)
  • Steering - Electric Power Steering
  • Suspension - Fully adjustable sports suspension including anti-roll bars
• Body Length - 271 inches (4440 mm)
• Width - 135 inches (2210 MM) including mirrors
• Doors/Seats 2/2
• Cargo
  • Front 6.3 cubic feet (180Liters) 2 carry-on golf bags
  • Rear 4.4 cubic feet (125 Liters) 2 regular golf bags - Coupe only

You can check out all the pictures of the handcrafted autos on weismann Instagram page.

Wiesmann Sports Cars (@wiesmannsportscars) • Instagram photos and videos

Wiesmann Sports Cars GMBH is taking reservations for the 2025 production, $3,217 US or $3,000 Euros as of this writing date.

ThunderBall Reservation

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The All-New Wiesmann Thunderball

Timeless design, coachbuilt quality, bespoke individuality

Revolution is never easy on any human population and yet the revolution that IONBLOX has for global humanity is truly evolutionary in both to the air and land movement of humans.

Who is IONBLOX? Founded in 2017, IONBLOX (Formerly known as Zenlabs Energy) is a next-generation energy company transforming the future of mobility be it by land or air. Ionblox’s proprietary pre-lithiated silicon oxide anode distinguishes itself by simultaneously delivering multiple performance attributes – fast charging, high energy, high power, and long life at low cost – pushing the limits of traditional battery storage technology and unlocking the viability of widespread electric transportation for generations to come.

Fossil-free mobility is the focus and IONBLOX is using a proprietary silicon anode in the battery instead of commonly used anode materials such as graphite. This allows Ionblox to unlock high-energy, high-power, and rapid charging capabilities in electric vehicles and aviation applications. Ionblox’s pre-lithiated silicon oxide anode is essential for high-performance applications requiring both high energy and power for fossil-free mobility.

“We know fossil-free mobility depends on high-performance batteries. At Ionblox, we have launched the only commercially scalable battery with a silicon dominant anode that can simultaneously provide high energy, high power, 1,000 fast charge cycles, and offers our partners a clear path to low-cost production.” —Sujeet Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Ionblox

To better understand what IONBLOX has to offer, we need to understand Energy Density or better yet what is Fuel Energy Density?

There are many different materials that have stored energy, ranging from food, to diesel, to uranium. These materials are known collectively as fuels, and all of these fuels are used as energy sources for a variety of systems. Fuels that come directly from nature such as crude oil are considered primary fuels; fuels that have to be modified so they can be used such as gasoline are called secondary fuels. The table above shows energy densities for a variety of common fuels.

Energy density is the amount of energy that can be stored in a given system, substance or region of space. Energy density is measured in energy per volume or per mass. The higher the energy density of a system or material, the greater the amount of energy it has stored.

A material can release energy in four types of reactions. These reactions are nuclear, chemical, electrochemical and electrical. When calculating the amount of energy in a system most often only useful or extractable energy is measured.

Energy density is generally expressed in one of two ways and the most common is VED or Volumetric energy density and the second is GED or Gravimetric Energy density.

• Volumetric energy density - how much energy a system contains in comparison to its volume, typically expressed in watt-hours per liter (Wh/L) or Megajoules per liter (MJ/L).
• Gravimetric energy density - how much energy a system contains in comparison to its mass, typically expressed in watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/Kg) or Megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). Gravimetric energy density can also be referred to as specific energy.

Having a high energy density does not give information on how quickly this energy can be used. This knowledge is contained in the substance's power density, which describes the rate at which its energy can be put out. 

Energy sources do not give up their energy in the same way, but assuming they could, how far would each source move an auto? Coal has been used as a base line by researchers to show the amount of energy various sources can move an auto.

• Wood - 7 meters or 23 ft
• Coal - 10 meters or 33 ft
• Crude oil - 18 meters or 59 ft
• Uranium 235 - 1,625, 000 meters (1,625 km) or 5,331,365 ft or 1,010 miles

Petroleum products such as Gasoline are used due to the energy density, and this is important to understand in how IONBLOX is planning to revolutionize the air and land mobility of humans.

 Ionblox’s proprietary pre-lithiated silicon oxide anode distinguishes itself by simultaneously delivering multiple performance attributes – fast charging, high energy, high power, and long life at low cost – pushing the limits of traditional battery storage technology and unlocking the viability of widespread electric transportation for generations to come.

Let's put this into simple terms to understand the benefits of this companies' technology. 

Pre-lithiated silicon oxide anode-based cells distinguishes itself by the following:

• Giving the cells 50% more energy density than traditional lithium-ion cells
• 1,000 charge cycles, retaining 90% of original capacity at the 1,000 Fast DC charge
• Rapid charges 80% of the battery's capacity in 10 minutes. In a 300-mile battery pack vehicle, this means that you can charge 240 miles in 10 minutes, on par with an equivalent ICE auto
• Idaho Labs has confirmed this with repeated testing of a 12Ah pouch cell, confirmed energy density of 315 Wh/kg

IONBLOX believes that this proprietary solid-state lithium-ion battery cell solution in pouch form can deliver both constant rapid charging with high endurance all in a single cell design at a lower cost with longer cycle life.

IONBLOX has stated that this solution is for both Air and Land. Lets first look at the Air solution.

Electric Air Transport

Ionblox knows that eVTOLs have unique operating profiles and hence drastically different battery requirements from EVs —and the long-term success of the eVTOL air mobility revolution depends on the development of high-performance batteries to power it. Ionblox batteries can sustain high power output for a significant length of time without quickly draining the energy stored within. That’s what planes need and why they have partnered with companies such as Lilium Jets to Applied Materials who have invested in Ionblox batteries.

The unique batteries can be scaled up with low risk and at a competitive cost because they use commercially available materials and proven production processes and equipment, rather than costly, hard-to-scale materials, such as silicon nanotubes and nanowires.

And to date, Ionblox has launched the only commercially scalable battery that can simultaneously provide high energy, high power, 1,000 fast charge cycles, and a clear path to low-cost production.

The IONBLOX Air Cells

Weight as we have seen in the auto industry is just as important an issue in the Airplane industry. Ionblox batteries allow more flight miles or increased loads over competitive products. The following charts above shows the cell characteristics and size of these state-of-the-art cells that offer high energy density with high power for the cells entire performance range.

Electric Vehicle Transport

Ionblox had this statement about vehicle transportation: "Electric mobility is one of the most important efforts in the global fight against climate change. However, in order to truly compete with internal combustion engine vehicles, the cost of electric vehicles needs to decrease, the vehicle range needs to increase, and the fast charge capability needs to vastly improve. Today's options are a $30K vehicle that travels 90 miles per charge or a $60K vehicle that travels 300 miles per charge -- neither of which appeals to the general population. And recharging your car should be as fast as filling up a tank of gas."

In partnership with the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler), Ionblox has developed an ultra high energy density cell, utilizing a silicon based anode. When most traditional cells are charged at high rates on a continuous basis, cycle life suffers tremendously. Range will finally alleviate inconveniences associated with electric vehicles — recharge time can finally last the same amount time as a gas fill-up.

Ionblox cells have one of the farthest ranges of operating temperatures of any cell currently on the market. For the market to support mass adoption of EVs two things need to happen, first is the official funding and ramp up of Ionblox cell production which is happening now allowing them to produce 50Ah large format pouch cells which will go out to both auto and aircraft manufacturers for evaluation this year and hopefully into mass production in 2024. Second is the global installation of Fast DC chargers.

Companies globally are ramping up production of these DC or EV Fast Chargers to be installed. Here in the U.S. we have the IRA or Inflation reduction Act that is helping to put level 2 chargers in homes and Fast Chargers nationally on a scale of every 50 miles to make it easy for any EV owner to travel coast to coast.

Ionblox

Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program Guidance (dot.gov)

Let's get to the core of why Infinitum is a company to watch, possibly invest in if you are comfortable with risk and how it could influence the Electric Vehicle movement of the global automotive industry.

First, understand that electric motors have been around for over 100 years. They are made up of an iron core, a ton of wrapped copper wiring and can be very heavy. In this regard is the biggest reason for the change coming with a company like Infinitum.

Example of traditional electric motor installed versus Infinitum All-in-one solution.

Here you can visually see the difference between a traditional electric motor and Infinitum All-in-one solution. The statistics speak for themselves.

All-in-one solution has been stated from the beginning of this writeup and one not versed in electric motors would be right to ask what does this mean?

Simple, most electric motors are what one would call idiot motors with no intelligence. Just a motor that spins, doing a job and unless it fails, it does nothing else nor can it change on its own to do the job better.

Here is the expanded view of the All-in-one solution and the feature list of the benefits.

• Top of the line efficiency and energy savings
  • Conventional motors feature a steel core with copper windings, causing eddy currents that result in significant motor losses. Replacing the core and copper windings with the PCB stator eliminates these losses, resulting in a higher efficiency motor.
• Same power in half the size and weight
  • Lightweight materials mean motors generate all the power in half the weight and size, at a fraction of the carbon footprint of conventional motors.
• Low noise emissions
  • The absence of magnetic forces between the rotor and the stator and the elimination of torque ripple drastically reduce the acoustic noise produced.
• Durable and reliable
  • The conductors are fully encapsulated and provide the entire coil with an equal coefficient of thermal expansion. This insulation method and stator design is almost indestructible per Infinitum.
• Modular form factor
  • The modular approach allows Infinitum to meet application and output requirements by incrementally adding or removing stator panels or motor modules.
• Connected and Configurable
  • Sensors embedded in both the VFD and motor provides insights into performance, allowing for predictive and prescriptive maintenance, preventing unscheduled downtime. Cloud connectivity is an optional feature.

Let's dig into the Technology basics of the Infinitum electric motor. While other motors make a drastic improvement in one characteristic of a motor at the sacrifice of all others, Infinitum re-imagined the motor, achieving total efficiency with a motor that is smaller, lighter, quieter, more durable, and more efficient.

Air-Core motor

• By etching copper coils directly onto the PCB stator, we eliminate the heavy steel core and copper windings of conventional motors. This not only reduces the size and weight by half, but by removing the iron in the magnet path we’ve eliminated torque ripple, cogging, stator hysteresis, and eddy current losses. The result is a significant increase in efficiency across all load conditions. The PCB stator also makes it much easier to automate the manufacturing process to ensure repeatable, consistent quality.

Market leading controls

• The state-of-the-art variable frequency drive (VFD) facilitates variable speed applications, reducing overall energy usage by running the motor at lower speeds. This provides a level of control not available in conventional motors and the high switching frequency of the VFD, up to 200 kHz, also dramatically reduces audible noise.

IoT-enabled

• Infinitum motors have built-in IoT capability to enable optional over-the-air software updates, on-demand access to real-time performance analytics, and remote monitoring.

Aircore-EC-Assembly-Animation480.mov

 Infinitum have built the Aircore for use in many existing places of low horsepower needs, their Mobility line is focused on the transportation sector.

Aircore mobility are liquid-cooled smarter air core motor design that delivers a premium performance mobility application. At a fraction of the weight of conventional motors, the Aircore Mobility motors dramatically improve efficiency and reliability while also offering high-speed, excellent torque, and a modular design. As a result, Aircore Mobility motors are well suited for drivetrain and propulsion and auxiliary motor applications for Class 1 -8 commercial vehicles as well as aerospace, marine, construction, and agricultural applications.

Aircore-Mobility-Components-And-Cooling-Logo480.mov

 Aircore Mobility motors as designed for Class 1 to 8 commercial vehicles, aerospace and marine applications including heavy machinery can be set at 50 to 250kW (67 to 335 HP) of power without significantly increasing the size and weight of the drivetrain. Using an axial flux design, Aircore Mobility motors generate more torque and faster rotation in a smaller package compared to competitors motors. 

The modular disc design of the Aircore Mobility motor allows Infinitum engineers to build multi-stator, multi-rotor motors that offer high power with increased performance. The innovative design allows for a highly efficient oil-cooling system that cools the interior stator, helping to increase power density by a factor or 3 to 5 times.

PCB stator have copper coils etched into the stator, eliminating heavy iron core and copper windings used in traditional conventional motors. This cuts the size and weight in half if not more while increasing high reliability and durability. This lends to an ultra-quiet EV.

Aircore Mobility advantages are as follows:

• Ultra-high efficiency
• Superior power density
• Modular axial design
• Rapid prototyping
• Durability and reliability
• High speed

A 150 kW Aircore Mobility electric traction motor has the following specification:

• 150 kW continuous power (201 hp)
• 300 kW peak power (402 hp)
• 190 Nm continuous torque (258 lb-ft)
• 7,500 RPM nominal speed
• 10,000 RPM peak speed
• 20kg active mass
• 95% peak efficiency
• Class 4-6 use

Infinitum-Aircore-Mobility-Motor-Brochure-12-2022A.pdf

Some might wonder why an oil cooled system if these electric motor design as air cooled is so great. In quoting the research that went into the Aircore Mobility motor:

QUOTE Preliminary results show that, with oil flowing at 6 L/min, the cooling system could remove nine times more losses than the air-cooling system, allowing us to increase the motor power by a factor of three. At 6 L/min flow, as a function of losses, the temperature rise rate in the motor is only 0.0081°C/W. Compared to air cooling, where we see a temperature rise rate of 0.0729°C/W, the temperature rise of the 10 HP motor running a full load dropped from 41°C to only 5°C. If we allow the temperature rise in the oil-cooled motor to match the 41°C of the air-cooled version, the oil-cooled system could remove up to 5,000 W of losses – corresponding to the three-fold increase in motor power mentioned above. 

The maximum temperature of the materials inside the motor, especially the stator, determine the maximum power rating. The more effective the cooling system, the higher the possible power density. In a radial-flux motor, like those used in EVs from Tesla and Volkswagen, the air gap between the stator and the rotor surfaces is usually too narrow for coolant to flow through, so designers need to apply coolant outside of the air gap. Further, with traditional copper windings, a large amount of the copper surface area isn’t exposed to the coolant. With Infinitum’s axial-flux motor, fluid is sprayed directly over the surface of the stator which maximizes heat transfer away from the current-carrying copper. Since the stator generates the most heat, direct coolant application has a significant advantage. While we have more work to do, initial modeling and testing of oil-cooled Infinitum motors show great promise for the electrification of vehicles because of their smaller relative size, light weight, and high-power density.

Infinitum Frequently asked Questions

Infinitum has also scaled this electric motor tech down to very small sizes that can benefit other areas of the EV industry such as traditional fans used with a heat pump or to operate other items on an auto such as doors, powered seats, frunk lids, etc. Infinitum believes there is not much they cannot design using this electric motor technology for a wide range of applications.

Welcome to learning about EC Power, a team of researchers from Penn State that started in 2011 as a lithium-ion battery modeling software company. The need for real data to validate battery use in EVs led this team to build a small prototyping facility focused on software development.

During this manufacturing process and testing of cells for model validation, EC Power realized that temperature is everything to a lithium-ion cell. Modern EVs from Tesla, GM, VW, Ford, Kia, and Hyundai all have a fast-charging option in that when you select this mode, it preps the battery to a certain temperature to ensure maximum speed of the battery pack.

EC Power wondered if there was a better way to control the temperature rapidly, efficiently and precisely without having to run a prep software program to prepare the battery for fast charging. Tesla can take from 15 minutes to 30 minutes plus to precondition their battery pack for supercharging or what the rest of the industry calls fast charging.

EC Power created, patented, and is now going into production to prove thermal modulation.

After selling their AutoLion software, EC Power has focused exclusively on developing the increased possibilities that thermal modulation can provide.

What is Thermal Modulation?

EC Power Answer - Thermal Modulation Cell Technology (TMCT) heats cells from the inside out. By heating inside out, not outside in as current EVs from around the world does, Lithium-ion cell achieve thermal modulation rates >60 times faster than current EVs thermal management can achieve.

EC Power believes the major barrier to widespread EV adoption is the performance loss of battery packs in cold weather. The colder the weather, the more loss in range. Currently, all EV OEMs use some form of air or liquid conditioning of the battery pack. While this works, it also draws a significant amount of battery power to make this battery thermal optimization work.

EC Power has tested and proven that by adding TMCT to conventional Li-ion cells, they have demonstrated that nominal performance is regained in less than a minute, even starting from -50 °C that some areas of the globe reach during normal wintertime.  

Extreme fast charging is recognized as a crucial feature needed for broad EV adoption. Additionally, fast charging enables the use of smaller battery packs, saving resources and lowering off-the-lot cost for auto companies. The Department of Energy has a funding program that specifically called for extreme fast charging technology where 200 miles of range is added to the battery pack within 10 minutes for at least 500 consistent charging cycles.

Lithium-ion cells can be safely charged at specific speeds based on the temperature of the cell. Inside cold cells lithium ions simply move more slowly, increasing the risk for battery degradation and slow charging. This is called by some in the industry as a stuck lithium cell increasing early degradation and possible fires where one sees a lithium-ion battery pack catch on fire and consistently restart burning after having been put out.

EC Power has pointed out that the global EV OEMs have implemented a clever external heating system to regulate the battery pack of an EV to enable what EC Power calls fast(ish) charging. This preconditioning or pre-battery preparation can take form 20 to 45 minutes. The large the battery pack, the longer the time to precondition the battery pack for optimum charging speed.

EC Power has proven in actual testing of real-world lithium-ion cells that their TMCT can make a cell reach maximum safe fast charging temperatures within 30 seconds.

EC Power latest press release states that a third-party evaluated their TMCT Lithium-ion cells for their ability to meet the DOE's extreme fast charging requirement's goal. This third-party company stated that EC Power cells were the only product to EXCEED the DOE's standard of 500 consistent Extreme fast charging with only a 10% or less loss of capacity.

EC Power Lithium-ion cells still had ~90% of their capacity after 1200 extreme fast charging cycles and >90% capacity remaining after 2,500 fast charging cycles of 10 minutes for 200 miles of range.

A major question that this brings up is How does TMCT fit into existing battery cell production?

Lithium-ion cell manufacturing is a cutthroat business, tight cost margins, high cost of recalls and not surprising the resistance by OEMs to implement new technology.

EC Power states that TMCT technology is manufactured using conventional existing equipment. As they stated at the start of the article, think of lithium-ion cells as books and TMCT is a bookmark, only 10 times thinner, a bookmark that turbocharges the book per EC Power.

Solid-state and lithium-metal batteries have great potential for greater energy density, cheaper manufacturing and enhanced safety over today's conventional Lithium-Ion liquid battery cells. One of the things that change with these newer batteries is higher operating temperatures according to EC Power to achieve these new power performance and safe fast charging.

EC Power sees no other technology or battery company that can heat lithium cells as efficiently, evenly and quickly as thermal modulation.

EC Power sees an exciting battery technology future as they contribute to the battery future.

A future of EVs that have a 200- or 400-mile range battery pack that charges in 10 or 20 minutes, no different than today's ICE autos. 

PENN STATE RESEARCH POST

EC Power team believes that OEMs could switch from a 150kWh battery pack to a 50kWh battery pack using TMCT eliminating range anxiety.

It started with legacy OEMs trying to build and sell electric automobiles over the last 100 plus years. It took Tesla to actually grab the attention of the public and now with Rivian, GM, Ford, Kia, Hyundia, VW and so many others, we now see almost every day EVs driving all around the world.

There is no doubt the future will be electric, yet the state of electric fast charging is for some a hinderance to buying an EV as vehicle purchases are one of the largest decisions households make other than buying a home.

The federal government has started to release funds for installation of a nationwide network of Fast charging stations. We currently have Tesla's Supercharger network and Electrify America charging stations with more opening up monthly across the U.S. Both networks cover major national highways and state routes, yet the current state of access leaves the country in a nation of disconnected charging access in regard to road-trips.

Let's start with first understanding the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted in November 2021 which approved $7.5 Billion dedicated to EV Charging. This is split into two funding pools: 

• $5 Billion for National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program
• $2.5 Billion for a discretionary grant program to tackle rural charging and underserved and/or disadvantaged communities

$5 Billion NEVI program

Two prong approach is that these funds will be used in the deployment of approved state-proposed EV charging infrastructure and the formation of an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access and reliability. The first part is split over five years, the first part being a $615 million disbursement for 2022 and an estimated $885 million for 2023.

This program required each state to submit plans to the federal government, laying out where the EV charging stations would be, these are a minimum of four 150-kW DC fast-charging units, every 50 miles. Today, all states have submitted plans and are approved.

In the past months leading up to approval by the federal government, states had to create a very detailed plan that included working with the federal government to fine-tune each state's plan that covered charging routes that are also designed Alternative Fuel Corridors.

Those that would like to see the plan for their state can do so at this joint state/federal website.

State Plans for Electric Vehicle Charging · Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (driveelectric.gov)

In total, 75,820 miles of interstate/Federal highways have been designated Alternative Fuel Corridors as of July 2022.

Thanksgiving is upon us, and the Energy Department's Alternative Fueling Station Locator map has been updated to now cover Ready and Pending EV Corridors. You can check the actual stations by clicking on the Station Location check box.

FUEL CORRIDORS

The Map allows you to zoom in and out to get better details of corridors near you. Alternative Fuels Data Center Map is as of November 2022. You can clearly see dark green for ready and lite green for pending corridors. 

Most useful is the pending corridors so one can make choices about road-trip routes. Looking at specific state plans will give you an understanding of how soon each corridor will be built out. The bulk of the identified corridors will all be built out by mid-decade.

It is understandable that significant gaps will still exist. These could be covered by private businesses and or will fall under the rural planning. The benefit is that this is a glance into the future for those needing fast-charging stations for road-trips.

Tools

The alternative Fuels Data Center has a large selection of helpful tools that cover calculators, interactive maps, data searches, fuel providers and more to assist with making a wide range of decisions.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Tools (energy.gov)

Here are just a few of the tools afdc provides for us to include in the websites for ease of use.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Alternative Fueling Station Locator (energy.gov)

NEVI - Environment - FHWA (dot.gov)

Alternative Fuels Data Center: National Alternative Fuels Corridors (energy.gov)

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Station Data for Alternative Fuel Corridors (energy.gov)

Domino's wants to introduce you to the future with their electric delivery fleet. Ordering Pizza and entering for their Chevrolet BOLT give away can be done here:

Domino's Electric Delivery

Domino's Pissa Inc. the largest pizza company in the world has chosen to standardize delivery on the 2023 Chevrolet BOLT electric vehicle. 

During the month of November, Domino's will take delivery of 100 customized Chevy Bolts that will arrive at select franchises and corporate locations throughout the U.S. During the following next couple of months, an additional 700 customized Chevy Bolts will be delivered to franchisees and corporate locations across North America. 

Check out how many Domino's Chevy Bolt EVs are currently in each state and many are coming soon by visiting:

Domino's EV Fleet

Domino's started in 1960 delivering pizza to customers in a Volkswagen Beetle. Domino's commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 is being kicked off with this initial investment in 700 Chevrolet BOLTs customized to Domino's specification.

Today Domino's delivers pizza and a variety of other dishes by traditional vehicles that includes motorcycles and or scooters. In 24 international markets and including the U.S., Domino is already changed to electric bikes, electric motorcycles and electric scooters.

Domino's believes that their franchisee and corporate stores can increase quality of product, service and profitability by going zero tailpipe emissions, advanced safety features and lower average maintenance costs via electric vehicles, all without the impact of high fluctuating gas prices. 

Quality service of quality products through safer delivery to our customers is Domino's drive.

Domino's has 19,500 stores in over 90 global markets with retail sales of $17.8 billion in 2021. 98% of all Domino's stores are franchise owners who believe that Domino's drive to go green will benefit them all as technology has accounted for half of their retail sales to become from digital channels.

Domino's will have chargers installed at every retail location for use by their fleet and customers who need a charge while waiting for their order.

Domino's wants you to join in on the EV fun! Domino's is launching two giveaways, giving customers the chance to win one of two 2023 Chevrolet BOLT EVs. To enter each giveaway, Domino's released the following bullet points in their press release.

• Order Domino's delivery online between Nov. 21, 2022 and Feb. 12, 2023 and automatically be entered for a chance to win.
• Share why you're pizza's biggest fan using #DominosDeliversAChevy and #Contest on TikTok or Instagram Reels between Nov. 21, 2022 and Dec. 4, 2022 to be entered for a chance to win.

Domino's invites you to join the Multi-Cultural love of Pizza today by exploring their EV FLEET! While your there order up some mouth watering Pizza.

 

The future is charging and with-it Chevron and Texaco, a subsidiary of Chevron are moving forward with EV Ultra-Fast Charging using FreeWire battery backed chargers.

Both company owned and franchised retailer/marketer stations will have FreeWire Charging available.

FreeWire's approach is an integrated one that couples battery integration and energy management software with analytics to optimize the ultra-fast charging of ones EV. FreeWire calls these Boost Chargers that will allow a customer to charge 200 miles of range in 15 minutes.

Boost Chargers are able to use existing low-voltage utility service and deliver high-power charging that normally requires upgraded electrical connections and in some areas grid upgrades.

Per Jesse Love, Chevron's retail brand experience manager: “Chevron believes the future of energy is lower carbon, and our program with FreeWire is another step on our journey to deliver all forms of energy to our customers,” “We are committed to investing billions in lower-carbon projects over the next 10 years and are excited to join with companies like FreeWire that develop technologies that enhance our retail offerings and can grow our Chevron and Texaco brands.”

This agreement will allow the Chevron/Texaco stations to unlock new relationships with EV drivers as it expands the options for fueling and shopping especially when on the road. The Chevron and Texaco mobile apps will be upgraded starting this fall 2022 to show what stations have EV Ultra-Fast Chargers and current availability. This is what Chevron/Texaco say is delivering a great customer experience.

FreeWire is continuing to disrupt the EV charging market as they offer unique solutions to traditional fueler, including additional brands such as bp and Phillips66 who have already started rolling out their own branded EV chargers built by FreeWire.

Home - FreeWire Technologies

FreeWire is actively involved at many levels in the NEVI (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) program. Expect to see these kinds of chargers become very common across the U.S.

The Commercial Auto industry is usually a slow-moving beast when it comes to change. You can look at how little has changed in CAT tractors, Class 8 Semi Trucks and other companies.

Recently change has started as Tesla showed off their own Electric Tesla Class 8 Semi Truck that has forced Paccar, parent owner of Peterbuilt and Kenworth Class 8 and more Diesel trucks to start investing in electric trucks.

Caterpillar has rolled out the first of some new Hybrid and Diesel-electric products over the last few years and now has their first fully electric tractor for select use in inner city construction. CAT biggest area of growth has been their Hybrid system where electric really shines as they have powerful electric drive trains backed by efficient diesel generators giving much longer time between maintenance schedules.

Yet even with the hybrid area taking off and all the talk of Hydrogen in Semi trucks, the future seems to be pure electric with solid-state batteries and as such, two of the biggest companies in the commercial space is making major change and growth.

We start with ZF of Germany, a large supplier of auto parts to the auto industry and now they are moving forward with a commercial portfolio of electric motors, controllers, etc.

