Researchers find manganese can cause battery flaw that may shorten EV lifespans

While cobalt-free, high-nickel cathode batteries such as manganese-coated nickel core batteries have emerged as a potential method to increase EV driving range while reducing dependence on expensive critical minerals, research suggests that exposing precursor material to air can cause subtle chemical changes that later accelerate battery degradation.

A study at Hanyang University in South Korea found that exposing battery precursor materials to air alters manganese chemistry, creating reactive surface defects that accelerate electrolyte breakdown and could significantly reduce the lifespan of these next-generation batteries.

An adjustment in lithium content during synthesis can suppress these defects and restore stability, helping manufacturers develop longer-lasting, high-energy batteries for future electric vehicles, according to the research team led by Professor Jin Ho Bang along with PhD Scholar JinHa Shim.

The findings of the study were published in Volume 19, Issue 12 of the journal Energy and Environmental Science.

The team observed that manganese can unexpectedly become a source of instability under certain manufacturing conditions. The storage of precursor materials in air-exposed areas leads to the oxidation of manganese on the particle surface, which then results in the formation of defective regions enriched with “Jahn-Teller distorted” manganese species. These distorted surfaces become highly reactive, leading to electrolyte decomposition, transition-metal dissolution and damaging reactions with the graphite anode. This hidden defect can nearly double the rate of capacity fading in nickel-rich battery systems during extended battery cycling tests.

“We found that a manganese-rich shell, which is normally introduced to protect high-nickel cathodes, can instead become a catalyst for degradation if the precursor chemistry is not carefully controlled,” explained Professor Bang. “Even small variations in precursor storage history can substantially affect battery stability.”

To overcome this problem, the researchers suggest that increasing the amount of excess lithium during synthesis could suppress the formation of defective surface phase and restore stable manganese-oxygen bonding. These modified cathodes could retain more than 90% of their capacity, improving long-term durability.

“Our results show that even minor variations in precursor history can have major consequences for battery performance, making precursor management an important consideration for large-scale manufacturing,” Professor Bang added. Rather than requiring expensive coatings or major redesigns of production lines, careful control of precursor handling and lithium stoichiometry could provide a comparatively upfront route towards more durable batteries.

These improvements could eventually translate into electric vehicles with longer battery lifespans and also support the durability of large-scale energy storage systems that would require stable, high-energy batteries for renewable energy applications in future, the research found.

Source: Hanyang University ERICA

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Exicom starts producing liquid-cooled power modules for EV chargers in India

Exicom has started manufacturing liquid-cooled AC and DC power modules at its Hyderabad Smart Manufacturing Facility, and says it is the first company in India to build this class of power electronics for global markets.

The first modules are destined mainly for North America and Europe, where they will go into Tritium’s DC charger portfolio, including TRI-FLEX and DC-FLEX. Later phases will bring the technology closer to Exicom’s own customers, among them charge point operators, fleets and OEMs, through Tritium’s range of DC fast chargers, which are being deployed in India. Exicom also plans to design the liquid-cooled architecture into its Harmony DC chargers.

Exicom estimates the share of power electronics failures attributable to thermal stress at nearly 60%, citing reliability studies, and says every 10° C to 15° C rise in temperature doubles a component’s failure rate. Liquid coolant, it says, can hold internal temperatures roughly 10° C lower than air-cooled systems.

“Anyone who has stood next to a fast charger on a 45-degree afternoon knows what heat does to electronics. EV Charging is getting faster with chargers running more hours a day, and customers expect them to work every season and at every site,” said Anant Nahata, Exicom’s CEO and Managing Director.

The modules build on Tritium’s in-house liquid-cooled capability, and Exicom says this class of module has been refined across some of the toughest charging environments in the world. Exicom acquired the DC fast charging company in 2024.

The fully sealed construction keeps out the dust, moisture and salt air that shorten charger life in the field, according to Exicom. The company also credits the design with more power in a compact footprint, continuous operation under load and lower operating cost over the module’s lifetime.

