EV charge point operator Zapgo has opened its largest site to date—a new DC fast charging hub at Sowerby Wood Business Park in Barrow-in-Furness, a coastal city in Northern England.
The new charging hub features 10 charging bays, including 2 fully accessible bays, served by five 200 kW Alpitronic chargers.
Amenities at the charging hub include rest rooms, a coffee machine and a vending machine. Zapgo has partnered with local businesses to provide ongoing maintenance.
Barrow-in-Furness itself is an industrial port town, which is (perhaps unsurprisingly) underserved by public charging. However, the nearby Lake District National Park sees some 18-19 million visitors annually.
“We’re delighted to launch Zapgo’s largest site to-date: a much-needed ultra-rapid charging hub in Barrow-in-Furness which provides significant support to the growing number of local residents and visitors who are making the switch to EVs,” said Neil Mahapatra, CEO of Zapgo. “Our site’s proximity to the world-famous Lake District National Park makes it a key amenity for the millions of families who visit the area each year.”
ProLogium Technology has begun mass production of its Gen 3.5 Lithium Ceramic Battery (LCB) at the company’s plant in Taiwan.
According to a recent third-party TÜV test, the 185.4 Ah large-format cell delivers 381 Wh/kg specific energy and 903 Wh/L energy density.
UL Solutions tested the cell under China’s GB/T 43568-2026 methodology. After six hours under vacuum at 120° C the cell recorded weight loss of less than 0.05%, below the 0.5% maximum the standard sets for all-solid-state classification.
The cell is built on ProLogium’s Logithium architecture, which pairs a ceramic separator with an edge-frame structure that adds a second separator around the electrode perimeter to help isolate potential burrs while providing sealing and insulation. ProLogium completed the design and patent work for the architecture in 2012 and has kept it in place through four generations of cell technology and three generations of manufacturing process.
Commercial production began in 2013 on a sheet-by-sheet line aimed at niche markets including consumer electronics, wearables, explosion-resistant applications, medical devices and semiconductor equipment. A roll-to-roll line followed in 2017, and the third-generation Giga-level platform entered operation in 2024. ProLogium says it obtained IATF 16949 automotive quality-management certification for its production line in 2022 and has passed the annual surveillance audits since.
ProLogium’s cells are supplied to a US automotive audio-system company and installed in vehicles from a Japanese automaker. ProLogium estimates deliveries to the audio-system company at more than 900,000 cells across over 175 repeat orders, and says the unmanned systems market has brought orders as well, for applications in which payload, endurance and recharge time matter.
Gen 4 LCB uses a fully inorganic superfluidized electrolyte system, a change ProLogium outlined in 2025, while keeping the same Logithium architecture and manufacturing process. About 10% of the existing Giga-level line and related equipment would need modification to build Gen 4 cells, by the company’s estimate. The generation adds an Active Safety Mechanism (ASM) designed to prevent thermal runaway by stabilizing electrode active materials at high temperature, and the company expects Gen 4 to improve low-temperature performance and reduce material and manufacturing costs. Its intended applications, according to ProLogium, are electric vehicles, maritime and aerospace.
ProLogium plans to build a global manufacturing network built in three regions: Taiwan as its technology-development and manufacturing-validation base, France for scaled production and North America for localized supply and manufacturing capacity. In the first phase of its North American plan, the company says it will evaluate partnerships under which Inlays, the single-layer unit that forms an LCB cell, would be produced at scale in France and shipped to North America, where partners would stack them into pouch cells and handle module and pack integration closer to end customers. It would consider adding Inlay production capacity in the United States at a later stage.
Shell is a player the EV charging infrastructure industry in Germany, where it currently operates more than 2,400 charging points.
Now the oil giant is working with Amazon to help charge the retail giant’s electric heavy-duty trucks at dedicated truck charging hubs in Hannover, Kirchheim and Koblenz. Amazon currently operates some 45 electric heavy-duty vehicles in Germany.
The new hubs are designed for the demands of heavy-duty fleets. They feature liquid-cooled, bookable chargers that deliver up to 400 kW of power.
Amazon’s partners will also use Shell’s Home-away-from-Home model at selected sites. This system allows fleet operators to reserve charging slots at public charging sites in advance, enabling schedulers to coordinate charging stops with route planning and legally mandated driver rest periods.
The collaboration builds on Shell’s existing fuel service relationship with Amazon. Access and payment are handled through the Shell Card, giving fleet customers access to Shell’s charging network for heavy-duty vehicles in Germany, which currently includes around 150 charging points.
“Amazon’s use of Shell’s high-power truck charging hubs shows how we can help fleet operators electrify heavy-duty transport in a practical way,” said Melanie Falkenstern, Head of Fleet Solutions DACH at Shell. “Our focus is on providing reliable, high-power charging in the right locations, with simple access and payment through the Shell Card. Services such as Home-away-from-Home add another layer of certainty by helping fleets plan charging around their operations.”
“As we continue to integrate electric trucks into our transport network, reliable access to high-power charging is essential. Working with Shell gives us additional charging options on key routes in Germany, while the ability to reserve charging slots helps us plan routes, charging stops and driver rest periods with greater confidence,” said Andreas Marschner, Vice President of Worldwide Sustainable Operations at Amazon.
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Fast-charging G CELLS from Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) have run 489 charge and discharge cycles without measurable capacity loss, according to test data collected by the Battery Innovation Center of Indiana (BIC) and current as of September 4, 2026. The 1 Ah pouch cells were charged and discharged within six minutes for each cycle, at a 10 C rate in both directions.
