Through its subsidiary Danfoss Power Solutions, Danfoss of Denmark acquires the US electric drive specialist UQM Technologies. For a purchase price of around 100 million dollars, the acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2019.
Read more
UQM Technologies has received a 3 million dollar order from China. Specifically, the company will be exporting their fuel cell compression system for multiple customers, including “a large OEM”.
Read more
The U.S. specialist for electric drivetrains targets the commercial vehicle market in China and thus teams up with the China National Heavy Duty Truck Group (CNHTC) and the latter’s subsidiary Sinotruk Global Village Investment Limited based in Hong Kong.
Read more- ADVERTISEMENT -
Central drive for e-buses by ZF: The German supplier has pulled off what it calls a plug and drive solution for all-electric buses in time for the Busworld. The CeTrax concept, a central drive unit, had been presented by 2016 but has now been implemented in a real world application and can be “retrofitted into existing vehicle platforms without any larger modifications to the chassis, axles, statics or differentials,” according to Dr. Jochen Witzig, who was responsible for the development. Maximum output of the CeTrax is at 300 kW which gives it a climbing ability of 25 percent.
zf.com
Visedo brought a novel electric motor for buses to Belgium too and the Finnish solution praises itself of having the highest efficiency in the market. Matter of factly, the PowerDRUM S managed a 10 percent increase in power output as well as better cooling.
visedo.com
300m for separator production: Toray has yet again raised its stakes in battery production as the Japanese material producer frees 350bn Won (262m euros) to invest into its separator production for Li-ion batteries in South Korea. The step follows growing demand for electric vehicles and the investment due by 2019 and 2020 will increase capacities by 50 percent. Toray recently drew up plans to build up separator facilities in Europe and the States.
asia.nikkei.com
Collaborating for Ford: UQM Technologies will team up with Lightning Systems to support their beta programmes for the Advanced Fuel Qualified Vehicle Modifier (eQVM) programme by Ford. The latter certifies suppliers that retrofit its vehicles with hybrid drives for example.
greencarcongress.com
No Google car: Apparently, Google will not pursue the development of a self-driving car any further at this point. Instead, the IT giant wants to focus more on forging alliances with traditional carmakers and hopes to therefore offer an autonomous ridesharing fleet by the end of next year. Google is already partnering with Fiat-Chrysler.
theinformation.com (original source; paid content) via theverge.com
Autonomous Bolt: General Motors and SAE International kicked off a new student competition called “AutoDrive Challenge.” Teams have three years to design an EV that is based on the Chevy Bolt and has level 4 autonomous driving capabilities. Meanwhile, GM announced that the electric Chevy will be the first self-driving EV to join the fleet of ride-hailing company Lyft.
greencarcongress.com (competition), businessinsider.de (Lyft)
New battery test cell: Michael Metzger, researcher at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has developed a new battery test cell. The cell is fitted with a thin capillary, which allows for the gasses that are released during charging and discharging to be sampled and investigated using a mass spectrometer.
tum.de
Electric drivetrains for utility vehicles: UQM Technologies has received a substantial order from China. It will deliver 300 PowerPhasePro 135 for commercial vehicles to company Kunde ITL Efficient Energy Tech.
wallstreet-online.de
Battery recycling network: Honda plans to recycle power packs from its hybrid vehicles in the whole of Japan as it seeks a permit to collect and process industrial waste. A prototype plant is to be build within the next three years together with Tohoku University and Japan Metals & Chemicals, and the partners hope to recover up to 80 percent of the rare metals. Once the system is in working order, battery intake centres will be set up in all prefectures.
nikkei.com
Adapted mild hybrid: Ricardo and partners in the ADEPT (advanced diesel-electric powertrain) project said, three years of testing and optimisation have led to a mild hybrid ready to meet ultra low emission standards. The 48V technology that is utilised in a Ford Focus will be shown at the LCV2016.
