Tag: battery industry news

Stanford University Professor Hongjie Dai has developed an emissions-free electrolytic device that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen at room temperature. In 2015, American consumers will finally be able to purchase fuel cell cars from Toyota and other manufacturers. Although touted as zero-emissions vehicles, most of the cars will run on hydrogen made from natural gas, a fossil fuel that

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China is the world’s top energy consumer, with the vast majority of its electricity coming from domestically-mined coal. But the Asian nation is cutting its dependence on coal, oil and natural gas and replacing it with solar at a breakneck pace. Between January and the end of June, China added 3.3 gigawatts of solar capacity, double the additions over the

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When Mercedes-Benz contacted me last month to ask whether I would be interested in driving its new B-class electric, I thought they were either too sure of themselves or foolish. Why else would they ask a self-proclaimed Tesla fanboy to reconsider his “breakup” with them? In February 2013, I wrote that after driving my Model S, I couldn’t drive my

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Michigan battery company Sakti3, a spinout of the University of Michigan, which is financed by the worlds top cleantech fund, Khosla Ventures, and the worlds largest automotive investor, General Motors Ventures, has claimed that the company’s solid state battery will be able to double the range of an electric car. The solid state batteries would enable a vehicle like the

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Sanken Electric Co., Ltd. has developed a mixed-signal microcontroller unit (MCU), the MD6602, that is targeted for use in digitally-controlled power supplies and other applications. Samples of the new MCU are available for shipment beginning mid-October 2014 at 500 yen. The production of new MCU will start in March 2015 and 50,000 pieces per month will be shipped initially. To

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WeCycle has launched a free app for iPhones (and soon Android devices) that automatically detects multiple modes of transport and crowdsources information about one’s travel patterns. With this app, cyclists will help make urban areas friendlier and safer. The app shows where the town or city needs more investment in bike routes. This new app does that job and more.

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Sub-Saharan Africa is set to see more renewable energy come online this year than it has in the previous 14 years, proof that the region is becoming one of the most exciting markets to watch for renewable energy technologies such as onshore wind, small-scale and utility-scale solar, and geothermal power. This is according to new research from Bloomberg New Energy

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Honestly, this one wasn’t planned: last night, I wrote about a new study concluding that until EV battery costs get down to $100 per kWh, most US consumers would be better off going with an electric car with less than 100 miles of range rather than splurging for a long-range electric car. Now, battery startup Sakti3 is saying that its

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When a car battery calls it quits, it usually ends up at a service station that disposes of it responsibly, because it contains toxic lead. A team of MIT researchers thought there might be something worth keeping, and now say they have successfully recycled materials from spent batteries to create long-lasting, clean-running solar panels. Recent solar cell research has included

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Not many people think clunky solar roof panels are attractive, but we live with the unsightly installations because they provide clean, renewable energy. It would be better if solar power could be generated by nearly invisible means – say a thin, transparent film that lays on the screen of your cell phone or over the windows of your house. That’s

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