We start with the ZF CeTrax 2 heavy-duty electric motor. This electrical drive unit has the following:

• Two high performance -oil-cooled e-motors
• Two integrated 800V Silicon carbide inverters
• Uses an advanced three-speed gearbox allowing the ability to powershift
• Weight of motor unit - 385 kg or 849 lbs
• Continuous power - 360kW or 483 HP
• Torque - 24,700 Nm or 18,218 lb-ft of torque
• Motor is aimed at commercial vehicles up to 44 tons.

ZF decades of building transmissions and other auto components has them ready to go commercial big time as a major global truck manufacturer will be using this motor in their new Commercial EV product line starting in 2023.

The next new ZF product is the eWorX, an electrified commercial Vehicle Power Take-Off (PTO) system to drive on-board work equipment. This is for those that take a basic cab/frame setup and add value as a body manufacture.

eWorX is a fully integrated system that combines all the functions required for electrification of work vehicles. This system combines all the functions required for electrification of on-board equipment in a single compact unit. Providing a known mechanical interface, eWorX supports the body manufactures by removing the need to deal with the drivetrain electrical system. This allows various body builders to plug n play depending on the type of equipment they are adding to the basic body/frame solution without having to touch the actual power train which facilitates easier operations in inner city and residential areas.

ZF has built an all-new Electric Power Steering (EPS) that will be the cornerstone of the 21st century. Building off their decades in building such units for the ICE Auto industry, ZF now offers an integrated e-motor to replace hydraulic fluid systems in medium and heavy-duty trucks. This system will also be the building block for next generation Advanced Driver Assistance Systems for commercial EVs.

One might ask why I would want to replace the Hydraulic steering systems that have worked so well for decades with an electronic one? Easy, drive by wire is the future where this system can be independent of the vehicles drivetrain and no need to deal with a liquid or leaking hoses. This unit can come in either 24V or 48V variants, meeting diverse packaging requirements.

This EPS unit is also ready for autonomous driving up to Level 5 per ZF and currently works with the ADAS system to support safety functions including continuous lane keeping.

ZF is aiming to not only support the rapidly changing personal auto industry but also the commercial space as more and more cities around the world move to emission free commercial autos giving city living a cleaner breath of fresh air.

For those wanting to see even more of what ZF is doing from cars to medium and heavy duty commercial vehicles and even buses and trains, check out their press page for coverage on the Global Technology Day and IAA Transportation day 2022.

Press Start Page - ZF

Today many see the news and hear about climate change, quality of life and greenhouse gas. On top of this, many have seen the benefits of diesel trucks, but also have complained about the black toxic exhaust that comes out. Even with treatment to try and get the exhaust cleaner, there are still toxic elements that come out and then the smell. Not everyone likes the exhaust smell of diesel. 

Many places have converted diesel buses to run on vegetable oil thus giving one a French Fry type of exhaust smell as some have said making them hungry while riding to and from work. Yet you still have the ICE system that has exhaust and a wide variety of fluids, noise, etc.

Many companies such as Mack, Kenworth, Peterbuilt from a commercial Class 8 / Medium Duty have announced products coming to replace diesel or even Hybrid diesel or CNG products in the cities. 

Waste Management has one of the largest CNG fleets in the US for collecting our garbage in our neighborhoods and inner cities. Yet with this we still have ICE or internal combustion engines burning some form of gas / liquid and an exhaust.

Battle Motors, formerly Crane Carrier Corporation was formed recently when CCC was bought out and the new owners have a passion for a quiet exhaust free future. Battle Motors is moving to go from building the best Garbage and Delivery trucks to the Best Electric Garbage/Delivery trucks.

CCC was working on an electric truck but taking a very slow approach when they were bought out by the ex-CEO of Romeo Power who had called on CCC to buy their batteries for their future EVs. When Romeo Power went public, their CEO Mike Patterson took the opportunity to step down and focus on his desire to offer Commercial EVs and Mike bought CCC renaming it Battle Motors.

Here they sped up the development of an Electric garbage truck and Electric Delivery truck.

With this purchase, Battle Motors has done a $40 million dollar expansion of their New Philadelphia production site as well as tripling their production in Ohio as more cities are demanding quiet electric trucks to replace diesel/CNG. 

The Growth of Battle Motors has allowed the company to not only raise an initial $120 million of Series A investment but this summer also a second Series B round of $150 million to support expansion of a complete Electric portfolio and charging network.

Battle Ground has acknowledged that charging is a challenge and as such, taking a page from Tesla, will setup rapid charging infrastructure based on the 800V CCS spec to ensure the delivery and garbage trucks have a network of charging places to quickly charge and continue their work.

One area that CEO Mike Patterson saw potential in was the need to replace the old analogue dash system with a modern GPS system that would allow tracking, routing and maintenance all in one. This would optimize the routes drivers would take to collect garbage, minimizing power usage and allow the maintenance staff to see what vehicles really needed work, ensuring a better up time for the trucks.

Battle Motors understands that not everything can be changed to pure electric and as such has moved forward with a Hybrid Electric truck series with a generator system to power the electric powertrain and a pure electric system.

Companies like Battle Motors, ZF and others see a quiet, emission free service for companies in the long-term future and a need for Hybrids allowing for battery tech to continue to improve for the long road of when everything is pure electric.

Look for a quiet delivery or garbage truck in your future part of the neighborhood or city.

Seems since the start of the auto industry there has always been a push in a certain direction and much of that has been driven by the oil industry with ICE autos. With the start of the electrical vehicle the media narrative has been the world will be awash in dead batteries clogging up landfills and adding an expense to consumers in having to replace a $10,000 or more battery pack.

Lately an interesting counter point was made in a story by Forbes magazine in an interview with Nissan executive Nic Thomas who has gone on record that for the last 12 years that Nissan has been selling their electric Leaf auto that almost all of the lithium-ion batteries they have produced are still working just fine in their cars. In fact, Nissan is now expecting the battery packs to outlast the life expectancy of the Nissan Leaf auto. Nissan expects their Leaf to easily last 20 years.

Since the Leaf went on sale in 2010, the worry by opponents to EVs was that the world would have to deal with millions upon millions of spent EV battery packs. As such many Legacy Auto Companies have set up battery recycling centers and yet due to the sophisticated battery management systems that have been guarding the long-term health of these batteries very little has found its way back for recycling.

In fact, for EVs from Hyundai, the owner gets a lifetime warranty where Kia has given their EV battery packs a 10-year warranty. GM has chosen to give all their EVs an 8-year 100,000-mile warranty on their Ultium battery system. Ford has also gone with an 8-year, 100,000-mile battery pack warranty.

Yet the end result is that the battery packs in the Hybrid and BEVs are lasting far longer than ever expected. Nissan has gone on record that after 20 years; they expect the average Leaf battery pack to have 60 to 70% capacity still making it usable for other products such as a home energy storage system. The average battery life is expected to outlast the average auto life.

As Nissan has pointed out, battery degradation in EVs is a major concern among both buyers and manufacturers. Nissan assures that the problem is not an issue especially as folks move to newer EVs such as the Nissan Ariya.

Nissan says that down the road, it will probably be more sustainable to recycle the auto and reuse the battery pack. To date, Nissan has stated they have only recovered a small quantity of the Leaf's batteries, the majority of them from accidents and a smaller number for those that have not complied with the conditions of the guarantee. Where at all possible, the batteries are sent to stationary storage systems for extended life use such as the Nissan Factory in Sunderland, England, which uses the batteries to store energy from solar panels and wind turbines to power the factory.

The International Energy Angecy (IEA) says they estimate current global recycling capacity at around 180,000 metric tons per year. The IEA has stated that by 2040, they estimate 1,300 GWh of spent batteries that will need to be recycled. One area that is of interest is the denser and longer range of solid-state batteries.

Nissan LEAF Battery Replacement

The owner of the Nissan LEAF Battery Replacement site and owner of Nissan Leafs has gone through 3 battery replacements and felt a site was needed to help all EV owners know where to go for battery repairs and replacement so they could avoid paying the extreme arke

Hertz is leading the auto rental push into the EV space with GM.

Here is the nuts and bolts of this agreement.

• Hertz plans to order up to 175,000 EVs from GM over the next five years
• Hertz will offer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop EVs across multiple vehicle categories
• Deliveries of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV are expected to begin first quarter 2023

This EV agreement between Hertz and GM makes it one of the largest to date of an EV expansion among fleet customers and the broadest as it covers from compact to Fullsize EVs. Hertz will offer from trucks, SUVs, and cars from basic entry level to luxury and more with the BrightDrop vans.

Hertz has estimated that over the 5-year period, approximately 8 billion miles will be driven in EVs saving approximately 3.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

To quote Stephen Scherr, Hertz CEO: "It's exciting that two iconic American companies that have shaped the evolution of transportation for more than a century are coming together to redefine the future of mobility in the 21st century," "We are thrilled to partner with GM on this initiative, which will dramatically expand our EV offering to Hertz customers, including leisure and business travelers, rideshare drivers and corporates."

Hertz is investing to create the largest rental fleet of EVs in North America, with tens of thousands of EVs available for rent at 500 Hertz locations across 38 states. The company's current goal is for one-quarter of its fleet to be electric by the end of 2024.

GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra has this to say: "Our work with Hertz is a huge step forward for emissions reduction and EV adoption that will help create thousands of new EV customers for GM," "With the vehicle choice, technology and driving range we're delivering, I'm confident that each rental experience will further increase purchase consideration for our products and drive growth for our company."

With Hertz taking EV deliveries starting Q1 2023, deliveries will scale as GM rapidly scales EV production across their entire portfolio of products as GM scales to be producing 1 million EVs in North America by the end of 2025 a year.

We here at Cheers and Gears have covered plenty of battery companies in existing or startup form. We even covered places where one could invest some spare coin if interested in taking high risks with these battery tech companies. After all the Golden Goose is the battery company who delivers ICE like charging to an EV battery pack.

Every University has groups of people working on their PhD, Doctorate, Masters, etc. in one field or another. Harvard University had a team of scientists that took on the challenge and have now moved from thesis / conceptual theory to working prototype in founding Adden Energy. This team of scientists have developed a solid-state battery and the process to scale up into commercial production a battery cell that delivers on two major fronts:

1. Battery pack charge time as low as 3 minutes
2. Capacity retention for over 10,000 cycles

Adden Energy has developed this cutting-edge technologies to enable mass adoption of EVs around the world and contribute greatly to a cleaner future.

Professor Xin Li's research group at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences started studying solid-state batteries in 2015.

• Doctoral students William Fitzhugh and Luhan Ye played leading roles in the technology development process.
  • Several impactful innovations on solid-state batteries have been discovered by this group
• Fred Hu, PhD in economics from Harvard and Founder of Primavera Capital joined and advised the team to commercialize the technology portfolio in a Startup Company.
• Adden Energy incorporated in 2021
• Adden Energy received first round funding

Adden Energy had the following experimental and theoretical discoveries in battery thermodynamics and Kinetics allowing this group to develop a new field of mechanical constriction design of battery materials and devices.

Battery Material papers:

• Advanced sulfide solid electrolyte by core-shell structural design | Nature Communications
• Strain‐Stabilized Ceramic‐Sulfide Electrolytes - Fitzhugh - 2019 - Small - Wiley Online Library

Devices papers:

• Toward Higher Voltage Solid‐State Batteries by Metastability and Kinetic Stability Design - Ye - 2020 - Advanced Energy Materials - Wiley Online Library
• A more stable lithium anode by mechanical constriction for solid state batteries - Energy & Environmental Science (RSC Publishing)

The new design approach drastically improves stability of the solid-electrolyte and battery system by carefully controlling the mechano-electrochemical environment of solid-state batteries. This team has created an innovative multi-electrolyte-layer separator with a dynamic stability design.

• A dynamic stability design strategy for lithium metal solid state batteries | Nature
• Synergistic effects of chlorine substitution in sulfide electrolyte solid state batteries - ScienceDirect
• A Two-Parameter Space to Tune Solid Electrolytes for Lithium Dendrite Constriction | JACS Au

New machine learning and high-throughput computational chemistry algorithms have predicted and can design more novel solid-electrolytes with improved performance.

• A High‐Throughput Search for Functionally Stable Interfaces in Sulfide Solid‐State Lithium Ion Conductors - Fitzhugh - 2019 - Advanced Energy Materials - Wiley Online Library
• Solid–electrolyte-interphase design in constrained ensemble for solid-state batteries - Energy & Environmental Science (RSC Publishing)
• A Two-Parameter Space to Tune Solid Electrolytes for Lithium Dendrite Constriction | JACS Au

Adden Energy's technological break throughs are allowing this startup to scale from a college lab R&D into a commercially acceptable sized cell. These technical advances have spanned material design and synthesis, in-house solid-electrolyte development, and novel cell designs. Combined material and device innovations have enabled the demonstration of the technology with high-current-density lithium metal anodes as well as high voltage cathodes.

What does this mean to you, the auto enthusiast? 

As per their press release that was in Physicsworld website: Sandwich strategy makes solid-state lithium battery last longer – Physics World

Long life, the battery cells are expected to allow battery packs on average to last 10-15 years without loss of cells, thus giving EVs similar life as found with Diesel and Gas auto's.

Charging, the battery tech that Adden Energy is ramping up means that the average auto would be looking at a 5 to 10 minute fast charge capable over and over with no degradation in the battery. Large size auto's like Trucks or SUVs would be 10 to 20 minutes.

Researchers design long-lasting, solid-state lithium battery – Harvard Gazette

Current EV battery tech can cause Dendrites to form, shortening the battery life when subjected to large constant high-speed charging. Adden Energy solution is a thicker multilayer between the anode and cathode, much like a BLT sandwich.

To quote the Harvad Gazette story: Think of the battery like a BLT sandwich. First comes the bread — the lithium metal anode — followed by lettuce — a coating of graphite. Next, a layer of tomatoes — the first electrolyte — and a layer of bacon — the second electrolyte. Finish it off with another layer of tomatoes and the last piece of bread — the cathode.

The first electrolyte (chemical name Li_5.5PS_4.5Cl_1.5 or LPSCI) is more stable with lithium but prone to dendrite penetration. The second electrolyte, (Li₁₀Ge₁P₂S₁₂ or LGPS) is less stable with lithium but appears immune to dendrites. In this design, dendrites are allowed to grow through the graphite and first electrolyte but are stopped when they reach the second. In other words, the dendrites grow through the lettuce and tomato but stop at the bacon. The bacon barrier stops the dendrites from pushing through and shorting the battery.

“This proof-of-concept design shows that lithium-metal solid-state batteries could be competitive with commercial lithium-ion batteries,” said Li. “And the flexibility and versatility of our multilayer design makes it potentially compatible with mass production procedures in the battery industry. 

A drawing of comparison between Adden Energy battery tech and todays traditional Lithium-ion batteries with the current battery on the left and Adden Energy blocking dendrites on the right.

End result is that while the first generation of EVs will be slower to charge and have possible shorter battery life, the future for moving to solid-state batteries is bright with ultra-fast charging times and long life.

Adden Energy

The current biggest cost to electric vehicles is the battery pack.

Current battery technology is all focused-on Lithium-ion cells either in hard case cells like Tesla uses or soft case pouches like GM is using.

There are positive and negative aspects to either cell type, yet the one thing all these cells have in common is an Anode and Cathode construction with a separator in between. As a battery is charged you have power move from the cathode to the anode moving through the separator and as the battery discharges, the reverse happens move from the anode side to the cathode side in a very simple explanation.

Our Next Energy (ONE) is a private startup looking to accelerate the transition to sustainable power by creating innovative energy storage solutions per their company website.

ONE was founded on the following three principles:

1. Double the range of electric vehicles
2. Use safer and more sustainable raw materials
3. Establish a localized supply chain

ONE is led by the following team:

ONE was founded July 2020 and had a successful funding round October 18th, 2021, with a $25 million dollar series A funding by Assembly Ventures and four other private investors. On March 1st, 2022, $65 million Series A funding was achieved from Assembly Ventures and five other private investors for a total of $90 million funding to date. ONE currently has approximately 51-100 employees per their financial details.

September 13, 2022 ONE unveiled a 240-Ah prismatic anode-free cell after a successful 12-month R&D effort. ONE believes their anode-free cell is the highest energy density large-format cell ever produced today. 

ONE has announced that their GeminiTM dual-chemistry architecture will be used by BMW in their iX prototype vehicle later this year for testing.

To quote Mujeeb Ijaz, founder and CEO of ONE, “Our prismatic anode-free cell is produced with approximately half of current cell manufacturing equipment for equivalent capacity, allowing us to sharply reduce scale-up cost,”

ONE's first-generation 1007 Wh/L cell eliminates the need for graphite and anode manufacturing equipment, thus enabling a $50 per kWh cost at scale.

ONE has pointed out the following information about anode-free cells, in the past, these cells had limited use due to a low cycle life making them not viable for electric vehicle use. ONE's Gemini dual-chemistry architecture has reduced cycle and peak power requirements by 90%. Gemini pairs standardized LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) and anode-free chemistries into a single battery pack. This special chemistry allows the battery to focus on the two different functions that an EV would use. LFP for daily driving and anode-free for extended long distances. Benefit is the Gemini cells are able to deliver more than 250,000 miles of lifetime service.

Quoting Steven Kaye, ONE Chief Technical Officer: “Scaling 100x from a 2 Ah pouch cell to a 240 Ah prismatic in less than 12 months is a testament to the simplicity of the design and ability to use conventional Li-ion production equipment,” “We are moving faster than the fastest research programs that I have been a part of. Gemini will reach volume production in 2026 accelerating electric vehicle adoption by delivering 600 miles of range in a wide range of vehicle platforms, including trucks and SVUs.”

Why is this a big deal one might ask? Currently since the start of the company, ONE built their Aries and Aries-II LFP battery packs that use NO Nickel or Cobalt for a more sustainable supply. These battery packs go into production in 2023 and will be found in various fleet type EVs. 300 plus miles of range depending on implementation with customizable battery pack building.

Long term for the company is their Gemini cells, in a Gemini Dual-Chemistry 1007 Wh/L battery pack.

These LFP plus Anode-free cells is the special sauce where the battery pack has the LFP for local driving delivering 150 miles of range and the anode-free cells pack 450 miles of range, acting as an energy reserve that recharges the LFP cells when needed.

ONE durable LFP cells pack 441 Wh/L and are designed for daily driving powering the vehicle motor, acting as the primary traction battery with the 150 miles of stored energy range.

The Anode-free side is the 566 Wh/L long range power storage. The Gemini pairs these two unique chemistries together, each doing the job they do best, Anode-free cells of High Energy density, LFP for power and durability.

On January 5th, 2022, ONE retrofitted a Tesla Model S with a 203.7 KWh battery pack and an energy density of 416 Wh/L allowing for a 752 miles of travel @ 55mph without recharging.

A third party validated and full details can be read here: ONE Battery Powers Electric Vehicle 752 Miles Without Charging

Founder and CEO of ONE, Mujeeb Ijaz had this to say: “We want to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by eliminating range anxiety, which holds back most consumers today,”

Until now, the industry approach in solving range anxiety is to add more charging stations where people are stopping every 150 miles or so, having to wait in long lines for partial charges at various rates extending travel time.

ONE GeminiTM battery solution is to offer enough range for every consumer to make an electric vehicle their only vehicle.

Company | Our Next Energy (one.ai)

Our Next Energy - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding

As we head into the Labor Day weekend, it is amazing how much Labor is going to be going on over the next couple of years in North America. Many new announcements have been made about upcoming EVs, yet bigger yet is the massive investment into new Battery Manufacturing sites here in the US.

Back in 2019 there were plenty of collaborations by auto companies with college startups of battery research such as Hyundai and Mercedes investing in a company called Factorial which Stellantis joined in investing in 2021 that was researching solid state batteries for future EVs. We have over the last 6 months covered many of the battery startup companies in the following list:

With all these new startups researching various designs on EV battery packs, people in the news and even here on Cheers and Gears started conversations with posts that in some cases were very accurate and in others complete FUD. Not because anyone was trying to push FUD, but it did make us realize that there is a bunch of Fears and Myths about EVs and as such, the following was published to help people better understand the upcoming future of EVs.

Now that we have brought you up to speed on the last 6 months, we can now discuss this week of crazy announcements. We will start by talking about the press releases by Factorial, Hyundai, Mercedes and Stellantis. Factorial has cracked the code on their solid-state batteries and as such having a solid electrolyte, they can better move ions between the anode and cathode. This means faster and denser charging and discharging of the battery. The solid-state batteries have decreased the interfacial resistance between the anode and cathode and with that, came the announcement that Factorial will build their first manufacturing plant in Methuen, Massachusetts to produce the proprietary Factorial Electrolyte System Technology Cells (FEST). This production site come with a multi-billion backing from Stellantis with the rights to get the cells first for EV testing and production. The Factorial Manufacturing plant will open early 2023 creating 166 jobs after the buildout of the existing 67,000 sq-ft building.

To quote Factorial CEO Siyu Huang:

"These cells," she said, "will be used by Factorial’s OEM development partners for validation of Factorial’s technology, as well as continuous development of Factorial's solid-state EV battery products."

Stellantis announced a $6.6 billion investment in two battery production sites, first located in Windsor, Ontario and the second site in Kokomo, Indiana. These sites will start with traditional Lithium-ion liquid cells but upon validation will convert over to Solid State.

Colorado based Solid Power Inc. which is backed by Ford and BMW has announced that they have finished building their pilot cell assembly line and will start delivering solid-state batteries to their OEM auto companies for prototype testing by Dec 31st, 2022.

The CEOs of the legacy auto companies have all had various press releases, but Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has a short and to the point announcement stating the following: “Our investment in Factorial and other highly recognized battery partners boosts the speed and agility needed to provide cutting-edge technology for our electric vehicle portfolio,” “Initiatives like these will yield a faster time to market and a more cost-effective transition to solid-state technology.”

The big news on the Factorial front is that they have stated the following: Based in Woburn, Mass., Factorial Energy is developing breakthrough solid-state batteries that offer longer range per charge and increased safety and aim to be cost competitive with conventional lithium-ion batteries. The company’s proprietary FEST™ (Factorial Electrolyte System Technology) leverages a solid electrolyte material, which has the potential to enable safe and reliable cell performance with high-capacity cathode and anode materials. FEST™ has been successfully scaled in 40Ah cells, works at room temperature, and is highly compatible with existing lithium-ion battery manufacturing equipment. The company has entered into joint development agreements with Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Hyundai Motor Company.

The ability to use existing lithium-Ion battery production equipment will reduce the capital output cost at a time when the global economy has been affected by the current pandemic and production shortages. This will also help when you read in the announcements the following: “Stellantis plans to have more than 75 battery electric vehicles available globally by the end of the decade, a target we recently outlined in our Dare Forward 2030 plan,” said Bly. “I look forward to working with the board and executives at Factorial to help advance the company’s solid-state battery technology as part of our Joint Development Agreement.”

Factorial has stated that their solid-state battery cells hold 50% longer range due to the per charge capability. Factorial was just the start this week as more press releases came too from others.

LG Energy Solutions and Honda have formed a joint Venture for EV Battery Production in the U.S. The two companies signed a letter of intent to share the $4.4 billion cost equally to build a 40 GWh battery production site. This site aims to begin construction in early 2023 with mass production of advanced Lithium-ion cells being produced by Dec 31st, 2025.

With this LG Energy Solutions and Honda Joint Venture, Acura released a press release showing off their first EV, the Acura Precision EV Concept.

Emile Korkor, assistant vice president for Acura National Sales in North America said the following: “The Acura Precision EV Concept is a design study that will shape the direction of future Acura products in the electrified era including our first all-electric SUV in 2024,”“We are committed to delivering Precision Crafted Performance in every facet of the Acura client experience which includes a powerful and very exciting direction for the next generation of electrified Acura models.”

Toyota closes out the month of August with their own Billion-dollar press release.

In 2021 Toyota announced the $1.29 Billion investment in a battery production site in Liberty North Carolina. That has now grown with an additional $2.5 Billion investment that will bring 2,100 jobs estimated to the site that will now be Toyota's Initial HEV and BEV battery production packs. Production is expected to start by the end of 2025 supplying all of Toyota's needs for North America.

The final bit of interesting news is from a battery company and a state. The State of Kentucky which had secured twin battery production sites for FORD & SK Innovation of South Korea that is a $5.8 billion mega project that will add 5,000 jobs to the Hardin County area had multiple other small announcements of R&D and Supplier side battery companies.

Advanced Nano Products, a supplier of battery nanomaterials announced a production supply site that would create 93 jobs.

Ascend Elements Inc., a producer of advanced battery materials made from recycled lithium-ion batteries has announced a $310 million, 250 full time jobs.

In step on the last day of August, Envision Lithium-ion battery cell producer (Envision AESC (envision-aesc.com)). They will invest $2 Billion dollars and create 2,000 full time jobs.

Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne has stated that these investments in the Bluegrass State will cement the state as a leader in the emerging electric vehicle market as Kentucky will have more battery production than anyplace else at this time in the U.S. Envision AESC plant will power over 300,000 EVs annually by 2027. Envision AESC is expected to add $233 million in annual spending to the local community. All total by 2025 Kentucky is looking to add 5,000 battery related jobs and an untold number of additional jobs based on the Ford and Envision production sites in the surrounding communities.

As Kentucky focuses on becoming the U.S. core electric battery cell production, they are going to be competing heavily with other states as the U.S. will have 13 Gigafactories com online by 2025 and more shortly thereafter. Before this week's announcements, we had the following 13:

We also have the latest update from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence which has released their latest report pointing to the fact that while China leads the world in battery production still, this is on the tipping point of going elsewhere as with Europe and Americas battery production coming online, the world is looking at over 6TWh or 6,000 GWh of battery production by the end of the decade. Lithium-Ion battery production has doubled from the start of 2021 to the end of 2021.

At current planned production, the world is on track to be able to produce 109 million EVs by 2030 with the current planned battery production plants.

Tesla has stated that the world needs 300 TWh of battery production to transition the world to sustainable energy via batteries for heating and transportation.

The biggest challenge is how fast raw material producers can ramp up. In 2021, the raw material producers were able to supply 480,000 Tonnes of LCE or Lithium. 6TWh of battery production will need 5 million Tonnes of Lithium.

Even investment sites are watching the rapid growth in battery production from raw materials to finished products as great areas to invest.

Automakers Are in a Race To Manufacture EV Batteries - TheStreet

Global Climate Change is making companies look for better ways to do their business and with that in mind, Walmart has chosen Canoo  to help them achieve their zero-emissions by 2040 goal.

Walmart's goal to offer sustainable delivery of online orders will start with the purchase of 4,500 LDV or Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles with expected use starting in 2023. The company plans to kick off advanced delivers to refine and finalize vehicle configurations in the Dalla-Fort Worth metroplex in the coming weeks.