greencarcongress.com, newspress.co.uk
Fuel cell REx: Nissan plans to utilise its novel SOFC, that produces hydrogen from ethanol on-board as range extender for electric vans. The project is being driven by two UK partners, Ceres Power and M-Solv, and 772,000 GBP funding from Innovate UK and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles.
greencarcongress.com
Driving partners: UQM Technologies is to be controlled by the Hybrid Kinetic Group (HKG) as the latter invests 48m dollars through its subsidiary American Compass. The deal will give the Chinese battery and vehicle manufacturer 58 percent of UQM shares, while UQM hopes to expand its business to China.
greencarcongress.com
- ADVERTISEMENT -
Boating start-up: Seattle start-up Pure Watercraft is looking to build Tesla-styled EV motors for boats. The parts are IP67, meaning they can be submerged in 1 m of water for at least 30 minutes. A single charge can keep a battery running for up 40 hours pushing a lightweight 27 foot boat at 3 mph, though it comes with a hefty price tag around 12,000 dollars.
techcrunch.com, purewatercraft.com
Mild hybrid: Delphi Automotive has unveiled a new 48V mild hybrid system, and confirmed working with two global automakers, hoping to begin production in the next 18 months. The solution minimizes demand on the engine, improving performance and lowering CO2 emissions. They predict one out of every ten cars sold in 2025 will be a 48V mild hybrid.
greencarcongress.com
— Text Ad —
Electromobility powered by Siemens – Siemens is presenting its drivetrain solutions for hybrid and electric cars on the “Vehicle Show Electromobility” in Bad Neustadt a.d.S this weekend (April 16th and 17th). Find Siemens at the fairground of the demo city for electromobility and take a glance on the latest innovations. www.siemens.com/electriccar
Airline tugs: Following successful testing with major airlines, demand for the TBL-50 towbarless electric airplane tug, which uses UQM’s electric drive, is growing. As a result, Swedish Kalmar Motor AB issued a follow-on order to UQM for more electric motor/controller system.
businesswire.com
Bidding in Norway: ABB has won a contract to electrify a Norwegian hybrid car ferry. The ferry will operate a popular passenger route, and the vessel can be adapted to run as a full electric with charging system on shore.
allaboutshipping.co.uk
Optimised hybrid: Honda presented the Sport Hybrid i-MMD drive designed for large vehicles. It is already utilised in the Odyssey, a mini-van that just launched in Japan. The initial hybrid system is found in the Accord Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid, but the new version is more compact and lighter.
autonews.com, allwebsolutions.net
1m dollars in funding for battery recycling comes from the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) to support the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in its quest to recover cathode materials used in Li-ion batteries of hybrid and electric vehicles. The recycled material is then used to make cells for PHEVs.
prweb.com
German battery lab: Three new projects started at the Battery LabFactory Braunschweig (BLB), aimed at developing energy and cost efficient battery cells for EV and stationery storage applications. Named DaLion, SigGI, and BenchBatt the R&D projects receive 4.8m euros funding from the German state.
idw-online.de (in German)
Marine hybrid and electric drives: UQM Technologies partnered with New Eagle to supply hybrid and electric drive control technologies for electric marine propulsion applications like UQM’s PowerPhase Pro 135 and other vehicles. The goal is to offer customers a turn-key solution.
greencarcongress.com
LG Chem starts to build batteries in China as it completed construction of its facility in Nanjing. Here, battery units for as much as 50,000 electric vehicles and 180,000 plug-in hybrids can be produced annually. LG Chem has already signed deals to supply EV batteries to an array of Chinese automakers, including Great Wall, Dongfeng, and Changan.
yonhapnews.co.kr, koreaherald.com
Much better batteries: A new silicon-based anode promises lighter, long lasting and more powerful batteries. Researchers from the University of Waterloo and GM say the technology enables 40 to 60 percent increase in energy density and could come to market as early as next year.
business-standard.com, gizmag.com
Electric drive deal: UQM Technologies has agreed to supply Chinese ITL Efficiency Corporation with electric propulsion systems for shuttle buses, light- to medium-duty delivery trucks, and transit buses over the next ten years. The deal could generate more than 400m dollars in revenue.
