Iberdrola bp pulse selects Driivz software to manage its EV charging network in Spain and Portugal

Driivz, a Vontier company, supplies software to EV charging operators. Iberdrola bp pulse, a collaboration between oil giant bp and Spanish electric utility Iberdrola, operates EV charging sites on the Iberian Peninsula.

Now Iberdrola bp pulse has selected Driivz to manage and optimize its network of 2,500 DC fast chargers. The Driivz software platform will provide Iberdrola bp pulse with analytics across its network, delivering real-time visibility into charger availability, uptime, hardware performance and charging patterns.

Iberdrola bp pulse says it will use Driivz’s API-first architecture and energy management platform to support future capabilities including vehicle-to-grid integration and smart coordinated charging.

“This migration is a strategic decision to build our operation on foundations that allow us to grow, innovate and deliver reliability,” said Federico Artes, Technology and Operations Director of Iberdrola bp pulse for the Iberian Peninsula. “In a business where every charger is a revenue-generating asset, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. This partnership will translate into a more reliable network for drivers, a more efficient operation for our team and a smarter grid asset for the energy ecosystem.”

“Networks of this complexity—spanning multiple markets, vendors and customer segments—require a platform built around data and operational intelligence,” said Shiri Levi-Laor, CEO of Driivz. “That’s what Driivz delivers.”

Source: bp pulse

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Mercedes-Benz starts production of the electric C-Class at its expanded Kecskemét plant

Mercedes-Benz has opened two new production halls at its Kecskemét plant in Hungary and begun building the new all-electric C-Class there. The company says it is the first time the site has manufactured a battery-electric core model.

The expansion took the plant’s footprint from 200 to 440 hectares. Alongside the bodywork and assembly halls, Mercedes-Benz built a second press shop, a new paint shop and a battery assembly facility. The company invested around €1 billion in the site, and says Kecskemét will be the largest automotive production site in Hungary. More than 5,000 people work there.

Body parts and the drive batteries for the electric GLB and C-Class are produced on site, which Mercedes-Benz describes as a local-for-local approach. The plant runs a dual production model: the existing hall builds combustion and battery-electric vehicles flexibly on a single line, and the newly built hall is geared to fully electric vehicles. Mercedes-Benz says that lets it adapt production volumes to market demand.

Digital production in the new halls is built on MO360, the company’s production data platform, which Mercedes-Benz says links production, quality and supply chain data across its sites. The company says Kecskemét is also the first of its plants where it has created a complete digital replica of an entire assembly hall.

That “Digital Factory Twin,” built in NVIDIA Omniverse, simulates individual production steps and tracks process flows across the manufacture of the electric C-Class before they run on the real line, according to Mercedes-Benz. The company also says its MO360 Vision System supports quality control with camera-based applications and can detect defects on the vehicle in real time.

A 240,000 m² open-space solar park west of the plant has a capacity of 27.4 MWp. Together with rooftop arrays on the new battery assembly, body-in-white and final assembly halls, on-site photovoltaics reach 42.3 MWp, which Mercedes-Benz says covers around 25% of the plant’s annual energy requirement. The new paint shop cuts energy consumption by around 20% compared with the existing facility and CO₂ emissions by around 80%, according to the company.

Kecskemét sits in a European production network for the Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA) platform, alongside the Rastatt plant in southern Germany. Mercedes-Benz will be able to build the electric GLC at Bremen or Kecskemét depending on demand, and a more compact version of the G-Class will be produced exclusively in Kecskemét.

Source: Mercedes-Benz Group

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Chroma’s 8000 EV & EVSE test system covers ISO 15118-20 and liquid-cooled charging

Test equipment maker Chroma has introduced the Chroma 8000 EV & EVSE automated test system (ATS), which the company says is built for simultaneous multi-connector testing of DC EV supply equipment (EVSE), EV charging compatibility validation and liquid-cooled high-current charging tests.

