battery pack
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Dyson, the U.K. company famous for its bagless vacuum cleaners, has acquired solid-state battery company Sakti3 in a deal worth $90 million. The news comes just seven months after Dyson announced a $15 million investment in the company, a spin-out from the University of Michigan. Sakti3 represented one of the first investments to emerge from the $2.3 billion fund Dyson set aside last year to plow into so-called “future technologies.” DON'T MISS: Sakti3 Claims Solid-State Battery Breakthrough For Electric Cars (Aug 2014) Sakti3’s technology is still in development mode, and...
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Tesla Roadster 3.0's $29,000 Battery Upgrade: 330 Miles Or More Of Range
Electric-car maker Tesla Motors has a lot on its hands right now, with deliveries of its Model X electric SUV at the end of the month, a battery gigafactory under construction, a mass-priced electric car to unveil next spring, and so forth. So it's encouraging to learn that the company is now...
John Voelcker -
2016 Toyota Prius: What We Want To Know About All-New Hybrid
Next Tuesday evening, the 2016 Toyota Prius hybrid will make its world debut in Las Vegas, kicking off what its maker calls "the next era of an icon." "We’re pulling out all of the stops for this exclusive event to celebrate the future of Prius in a truly spectacular way that will be anything...
John Voelcker -
LG Chem To Become World's Biggest Electric-Car Battery Supplier? Could Be, Report Says
LG Chem could become the world's largest electric-car battery supplier, a new report says.
Stephen Edelstein -
Audi Electric SUV To Target Tesla With LG Chem, Samsung Cells
This much we know: a concept for the future Audi Q6 "coupe" SUV will be shown at next month's Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany. We also know an all-electric Q6 e-tron version will target the Tesla Model X, though more conventional Q6 versions with gasoline, diesel, and possibly plug-in hybrid...
John Voelcker -
2016 Nissan Leaf Range To Top 100 Miles, August Launch Possible: Report
Rumors of a longer-range battery for the 2016 Nissan Leaf have been percolating for a while now. Nissan has steadfastly declined to answer questions about the next model year of the world's most successful electric car, but at least one report now suggests that a revised Leaf is imminent. DON'T...
John Voelcker -
While Chevrolet beats the drum for the Bolt EV 200-mile electric car it will likely launch before the end of next year, Nissan has been relatively quiet about its plans to upgrade the Leaf's current 84-mile range to compete. But at yesterday's annual meeting, a relatively conventional-looking Leaf with some writing on the side apparently previews an upcoming model with far greater range. DON'T MISS: 2017 Nissan Leaf: What We Know So Far About New Electric Car As noted by Transport Evolved and HybridCars.com, CEO Carlos Ghosn said Nissan is developing a Leaf battery pack with longer range that...
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Do Tesla, Panasonic Differ Dramatically On Growth Of Electric Car Batteries?
The rate of sales growth for electric cars may be the greatest unknown in the auto industry as companies prepare to spend billions of dollars on new products. Electric-car startup Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] projects annual sales to increase by 50 percent for years to come. Other makers, industry...
John Voelcker -
Chevy, Nissan Reveal Second-Life Uses For Electric-Car Batteries
It's one of the most common questions about electric cars: What happens to the battery packs after the car is junked? Do they just get thrown away? Will any of them be recycled? What happens to their components? The answer is electric-car batteries will largely be recycled--but that they will have...
John Voelcker -
Toyota Prius Owners: Beware Battery Theft, Perhaps By Inept Thieves
There's been a rash of Toyota Prius battery thefts in San Francisco, and speculation that the stolen packs are being peddled as cheap replacement parts.
Stephen Edelstein -
Why LG Chem Leads In Electric-Car Batteries: Materials Science, It Says
The top three battery makers for electric cars today are Panasonic, AESC, and LG Chem. But while Panasonic sells largely to Tesla, and AESC is a joint venture half-owned by Nissan, LG sells its cells to more carmakers than any other battery company. And the secret to that success is LG's expertise...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Energy: What We Learned About Powerwall Demand On Q1 Results Call
The quarterly earnings calls held by Tesla Motors are always a chance to hear CEO Elon Musk describe the Silicon Valley carmaker's operations and outlooks. But last week's call was a first: The bulk of the questions by financial analysts weren't about the company's electric cars. Rather than...