greencarcongress.com
The Extreme Power Pack can withstand temperatures under -45° C (-49 degrees F) without any capacity or power loss, says its maker Leo Motors. The South Korean company has already filed a patent application for its EV battery cells with Nano Carbon Technology (CNT).
baystreet.ca
Most clicked link on Tuesday were renderings of the upcoming electric Jaguar. The E-Pace is believed to be very aerodynamic and pretty sleek overall.
automobilemag.com
Fuel cell for mass production: A European industry consortium is to develop a blueprint for a 90-kW fuel cell stack to be mass manufactured and widely used in the car industry. The VolumetriQ project receives 5 million euros from the EU over three years and is led by British Intelligent Energy.
greencarcongress.com
Linde fuel cell pedelec: This e-bike by Linde is powered by hydrogen. The small fuel cell holds 34g of H2 that translate to a range of 100 kilometres. Linde plans to produce a limited number of prototypes of its H2 bike that will mainly serve as promotion tool.
the-linde-group.com
Reunion: Electrovaya’s recent acquisition of Evonik Litarion bears fruit in form of a new 40Ah lithium ion cell that uses the Separion flexible ceramic separator membrane by Evonik. The Litacell LC-40 thus holds the promise of a long and save battery life (almost 9,000 cycles).
greencarcongress.com, marketwatch.com
Improvement: UQM Technologies has introduced the PowerPhase HD (+) electric propulsion systems. It improves UQM’s motor system technology as the HD (+) offers an enhanced thermal path and an increase in continuous power of up to 25% for handling difficult demands on heavy duty vehicles.
greencarcongress.com
Most clicked link on Wednesday was Aston Martin’s announcement to electrify the Rapide sports car by the end of 2017. Up next in the British brands electric line will be the DBX. E-xciting times ahead!
bloomberg.com
Apple EV batteries? In a lawsuit, A123 Systems accuses Apple of poaching employees. The latter are also being sued for breaching NDAs as they moved on to work for Apple on similar projects involving Li-Ion batteries. It does look like the iCar rumours are getting more substantial by the day.
bloomberg.com, reuters.com
Paper-like electrode: Researchers from the University of California have developed a new material for Li-Ion battery electrodes. With paper-like silicon nanofibres, it is a 100 times thinner than a human hair and said to have the potential to increase the specific energy multiple times.
phys.org, electric-vehiclenews.com
Hot Rod electrified: Swiss Kyburz presents the E-Rod prototype at the Swiss Moto show. The small sports car has a top speed of 120 kph (about 75 mph) and a range of up to 200 km (124 miles). The E-Rod is to be offered as a DIY kit for about 20,000 CHF (21,000 dollars).
zuonline.ch (in German)
Beyond electric motors: UQM Technologies Inc. is to venture out into the fuel cell business by taking over the fuel cell compressor module business from Roush Performance Products. Already this May, UQM plans to start production of fuel cell compressors itself.
greencarcongress.com, businesswire.com
Most clicked link on Thursday was Exxon Mobil’s move into the EV charging market.
bidnessetc.com
Electric supercar from Finland: The yet unknown Finnish carmaker Toroidion has announced plans to unveil an all-electric super sports car concept in April at the Top Marques car show in Monaco, which is specialized in luxury vehicles. Preliminary details about the “Toroidion 1MW concept” claim that it has received its name as a reference to its power output of no less than one megawatt (1,000 kW).
worldcarfans.com, gtspirit.com
Toyota ramps up battery recycling: The carmaker announced that it plans to expand its battery collecting service throughout Europe. Toyota Motor Europe aims to ramp up its current 91 percent collection rate for used hybrid batteries to a full 100 percent. To support this, Toyota has extended its current battery recycling agreements with two companies in France and Belgium until 2018.
puregreencars.com, automotiveworld.com
Converted electric trucks for Seoul: UQM Technologies has entered a business relationship with the South Korean electric vehicle manufacturer Power Plaza to provide its PowerPhase Pro 100 electric motor and controller systems. Power Plaza is working with the Seoul city government and other key partners on a program to convert diesel trucks to electric vehicles.