Paired with the Chroma 80713 EV & EVSE simulator, the system supports testing against both ISO 15118-2 and ISO 15118-20 requirements, which Chroma says lets users perform interoperability and communication protocol validation across both versions of the standard.

Chroma describes ISO 15118-2 as the mainstream DC fast charging communication framework, applicable to compatibility testing for mass-produced EVs and charging stations. ISO 15118-20 extends it with support for Plug & Charge, wireless power transfer, bidirectional power transfer and Megawatt Charging System (MCS) applications.

ISO 15118-20 also adds Dynamic and Scheduled charging modes, which allow a charging strategy to be adjusted to grid conditions, and its support for bidirectional power transfer lets an EV feed electricity back into the grid. Communication security moves to Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3.

Higher DC fast charging power means higher currents, which raise the thermal load on the cable, the connector and the power modules behind them. Liquid cooling carries that heat away more effectively than air cooling.

Chroma says the 8000 ATS supports stable, long-duration high-current testing, and that its power switching design helps reduce the risk of test interruptions, making it suited to validating liquid-cooled charging connectors, high-power modules and MCS applications.

According to Chroma, its AC/DC charging test platform switches between power sources and loads to simulate charging scenarios, and dynamic data analysis and charge recording and playback functions let users monitor test results in real time and replay a charging session for validation.

Source: Chroma

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Graphite One chooses engineering firm to procure graphite production equipment

Graphite One has executed an engineering contract with a battery anode production facility engineering firm and advanced development of its manufacturing site in Conneaut, Ohio.

The company aims to establish 25,000 tonnes per year of domestic synthetic graphite capacity by the fourth quarter of 2028.

To that end, Graphite One has signed an engineering contract to de-risk and optimize the Ohio facility manufacturing systems for commercial-scale production.

The company has engaged a global engineering and production line integration provider to support the design and integration of the manufacturing equipment for the site.

The contract is a step forward in the company’s strategy to build a fully integrated, US-based graphite supply chain capable of supplying battery-grade graphite materials for EVs, energy storage systems and defense applications.

The engineering team will provide production line integration services, including equipment interface design, process integration, production flow optimization and operational readiness planning.

The Ohio facility is intended to produce active anode materials (AAM) from materials mined at the company’s Graphite Creek deposit in Alaska.

The company has secured the site, which offers direct rail access, Great Lakes shipping access and existing high-capacity electrical service, through an agreement with a subsidiary of CN Railway. It has completed geotechnical drilling and has started the environmental assessment and permitting process, which it aims to complete in the first quarter of 2027.

The strategy includes mining at Graphite Creek, transport via the Port of Nome, processing into advanced graphite and anode materials in Ohio and a potential co-located recycling facility to recover graphite and other battery materials, subject to project financing.

Graphite One plans phased development of the project, targeting an initial capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year of active anode material (AAM) finishing and blending operations in the fourth quarter of 2027, expanding to 25,000 tonnes per year of synthetic graphite and graphitization output in the fourth quarter of 2028.

“The execution of this engineering contract and the advancement of our Conneaut site represent important steps in building what we believe can become one of North America’s leading domestic sources of synthetic graphite AAM,” said Anthony Huston, President and CEO of Graphite One. “With the site secured, critical infrastructure advantages in place, engineering activities underway, and a clear phased development strategy, we now have a defined, de-risked path toward establishing 25,000 tonnes per year of synthetic graphite capacity by the end of 2028.”

Source: Graphite One

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Webinar: Inside cable in conduit – practical solutions for modern EV infrastructure

The session will provide attendees with valuable information on cable in conduit, focusing on the key considerations that drive successful installation, long-term reliability, and project efficiency. We’ll be covering practical applications, common challenges, and best practices from utility, industrial, and EV infrastructure projects.  Attendees will gain insights into improving installation performance, minimizing field issues, and optimizing project execution. 

