Care rental agency Midwestern Wheels provides EV charging in Wisconsin communities

Midwestern Wheels, a licensee of Avis Budget Group, is working with EV charging provider ChargePoint to deliver EV charging to its rental car customers and local residents.

New public charging hubs at Midwestern Wheels’ airport and local market rental car branches in Appleton and Madison, Wisconsin are open to the public.

Multiple stations feature the ChargePoint Omni Port, the company’s adaptable charging solution that allows any new EV to be charged without adapters. All stations are managed by the new ChargePoint Platform, ChargePoint’s next-generation software solution.

“By opening their chargers up to the public, Midwestern Wheels has maximized utilization and accelerated their return on investment while increasing their brand awareness in the local community,” said Rick Wilmer, CEO at ChargePoint. “Midwestern Wheels’ deployment of ChargePoint solutions, particularly our Omni Port, has futureproofed their infrastructure by ensuring its customers and communities can charge when and where they need to, without having to dedicate parking spaces to specific EV connector types.”

“As EV adoption continues, we have created a unique win-win experience by offering EV charging to the public and our rental car customers in addition to our internal fleet charging needs,” said Bill Wallschlaeger, President, Midwestern Wheels. “Our Appleton and Madison charging stations not only simplify the process for our rental EVs, but will serve public EV drivers in each community.”

Source: ChargePoint

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Webinar: Advancements in electrified mobile hydraulic systems – a panel discussion

Designed specifically for OEM system architects, mobile hydraulics engineers, product managers, and application specialists, this 60-minute webinar (45-minute panel discussion plus 15-minute Q&A) delivers practical, actionable guidance on selecting, integrating, and validating efficient electrified mobile hydraulic architectures. Get in-depth insight into core subsystems (traction, steering, work functions, and ePTO), control strategies (positive/negative flow control, power-on-demand, electro-hydraulic load sensing), voltage selection (LV vs HV) and safety considerations, regeneration approaches, and proven methods to improve efficiency and ROI—plus perspectives on Parker’s hydraulic and electronic control solutions. Whether you’re modernizing a legacy platform, scaling capacity, or launching a new vehicle architecture, this webinar gives you the engineering clarity to accelerate electrification, enhance performance and safety, and reduce lifecycle cost. 

What you will gain by attending this webinar: 

• A clear view of core components and integration — traction drives, steering systems, work functions, and ePTO working with advanced controls for stable, efficient performance
• A controls decision framework — compare positive vs negative flow control, power-on-demand, ELS, and steering solutions (HPS/eHPS/torque overlay/pure electromechanical) to optimize efficiency and safety
• An electrification toolkit — evaluate full-electric vs mild/strong hybrid vs battery ePTO, LV vs HV trade-offs, regeneration limits and strategies, quantify savings, and build a credible ROI case
• Practical engineering practices — right-sized components, re-evaluating legacy vehicle architectures, multi-wheel coordination and steer-by-wire safety, and designing for functional safety and HV compliance. 

Join us on Wednesday, Feb 11th 2026 at 12pm US EST.
Register now, it’s free

Electric vehicle charger beside heavy machinery on construction site

 

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10 most common transporting mistakes for large-format Li-ion batteries

Sponsored by DGeo.

Transporting Li-ion batteries? Make room for mastery, not mistakes.

Transporting very large format lithium batteries—for electric vehicles, solar power storage, data center backup and other purposes—is a major undertaking. Navigating the process safely, compliantly and efficiently is an ongoing challenge, and it’s not uncommon for mistakes to happen.

These mistakes are costly. From penalties for dangerous goods non-compliance to extensive delays to accidents resulting in injuries, mistakes during large-format lithium battery transport can bring about significantly negative financial consequences. To avoid these unforeseen costs and consequences, an organization has to prevent mistakes before they occur.

If your organization is involved in the manufacture or transport of large-format lithium batteries, read the ebook 10 Common Transport Mistakes for Large-Format Lithium Batteries and become a master, plus see why some of the world’s largest manufacturers rely on DGeo to help them build a turnkey supply chain program.

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California’s proposed $200-million EV incentive program would require matching funds from automakers

Since the current US administration eliminated federal EV tax credits, several states have implemented their own pro-EV measures, or beefed up existing programs.

In California, the administration of Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed to create a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which ended in 2023 and spent $1.49 billion to subsidize 586,000 vehicle purchases over a decade.

The proposed $200-million incentive program will be limited to first-time EV buyers, will include price caps adopted by Congress in 2022, and will require automakers to contribute matching funds. The incentive amounts and other key details have not yet been announced.

Officials from the California Air Resources Board recently met with representatives of the Detroit Three automakers to talk about the plans.

CARB would seem to be facing a tough audience. All three automakers recently cancelled flagship EV programs, causing them to write off a chunk of change in sunk costs (an estimated $19.5 billion at Ford, $6 billion at GM), and arguably sabotaging their long-term competitiveness in the global market. If, as some suspect, their real reason for turning down the voltage was to appease an anti-EV federal administration, then they may dare to support a new incentive program in California.