The LDV was engineered for sustainable last mile deliveries with improved driver ergonomics and safety. The LDV is built on the Canoo's MPP or multi-purpose platform architecture that integrates the motors, battery module and other critical driving components into their skateboard platform. This allows the LDV to optimize cabin configurations with customized cargo space. Canoo will utilize a true steer by wire technology, reducing moving parts and cabin intrusion, resulting in more interior usable space, better driver ergonomics and the addition of a panoramic window for improved road visibility.

LDV is engineered for high frequency stop-and-go deliveries and speedy vehicle to door drop-off, including groceries, food/meal delivery and much more according to Canoo. With a customized interior designed for small package deliveries, competitive per stop economics was the focus. Modular design offering 120 cubic feet of cargo volume adaptable to evolve with the customer needs contributing to a decreasing per unit investment over time.

Per Tony Aquila, investor, chairman and CEO of Canoo:

“We are proud to have been selected by Walmart, one of the most sophisticated buyers in the world, to provide our high-tech, all-electric, American made Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle to add to their impressive logistics capabilities. Our LDV has the turning radius of a small passenger vehicle on a parking friendly, compact footprint, yet the payload and cargo space of a commercial delivery vehicle. This is the winning algorithm to seriously compete in the last mile delivery race, globally.” 

“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, especially at today’s gas prices.”

From dedicated fulfillment centers and the use of 3,800 Walmart Stores which are located within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population, the Canoo LDV will start the diversification of the last mile delivery fleet. This expansive last mile delivery network allows Walmart to reach 80% of the U.S. population with same-day delivery on a growing assortment of items.

In 2021 Canoo announced that Bentonville, Arkansas would become their new Headquarters leaving California and that Pryor, Oklahoma would become their U.S. Assembly site for manufacturing, further expanding and establishing an EV ecosystem in the U.S. Heartland creating thousands of technology and manufacturing jobs in the surrounding communities.

Walmart was encouraged by Canoo's close proximity to Walmart's headquarters and as such is excited to not only be their launch customer for the LDV, but also will take on an additional 10,000 LDVs as an option for future growth. 

Canoo anticipates starting production of the LDV in Q4 of 2022.

Walmart's launch of the Canoo LDV will be followed by the launch of their Truck and Lifestyle van for private lease and ownership.

Leclanché Energy Storage Solutions of Switzerland has achieved a significant breakthrough in the safety of performance Lithium-ion batteries for use in EVs.

Leclanché has taken current Lithium-ion cell production to the next step by adding a special fire-retardant additive to its electrolyte formula composition lowering the risk of thermal events by close to 80%.

Verified by independent nail penetration tests has confirmed the companies claims of significantly lowering risk of thermal events with fire. The non-flammable electrolyte additive provides enhanced cell safety option for rail, truck, bus and auto EV markets. Intertek Germany, renowned third-party testing lab conducted a series of industry standard nail penetration tests on Leclanché  60 Ah cells. During this test with the cells punctured and the resulting internal short circuit, these cells exhibited a far lower risk of fire than the same cells without the fire-retardant additives.

Risk of fire to passengers onboard and expensive lithium-ion battery recalls causing disruptions, world leading energy storage solutions company Leclanché is leading the global markets in reducing these risks that auto makers have to take on to build and sell EV solutions.

To quote Leclanché:

“While the entire battery industry continues to place considerable R&D resources into the development of solid-state batteries, there’s a critical need to enhance the safety of today’s high energy density lithium-ion cell technology. Most efforts, until now, adversely impact the performance or longevity of cells. Leclanché has been able to develop a high performance and high energy density lithium-ion cell exhibiting high safety characteristics without any negative impact on performance or longevity. As technological advancements continue to be developed, this is a crucial improvement in state of the art cell technology, that does not require breakthrough technology that could still be several years away from commercial availability” said Pierre Blanc, chief technology officer, Leclanché.

Leclanché Willstatt Germany production facility that has built Lithium-ion cells based on their water-based process for the last 10 years will be the site for production of these new fire-resistant cells with availability starting Q1 2023 to OEMs.

Quote: 

According to Anil Srivastava, CEO, Leclanché, “Our breakthrough should encourage manufacturers waiting on the side-lines for next generation solid-state batteries to move forward with their advanced fleet vehicle designs today – safe lithium-ion batteries have arrived and Leclanché has them.”

GM started BrightDrop as a decarbonizing last-mile delivery company. FedEx working to deliver on their corporate goal of zero-tailpipe emissions by 2040 choose only a couple months after BrightDrop's commercialization of the Zevo 600, the fastest all-electric vehicle to market in GM's history as the corner stone in FedEx's conversion from Diesel/Petrol last-mile delivery fleet to an EV fleet.

To quote Mitch Jackson, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), FedEx: “At FedEx, we have ambitious sustainability goals, and our phased approach to vehicle electrification is a crucial part of our roadmap to achieve carbon neutral global operations,” “In just under six months, we’ve taken delivery of 150 BrightDrop Zevo 600s for our parcel pickup and delivery fleet. In today’s climate of chip shortages and supply chain issues, that’s no ordinary feat and a true testament to the collaboration between FedEx and BrightDrop.”

The first 150 BrightDrop Zevo 600s have been delivered throughout Southern California FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. With an estimated range of 250 miles per full charge, the Zevo 600s built on the Ultium Platform is part of a larger agreement with FedEx and BrightDrop where 2,500 Zevo 600s will be incorporated into the FedEx fleet over the next couple years.

FedEx starting in California where they have installed 500 charging stations across the state in support of the Zevo 600s is working with utility companies in evaluating and determining capacity needed from the electrical grids to support their state/national charging infrastructure as well as investing/expanding on-site generation and procurement of renewable energy at their facilities. 

Mitch Jackson CSO states the following: “For FedEx to successfully achieve our sustainability goals, it will require collaboration across the public, non-profit and corporate sectors,” “Our ongoing collaboration with BrightDrop is a perfect example of what is possible when two organizations come together and work toward achieving similar goals in pursuit of a better world.”

FedEx is pleased with their advocation of being a better steward of the planet as they started in 1994 using some of the first available lead-acid battery powered vehicles where possible. In 2003 they were the first delivery company to start using hybrid vehicles for pickup and delivery.

Today, Travis Katz, president and CEO of BrightDrop had this to say: “This shows how BrightDrop is delivering sustainable solutions at scale to customers today, and we couldn’t be happier to be part of FedEx’s sustainability journey,” “Our Zevo 600 has been a record-setting vehicle from the start. From a record-setting time to market, to delivering one of the largest fleets of electric delivery vans on the road today, BrightDrop is showing the world what sustainable delivery looks like.”

BrightDrop is not only rethinking how they build sustainable last-mile delivery vehicles, but also looking at all aspects of safety and ease on the body with built in grab bars, low deck industry access for the Zevo 600s and so much more.

GM/BrightDrop is working with FedEx to help them achieve a carbon neutral goal for the global company and a better quality of life for all.

There is a war that has just started in the auto industry, and this is the transformation from ICE or internal combustion engine autos to EV or electric vehicles. The battle ground will be as much in the variations of the EVs that come from the global auto companies as will it be the power train and especially the battery packs.

Sila the material solutions company spent the last 10 years perfecting their material science to move away from rare earth elements as much as possible and to increase density of today's lithium-ion battery packs. To move into the next decade as a material solutions company, Sila has purchased a 600,000-square-foot warehouse in Moses Lake, Washington home to Carbon fiber manufacturing used by Boeing and BMW. Moses lake can now add lithium-anode battery materials to their manufacturing portfolio.

Sila HQ is based in Alameda, CA, but like all things, they wanted as green as possible production of their new lithium-anode battery materials and was attracted to Washington state due to the abundant hydropower. Here Sila will manufacture their silicon-based anode battery material that will allow them to produce enough material yearly to power 500 million mobile phones and up to 500,000 EVs yearly with growth on-site to produce enough material to power up to 10 million EVs per year.

Depending on the size of the cells, power density will be increased greatly as the next-gen batteries and the Sila Lithium-Anode battery material drops straight in to replace old graphite anode battery material without changing the process or equipment battery cell manufactures have in place, enabling battery suppliers to increase density and factory output without any real downtime.

Due to density improvement with Lithium-Anode material, the batteries get smaller while keeping the same power or if size is perfect, the density allows the small batteries to get more powerful. Best part is this new Lithium-Anode material allows all batteries to charge quickly as it is compatible with current DC fast charging technology up to 800V.

Gain to all industries that use this new anode material, but especially to the auto industry where longer range is achieved in the same battery footprint, faster charging performance equaling efficient charge times and lower cost batteries due to material drop into existing production systems helping to push down the cost per kWh.

Example of the gains made is in the WHOOP 4.0 personalized digital fitness and health coach wearable devices and the first to use the Sila Lithium-Anode material. The gain made for this device (WHOOP 4.0 Press Release) was a 17% energy density improvement in a smaller battery, 33% reduction in device size, 5-day battery life with a waterproof battery pack for on-the-go charging and more. 

WHOOP Body | Optimized for Any-Wear™ Heart Rate Monitoring

Sila Lithium-Anode material is in wear-able products and will soon be on the market in mobile phones, they talk about EVs, but who will be their first customer?

Mercedes-Benz has chosen Sila as their Lithium-Anode material supplier for the production EQG electric G-Class SUV giving this SUV their most advanced battery pack with more than 800 Wh/I at the cell level.

The testing of the Sila Lithium-Anode battery material made headlines in the real world road test of the VISION EQXX cover here earlier by Cheers and Gears.

Per Mercedes the G-Wagon will be available for sale mid-decade, so around 2025 or so. The Sila Lithium-Anode battery technology while starting in the EQG electric G-Wagon will eventually get pushed into all of the EQ product line as Mercedes uses this to replace their current battery cell tech that is being sold in the first release of their EQS sedan.

Mercedes has stated that as their principal Lithium-Anode supplier, depending on model of the EQ product line, their EVs will have up to a 40% increase in power density depending on model chosen.

Sila has committed to America global leadership in the transition to new energy storage era as this new production facility sits on 160 acres of land close to rail lines for convenient and efficient shipping to all types of companies wanting to buy their material solution. This gives them plenty of long-term growth as the initial 600,000-square-foot facility will support up to 50 GWh of cell production with the production line coming online in the second half of 2024 with full production by the start of 2025. This site has the ability to grow up to 750 GWh of production depending on use allowing this American based company to excel in both innovation and manufacturing of silicon lithium-anode battery material for global consumption.

For those that are wondering if Sila is getting any federal government help as the current U.S. administration has made climate change and ramping up of U.S. battery manufacturing a focus point, Sila CEO Gene Berdichevsky has state Sila is NOT receiving any federal help for this new factory and the production of Silicon Lithium-anode material that will replace the graphite currently used in Lithium-Ion cells.

Love them or hate them, electric vehicles are here to stay as many auto companies are promising to go full electric on their product lines by 2030 to 2035. The goal here is to bring up for discussion many common myths about electric vehicles as electricity provides just another choice of how to power one's vehicle today.

Today's options are gas, diesel, hydrogen, gas-electric hybrid and pure electric and if your 45 to 50 years old, these choices will likely be available for the rest of one's life or at least ones driving lifespan. Electric autos arrived in an era of already unprecedented choices when buying a vehicle and no one is going to force you to buy an electric vehicle here in the USA.

With the above stated comment, it is believed that if the average American drove an electric auto, they would like it. With that, lets dive into the myths about electric autos.

• Myth: All electric autos feel the same when driving, the smooth, effortless feel of electric-powered auto's feel generic and removes any differentiators between brands and models.
  • Fact: All automakers have long used the same gasoline engines across their respective portfolio of model's tunning the motor/powertrain to a specific experience level of horsepower and torque and driving characteristics. Electric will be no different in that current EVs out all have been tuned for a distinct experience. Tesla, Audi, Porsche, Ford, GMC, Hyundai, Kia, etc. have all tuned their EVs and the sounds they emit at various speeds to have unique driving characteristics and sounds. Many reviews have stated the GMC Hummer drives, feels and sounds like a hummer, same for the Fords and Mercedes EVs as just some examples. Keep in mind that all EVs now employ people focused on the sound experience as much as the driving experience.
    • Quote: With almost completely silent operation, EVs present a great canvas for sound design. For the GMC Hummer EV, we wanted to have an engaging and bold sound that exuberates confidence in capability. The truck's sonic identity is precise and powerful, a reflection of its size and torque. It is not overly refined in terms of the sounds we deployed but instead features dynamic distortion effects. With guitar riffs and layers of synthetic sounds, Hummer EV's purposeful modulation of sound helps create feeling of power and intensity. - Jay Kapadia, creative sound director
• Myth: Performance cars need a rumbling gas engine.
  • Fact: New auto purchases are emotional; this is especially true with high-performance autos. Why are Dodge's Hellcat autos so popular? Because they make you feel and hear something. This has been true for more than a century, automobiles have been a visceral experience, yet not all visceral experiences are worth keeping. Does anyone miss wearing goggles because all the roads were dirt at one point? How about the prospect of cranking the auto to life with a large handle that could break your arm before electric starters got invented? Probably not. Once a consumer experiences an electric vehicle, they see how unrefined, noisy and crude gasoline powered autos are. Yes, there are buyers that feel and like the crude and unrefined ice autos, but as the population moves forward, they will become a smaller and smaller subset of the larger auto-buying audience. Electric autos can beat or match the stats of gasoline-powered vehicles regardless of the seat-of-the-pants experience.
    • 2022 Tesla Model S Plaid: 0-60 mph in 2 seconds
    • 2022 Lucid Air Dream Performance: 0-60 in 2.5 seconds
    • 2022 Porsche Taycan Turbo S: 0-60 mph in 2.6 seconds
    • Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano: 0-60 mph 2.1 seconds
    • Porsche 911 Turbo S: 0-60 mph in 2.6 seconds

These are just a few examples of six figure autos from both EV and ICE and as one can see, there is really not much difference in performance time. Even if you move into the mid-priced EVs being $40,000 and up, you get the Kia EV6 that sprints 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds while the Kia Stinger GT gets there in 4.7 seconds.

• Myth: All electric autos look ugly
  • 5 years ago, one could easily say this was true that at one-point EVs were ugly as many were compliance EVs to really only be sold in select states. Today, just look at the 2023 Genesis GV60, a beautiful auto regardless of how it is powered. We now have many amazing EVs from Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Rivian, Porsche, VW, Ford and GM with much, much more to come over the next 24 to 36 months. Another reason we will continue to see improved EV style is that the designers of the electric autos envision the vehicles separately from gas-powered vehicles. They are more than just a gas-powered auto converted to run on a battery pack.

• Myth: Electric autos cost too much
  • Tesla models tend to average over $60,000 even though Tesla has promised a low cost version that has yet to be delivered, many other options are available such as the Nissan Leaf with a starting price of $27,400 and the Chevrolet Bolt with a starting price of $31,500. While it is true that electric vehicles can be pricey, there are many more EVs planned to hit the market over the coming 18 months that will start with lower prices such as the Chevrolet Equinox that is supposed to have a $30,000 starting price, we just now are seeing the VW ID.4 that is nicely equipped crossover with a starting price of $41,230. Also for many there is the federal governments $7,500 tax credit.
• Myth: There is no place to charge electric autos.
  • This is somewhat true depending on where one lives. The energy.gov web site has now a better locator and has updated to filter out places that one cannot charge like a police department inside their locked down auto storage area. As such, currently there are 48,047 electric stations with a total port count of 119,353 charging port connectors. There is even more when you take into account private for-profit charging locations. Compared to 115,400 gas stations according to the American Petroleum Institute with an average of 8 pumps per station or 923,200 pumps. Yet over 80% of EV owners report charging at home or work as the most common place for charging an auto and the current US Government has approved $5 billion dollars to be spent over the next 5 years to expand the U.S. network of chargers.

• Myth: Electric autos are unreliable
  • The scary story myth of electric autos being unreliable can be stopped with the facts. Nissan Leaf debuted in the U.S. market in 2010 and has millions of miles of proof as does Tesla and GM. In fact, J.D. Powers has named the Nissan Leaf the most dependable auto in the compact auto segment for 2020 and Nissan U.S. Aditya Jairaj has confirmed to the press that since the first Nissan Leaf sold in 2010, owners have seen the financial benefits of trading gas for electricity and the significant less routine maintenance as well as the fact that the Leaf is more reliable than any of the ICE autos Nissan makes.
• Myth: Warranties on EVs are worse than on ICE autos.
  • Fact: Excluding the Korean Hyundai and Kia that has had 10 year / 100,000 mile warranties the average ice auto has had from 36 to 60 months or 36,000 to 72,000 mile warranties where as electric autos have pretty much had 8 years or 100,000 miles on the battery pack / drive train with a 36/36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. This means that buying a CPO or certified pre-owned auto means you still will have many years of life left with warranty something most ICE autos do not get.
• Myth: EV batteries are not Green to dispose of
  • Fact: Currently 90% of Lithium-ion EV batteries are recycled and just because a battery has lost 20 to 30% of capacity does not mean that battery pack does not have another life in some other use. GM and Nissan have both moved to using existing battery packs that had cell failures as storage packs for storage systems that are being sold for home and business solar PV systems. GM currently only sells the storage systems in the commercial space but Nissan has their home Xstorage system that uses Nissan Leaf battery packs and Renault is currently using their battery packs in their Powervaults system that is also being sold to both home and commercial customers. Currently after a 8 to 10 year life run in an EV, the battery packs are able to be used for another 10 years in these solar storage systems. Another area that these large battery packs are finding a second life in is use in a mobile home, camper or boat where the use is only a few months a year and the battery life is extended even longer. As the auto industry moves to solid-state, the long life of battery packs makes them even greener for the various uses as well as the ease of recycling.
• Myth: EVs put too much strain on the National Grid. The current story out there is that when people get home from work and plug in their auto around 6pm or so every day during the work week, this will cause a strain on the National Grid and will cause the system to collapse.
  • An example of how this is not true is one that was pointed out in the U.K. where they have 36.7 million autos on the roads and that those autos consume 75 TWh per year of electricity. Current electrical demand is 300 TWh per year so if nothing was done by the electrical companies this would only be a 25% increase in power demand. Yet many people are given discounts for charging during the night when folks are asleep and power demand is at it lowest. As such, coming home from work and plugging in at 6pm would not actually start charging as most chargers have programming to charging in off peak hours unless one overrides the charger to start charging right away. This can also be managed via ones smart phone app.
• Myth: Charging takes too long and is too much of a hassle. Home charging can take up to 12hrs, so it is not practical for the average auto user.
  • Depending on the size of one's auto battery pack, charging can take from 30 minutes to hours depending on the type of charge port used. Most home chargers are a level II charger but even if one uses only a 110V outlet to charge their auto, charging ones auto overnight is no different than charging one's cellphone and is as easy as plugging in the auto when you arrive home. Yet even this is going to get easier as many 3rd party companies are building wireless charging pads that can be used outside in any weather or inside and all one would do is drive over the pad to allow charging to begin. Faster yet is that at charging stations and work locations one can find fast DC chargers that reduce the charge time to as little as 30 minutes or while you enjoy a lunch break. Future solid-state battery packs will reduce charge times to the equal point with gas filling being only a mere 10 minutes or so.
• Myth: Installing a charging point at my home is going to be really expensive.
  • Fact: Depending on where one lives, this can be a cost of a few thousand dollars or as cheap as free as federal, state, county and cities all have various programs as do the electrical supply companies. On top of this, many states have now made it a requirement for new homes, townhomes, condos and even apartments to have charging locations or at least a 220V charge outlet in the garage allowing one to use the charging cord that came with their auto to easily charge their EV. Currently both Ford and GM are including charging ports installed at ones home up to $1,500 to $2,000 dollars to cover the bulk of the cost if not all of it.

• Myth: EVs are unreliable in the winter. Lithium batteries in phones and other gadgets struggle in cold temperatures, so it stands to reason tht EVs will too as they use a similar type of battery cell.
  • Extreme temperatures impact gas and diesel autos as well as electric vehicles as they all have reduced efficiency. However as has been learned from the early days of the Nissan Leaf and Tesla auto, better ways of protecting the battery pack or warming up the battery pack while plugged in to be charged via thermal management system controlled by inside the auto or an app on your smartphone keeping the EV at the optimum temperature, meaning your ready to go and so is the vehicle; a ready-defrosted car that is parked outside without you even having to step outside.
• Myth: Your electrical bill will skyrocket if you charge your EV at home.
  • There is no denying that as you use more electricity, your electric bill will go up. This is a trade-off when one changes from a gas-powered auto to an electric auto. However the trade-off is the money saved as electric rates are much cheaper than gas rates. An example of this is that a Nissan Leaf driven 150 plus miles would be looking at a cost of less than $1 dollar in the PNW area around Seattle compared to the $15 to $20 dollars in gas. Charging at night during the off peak charge period makes driving an electric auto as cheap as pennies per mile. If you have a house with a solar system or solar system with power storage system, this could get to being free for you.
• Myth: My local trusted mechanic will not be able to work on my EV, only the expensive dealership mechanic will be able to work on my EV.
  • At this time, the ASE or Automotive Service Excellence program that both dealership and independent mechanics go through has EV certification programs that can be taken. Daily more and more mechanics are getting certified to work on electric autos and as more come to market, more mechanics will keep themselves trained allowing for plenty of choices. Yearly the ASE program has stated that thousands of mechanics are getting upskilled with EV training as well as thousands of new specialist mechanics and technicians are graduating with training on electric vehicles.

Even the EPA has created a web site dedicated to debunking Electric Vehicle Myths: Electric Vehicle Myths | US EPA

Here the EPA points to many studies done by independent groups as well as colleges to help clarify the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about EVs.

Electric is the future and a bright one at that and yet we will have decades of options for those that want an ICE auto but more choices over the coming months as those that want more with less maintenance will have choices of electric autos to choose from.

Jeff Dahn and the team at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada signed a partnership with Tesla in 2016 to be part of the created Tesla Advanced Battery Research division. As a leader in the earliest research into Lithium-ion batteries the Jeff Dahn team had a 5-year partnership with the express focus or primary goal of making batteries last longer with increased energy density, decreased costs at the top of the wish list by Tesla.

This team created multiple patents and papers related to Tesla Battery cells and with this came the first talk by Tesla and the researchers of the million-mile battery pack. This has gained additional attention as various Tesla autos have come up for sale that have 400,000 plus miles with only single digit cell reduction loss implying that the battery packs should easily last up to a million miles.

On top of this is that Tesla with their work to bring both a full-size pickup truck to market and a class 8 semi-truck to market is how Tesla has moved from their earliest battery cells produced by Panasonic to their latest large energy dense 4680 cell.

Today, Jeff Dahn and the team of researchers have now published their latest paper on Li-Ion cells and how they can be built to last 100 years. To quote their paper, link posted at the bottom is as follows:

These include vehicle-to-grid storage, stationary energy storage and battery leasing. Li[Ni_0.5Mn_0.3Co_0.2]O₂//graphite (NMC532) pouch cells with only sufficient graphite for operation to 3.80 V (rather than ≥ 4.2 V) are presented as a low-voltage cell type for applications that require massive cycle and calendar-life. Charge-discharge cycling, ultra-high precision coulometry and impedance spectroscopy are used to characterize these cells and form a comparison with LiFePO₄//graphite (LFP) pouch cells. The low-voltage NMC532 cells are shown to be superior in both capacity retention and energy density to the LFP cells. Lifetime predictions are made as a function of temperature and charging voltage, with room temperature operation beyond 100 years suggested in certain cases.

As with everything, these early research papers tend to still have much work to be done to get the products into mass production. Testing of existing Li-Ion cells was done in a range of 40c to 70c temperature range. This has allowed the researchers to find optimum upper cutoff voltage when designing cells for maximum lifetime. The benefits of this research is that sufficiently high potential capability is necessary to ensure high first cycle efficiency and low fade but too high voltage will result in excessive electrolyte oxidation, impedance growth and inventory loss. 

This overall research has shown the potential in lifetime and volumetric energy density that with further research should help expand the capabilities of the battery cells as they are designed for fast charge application use while using less to no rare earth elements such as cobalt.

Attached research paper for those interested in reading the 13-page paper on Long-Lived Low Voltage Li-Ion Cells.

Aiken_2022_J._Electrochem._Soc._169_050512.pdf

As with all things, while the 100-year battery cell is not here today, the potential for such a product is clearly in the researchers view of where the EV industry can go with reducing greenhouse gas due to long life battery cells.

Li[Ni0.5Mn0.3Co0.2]O2 As a Superior Alternative to LiFePO4 for Long-Lived Low Voltage Li-Ion Cells - IOPscience

President Biden and senior officials in the Biden administration hosted a meeting with the major automotive leaders on the Build Back Better agenda with a focus on moving America to BEVs and the supporting needs of the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles to succeed.

The list of auto companies that were at this meeting was as follows according to Reuters who reported this quiet meeting happened sometime last week at the end of March, beginning of April.

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk
• GM CEO Mary Barra
• Ford CEO Jim Farley
• Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares
• Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson
• Nissan Americas chair Jeremie Papin
• Hyundai Motor America Executive
• Subaru of America Executive
• Mazda North America Executive
• Toyota North America Executive
• Kia Motors America Executive
• Toyota North America Executive
• Mercedes-Benz USA Executive
• Other auto company executives

Each representative was given 90 seconds to talk about their EV plans and major issues of concern. The executives tended to hit a consistent messaging on battery supply chain, EV standards and Charging from Home to Commercial and the needs to updated modern electrical standards.

Out of this meeting, President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to boost U.S. production of minerals needed in support of electrical vehicles.

According to this meeting, the automakers agreed with the EPA's rolling back to tougher ICE emissions regulations which is a hit to the few states and ethanol groups that have filed court challenges to the EPA changes and the Build Back Better agenda.

To quote the Valero Energy subsidiary and other ethanol producers and their corn growers: " the new EPA rules revising emission requirements through 2026 effectively mandate the production and sale of electric cars rather than cars powered by internal combustion engines."

In attendance of this meeting was Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu.

Ford CEO tweeted about the meeting in positive terms.

The Build Back Better Agenda is supported by the recent passage of legislation that covers Roads, Bridges and Transportation Infrastructure such as the following:

• National Network of 500,000 standardized chargers from the $7.5 Billion government funding for EV charging stations
• $27 Billion for Bridges
• $52.5 Billion for Federal Highway Apportionment
• $3 Billion for Airport critical infrastructure
• $260 million for highway safety programs
• $230 million for Port Infrastructure Grants, another $2.25 Billion has been approved by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
• $7.4 Billion for water infrastructure, sewage systems and services upgrades

More info on additional spending here: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Hits the Ground Running 60 Days into Infrastructure Implementation | The White House

One can find the extensive details on the national EV charging here: FACT SHEET: The Biden-Harris Electric Vehicle Charging Action Plan | The White House

Please keep in mind that this is posted for info about the auto industry and changes coming, DO NOT post political ideology, but discuss the auto industry and post your feelings on the positive and negative effects of this meeting and the money being spent.