The Hyderabad plant, which Exicom says is set up with automation, digital traceability and specialized testing, will build the modules for domestic and international markets.

“Globally, liquid cooling has become the architecture of choice for high-power charging. We are bringing this technology to India. Local manufacturing matters because we now own more of that technology ourselves. We can engineer it, improve it and adapt it faster, for our customers here and across the world,” said Nahata.

Source: Exicom

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Yokogawa’s new CT500SA and CT200SA current sensors clamp onto cables in tight EV test spaces

Yokogawa Test & Measurement has announced two AC/DC split core current sensors, the CT500SA and CT200SA, for measuring current on cables that can’t be cut to thread through a through-hole sensor. The second-generation models cover the 500 A and 200 A ranges, clamp directly onto a conductor and are built for space-constrained environments such as in-vehicle testing.

The main sensor unit of both measures 110 mm wide by 62 mm high by 25 mm deep. Each opens with a single unlock-and-open button that can be worked with one hand, and the body carries an M4 screw hole and a cable tie slot for fixing the sensor in place. Sensor outputs are sensitive to positioning, and Yokogawa says securing the sensor improves measurement repeatability.

Yokogawa puts accuracy at ±0.1% from -40° C to 85° C, improving to ±0.09% of reading plus 0.01% of full scale over a 23 ±5° C range, and phase accuracy at ±0.1° between 0.1 Hz and 1 kHz. The company rates that an order of magnitude better than conventional current sensors and on par with through-hole types, and says conventional split core sensors don’t meet the accuracy these applications require because of challenges introduced by their clamp-on design.

The CT500SA delivers a frequency bandwidth of 500 kHz (-3 dB), and the CT200SA extends to 1 MHz (-3 dB). Yokogawa says both can also measure the switching frequencies used in motor inverter validation, which require wideband measurement.

Post-assembly validation of inverters and motors leaves little room around components, and the cables can’t be cut. Yokogawa says lighter, more compact vehicle architectures limit access further for a sensor sized for 1,000 A like its existing CT1000S, particularly in applications at lower current ratings.

Engineers can switch between waveform and power analysis as they move through test phases. A current sensor is normally usable with only one class of instrument, either a power analyzer or a waveform measurement instrument. Both new models connect to either one directly, without a conversion connector or supporting accessory. Yokogawa says that eliminates sensor swaps, and that measuring identical signals removes the need to synchronize data afterward.

Yokogawa lists photovoltaic output measurement, HVAC current monitoring and inverter efficiency analysis of pulse width modulation (PWM) outputs with harmonic content among the applications, alongside EV testing.

Both sensors are scheduled for release on September 9, 2026.

Source: Yokogawa Test & Measurement

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Hypercharge launches rewards program for Canadian EV drivers

EV charging operator Hypercharge Networks has launched a new EV charging rewards program that gives eligible Canadian EV drivers a free Level 2 charger, cash rewards, and installation support through the Hypercharge Preferred Partners network.

The new Hypercharge Home Club is open to single-family homeowners in Canada. It’s supported by Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations.

Eligible drivers can join with a refundable $299 deposit. Members receive a Level 2 Hypercharge Home charger, and earn cash rewards for eligible home charging. Home Club members initially earn $0.03 per kWh of home charging. If they rack up 1,500 kWh of eligible home charging within 24 months, their deposit will be refunded, and their reward rate increased to $0.11 per kWh.

Source: Hypercharge

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Retire your gas-burner now to maximize pollution reduction

The anti-EV crowd has an endless repertoire of specious arguments designed to convince EV-curious drivers to continue burning gas just a little longer. One of these is the idea that, because building a new car has a carbon footprint, it’s greener to hang on to your old gas car than to replace it with a new EV.

Sounds logical, right? Maybe, but the facts tell a different story. New research from the University of California Santa Cruz finds that replacing a legacy ICE car with an EV as soon as possible yields the greatest possible climate benefits.

