Tag: battery industry

In a discussion today about solar energy and the coming Year of Light, author John Perlin helped enlighten me about the importance of the solar cell (photovoltaic systems) as a source for renewable electrical energy. What is the single most significant consideration in designing a PV system, as opposed to a solar thermal system that is founded using multiple heliostats?

Read more

If you feel a disturbance in the Intertubes today, that would be the fallout from the announcement of Ward’s 10 Best Engines List for 2015. For the first time since Ward’s Automotive Reports began the annual list in 1995, a fuel cell engine has made the cut. That would be the one humming away inside the 2015 Hyundai Tucson fuel

Read more

Did Elon Musk use “supposed negotiations” with BMW on a possible collaboration involving battery and charging station technologies as a means of free publicity? With Tesla “adorning” itself with the BMW brand for “publicity purposes”? That’s exactly what a Norwegian newspaper is alleging — that Musk/Tesla lied about a potential collaboration with the German automaker as a means of gaining

Read more

Enevate Corporation announced HD-Energy® Technology for Li-ion batteries. Enevate’s HD-Energy Technology enables high energy density rechargeable Li-ion polymer cells using a novel silicon-dominant composite anode that has four times the energy density of conventional graphite anodes. Enevate Corporation, based in Irvine, California, is focused on delivering advanced Li-ion batteries into smartphones, tablets, ultra-thin/hybrid notebook PCs, and wearable devices, delivering significantly

Read more

As if displaced desert tortoises, burned birds and political theater around the loan guarantee program weren’t enough problems for the Ivanpah concentrating solar project, the owners are now dealing with lower-than-expected electricity production. From January to August of this year, the 392-megawatt plant generated far less than the electricity expected. For some, it’s yet more proof of the technical limitations

Read more

Hawaii is already a real-world test bed for the challenges of bringing high penetrations of rooftop solar onto its island power grids. Now Hawaiian Electric Co., the state’s main utility, is joining forces with SolarCity to try out a tool that could help manage its solar-impacted electricity networks: smart inverters. Last month, the two announced they’re going to Golden, Colo.

Read more

The invested capital will be used to accelerate the commercialization of Californoa-based Seeo’s ultra-high energy density advanced lithium polymer batteries. Earlier investors Khosla Ventures and GSR Ventures also participated in the financing round. “We appreciate the confidence Samsung Ventures has expressed in our technology and team with this investment,” said Hal Zarem, President and CEO of Seeo. “Samsung Ventures is

Read more

If you like SUVs and plug-in hybrids, you might be pleased to hear that Volvo will soon come out with a 7-passenger vehicle of that type for the US market. The all-electric range will be about 25 miles, which is not bad for such a large vehicle. Currently, the launch date for it is Spring 2015, and would make it

Read more

Of all cars sold in the first three quarters of 2014 in the Netherlands, 4.3% were electric or hybrid cars. In the last quarter of 2013, the number was even higher: 15%. The main reason for these very high EV sales in the Netherlands is fiscal measures, says Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, who published the figures. The Netherlands does not

Read more

An ARENA-funded solar research team at the University of New South Wales has recorded the highest efficiency for a PV system ever reported, converting over 40 per cent of sunlight into electricity, with an innovative take on Australian-designed solar tower technology. The team achieved 40.1 per cent efficiency in outdoor testing in Sydney in late October, using a solar ‘Power

Read more