For auto dealerships, adding EVs to their offerings requires some effort—and some substantial cash outlay. Automakers including Ford and GM are giving their dealers a choice—make the necessary investments in training and charging infrastructure, or don’t sell EVs.
Akins Ford in Winder, Georgia, the largest dealership by volume in the state (as reported by Georgia Public Broadcasting) has apparently chosen to embrace the future, and is installing not only 19 new EV chargers, but solar panels as well.
New York-based Charge Enterprises will be overseeing the installation. The company’s CEO, Paul Williams, said the project originally included only chargers, but quickly expanded. “Akins Ford asked us to do a feasibility project for them, which has now turned into a full-blown project to install about 450 kW of rooftop solar that will generate power for the next 30 years.”
The two projects are designed to support each other. “We can charge six vehicles simultaneously,” Williams said. “So there’ll be six parking spaces and they’ll be covered with solar panels above.”
Six of the chargers will be for public use, and the remaining thirteen will be used by the dealership for service and maintenance.
No, Akins Ford was not among the dealers that signed an open letter to President Biden, futilely asking him to “tap the brakes” on federal EV policies.
Over the next few years, thousands of dealerships will be installing EV charging infrastructure, and that represents a huge opportunity for companies like Charge Enterprises (and Envirospark, which has signed on to install 432 DC fast charging stations for Ford and Lincoln dealerships in 9 states).
LG Energy Solution, a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, and Impact Clean Power Technology (ICPT), a supplier of heavy-duty battery systems, have signed a supply agreement for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery modules.
LG Energy Solution will ship 200,000 battery modules from its Wroclaw, Poland plant to ICPT’s GigafactoryX in Pruszkow over the next three years to be assembled into battery packs and systemsfor about 3,000 large commercial EVs. Commercial vehicles like electric buses require batteries that can withstand 11 times more energy flow than passenger cars. LG Energy Solution will use NCM chemistry to improve battery durability and range.
“Capitalizing on our Wroclaw plant, which is the biggest battery manufacturing facility in Europe, we are committed to establishing a robust supply chain in Europe and expediting its transition to sustainable mobility,” said Seungtaek Hong, Head of Automotive Battery Marketing at LG Energy Solution.
California-headquartered InCharge Energy, a provider of commercial fleet EV charging infrastructure, has integrated its proprietary InControl CMS charge management software with the Geotab Marketplace, a network of fleet-management telematics services.
The integration allows fleet managers to view EV data even when their vehicles are not plugged in, according to the company. It offers improvements in route planning, dispatching, charging schedules, operational costs, driver safety and emergency response, asset security, battery health and longevity, range management and energy efficiency.
“We continue to improve our InControl CMS using direct feedback from our users, and integrating vehicle telematics has been a top request,” said Russell Schmidt, VP of Digital Services at InCharge Energy.
Among the many drawbacks of public charging sites is a perceived lack of security—a feeling familiar to anyone who’s had to use a charger located in a dimly-lit corner of a vast parking lot.
SMS, a new UK-based charge point operator, recently published a white paper, “Powering up public EV charging,” that included the results of a survey of EV drivers, and 17% of the respondents said they had avoided using public EV charge points in the past because they didn’t feel safe.
Recognising these issues, SMS has become a verified member of ChargeSafe, a national network of UK CPOs committed to providing EV drivers with safe, reliable and accessible public charging stations.
ChargeSafe’s team makes a detailed (140-point) inspection of each member’s charging sites, and assigns each site a star rating from 0 to 5, in order to help EV drivers identify high-quality charging facilities via the ChargeSafe Portal.
SMS says becoming a ChargeSafe member will help it to establish best practices when it comes to its own site assessments and infrastructure design, and help it to ensure that its sites are inclusive and accessible for all members of the public, including those with disabilities.
“In growing our emerging network of public EV charging stations, SMS is partnering with UK landlords and developers, as well as organizations across the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors,” said Eugenio Herrero, Managing Director of EV Charging Infrastructure at SMS. “Being a ChargeSafe-verified CPO will bring a significant level of assurance to these partners that the charge points we deploy adhere to the highest quality of site planning, design and ease of use.”
Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) has entered into an agreement with Norway-headquartered Hexagon Purus, a manufacturer of e-mobility products, to provide vehicle integration of the electric Freightliner eM2 for vocational applications.
