General Motors is the latest automaker reported to be working on solid-state lithium batteries, thanks to a $2 million grant from Uncle Sam. The money is part of a larger grant to develop more fuel-efficient powertrains, the fan site GM Authority reports. The company is expected to use the rest of the money to develop a lighter-weight, more... GM wins US grant to develop solid-state batteries
General Motors is the latest automaker reported to be working on solid-state lithium batteries, thanks to a $2 million grant from Uncle Sam. The money is part of a larger grant to develop more fuel-efficient powertrains, the fan site GM Authority reports. The company is expected to use the rest of the money to develop a lighter-weight, more...
In a first for the automaker, Tesla has agreed to buy batteries from Korean battery supplier LG Chem for models produced at its new Chinese factory. The news was first reported by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the negotiations. After buying batteries from Panasonic as its exclusive supplier Tesla has been casting about for new suppliers...
The two biggest challenges for electric cars—battery life and charge times—come down to battery cooling. Now British auto parts supplier Ricardo is working with partners to come up with a new type of cooling technology that the company hopes will allow automakers to pack more energy into cars' batteries and to charge them faster. The...
Sales of new electric passenger cars will surpass those of internal combustion models by 2037 according to a new report on EVs from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The report, "Electric Vehicle Outlook 2019," anticipates that 30 percent of vehicles in the world will be powered by electric motors by 2040. It forecasts that worldwide EV sales will...
Last week, Tesla introduced something bigger than its Powerpack energy-storage systems: the Megapack, for large utility-scale storage installations.. Tesla says the Megapack, which stores 3 megawatt-hours of electricity, has 60 percent more energy density than the Powerpack. For grid power installations, that means companies can install fewer than...
Automakers continue to express concerns over the supply of raw materials for electric-car batteries. A Bloomberg report suggests that might not be the reality at all. Enough new lithium supplies are coming online that mining companies are concerned about a price collapse. While automakers are preparing a raft of new electric models, they can't...
The explosion of a 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric in a Montreal, Canada, garage Saturday literally blew the doors off. The owner, Piero Cosantino, told the CBC the car was not even plugged in at the time of the explosion. The report was the first in North America, and possibly the first report in the world, of a Kona Electric explosion or fire. No one...
As it gradually moves to begin selling more plug-in and electric cars, Toyota is widening its net to secure more batteries. Japan's largest automaker signed a deal this week to buy batteries from Chinese suppliers Contemporary Amex Technologies (CATL) and BYD. The agreement adds to a January deal Toyota signed to buy batteries from Panasonic. All...
With more automakers lining up to buy lots of batteries for electric cars, leading battery supplier LG Chem is planning to build a second battery factory in the U.S., according to a Reuters report citing three people familiar with the matter. The company is considering sites in Kentucky and Tennessee among other locations. LG Chem already operates...
Despite its plans to become the biggest EV-maker in the world by 2023, Volkswagen says it won't be affected by the tightening battery supplies that have roiled the industry, including Audi, the company's Volkswagen Group partner. VW plans to build up to 3 million all-electric vehicles a year by 2025 and plans to produce 22 million EVs in total by...
In an announcement last month, Volkswagen joined Nissan and Tesla as the only automakers to explicitly warranty not just the batteries in its cars but specifically how much life it expects them to retain. Frank Blome, the head of VW's Center of Excellence in Battery Cells, said in an outward facing internal marketing interview that the company...
Volvo, one of the first automakers to announce it would add electric power to its whole lineup, on Wednesday took the unusual step of formally announcing who will supply the batteries for all those electric cars. The company stated that it will source $1 billion worth of lithium-ion batteries from two suppliers, LG Chem and Contemporary Amex...
Volkswagen announced plans on Tuesday to build a large new battery factory—with an unspecified partner or partners—in its home state of Lower Saxony in Germany. Volkswagen has announced plans to build 22 million new electric cars by 2029, and has announced battery contracts for up to 50 million electric cars, without specifying a date...
Panasonic says it won't have enough batteries to supply the Tesla Model Y. The Aston Martin Rapide E shows up for hot laps in Monaco. States consider new fees on EVs. And readers weigh in on which classic EVs they'd like to buy. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Amid an industry-wide shortage of batteries and materials to build electric...
Tesla's main battery supplier, Panasonic, says the two companies won't have enough battery-building capacity to support production of the Model Y. In a conference announcing the company's annual earnings last Thursday, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga told reporters that "batteries will run out if Tesla starts to sell the Model Y and expands its...
Tesla announced plans to launch its self-driving network, and a report showed problems with battery production at Panasonic's battery-supply operations in Nevada. We took a close look at the Qiantu K50 electric sports car from Mullen. And our readers weigh in on which electric cars most interested them from last week's auto shows. All this and...
Building electric cars is harder than it looks. According to a report last week in the Brussels Times, Audi is delaying the production of its planned E-tron Sportback and slowing production of its E-tron SUV following battery shortages from supplier LG Chem. The factory that builds the e-tron has cut back from eight hours of production a day to...