Category: Electric Car News

Posted on

BMW Developing Future Batteries with Samsung SDI

BMW announced that it is developing future batteries with Samsung SDI. Also, it will use a Samsung SDI battery in its PHEV model of the BMW 3 series.

During its annual press conference in Munich, Germany, on March 18, BMW Automotive Group's purchasing division head Klous Draeger said, “We are in a very good relationship with Samsung. Last year, we signed an MOU for long-term cooperation with Samsung. Currently, we are developing future batteries together.”

He continued, “We are not sure if we would cooperate with other companies in the future. The only thing we are certain of is that we are in good cooperating relationship now. In five or 10 years, if we produce too many electric cars and demand exceeds supply, only then might we consider getting batteries from other companies. At the moment, we have no plan to get batteries from other firms.”

This is a very rare case that a high-ranking executive in the BMW Group mentioned particular batteries in an annual press conference. The industry believes that the BMW Group is working hard for cooperation with Samsung SDI.

Draeger said, “We will use Samsung SDI’s batteries in our plug-in hybrid electric vehicles based on its compact sedan 3 series next year.”

In July last year, Samsung SDI signed an MOU with BMW Group at BMW Driving Center on Yeongjong Island, Incheon, to supply electric car batteries worth trillions of won in the medium and long term. At that time, the two companies mentioned only the supply deal of Samsung SDI batteries for BMW's i3 and i8 models.

Samsung Group’s venture capital arm recently led a $17 million round of financing for Solid State Lithium Ion battery maker Seeo Inc. California-based Seeo currently has cells (though not in use commercially) capable of operating with an energy density of 350 Wh/Kg (watt-hour per kilogram), but it’s now targeting 400 Wh/Kg — around double that used in most electric vehicles today.

Samsung SDI is also currently supplying electric vehicle batteries to Chrysler and Mahindra of India.

Posted on

VW to Decide on New 700 km Range Battery Technology by July

Volkswagen plans to decide in the first half of this year whether new battery technology under development at U.S. startup QuantumScape Corp. is ready for use in its electric cars.

The technology’s potential to boost the range of battery-powered vehicles is compelling and tests are progressing, VW Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said outside a press conference in Stuttgart, Germany, on Tuesday.

“I was there last year,” Winterkorn said. “Progress has been made,” and the company will be able to determine how to proceed by July.

VW acquired a 5 percent holding in QuantumScape and has options to raise the stake, people familiar with the matter said in December. The German carmaker is considering using the energy-storage technology, which is fireproof, for vehicles from the namesake brand as well as at the luxury Porsche and Audi divisions, the people said.

700 km range

Winterkorn said in November that he sees “great potential” in the new power-storage technology, which may expand an electric vehicle’s driving distance between recharges to as much as 700 kilometers (430 miles). That’s more than three times the range of the battery-powered version of the VW Golf. Tesla’s Model S has a range of 270 miles, according to its website.

Closely held QuantumScape, founded in 2010 by former Stanford University researchers, is working on solid-state batteries as an alternative to liquid electrolytes such as the lithium-ion technology used in many electric cars today. Solid electrolytes are burn resistant and could potentially store more energy and provide more power to extend the range of electric vehicles.

Posted on

Developing the next generation of nuclear batteries

Atomic batteries that don't require recharging and last between 12 and 30 years are being developed for small scale applications that could potentially be scaled up for EV applications. There are quite a few variations on Nuclear batteries and just as many university labs working on them.

Researchers in the US are using pioneering technology to create long-lasting, more efficient nuclear batteries. Several teams at the University of Missouri are pursuing nuclear battery research . Much of this work is focused on pushing the frontiers of nuclear battery technology by employing power sources using alpha or beta-particle decay based on a radioactive isotope that can be produced, separated and refined at the University of Missouri Research Reactor.

The notion of an electric car that recharges itself is appealing but initially the most likely customers are oil and gas and aerospace industries, and space flight companies, which need reliable power sources in inaccessible locations and physical extremes such as high or low temperature and pressure. For example, a betavoltaic incorporated into a flight data locator could signal to search teams for years instead of months.

