Following John Deere’s acquisition of a majority stake in Austrian eMobility specialist Kreisel Electric, the US agricultural machinery manufacturer is investing in two additional sites with immediate effect to expand the production capacities of Kreisel batteries for electric and hybrid drive systems by more than 2 GWh.
Sweden’s e-boat maker X Shore has unveiled the X Shore 1 and says, it designed the vessel to score at the price point – at least in the zero-emission boating space.
The US agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere has acquired a majority stake in the Austrian eMobility specialist Kreisel Electric. Kreisel will continue to operate under its own name, but John Deere has secured access to the Austrian company’s battery and charging technology.
Skoda, Kreisel Electric and Baumschlager Rallye & Racing are jointly developing the all-electric Skoda RE-X1 Kreisel rally car. The debut in the Austrian Rally Championship is planned for July this year.
Kreisel Electric and Shell have developed a battery solution that combines Kreisel’s Li-ion module technology with Shell’s thermal management fluid. The two companies say their solution provides increased efficiency and fast charging capability, as well as improvements in safety and stability.
The Austrian e-mobility specialist Kreisel Electric announced a cooperation for battery development with the Vietnamese vehicle manufacturer VinFast. The partners will jointly develop a battery pack, which VinFast will launch in its electric cars and electric buses in 2020.
The eMobility innovators of Kreisel Electric have moved from high power batteries and super fast electric vehicle conversions of all kinds into ultra fast-charging. Their charging station Chimero includes a buffer battery and delivers 160 kW without bringing down the grid.
The Austrian company is moving to greener pastures and has presented a serial-ready, automated two-gear transmission for electric vehicles. It is attached to a specially developed transmission architecture developed in cooperation with Sala Drive.
Kreisel Electric has developed a high performance battery, which allows for a high speed of up to 50 knots (93 km/h) on the purportedly fastest serially produced electric boat in the world. The motor for the SAY29E Runabout Carbon has a peak performance of 368 kW.
Engineers from Swiss Durot Electric have taken on a commission to convert a VW T6 van to all-electric power. The e-mobility specialists turned to Kreisel Electric for the power pack good for 400 km and also fitted the van with an all-electric AWD.
The Austrian firm Kreisel Electric has developed the first fully functional firetruck with an electric motor, in conjunction with Rosenbauer and Linz AG. The initiative began two years ago under the orders of the firefighting supplier Linz AG.
That was fast: Just a few weeks after Tesla started delivery of its Model 3, an employee put his own one up for sale – for not less than 150,000 dollars. Meanwhile the offer has been removed from the internet. Maybe because Tesla explicitly forbid his employees to resell their cars for more than the original price. electrek.co
Kreisel electrifies Porsche: German manufacturer Kreisel Electric and cooperation partner EVEX have converted a Porsche 910 into an electrified super car. The Kreisel EVEX 910e goes above 300 kph, accelerates from 0 to 100 kph in 2.5 seconds and is even street legal and available in a limited edition. The super cars 53 kWh power pack allows supposedly a range of 350 km. The electric Porsche will debut at the Techno Classica. Price point: 1m euros. kreiselelectric.com
Ford’s electrification strategy for China: Until 2025 Ford intends to electrify 70 percent of its line-up in the world’s biggest car market. The Mondeo PHEV which will be produced in China with joint venture partner Changan will be the starting point in 2018. Within the next 5 years an all-electric sport-utility with 450 km range shall follow (also in North America and Europe). Furthermore, Ford wants to start the production lines for electric drive systems in China by 2020. reuters.com, media.ford.com
Nio and Changan united: In Nio (formerly Next EV) Changan has found another JV partner willing to manufacture EVs in China. Under the name of Yangtze River Automobile New Energy Industry Development, both companies seek to start production in Wuhan. At Shanghai’s Auto Salon, Nio plans to present not less than 11 vehicles such as an electric SUV – their first model for the Chinese market – its Formula E racer, electric hyper car EP9 and concept vehicle Eve. carnewschina.com (joint venture, electric SUV), green-motors.de (Shanghai show)
Cash injection for Lucid Motors: EV start-up Lucid Motors seeks to fundraise 700m USD for its projected plant in Arizona. The factory shall be completed in three phases with production start scheduled for 2019. The Silicon Valley based company intends to start with an annual output of up to 10,000 EVs but plans to reach up to 130,000 electric vehicles per year eventually. fool.com via electrek.co, autoblog.com, bizjournals.com
Qoros’ concept sports car: The Chinese manufacturer permits a first glance at the concept car 9 QlectriQ, a co-production with Koenigsegg that is soon to be revealed in Shanghai. The all-electric model is claimed to accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in 3 seconds and to make 500 km on one charge. carnewschina.com, motor1.com
First prototype of Bollinger: U.S. start-up Bollinger Motors announced an electric “Sport Utility Truck” with AWD not long ago. Now, the company provided first photos of the chassis together with the promise to present the complete EV this year before going serial in 2018. electrek.co, electriccarsreport.com, prnewswire.com
