News

February 13, 2015

Renewable Energy Won’t Die From Cheap Oil: Bloomberg

Renewable energy won’t die from cheap oil. With oil prices hitting six-year lows, you would think cleantech’s momentum would stop. After all, history has not been kind to renewables when oil prices have fallen. However, Bloomberg Business paints a different picture. In his analysis, author Tom Randall cites 7 key reasons […]
February 10, 2015

Beating the Polysulfide Shuttle to Build a Solid-State Battery Approaching Theoretical Capacity

The latest advance in lithium-sulfur technology comes courtesy of a research team from Samsung and the University of Rome, who have built a solid-state Li-S battery with a capacity (∼1600 mAhg−1) approaching the theoretical value and Coulombic efficiency approaching 99%. In a paper published in the Journal of The Electrochemical […]
February 6, 2015

Ioxus Launches New Family of Ultracaps for Easy Installation in Automotive Applications

Ioxus has launched its iMOD X-Series, a family of 22 ultracapacitor modules that are designed to simplify system design and installation for end users by offering a wide array of possible mounting configurations. The new modules use off-the-shelf T-slots to mount from any side in any configuration. They feature internally […]
February 4, 2015

SolidEnergy Hopes to Double EV Battery Range by 2017

SolidEnergy, an MIT spin-out company commercializing solid electrolyte technology, plans to release a 20 Ah EV battery in 2017, which it says will offer more than two times the range of current Li-ion batteries. The core of SolidEnergy’s technology is a Solid Polymer Ionic Liquid (SPIL) electrolyte, which enables the […]
February 3, 2015

High-Performance Li-Tellurium Battery System Developed… Too Bad Tellurium Is Rare, & Toxic

A new high-performance, high-energy-density lithium-tellurium (Li-Te) battery system — based around a Li-metal anode and a Te-based cathode — was recently developed by researchers at the Kumoh National Institute of Technology in Korea. The mechanically reduced (MR) Te/C nanocomposite electrode material that the researchers created shows “high energy density, excellent […]
January 30, 2015

Kevlar-Based Nanocomposite Foils Dendrites For Bulletproof Batteries

Those doggone dendrites are a bane of battery builders. These pesky fern-like growths can form on the surfaces of anodes during cycling, reducing battery life or even causing a catastrophic short circuit – this is how the battery fires on the Boeing 787 are thought to have started. A team […]
January 28, 2015

Energy Power Systems Announces New Michigan Battery Manufacturing Facility

Battery-maker Energy Power Systems plans to establish a high-volume manufacturing facility in Pontiac, Michigan. The new 150,000-square-foot facility will produce batteries for use in start/stop and micro-hybrid vehicles; utility-scale distributed energy storage; renewable energy integration; and fast-charging infrastructure for EVs. Full-scale production is expected to begin in early 2016. Initial […]
January 20, 2015

Researchers Announce Significant Improvement in Li-S Battery Performance and Cycle Life

A team from the University of Waterloo in Canada and BASF has developed a way to stabilize cathodes in lithium-sulfur batteries, significantly improving performance and cycle life. Li-S batteries offer high theoretical energy density and low cost, due to the high natural abundance of sulfur. However, the insulating nature of […]
January 17, 2015

Advanced Battery Consortium Awards Funds to Seeo to Test Solid Polymer Battery Modules

The US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) has awarded a $299,000 contract to Seeo Inc. of Hayward, California. The nine-month technology assessment program will focus on testing of Seeo’s elevated-operating-temperature solid polymer battery modules. Under the contract, Seeo will deliver its DryLyte battery modules to USABC for testing and third-party validation. […]
January 15, 2015

Fuji Pigment develops new type of aluminum-air battery

Metal-air battery technology could offer very high energy density, and is considered a promising candidate for “beyond Li-ion” next-generation batteries. Aluminum, which is abundant and cheap, is a likely anode material. Aluminum-air batteries have a theoretical specific energy of up to 8.1 kWh/kg, second only to lithium-air batteries (13.0 kWh/kg). […]
January 14, 2015

Johnson Control Introduces 12-volt Lithium Titanate Battery for Start-Stop Systems

Johnson Controls is adding a lithium titanate battery to its line of automotive battery offerings. The new 12-volt technology, the product of a collaboration with Toshiba, is designed to power Advanced Start-Stop vehicles. “Johnson Controls is pursuing opportunities to develop evolutionary low-voltage energy storage systems that will help our customers […]
January 13, 2015

Did Nikola Tesla Create An Electric Car That Could Be Charged Wirelessly?

While the mythology that currently surrounds Nikola Tesla does contain a lot of very fanciful elements, there’s no doubt that the man had a mind that was well suited towards the creation of technological “marvels.” The man has certainly left his mark on the world of modern technology — which […]