Key takeaways from this webinar include:

• Understanding of cable in conduit fundamentals and applications 
• Best practices for conduit selection, cable pulling, and installation methods in EV infrastructures 
• How to identify and avoid common installation challenges that can lead to costly delays or damage 
• Effective strategies for improving project execution, scheduling, and field coordination 
• Opportunities to reduce risk and improve overall installation efficiency 

Join us on Thursday, August 27th at 12pm EDT

Register now, it’s free

 

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Alsym and ERITY to develop sodium-ion energy storage systems for the mining sector

Alsym Energy and ERITY have signed a 9 GWh Strategic Relationship Agreement (SRA) to jointly deploy battery energy storage systems (BESS) for the mining sector. Alsym develops sodium-ion batteries it says are non-flammable and low-cost, and ERITY is an integrated services organization that supports the mining, resources and energy sectors.

Alsym’s Na-Series sodium-ion batteries are slated for deployment in existing operations and new projects run by Volt Resources and Resource Minerals International in Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Finland and the US, as well as BESS projects for unaffiliated mining companies. ERITY operates on six continents and has major operations in Australia, Africa and the Middle East.

Mining operations are often far from any grid connection, and typically run on diesel generators. Alsym says the sector burns roughly 125 billion liters of diesel a year, accounting for 30 to 50% of a mine’s operating costs. BESS paired with renewables offers a more cost-effective alternative for remote sites.

The 9 GWh agreement covers several applications: round-the-clock micro-grid power for mining operations, including the ventilation systems that are a major cost in subsurface mines; power for critical mineral extraction and processing; onsite data centers that process geologic data in real time; electrified mining and hauling equipment; and mobile BESS that can be moved to wherever power is needed.

Alsym says its Na-Series cells can be safely stored and transported at 0% state of charge, which suits the mobile use case. The company also says its Na-Series chemistry eliminates thermal runaway and operates across a wide temperature range, avoiding the need for HVAC systems for safety or performance.

“This collaboration allows us to address the pressing energy challenges faced by the mining industry, where energy demands are significant and operations are often located in remote areas with limited access to traditional power infrastructure,” said Manny Claassens, COO (Energy) at ERITY. “By integrating Alsym Energy’s thermally stable, high-performance storage solutions into mining operations, we have an opportunity to help reduce operational costs, enhance energy resilience, and support improved safety and sustainability outcomes.”

Source: Alsym Energy

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Flux Power’s SkyEMS 3.0 adds battery-health analytics and customizable dashboards

Flux Power has released SkyEMS 3.0, the latest version of its fleet energy-management platform for lithium-ion battery packs. The update centers on customizable dashboards, AI-driven analytics and battery-health monitoring, all of which is designed to give operators a configurable view of how their batteries are charging, working and aging.

Flux Power’s packs run mainly in material handling equipment such as forklifts and in airport ground support equipment (GSE), applications in which unplanned battery downtime stalls operations.

The dashboard is the core of the redesign. Drag-and-drop widgets let each user choose the metrics that matter to them: state of charge, charging activity, fleet utilization, runtime performance and battery health trends. Teams can configure alerts around specific operational thresholds so the right people are notified when a battery crosses a limit. A new mobile interface extends that visibility to phones and tablets, and an enterprise API and role-based user management feature handle larger deployments.

SkyEMS 3.0 also adds pack-level State of Health (SOH) diagnostics, lifecycle tracking and end-of-life forecasting. A new feature Flux Power calls Work Profile Classification automatically analyzes how each battery is used and feeds those patterns into its SOH model, which the company says improves the accuracy of its remaining-life estimates. More accurate SOH forecasting helps operators plan replacements more confidently and reduce unplanned downtime.

The platform’s AI analytics engine studies fleet-wide activity to flag anomalies and surface recommendations. Flux Power says the combination can cut the time operators take to become aware of battery issues by 15% to 40% and improve fleet uptime by 10% to 30%. SkyEMS 3.0 is available to Flux Power customers.

“Fleet managers don’t need more data. They need the right data,” said Krishna Vanka, Flux Power’s CEO.

Source: Flux Power

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