Electric Vehicles

A new generation of flexible, lightweight modules is entering the market. With back contact technology offering its own form of design flexibility and robustness, the new products could crack a hard-to-address market segment.

Brisbane-based Li-S Energy has developed a 20-layer battery cell utilizing semi-solid state lithium sulfur battery technology. The company claims the new cell displays nearly double the gravimetric energy density and a comparable volumetric energy density to lithium-ion cells.

Vermont Governor Phil Scott and Senator Peter Welch attended the groundbreaking for a new microgrid neighborhood in South Burlington, Vermont, that will put solar on every home and an electric-vehicle charger in every garage.

Chinese energy storage company Imren Battery has introduced its new EVE LF105 lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic battery cells, which can be used in a wide range of applications, including EVs, renewable energy storage, and other applications.

Croatian high-performance EV component supplier and car manufacturer Rimac Technology has developed a novel battery architecture that is said to reduce efficiency losses by up to 50% while decreasing the system footprint by up to 40% compared to current state-of-the-art solutions.

Irish researchers have created a mobile app that calculates the best route for solar-powered vehicles based on user preferences for time and energy efficiency. The app’s experiment predicted the most energy-absorbing route with 51.65% accuracy and chose the most energy-consuming route with 86.65% accuracy.

Thin-film technologies have long promised to make a major impact on the solar industry but have largely been constrained to niche applications and research labs if they were not shredded by the market. After several false starts, current trade dynamics and promising research programs may help solar thin films find their place in the sun.

Australian researchers have developed a novel adaptive decentralized control strategy for electric vehicle (EV) integration, incorporating both microgrid and EV-side conditions into the primary frequency control. They have proposed new indices to evaluate the charge and discharge capabilities of EV batteries, as well as the satisfaction levels of EV owners.

Hydrogen and battery technologies are expected to play an increasingly vital role in the UK’s transition to net zero by 2050, but the varying time scales of their rollouts are driving uncertainty in predicted market share profiles over time, according to a new report.

Chinese battery industry heavyweight CATL has unveiled a novel condensed matter battery technology with an energy density of up to 500 Wh/kg. The company said it can achieve mass production within this year.