News

Tesla plans to to acquire Maxwell Technologies at a price of $4.75 per share, or approximately $218 million. The merger, which was unanimously approved by Maxwell’s board of directors, is to be finalized around the second quarter of 2019. Maxwell is based in San Diego and has about 380 employees. The company will be […]

The French government sees a battery-powered future and is betting big on it with news that it will invest 700 million euros in the manufacturing of battery cells for electric vehicles over the next 5 years. News broke of the investment as part of a new plan crafted by French […]

Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have been working on solid-state batteries, which are theoretically safer, more stable, and have higher energy densities than conventional Li-ion batteries with liquid electrolytes. They have recently made progress towards overcoming a major limitation of solid-state batteries: high resistance at the interface between the […]

Originally published on EVANNEX. By Charles Morris By now, regular readers of this column are well aware that we (along with most other writers who focus on electric vehicles) consider the threat of the “Tesla killer” to be no threat at all. Yes, Big Auto is producing excellent EVs, some of which are […]

Volkswagen has announced plans to set up a new brand called Elli – for “electric life” -to sell EV charging stations, stationary storage batteries and electric services such as clean power. Elli, which will initially be focused in Europe, will sell various home charger models, including two 11 kW wall […]

Last week, Tesla announced it was increasing the cost of Supercharging around the world. Even though Elon Musk has said the Tesla charging network is not intended to be a profit center for the company, the company is under significant pressure to show a profit — no matter how slight — going forward. To further that […]

Toyota has been slow out of the gate in the race to build cars with plugs, preferring to rest on its laurels as the first company to sell conventional hybrid cars in large quantities. Other than that, it has cast its lot with fuel cell technology, managing to sell hundreds of its […]

Johnson Controls and Toshiba have partnered to develop low-voltage lithium-ion batteries, which they’ll pair with existing lead-acid batteries for dual-battery systems. Paired systems require fewer powertrain alterations than other electrified powertrains, and achieve up to eight percent better fuel efficiency than conventional systems, according to Johnson Controls. Global information provider […]

Manufacturing batteries for EVs requires specialized equipment, and battery makers require different systems depending on battery type, tab material and thickness, and production volume. Amada Miyachi Europe is a company that provides a range of resistance and laser welding equipment for just this purpose. Most recently, the company provided resistance […]

Construction will begin this year on the factory in Commerce, Georgia, an hour northeast of Atlanta. When completed, it will employ 2,000 workers and produce an annual volume of lithium-ion batteries equal to 9.8 gigawatt-hours worth of batteries annually. Completion is scheduled for 2022. SK Innovation supplies batteries to Mercedes-Benz, […]

Toshiba is removing its SCiB battery business from the Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions (TISS) subsidiary, and making it an independent business unit within Toshiba. By positioning the business as an independent operation, Toshiba says it hopes to remove layers of management and allow for more rapid decision-making. TISS will […]

Shanghai-based EV maker Lvchi has partnered with Next-Battery to fast-track the commercial rollout of Next-Battery’s battery technology. At its Ukraine facility, Next-Battery is producing cathode prototypes with ultra-porous metal oxides and a lithium-infused nanostructured surface. The company’s proprietary process significantly increases the surface area of the metal oxides in the cathode, which […]