The integration will incorporate Hexagon Purus’s battery systems, auxiliary modules, power modules and vehicle-level software. It will include power-take-off options to supply power to the vocational body and the equipment.
DTNA introduced the Freightliner eM2 prototype truck with vocational upfit options earlier this year as part of a joint project with truck equipment manufacturers Alamo and Altec, in order to serve vocational customers in the utility, sweeper, dump, construction, towing and refuse segments. The new partnership with Hexagon Purus aims to deliver new products to the vocational vehicle sector that complement DTNA’s currently produced eCascadia and eM2 electric trucks.
“With our combined experience, and the battery technology offered by Hexagon Purus, we look forward to yielding effective and flexible solutions for our vocational customers,” said Aaron Scates, VP of Vocational and Medium-Duty Market Development at DTNA.
dSPACE, a provider of automotive simulation and validation solutions, will demonstrate several solutions for electric and self-driving cars at the upcoming CES 2024 trade show.
As the exclusive on-vehicle computer technology sponsor of the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC), dSPACE will demonstrate how its solutions work in demanding racing environments in a night race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
dSPACE will also demonstrate testing of battery management systems, power electronics, and technologies for intelligent EV charging.
Battery management systems ensure the efficient use of available capacity, maintain optimal temperatures, and maintain charge levels within the best range to ensure safe operation and long life of energy storage systems. dSPACE will demonstrate a modular system design for the testing of modern BMS.
Power HIL systems from dSPACE allow inverters, including control and power electronics, to be tested at full power. Designed specifically for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation, dSPACE’s systems are designed for exceptionally precise testing of power electronics, including testing control behavior with different dynamic operating points of e-motors.
dSPACE’s Smart Charging Solution is a complete system for the development and testing of intelligent charging technologies. It takes international standards into account, and supports interoperability analyses and tests. The solution offers a comprehensive range of test options and dynamic models for developers of onboard chargers, charging stations, and, in future, inductive charging systems, robot charging, and megawatt charging for the truck and aviation sectors.
In what appears to be an example of healthy coopetition, Archer Aviation has bought several multimodal chargers from rival eVTOL manufacturer Beta Technologies. Beta says it has delivered two chargers to Archer’s flight test facility in Salinas, California, where Archer is conducting a flight test campaign with its four-passenger Midnight eVTOL air taxi. Both Archer and Beta are developing electric air taxis that are expected to be certified and in service by 2025.
Beta has been developing a network of charging stations in the eastern US with its proprietary Charge Cubes. The Vermont-based company already has chargers online at 14 locations and is working to install more at another 55 sites.
“Fast charging is critical to ensure rapid turnaround times between flights,” said Archer co-founder and CEO Adam Goldstein. “A widespread fast charging system is critical to ensuring electric air taxis reach scale in the coming years, and this collaboration between two industry leaders is an exciting step towards achieving that.”
Beta’s Charge Cube DC fast charger comes in two versions: the stationary unit delivers 320 kilowatts of power, which is enough to charge one of Beta’s eVTOL aircraft in under an hour. The Mini Cube is a smaller and easily portable DC fast charger with 40 kW of power output.
Both versions of Beta’s chargers use CCS plugs, and can charge electric ground support vehicles as well as aircraft.
Beta says it designed the chargers to the standards outlined in the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s recent white paper, “Interoperability of Electric Charging Infrastructure,” which most electric aircraft developers have agreed to follow. “When we designed our chargers, we saw an opportunity to support the entire sector by using an already peer-reviewed standard, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with Archer now to validate that aim,” said Beta founder and CEO Kyle Clark.
“The adoption of a unified charging standard will help promote electric aviation’s development at scale,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce. “Enabling electric aircraft and electric ground vehicles from different manufacturers to share charging infrastructure will help reduce the costs of electrifying existing infrastructure.”
Komatsu America, a subsidiary of global construction and mining equipment giant Komatsu, has agreed to acquire Detroit-based battery manufacturer American Battery Solutions.
ABS develops and manufactures a wide variety of heavy-duty and industrial battery packs for commercial vehicles, transit buses and other on- and off-road vehicles. The company provides both standard battery packs and custom systems optimized to each customer’s needs.