Biden administration, auto leaders want 'seamless' EV charging station use | Reuters

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Hits the Ground Running 60 Days into Infrastructure Implementation | The White House

FACT SHEET: The Biden-Harris Electric Vehicle Charging Action Plan | The White House

Korea's Institute for Basic Science or IBS has announced that they believe quantum charging of EV batteries will cut home charging from 10 hours to 3 minutes and public fast charging from 30 minutes to 9 seconds.

As society moves to renewable energy or green energy due to humanity outstripping the ability for finite nature fossil fuels to support, one must also consider on how that energy gets to the end user. R&D around the world into renewable sources has accompanied the gradual societal changes of the world adopting new products and devices running on new storage supported by the option to choose your power supply and in this case renewable or green energy.

The rapid adoption of electric vehicles, while hardly seen on roads 10 years ago, now account for millions being sold and a common sight. As a rapidly growing segment, one item holds back massive adoption of the less complex, cleaner running electric-vehicle, CHARGING!

Tesla has their worldwide Supercharging network but even that is not yet at the 800V fast charging that some like Porsche, GMC-Hummer and a few others are supporting and the fast-charging stations still are rare so getting a fast charge in 15 minutes is rare compared to a more common charge from home at 110v or 220v charging overnight leaving people to either sit at a fast charging station for 30 to 45 minutes or park, charge while shopping or eating to pass the time.

For the longest time, batteries have had the traditional lead/acid storage medium with far lower density than that offered by hydrocarbons, resulting in short range for electric autos. Battery technology has improved in allowing Tesla to have some of the first 300-mile range EVs. Others like GM with their Chevrolet Bolt have had over 200 plus miles allowing for solid performing commuter autos. Battery storage technology is the main bottleneck to moving from ICE to electric autos and only recently has lithium-ion batteries gotten to a solid point where various options are now coming onto the market in truck and SUV form in addition the rapidly shrinking market for cars.

Despite the advances in battery tech, recharging these massive battery packs is still up to a 10 hour overnight charging at home or a 20-to-40-minute recharge at a Tesla Super Station. Oil companies are buying up charging startup companies to ensure they keep their gas stations modern by moving to a convenience station that offers both ICE and EV charging along with shopping, eating, etc. Still the speed of charging is a problem and with those two things are on the horizon, solid-state batteries and new ways to charge said batteries.

As new problems show up, new approaches are found and in this, the mysterious field of Quantum Physics. Current research is allowing for discovery on new quantum technologies that promise the delivery of faster charging rates to both existing lithium-ion batteries and the upcoming solid-state batteries. This approach is the "Collective versus Parallel" charging which was actually published in 2012 by Alicki and Fannes about the concept of Quantum battery. QUOTE: "The paper theorized that quantum resources, such as entanglement, can be used to vastly speed up the battery charging process by charging all cells within the battery simultaneously in a collective manner."

This Quantum Charging Advantage can be taken advantage of by the fact that a Tesla has numerous cells in their large battery pack. This would allow charging of all cells in collective versus todays approach of a parallel or serial charging system.

The IBS has a Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems which explored in depth the questions surrounding Quantum charging, the research showed that the presence of global operations is the only ingredient needed in the quantum advantage. This group has pinpointed the exact source of this advantage while ruling out any other possibilities per the release from IBS including an explicit way to design such batteries that can handle a Quantum Charging approach.

QUOTE of the IBS Press Release:

 the group was able to precisely quantify how much charging speed can be achieved in this scheme. While the maximum charging speed increases linearly with the number of cells in classical batteries, the study showed that quantum batteries employing global operation can achieve quadratic scaling in charging speed. To illustrate this, we will consider a typical electric vehicle with a battery that contains about 200 cells. Employing this quantum charging would lead to a 200 times speedup over classical batteries, which means that at home charging time would be cut from 10 hours to about 3 minutes. At high-speed charging stations, the charge time would be cut from 30 minutes to mere seconds.

Researchers say that consequences can be far-reaching and that the implications of quantum charging can go well beyond electric cars and consumer electronics. For example, it may find key uses in future fusion power plants, which require large amounts of energy to be charged and discharged in an instant. Of course, quantum technologies are still in their infancy and there is a long way to go before these methods can be implemented in practice. Research findings such as these, however, create a promising direction and can incentivize the funding agencies and businesses to further invest in these technologies. If employed, it is believed that quantum batteries would completely revolutionize the way we use energy and take us a step closer to our sustainable future.

For people used to technology, we have seen companies like IBM invest in Quantum computing with amazing results that have accelerated computing direction over the last two decades to super computers being the size of a smartphone.

This same research and approach is being looked into by the existing battery companies such as LG, Samsung and more. While we will not see Quantum battery packs or chargers by 2025, with the advance pace of Solid-State batteries, one could very well see the first few implementations of Quantum battery packs by 2030 as well as chargers.

One might wonder is there any company out there that is already looking to commercialize this Quantum Charging technology other than being a theoretical paper from a school such as IBS of Korea?

I give you ACT - Advanced Charging technologies of Texas. An American tech company that has been focused on keeping technology at the forefront of their products and services. While this is not a fully Quantum Charging solution that IBS has published in theory, it is a charging solution for warehouse forklifts that uses the cloud with collective charging of multiple battery packs to ensure forklift needs are available at all times.

As ACT has stated about their Quantum Technology

• Uninterrupted operations due to built-in redundancy and modular design
• Wireless cloud integration with ACTview and ACTintelligent software
• Remote software and firmware updates
• Reduced power consumption and costs
• Intuitive user interface

A smart-grid-ready solution-focused charging solution that reduces maintenance and replacement costs. Quantum Charging is about being all aware to ensure all cells are being given what they need to get fully charged as fast as possible.

One can do searches and find many different Quantum chargers. Some are in name only it would seem, where others are clearly focused on recharging battery packs for use in the medical field to industry such as autos. Consider a 100 kWh battery pack that has over 200 cells and how a quantum battery charger would talk to all cells at the same time, giving each cell what it needs to reach 100% fully charged, thus reducing the charge cycle and giving a faster response to fully charged desire.

Interested in more research papers, check out their engineering paper site: Institute for Basic Science (ibs.re.kr)

New technology to make charging electric cars as fast as pumping gas (ibs.re.kr)

Institute for Basic Science (ibs.re.kr)

Advanced Charging Technologies | <span class="notranslate">Quantum</span> (act-chargers.com)

Energy transition is the ultimate challenge in electric vehicles (EVs) and technological advances are reducing costs while offering greater efficiency as demanded by consumers. Driving the market is the entire powertrain made up of power-dense batteries, electric motors and wide-bandgap semiconductor solutions.

GaN or Gallium Nitride is a wide-bandgap material with outstanding intrinsic characteristics that can offer system level advantages with better performance. Lower weight, higher power density for increased range is what GaN can deliver due to operating with a higher efficiency at a higher frequency providing a reduction in passive components while increasing power density. The advantage of allowing larger breakdown voltages and greater thermal stability at higher temperatures along with greatly increasing the efficiency of power-conversion stages is what GaN offers as a replacement for silicon in high-efficiency voltage converts, power MOSFETS, Schottky Diodes, etc. this is what transphorm has to offer to the fast-charger market and the EV products looking for energy efficiency, smaller dimensions, lower weight and lower overall cost.

Current MOSFETs and superjunction MOSFETs cover the industry in voltages up to 650 V, transphorm GaN runs up to 1,200 V with 99% efficiency that can help drive down recharging times and deliver onboard better power transition between the components and engines.

Per transphorm press release, their GaN device offers the broadest range of power options from 45W to 10K+ kW and has been tested to voltages greater than 1,400 Volts.

In working with the Illinois Institute of Technology, the transphorm team has demonstrated a major breakthrough for their GaN performance of a 1,200-volt device node with high efficiency 800-volt switching.

transphorm has proven that their GaN is moving pwer electronics beyond the limitations of silicon in achieveing 99% efficiency with 40% more power density and 20% lower system costs.

While one could easily say BIG DEAL, GaN will not only affect the Auto Industry but the whole electronic industry as it is used from cell phones to computers, to various household electronics, home solar grids and yes your auto delivering on higher energy efficiency.

For those wanting to learn more about various applications that this new technology can be used in, check out the larger video library here: Videos - Transphorm (transphormusa.com)

The SuperGaN technology has the following benefits:

• Increased Performance: Gen IV provides a flatter and higher efficiency curve with an improved Figure of Merit (R_ON*Q_OSS) of approximately 10 percent.
• Easier Designability: Gen IV offers increased simplicity of design-in by removing the need for a switching node snubber at high operation currents.
• Enhanced Inrush Current Capability (di/dt):Gen IV removes the switching current limits for the built-in freewheeling diode function in half bridges.
• Reduced Device Cost: Gen IV’s design innovations and patented technology simplify device assembly, too. The resulting cost adjustments continue to bring Transphorm’s GaN closer to Silicon transistor pricing.
• Proven Robustness/Reliability: Gen IV’s 35 mΩ FET offers the same gate robustness of +/- 20 Vmax and noise immunity of 4 V that is currently delivered by Transphorm’s Gen III devices.

This allows GaN to offer improvements and greater efficiency in the following markets:

• Infrastructure and IT Power Supplies
• Consumer and Computing adapters, gaming power supplies
• Broad Industrial chargers and UPS
• Automotive electric vehicles, charging, etc.
• 5G mobile adapters and RF material

More details on specific areas can be had here: GaN Technology - Transphorm (transphormusa.com)

With transphorm recent break through competition is heating up as Texas Instrument has also announced a new family of GaN transistors aimed at the auto industry meant to decrease board space, increase power efficiency in auto electrical systems.

These devices are special why?

The GaN products can reduce the EV onboard chargers and DC to DC converts by as much as 50% compared to current existing silicon based solutions. The goal here is in saving board space and increasing energy efficiency, engineers will achieve extended battery range, increased system reliability and lower design costs.

According to Texas Instrument, GaN integration can eliminate more than 10 components typically required for discrete solutions in existing EVs and other solutions.

This is the biggest area of improvements GaN has to offer to the EV market, cost and driving range. Today's EVs have many individual components that drive up costs and yet by integration of these components into the powertrain you drive efficiency in reducing that cost down. This would cover bulky items such as inductors, transformers and over all PCB size into the powertrain reducing power losses and simplify thermal management. GaN technology can help extend driving range by operating at higher efficiency and conserving thermal energy requiring fewer cooling components and lower costs.

Driving standards is the SAE International that has a full detailed site for those interested in this technology: Gallium Nitride future of EV chips (sae.org)

An interesting point that the SAE points out at the link above: 

• Traction inverter: While an EV’s propulsion system (traction inverter plus electric motor) is five times more energy efficient than IC engines, with lower maintenance costs and longer lifespan, the upfront cost has on average been 2.5 times higher. Technology innovation in materials, magnetics and electronics is creating new-generation motors that are more energy efficient (less power loss through heat), compact and lighter in weight. GaN power semiconductors are key to the evolution of traction inverters capable of delivering more than a 70% power increase compared to inverters using traditional IGBTs.

One area that some that follow the EV world has seen has been Tesla getting farther and farther on a battery charge. This came as the SAE points out at the link above in a Tesla S with 75 kWh battery getting a 6 to 10% range increase by replacing the conventional  Si IGBT traction inverter with GaN-based inverter.

transphorm as does their competitors and the SAE all state that the EV market will expand with enhanced power-electronic performance via implementation of GaN transistors, creating system efficiencies and increased power densities required to achieve demanding vehicle size and range targets.

End result is we should see a wide range of EVs covering subcompact to full size at all price points eventually as the industry changes from ICE to EV.

https://www.transphormusa.com/en/news/1200v_gan_ispsd/

ISPSD 2022 | Vancouver, Canada

TI Turns to GaN FETs to Cut Board Space and Boost Power Density in EVs - News (allaboutcircuits.com)

2019, Volkswagen CEO Dr. Herbert Diess and Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett form a partnership that covers the following:

• Volkswagen to join Ford in investing in Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle platform company, at a valuation of more than $7 billion. Tie-up allows both automakers to independently integrate Argo AI’s self-driving system into their own vehicles, delivering significant global scale
• Ford will use Volkswagen’s electric vehicle architecture and Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB) to design and build at least one high-volume fully electric vehicle in Europe for European customers starting in 2023, more efficiently advancing its promise to deliver expressive passenger cars while taking advantage of Volkswagen’s scale
• Ford and VW on track to develop commercial vans and medium pickups for each brand in select global markets starting in 2022; sharing development costs to generate significant synergies
• The Volkswagen-Ford global alliance – which does not involve cross-ownership between the companies – is expected to create annual efficiencies for each company

Volkswagen committed to their MEB platform in 2016 with a goal of producing 15 million EVs over the next Decade globally. Ford committed to having an EV available to European customers by 2023 that would deliver more than 600,000 EVs built on the MEB platform. Volkswagen has become a platform supplier to other auto companies.

The flip side of this agreement is that Ford starting in 2022 would build medium sized pickup trucks for both companies that will be sold in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific and South America. Ford would engineer and build large commercial vans for European customers for both companies as Volkswagen would engineer and build city vans for both companies sold in Europe and select global markets where both companies can better utilize plant capacity allowing both companies to compete globally.

2022, March 14th, 2022, officially Pi Day around the world and both companies have agreed to expand their e-mobility partnership. 

• Ford will produce a second electric model on the MEB platform
• Over the next 6 years, Ford will now produce 1.2 million units rather than 600,000 originally stated.

Quote: Stuart Rowley, Chair of Ford of Europe: “Our strategic alliance with Volkswagen is an important element of Ford’s commitment to offer an all-electric range of vehicles that are uniquely Ford and designed to meet the mobility needs of a modern Europe that is leading the fight against climate change.”

Volkswagen as they expand their partnership with Ford is working to take one step closer in becoming a global platform supplier for EVs as a further pillar in addition to their core business. MEB platform can be used by various brands/manufacturers as it already provides the technology base for 10 electric models from five brands globally. The MEB platform was used to produce approximately 300,000 units in 2021, making it one of the leading electric platforms worldwide. This platform is not only used by Volkswagen in their building of the extensive ID. series of EVs, but in use of commercial vans and other segment vehicle types allowing for utilization of economies of scale worldwide.

To quote Thomas Schmall: “Profitability and speed are now crucial for finally achieving the breakthrough of e-mobility in Europe.”

This leads us to today's major announcement from Ford:

Fords plan for Europe by 2024:

• Ford to introduce three new electric passenger vehicles and four new electric commercial vehicles in Europe by 2024; plans to sell more than 600,000 electric vehicles in the region by 2026
• EV push in Europe supports the acceleration of the Ford+ plan, and global goal of 2 million+ annual production of EVs by 2026 and 10% company adjusted EBIT margin by 2026
• Planned production of electric vehicles in Cologne, Germany, now expected to be 1.2 million vehicles over six years, with a total product investment of $2 billion
• Additionally, Ford today signed a non-binding MOU with SK On Co., Ltd. and Koç Holding to create one of Europe’s largest commercial vehicle battery production sites in Turkey
• Boosts electric and commercial vehicle capacity, with Ford Otosan JV assuming ownership of Ford’s Romanian manufacturing operations, subject to regulatory approval and consultation
• Together, these initiatives will help Ford achieve zero emissions for all vehicle sales and carbon neutrality across its European footprint of facilities, logistics and suppliers by 2035

The drive of Ford European business is that in 2021, sport utilities and crossovers accounted for 58% of all Ford passenger vehicles sold in the continent, up 20% from 2020. The first all-electric five-seat, medium-sized crossover will come out of Ford Cologne Electrification Center. The name will be revealed later in 2022 along with more details and having a driving range of 500km (311 miles) on a single charge with production commencing in 2023.

Batteries have been a big issue for any auto company as they move forward in transition from ICE to BEV. To accomplish this, FORD in supporting their ambitious EV plans for electrification have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for a new, industry leading joint venture business in Turkey with SK On Co, Ltd. and Koc Holding to build on of the largest battery facilities in the European region. These will be high Nickel NMC cells with a likely production of 30 to 45 Gigawatt hours. This plant is a three-partner battery joint venture which includes support from the Turkish Government.

Ford continues the growth of Europe by stating that their manufacturing plant in Craiova, Romania will play a significant role in both retail and commercial vehicle growth plans for Europe. 

2024 Ford's most popular ice compact crossover will get a pure electric version allowing an even wider group of European customers to experience Ford autos. As the Puma will have both ICE and EV, the next all-new generation of the Transit Courier will go into production in both retail and commercial form in both ICE and EV with ICE production starting 2023, EV starting 2024 both produced in Craiova.

This plan allows Ford to achieve their goal of an all-electric global portfolio and carbon neutral by 2035.

Leading the Electric Vehicle Revolution (ford.com)

Ford plans to have across 10 plants, 240 Gigawatt of battery cell capacity by 2030. Approximately 140 Gigawatts will be required in North America, the rest dedicated to Europe and China.

Ford - Volkswagen expand their global collaboration to advance autonomous driving, electrification and better serve customers | Ford Media Center

Volkswagen and Ford expand collaboration on MEB electric platform | Volkswagen Newsroom (volkswagen-newsroom.com)

Ford Takes Bold Steps Toward All-Electric Future in Europe; 7 New Connected EVs Support Plans to Sell 600K+ EVs Annually by 2026 | Ford Media Center

Ford, SK and Koç Set to Create a Joint Venture to Accelerate Ford’s Electrification Revolution in Europe | Ford of Europe | Ford Media Center

QuantumScape is on a mission and their mission is as follows:

Let's get to the nuts and bolts of this battery company and answer the first question that many would want to know, "Who are the companies that have signed on to use QuantumScape's battery technology or invested in the company?".

• Volkswagen
• Toyota
• Daimler
• Ford
• Honda
• General Motors
• Mitsubishi
• SAIC Motors
• BMW
• Nissan

quantumscape-will-now-sell-its-solid-state-batteries-to-a-fourth-carmaker-182980.pdf

If we are to go by the source they have in their SEC filing, one could imply that this newest top 10 auto maker could be Stellantis, the joint merge of FIAT, Peugeot and Citroen as their global Profit verses Revenue was a healthy $205.6 Billion. You can review the SEC filing above and come to your own conclusion for the newest auto company to join the QuantumScape wave of support.

One could say why would the newest company that has signed on to take a considerable pre-production chunk of battery supply be Stellantis? The thinking is as follows, Stellantis this newest combined company would be #3 on the list above for Profit versus Revenue. QS announcement stated the following "recently signed an agreement with a fourth automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM), a top-ten automaker by global revenues.

QuantumScape or QS as we will call it from now on is based in San Jose, California. QS has stated that they will provide enough cells to this new OEM to allow full testing in a pre-production auto for 2024 when these new cells and BEVs will go on sale.

QS moves forward in America and Europe with the Auto Industry; the Asian rim is not being forgotten as QS has opened R&D center in Kyoto working with Honda and a complete subsidiary unit in South Korea. 

Mullen Automotive on February 28th, 2022, via a press release stated the following about their testing on the QS Solid-State batteries.  Per CEO and Chairman of Mullen Automotive.   “The test data collected shows an impressive outcome and future for solid-state batteries. To sum up, we tested our 300 Ah (ampere-hour) cell which yielded 343 Ah at 4.3 volts, and the results surpassed all expectations. We can say with almost certainty that this technology, once implemented on the Mullen FIVE, will deliver over 600 miles of range on a full charge. The future is bright for Mullen Automotive.”

Mullen's testing of solid-state polymer cells reveals that potential for a 150-kilowatt-hour battery pack that delivers over 600-plus miles of range and highlights an 18-minute DC fast charge which can yield over 300 miles of range. Mullen is working towards utilizing solid-state polymer battery packs in its second-generation Mullen Five EV Crossovers, with in-vehicle prototype testing set for 2025. Mullens First-generation FIVE EV Crossover, due in late 2024, is planned to launch with traditional lithium-ion cell chemistry.

You can check out the Mullen BEVs here: Shaping the Road Ahead in Electric Automobiles | Mullen (mullenusa.com)

At this point, one would understandably ask what is so great about their solid-state battery? What is the special sauce compared to other companies we have read about here:

QS solid-state battery starts with the following:

• Energy - Significantly increases volumetric and gravimetric energy densities by eliminating graphite/silicon anode host material
• Fast Charge - Enables <15-minute fast charge (10-80%) by eliminating lithium diffusion bottleneck in anode host material
• Life - Extends useful lifetime by eliminating capacity loss at anode interface
• Safety - Eliminates organic separator and replaces with a solid-state separator that is nonflammable and noncombustible
• Cost - Lowers cost by eliminating anode host material and manufacturing costs

The benefit here that QS has to offer is that their performance data demonstrates that their proprietary, patented solid-state separator can resist dendrite formation at automotive rates of power. Dendrite formation being one of the biggest problems that reduces battery life in current Lithium-ion cells.

With this solid-state technology, QS posted the following answers to some of the most common questions people have.

• What is a solid-state lithium-metal battery?
  • A solid-state lithium-metal battery is a battery that replaces the polymer separator used in conventional lithium-ion batteries with a solid-state separator. The replacement of the separator enables the carbon or silicon anode used in conventional lithium-ion batteries to be replaced with a lithium-metal anode. The lithium metal anode is more energy dense than conventional anodes, allowing the battery to store a greater amount of energy in the same volume. Some solid-state designs use excess lithium to form the anode, but the QuantumScape design is ‘anode-free’ in that the battery is manufactured anode free in a discharged state, and the anode forms in situ on the first charge.
• What exactly is different about QS separator material?
  • The QuantumScape separator material is a ceramic capable of meeting the key requirements of high conductivity, stability to lithium metal, resistance to dendrite formation, and low interfacial impedance.  These are the key requirements to make a lithium-metal anode, which in turn enables high energy density, fast charge, and long life.  The ceramic itself is non-combustible, making it safer than conventional polymer separators, which are hydrocarbons and so can burn.  The formulation of QuantumScape’s material is proprietary, but it uses earth abundant materials with a continuous-flow manufacturing process, which we believe will make it cost-effective at commercial volumes.
• What are the main benefits of solid-state lithium-metal batteries compared to lithium-ion batteries?
  • Relative to a conventional lithium-ion battery, solid-state lithium-metal battery technology has the potential to increase the cell energy density (by eliminating the carbon or carbon-silicon anode), reduce charge time (by eliminating the charge bottleneck resulting from the need to have lithium diffuse into the carbon particles in conventional lithium-ion cell), prolong life (by eliminating capacity fade that results from the unwanted chemical side reaction between the carbon and liquid electrolyte in conventional lithium-ion cells), improve safety (by eliminating the combustible organic porous separator and organic anolyte material in conventional cells) and lower cost (by eliminating the anode materials and manufacturing costs).
• If there is a car accident, how robust is the separator?
  • Ceramics in general are stable to very high temperatures, and our ceramic separator is no exception.  In addition, even at very high temperatures, it does not burn (since it is already oxidized), therefore we believe that it will provide a thermally stable barrier between the anode and cathode.  Our architecture reduces the fuel content of the cell by removing the conventional polymer separator, graphite and anolyte.  Note that we have not completed the development of our multilayer commercial battery cell, and so have not yet conducted safety tests on commercial target batteries and packs.
• What is the potential for QS battery technology to increaser the range of EVs?
  •  The higher energy density of QuantumScape solid-state lithium-metal cells, at our target of 1,000 Wh/L, would translate to more range in electric vehicles, potentially 50-80% improvement vs today’s leading electric vehicles, depending on the vehicle design.  Thus, for example, a vehicle that gets 200 miles of range could get between 300 and 400 miles of range.
• Has QS shared cycle life data and if so, what is it?
  •  We have tested our single layer cells to over 1,000 charge and discharge cycles and they have maintained approximately 90% capacity.  If we are able to generate the same level of performance in our commercial battery cells at the targeted level of energy density, this would be the equivalent of approximately over 300,000 miles for a vehicle with a 300-mile pack, or even greater range given the fact that higher target energy density of the QuantumScape cells (1,000 Wh/L) enables even greater range than 300 miles.
• Is QS truly solid-state? Is there a liquid catholyte?
  •  Most of the benefits of solid-state stem from the ability to use lithium metal as the anode.  Using lithium-metal as the anode requires a solid-state separator that prevents dendrites and does not react with lithium.  Once you have such a separator, you can use lithium-metal as the anode and realize the benefits of higher energy density, faster charge, and improved life and safety. QuantumScape has developed such a separator based on its proprietary ceramic material and uses a pure lithium-metal anode with zero excess lithium to deliver the above benefits.  QuantumScape couples this solid-state ceramic separator with an organic gel electrolyte for the cathode (catholyte).  The ceramic separator also enables our battery design to use a customized catholyte material, better suited for the voltage and transport requirements of the cathode.  The requirements for the ceramic separator are different from that of the catholyte.  The former requires dendrite resistance and stability to lithium-metal.  The latter requires high conductivity (given the thicker cathode), high voltage stability (given the cathode voltage), and the ability to make good contact with the cathode active material particle.  It is difficult to find materials that meet both these requirements and attempts to do so often result in a material that meets neither requirement well, resulting in cells that can fail from dendrite formation while also not providing sufficient conductivity to run at high power.
• How does QS think about the ability for other technologies to coexist? What else is out there that can have a place in the market?
  • Solid-state lithium-metal cells offer benefits on many major performance dimensions so we expect they will be very popular with the world’s automakers.  However, if we are successful in our development efforts, we believe that the potential demand for our batteries will far outstrips our ability in the short term – and indeed any single vendor’s ability — to produce them.  So, we do expect there will be multiple technologies co-existing in the industry for some time to come.  When one considers other markets such as stationary storage for the grid and consumer electronics, the market is even bigger, so the world will need all its battery factories producing at full capacity to meet the potential future demand.
• What are the weight and volume benefits of QS Lithium batteries?

  • Specific energy is the term physicists use to refer to gravimetric energy density, i.e., Wh/kg, whereas energy density is the term they use to refer to volumetric energy density.  A cell with higher specific energy will save weight in the batteries themselves and provide additional weight savings in the battery system.  Less weight in the car from a lighter battery system can then reduce chassis weight, tires, brakes, and more, which can improve vehicle performance and efficiency. 

    A cell with higher volumetric energy density will reduce the size of the modules and pack.  This, too, has follow-on benefits at the system level, requiring fewer connectors and cables, and allowing for safe design of the vehicle with more room for crumple zones, as well more comfort with more room for passengers and cargo.

    QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery technology is designed to provide both high specific energy and high energy density.

• What materials are your competitors utilizing to try to enhance EV battery performance?
  • ​​​​​​​Over the years, people have tried to develop solid-state batteries with materials such as polymers, sulfides, oxides, liquids, and composites (which are a mix of other materials, such as polymers and ceramics).  We are not aware of any of these efforts being successful on the metric of delivering long cycle life at high rates of power without requiring elevated temperatures.  Most importantly, to our knowledge none of the competing approaches have presented data showing they are able to prevent dendrites (lithium growths that short circuit batteries) at room temperature and automotive current densities.  To date, the principal way that these competing approaches have avoided dendrites is by compromising test conditions (i.e. low power, short-cycle life, raising the temperature, etc.).  It took us over 10 years, over two million tests, and over $300 million to get to the level of performance we have demonstrated, so we believe this is a very hard problem and will be difficult for competitors to solve. During our development process we also created over 200 patents and applications to protect our unique approach.