Kreisel Electric builds battery factory: The Austrian company mainly known for retrofitting cars with electric drives, is increasing its battery production capabilities. Construction of a new facility named 3K One kicked off yesterday in northern Austria. From March 2017, battery packs with a combined capacity of 800,000 kWh will roll of production lines there annually. automobil-industrie.vogel.de, focus.de (articles in German)
Putting fuel cells to the test: Austrian AVL List and Canadian company Greenlight Innovation announced their corporation on the development of a test platform for fuel cell drivetrains. The testing system will be suited for passenger cars as well as utility vehicles. greenlightinnovation.com
Wireless charging for the Model S: U.S.-based company Evatran will offer its inductive charging system for the Tesla Model S from the end of May. It is already available for the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt. The Tesla-option has a charging capacity of 7.2 kWh and will cost 3,290 dollars. insideevs.com, autoevolution.com, pluglesspower.com
Battery cooperation: Swiss tech company Bühler received an order from Chinese battery manufacturer Lishen for the installation of four production lines for EV batteries. The Swiss-developed manufacturing process is said to save 60 percent of space and energy, therefore making production much more cost efficient. cleantech.ch, buhlergroup.com (articles in German)
200 kW from 2017? Austrian specialist Kreisel Electric is working on a DC fast-charger with charging capacity of 200 kW, and which uses a battery as buffer storage. The company hopes that by cooperating with infrastructure manufacturers, its charging solution could be implemented as early as next year. green.wiwo.de (in German)
Tesla supports Chinese standard: The California EV maker implemented the “Tesla Charging Partner Program” in China to promote the recently agreed upon Chinese charging standard. Working together with the China Quality Certification Centre (CQC), the goal is implement said standard and help partners get certified. electrek.co
H2 from wind: The project BIG HIT hopes to use excess wind energy from the Orkney islands in Scotland to produce hydrogen that in turn could be used to power ten electric vans with fuel cell range extenders. It is funded by the EU’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) with 5m euros. businesswire.com
Lidl electrifies: The supermarket chain announced that it will invest 1.2m Swiss francs in setting up charging infrastructure at its stores in Switzerland. Power could be supplied by the locations’ own solar panels and the fast-chargers will most likely be free of charge for customers. A first multi-standard ABB charger has already been installed near Zurich. blick.ch (in German)
Possible H2 alliance: U.S.-based company Hexagon Lincoln is looking to team up with Misui & Co. from Japan. Together, they want to manufacture and sell carbon fibre reinforced high-pressure hydrogen cylinders in the Asian country; a leader in terms of hydrogen technology, says Hexagon. hydrogenfuelnews.com, journalstar.com
Ultra-fast charging: Kreisel Electric presented the optimised version of its EV battery. It is the lightest module available and features an active cooling and heating system. According to the company, its product now has a charging capacity of 235 kWh, meaning an 85 kWh battery pack could be charged up to 80 percent in just 18 minutes. elektroautor.com (in German)
More miles: Nissan apparently stepped up its guarantee against battery capacity loss for the new Leaf. For 24 kWh version, Nissan promised that the EV would lose less than 4 bars after 60,000 miles (or five years), while it guarantees the same after 100,000 miles (or eight years) for the 30 kWh version. insideevs.com
e-Golf perspective: On top of unveiling its BUDD-e, Volkswagen also presented the connected e-Golf Touch with gesture controls at the CES in Las Vegas. The ‘smartphone on wheels’ technology is said to already be an option for the facelifted 2016 model. engadget.com, digitaltrends.com, chip.de (Video)
In the shadows: German Auto Bild says that the shadow seen in the Faraday Future presentation video is actually the silhouette of the start-up’s first serial SUV. FF allegedly even confirmed this to the German magazine. autobild.de (in German), carscoops.com
Charging test: Some 45 international companies brought vehicles, charging infrastructure and testing equipment to the “Conformance & Interoperability Testival,” hosted by the TU Dortmund. Participants included Audi, BMW, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Porsche, Toyota, VW, RWE, Siemens and automotive suppliers. The goal was to test the interoperability of the ISO/IEC 15118 standard. tu-dortmund.de (in German)
Rare earth free high performance magnet: Researchers from the Japanese Tohoku University have developed a high performance magnet using iron and nickel, instead of normality utilised rare earth materials. Fe-Ni magnets are therefore more environmentally friendly and cheaper to produce. chargedevs.com, greencarcongress.com
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New ceramic separator: Electrovaya and its subsidiary Litarion have introduced the new, thinner flexible ceramic separator Separion P20 for utility-scale and electric vehicle applications. The newly launched P20 now enables the same Separion technology to be used in a thinner format. greencarcongress.com
Booming business: Retrofitter Kreisel Electric will invest more 7m euros in a new plant in the Austrian city of Apfoltern, since the current location can no long stem demand. The company will also be looking to hire some 30 to 40 new people, nearly doubling the size of its current team. volksblatt.at (in German)