NanoFlowcell has come back with the foundation of a US subsidiary. The Swiss research and development company, which has been working for many years on electric cars with flow cell drives and electrolytes for refuelling, has founded the offshoot NanoFlowcell USA based in New York.
Read moreNew VW models? Volkswagen plans to add new electric cars to its line-up, leaked patents reveal. They show an electric sports car as well as a mini-bus. The later resembles the Budd-e, while the sports car is sleek with aerodynamic features and may come with a dual electric motor.
vwvortex.com (leak) via autocar.co.uk
BMW to speed up EVs: BMW is to bring Tesla fighters within three years, Automobile Mag reports. The X3 eDrive with 225 kW motor and 70 kWh battery may launch by 2018, followed by an electrified 3-series a year later. The Model S competitor is due next before the i8 will boast 500 kW in 2022.
automobilemag.com
NanoFlowcell to be serial? The Quantino sports car by NanoFlowcell may soon be made by an undeclared and non-German manufacturer. The company says it is in talks and that the concept could become a reality within four or five years time under another brand name.
autocar.co.uk
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Hyundai to make EVs in China: New electric, plug-in and fuel-cell models will be built in what is Hyundai’s fourth factory in China. The Japanese plan to tackle the Chinese market and expect its electrified line-up to reach a ten percent market share by the end of the decade.
reuters.com
E-bus made in India: Ashok Leyland presented the Circuit, the first electric bus manufactured entirely in India. Said to be designed for the country’s “road and load conditions,” it has a range of 120 km. India’s government plans to exchange a lot of state buses with electric ones by 2020.
bloombergquint.com, drivespark.com
Get your electric Corvette but quickly as only 75 pieces will be made by Genovation. Pre-orders are open for the 485 kW GXE, which will cost 750,000 dollars. Deliveries shall start by 2019.
carscoops.com, electrek.co
Chinese protectionism: China’s government will only subsidise LFP or lithium-ion-phosphate batteries adopted by Chinese companies such as BYD. That is bad news for Korean LG Chem and Samsung, whose batteries use nickel-manganese-cobalt (NCM) and who both invested in facilities in China. The government sites safety reasons for the move, as NCM batteries require more advanced packaging than most Chinese firms can handle.
koreaherald.com, koreatimes.co.kr
Fuel cell taxiing: EasyJet is to start trials with a fuel cell plane. If successful, the low-cost airline hopes to cut kerosene use by up to 35,000m dollars per year, as is would enable jets to taxi using hydrogen. The plane uses a fuel cell system fitted in the hold and was developed together with Cranfield University.
reuters.com, theguardian.com, engadget.com
Powerwall 2.0: Elon Musk announced the arrival of an updated Powerwall and says it will increase performance of the stationery storage. Apart from saying that the 2.0 version is due this summer, the Tesla CEO did not go into further detail.
gizmodo.com, treehugger.com
Flowcell update: NanoFlowcell will present a closer to production version of its Quant F sports car in Geneva together with the Quantino. The latter will also be shown in a “near standard” configuration and NanoFlowcell is considering a small-batch production run if testing is successful.
nanoflowcell.com
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Quant city: NanoFlowcell plans to build a R&D centre for flow cell technology in Tenero in the Swiss canton of Ticino. Construction of the centre, named Quant City, will start at the beginning of 2016 with an expected completion date in 2018 and will create up to 200 new jobs. NanoFlowcell says it is currently also working on obtaining approval for the small series production of its Quant F.
eandt.theiet.org, nanoflowcell.com
Fuel cell motorbike: Suzuki seems to be working on a hydrogen-powered motorcycle as latest design sketches show an off-road machine with a fuel cell, motor, and hydrogen tank. Suzuki had already presented a ‘Burgman’ fuel cell scooter back in 2011.
motorcyclistonline.com
Catalyst research: A team of European scientists has developed a new method that facilitates research on fuel cell catalysts by correlating their geometric and adsorption properties. The researchers validated their approach by designing a new platinum-based catalyst for fuel cell applications.
sciencedaily.com, tum.de
Nissan hybrid gets Hitachi batteries: Hitachi Automotive Systems announced that it started delivery of lithium-ion battery packs for Nissan’s new Murano Hybrid. Hitachi’s battery pack comprises a battery module that contains cylindrical cells and a battery management system in a single housing.
finchannel.com
EV for everyone? NanoFlowcell will reveal a pre-production version of its Quantino in Geneva. Smaller than the Quant F, the low-voltage (48V) Quantino uses four 25kW electric motors to generate around 136 hp and reach a top speed of 200 km/h. With 350 litres of ionic liquid, the 2+2-seater is said to offer a range of over 1,000 kilometres. Testing is set to begin this year.
performancedrive.com.au, nanoflowcell.com
Fuel cell future: GM and Honda are working on one common next generation fuel cell system which is scheduled for production around 2020, focusing on the reduction of costs. For one example, the team is targeting a reduction in platinum loading to about 11g, down from 30g in the current fuel cell system.
greencarcongress.com
Autonomous EVs on campus: As part of the European CityMobil2 programme, ETH Lausanne is testing six driverless electric mini buses. Produced by French EasyMile, the EVs fit up to ten persons.