John Voelcker -
As predicted, the plug-in hybrid version of the 2016 Cadillac CT6 large luxury sedan was released today at the Shanghai Motor Show, using an adaptation of GM's second-generation Voltec hybrid system. What wasn't predicted was the startling size of its battery pack: 18.4 kilowatt-hours, identical to that used in the 2016 Chevrolet Volt. That means Cadillac is fitting a battery that's essentially double the size of any other plug-in hybrid on the market today--and should probably achieve 30 or more miles of electric range with it. DON'T MISS: 47-MPG Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid: Volt's Sibling...
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Electric-Car Battery Costs Fell 8 Percent A Year For Market Leaders: Study
Five years into the era of modern electric cars, the biggest cost remains the battery pack. Now there's data to confirm that not only are the costs of the battery cells falling, but that they are falling at rates pretty much in line with historical declines. A study published last month not only...
John Voelcker -
Aluminum-Ion Battery Cell Is Durable, Fast-Charging, Bendable: Stanford Inventors (Video)
Researchers at Stanford University demonstrated a new type of aluminum-ion battery cell last week that is flexible enough to be bent without damaging it. The chemistry team claims its design charges faster, and is both safer and more durable, than today's lithium-ion cells. It could recharge a...
John Voelcker -
The Five Most Ignorant Media Myths About Electric Cars
We spend more time than we probably should in grumbling at media coverage of plug-in electric cars. Journalists try to get it right, in general, but often the specific and complex issues around electric cars, who buys them, and how they're really used get lost or ignored in general reporting. At...
John Voelcker -
Electric-Car Battery Costs Already Cheaper Than 2020 Predictions: Study
A new study shows a rapid drop in lithium-ion cell prices in recent years.
Stephen Edelstein -
Dyson Invests In Solid-State Battery Startup Sakti3 To Bring Cells To Market
Advanced battery technology startup Sakti3 has received a further round of investment capital to help bring its solid-state cells to market. A new investor, British vacuum-cleaner maker Dyson, invested a total of $15 million and signed a joint-development deal with the company. Existing funders...
John Voelcker -
To be able to build and sell its planned $35,000 Tesla Model 3 electric sedan, Tesla Motors must first build its lithium-ion cell "gigafactory" in Nevada and then test and validate the batteries it produces. But if the latest photos are any indication, work is proceeding rapidly on the huge facility. DON'T MISS: Tesla Gigafactory For Electric-Car Batteries: Photos Show Site Work Continues (Jan 2015) Photographs taken yesterday by local resident and electric-car advocate Bob Tregilus show that more of the main building is framed in and roofed. It appears as though roughly one quarter of the...
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Toyota Camry Hybrid Battery: Electrician Spent $10, Not $4,000, To Fix
A Toyota Camry Hybrid owner repairs the car's battery pack.
Stephen Edelstein -
Tesla Model S Battery Life: How Much Range Loss For Electric Car Over Time?
One of the things electric-car owners worry about is long-term battery degradation. It’s a well-established fact that lithium-ion batteries gradually lose capacity as they undergo numerous charge/discharge cycles. We owners understand that our range will gradually decline over the life of the...
David Noland -
Advances In Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Offer Promise For Electric Cars
Commercial uses of the element sulfur date back centuries, but it may be the key to a new generation of batteries with high theoretical energy density and relatively low cost. The principles of a lithium-sulfur battery have been known for decades, but practical solutions to the chemical challenges...
John Voelcker -
Tesla To Offer Batteries To Consumers For Home Energy Storage
It was just a couple of sentences during Wednesday's 2014 earnings call by Tesla Motors executives. But in it, CEO Elon Musk apparently revealed a new line of business for the company: selling or leasing lithium-ion battery packs for home energy storage. DON'T MISS: In 10 Years, Electric Cars Make...
John Voelcker -
The Tesla Gigafactory Is Big; Really, Really Big--This Big, In Fact
Photos can be deceptive, as any online-dating aficionado will tell you. So it's hard to tell from photographs just how large the lithium-ion cell gigafactory in Nevada that's being built by electric car-maker Tesla Motors will really be. DON'T MISS: Tesla Gigafactory For Electric-Car Batteries...
John Voelcker