BIC built the test cells itself, using graphene materials that GMG developed, manufactured and supplied from its Brisbane Battery Development Centre. The work falls under a joint development agreement between GMG and Rio Tinto.
GMG’s product page describes G CELLS as graphene aluminum-ion cells that use no lithium or rare earth materials, and says they are designed to be interchangeable with lithium-ion battery applications.
A lithium titanate oxide (LTO) cell put through the same profile fell to 86% of its original capacity within 64 cycles. GMG puts the difference at more than seven times the cycle life under identical testing.
Internal resistance of the G CELLS measured around 5 mΩ, against up to 30 mΩ for the LTO cell. Lower resistance means less resistive heating at a given current. The G CELLS ran 4° C above ambient during testing, and the LTO cells ran 19° C above it.
GMG reports specific energy lower than it has previously reported. The company describes the cells as unoptimized and expects to bring the figure back to around 50 Wh/kg at the same charge rate after further optimization.
Voltage stayed close to flat across roughly 80% of the discharge, which GMG says makes constant-power discharge easier to control.
“Having built and scaled battery manufacturing for the world’s largest lithium-ion producer, I know how rare it is to see this combination of fast-charge durability and thermal control this early in a cell’s development,” said Bob Galyen, GMG Director and former Chief Technology Officer of CATL. “There is clear further work ahead on some of the energy density optimisation and further scaling of the cell size, but the fundamentals being demonstrated here are the right ones to be solving first.”
As the DC fast charging market matures, it’s becoming apparent that distributed charging systems are best for some applications, while all-in-one chargers are the best fit for others. EVSE manufacturer Alpitronic offers both options.
In 2025, Alpitronic unveiled its HYC1000 distributed charging system, which features a Power Cabinet with eight 125 kW Power Stacks that deliver a total charging power of up to one megawatt. The system can distribute this power in 62.5 kW increments to as many as eight outputs. Alpitronic now specifies the efficiency of the Power Cabinet at up to 98.2 percent, an improvement over the original quote of 97.5 percent.
The Power Cabinet was originally launched with three dispenser options:
The MCS Dispenser has an MCS plug (maximum 1,500 A, 1,000 kW) and an optional CCS plug (600 A, 600 kW).
The HP Dispenser has a CCS plug (1,000 A, 1,000 kW).
The EV Dispenser offers up to two CCS plugs (600 A, 600 kW).
Now Alpitronic has added the new Depot Dispenser, specifically designed for charging e-bus and e-truck fleets at depots, to its lineup.
The Depot Dispenser features a compact housing measuring 600 × 400 × 250 mm. Depending on the configuration, this dispenser weighs up to 35 kg, excluding the charging cable. It can be wall-mounted, pedestal-mounted, or installed on a crossbeam or under the depot ceiling. The charging cable is available in lengths of 2.0, 5.5, and 7.5 m. (The extra-long cable is suitable for overhead mounts.)
The Depot Dispenser features a CCS connector and operates at voltages ranging from 150 to 1,000 V. Alpitronic specifies a peak current of 400 A, enabling the stated 400 kW—though this is only achievable with vehicles operating near 1,000 V. This places the Depot Dispenser on par with the uncooled cable of the EV Dispenser, which also supports 400 A.
For the Depot Dispenser, Alpitronic has omitted the touchscreen commonly found on its larger charging stations. Instead, a status LED indicates charging status. Authentication is provided via RFID. Optional card readers and a QR code reader allow operators to enable charging for both their own fleets and for guest vehicles. A legally compliant DC meter is also offered as an option.
The Depot Dispenser will initially launch in Europe, and other markets will follow.
“With the Depot Dispenser, we address the specific requirements of a depot,” says Philipp Senoner, CEO of Alpitronic. “For fleet operators, the focus is not on providing the maximum possible power at every charging point. What matters is charging vehicles reliably, economically, and in line with their operational and dwell times. This is exactly the flexibility we provide with our charging portfolio.”
Archer Aviation, BETA and Macquarie Capital have collaborated to launch America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways (ACES), and have set a goal to electrify up to 250 air taxi sites at America’s largest airports and metro areas over the next decade.
The consortium’s current project is to expand interoperable electric aviation charging infrastructure in Texas at key facilities such as airports and FBOs (fixed-base operators, which provide support services to general aviation operators at public-use airports).
ACES plans to create a shared infrastructure model under which multiple operators can use the same chargers. This approach will enable infrastructure operators, OEMs and investors to join in building a unified network rather than competing proprietary charging systems.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is conducting pilots in cooperation with the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), which is designed to accelerate the safe deployment of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles in the National Airspace System.
ACES will collaborate with t TxDOT to identify locations where eVTOL operators expect to fly, and prepare the needed infrastructure. The agency has highlighted plans for regional test flights connecting the Texas Triangle (Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston) and rural communities with air taxi networks. BETA, Archer and other OEMs plan to conduct electric air taxi test flights in Texas in the coming months.
“Texas is preparing the way for America to lead the world in commercializing the next generation of aviation technologies, and infrastructure is how that push becomes real,” said Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer. “ACES plans to put interoperable chargers where eIPP operations will take place, built on an open standard the whole industry can use. That’s the foundation Texas needs to set the region up for passenger air taxi flights across the Texas Triangle as part of the final phase of the Texas eIPP pilot.”
“Aircraft are only useful if you have the infrastructure in place to support them,” said Kyle Clark, founder and CEO of BETA Technologies. “ACES is about making sure that infrastructure is interoperable, reliable, and ready where operators need it. Texas gives us a great opportunity to put that work into practice alongside TxDOT and show how shared charging infrastructure can support real operations today.”