"With enough financial support to fund both our irradiation and packaging, we could have a commercial-ready device in three years."

Recently Power-technology.com talked to Patrick J Pinhero, Alan K Wertsching and Jae Wan Kwon of the University of Missouri about pushing the boundaries of betavoltaic electricity generation.

Posted on

Next BMW i model not due until 2020

BMW R&D chief Klaus Froehlich says the company will launch a third BMW i car but it won’t arrive until at least 2020.

“We are still in the strategic research phase where we brainstorm,” BMW Group r&d chief Klaus Froehlich told Automotive News Europe. “Teams that start with a white sheet of paper. They talk with customers, hold workshops, then present their ideas and we decide.”

Froehlich disputed media reports that claimed the third model after the i3 and i8 would be a variant of the X5 premium large SUV. He said the mission of the i subbrand is to change the perception of how a low-emissions car should look and perform, therefore there are no plans to re-package an existing BMW Group model and call it an i model.

Also, he said the i subbrand is supposed to be a starting point for cutting-edge innovation that progressively moves down into the rest of the automaker’s lineup. Current examples include carbon fiber, which is a key part of the i3 and i8 and is moving into other BMWs, and the i8’s plug-in hybrid powertrain, which is being added to high-volume models such as X5, 3 series and 4 series.

BMW will focus on steadily improving the i3 and i8 during the six-plus years until the subbrand’s portfolio grows again.

“We have a minimum 20 percent battery density improvement every three years, thus over the i3 and i8’s life cycle, we will offer more performance, more range or a combination of the two,” Frohlich said.

When asked whether current i3 and i8 owners would be able to switch to the more powerful electrical powertrains Froehlich said: “I don’t think a retrofit makes sense. When better batteries are available, we could then offer models with a longer range or with the same range but at a lower price.”

BMW Ceo Norbert Reithofer, who approved the i project skunkworks that developed the lightweight, low-cost carbon-fiber composites and electric drivetrains for the i3 and i8, will step down in May to be be replaced by Harald Krüger, current head of production. Krüger is known to have a more pragmatic view of electric vehicles than Reithofer.

Also BMW's R&D Chief, Herbert Diess, who oversaw the launch of the i3 and i8, and was thought to be a potential successor for BMW's CEO role was recently poached by Volkswagen to become chairman of VW's passenger car brand.

Posted on

Dyson invests in Solid-State battery firm Sakti3

Vacuum cleaner inventor Sir James Dyson invests $15m into company that could revolutionise battery technology.

Inventor and entrepreneur Sir James Dyson is making his first investment outside the business he founded and which made him a billionaire, giving his financial backing to a company that hopes to revolutionise battery technology.

Sir James who made his fortune inventing and developing the bagless vacuum cleaner is investing $15m into US company Sakti3 which is developing “solid-state” batteries.

The money is part of a larger $20m investment round in Sakti3 that includes a deal to commercialise the company’s research and incorporate it into Dyson products.

Sir James said: “Sakti3 has achieved leaps in performance which current battery technology simply can’t. It’s these fundamental technologies batteries, motors that allow machines to work properly.

“The Sakti3 team has amazing ambitions, and their platform offers the potential for exponential performance gains that will supercharge the Dyson machines we know today.”

Most batteries in commercial use today rely on lithium-ion technology which contains a pressurised flammable electrolyte, which is vulnerable to damage, and also means they are heavy and limits their ability to store power.

Solid-state batteries do away with the liquid electrolyte, and instead replace it with a metal one which coats the battery’s electrodes. As well as being safer and able to withstand higher temperatures, using a metal electrolyte means more exotic materials can be used which store more energy, making the solid-state batteries more powerful, smaller and lighter.

Sakti3 has produced a battery with an energy density rating of 1100 watt hours per litre using the technology, 50pc better than current lithium-ion batteries.

