Tag: battery industry

An interdisciplinary team of engineers from the University of Pennsylvania has made a discovery regarding the surface properties of graphene, the Nobel-prize winning material that consists of an atomically thin sheet of carbon atoms. On the macroscale, adding fluorine atoms to carbon-based materials makes for water-repellant, non-stick surfaces, such as Teflon. However, on the nanoscale, adding fluorine to graphene had

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Researchers have been trying to increase the efficiency of solid oxide fuel cells by lowering the temperatures at which they run. More efficient fuel cells might gain wider use in vehicles or as quiet, pollution-free, neighborhood electricity generating stations. A serendipitous finding has resulted in a semiconducting material that could enable fuel cells to operate at temperatures two-thirds lower than

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Last week an area outside of Reno, Nevada was chosen as the site of the first Tesla battery Gigafactory. In addition to bringing 6,500 much-needed jobs and a cutting-edge manufacturing facility to Nevada, Elon Musk has also promised to power the Gigafactory using only its own, green energy sources. Can it be done, and if so, how? It is no

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Government-owned companies in India are responding to the calls by the government to boost investment in renewable energy projects. Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), a big coal producer and power generator located in Southern India, has announced that it will invest ₹500 crore (US$82 million) to set up 25 MW solar photovoltaic and 55 MW wind power capacity. The company has

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Despite the devastation wreaked by the Fukushima meltdown in 2011, Japan wants to restart two nuclear reactors that were shut off in the wake of the disaster. According to the Guardian, Japan’s nuclear watchdog has said the reactors can be started up again, as long as the operator can convince the local communities they are safe. That might not be

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We take electricity for granted in the developed world, but did you know that 1.6 billion people – a full one quarter of the world’s population – don’t have access to reliable electricity? The consequences are far-reaching: The lack of electric lighting impacts children’s ability to do well in school and prevents people from working once the sun has set,

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Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)’s Elon Musk said the electric-car maker may form another partnership with Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), as the companies conclude an initial vehicle project that met with mixed results.“If you look out maybe two or three years from now, I would not be surprised if there was a significant deal with Toyota and Tesla,” Musk, Tesla’s chief

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To bring electric cars to the masses, Tesla Motors will use an expanse of desert where wild mustangs still roam for a factory that the company projects will crank out enough batteries to power 500,000 vehicles annually by decade’s end.Tesla chose Nevada as the site for the $5 billion facility, a person familiar with car maker’s plans said WednesdayNevada’s elected

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Last month was a good month for car sales in general, plug-in electrified vehicles (PEVs) in particular, and regarding this latter category, Americans bought their 250,000th.This count includes all road-going U.S. plug-in passenger car sales since 2008 when Tesla’s Roadster was launched, to the present.Early this year, excluding commercial vehicles, we chronicled just over 172,000 PEVs had been sold through

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Sales in the United States of BMW AG electric cars equipped with range extenders jumped in August, inching closer or, depending on whom you ask, even surpassing sales of Tesla Motors Inc. luxury Model S sedan.The continued success of BMW’s BMW, -1.12% i3 model, which sells for about $41,000 in the U.S., could pressure Tesla TSLA, -1.29% and dampen enthusiasm

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