Ford’s EV battery pack could stay put for module replacement

2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E RallyFord is looking at ways to make electric vehicle battery packs easier to repair—especially as their cooling systems become more advanced—a patent filing indicates. The document, which was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Dec. 12, 2024, after being submitted by Ford Jun. 12, 2023, details how battery...

Mazda plans to build an EV battery factory in Japan

2025 Mazda Mazda3Mazda on Monday announced a new Japanese battery plant that will assemble cylindrical cells into modules and battery packs for use in a planned electric vehicle based on a dedicated platform. Located in Iwakuni City, in Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture, the plant targets 10 GWh of annual production, Mazda said. Cells will be supplied by Panasonic...

GM proposes making prismatic EV batteries differently

GM electric pickup silhouette  -  from 2020 Ultium platform previewGeneral Motors is investigating a new way of configuring prismatic battery cells to improve cooling characteristics. A patent filing from the automaker published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), dated Dec. 26, 2024 but originally filed by GM Jun. 23, 2023, details stacking of layers in an inverted "U" shape, as opposed to...

GM working on mixed-chemistry EV battery packs

Ultium EV platform - GMC Hummer EVGeneral Motors is following a handful of other automakers and battery firms in developing mixed-chemistry battery packs for electric vehicles. GM laid out its version of this concept in a patent filing published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Nov. 28, 2024. In that document, which was first filed by GM Aug. 2, 2023, the...

Toyota seeks robots to sort EV batteries for reuse, with federal loan

2023 Toyota bZ4X Limited AWDToyota is due to receive $4.5 million in federal funding for research into automating the teardown and rebuilding of used electric vehicle battery packs for eventual reuse. The funding comes from the Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), under the Catalyzing Innovative Research for Circular Use of Long-lived...

Ford and SK On get $9.63B government loan for battery plant

BlueOvalSK Battery Park  -  rendering, September 2021Ford and SK On will receive a $9.63 billion government loan for their BlueOval SK battery joint venture, according to a report Monday from Reuters. The news ups the original loan amount, which was $9.2 billion, reported in June by The New York Times. The Department of Energy loan—the largest so far by the Biden administration related to EV...

Range-boosting solid-state EV cells get right-sized for production

Factorial Solstice solid-state battery cellMassachusetts-based Factorial has introduced a process for manufacturing solid-state battery cells, in the size range that electric vehicles can use, that is also close to what can be used for mass production. The company has been providing test cells to automakers, but on Thursday announced that it had scaled sample cells to an...