As the virus called an almost complete halt to the world this year, the newsreels continued to turn. You kept returning to our pages in greater numbers than ever, and these are the most read articles in each month of 2020.

A new type of battery technology called ‘Spatial Atom Layer Deposition’ (SALD) is to enable higher capacities and charging performance for electric cars for “well over 1,000 kilometres range.” A company has now been founded for the series production of such cells.

The German Charging infrastructure specialist eLoaded has presented plans for energy and mobility hubs that the company plans to build throughout Europe. One of these projects is an innovation centre for energy and mobility with “Europe’s most extensive charging infrastructure”.

Porsche and the Fraunhofer spin-off Customcells apparently want to build a battery cell factory in Tübingen. The endeavour is still missing EU approval that would enable state funding.

The BReCycle project now launched, sees five research and industrial partners working on a closed-loop economic concept for PEM fuel cells. The aim is to develop a sustainable process for the treatment of fuel cells.

The European large-scale research initiative Battery 2030+ presents its roadmap to inventing the green batteries of the future. The Fraunhofer R&D Center for Electromobility at the Fraunhofer ISC in Wuerzburg coordinates the project that defines three key areas.

To improve the range of electric vehicles, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has developed a car solar roof with highly efficient solar cells. However, the greatest effects only occur over short distances.

As part of the EU-funded ECO COM’BAT, ten partners from industry and research have been working on more sustainable high-voltage lithium-ion batteries since April 2016. As the project coordinator Fraunhofer ISC now communicates: apparently with success.

Two years ago, the Siemens plant in Görlitz, Germany, was on the verge of collapse. Now Siemens, the State of Saxony and the Fraunhofer Institute have signed a declaration of intent to strengthen the site in the long term and support structural change in the region.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has announced that its battery production research centre (FFB) will be located in Münster and will be set up at MEET (Electrochemical Energy Technology centre at Uni Münster). The German government funds the project with 500 million euros.

In Germany, the Fraunhofer ISE is undertaking the LiteFCBike project, which is developing a compact fuel cell system offering a fully-fledged replacement for a pedelec battery. The Fraunhofer ISE is currently presenting this hydrogen technology at the Hannover Messe.

Researchers from the German Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology (UMSICHT) have announced a new development in battery technology, using a “new type of flexible and extremely thin bipolar plate allows batteries to be manufactured cost-effectively.”

The EU project LISA for the development of high-energy and safe lithium-sulfur battery cells for electric vehicles will launch on January, 1, 2019. Partners include Varta Micro Battery, Renault, Fraunhofer, TU Dresden, and Oxis Energy.

In the 2013 project to evaluate the availability of rare earth metals to manufacturing, eight Fraunhofer Institutes bundled their competencies to find new solution for a more efficient use of these rare resources, particularly in electric motors.

The Fraunhofer battery alliance has published a study with focus on development perspectives of cell formats used in li-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Tesla doubles battery lifetime or is about to achieve this goal four years ahead of schedule, its chief battery researcher Jeff Dahn announced. He detailed that said cells were currently tested in the lab and not in Tesla’s products yet. The advances result from in-depth research into degradation processes and improved chemistry (we reported). Dahn deals with Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) battery cells mainly, which Tesla puts into its Powerwall and Powerpack. Still, the scientist said they had also started to look into the vehicles’ batteries made from Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA).
electrek.co

Pure power: Researchers from the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven have developed a process that purifies air and generates power at the same time. The device needs nothing but light to cleanse air in one chamber and produce hydrogen in the other. The team now seeks to upscale its membrane from only a few square centimetres to industrial application eventually.
kuleuven.be

600 V converter: The Fraunhofer Institute IAF has developed a half-bridge circuit for the 600 volt class in which all the electronic components are monolithically integrated on one chip. The GaN chip enables compact designs at improved electronic properties.
fraunhofer.de

REx for buses: TM4 and Cummins joined their efforts to build a plug-in hybrid system for buses that reduces fuel by 50 percent compared to conventional hybrid buses. Their drive is more of a range-extended electric motor with a 111 kWh onboard Li-ion battery. It can be used in 6 – 18 metre vehicles.
greencarcongress.com