While it’s true that the carbon footprint of producing an EV is higher than that of a legacy vehicle, this “carbon backpack” will be cancelled out within a few years by the EV’s lower well-to-wheels emissions. Several studies have found that an EV will produce lower emissions over the life of the vehicle. (See the EPA and Carbone4 for links to some of the relevant studies.)

The UC Santa Cruz researchers found that it typically takes about three years for the lower emissions of driving a battery-electric vehicle to offset the emissions required to produce it. Furthermore, switching from an ICE to an EV within the first year of the gas car’s life will result in a 58% reduction in carbon emissions over a 16-year period.

As UC’s Allison Arteaga Soergel writes, “From a carbon emissions standpoint, you’d be better off sending a brand-new internal combustion engine car directly to the scrap heap in order to replace it with a battery-electric car.”

Of course, the researchers don’t recommend scrapping a car you just bought—the greenest choice isn’t always the smartest financial move. But for drivers who are in the process of considering a purchase, the new study, published in the journal Science, makes the sustainability case for EV ownership clear.

“This is really a definitive study about the carbon emissions benefits of EVs, because it shows that even in such an extreme scenario, the EV is still the obvious winner,” explained UC Santa Cruz Environmental Studies Professor Elliott Campbell, lead author of the paper. “So if you’re trying to decide whether or not to put money into keeping your gas car going, switching to an EV as soon as a financially viable opportunity comes up is absolutely the right thing to do for the environment.”

Campbell developed the idea for the current study in the course of interviewing people about their perceptions of EVs. “This question of when to retire your current vehicle kept coming up,” he says.

Campbell found that research about this specific question was lacking. “Keeping gear going makes sense in so many contexts, but not in every context. Sometimes it’s better to make a shift to a newer, more efficient option, and it wasn’t clear yet which was the case with transitioning to an EV.”

Campbell and his coauthor, UC Santa Barbara Professor Roland Geyer, compared different timelines for replacing an ICE vehicle with an EV. They calculated the percentage difference in emissions that would result if a gas-powered vehicle was driven for its full useful life (about 16 years), or scrapped and replaced earlier.

They looked at how carbon emissions for more than 400 ICE and BEV models were affected by different vehicle efficiencies, grid electricity sources, vehicle mileages, and EV manufacturing emissions and battery sizes.

Their results showed that the climate benefits were generally greatest when gas-powered vehicles were retired at year one, resulting in a 58% reduction in carbon emissions over a 16-year period. It typically took about three years for the lower emissions of driving a battery electric vehicle to offset the emissions required to produce it. The climate benefits added up quickly from there.

“What it comes down to is that gas vehicles require so much more energy to operate,” Campbell explains. “Only 20% of the energy in the gasoline that most of our cars burn actually goes toward moving the vehicle—the rest is lost as heat. So it really puts internal combustion engines in a totally different class than EVs when it comes to efficiency, and that leads to a situation where you want to retire the gas-powered vehicle as soon as you can.”

The exact benefits of retiring any particular ICE vehicle vary based on location and the specific type of vehicle. But 92% of the scenarios that researchers modeled for replacing gas-powered or hybrid vehicles with battery-electric vehicles before the end of the vehicle’s useful lifespan achieved at least some overall reduction in carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, a recent MIT study has added to the existing pile of studies debunking the Long Tailpipe myth—the idea that driving an EV simply displaces emissions from the tailpipe to the power plant. The latest research, published in Environmental Research Letters, found that, despite regional differences in climate, electricity sources, traffic and driving patterns, EVs produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and cost no more to own, than comparable gas-powered cars for most US drivers. Even the dirtiest US grid fails to make an EV the more polluting option. And of course, electrical grids around the world are becoming greener over time, whereas a gas car burns the same fuel for the rest of its life.