QS has a complete deep dive paper on fast charging performance versus long range driving and how their solid-state battery is delivering on both compared to having one or the other. White paper: A deep dive into QuantumScape’s fast-charging performance - QuantumScape

While QS has plenty of science for the nerd in all of us at the link above on this white paper about range/fast charging, some of the few things to point out is that they are based on the science delivering in comparison to a company that uses the Panasonic cells in the model 3 & Y.

The excitement that comes with these battery break throughs is that we see some amazing changes in how EVs will truly benefit society and not just from less noise, pollution from the tail pipe, less heat, etc. QS battery technology aims to deliver on the one biggest complaint people make about EVs, the amount of stops and charging time spent sitting.

Here is the latest independent 3rd party testing of the QS cells proving they have delivered on their goals for battery performance.

FINAL-20211027-Q1-1695-Cell-Cycle-Life.pdf

For those that like science and want a deep dive into the QS battery look here for more white papers covering this technology.

Blog - QuantumScape

How big is this one might ask? Just look to what Volkswagen is doing with the conversion of diesel engine plants into EV battery production plants.

https://www.wsj.com/video/series/in-depth-features/how-vw-is-turning-engine-factories-into-ev-battery-plants/2154BC2F-A246-42E1-9E28-B221CD194678

Overall history of batteries was a slow glacial pace for some time and then started to pick up as computers helped in the deep science that went into making better batteries.

From the above we are arriving at the latest 21st century battery cell. The QuantumScape.

As we move forward in 2022 with many more EVs coming from traditional and startup EV builders, the future would seem bright for the EV revolution and even brighter as Solid-State batteries enter the game field reducing battery death, increasing performance without any penalty and so much more. I leave you with this final comparison image of Conventional Liquid Battery to a QuantumScape Solid-State Battery and ask you, DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT FOR SOLID_STATE EVs?

Building the Best Battery — QuantumScape

Newsroom - QuantumScape

Resources - QuantumScape

Blog - QuantumScape

Technology - QuantumScape

Volkswagen, Ford, Other Big Auto Makers Push to Make Solid-State Batteries the Next Big Thing for EVs - WSJ

QuantumScape partners with 'large' automaker to test battery prototypes | Reuters

Car Brands by Revenue in 2021 - Global Cars Brands

EV Manufacturer Mullen Announces Progress on Solid-State Polymer Battery Pack Development (mullenusa.com)

Started in 2013 at the University of Maryland Chemistry lab, ceramic solid-state batteries we the brainchild of Dr. Greg Hitz and Dr. Eric Wachsman. The focus was to increase energy density while making it safer and this gained attention when Samsung Note Phones, especially the Note 7 started to catch fire in 2016.

As per the Wall Street story, the United States is far behind the global rivals in the race for energy supremacy in the Green New World. With this, the idea is to catch up and surpass the competition by having a safer energy dense battery. What was a small investment at the beginning by the department of energy has now grown with $8 million in seed money in 2019 into a full-blown battery business called ION Storage.

ION Storage will start production on a cell phone size battery pack for the U.S. soldiers which has 50% increase in energy density for the same size and weight of current flammable lithium-ion batteries.

Now comes the award from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC, a group created in 1992 for advanced research of batteries for the auto industry that has been headed by GM, FORD and Stellantis (Formerly FCA) with input from the DOE. This USABC assessment program contract with ION Storage is a 15 month project that will demonstrate the ION Storage Systems high-rate, high-energy density, solid-state batteries as a safe and versatile option for a wide range of automotive applications that includes a 50% cost share with the USABC.

The DOE believes that the electrochemical energy storage is a key enabling technology for advanced, fuel-efficient, light and heavy-duty vehicle application.

The Tehcnologies and Teams that the USABC is working on are as follows, advanced propulsion, electrical/electronics, energy storage, hydrogen and fuel cell, manufacturing, materials and of course safety, you can read everything here: 

USCAR: Technologies & Teams

ION Storage Systems has contracts for their solid-state batteries which will go to the Defense and aerospace customers allowing an expected generation of revenue by the end of 2023.

CREB, center for research in extreme batteries showcased ION Storage Systems in January of 2022.

ION Storage Systems has 4 distinct industry verticals that they are focused on:

• Defense & Aerospace
• Consumer Electronics
• Electric Vehicles
• Grid Storage

The Defense and Aerospace segment is needing a safe battery for deployment into extreme use cases with a wide operating temperature and significant energy density over current battery tech that is made in America. Here ION Storage had hit all requirements. 

Consumer electronics is a space with huge growth potential as battery density in the same packaging is a drive by all tech companies for their latest product releases from cell phones to laptops and ION believes their 50% increase in energy density delivers on that. Due to the Samsung phone fires of years past, nonflammable batteries are another requirement and here ION delivers along with the need for extreme temperature operating range. Just think of your current 8hr battery life on a cell phone now being 12hrs in the same form factor and with dramatically reduced charge time which ION has shown. ION is the only Solid-State battery tech that has achieved the ARPA-E and DOE VTO fast-charge goals for Li-cycling at room temperature, reducing the need for complex cooling.

Electric vehicles are another space where ION batteries can really benefit the industry. A low cost per kWh, increased energy density extending EV range, shorter wait times with DOE achieved fast charging in a wide range of temperatures again reducing the need for complex cooling systems and mass and a simple battery that has reduced dead space and compression.

The final vertical as stated above is the Grid Storage where again low cost per kWh, energy density is a win, but better yet is the nonflammable nature of these batteries and with no complex cooling required, an increase in roundtrip efficiency of electrical storage.

We have covered many batteries startup companies here at Cheers and Gears and they all bring something different to the table. Solid-State is the next level of batteries for many industries and ION is a unique one based on Ceramic. Let's take a closer look at this battery tech. ION Storage Systems has posted a very clear powerpoint type web page and as such, we have the following slides:

Here is an example of comparing ION Solid-State battery cell to the competition.

ION Storage Systems has a simple philosophy about who they are:

WE ARE a carefully cultivated team of seasoned battery industry geeks who know inside and out how batteries have always been made. We're passionate about power! No, not that kind of power. We know how batteries should work and more importantly, what keeps them from working as well as they could.

THAT'S WHY we knew we had to shake-up how batteries were made if we were going to make YOU a better battery. You know that old saying - doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity! Well, that's what other companies have been doing with Lithium Ion for over 30 years.

SO WE re-imagined not just how batteries are made but what makes them. We merged two technologies that no one's merged before, and the results are a battery that's simply remarkable. And yeah, we're a little cocky about it. We make sure your batteries are safer and stronger - so your products can protect their users and outlast the competition. They're lighter and more rugged - removing design barriers you've had to live with for way too long.

AND WE do it right here in Maryland. Imagine that - shaping the future right here in the U.S.A. America's always been a powerful place. We're delighted to be a part of powering America's next=generation of possibility.

TAP INTO THE POWER OF ION

That pretty much sums up the latest battery tech company that is making waves and looks to power your auto today and the future BEVs of America and then the world.

For those that want to read about other battery companies, you can also look at the last battery story here:

U.S. Bets on Faster-Charging Battery in Race to Catch Energy Rivals - WSJ

Prince George’s startup Ion Storage Systems raises $30M to make batteries for the Army and others - Washington Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Media | Ion Storage Systems

Ion Storage Systems Intrinsically Safe Solid State Battery

Defense Sector Continues Support of Ion Storage’s Extreme “Soldier” Battery | Business Wire

USCAR: News Release: USABC AWARDS $487,310 BEYOND LITHIUM-ION TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM CONTRACT TO ION STORAGE SYSTEMS

USCAR: The United States Council for Automotive Research

We have all been told, large-scale electric vehicle adoption can and will greatly reduce emissions from vehicle tailpipes giving us cleaner air.

We have also been told by industry analysts that increased indirect emissions from electricity production and battery production that are not regulated by transport policies will offset the change from ICE to BEV having no affect.

With these two statements in mind, a group from Yale SCHOOL OF THE ENVIRONMENT set out to study which statement is true, or truest in regard to the BEVs assembly and use in society.

The OEM auto industry is right now in the midst of a major multi-billion-dollar investment of creating and building electric vehicles here in the U.S. and for global consumption with many of these auto companies stating by 2030 to end ICE auto's building and focus 100% on building and selling BEVs only worldwide. The Yale School of the Environment study has been published in Nature Communications. The study found that the total indirect emissions from electric vehicles pale in comparison to the indirect emissions from fossil fuel-powered vehicles. This is in addition to the direct emissions from combusting fossil fuels, either at the tailpipe for ICE vehicles or at the power plant smokestack for electricity generation, showing electric vehicles have a clear advantage emissions-wise over ICE vehicles.

To quote Stephanie Weber, postdoctoral associate: 

“The surprising element was how much lower the emissions of electric vehicles were,”

“The supply chain for combustion vehicles is just so dirty that electric vehicles can’t surpass them, even when you factor in indirect emissions.”

Question one would ask, what is the major concern with electric vehicles?

Answer, the electric vehicles supply chain, including the mining and processing of raw materials and the manufacturing of batteries is far from clean.

Quote from the study on this: 

 “So, if we priced the carbon embodied in these processes, the expectation is electric vehicles would be exorbitantly expensive. It turns out that’s not the case; if you level the playing field by also pricing the carbon in the fossil fuel vehicle supply chain, electric vehicle sales would actually increase.” 

Also, according to the press release from Yale, the study considered future technological change, such as decarbonization of the electricity supply and found this strengthened the result that electric vehicles dominate when indirect supply chain emissions are accounted for.

The research team gathered data using a National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) created by the Energy Information Administration, which models the entire U.S. energy system using detailed information from the current domestic energy system and a forecast of the future of the electric system. Wolfram completed a life cycle assessment that provided outputs of indirect emissions, which were then plugged into the NEMS model to see how a carbon tax on these indirect emissions would change the behavior of consumers and manufacturers. Weber assisted in modifying the NEMS code.

According to the Wolfram, the study shows that "the elephant in the room is the supply chain of fossil fuel-powered vehicles, not that of electric vehicle."  In countries with a sufficiently decarbonized electricity supply, like the U.S., the faster we switch to electric vehicles, the better.

Yale_Study_EV-Emissions.pdf

Interesting enough is that studies that have been done have always pointed to life cycle of the BEV and yet no study till now has been done to the life cycle of an ICE vehicle. As such, now that one has been done, it clearly shows that humanity benefits from moving to electric vehicles from ICE vehicles.

The bigger question I would think is can society get over their political factions to ICE versus BEV for the health of society rather than cling to the past in an attitude of no change is good change?

The Yale team used a combination of life cycle assessment and energy modeling to analyze the total life-cycle emissions of conventional or ICE vehicles versus EV or electric vehicles. They then calculated a carbon price on those emissions to see what effect that would have on the vehicle market. End result is that EV sales would increase in comparison to gas auto sales due to the larger increase in cost associated with ICE auto production.

What are your thoughts on the study and the emission question?

YSE Study Finds Electric Vehicles Provide Lower Carbon Emissions Through Additional Channels | Yale School of the Environment

Pricing indirect emissions accelerates low—carbon transition of US light vehicle sector | Nature Communications

The nearly $5 billion dollar NEVI program is to help states create a network of EV charging stations along the Interstate Highway System. The total amount available under Fiscal Year 2022 is $615 million and states must submit an EV Infrastructure Deployment Plan before access is given to the funds.

A second, competitive grant program will be announced later this year with the details on how additional funding can be accessed with a focus on increasing EV charging access throughout the country that is focused on rural and underserved communities. 

This will help drive charging numbers across the country.

Quote the press release:

“A century ago, America ushered in the modern automotive era; now America must lead the electric vehicle revolution,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help us win the EV race by working with states, labor, and the private sector to deploy a historic nationwide charging network that will make EV charging accessible for more Americans.”

“We are modernizing America’s national highway system for drivers in cities large and small, towns and rural communities, to take advantage of the benefits of driving electric,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping states to make electric vehicle charging more accessible by building the necessary infrastructure for drivers across America to save money and go the distance, from coast-to-coast.”

A part of this Bipartisan program is that the hardware is all to be made in America with details to be found here: EV Charger Manufacturing in America

A key part of this is the commitment to purchase 30,000 DC Fast chargers per year made in America by Tritium at the Lebanon, Tennessee manufacturing facility that will employ 500 local jobs alone. This is on top of major announcements for key investments in U.S. manufacturing by Intel, General Motors, Boeing, Ford, Siemens, ABB, Freewire Technologies and Dunamis Clean Energy Partners. These companies are focusing on ensuring the U.S. has ample supply of semiconductors, electric vehicles, aircraft, batteries, both current Lithium-ion and all-solid-state, EV charging from home Level 2 chargers to DC Fast chargers and commercial DC Fast Chargers for commercial autos. This program is also working to ensure minorities and especially woman-owned businesses are included in all levels of business in relation to the future of the electric auto industry and supporting supply chain needs in North America.

This is just a start as the Bipartisan Program also includes $7 Billion in funding to secure American EV supply chain, from materials processing to battery manufacturing and recycling. The bill also will take the EV Charging Network to a total of $7.5 Billion dollars as they bring online the national public charging network that covers rural and underserved communities.

NEVI will build on the Alternative Fuel Corridors that nearly every state has designated over the past six years. These alternative Fuel Corridors will be the spine of the National EV Charging Network. An example of this is the West Coast Electric Highway that started by ensuring charging was available at rest stops and local restaurants from Vancouver BC, Canada south through Washington, Oregon and California ending in Baja California. This allowed people with BEVs to make road trips all along the west coast and have access to recharging. It has since expanded over the last decade to include many state roads. The coastal road of highway 101 as well as the inner-city highway 99 are both included in the west coast electric highway system.

West Coast Green Highway: West Coast Electric Highway

For those that are interested in everything from tools, assistance to jobs in the growing field of zero-emission transportation infastructure, a new web site has been build and is open for folks to review as it is a joint effort by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.

Home Page · Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (driveelectric.gov)

For those that like a quick list of facts and the details supporting this here is the 411 or detailed go to for information.

• FHWA Notice N 4510.863 - Apportionment Of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Highway Infrastructure Program Funds for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program Pursuant to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act | Federal Highway Administration (dot.gov)
• The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program Guidance (dot.gov)
• 2.8.22 Clean Draft per HCC edits (dot.gov)
• Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - 5-year National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Funding by State | Federal Highway Administration (dot.gov)

I will say that it is a very interesting observation that those states that have been very resistance to BEVs and the whole green new deal for power in the south are some of the very states getting some of the largest funding for NEVI. A quick example of this is Texas with $407,774,759 in NEVI funding and Florida with $198,057,481 in NEVI funding.

Current Fiscal Year 2022 Funding by State

This program is aimed at having the U.S. lead the world in a move to BEVs and put the U.S. on a course to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

President Biden, USDOT and USDOE Announce $5 Billion over Five Years for National EV Charging Network, Made Possible by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law | US Department of Transportation

President Biden, DOE and DOT Announce $5 Billion over Five Years for National EV Charging Network | Department of Energy

President Biden, USDOT and USDOE Announce $5 Billion over Five Years for National EV Charging Network, Made Possible by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law | FHWA

Alternative Fuel Corridors - Environment - FHWA (dot.gov)

We have had lots of talk about the various BEVs or battery electric vehicles coming and occasionally a few posts on battery tech. Some have been in depth while others have been a 60,000-foot skim on new battery technology that looked and sounds cool. I thought it was about time we took a closer look on what all is going on in the auto battery world.

First let's have a visual understanding on conventional Lithium-ion battery versus solid-state battery. A few key benefits are not only safer batteries, but smaller, slimer batteries that are more energy dense in nature due to a liquid electrolyte being replaced by some form of solid electrolyte.

Current battery packs that are used in current electric vehicles use some form of Lithium-ion with a liquid electrolyte that does a very impressive job. Yet even these current battery packs have been known to catch fire usually due to damage from an accident. The dream battery is a safer, non-flammable, all-solid-state battery cell that is energy dense, faster recharge and more flexible in packaging.

Batteries that have solid electrodes and a solid electrolyte are known as solid state batteries and are poised to take over and replace traditional lithium-ion batteries in various areas of applications, especially electric vehicles. Solid-state battery technology is pivotal to the advancement and development of many technologies. Solid-state batteries are among the brightest solution for extracting maximum range, reducing charging time and enhanced battery-related safety concerns.

Currently from an investment standpoint, the following companies are getting attention for various reasons due to the possible solid state battery technology they are bringing to market.

• SK innovation (SK innovation)
  •  Solid electrolyte with excellent ionic conductivity and elasticity, which secures both performance and safety
    • 
  • SK Innovation accelerates the all-solid-state batteries for replacement of traditional lithium-ion cells
  • Research done by Professor Lee Seung-woo of Georgia Tech University
  • Rubber-type high polymer solid electrolyte allowing for ionic conductivity to be boosted by 100 times. Rubber-like elasticity while operating at room temperature
  • This technology is expected to take a traditional 500km BEV and enhance the range by 800km on a single charge
  • Using their own Z-Folding stacking method of stacking between the zigzag separator, which intersects the anode and the cathode. This z-folding technique minimizes cell stress and uniformly laminates the anodes and cathode, essentially blocking the possibility of contact between electrodes
    • 
  • Ceramic coating separator (CCS) reinforced with a mixed weapon layer on one or both sides of the existing lithium-ion battery separator increase heat resistance directly related to the stability of the battery and improves the movement speed of lithium ions.
    • 
  • Bipolar Material Technology - High-nickel anode materials maximize energy density while ensuring excellence in capacity, thermal stability and cycle performance compared to conventional batteries. Since 2014 when the world's first supply of NCM622 batteries to electric vehicles, nvm811 and NCM9 are new industry standards and aim to achieve energy densities of more than 1,000Wh\L.
    • Wh\L = Energy Density, the nominal battery energy per unit volume, referred to as the volumetric energy density. Specific energy is a characteristic of the battery chemistry and packaging. Along with the energy consumption of the vehicle, it determines the battery size required to achieve a given electric range.
  • SK Innovation is accelerating production in house and outside of the company by partnering with Solid Power, USA (Home - Solid Power (solidpowerbattery.com)) 
  • Located in Seoul, Korea
• Solid Power (Home - Solid Power (solidpowerbattery.com)) 
  • All-Solid-State rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, 50% denser than current Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries
  • Contain NO volatile or flammable liquid components
  • Longer Life resulting in performance across temperature ranges with a cost savings of 15 to 35% over traditional batteries
  • Currently producing 20 Ah multi-layered Solid-State lithium batteries in prototype form for auto company evaluation
  • 3 types of cells available for purchase
    • Silicon EV cell
      • High-Content Silicon anode - High Charge rates & lower temperature capabilities
      • Sulfide Solid Electrolyte - Powered by Solid Power's proprietary sulfide-based solid electrolytes
      • NMC Cathode - Industry-standard and commercially mature
      • 390 Wh/kg
      • 930 Wh\L
      • 1,000 + cycle life
      • Less than 15 min charge
      •  
    • Lithium Metal EV Cell
      • Lithium Metal Anode - High Energy
      • Sulfide Solid Electrolyte - Powered by Solid Power's proprietary sulfide based solid electrolytes
      • NMC Cathode - Industry-standard and commercially mature
      • 440 Wh/kg
      • 930 Wh\L
      • 1,000 + cycle life
      • Less than 20 min charge
    • Conversion Reaction Cell
      • Lithium Metal Anode - High Energy
      • Sulfide Solid Electrolyte - Powered by Solid Power's proprietary sulfide based solid electrolytes
      • Conversion-Type Cathode - Ultra-low cost & high specific energy
      • 560 Wh/kg
      • 785 Wh\L
      • 1,000 + cycle life
      • Less than 30 min charge
      •  
  • Batteries expected to be on the market in BEVs by 2026
  • Located in Louisville, Colorado
• QuantumScape (Building the Best Battery — QuantumScape)
  • High energy density and high specific energy
  • Backed by Bill Gates, Volkswagen, Continental AG, George Soros and other prominent investors
  • Traded on the NYSE: QS
  • Currently the most advanced solid-state battery and industry's first anode-less cell design
    • 
  • Battery packs can charge to 80% capacity in 15 minuets, best in class currently
  • QuantumScape has overcome the dendrites problem that forms when fast charging
  • Lower costs by eliminating anode host material and manufacturing costs
  • Located in San Jose, California
• Ampcera (Ampcera – Solid State Electrolytes)
  • Niche player in high-performance solid-state electrolyte materials
  • Focus use is electric vehicles and grid storage
    • Battery cost of less than $75 per kilowatt hour is expected by 2025
    • Less than 10-minute ultra-fast charge
  • Solid-state electrolyte materials include sulfides, NASICON-type phosphates and garnet-structure oxides
  • HQ is in Silicon Valley, California with R&D in Tucson Tech Park, Arizona
• BrightVolt (Solid-State Li-Ion batteries utilizing proprietary polymer matrix electrolyte (PME) technology (brightvolt.com))
  • Solid-State battery supplier for IoT devices
  • Proprietary polymer matrix electrolyte used in their Lithium-ion batteries
    • 
    • 
  • High energy density due to the matrix bonding directly to the electrodes, eliminating deadweight and having a total cell electrode thickness of less than .45 mm compared to a conventional lithium-ion cell electrodes that typically have a thickness greater than .7 mm.
• ProLigium Technology (ProLogium Technology Co., Ltd)
  • Uses lithium-ceramic (oxide solid) electrolytes in their mass produced all-solid-state batteries
  • Has two battery production plants, first one is a 40MWh plant and used more for their proof-of-concept batteries, second plant is a 2 GWh large scale production plant
  • Their solid-state batteries are focused on consumer electronics and wearable products such as watches, clothes, etc. 
  • New agreements in place at the end of 2021 has them entering the auto market with building battery packs for NIO, AIWAYS of China and Mercedes-Benz of Germany and China markets for BEVs
    • 100% fundamentally Safe
    • 2X Longer Range
    • 12 min Fast Charging
  • Depending on application, the BiPolar+ 3D Structure Solid-State EV Battery Pack has a 29% to 56% higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries
  • Located in Taiwan
• Ilika Plc (Home | Ilika)
  • Solid-state battery company building battery cells for use in MedTech, IoT, BEVs and Consumer Electronics
  • Solid-State batteries that can be customizable to miniaturized mm-scale for powering next-generation Active Implanted Medical Devices (AIMD) or Industrial IoT sensors.
  • Company was founded in 2004 and in 2014 as a spin-out from the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton started to build the Stereax family of Solid-state batteries
  • Two battery families now
    • Stereax - Micro Solid-state batteries
    • Goliath-Wh-level solid-state cells for BEVs and Consumer electronics
  • Located in Romsey, UK
• Cymbet (Home of the World's Smallest Solid-State Batteries - Cymbet)
  • Biocompatible thin film rechargeable solid-state smart batteries (SSB)
  • Focus on embedded power capabilities for electronic system designers in microelectronic systems
  • Supporting new concepts in energy storage applications for ICs, Medical, Sensor, RFID, Industrial control, communications and portable electronic devices
  • 
  • Located in New Brighton, Minnesota

Before anyone might ask, another benefit of the all-solid-state batteries is the ability to recycle them easer and faster keeping it a green cycle. here is a basic look visually at this life cycle.

The final interesting tech piece for this writeup is about a company called Navitas Semiconductor. This company came about by using a waste product from the manufacture of Aluminum. Gallium is a chemical element on the periodic table and a natural by-product create in refining metals, especially aluminum. For decades, there was no known use for this material according to the CEO of Navitas.

Navitas then combined gallium with nitrogen to create gallium nitride (GaN), it is useful for the semiconductors that go into charging units for consumer electronics devices. A GaN semiconductor operates up to 20X faster than silicon, making it possible in delivering 3X more power and 3X faster charging in half the size and weight while only being 10% to 20% more expensive. Scale will bring down costs according to the Navistar and as such this is where the company takes their high-speed charging technology and now is applying it to the BEV industry.

The one catch is that to use GaN, one must totally redesign their charging system. Manufactures such as Vivo, Dell and Xiaomi have all changed their charging systems to GaN due to the extreme speed it supports for getting electronics recharged in a fraction of the time and back in use. Navitas believes once the Auto industry sees the benefits of GaN, they will change their charging setup to use their GaN chip and redesign the whole power system around the chip.

Navistar has so far raised $100 million in funding to bring their ultra-fast charging solutions to the auto industry. Navistar believes more than just charging can benefit from their GaN products.

So, what is the selling point of Gan semiconductors by Navitas | Creator of GaNFast (navitassemi.com)? Simply Navitas believes they can make a major impact on BEVs. Navistar says that 30% of energy is lost when traveling from the battery to the wheels in transmission. GaN does not have this energy lose like Silicon semiconductors have. Using a GaN superconductors in that transmission, you can avoid the 30% power loss which would allow the BEV OEM to either go 30% longer on the current battery or reduce the battery pack by 30% while maintaining the same current range.

Check out this interview with the CEO of Navistar

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/11/10/navitas-ceo-says-his-companys-chip-technology-is-faster-cooler-and-more-efficient.html

No single company can supply it all nor can any single automotive company build and supply their own parts. GM has chosen to hedge their bets much like most companies and the GM Ventures arm of GM Corporation has invested in the North Carolina Battery Company Soelect. Soelect has drawn investments from the following auto companies on top of GM. Hyundai, Kia, Geely, SAIC and LG and SK have all invested in SolidEnergy Systems.

Investor Relations | General Motors Company (gm.com)

 

We also have Ford which according to Teslarati web site about their investors call, Ford is taking a page from Tesla and Stock piling battery cells to insure as they build their battery plants that over the next two years, they can deliver on producing 200,000 Mach-e's a year by 2023, 100,000 Mach-e's by the end of 2022 and a 150,000 F150 Lightings by the end of 2022.