Sakti3 has been investigating how to improve batteries for almost a decade, since the company was spun out of the University of Michigan. Along the way it attracted $50m in equity investments, including from Khosla Ventures, Beringea, Itochu and auto giant General Motors.

Sakti3 named as one of MIT’s most innovative companies began by computer modelling the technology and is now scaling up prototype batteries into production.

Ann Marie Sastry, founder and chief executive, said: “It was an honour to be approached by Dyson because it wanted what we did much, much better batteries.

“There is a great deal of knowledge and passion on both sides, and Dyson’s engineering team has the capability and the track record to scale up new ideas and make them a commercial reality.”

Posted on

BYD to build battery Gigafactory to rival Tesla

Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, aims to triple its production of batteries as it takes on Tesla Motors in the race to supply electric vehicles and boost energy storage.

Shenzhen-based BYD plans to add 6 gigawatt hours of global production for batteries in each of the next three years, and hopes to keep adding at that pace afterwards if demand is solid, Matthew Jurjevich, a spokesman for the company, said on Friday.

That means BYD could ramp up from 10 GWh capacity at the end of this year to about 34 GWh of batteries by the beginning of 2020. This would put it about even with Tesla's planned $5 billion Nevada gigafactory.

Each of the planned Gigafactory is said to output more lithium-ion batteries than the entire world’s capacity today. When fully operational in 2020, these two plants alone will triple global li-ion battery production capacity, and that's not accounting for the largest electric vehicle battery supplier today, LG Chem, who broke ground on their own Chinese gigafactory in late 2014.

The companies are fast emerging as two of the key players in the nascent electricity storage sector. Storage technology is considered critical to integrating large amounts of renewable energy because it can absorb excess power from wind farms or solar panels and keep that for use when conditions don't allow for power generation.

"We have demonstrated that BYD is capable of adding 6 GWh every year with strong market demand," Jurjevich, who works for BYD's U.S. unit, said in an interview.

The sector has attracted Tesla, BYD and a range of startups as well as stalwart battery manufacturers and is expected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2019 from $128 million in 2014 in the United States alone, according to GTM Research.

BYD, which declined to provide investment budgets, ended last year with 4 GWh of capacity and will be at 10 GWh later this year. The U.S. energy storage market is expected to triple this year to 220 MW, according to GTM.

Most of BYD's production is in China, but the company is opening a major new factory in Brazil this year that will contribute meaningfully to output next year, Jurjevich said.

BYD, which started out making mobile phone batteries, will also scale up manufacturing in the United States as demand for its batteries increases, he added.

According to data published last year by Lux Research, BYD is the sixth-biggest manufacturer of batteries for hybrid and plug-in vehicles. Panasonic Corporation, which makes cells and batteries for Tesla, is the biggest.

Tesla, founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, has said it will launch its own production of battery cells in Nevada in 2016 and reach 35 GWh of capacity by 2020. Tesla does not currently produce battery cells, according to a company spokeswoman.

BYD opened two manufacturing plants in Southern California in 2013 to produce both electric buses for public transportation and batteries.

The company shocked many in 2003 when it launched its automotive business and has since become one of China's most successful automakers. Outside of China, however, it has focused on selling buses rather than cars.

BYD plans to deploy 70 megawatt hours of projects in that market in the United States this year, and has another 130 MWh of projects in its U.S. pipeline.

It has already deployed 40 MWh of projects in North America with customers including Chevron Corp and Duke Energy Corp.

Posted on

Porsche To Expand With New Electric Car to Challenge Tesla

Porsche AG may expand its growing lineup with a battery-powered vehicle to cater to demand for cleaner luxury vehicles and counter the rise of Tesla Motors Inc.

“Tesla has built an exceptional car,” Porsche chief Matthias Mueller said Friday at the brand’s annual press conference in Stuttgart, Germany. “They have a very pragmatic approach and set the standard, where we have to follow up now.”