Source: UC Santa Cruz

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NoMIS Power demonstrates 6.5 kV SiC MOSFET, begins sampling to US customers

NoMIS Power has demonstrated its first 6.5 kV large-die SiC MOSFET, which it measured at over 8 kV blocking, 90 mΩ on-resistance and 55 A drain current. The part is now sampling to US-based customers, and deliveries of production versions are scheduled to begin in Q4 2026.

The 6.5 kV family will grow beyond the demonstrated device to add on-resistance variants, small-die parts, hybrid junction-barrier Schottky FET (JBSFET) devices and standalone diodes. JBSFET construction, the company says, prevents body-diode degradation. NoMIS Power lists high-voltage direct current (HVDC), solid-state transformers, pulsed power, rail traction and MW-scale EV charging among the intended applications.

Higher blocking voltage lets a converter run a higher DC-link voltage without series-connecting lower-voltage devices, an approach that requires voltage-balancing circuitry and adds losses. SiC’s higher critical field allows a thinner drift region than silicon at the same blocking voltage, which holds down on-resistance and conduction losses in the multi-kilovolt classes.

The 3.3 kV MOSFET family is in production: 80 mΩ at 34 A, 50 mΩ at 55 A and 25 mΩ at 105 A, in TO-247-4L-HC and bare die. The portfolio also includes 50–160 mΩ bidirectional SiC switches and a 500 A half-bridge power module. Charged covered the company’s 3.3 kV and 1.7 kV planar devices in February 2026.

Above 6.5 kV, NoMIS Power has 10 kV MOSFETs, diodes, JBSFET parts and SiC IGBTs in development for grid-scale HVDC, traction and pulsed power, and says they will sample in Q4 2026. The roadmap extends toward 20 kV.

“Demonstrating 6.5 kV blocking to over 8 kV proves our planar SiC platform scales cleanly from the 3.3 kV devices shipping today into the high-voltage class,” said Adam Morgan, co-founder and CEO of NoMIS Power.

Source: NoMIS Power

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Octopus Charge promises to enable EV charging at thousands of North American stations with a single app

One of the biggest gripes EV drivers have about public charging is the proliferation of apps. Every charge point operator wants you to set up an account and use their app. Frequent long-distance drivers often have to juggle several apps—and some of them are badly designed.

Now Octopus Energy US promises to “bring public charging into one seamless experience with one-tap access to tens of thousands of charging stations across North America.”

The company’s new Octopus Charge program builds on the success of Octopus Energy Group’s Electroverse platform in the UK and Europe. Since launching in 2020, Electroverse has grown into a major EV charging platform—the company says it provides access to more than one million public charge points across more than 40 countries through a single app and a single account.

The company boasts an impressive number of member CPOs in the US and Canada:

• EVGo
• ChargePoint
• BLINK
• Lynkwell
• Red E
• bp pulse
• Shell Recharge
• Flo
• EVCS
• Circle K
• Couche Tard Recharge
• Circuit Électrique
• Hypercharge
• SWTCH Energy
• EVoke
• ChargerQuest
• EV Connect
• AppleGreen Electric
• FPL EVolution
• ABM
• ZEF Energy
• Flash Parking EV Charging Network
• Monta
• Stay N Charge

If this works consistently, it would be extremely cool—almost as cool as Plug & Charge, which is (too) slowly being rolled out here in the US.

We haven’t yet heard any testimonials from drivers who have actually used Octopus Charge. Some of the best-known networks (Tesla, Electrify America, IONNA, Walmart) are missing from the list (at least for now), but several networks that I use on a regular basis are on the list, so I shall be testing Octopus Charge on my next road trip. Stay tuned, and let us know if you have any experience with this new service.

“Drivers shouldn’t have to juggle multiple apps and accounts just to charge their cars,” said Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus Energy US. “By bringing public charging into one seamless experience, Octopus Charge gives drivers the confidence to hit the road, helping remove another barrier to EV adoption.”

“We built Octopus Charge to remove unnecessary friction from the charging experience, helping drivers spend less time managing charging and more time enjoying the drive,” said Sebastian Blake, Head of Product at Octopus Energy US.

Source: Octopus

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