For those that might find the various acronym's here challenging, I have the following post to help explain them:

MIT Guide to Understanding Battery Specifications

7 Top Solid-state Battery Companies 2022 – Advanced Investing for Beginners (ai4beginners.com)

Technology < About < SK On (sk-on.com)

SK innovation

All-Solid-State Batteries - Solid Power (solidpowerbattery.com)

Technology - QuantumScape

Ampcera – Solid State Electrolytes

Our Technology - BrightVolt Solid State Batteries

ProLogium Technology Co., Ltd

ProLogium and Mercedes-Benz entered into a technology cooperation agreement to develop solid-state battery cells for electric vehicles - ProLogium Technology Co., Ltd

Home | Ilika

Stereax - Micro Solid State Batteries | Ilika

Goliath Solid State Batteries Powering Electric Vehicles | Ilika

GM Ventures invests in EV advanced battery startup Soelect | Reuters

Home of the World's Smallest Solid-State Batteries - Cymbet

Navitas | Creator of GaNFast (navitassemi.com)

GM Ventures invests in EV advanced battery startup Soelect | Reuters

Ford says it is stockpiling batteries for Farley's electric vehicle scaling operation (teslarati.com)

January 31st, 2022, Koenigsegg introduced revolutionary BEV technology starting with the David unit, yes this is a revolutionary 6-phase inverter called David. This is followed by the company new Quark Electric Motor that utilized a novel torque/power-rish balance between radial (power-dense) and axial (torque-dense) flux topology called "Raxial Flux". Furthermore, per Koenigsegg press release they have integrated two Quark E-motors with one David inverter, plus planetary gear sets, in order to create a class-leading Terrier, a torque vectoring EV-drive unit.

Here you have a family photo of the Quark motor to the left, Terrier EV Drive Unit center and David the 6-phase inverter to the right.

Let's start with the Quark Electric Motor, a 63 lb motor dry weight that produces 335 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. For scale they have a 330-mL energy drink for comparison in the picture. 330-mL is equal to a 12oz Red Bull energy drink.

For a better writeup read the following for a detailed explanation of axial flux motors and how they work: 

Charged EVs | A closer look at axial flux motors - Charged EVs

In layman terms, the Quark Electric Motor is designed to bolster the low-speed range for brutal acceleration and then focus on horsepower at the top end where you want the high-speed range. This means performance from the big surge of torque off the line with a continued record speed push to a top end speed without any torque or power loses.

To quote the CEO and Founder Christian von Koenigsegg: 

“The Quark is unique in its high efficiency in combination with its class-leading torque-to-power-to-rpm-to-weight matrix. This means, when using the Quark in applications such as marine, aircraft or VTOL, there is no need for a step-down transmission, instead direct drive can be achieved, as the RPM of the motor is right from the get-go. Small high-revving motors can have higher peak power to weight ratio, but they need transmissions in most applications in order to get to the desired output rpm and torque, causing energy loss and adding weight and complexity to do the same job. So, any benefit in size is lost. In other cases, like the Terrier application, the transmissions can be reduced in size and complexity compared to higher-revving, less torque dense motors, which is also a big win. I guess we’re trying to reach the edge of optimal in-betweeness,”

The Terrier EV Drive Unit gained its name in respect to the Terrier dog breed, both are characterized by their small, energetic and fearless demeanor per Koenigsegg.

The Terrier, is a configuration of two Quark electric motors and one David, 6-phase inverter presenting the opportunity to create the most power/torque dense, torque vectoring drive unit in the EV industry. 670 hp / 886 lb-ft of torque weighing just 187 pounds offering torque vectoring across an axle.

The Terrier surpasses today's drive units, needing only one inverter that lends 3 phases to each Quark, thereby drastically reducing weight, size and components. Furthermore, the slim packaging of the Quarks allows the slim package of the David to sit between the two Quarks for a super dense package. The Quarks give massive power and torque at reasonable RPMs, only small low-ratio highly efficient planetary gear sets are needed at each output. Further design was taken into account so that the Terrier can be mounted directly to the chassis, thus removing the need for subframes and the added weight they bring.

David 6-phase Inverter

Koenigsegg class leading SIC Inverter with 6-phase output delivers high power handling in a lite weight solution. 15 kg or 33 lbs. This ultra-compact inverter produces 1,300 Arms AC at 850 V (DC) over 6 phases with up to 750kW of power. If used in an AWD configuration using the Terrier you have 1.5MW of power in a 1,340 hp / 1,772 lb-ft of torque with Torque vectoring.

Where did the name come from you ask, Koenigsegg CEO states that their Inverter David is smaller, lighter and more powerful than any inverter on the current market and they named it David in relation to the story of David and Goliath. This is how Koenigsegg see's themselves going up against much larger established auto parts suppliers.

Both Quark, Terrier and David are designed with OTA capability so that as improvements in the software algorithms and software can be pushed out to continually improve the performance of these auto parts.

David is designed under the ISO 26262 regulatory framework and international high voltage safety standards. Designed for the harsh automotive environments and designed to emit low electromagnetic emissions.

This is just the start of Koenigsegg motors, inverters, controllers and batteries to come that will be offered to the auto industry for best in class performance.

Koenigsegg reinvents the wheel – Koenigsegg

Quark and Terrier: Koenigsegg’s first in-house E-motor and EV-drive unit with pioneering ‘Raxial Flux’ topology - Koenigsegg (cision.com)

Koenigsegg creates class-leading SIC Inverter with 6-phase output and names it David - Koenigsegg (cision.com)

Quark E-Motor_2 - Koenigsegg (cision.com)

Bridgestone Retail Operations, a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas has announced the plans to expand auto services for electric and hybrid vehicles services and vehicle charging at 44 Firestone Auto Care and Wheel Works stores.

To quote:

• Bridgestone-owned Firestone Complete Auto Care and Wheel Works service centers in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, Calif., will now offer advanced electric and hybrid vehicle services to customers.
• The expanded services are part of the company’s initiative to address an increasingly electric car parc and contribute to a more sustainable society.
• In partnership with Blink Charging, Bridgestone will also install a total of 50 level two plug-in electric vehicle charging stations at 25 Firestone Complete Auto Care and Wheel Works stores in select markets beginning early 2022.

According to Marko Ibrahim, president, Bridgestone Retail Operations had the following to say: " We truly believe what's good for society is good for business, which is why we are increasing our investments in plug-in vehicle services in two key markets with plans to expand further in the future. The steps we take now will ensure we are the service provider of choice for new-energy vehicles.

While hybrid and electric vehicle services account for less than 10% of total services at Bridgestone retail operations nationwide, Bridgestone expects significant increase by the end of the decade due to the increase of less than 50 hybrid/bev in 2019 and the expected more than 200 models of BEVs available by 2026 based on IHS Market Sales Based Powertrain Forecast, H1 2021.

The only thing I would question about this is that they are only looking at Level 2 chargers which is slow when we have DC and people are not going to want to wait at an auto service center to charge for 30 minutes or so, but would IMHO rather have a DC charge of a few minutes.

Bridgestone Retail Operations to Offer Expanded Electric Vehicle Services, Add Vehicle Charging in Select Markets (bridgestoneamericas.com)

VOLTEMPO is deploying in the UK first their scalable, modular hyperfast HyperCharging stations for both business and consumers. This 1,000kW or 1MW chargers is a game changer and is backwards compatible with all current EVs.

This DC HyperCharging system can support up to 24 EVs at the same time delivering a full charge in approximately 6 minutes depending on your EVs onboard charging support.

VOLTEMPO is working closely with government agencies, stakeholders and interested companies wanting to implement their charging system in commercial and retail solutions.

According to VOLTEMPO, the first commercial installation will take place at a charging hub at the Tyseley Energy Park in Birmingham at the start of 2022. From new offices in Austin Texas USA, sales and installation will start in 2023 and then a European Launch in 2024.

Additional information can be looked at in their FAQ section.

VOLTEMPO Measurable Benefits are as follows:

• Up to 30% faster charging, through dynamic power management.
• Typically, 30% cheaper installation, through our patented centralized charging design.
• 70% fast installation, installed in hours or days, not months, through modular construction.
• Future-ready design: ready to accept future charging standards, including wireless and megawatt charging as new standards emerge.
• Start small, grow at your own pace. Boost power with more power modules; increase capacity by adding charging bays.
• Hyper scalable: capable of servicing 30% more charging outlets for the same power availability.
• Market-leading return on investment, with a typical payback of 3-5 years.

| Voltempo™

Factorial Energy has had a major 4th quarter as they secured Agreements with Stellantis, Daimler, Hyundai and Kia to use their 40Ah battery packs in their electric vehicles.

The company backed by major investors such as Former President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, Mark Fields; former senior advisor to the Obama Administration's presidential task force on the Auto Industry, Harry Wilson and investment firms Gatemore Capital Management and Wave Equity Partners have enabled Factorial to jump from a tech startup doing research to a commercial production company.

Factorial Energy has stated that for EVs to go from a global 4% capture of the global car sales market to a dominate primary auto, buyers need to see dramatic price and performance improvements in the battery systems. Factorials proprietary battery breakthrough called FEST (Factorial Electrolyte System Technology) is a solid electrolyte material that enables save and reliable cell performance with high-voltage and high-energy density electrodes. FEST is safer than conventional current EV battery technology. Fest battery packs have yielded a 20 to 50% improvement in driving range without sacrificing pack longevity and are easy to integrate into existing supply chains.

Earlier this year, Factorial Energy has stated that several major automotive partners were validating their technology in real world auto testing. This clearly has completed as they currently announced agreements with Stellantis, Daimler, Hyundai and Kia for jointly developing from the cell-level to modules and vehicle integration production of their 40Ah solid state battery cells.

Factorial Energy with their new partners is building plants around the world to ramp up production for new EVs that are coming out through 2025.

Every company is taking a different approach to working with Factorial Energy. Daimler is looking to use it in a limited series to get EVs out onto the market as they R&D and work to build their own batteries. Hyundai and Kia look to use this company in all EVs as one of many suppliers in getting EVs into mainstream use and purchasing. Stellantis has stated these batteries will be used across the whole company portfolio from Americus brands, to European, Asian and into Africa. Stellantis sees these solid-state batteries as a starting point for mass adoption of global EVs.

As Factorial likes to state, for ages, the promise of an affective, safe solid-state battery has been the ultimate unattainable goal - ideal, enticing but always out of reach.

Consider this Quote:

"The storage battery is, in my opinion, a catchpenny, a sensation, a mechanism for swindling the public by stock companies."

The speaker: Thomas Edison, The year: 1883.

138 years later, that sentiment has held true.

Factorial Energy has invested heavily in solid-state battery research over the past 6 years and their process is a practical customer-driven solution, a balanced performance-profile solid-state cell that scales at a reasonable cost. Applications perfect for this solid-state battery cell are EVs, Hi-Spec such as electric planes and stationary storage.

Transformational solid-state battery technology that is empowering a sustainable future with the highest performance and safest batteries for electric vehicles, homes and critical applications is the message from Factorial Energy.

Join the Future!

Solid-state Battery & Technology News | Factorial (factorialenergy.com)

Hyundai, Kia and Factorial Energy to Jointly Develop Solid-State Batteries for Next Generation Electric Vehicles - Hyundai Newsroom

Stellantis and Factorial Energy to Jointly Develop Solid-State Batteries for Electric Vehicles | Stellantis

Solid-state batteries: Mercedes-Benz teams up with Factorial Energy - Daimler Global Media Site

Founder, Chairman and CEO of NIO, William Li announced with Executive VP István Kapitány of Shell Mobility have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to collaborate on electric vehicle charging and battery swapping across China and all of Europe.

Nio and Shell will jointly construct and operate the battery charging and swapping facilities. Initial phase 1 will be to have 100 battery stations up and running in China by 2025 and to jointly build and operate an undisclosed number of stations across Europe by 2022 that will be available to NIO customers. 

NIO started auto deliveries to Norway this fall of 2021 marking its first step outside China in opening up new territories of business. In 2022 NIO will expand sales across Europe with both retail and commercial offerings. NIO started in 2018 in China and has delivered over 100,000 electric vehicles.

Shell is one of the world's largest gasoline retailers and has announced they plan to be a leading charging service provider worldwide as they add charging to their global station network.

Together NIO and SHELL will explore and collaborate on opportunities in global battery asset management, fleet management, membership system, home charging services, advanced battery charging and swapping technology development and construction of fast charging facilities.

NIO and SHELL have both stated this cooperation demonstrates the ability to use the strengths of both companies as they accelerate the energy transition and commitment to sustainable development globally.

NIO has stated that this agreement will help accelerate the existing NIO stations in China of which NIO operates 301 battery swap stations, 204 power charging stations and 382 destination charging stations in China. NIO has completed as of this announcement 2.9 million battery swaps and 600,000 uses of One-Click-for-Power services.

NIO and Shell agreement will help NIO achieve going beyond their current target of having 700 battery swap stations by the end of 2021. From 2022 to 2025 NIO / SHELL will build an additional 600 battery swap stations in China and by the end of 2025 NIO / SHELL plans to have over 4,000 battery swap stations globally.

NIO has also announced that the NIO Power Charging ans swapping system, as well as BaaS (Batter-as-a-Service), will be fully available to the global industry.

NIO has expanded on what Tesla once thought and considered for battery swapping which can be done in 90 seconds or so on a Tesla, but costs of $60 to $80 per swap made it too expensive for CEO Musk. As such Tesla has continued to push charging only and improvements to their battery tech saying that BSM (battery Swap Mode) will go away as the industry focuses on fast charging only. NIO does not believe BSM will get kicked out as NIO autos can be charged or swapped depending on the needs of the customer and with BaaS (Battery-as-a-Service) this gives customers more options in being able to purchase the auto they want and only pay for larger battery packs when they need them for say a long road trip. NIO believes BSM, BaaS and self-charging are not in conflict but complement each other based on the needs at the time for the customer. This battery tech option allows customers to recharge, replace or upgrade at the users choice and convenience rather than forcing a single option on them.

Does the Battery Matter?

Tesla has chosen to take the supercharger station as the focus to eventually get to where ICE autos are with recharging in 5 to 10 minutes to a full battery pack. NIO believes that a battery swap of a depleted one for a fully charged one is a better option especially when one might want to go to a larger or smaller battery pack depending on driving needs.

NIO BaaS allows owners to buy the auto they want without a battery pack. This allows a savings of $10,000 dollars on average for all of the NIO models, NIO owners then subscribe to a 70 kilowatt battery subscription for $142 a month, stopping by battery swap stations to get a fully charged one when it is needed.

NIO admits that the BaaS is a great tool to get user feedback on battery performance and user preferences as they can move up or down in battery size depending on their driving needs.

NIO owners have loved the battery swapping service which on average takes only 10 minutes or less. Customers have also stated they love the reservation system to ensuring a fully charged battery is ready for them ahead of their arrival at the station. This makes for a convenient road trip system.

NIO offers a wide range of EVs from the NIO EP9 performance car to the CUV 6 series with the ET7 sedan and ES8 CUV in between serving the needs of all customers.

EP9

ES8

ET7

EC6

NIO Signs Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Shell | NIO

NIO Announces NIO Power 2025 Battery Swap Station Deployment Plan | NIO

Tesla vs Nio: Is it smarter to charge or swap battery? - CGTN

According to the latest poll from Yale University, George Mason University and Climate Nexus commissioned by the nonprofit Coltura, finds that 55% to 35% margin in requiring all new autos sold in their state to be electric starting in 2030.

As per multiple scientific and university groups, carbon pollution biggest source is gasoline powered cars and world leaders coming off the heels of the COP26 climate gathering are trying to address this mounting climate crisis. Yes, not everyone will agree with these polls or the science behind climate change and as a multi-cultural society, we must work to at times agree to disagree and still find a way to move forward. Humanity has always come together for the good of society.

Polls are now showing strong voter support for aggressive climate action. This is of course based on a number of understandings such as the following positive impacts:

• 73% believe a positive impact on air quality
• 64% believe a positive impact on climate change
• 61% believe a positive impact on individual health
• 58% believe a positive impact on energy independence
• 52% believe a positive impact on urban communities
• 51% believe a positive impact on suburban communities

This is clearly a generational belief when one looks at how phasing out ICE auto sales are looked at by voter groups.

• Voters aged 18-34 (71%) believe 2030 is when ICE auto sales should end.
• 69% of Black voters believe 2030 is when ICE auto sales should end.
• 67% of Hispanic voters believe 2030 is when ICE auto sales should end.

This is even more interesting to review when you look at the full transition to electric auto's broken down by state.

• Michigan voters support this change by a 55 to 33% margin
• Nevada voters support this by a 52 to 39% margin
• Colorado voters support this by a 50 to 38% margin
• New York voters support this by a 66 to 24% margin
• Massachusetts voters support this by a 62 to 28% margin
• New Jersey voters support this by a 58 to 30% margin

Some will ask and the voter survey was of 2,678 registered voters across the nation's states. Some were as low as only 153 respondents from Hawaii to 350 in New York, Massachusetts and other states.

So yes, one can say this is a small pool to sample to the almost 168.31 million registered voters in the US.

The focus on posting this is to encourage civil discussion on if this is not only reachable, but if it should be done or not, why and why not and to encourage the discussion on the future of the ICE versus EV industry.

Many states have committed billions of dollars over the next few years to installing electric charging stations across their state to help the transition to EVs. Some auto makers are taking it a step further such as Hyundai / Kia that is supporting not only the highspeed 800V plug in charging but also wireless charging of their auto's so that end users can use wireless pads that are installed at their home be it a house, condo or apartment for constant full charge at the start of each day.

Some places such as the West coast and even the East coast that is catching up in charging installation are leading compared to the Mid-west that is trailing. Change is inevitable and for some, a strong resistance to change will keep them in ICE for a long time while others will embrace the change of fueling from home as a dominant way to get to work, run errands, live life.

Post your thoughts on these latest polls on how you think this will play out. Please be polite, do not get political, but focus on the technology, the change to society and the pro's and con's of what you think moving to EV sales only by 2030 or 2035 depending on where you live will do for the world, country, state economy.

Clean Cars 2030 Polling — Coltura - moving beyond gasoline

Our News — Coltura - moving beyond gasoline

Be it grid storage, computers, cell phones and especially electric vehicles, a safe, long-lasting, and energy-dense battery in a smaller form factor is what every company is looking for in selling their products today. ICE or internal combustion engine vehicles have dominated the last 100 years, but the next 100 years seems to be looking at a major change and while ICE auto's will be with us for some time, technology is going to change the way humans get around in the 21st century.

Let's start with a little background information on battery format. You have your Cylindrical size cells that is used by Tesla and a few other companies in the auto industry around the world. There is then the Prismatic cell format which has been used by Toshiba for their SCiB cells that are also being used by various auto companies and the last is Polymer a pouch size cell that is being used in the auto industry such as GM with their Ultium battery packs.

There are pros and cons to all formats depending on the company you talk too. Here we are not going to get into this area except to say that their is various weight with each type of format and of course the denser you can get the battery cell with long-life and safety while in a smaller format, the more flexible the design of an auto has.

The solid-state break through comes via a partnership of LG Energy Solutions and University of California Dan Diego.

Working together the engineers have created a new type of battery that combines two promising sub-fields into a single battery. The two areas are as follows, the solid state battery, being no liquid inside the battery and the anode which in traditional Lithium batteries is made of metallic lithium. Here the anode is made of 100% silicon. As such you have a solid state silicon battery cell. The research has shown that this design allows for a very safe, long-lasting and energy-dense cell. The applications of which can be applied to storage for the electrical grid to electric vehicles and so much more where battery technology is used.

From left to right in the picture above:
1) The all solid-state battery consists of a cathode composite layer, a sulfide solid electrolyte layer, and a carbon free micro-silicon anode.
2) Before charging, discrete micro-scale Silicon particles make up the energy dense anode. During battery charging, positive Lithium ions move from the cathode to the anode, and a stable 2D interface is formed.
3) As more Lithium ions move into the anode, it reacts with micro-Silicon to form interconnected Lithium-Silicon alloy (Li-Si) particles. The reaction continues to propagate throughout the electrode.
4) The reaction causes expansion and densification of the micro-Silicon particles, forming a dense Li-Si alloy electrode. The mechanical properties of the Li-Si alloy and the solid electrolyte have a crucial role in maintaining the integrity and contact along the 2D interfacial plane.

This battery technology was published in the Journal Science nanoengineers from University of California San Diego in collaboration with researchers at LG Energy Solutions made this breakthrough possible.

To quote the published report: The development of silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries has been largely impeded by poor interfacial stability against liquid electrolytes. Here, we enabled the stable operation of a 99.9 weight % microsilicon anode by using the interface passivating properties of sulfide solid electrolytes. Bulk and surface characterization, and quantification of interfacial components, showed that such an approach eliminates continuous interfacial growth and irreversible lithium losses. Microsilicon full cells were assembled and found to achieve high areal current density, wide operating temperature range, and high areal loadings for the different cells. The promising performance can be attributed to both the desirable interfacial property between microsilicon and sulfide electrolytes and the distinctive chemomechanical behavior of the lithium-silicon alloy.

Silicon anode in traditional lithium batteries while safer have till now received much less attention due to the lower capacity these batteries hold. Yet solid-state has become a game changer with considerable increases in performance across a wide range of temperatures and excellent cycle life in full cell use.

What does one gain in going with this design? Currently a silicon anode in a solid-state battery is 10 times greater in energy density over a commercial lithium ion battery used in a BEV that is on the market. To quote the lead author on the paper, Darren H. S. Tan PhD in chemical engineering, "With this battery configuration, we are opening a new territory for solid-state batteries using alloy anodes such as silicon". Solid-state next generation batteries currently have had restrictions on charge rates and temperature during charging. The silicon anode overcomes these limitations, allows faster charging rates at room temperature while maintaining high energy density.

The laboratory testing delivered 500 charge and discharge cycles with 80% capacity retention at room temperature, which represents exciting progress for both the silicon anode and solid state battery technologies.

To understand why this is such an important breakthrough keep this in mind, silicon offers great storage capacity, 10 times greater than graphite. Lithium-ion batteries with silicon added to the anode mix increased energy density, but suffered from real-world performance issues; the number of times the battery can be charged and discharged while maintaining performance is not acceptable.

This problem is caused by the interaction of the silicon anodes and the liquid electrolytes it is paired with. This get complicated by the large volume of expansion of silicon particles during the charge and discharge cycle resulting in severe capacity losses over time.

Per the UC San Diego team, by eliminating the carbon and binders and going with an all-silicon anode using micro-silicon a much less processed and less expensive material over nano-silicon which has been used in the past they were able to reduce cost. They then addressed the root problem being the liquid electrolyte that causes instability. Here they used a sulfide-based electrolyte which showed this solid electrolyte to be extremely stable with the all-silicon anodes.

This creative out-of-the-box thinking has allowed them to have this breakthrough and will continue to support their research as they move forward on taking this to commercial productivity. This dual approach to battery design has removed the challenges that come with organic liquid electrolyte as they went with a solid electrolyte. It also allowed them to get ride of unwanted side reactions by removing the carbon on the anode with solid electrolyte, thus avoiding continuous capacity loss that typically occurs with liquid-base electrolytes.

This two-part move has allowed the researchers to reap the full benefits of low cost, dense or high energy and the properties of silicon being environmentally benign.

To quote LG Energy President and Chief Procurement officer Myung-hwan Kim; “With the latest finding, LG Energy Solution is much closer to realizing all-solid-state battery techniques, which would greatly diversify our battery product lineup.”

As the solid state battery race moves forward, LG will be bringing this to commercial market selling these batteries via their various partners such as a potential new battery design via GM's Ultium system

News Room ｜ LG Energy Solution (lgensol.com)

A New Solid-state Battery Surprises the Researchers Who Created It (ucsd.edu)

Carbon-free high-loading silicon anodes enabled by sulfide solid electrolytes (science.org)

New all-solid-state battery is safe, long-lasting, and energy-dense - Inceptive Mind

New all-solid-state battery holds promise for grid storage and EVs (newatlas.com)

A New Solid State Battery Surprises The Researchers who Created it, all-Silicon Anode - LG Energy Solution - Batteries News

President Biden was joined by the auto industry Executives of FORD, GM and Stellantis in the executive order targeting 50% of new auto sales by 2030.

While largely symbolic, this nonbinding order sets federal expectations for automakers to rapidly transition from ICE to BEV cars and trucks. Transportation is the largest share of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

While not in attendance, BMW, HONDA, VOLKSWAGEN and VOLVO have all signed off on this executive order backing to target 50% of their new auto sales to be BEV by 2030 mirroring these companies pledges to hit this as they sided with California and their CARB mandates a few years back.

UAW is backing Ford and GM push to go all electric by 2035. This on top of the following statements from auto industry executives.

“It has been said that this generation is the first to feel the impact of climate change, and the last that can do something about it. I am proud that Ford is leading the electric revolution and standing for stronger standards that protect people and the environment as we progress towards a zero-emissions transportation future. Ford has always been a leader in sustainability and our employees continue their tremendous efforts to leave our children and our grandchildren with a cleaner planet.”
- Executive Chair Bill Ford

“Ford is on an ambitious trajectory to lead the electrification revolution -- from being the only full-line American automaker to side with California in favor of stricter greenhouse gas emissions, to electrifying our most iconic and popular vehicles, like the F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit. Customer demand has exceeded our expectations. So, we expect to be well positioned to have fully electric vehicles account for 40 to 50% of our U.S. sales by 2030. We’re counting on strong cooperation among the Biden Administration, Congress and state and local governments, and are doing our part by developing high-quality, zero-emission vehicles that customers want.”
- CEO Jim Farley

Mary Barra(She/Her) •  • FollowingChair and Chief Executive Officer at General Motors2w • 2 weeks ago

As such, the support and focus from the auto industry will drive new technology and new choices in personal mobility.

Ford, GM and Stellantis Joint Statement on Electric Vehicle Annual Sales

Ford Statements on Electric Vehicle Sales and White House Announcement | Ford Media Center

Stellantis Media - Ford, GM and Stellantis Joint Statement on Electric Vehicle Annual Sales (stellantisnorthamerica.com)

California Framework Automakers’ Joint Statement on New Federal Vehicle Emissions Standards. (bmwgroup.com)

California Framework Automakers’ Joint Statement on New Federal Vehicle Emissions Standards (hondanews.com)

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Steps to Drive American Leadership Forward on Clean Cars and Trucks | The White House

Statements on the Biden Administration’s Steps to Strengthen American Leadership on Clean Cars and Trucks | The White House

Permanent magnets made using rare-earth metals is what currently drives the electric auto motors. These rare-earth metals are 15 elements that run the periodic table from 57 to 71 including yttrium and scandium which are soft silvery-white heavy metals. Very destructive to the environment and almost entirely controlled by China, but used in a wide range of electronics from computers, cell phones to current electric/hyrid auto's. Not much in the electronic industry is not using some rare-earth metals.

MAHLE under the guidance of Dr. Martin Berger, MAHLE Vice President for Corporate Research and Advanced Engineering has stated that the MAHLE breakthrough shows that the New Generation of Traction Motors is the best way forward for a cleaner planet. MAHLE traction motor does not require the rare-earth magnets for a magnetic field generation but instead uses an excitation coil located in the rotor to do the same job. As a result, the MAHLE traction motor is rare-earth material free reducing the impact on the earth and over all society while also making it much cheaper to produce these motors.

Wireless inductive power transmission which this motor uses inside allows for contact-free parts which has no friction allowing for no wear and long life. Inductive motors have now overcome the durability question which was critical in the past. Efficiency of the technology is boosted by current advanced digital control systems.