The Volkswagen AG unit plans to roll out its seventh model line by 2020, but has yet to make a final decision on the car’s form. Porsche previously said it might expand the Panamera coupe line with a smaller version or a more spacious shooting brake variant. Porsche has also been considering a sports car between the 911, which costs $151,100 for the Turbo version, and the $845,000 918 Spyder hybrid supercar. The new sports car model would be designed to challenge autos made by Ferrari SpA.

Porsche plans to sell more than 200,000 vehicles for the first time this year, driven by demand for the $49,900 Macan compact sport-utility vehicle it introduced in April 2014. The increase comes amid a rising tide for most luxury-car makers, with Porsche, its sister brands Audi and Bentley, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG all reporting fresh sales records last year.

Porsche’s deliveries rose 17 percent to 189,849 cars in 2014 and surged 34 percent in February to 14,836 cars. Demand for luxury autos is forecast to rise further this year thanks to growth in China and the U.S.

Smartphone on Wheels

The profit margin for the sports-car brand narrowed to 15.8 percent from 18 percent last year due to costs for adding the Macan to its lineup and revamping the best-selling Cayenne SUV. Even so, Porsche’s return on sales remained one of the highest among global automakers. Porsche also sells the Boxster roadster and the hard-top Cayman variant.

Porsche will focus its development efforts on engines and handling rather than push for the latest advances in in-car Internet and automated driving.

The brand’s customers “don’t want a smartphone on four wheels or the biggest touchscreen in the center console,” said Mueller. “At Porsche there’s no room for window dressing.”

For an electric car, which would help the brand comply with tightening environmental regulations, Porsche is targeting a range of more 500 kilometres (310 miles) before needing to recharge, which shouldn’t take longer than a normal stop on a motorway, he said.

Posted on

Uber in deal with China’s BYD to test electric cars

Uber Inc said on Friday it struck a deal with Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd to test a fleet of electric cars for its drivers.

The test program, which kicked off a few weeks ago in Chicago and could eventually expand to other cities, is the Silicon Valley startup's first attempt to focus on an electric vehicle, said Uber spokeswoman Lauren Altmin."We've seen interest in the program already from current and potential Chicago partners (drivers)," Altmin said.

Uber, which allows users to summon rides on their smartphones, originally started with a luxury town-car service but in many cities has added UberX, a low frills service with nonprofessional drivers using personal cars. The BYD offering is aimed at those drivers.

The electric car is part of Uber's program to help drivers buy or lease new or used cars. The BYD e6 vehicles are available through Green Wheels USA, a Chicago car dealership that focuses on electric and hybrid cars and also builds EV charging stations.

About 25 BYD vehicles are currently being used by Uber drivers in Chicago, and the hope is to bring that number to a couple of hundred by the end of the year, according to Doug Snower, Green Wheels' president.

Uber began talking to BYD and Green Wheels late last year, Altmin said.

For BYD the deal with Uber could be a step toward the long-held goal of selling its cars to U.S. consumers. The company, whose name stands for "build your dream", is a major automaker in China, but its e6 vehicle has thus far only been used in pilot programs in the United States.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Tesla Motors Inc are better known in the United States for their electric cars, the Leaf and the Model S. Uber would not comment on why it had picked a company with a relatively unknown brand.

The e6 is larger than many other electric cars, however, and is being used in London by chauffer service Thriev.

BYD gained Warren Buffett's backing in 2009 and announced plans to sell its e6 electric car in the United States the following year. Since then, BYD's U.S. business has focused mainly on electric buses for public transportation.

BYD publicized the program on its Facebook page but declined to comment on the deal with Uber.

The Facebook post, which has a picture of the vehicle, says the e6 has a 186 mile range on a single charge. It also says financing is available from BYD-approved lenders.

Green Wheels is offering several options to drivers interested in the e6. The most popular program, Snower said, allows an Uber driver to pay $200 a week to use an e6 for his or her driving shift. The vehicle is then returned to a Green Wheels lot, where it is charged until it is used again.

Drivers can also enter into a more traditional lease or a lease-to-own program, Snower said.