Archive for category Energy Storage

“Flash Thermography Measurement” Technique Sees Battery Electrode Defects Before Assembly

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy Storage, New Inventions on May 11, 2013

A team at Purdue University have discovered a method of detecting defects in lithium ion battery anodes as they are manufactured, before installing them in actual batteries. Their discovery relies on thermal imaging and could increase the reliability of lithium ion cells used in electric cars. Anodes and cathodes are the two electrodes of a [...]

Chevy Volt Batteries to be Manufactured by LG Chem in July, Finally

Posted by Benji Jerew in Car industry, Electric Vehicles, Energy Storage, Green Policy on May 10, 2013

Sales of the Chevy Volt extended range electric vehicle [EREV] has been slow, but steady, meaning that support companies like battery suppliers aren’t as productive as they could be. True, the market for electric vehicles as a whole hasn’t been enough to justify handshakes and champagne. Much to the contrary, aside from dashing success Tesla [...]

Exclusive Interview: Elon Musk on Supercharger Network Plans in Europe & More

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Electric Vehicles, Energy Storage on May 3, 2013

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, has given us the privilege of answering our questions directly, again. This time, I asked him about plans to expand the Supercharger network not only in Western European countries, but also in Eastern countries like Romania or Bulgaria. He also told us details on how the Supercharger does [...]

New Technology Incubator, A123 Systems Reborn

Posted by Benji Jerew in Energy Storage on May 3, 2013

Business goes on, and while A123 Systems sank slowly into bankruptcy, that doesn’t mean it’s over. Part of A123 split off as B456 [obviously] so that Wanxiang could liquidate it for the bankruptcy proceedings. The main part of A123 Systems, now a subsidiary of Wanxiang Group in China, has been relaunched as a technology incubator. [...]

3D Hall Effect Sensor Improves Electric Vehicle Battery Management

Posted by Benji Jerew in Electric Vehicles, Energy Storage on May 3, 2013

The traction battery in an electric vehicle is actually made up of thousands of individual cells, over 7,000 in the case of the Tesla Model S 85kWh. Battery management systems [BMS] are just as critical to electric vehicle performance and range as is battery technology. After all, a battery is only as strong as its [...]

Renault Twizy F1 Concept Shows What F1 KERS Can Do in a Production Vehicle

Posted by Benji Jerew in Electric Vehicles, Energy Storage on April 30, 2013

We wouldn’t expect this to hit the road any time soon [or at all], but when F1 engineers get ahold of the Renault Twizy supercompact electric vehicle, the results are pretty impressive. Really, a lot of race technology finds its way into the vehicles we drive every day, and we’re not driving anywhere near the [...]

US Navy Ships’ Need for Backup Power May Boost Energy Storage Tech

Posted by Benji Jerew in Energy Storage on April 29, 2013

Most US Navy Ships are already electric, using portable nuclear power plants to generate electrical power for everything on board from propulsion to weapons systems, but next-generation weapons systems will need more backup power than ever before. The power behind an artillery round may high-explosives [chemical energy], but the energy required for targeting and acquisition, [...]

Volvo’s Kinetic Energy Recovery System Tested: 25% Fuel Savings

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy Storage, Hybrid vehicles on April 29, 2013

Volvo has been working since 2011 to implement this technology in street-legal cars, and it has now been confirmed that the KERS system they will use in future alternative hybrid cars (these have come to have alternatives, too) will provide fuel savings of about 25 percent to owners, while decreasing emissions. High performance motoring like [...]

Lithium-Ion Batteries Considered for International Space Station

Posted by Benji Jerew in Energy Storage on April 26, 2013

In spite of fire concerns here on the ground, lithium-ion batteries could be best solution for backup power on the International Space Station. Just like we have concerns with renewable energy being intermittent here on the ground, the International Space Station [ISS] is entirely dependent on renewable energy. Solar panels provide energy when the sun [...]

New Lithium Deposits in Wyoming Could Bring Down Cost of Battery Production

Posted by Mila Luleva in Energy Storage on April 26, 2013

Researchers from University of Wyoming discovered new deposits of lithium in the Rock Springs Uplift in southern Wyoming. The amount of the element is thought to be sufficient to meet the annual U.S. demand, exceeding twice the reserves of the largest lithium producer in Nevada. Although lithium can be recycled and does now disappear from [...]

New Simpler Flow Battery for Grid Storage Developed at Stanford University

Posted by Benji Jerew in Energy Storage on April 25, 2013

The development of grid storage solutions is critical if the power grid is to switch to entirely renewable energy sources. The problem is that renewable energy is largely weather-dependent, so we need backup power sources to take up the slack when demand outstrips the supply of renewable energy. This often means that conventional fossil fuel [...]

Germanium-Based Battery 5 Times More Powerful

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy Storage on April 25, 2013

A team of researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia has developed a new type of battery that can hold up to 5 times the energy of already traditional lithium ion piles used in camcorders, phones and electric cars nowadays. The new battery uses a Germanium-based material and has the potential to double the [...]

Zinc-Iron Redox Flow Battery for Grid Energy Storage Almost Ready for Market

Posted by Benji Jerew in Energy Storage on April 24, 2013

Working under the radar for years, Zinc-Air Inc. is probably a battery company that you’ve never heard of, but now that they’re maybe six months away from marketing a new grid energy storage battery, they’re coming out of hiding. Who can blame them? Startup battery companies have often overhyped, not only their technology, but also [...]

Graphene’s Mechanical Strengths Overestimated, Scientists Prove

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy Storage on April 22, 2013

Graphene has been touted as the ultimate supermaterial – better conductivity, one-atom thickness, stronger-than-steel mechanical performance etc. However, Rice scientists have discovered recently that graphene may not be so mechanically potent, after all. Graphene is made of a single sheet of carbon atoms in a hexagonal pattern. At the very edge of the sheets, where [...]

Electrovaya Lithium-Ion Battery is Non-Toxic and Less-Prone to Fire

Posted by Benji Jerew in Energy Storage on April 19, 2013

With concerns over lithium-ion battery flammability and toxicity, adoption of electric and electrified vehicles has been slower than it could have been. Case in point: Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Fisker Karma*. In response to this, manufacturers have been researching how to make their lithium-ion batteries safer. Electrovaya in Canada had to cut back on production [...]