As per Dr. Berger, "To get energy to the rotor, it uses an alternating field which is then converted into direct current for the magnet coils. These magnet coils replace the permanent magnets. They induce a magnetic field into the air gap and causes the motor to generate torque."

This new traction motor is able to achieve 96 plus percent efficiency according to MAHLE. Eliminating exposure to fluctuating costs of the expensive materials and any ethical concerns with having to rely on a material supply that is controlled by China.

Per MAHLE this new traction motor allows a major step towards sustainable mobility while helping to minimize the impact on the planet.

Better yet is that these motors are maintenance-free while being suitable for a wide range of applications.

Home - MAHLE Group

MAHLE develops highly efficient magnet-free electric motor - MAHLE Group

en-us_20210505_press_release_magnet_free-hv_motor.pdf (mahle.com)

Products - MAHLE Group

The west coast green highway has served millions and the website has been a well used source to ensure all trip planning allowed for proper charging options to those using BEVs to go on a road trip.

Level 1 & 2 chargers with the occasional Level 3 fast DC charger has been the norm over the 10 year life for the WCEH. Now Washington and Oregon is moving forward to enhance this by contracting with EVCS who also purchased a series of charging sites in both states and will work with local state and county agencies to upgrade the 50kW DC chargers with CHAdeMO ports used by Nissan leafs to current high speed DC chargers with both CHAdeMO and CCS connectors.

These stations are spread out among I5, I90 and Highway 101 on the coast.

The benefits of this will be the following:

• Fast chargers every 25 to 50 miles along select routes
• Close proximity to freeway ramps
• Convenient parking
• Located in areas with secondary activities like restaurants and grocery stores.
• Easy access to picturesque locations like Oregon's Crater Lake, Multnomah Falls, Painted Hills, Washington's Snoqualmie Falls and Skagit Valley.

44 stations in Oregon and 12 stations in Washington have the following venues when it comes to charging needs:

• Ten (10) city properties (convention centers, visitor centers, parks, etc.)
• Nine (9) grocery stores
• Eight (8) restaurants
• Eight (8) miscellaneous properties ( Country stores, transit centers, office buildings, etc.)
• Seven (7) hotels and or motels
• Six (6) gas stations
• Five (5) Casinos
• Three (3) shopping malls.

The WCEH is the largest contiguous network of DC fast chargers in the North America giving confidence to travel up and down the west coast.

This is a welcome upgrade to the PNW and one of the largest expanding electric highway systems currently in North America.

West Coast Green Highway: Home

West Coast Electric Highway (evcs.com)

Oregon Department of Transportation : Electric Vehicles and EV Infrastructure : Programs : State of Oregon

Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Partnerships | WSDOT (wa.gov)

Alpha Motors Corporation or AMC has shown up here at Cheers and Gears earlier this year when they unveiled multiple electric auto's from trucks to cars all in model form.

Now we get an update on the actual concept truck they have built as August 24th, 2021 AMC will unveal to the public at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California the Debute of the WOLF. The pure electric truck with a soul according to their press release. The public has expressed large interest in a cleaner life style auto and AMC believes they are delivering this with their first pivotal achievement of taking from art concept and models to actual building a working prototype.

The Alpha Wolf is targeted for production at the end of 2023.

Those that want more information about the truck can go here for further information.

Alpha Motor Corporation (alphamotorinc.com)

Vehicle reservations are here: VEHICLE RESERVATION — Alpha Motor Corporation (alphamotorinc.com)

You can reserve any of the following models:

• ACE Coupe
• ACE Performance Coupe
• JAX CUV
• WOLF Truck
• WOLF+ Truck
• SUPERWOLF Truck

Video overview of the Wolf is found here:

SuperWolf was unveiled on July 22nd but was as can be seen only in model concept.

One can check out videos on all of AMC planned future product line here: Alpha Motor Corporation - YouTube

Alpha Motors has a company drive and passion per their web site to create next generation of clean energy vehicles as the companies core passion as they serve as a platform for positive change.

Alpha Motors has teamed also with the Michael J. Fox Foundation in raising support for Parkinson's research. With 60,000 new cases diagnosed in 2021 in the US alone with no known cure, AMC is supporting via marketing and helping to raise funds to find a cure.

AMC and the Micheal J. Fox Foundation is excited for the World to see The WOLF come August 24th, 2021

PRESS — Alpha Motor Corporation (alphamotorinc.com)

The final development tweaks are being done ahead of the first customer deliveries and with that the AC Cobra is staying faithful to the recreation roots with one twist. Emissions-free electric powertrain is the start of this British marque builders future.

The specifications clearly show that this car is staying as much as possible to the roots of the Cobra history that started in 1962 with a Ford Small Block V8 and 60 years later in tribute to that history, the AC Cobra delivers with the following statistics:

• Acceleration 0-62 mph - 4 seconds
• Torque 500Nm Peak (369 lb-ft) / 250 Nm Continuous (185 lb-ft)
• Power 230 kW (308 HP)
• Battery Capacity 55 kWh
• Estimated Range 150 miles
• Auto Weight 1050 kg (2,314 lbs)

The AC Cobra 1 series is a limited production run of just 52 cars. One could easily say who cares, I will never see one here in the US. Yet AC Cars has already announced a larger series of the Cobra. AC Cobra Series 4 electric and for those that want an ICE they still do build authentic ICE Cobra's you can purchase via their website. Yet this is about their future and with that the Series 4 AC Cobra offers a wide selection of choices including power trains that can rocket the car including their top performance model with a 460 Kw (617 HP) electric version weighing in at 1,240 kg (2,733 pounds) with a crazy couple of seconds to 62 mph launch.

The series 4 offers two distinct packages with 4 color combo's per package.

One can get more details about the Series 4 here: AC Cobra Series 4 electric - AC CARS

Whether ones passion is electric or ICE powertrain, the one thing for any auto enthusiast is the driving experience and here AC Cars delivers on the traditional fun to drive performance car.

The New AC Cobra 378 Superblower MkIV is back featuring an LSA 6.2L Supercharged V8 with 6 speed gearbox and can be checked out here: AC Cobra 378 Superblower MkIV - AC CARS

The first of the electric AC Cobra fires up - AC CARS

AC Cars Official - YouTube

Canoo is excited to announce their preorder reservation system is now open with a minimal $100 deposit. Canoo Inc. has stated that their first BEV will be their Lifestyle vehicle launching in 2022 with a targeted pricing of starting from $34,750 and rising to $49,950 for delivery, base and premium models before incentives or optional equipment. Pickup Truck and MPDV scaled production are scheduled to begin in early 2023.

CEO and Executive Chairman of Canoo Inc. Tony Aquila states the following: “It’s no longer a question of whether America will go EV – but when. Our line-up is future-forward and succeeds where others have struggled: Giving people the EV that works smarter for them at a price that can work for their budgets. That’s why we are designing for flexible use cases and focused on productivity solutions,” “We are designing for people who work hard, play hard and need something reliable, that will last and give you value. We’re for the 99% not the 1%. Our vehicle line-up is built for the backbone of America – to give you value so you can work smarter.” 

Designed as a cabin forward to maximize interior space and function with exportable power and customization options is what the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle is all about. Available in four trims: base, premium, adventure and Lifestyle Vehicle Delivery. The Lifestyle Vehicle is the ultimate multi-tasker designed for the family that is constantly on the go. Without the need for an engine compartment, the Lifestyle Vehicle features the unique street view window for improved driver visibility.

The Adventure trim has more ground clearance with a muscular profile. The bumpers are enhanced along with the auto having metal skid plates added for increased vehicle durability.

Canoo's signature headlights and taillights serve as a core brand identifiers without the need for a logo.

The companies proprietary and highly versatile multi-purpose platform architecture will under pin all models from the Canoo lineup of BEVs. The Lifestyle Vehicle has the interior space of a large SUV with an exterior footprint of a compact car and is made for urban, adventure, families, fleet, ride hailing and more.

Anticipated specifications:

• 300 hp
• 332 lb-ft of torque
• 250 miles of battery range

Ready for work or play, the electric pickup truck is an ALL-AMERICAN made cabin-forward, steer-by-wire technology design built on their modular multi-purpose platform architecture. The truck has an extendable flatbed that Canoo believes will compete with America's best selling pickup trucks on a smaller footprint allowing for an easier to maneuver and more convenient to drive. The pickup truck was designed for all users with features that work from on-site jobs to out in the woods comfort. Exportable power, advanced exterior lighting, fold down worktable, cargo storage, flip-down side-tables, sidesteps and storage, extendable bed with space dividers and multi-accessory charge ports.

Anticipated specifications:

• AWD or RWD motor configurations
• 500 plus HP
• 550 lb-ft of torque
• Payload capacity of 1,800 lbs.,
• 200 plus miles battery pack range

The MPDV or Multi-purpose delivery vehicle is designed to maximize return on investment for a wide range of commercial customers (fleets) and yet still keeps small business and families in mind depending on configuration.

The MPDV was built with last-mile delivery companies in mind initially. High efficiency with class leading cargo space offer cost savings allowing businesses to reinvest and thrive. From independent contractors, tradespeople, utilities, service technicians and more.

Bi-directional onboard charging maximizes functionality and transforms the BEV into a power plant for equipment and tools that can be powered even in remote destinations. The vehicle was designed to accommodate workstations to store and access a variety of devices, products and equipment.

Depending on configuration, anticipated specifications:

• 200hp
• 236 lb-ft of torque
• 250 miles battery pack

Pricing, features, and performance metrics are all estimated and can change. Final vehicle specifications will be revealed at production launch.

Promises Kept – Canoo Pricing For Lifestyle Vehicle Is Accessible For Everyone | Press | Canoo

Electrify America has released that they will have 800 Ultra-Fast charging stations with 3,500 fast charging connections by early 2022 covering 47 states and the District of Columbia.

Currently Electrify America is working on new Ultra-Fast charging stations in Hawaii, South Dakota, Wyoming and Vermont that will complete the 47 states. Electrify America says they are also opening additional stations in Montana, Minnesota and New Hampshire, states with a small EV charging network presence. States that have passed legislature such as Washington state which starting in 2030 will ban the sale of new ICE auto's will have significant expansion of Ultra-Fast charging stations.

Electrify America Ultra-Fast Charging Stations support 150 kW charging which adds 7.5 miles of battery per minute for capable BEVs in metro stations and highway locations that support up to 350 kW chargers which add 23 miles of battery per minute. Select stations will have solar panel canopies that not only give shade to customers while charging but help to minimize the impact on the local electrical grid via a battery storage system.

Electrify America Opens 600 Public Ultra-Fast Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Less Than Three Years - Electrify America NEWSROOM

As of February 23rd, 2021 ion Ventures and LiNa Energy released their results of their first successful trial of the proprietary solid-state sodium battery platform at an undisclosed South East England location. ion Ventures, a 21st century utility and energy storage infrastructure specialist with LiNa Energy a solid-state battery technology developer had finished the final milestone of the prestigious UK BEIS Award.

LiNa Energy was formed in the summer of 2017 as a spin-out of Lancaster University. The goal was to apply modern material engineering to the sodium-nickel-chloride battery allowing them to create a game-changing battery storage technology.

The goal here was to commercialising a safe, cobalt-free battery platform that would be suited for both BEV and Grid Storage by the Utility industry at a substantial reduced cost. The achievement was that they hit $50 per kWh which is a substantial reduction over current battery technology. LiNa Energy went even further in focusing on a superior solid state cell design that also did not need Lithium removing both rare earth elements as they successfully created a solid-state sodium battery.

Development time was just under two years from concept to development and finally operational prototype that produced energy density comparable to todays existing lithium/cobalt batteries. They went even further in building a battery pack that can operate in a wide range of temperatures and does not require expensive cooling systems. 

The aim of this trial was to demonstrate the ability to charge and discharge a battery module containing LiNa's patented system design which included optimized thermal and electrical management and control systems. LiNa Energy created the battery platform and ion Ventures is leading the deployment of the battery in real-word environment with a view to deploying it in the grid storage market near future.

The benefit of LiNa battery cell design is that this helps to manage grid volatility created by the decline in fossil fuel generated power by providing a synthetic source of inertia as the world moves towards green power generation. Lithium-ion technology is the dominant chemistry for battery storage systems. The LiNa Platform is a disrupting technology to the Lithium-Ion batteries currently being used in Grid storage markets, passenger and commercial vehicles (BEVs). 

The clean-tech specialist consultancy BEIS Award, E4Tech performed an independent, strategic study of the stationary grid storage application based on LiNa's Technology. They identified that LiNa's platform was superior to existing Lithium-Ion based storage in regards to distribution, generation level storage and behind the meter owing to superior CAPEX, OPEX, LCC, battery self-discharge and safety metrics.

The next step is to setup a commercial large scale production for taking this battery technology to market focused on the following:

• Utility Scale Storage:
  • Transmission grid
  • Distribution grid
  • Generation level storage
  • Behind the meter
• Transport:
  • Passenger EV
  • Commercial/heavy duty EV
  • Bulk transport
  • Maritime
  • Railway
  • Aerospace

LiNa Technology hit's these very important points:

• High Performance
  • Higher volumetric and gravimetric energy density than incumbent lithium-ion
  • Expected significant operational cycling improvement vs. lithium-ion
• Low Cost:
  • Cell Cost as mass manufacturing of c.$50 kWH
  • Uses abundant raw materials, cobalt and lithium free and easily recycled
• Safe:
  • Inherently safe system reduces system-level costs and complexity
  • Ceramic separator is non-flammable
• Chemistry & IP:
  • Underlying NaNiCl chemistry proven commercially
  • LiNa IP is protected by several patents and 60+ years of combined specialist materials know-how

LiNa and ion Ventures conclude successful test of pioneering solid-state sodium battery platform - LiNa Energy

Technology - LiNa Energy

ion Ventures • ion Ventures and LiNa Energy conclude successful test of pioneering solid-state sodium battery platform

ion Ventures • homepage

According to China Daily Wuling Motors, a joint venture of GM, Shanghai Automotive and Wuling Motors sold 36,000 mini EVs in January 2021 toppling Tesla's Model 3 as the worlds best-selling electric car and to add insult even if you combine Tesla Model 3 and Y combined they still did not sell as many EVs as Wuling Motors.

Wuling Motor's Mini EV, has no connection with BMW Mini and it comes in two configurations, two or four seater, range of 106 miles and top speed of 62 mph and depending on options sells starting at $4,500 and $6,300.

Four months before it went on sale, auto reporters were invited to share their views in March 2020. They over all said it would not sell in big cities where international brands were preferred and chances would be slim in small towns or rural areas where people were constantly choosing gasoline auto's. These views have proved wrong and with it the facts that EVs at an attractive price point would sell in large numbers to the general population.

The Mini EV has safety front and center with 57% of the auto made of High Strength Steel. It also has anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS), and reversing radar. The back seats are equipped with two ISOFIX child safety seat restraint interfaces to cater to young families.

The auto has 13 kW of Power (17.5 hp) and 85 Nm of torque (115.3 ft-lbs) to go along with a smart battery management system that uses pre-heating and battery insulation to deal with cold or heat as well as IP68 water proofing and dustproofing of the battery system. The mini EV is 2,917 mm long (115 inches), 1,493 mm wide (59 inches) and 1,621 mm high (64 inches) on a 1,940 mm (76 inches) wheelbase. Ultimate inner city or urban commuting auto.

Wuling Motors now has requests from 150 counties / regions in China asking when will the Mini EVs go on sale. As production ramps, so will new outlet offering the Mini EV.

Statistics are currently showing that the majority of buyers are in small cities / towns with 72% of these buyers born in the 90's and 60% of them are female.

Where Tesla is considered a toy for the Rich, Wuling has gone after the Companion to the young independent Woman / Man. Selling points have been easier to park and maneuver especially for new drivers. The range while short in comparison to Tesla is more than enough for commuting to work, easy to charge at home over night as well as cute, customizable and affordable.

Wuling motors has been showing GM how to build profitable small auto's and market them for success. Wuling says you sell them like designer clothes, not like traditional auto's. Wuling has achieved this by partnering with Pantone, the global authority on Color and Design.  In addition, Wuling / GM / Shanghai automotive are working on partner deals of co-branding with Disney and Nike for the regional markets.

The focus has been  rather than copy everyone one else on making auto's that look like Tesla and sell much higher, Wuling has focused on the last mile of mobility and looking good while arriving. Wuling is also launching e-bikes and scooters as it has branded itself as a Lifestyle Brand not an auto company.

Canoo is an EV startup that in 2019 showed to the world a subscription service auto called the Life Style Vehicle.

This EV had a center based driving position and to some reminded people of the VW Microbus. Fast forward a few years and Canoo is now a publicly traded company that has considerable patents on EV powertrain and other components and under a new CEO had up to today two products planned that the public knew about. The Canoo LifeStyle auto pictured above and their MPDV or Multi-Purpose Delivery Vehicle pictured below.

An unknown source leaked on Reddit that Canoo was planning to enter the lucrative and highly competitive North American truck market. As such Canoo has confirmed and released a press release about their new Lifestyle Pickup truck.

According to Canoo, this truck will be the perfect work truck as it will feature a powered workbench, tool storage along with a modular expandable bed and more.

Press Release Quote:

Pull-out Bed Extension:

The pickup truck bed is six feet long and can extend to a fully enclosed eight feet, allowing big items such as a 4 by 8 ft sheet of plywood to easily fit inside. The pull-handle bed extension also helps with loading and unloading the truck. The extension also serves as a license plate holder. When the bed is extended, a second layer of tailgate doors can be swiveled out. The bed-extension also houses a secondary lamp, containing all tail lamp functions, so the truck can be driven while the bed space is maximized.

Fold Down Worktable + Cargo Storage:

To offer the greatest customer utility, the pickup features a front cargo storage area that can hold tools or gear, also includes a fold down worktable with electrical outlets. The workstation table is extendable to allow customers to have maximized work surface on the go, in addition to providing an area to put on gear before heading out exploring.

Flip-Down Side Tables:

Both sides of the vehicle house a flip down table in two expandable depths. Built into the side panel of the truck bed, the flip-down side table becomes a workbench with multi-functional power sources in close proximity.

Side Step + Storage:

On the side of the vehicle there is a hidden step to allow quick and easy access to the truck bed. Underneath the step is a flexible storage area for items including: a first-aid kit, cooler for snacks and drinks, lockable laptop storage and more. This space efficient feature is only possible due to Canoo’s ultra-flat platform.

Modular Bed with Space Dividers:

The truck bed is modular with the use of Canoo’s space divider system designed to keep items separate and secure. The bed wall also incorporates modular wheel chocks to secure bikes and configurable tie downs for ladders, large equipment and other materials.

Multi-Accessory Charge Port:

The pickup truck can double as a powerplant with exportable power accessible on all sides of the vehicle. Power can last all day for tools and devices, with as little as 10% impact on vehicle range.

Integrated Overhead + Bed Perimeter Lighting:

The third break light doubles as an overhead light to see inside the cargo bed at night. The vehicle is also equipped with perimeter lighting on all sides of the bed wall for added visibility.

Roof Rack:

The pickup truck has optional roof racks in variable sizes for added cargo storage. The roof rack is easily accessible from the flatbed or via the sidestep.

Camper Shell:

The pickup truck has been designed to accommodate a variety of camper shells to fit as many use cases as possible.

Canoo's Pickup Lifestyle vehicle will have the following specifications:

• Dual (AWD) or rear motor configurations
• Up to 600HP and 550 lb-ft of Torque with Dual Motors
• Payload capacity of 1,800 lbs
• 200+ battery range as default with longer range options.
• Steer and brake by wire
• Tow hitch receiver
• Wheel base of 112.2 inches / 2850 mm
• Overall length of 184 inches / 4677 mm (bed extension: 213 inches / 5400 mm)
• Width: 78 inches / 1980 mm with mirrors, 87 inches / 2209 mm
• Height: 76 inches / 1920 mm with roof rack 82 inches / 2085 mm
• Bed width & Length:  64 inches / 1627 mm x 72 inches / 1817 mm, with extension 64 inches / 1627 mm x 102 inches / 2600 mm
• Bed Depth: 21 inches / 525 mm
• Roof rack: width x length: 48 inches / 1230 mm x 54 inches / 1360 mm
• Tires: 265 60R18 (as shown)

Canoo's Lifestyle Pickup is a cab-forward, space efficient design featuring a largest cargo capacity in the smallest footprint capable modern day truck. Bumpers have integrated tow hooks, metal skid plates and integrated fog lights. The cabin has a standard 2 buckets seats with a customizable rear compartment that can accommodate additional seats or support purpose built use-case configuration of storage.

Full details along with the full range of battery options, motor options, etc. will be released closer to production. Welcome to the ultimate lifestyle custom configurable truck by Canoo.

Canoo's New Pickup Is All Electric, All American – Ready For Work & The Weekend | Press | Canoo

Canoo: Electric Lifestyle, Sport and Working Vehicles

Echion Technologies is addressing today's biggest challenge for electric vehicles is the speed at which the battery is recharged. Current technology pretty much has your 300 mile battery recharging in 45 minutes to 1 hour.

In 2017 Toshiba came out with a battery that goes into production for select new EVs that come out at the end of 2019 with general availability in 2020. The Generation 1 SCiB battery was 200 miles in 6 min and with generation 2 they have now made it 353 miles fully recharged in 6 min. 

Now we have Echion Technologies that has come up with a unique material solution for Lithium-ion batteries.

According to the interview by Cambridge Independent newspaper Dr. Jean De La Verpilliere was studying at the University of Cambridge for his PhD in nanoscience when he created a material that could be used in Lithium batteries.

His focus and expertise on high performance materials innovations for lithium brought about the following benefits that current batteries in current EVs do not have.

• Ultra-fast charge - Re-charge of Li-ion batteries in a matter of minutes.
• High energy - No sacrifice of energy for power
• Sustainable - Materials are entirely sustainable
• Safe - Fast charge without dangerous lithium dendrites
• Cost-effective - NO expensive or rare feedstocks needed

The benefit of this new material according to Echion Technologies is that this patented technology material will help to drive the global electrification movement across the supply chain.  The benefit is that this material simply drops into the existing battery manufacturing infrastructure with no capital cost.

Per the interview by Cambridge Indepenent is that they have replaced graphite with their own mass produced neutral material. One of the biggest benefits here is that current Li-ion batteries can explode when re-charged too fast. With the Echion material you have no explosion at any speed of charging.

People will remember the Samsung Note 7 nightmare of exploding batteries. This was the push by Cambridge and various scientist who were researching various options for safer battery charging. Dr. De La Verpilliere was the one to figure out a non-explosive material that could replace the solid and liquid current design of Lithium batteries.

With the startup of Echion Technologies they are taking their 1,000 tonnes manufactured a day and scale it as they work with various OEMs in building new next generation Lithium solid state batteries.

Echion Technologies was funded by Cambridge Enterprise and NewablePrivate Investing. They have since been joined by Vantage Power, a company that designs and manufactures electric and hybrid systems for Buses and commercial goods vehicles.

Backed with money and now working with various OEM vendors, Echion says their battery technology will show up in various EVs from consumer cars / CUV / Trucks to commercial applications and should bring the recharge time down to you going inside to get a cup of coffee, pay for it and walk back out and be ready to hit the road.

Echion Technologies Founding Team

Electrify America is working hard to build up the largest network of electric chargers in the US.  They have already partnered with Chargepoint, so that if you have an account with one company, you can use your account at either company's charging stations without additional fees.   Now the network has gotten even larger as an interoperability agreement has been reached with EVgo, one of the largest charging networks out there.  So now, if you have an Electrify America account, you can charge your EV with at least three different providers on a single account with no additional fees. 

Electrify America is the company that was formed from Volkwagen's dieselgate scandal and is hard at work deploying EV charging stations around the US, including 350-kW stations for fast charging. They are also working towards "plug and charge" capability which would allow the car to be charged without the need for a card at all. 

The current Electrify America map before adding EVgo or ChargePoint:

Related:
Porsche Offering Three Years Free Charging with Taycan

The more people say we cannot do something or everything is already good enough why change, society goes through a major revolutionary change. This has never been more true than in the 21st century with those that say why change when ICE or internal combustion engines are perfect do we need to change to a different power train design?

The PNW or Pacific Northwest has been a source of disruptive technology for the last 40 years. From Microsoft, Google, Apple to Intel corporation we have seen technology change the way we live. Tesla came on the scene July 1st, 2003 and has been a major disruptor to the auto industry. In mid 2018 Tesla confirmed that they had sustained battery production of 20 GWh, more than any other auto company in the world. They also stated that by 2019 with their partner Panasonic they would be at 35 GWh of battery production. Since then Tesla has announced that by the end of 2021, they will be at 105 GWh of battery cell production with a 150 GWh of total battery pack output.

By now, one would be asking why am I reading about Tesla when I want to know about a 700 mile battery pack? In a word, REVOLUTION using an old technique with a new application. It should come as no surprise that this startup based in Portland Oregon is founded by a well educated PhD team of former Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Citibank and investment capital companies. With PhD in chemical engineering to marketing and finance, this company has been quietly perfecting their battery technology based on using an old tech product that even Intel has moved away from. The 12 inch Silicon Wafer Stack, yes the same thing that was used in 486 / Pentium computers is a perfect medium for energy storage without all the current drawbacks of the current Battery design.

Existing EV battery technology has had the following concerns of overheating, catching fire, degrading through repeated charge/discharge cycles and a major issue is the "dendrite" buildup, which looks like stalactites on the battery cells and leads to failed cells and shorter battery life as to why current EV's only have a 10yr battery life.

Instead of a two-dimensional surface as is found in today's existing EV battery tech, XNRGI's battery tech is able to take advantage of the three-dimensional surface area of the silicon wafer.

Per XNRGI, each silicon disc can have up to 160 million microscopic pores. These wafers are then coated with a non-conductive surface on one side and a conductive metal  on the other side to carry the electrical current. The big benefit of what XNRGI is capitalizing on is that the wafer tech, coatings are all taken from existing tech used in the chip industry per President and CEO Dr. Chris D'Couto. To quote Dr. D'Couto, "Each of these little holes is effectively a very tiny battery," allowing a 70 times increase in total surface area for holding power compared to today's existing batteries which equals about a 10 times energy density in comparison to existing lithium-ion battery anodes. The bigger benefit of this battery design is that each pore is separated from its neighbors, eliminating internal short-circuits which results in resisting degradation over time and use. To quote Dr. D'Couto, "When any of those individually fail, the failure doesn't propagate. This architecture makes battery's completely safe by preventing thermal runaway and explosions." In layman's terms this removes the Airplanes refusal to have Lithium Ion batteries in the freight hold of a plane due to potential thermal runaway explosions. End result is that XNRGI Powerchip battery are a safer denser solution for today's demanding electrical designs.