One might speculate that relations are a little frosty between California and Detroit at the moment. Automakers have been only too willing to cooperate with the US administration as it undid much of the progress made by the California Air Resources Board towards reducing air pollution over the last few years. Last September, Newsom harshly criticized GM, saying that CEO Mary Barra “sold us out.”

CARB told The Mercury News that it plans to hold a workshop in the spring that will “gather stakeholder input,” and that more details “will be finalized in the coming months.”

Sources: Reuters, The Mercury News

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Emobi secures funding to expand its ISO 15118-based JustPlug EV charging technology

EV charging provider Emobi has closed a $3.4-million seed funding round led by Florida Funders. The company will use the new capital to support the expansion of its proprietary seamless EV charging solution, JustPlug.

EV drivers badly need a seamless charging system like the one Tesla drivers have long enjoyed. The good news is that help is on the way. The ISO 15118 standard enables (among other things) a feature called Plug & Charge, which handles authentication and payment automatically—drivers simply plug in and walk away.

The bad news is that not all EV models support Plug & Charge, and several charging experts have told Charged that a substantial amount of work remains to be done before the system comes into widespread use.

Emobi says: “The majority of existing chargers and vehicles lack the necessary hardware and firmware to support traditional Plug & Charge functionality, leaving about 80% of chargers and vehicles unable to adopt this capability. JustPlug removes this long-standing barrier by extending Plug & Charge functionality across both modern and legacy infrastructure.”

Emobi’s JustPlug “enables secure, automatic EV charging with no special hardware, software or setup required.” It uses ISO 15118 digital certificate infrastructure for cloud-based authentication.

Emobi plans to market its JustPlug system through partnerships with automakers, fleets and charging operators. The company says it’s now doing pilot programs with 3 of the top 10 EV automakers in North America. The company has also partnered with infrastructure providers Flipturn, ElectricFish and Curo.

“For over a decade, the EV industry has promised seamless charging but drivers are still fumbling with apps, RFID cards and closed ecosystems,” said Lin Sun Fa, CEO of Emobi. “We’re not waiting for another round of network upgrades or regulatory alignment—JustPlug breaks that stalemate.”

Source: Emobi

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Talga receives Japanese patent for graphite anode technology

Battery materials and technology company Talga has been granted a patent in Japan that builds on its Talnode-C product line, which combines shaping and coating methods as well as purification to make battery anode materials for use in high-power applications such as hybrid vehicles. 

Japanese Patent No. 7779483, titled “Anode Material and Method for Producing Same”, protects Talga’s proprietary process for producing natural graphite anode material delivering superior energy density, long life and fast-charge capability for lithium-ion batteries. 

The patent provides Talga with exclusive rights in Japan until at least 2040 and follows the granting of a patent in the US for the same technology. 

The company has concluded anode test programs with several Japanese cell producers, and aims to capitalize on the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s recent announcement of an immediate prohibition on exports of graphite products to Japan. 

“The grant of this Japanese patent is a significant validation of our innovative anode technology at a time when global supply chains are under unprecedented strain. As China’s latest export controls highlight the fragility of graphite reliance, Talga’s Vittangi project offers a secure, high-performance and low-emission solution that can support the broader battery industry and rapidly growing energy storage transition,” said Mark Thompson, Talga’s founder and MD.

Source: Talga

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Cyclic Materials raises $75 million to scale rare earth magnet recycling

Cyclic Materials has closed a $75-million Series C equity round to scale its rare earth element recycling operations across the US and Europe and accelerate its Canada-based research and development footprint. The company says the funding will speed deployment of locally anchored recycling infrastructure for magnet-containing end-of-life scrap and magnet production waste—materials it processes to produce magnet rare earth elements, including heavy rare earth elements that it notes are less commonly available from Western mining deposits.

Cyclic Materials says that the new capital will support commercial rollout and global expansion with “a substantial focus” on North American market needs.

Cyclic Materials operates a two-stage physical and hydrometallurgical recycling technology to produce rare earth elements from end-of-life products and magnet production waste. It claims its approach reduces carbon footprint by 61.2%, cuts water use to five percent of what mining requires, and achieves recovery rates exceeding 98%. The company also says its recycling infrastructure can be deployed years faster than traditional mining projects, and it positions the system as a pathway to supply heavy rare earths used in high-performance permanent magnets.

Cyclic Materials’ Mesa, Arizona site, the very first scale-up of a commercial plant for recycling and local production of rare earths in the US, with a focus on heavy and light rare earth magnets.

Cyclic Materials says its proprietary technologies can economically and sustainably recover critical raw materials from end-of-life electric vehicle motors (as well as wind turbines, MRI machines, and data center electronic waste). The company links these feedstocks to demand growth in e-mobility and other permanent-magnet-driven systems.

Source: Cyclic Materials

 

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