greencarcongress.com, uqm.com
Toyota gears up for Le Mans: The Japanese are preparing for victory in this year´s WEC racing series season. Again, it will be the TS040 Hybrid that will compete and only a few changes are expected to be made to the racer. Toyota also lined up its drivers, all of them are WEC race winners.
motorauthority.com
US budget 2016: President Barack Obama requests 29.9 billion dollars for the U.S. Department of Energy in 2016, an increase of 9 percent compared to this year. The “sustainable transportation” sector is to receive 793 million dollars, i.e. supporting the goal to reduce the cost and increase the durability of transportation fuel cell systems.
greencarcongress.com, energy.gov
Apple Electric Car? The patentlyapple.com portal thoroughly follows all there is to Apple. It has now uncovered a patent that relates to a computer system for an electric golf cart. Seems pretty random at first but what makes it interesting is the name of the firm behind it: Apple Electric Car Inc. from Florida.
patentlyapple.com
Ready to order: UQM Technologies announced that its PowerPhase HD 250 electric propulsion system has now achieved China certification. The system is designed for bus and commercial vehicle applications. The certification enables UQM to supply the drive throughout China.
businesswire.com
Most clicked link on Tuesday was the BMW i8 review by Hannah Elliott.
bloomberg.com
New battery cells put to the test: The Californian start-up Seeo has signed a contract with the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), a collaborative organization of i.e. Ford and GM. Under the contract, Seeo will deliver its patented DryLyte battery modules to the consortium for testing. The modules are based on Seeo’s current lithium polymer cells with an energy density of 220 Wh/kg.
chargedevs.com, greencarcongress.com, uscar.org
Blast from the past: Audi Tradition has restored a DKW electric “Schnellaster” from 1956, one of only two remaining models. It has a 5 kW electric engine and two lead-acid battery packs, allowing for a range of 80 km. The Schnellaster (rapid transporter) is seen as the predecessor of the minivan.
autoevolution.com
Electric and sustainable: UQM says it has received a U.S. patent for its new electric vehicle motor design using non-rare earth magnets. The U.S. Department of Energy had funded the research and development of the technology with 4 million dollars.
businesswire.com, greencarcongress.com
Learning to fly with the sun: Colorado-based Aero Electric Aircraft is working on a new solar-powered plane. In 2017, the “Sun Flyer” could be ready for take-off. The Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology has already reserved the first 20 units.
tulsaworld.com
Most clicked link on Tuesday was Sabrina, the first electric car to be built in Iran.
tehrantimes.com
Foreign “domestic” production: Toyota Motor Auto Parts has started localised production of continuously variable transmissions (CVT) in China. It is the first time for the company to produce transmissions outside Japan and it will be followed by another premiere in 2015, when production of transaxles for hybrid vehicles is set to start.
greencarcongress.com, toyota.co.jp
American-Hungarian e-bus: Inter Tan-ker from Hungary will equip its electric mini bus with UQM Technologies’ PowerPhase motor and controller. The electric bus has a said range of 300 kilometres and will be the first to be be approved for road use by the Hungarian National Transport Authority.
wsj.com, businesswire.com
New testing systems: Sakor Technologies is now offering a complete test bench for electric and hybrid vehicles. The system includes AccuDyne AC motoring dynamometers, a DC battery simulator, and a DynoLAB PT data acquisition and control system. Another testing system for electric drives and inverters is being offered by HBM.
greencarcongress.com (Sakor), hybridcars.com (HBM)
QUANT e fully explained: Kelly Taylor scrutinises the car that “runs on saltwater,” or, in technical terms, with NanoFlowcell technology. To get a better understanding of the 800-hp sports car, Taylor even ventures into the relative depths of fuel cells and the origins of flow cell technology in 1976.
thechronicleherald.ca
Most clicked link on Wednesday was the news about the addition of new electric bicycles to Specialized’s Turbo line.
bike-eu.com