Energy storage research centralised: A new centre for research and development of batteries will be set up by Fraunhofer IKTS and IFAM together with TU Braunschweig’s Battery LabFactory Braunschweig (BLB) in Germany. Up to 100 employers are to work on every aspect of energy storage – from raw materials and production to quality control – for both stationery and mobile solutions like EVs.
fraunhofer.de (in German)

Europe supplies Model 3 parts: Tesla is gearing up for production of its third and most anticipated model and has his suppliers do the same. Gebauer & Griller from Vienna just got an order for 3,000 km of alloy cable, which will connect the powerpack to the drive. Others move close to where the work is like H&T group. Rather than staying at the base in Dusseldorf, it produces battery housings right next to the Gigafactory in Nevada.
orf.at (cables, in German), electrek.co (battery case)

Battery-ageing interrupted: Researcher Stefan Freunberger could show that singlet oxygen is mainly responsible for ageing in non-aqueous oxygen batteries and his insight led him to a solution – an enzyme. How to insert it into oxygen batteries in an effective manner still is to be seen.
tugraz.at

3D-printed magnets: Canadian Mkango Resources has signed a MOU with UK-based Metalysis to research, develop and commercialise novel rare earth metal alloys for use in 3D-printed permanent magnets together.
greencarcongress.com, cityam.com

Battery boom: Solarwatt will presents its home energy storage system “MyReserve” at the Intersolar Europe next week. It is said to be the Tesla fighter among batteries and will be available starting at 5,499 euros (4,4 kWh). Panasonic, too, has its own stationary battery and has just signed delivery deals with three Australian utilities. Just a few days ago, Daimler had announced it was also entering the market for stationary energy storage.
presseportal.de (Solarwatt, in German); reneweconomy.com.au (Panasonic)

Quick charge to go: Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute and partners have developed a technical solutions for electric buses to charge while in service, using contact systems mounted to the roof of the bus. They system has already been tested in Dresden since November and recent tests along a new 20 km route were also successful.
greencarcongress.com, phys.org

New Prius even more efficient: The next generation Prius is said to be even more fuel efficient as the petrol engine will reach a thermal efficiency of 40 percent. That is 1.5 percent more than the current model and allegedly the world’s highest for a mass-produced gasoline engine.
techon.nikkeibp.co.jp

Electrolyte for magnesium batteries: Researchers at the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) say they have made significant progress in the field of magnesium batteries. They developed an electrolyte which possesses high anodic stability and is non-corrosive.
greencarcongress.com

– Feedback –

Most clicked link on Tuesday was our “Short Circuit” showing the Bike Balls – the world’s most overconfident bicycle light.
kickstarter.com

Electric camper van: Hillside Leisure UK is to unveil an electric motorhome which is based on the Nissan e-NV200 electric van at the Motorhome and Caravan Show next week. The EV turned camper includes amenities like cooker, fridge, and a water tank, while it can sleep up to four.
derbytelegraph.co.uk

Electric carsharing connected: The ‘Shared use of e-mobility: vehicles, data and infrastructure’ (or: GeMo) project sees six Fraunhofer Institutes combining their various approaches to carsharing. Eight new technologies have been brought together in one concept car which is to be displayed at the eCarTec show at the end of this month.
idw-online.de

Four recalls in a row for the Fit Hybrid have led Honda to revise its R&Dprocesses. From now on, prototyping will start earlier in the research stage to see how independently developed components actually function together in a vehicle instead of testing them separately.
autonews.com

Young, green engineers: Siemens is extending its partnership with the Greenpower Education Trust for another five years. At least until 2020, the initiative will continue to work with schools, colleges, and universities to encourage sustainable engineering at an early age with hands-on projects.
hybridcars.com

– Feedback –

Most clicked link on Tuesday was the statement of Heinz-Jakob Neußer, head of development at Volkswagen, on 500-kilometer range to become reality by as early as 2020.
motoring.com.au