News

October 30, 2018

Industrial pilot for megawatt-scale PV, lithium and flow battery storage completed in Belgium

‘Europe’s largest’ energy storage pilot project at an industrial site, combining 2MWp of rooftop solar with a total of 4.2MWh of energy storage across a lithium-ion battery system and two flow batteries has been inaugurated in Belgium. The distributed resources have been integrated into the microgrid ‘MiRIS’ (‘Micro Réseau Intégré […]
October 29, 2018

German Federal Government Invests In Solid State Battery Research

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is flexing its investment muscles and dumping 16 million euros into the research of next generation solid state batteries, according to a recent press release from the group. “If we want people to take advantage of the opportunities offered by electromobility, we need […]
October 29, 2018

LG Chem Hosts $1.9-million Battery Innovation Competition

LG Chem has announced a $1.9-million startup contest it calls The Battery Challenge. The competition is intended as a springboard for new concepts and partnerships in four categories: Battery Material, Battery Management and Control, Design, Manufacturing and Processing and Recycle and Regeneration. Applications are being accepted until November 2. Teams must submit […]
October 17, 2018

Tesla Buys Land for Chinese Factory

Tesla has acquired a 210-acre piece of land in the Lingang region of Shanghai for its planned Gigafactory 3. No price has been announced. Lingang is located on the coast, about 47 miles from the center of Shanghai. Several automakers with foreign connections have facilities there, and unmarked test vehicles […]
October 12, 2018

Groupe Renault Launches Stationary Energy Storage System Using EV Batteries

Groupe Renault has launched a stationary storage system for energy developed exclusively from EV batteries. Renault’s Advanced Battery Storage will eventually have a storage capacity of at least 60 MWh, provided by 2,000 EV batteries – equivalent to the daily consumption of 5,000 households. The first facilities will be developed […]
September 20, 2018

Solid Power Announces $20 Million in Series A Funding

Colorado-based Solid Power, a manufacturer of all solid-state batteries (ASSB), has secured $20 million in a Series A investment round. Investors include Hyundai CRADLE, Samsung Venture Investment, Sanoh Industrial, Solvay Ventures, and A123 Systems. Solid Power will use the new funds to scale up production via a multi-MWh roll-to-roll facility, which […]
September 20, 2018

Electric Tractors Have Advantages Over Diesels

Electric tractors have a number of advantages over their diesel counterparts. Most importantly, they don’t produce CO2 emissions or other air pollution directly. It’s true that the electricity they use is sometimes generated by natural gas or other fossil fuels — or a blend of energy sources — but eventually, […]
September 13, 2018

Canada Funds Nano One’s Li-ion Durability Improvement Research

The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) has granted Nano One’s “Coatings for High Durability Lithium-ion Battery Cathodes” project $349,000 in non-dilutive and non-repayable funds. The project is intended to study various coatings and dopants that can reduce or remove instabilities in cathode materials. Nano One intends to […]
September 13, 2018

Tesla and Anesco Batteries Combine to Deliver Over 4MW Energy Storage to UK Grid

Anesco’s 3.75MW battery, alongside a 235kWp Tesla system, has joined ~330kWp of solar and 1MW of wind generation at the Philip Dennis Foodservice site. Image: Anesco. Food wholesaler Philip Dennis Foodservice has installed energy storage units totalling over 4MW at its Barnstaple offices in an effort to generate revenue from […]
September 7, 2018

LG Chem’s 2020 Battery Production Target Raised 29% To 90 GWh

A handful of EV battery companies dominate global EV battery production. One of those companies is LG Chem, which supplies batteries to nearly every automaker under the sun. Recent news indicates that LG Chem has increased its 2020 production target from 70 GWh to 90 GWh, approximately 29%. “If producing […]
August 30, 2018

AKASOL Begins Mass Production of Batteries for Mercedes eCitaro Electric Bus

This fall, AKASOL is set to begin mass producing batteries for Mercedes-Benz’s eCitaro. AKASOL’s first-generation battery systems will contain ten battery modules for up to 243 kWh per vehicle and a charging rate of up to 300 kW. In order to make this possible, AKASOL uses a water-cooling system to keep its batteries […]
August 28, 2018

Tokyo Tech Introduces Fabrication Process for Low-Resistance Solid-State Batteries

Solid-state batteries are theoretically safer, more stable, and have higher energy densities than conventional Li-ion batteries with liquid electrolytes. Unfortunately, they also tend to have relatively high resistance at the interfaces between their electrodes and solid electrolytes, which can limit the rate of charging and discharging. In order to solve […]