Another key benefit to the XNRGI battery design is life, current auto industry designs from Tesla, GM and Nissan is a 10 year battery life before degradation sets in. This is where the rub is in that some owners of these companies auto's have seen degradation set in, in only 5 years. Existing battery life is affected by not only the "dendrite" issue that can pierce the physical separator between the anode and cathode shorting out the battery on top of the other issues of build up much like plaque on teeth that happens with today's batteries. XNRGI uses a non-conductive coating on the silicon wafer that resists the dendrite formation and plaque build up. This ends up meaning that XNRGI batteries are able to offer three to five times the service life compared to today's existing Lithium-ion battery. This means a 30 to 50 year battery pack.

Safety and density have been addressed by the XNRGI battery design which brings up a final question by many, what about recharge times? XNRGI Powerchip battery is able to discharge and recharge faster than conventional Lithium-ion cells due to its increased surface area. Quoting Dr. D'Couto, the Powerchip battery is able to achieve from empty 80% recharge in only 15 min. This benefit then means we have two options of how to apply this technology. One you can build smaller batteries that reduce weight making everything from small electronics to EVs lighter and more efficient or you can build for range by increasing the density with keeping the existing weight. Think of a pair of ear pods that will last weeks on a single charge or a cell phone that will last 6 to 7 days of heavy use rather than 1 to 2 days or an EV that currently goes 250 miles on the existing battery pack is replaced with an identical sized XNRGI battery pack and you now have 700 miles of range.

Dr. D'Couto states they are working with multiple companies from around the world for including their solid state battery design into various products that will show up in 2020 such as motorbikes, scooters, drones, robots, cell phones and more. XNRGI expects their batteries to show up in EV's that are released in 2022 and 2023 from the auto industry which is due to their extensive testing. Toshiba was one of the first companies to come up with a solid state battery that will be coming out next year in Nissan and Mitsubishi EV products. XNRGI having signed or working on licensing agreements with various companies expects to see their batteries out in products around under limited volume in 2022 with high volume production in 2023 to 2024.

XNRGI has put together this video of their company.

Norway, a country that produces a lot of its own oil, has become the leader in electric vehicle sales.   According to a report by Reuters, 48.4% of all new car sales for the first half of 2019 have been electric vehicles.  This is up from just over a quarter of the market in the same period of 2019.  Tesla is the sales leader with a 24.5% share of all vehicles sold during the month of June, most of that being the Model 3. Telsa is not the only benefactor of the sales gain,  Nissan, Hyundai, and BMW all offer fully electric vehicles that have seen growth as well.  Mercedes and Ford, two makers without a full EV offering have seen their sales drop.
 

Norway is seeking to end the sales of diesel and gasoline engines by the middle of the next decade and uses strong taxes on gasoline and diesel vehicles which EVs are exempt from to encourage that switch.  EVs also enjoy a discount on toll roads and auto ferries. 

Google has released an update for the Google Maps Navigation app when searching for Electric Vehicle charging locations. Now when a user searches for a charging location, the app will show how many ports are currently in use out of the total in real time. This way, the driver no longer needs to physically check the location to see if charging is available without a wait.  It will also give information like charge port type, charge speed, and ratings from other drivers. 

The feature works with ChargeMaster, EVgo, SemaConnect, and Chargepoint."  At the moment, Tesla Supercharging is not yet compatible with the feature.  Searching is available on Android, iOS, Desktop, and Android Auto. Availability in Android Auto means that drivers of cars equipped with Android Auto now have real time charging information available directly on their car's infotainment system. 

The feature is available now on the latest version of the apps. 

Your probably thinking, did I read the teaser right? Did it really say 2,581 lb-ft of torque or 3,500 NM from a 160 horsepower or 120 kW motor with torque vectoring?

Yes, Yes you did! 

GKN Automotive is proud to unveil the world's first battery electric vehicle (BEV) with a two-speed transmission and torque vectoring. GTD19 demonstrator vehicle is built from a Jeep Renegade and is currently in Arjeplog, Sweden undergoing winter testing. To prove the industry-leading standards of efficiency, safety and driving dynamics in this BEV model, GKN choose to go with a FWD version where torque vectoring can provide noticeable benefits than in a rear wheel drive or all-wheel drive platform. To Quote GKN:

Quote

 ..the Twinster system keep the front wheels in check during acceleration, it can correct an understeer yaw moment experienced by a driver entering a corner at speed. The system prioritizes torque delivery to the outer wheel helping to correct the natural understeer characteristic typically associated with a front drive vehicle.

Why a two-speed gearbox? The setup in the GTD19 is engineered to ensure the shifts are seamless, with minimal loss of power and torque while providing faster acceleration and higher top speed with improved efficiency. What is the top speed you ask? The eTwinsterX allows a top speed of 155 mph or 250 kph.

To quote Hannes Prenn, COO of GKN ePowertrain:

Quote

“This new technology demonstrator showcases how we are evolving and improving integrated eDrive technologies to help OEMs further improve efficiency, safety and driving dynamics."

“Within the last year, we have seen a 40% increase in the value of our eDrive order book, rising from £2 billion at the end of 2017 to confirmed business now worth £3 billion. Our dedicated focus on production and development of electrified drivelines will enable us to support the rapid acceleration in demand for BEVs equipped with all-wheel drive systems in the coming years.”

The all new eTwinster powertrain can be easily adapted and integrated into existing vehicle platform for FWD, RWD or AWD configurations. Twinster torque vectoring delivers swift and smooth acceleration while providing greater lateral control and optimized driving dynamics. GKN has stated their eTwinster system is smaller than many equivalent systems from competitors allowing it to be easily integrated into existing vehicle plate forms as they did with the GTD19 replacing it's ICE powertrain. The small size allowed GKN to install in place of the ICE, the complete solution of electric motor, inverter controls, eAxle along with all required cabling leading to a very thin battery pack underneath the GTD19.

GKN system integration allows them to offer the eTwinster powertrain as a readily adaptable solution for all types of auto's from all-wheel drive hypercars to plug-in hybrid luxury SUVs to entry-level city cars.

If you have ever been in a Range Rover Evoque Hybrid, then you have already experienced the Twinster system as it can be added to the Hybrid solution with the Twinster unit in the back helping to improve the dynamics and calibration of the auto. This GKN solution will also show up in the Opel Insignia. To quote GKN:

Quote

One of the Twinster system’s most lauded applications is in the Ford Focus RS, where it has enabled previously unimaginable all-wheel drive dynamics in the hot hatch sector. Set up for maximum driver enjoyment, the Focus RS has an innovative combination of new gearing ratios and control algorithms to over-speed the rear wheels, helping Ford to create a car with unprecedented dynamics, feel and handling.

Where else will you see this amazing system that was the number one hybrid / electric vehicle system shown at the Geneva Auto show this year is in the BMW M3 Concept, Volvo XC90 demonstrator which will be paired with the T8 Twin Engine Plug-in Hybrids as well as Mercedes-Benz AMB GLA45 prototype.

Royal Dutch Shell us a global oil / gas producing company and yet even they see that the future will be about servicing the needs of energy by more than one traditional source as they have expanded in the last few years with solar, wind, natural gas, bio-fuel, hydrogen effectively covering various energy fronts. Shell then took this a step further last year when they bought NewMotion Charging with operates for profit 30,000 plus charging points across Netherlands, Germany, France and the U.K.

This deal becomes the foundation for Shell's continued expansion of offering electric mobility charging solutions at their North America stations using Greenlots technology team. Together Shell will offer best in class software and services that enable large-scale deployment of Smart Charging Infrastructure and integrate efficiently with advanced energy resources like solar, wind and power storage.

With the NewMotion purchase, Shell started with adding recharging service at their stations across the U.K. with expansion through out the rest of 2018 and into 2019 in their four original markets with expansion in Europe.

Royal Dutch Shell has again expanded their recharging service by purchasing Greenlots one of the leading private for profit companies based in Los Angela's California. Shell and Greenlots sees a seismic shift in how people and goods are transported. To Quote Brett Hauser, CEO of Greenlots, "sees Electrification enabling a more connected, autonomous and personalized experience of auto mobility. Greenlots technology, backed by the resources, scale and reach  of Shell will accelerate this transition of future mobility ecosystem that is safer, cleaner and more accessible."

Shell will be spending between $1-2 billion a year adding Recharging stations across North America as electricity recharging becomes a significant part of its business co-existing along side other forms of fuel from CNG, LNG, Hydrogen and traditional gas / diesel. Shell chargers will start off as basic DC/AC level 3 charging options but will be changed as faster versions come on the market such as the 800V fast chargers the auto industry is looking at using for new electric vehicles that are coming to market. 

Greenlots currently has charging in 13 countries around the world making Shell one of the leading recharging as a service vendors now. Shell now becomes a major vendor in selling recharging equipment for retail business, apartment / condo's, homes, cities, Utilities, workplaces, mass transit lots, etc.

Greenlots currently has 350 DC fast chargers located across the U.S. on major freeway systems at public rest areas currently focused on the core East Coast and the Pacific Electric Highway, I5 which runs from Vancouver B.C. south to Baja California.

Greenlots is a major player with having signed an agreement with Electrify America the Volkswagen-subsidiary that is spending billions to install chargers all across the U.S. which will be credit card / debit card accessible for recharging by any EV.

Shell has not stated what their gas station Rechargers will look like here in North America. BMW and Kia are customers that when you purchase an EV from these auto vendors, the charger you can buy for your home will be a Greenlots charger.

According to Reuters, Nissan is working with two partners E.ON and EDF to develop technology and services to allow power stored in electric vehicles to be sold back to the grid at peak times.  The technology is called vehicle-to-grid (V2G).

In ideal situations, users charge their vehicles during off-peak energy prices and sell the energy back to the grid during times of high usage. By buying low and selling high, this would allow EV drivers to potentially have net zero charging costs. There is a benefit to energy grid operators also, it will allow the energy grid operators to smooth overall energy distribution, with the net effect of helping to stabilize the energy network. 

Nissan and Mitsubishi are working with French utility EDF and a V2G technology company called Nuvve to build a large scale V2G charging network in Europe for electric vehicles made by those two companies. Italy's Enel power utility is working on a similar pilot project in Denmark, Netherlands, Rome, and Genoa.  Honda is planning on including V2G capability when it launches its first electric vehicle in Europe. 

One setback for the technology is that the German auto manufacturers who will be making the largest number of EVs and PHEVs for Europe over the next years have not yet signed on to the project. Further, complicating matters is the lack of a charging standard both among EV manufacturers but also in V2G technology.  

A large part of the adoption of the V2G technology will come down to changing consumer habits, something consumers can be slow to do. 

One key selling point automakers have been using to move electric vehicles is the federal tax credit of up to $7,500. But a new tax cut bill being proposed by House Republicans could eliminate that credit.

The bill announced today includes a provision of eliminating the credit after the 2017 tax year if the bill goes into law.

The credits are important as it helps level the playing field between internal combustion engines and EVs. Currently, the credit will begin to phase out once an auto manufacturer once it sells 200,000 EVs or plug-in hybrids. Bloomberg reports that Tesla would be the first automaker to reach the limit, followed by GM and Nissan. If that tax credit is eliminated, automakers worry they would experience a plunge in sales.

“The credits matter a lot. In states without EV mandates or incentives, you’ll see sales crater,” said Eric Noble, president of the CarLab.

Bloomberg cites the example of Georgia which cut its $5,000 electric vehicle tax credit back in 2015. Sales tumbled from 1,400 to just fewer than 100.

Automakers are spending a lot of money and time in lobbying to make sure the credit is renewed partly due to new mandates being placed by California and a number of other states saying a certain percentage of new cars sold have to EVs.

"The potential elimination of the federal electric vehicle tax credit will impact the choices of prospective buyers and make the electric vehicle mandate in 10 states — about a third of the market — even more difficult to meet," said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing various automakers such as GM and Toyota.

Source: Bloomberg, Reuters

G. David Felt
Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com

Tesla has set the auto world on fire with their sedan and now their Tesla X CUV. While most of us cannot afford a $100,000 dollar plus auto, what about our older auto's? Does it make sense to convert a traditional gas powered auto to an EV? Should I wait till a lower priced EV arrives like the Chevy Bolt?
Many states have come out strong in their support for CNG home and business fueling equipment such as Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Texas. Other states have come out strong pushing to having people go electric and add electric chargers to your home such as Washington and Oregon. One large state pushing CNG, Electric and Hydrogen, is California. The average conversion on a petrol powered auto to CNG tends to run $10K to $15K depending on the size of the CNG tank and then you have fueling equipment if you want to fuel from home that runs from $5K to $10K depending on size. This means an average person converting an auto to CNG is looking at $15K to $25K price and can be even more if you buy a new CNG auto.
You have many choices in the EV field such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Spark EV, Fiat 500 EV and a few others that all run in the 60 to 80 mile range of electric auto's. The upcoming Chevy Bolt is a 200 mile range EV which many feel will make an impact on autos sales. These are the EV's that are all in the $25K to $35K range depending on federal subsidies.

So with thinking about the current EV's on the market and what is coming, does it make sense to convert an existing auto to electric? What is the cost of conversion and what are my options as I hear about AC versus DC driven autos? What should I have at my home to charge the auto? This is what I took as I thought about my own auto's I own and realizing that a big 6'6" 280lb man who drives full size SUV's, GMC Suburban and Escalade, finds it hard to find a greener solution in the full size SUV arena. As such, I choose to research what it would cost to convert my 1994 GMC SLE Suburban which has a modified 402 V8 500HP, 551lbs of Torque engine that requires Premium fuel or CNG to drive.

In researching this I found that there are many pros and cons of AC versus DC motors. AC or alternating current electric motors and DC or Direct current electric motors are both able to achieve the job of moving an auto but are engineered a bit differently. DC current will not work with an AC motor nor will a AC current work with a DC motor.
AC motors are divided into single phase and three phase motors. Single phase AC is what you typically find in a home, triple phase is commonly found in factory or commercial space, but can also be installed at a home. Today OEM auto makers are mostly using AC motors.
DC motors also find themselves split into three types, brush motors, brushless motors and stepper motors. Brushed DC motors as found on Golf carts and many other small electric driven carts are easy to build and cost effective but their large drawback is that the carbon brushes used to transfer electrical current wear over time and eventually end in motor failure. Stepper motors are a brushless DC motor most commonly found in robotics/ automation. Not something you would use in an auto. The DC brushless motor eliminates brushes, is more costly to build and requires a complicated electronics system to operate but has long life and is usually what you find in EV's either converted or OEM built for the auto industry.
So now that we know what the difference is between AC and DC motors, what are the advantages and disadvantages of these motors?
Advantages of DC (Direct Current) motors are as follows:
1) Provide excellent speed control for acceleration and deceleration.
2) Easy to understand and design.
3) Inexpensive drive design.

Disadvantages of DC motors are as follows:
1) High maintenance
2) Vulnerable to dust which decreases performance

Advantages of AC (Alternating Current) motors are as follows:
1) Low cost due to simple design of the motor.
2) Generally smaller form factor.
3) Reliable operation, due to low maintenance, very rugged.

Disadvantages of AC motors are as follows:
1) Low speed challenges
2) Back EMF (electromotive force) issues. This is where current in the loop of the motor that slows down the motor and has to be overcome.
With all the advantages and disadvantages there are some situations that still demand a DC motor or a high performance AC motor. For long life and performance cooling is a requirement. This requires a premium efficient or energy efficient motor with proper air or liquid cooling.
So knowing what I have in my suburban and wanting to keep it as true as possible as an auto that has its heaters, AC and the rest of the electronics ended up leaving me with the following parts list.
EV Conversion Part List and Cost as supplied by www.electriccarpartscompany.com.

This is a parts list with cost not including shipping or installation.
2 - Warp11 72-156v 453amp DC Motors will cost $5810.00
1 - Dual Motor Siamese adapter for Warp11 motors will cost $599.00
1-Air Conditioner Compressor will cost $864.00
1-Electric Power Steering Pump kit will cost $985.00
2-1000amp Zilla Motor controller will cost $3717.00
1-PB2 Pot Box Throttle will cost $99.00
1-Motor Adapter Plate and Spacer Ring will cost $450.00
1-Interconnecting Hub will cost $365.00
1-55amp DC-DC converter will cost $124.00
1-500A Fuse will cost $65.00
1-Fuse Holder will cost $65.00
1-12v 500amp contactor will cost $72.00
1-Inertia Switch will cost $57.00
1-Amp/Voltage meter with 500amp shunt will cost $108.00
1-QET 2000 watt 144v model P charger will cost $603.00
1 - 250V, 10-30A Locking Plugs, sockets, inlets & Bezel - $105.00
1-Orion BMS configured for 48 cells will cost $1131.00

Part Cost $15,219 which gives me an EV motor solution of 1000lbs of torque with near identical HP.

90 mile battery pack
48 -180Ah Calb CA180FI cells with bus bars, bolts and washers will cost $11,448.00

200 mile battery pack
48 - 400Ah LiFePo4 Lithium Prismatic cells with bus bars, bolts and washers will cost $28,032.00

90 Mile Solution
Installation cost approximately $20,000.00
Part Cost approximately $15,219.00
90 mile battery pack $11,448.00
Total Cost $46,667.00

200 Mile Solution
Installation cost approximately $20,000.00
Part Cost approximately $15,219.00
200 mile battery pack $28,032.00
Total Cost $63,032.00

With an overview of AC versus DC motors and having researched the installation, parts and battery pack, I have two options, a $47K 90 mile option or a $63K 200 mile option. Knowing that a new Suburban can run from $40K to $75K dollars, which makes sense? Buy a new petrol suburban or rebuild my existing Suburban to be EV?

I think this really comes down to a personal choice as you have to decide if your old auto is worth more to refit as an EV or stay with petrol and drive a new one. Personally, I am leaning towards the EV conversion as my 94 GMC SLE Suburban is in mint condition, paid for and the cost of conversion would give me a 30Amp quick charging solution that long term would end up paying for itself I believe.

In the end if you are interested in converting your auto to electric, you have a number of choices. The following web sites offer a complete catalog of parts for those that want to engineer the complete solution. They also offer Conversion kits that cover many popular cars and trucks. Which is right for you, can only be decided by your own choice of what you want to accomplish.

http://www.electric-cars-are-for-girls.com/electric-car-conversion-kit.html

http://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40&osCsid=ve0hk6f1hpvnt5mk78pvuqosk2

http://www.electriccarpartscompany.com/

The final alternative is a new Hybrid Suburban offered by VIA Motors. Pure electric for 40 miles, then gas kicks in to balance and you end up with a 24mpg suburban but at a starting price of $79,000.

Via motors web site is here: http://www.viamotors.com/

TopSpeed review is here: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/others/2013-via-vtrux-suburban-ar133014.html

By G. David Felt

Be for or against EV autos one cannot help but acknowledge that they are here to stay. California has long been one to push the industry in one direction or another. With change often came some interesting observations such as Tesla who has been funded and helped by government grants and yet for being in a state that pushed auto companies to build EV autos they lack a solid growing infrastructure for the Electric Highway in comparison to other states.

Electric Highway Map Washington & Oregon

Electric Highway Map California

While Tesla has done wonders for pushing their own charging stations, what about support for non-Tesla EVs? This is where a quick study of the Electric Highway Map shows that Oregon and Washington State has surpassed California for making much of the state and the major highway usable for electric road trips. The map shows an easy to understand network of charge points for going on an EV road trip.

I-5 is essentially the backbone of the EV highway on the west coast with the map showing the various supported state and federal highways with charging locations and type. California, while focused on San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego loves to show off that they have an electric system, much of it is still in a planned stage leaving really only Tesla with a solution of getting around long distance.

The focus of the West Coast Green Highway project which is funded by Federal, state, city and business dollars is to give “Range Confidence” to those that choose to purchase an EV auto. This project is an extension of the Federal’s current and long-running EV Project which was funded in August 2009 and covers 9 states with chargers installed in Major cities and Metropolitan areas. The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF are partners in this long running project. Owners of these autos could apply and those that qualify could get a free residential charger at no cost. As of March 11 2013, the EV Project had met it currently funded goal for residential charging units and is no longer accepting applications. EV Drivers can still sign up and join in the monitoring project of the public charging units to help better understand the use, need, and type of chargers.

The layout of charging stations show that most are 20 to 30 miles apart with some being 50 to 60 miles apart which would require one to carefully and efficiently plan their driving. The one item that this map does not show is topography. The Pacific Northwest is a mountainous area that is also home to strong winds of which both can and do affect range of these autos.

Fortunately many will find that the West Coast Green Highway site covers all of North America with alternative Fueling station locators. The Electric Highway is a part of a broader effort by the Department of Transportation for Washington, Oregon, and California to expand the use of Natural Gas, Biodiesel, Ethanol, and Hydrogen options along the 1,350 miles of I-5 from the US border with Canada to the US border with Mexico.

In a drive for those that wish to help reduce greenhouse gas, clean up the air we breathe and give mother earth a break, the West Coast Green Highway project is a solid step in the right direction supporting many alternative transportation fueling options.

G. David Felt

Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Tax Payer supplied Charging stations.

Are we getting our money’s worth?

Recently, a newly expanded Park and Ride by my house went live with charging outlets for 20 cars having been installed at the Mountlake Terrace park-and-ride lot at 236th Street SW and I-5. A dedication "plug-in" ceremony was held Saturday a few weeks ago even though completion of the place happened back in May.

Each of the 10 stations is equipped with two outlets. One is a 120-volt, "level 1" outlet that charges a car from empty to full in 16 to 30 hours, depending on the type of vehicle. The other is a 240-volt, level 2 charger than can juice up a car in eight to 15 hours per the community transit press release.

This is the most charging stations installed in any one location so far in Snohomish or King Counties. The new stations in Mountlake Terrace are the first to be installed at a park-and-ride lot in the county, according to websites that show station locations.

Mountlake Terrace applied for and received a $55,000 federal grant for the stations. The city paid for installation, which she estimated at a few thousand dollars. The ChargePoint brand stations are made by Coulomb Technologies of Campbell, Calif. The project was done with the blessing of Community Transit, which leases the site from the state for the park-and-ride lot. Commuters with electric vehicles can now park, plug in and let their cars charge up all day while they're gone.

The service costs 85 cents per hour with a maximum of $4 per session. The charging stations take credit cards. The charger shuts off automatically when the car's battery is full. The state also is planning to install a network of stations this year along I-5 from Oregon to Canada and along U.S. 2, called the "Electric Highway." Most of these will include level 3, DC "fast chargers" that can power a car from empty to full in 30 minutes. Washington state has choosen fast chargers for the freeway systems from AeroVironment, Inc. This allows most EV’s to charge in less than 30 minutes but for older cars or to top off a battery, you will have the level 2 chargers from AeroVironment also. Plans are for users to be able to use personal credit cards or sign up for the AeroVirontment Network . The AV network is a fob based system to use for charging. During the install period, AeroVironment is allowing free charging till the complete highway system is in place.

You have both the Community Transit blog and the City MountLake Terrace (PDF) talking up this event.

This big question to be asked is was this really needed or necessary?

In this picture you can see that 10 of the white signs are actually visible and these are to be used by plug in cars, but they seem to sit empty all the time. To the left where you see a couple cars parked the signs and the charging stations are actually covered in black plastic bags so the parking can be used by the general public as there is never enough parking for traditional gas powered cars.

So we have 20 spots built for Electric only auto’s and 10 of them are actually covered up allowing traditional auto’s to park there with the other 10 being vacant and not being used at all. One can see this in the picture below also that the signs are covered in black plastic.

In submitting a request to Mountlake Terrace, I got no response and in calling to the office no one was willing to talk about the electrical parking spots and the lack of use by these spots on top of the actual cost. The generalized comments have been it only cost a couple thousand to install the units, but one has to challenge that considering the unionized nature of Electrical work done in Washington State.

It is interesting that depending on the model you have a cost of $490 to $39,900 per model depending on what model is chosen and then the installation cost. Yet some systems have no cost listed as the company wants to only do custom quotes. A fairly complete list of charging systems with some prices can be seen here.

A recent story on the installation of charging stations on Stevens pass, Highway 2 in Washington State here says that they have chosen a vendor for the 8 to 10 DC fast chargers that came within the $1 million budget. Also stated in the next paragraph is that this is part of a $250 million electric highway.

The Seattle PI had the following story on their web site that states the Seattle area is getting 2500 charging stations as part of the $230 million dollar Electric Highway. Altogether, 15,000 charging stations will be installed in 4 states (Washington, California, Arizona and Tennessee and the District of Columbia) This equals out to a cost of $15,333 per charging station for the electric highway and is in addition to the charging stations installed by Cities at park and ride lots.

Tonia Buell, from the Washington department of transportation in an email response has stated that Washington already has 12 DC fast charging locations on the state’s electric highway program in addition to the public schools and private business who are installing hundreds of Level 2 (medium speed) chargers through the EV project. In asking if the state is funding any of these charging stations, the response was no this is primarily funded through the US Department of Energy, Electric Auto supply companies, private businesses and citizens contributing to the EV investment.

The Washington DOT has posted on their web site about 8 to 10 fast chargers from a DOE $1.5 million grant and they talk about the EV Highway but do not mention the rest of the costs.

Depending on which story and quote you go with, we either have $15,333 dollar charging stations or $16,666 charging stations. The cost of the charging stations plus which level you can use for your EV auto, Level 1, 2 or 3 gives you a 10 to 30 minute fast charge time or up to 8 hrs or longer.

So you travel 80 miles if you truly can get this on a Nissan Leaf and then wait up to 30 min to charge and then travel another 80 miles. This alone means to travel the 174 miles from Seattle Washington to Portland Oregon you will need 3 stops for charging, 1 ½ hrs. plus your almost 3hrs of travel time. So you have a 4 -5hr trip from Seattle to Portland versus a 2 ½ hrs. trip in a petrol or CNG auto.

Washington state DOT is using the story published by Motor Trend as a positive support and proof that you should ease your range anxiety.

Yet even in this story, the amount of time spent charging along the so called EV Highway still also shows how much extra time it will take to travel a modest 250 miles. Even with the Flyer that is being provided to anyone who asks about the EV highway, it seems to beg more questions than answers.

In regards to maintenance, the electric charging companies have a vested interest in these systems paying back and are responsible for maintenance to the units so as to not have a cost to anyone but those using them according the WSDOT. Yet what happens to a person when one of these systems is offline due to a need of maintenance and with no real answer being supplied on what is the life expectancy? Hours spent on a 120V charge will not cut it on a road trip.

So in going back to our original question, Are we getting our money’s worth? Is the tax payer money really being well spent by investing in this technology at this time and what about the required Maintenance?

Looking at the global picture we will eventually get to a need for this kind of charging, but society as a whole is nowhere near ready for using luxury golf cart type autos on the main roads for long road trips. The amount of vacant sitting parking spots dedicated to such a small amount of auto’s seems to show excessive waste in tax payers’ money when other needs should come first.

It would seem that jumping on this technology which has been pushed by a very wealthy, well connected group of individuals is spending hard working tax payer’s money for a solution that is not needed at this time. Most people can charge their cars at home, drive to the park-N-ride lot and get back home without having to pay to charge up.

So the question still begs to be asked; Is the tax payer getting their money's worth for the Electric highway?