24heures.ch (in French), easymile.com
Hydraulic hybrid debut: Lightning Hybrids showed its hydraulic hybrid system for trucks and buses for the first time in action yesterday. The system does not use batteries as the company applies a hydraulic system to the driveline to regenerate braking energy, which is stored and used for accelerating again.
greencarcongress.com
Most clicked link on Tuesday was Porsche’s all-electric 717 which can be expected in about four years time.
carmagazine.co.uk
Fire proof Li-ion batteries: Researchers from the Berkeley Lab and the University of North Carolina founded the company “Blue Current” to commercialize their non-flammable electrolytes for Li-ion batteries. Blue Current’s electrolyte is a fluorinated liquid called perfluoropolyether (PFPE) and the main challenge now is to improve its conductivity, according to the researchers.
greencarcongress.com, phys.org, newscenter.lbl.gov
Wraps off the Quant F: NanoFlowcell announced the world premiere of its Quant F for the Geneva Auto Show in March. The sports EV will supposedly have a range of 800 km and a top speed of 300 kph. Last year, the company had presented the car´s predecessor Quant E in Geneva, the first car with flow cell technology that had gotten a stamp of approval from the German TÜV technical inspection authority.
autocarpro.in, hybridcars.com, nanoflowcell.com
Safely switching gears: Panasonic Electric Works now also offers a series of high-voltage DC relays in Europe via its reseller TTI. The relays were specifically designed to be used in electric and hybrid vehicles and come in different shapes from a nominal 10A up to a maximum of 300A.
electropages.com, .theengineer.co.uk
Egoista Motors gets cash: The company has reached its crowdfunding target of 100,000 dollars, allowing it to move forward with its vehicle-registration process in Europe. Egoista is building a plug-in kit-car street racer called EM01 that is said to have a top speed of more than 180 mph and a range of 186 miles. Egoista says the car will be able to go from 0 to 60 mph in about three seconds.
autoblog.com
Most clicked link on Tuesday was the image allegedly showing the all-new Audi R8.
digitaltrends.com
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DeltaWing to build EV? Usually known for its racers, DeltaWing wants to build three-wheeled electric vehicles in Georgia, supposed to come at a price of only 15,000 dollars. Designed to serve in a car sharing scheme, the EVs could also be sold. DeltaWing is not sure when the cars will be ready, as the company first has to build a manufacturing plant.
wabe.org, jalopnik.com
Peugeot Sport thinking of hybrids: The sports section of Peugeot will put its new focus on plug-in hybrid technology, PSA CEO Carlos Tavares told Auto Express. The aim is a reduction in running costs while maintaining performance. Tavares did not yet name any models to be hybridised.
autoexpress.co.uk
New battery cooperation: Chinese EV manufacturer Chengdu Xundi has signed a strategic agreement with Advanced Battery Technologies. Together, the firms plan to develop batteries to supply a driving range above 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) for electric cars.
money.cnn.com
Updated flow-cell technology: NanoFlowcell says it is working on an advanced version of its Quant E, that will be named Quant F. The new car will be presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March next year, together with a “further surprise”.
nanoflowcell.com (R&D), nanoflowcell.com (Geneva)
Most clicked link on Wednesday was German postal and logistics group Deutsche Post DHL acquiring StreetScooter, a spin-off of German university RWTH Aachen.
dpdhl.com
Nano flow cell: The Liechtenstein nanoFlowcell AG announced the premiere of its Quant limousine at this years Autosalon in Geneva. Their Quant-e research sportscar is equipped with the firm’s ‘nanoFlowcell drive’, is 5.25 metres long and sits four. It is designed to further study flow cells.
presseportal.de (Press information)
Driverless iMiEV: Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (Smart) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) have converted the electric Mitsubishi into a computer controlled one. ‘SCOT’ (Shared Computer Operated Transport) will roam the roads of NUS campus for further research using LIDAR sensing technology. The conversion only took six months and costed 30,000 dollars.
eco-business.com
Autonomous BYD: A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) from Singapore and Chinese BYD plan to jointly develop EVs with autonomous vehicle sensors for the use in Singapore traffic. I2R will plant a drive-by-wire system in BYD’s electric cars as well as a management system to learn traffic environments and enable the cars to make intelligent judgements eventually.
greencarcongress.com
Insider’s perspective on Ryno: The designer of the one-wheeled motorcycle, Chris Hoffman, brought the Ryno into the Popular Science office and let the editors try it out right in the hallway. In the video he explains that turning an idea from a video game into something that actually works, was a big challenge.
youtube.com via popsci.com