The acquisition of ABS will advance Komatsu’s efforts to develop and produce its own battery-operated construction and mining equipment. The first equipment produced with ABS’s batteries will be used to power mining equipment in North and South America, where demand for electrification has been increasing. In the future, Komatsu plans to expand the use of batteries in construction equipment and to establish a global supply system.
Towing has always been a sore point with EVs—towing a trailer inevitably eats into range, and towing a massive semi-trailer requires a tractor with a massive battery pack. But what if the trailer itself could share the burden?
That’s the idea behind Range Energy, which is developing a trailer that’s equipped with a battery pack, a motor, and intelligent features to maximize efficiency. The trailer can be paired with a legacy diesel-burning rig or an electric tractor such as the Freightliner eCascadia, Volvo VNR or Tesla Semi.
Range Energy is led by Ali Javidan, a former Tesla employee who has thought long and hard about towing. “My uncles had car dealerships, mechanic shops, lots of land in Sacramento. Growing up, one of my first experience driving was towing cars from the dealership to the service center, or moving boats around the farm,” he says.
Range’s RA-01 trailer sports a motor that powers one of the dual axles, and a battery pack mounted below the trailer body in order to maximize cargo space. A key feature is what Javidan refers to as a “smart kingpin.” The kingpin connects the trailer to the tractor, and Range Energy’s kingpin can exchange data with the tractor, providing “a real-time measurement of how hard the tractor is pulling,” and enabling the trailer to follow the tractor “kind of like an obedient dog on a leash,” as Javidan explains.
According to Range, its trailer could add approximately 100 miles of range to the rig (or increase the fuel efficiency of a legacy tractor by 35 to 40 percent). The trailer also features regenerative braking, which can reduce wear and tear on the tractor’s friction brakes and improve stability when traveling downhill. “The second-biggest maintenance item on a trailer [after tires] is brakes,” says Javidan.
There is a negative tradeoff: additional weight. Range’s RA-01 trailer adds about 4,000 pounds to the total system, Javidan says. US regulations set a maximum total weight of 80,000 pounds for a tractor-trailer rig (although an electric tractor gets an additional 2,000-pound allowance.) For trucks hauling heavy cargo such as liquids, the additional weight could cut into their cargo payload. However, as Javidan explains, many trucks carrying lighter materials are “cubed out,” which means that the truck’s interior space fills up before it reaches the weight limit.
Range plans to start beta testing next year, and aims to begin deliveries in 2025. “You will start seeing these trailers on the roads in real volumes starting in 2026,” Javidan predicts.
Range Energy is not the only company working on electrified trailers. ConMet eMobility, ZF and Einride are potential competitors.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, which serves Charged’s home city of St Petersburg, Florida, will use $18 million in funding from the VW settlement to acquire 60 Gillig electric buses.
“Volkswagen lied and pumped extra pollution into Florida’s air, so they had to pay up. We went after a share of that money to reduce future pollution and continue PSTA’s leadership in sustainability,” said PSTA CEO Brad Miller at a recent unveiling event.
PSTA currently operates 80 hybrid buses and 6 BYD electric buses. The agency plans to put 14 new Gillig electric buses on the road by the end of 2024, and take delivery of the remaining 60 e-buses over the next 3 years.
“It’s been a long time coming,” says Brad Miller. “When I started here 12 years ago, the PSTA board was debating whether or not to get a hybrid-electric bus. When we got our first hybrid, there was lots of debate on that—whether it would work and battery range. As we move into the zero-emissions [space], it demonstrates to the community that public transportation can be an environmentally safe transit solution.”
Gillig’s 40-foot Battery Electric bus has 7 battery packs distributed around the bus—in the front, the rear and on the roof. It offers a range of up to 250 miles. PSTA’s buses each seat up to 38 people. The agency estimates that each bus will save $20,000 in annual operational costs compared to a legacy diesel bus.
The buses will be charged overnight at PSTA’s headquarters, which will soon feature solar panels. PSTA is currently working with the City of Clearwater to build a new $44.5-million downtown transit center, which will be equipped with solar panels and charging stations for the buses.
It’s been a long time since auto industry observers have seen Toyota as an innovator, so it was a pleasant surprise when the world’s second-largest automaker demonstrated a version of the die-casting process pioneered by Tesla, using a massive hydraulic press to cast the entire rear third of an auto chassis as a single piece.
As reported by Nikkei Asia, this chassis section could replace an assembly that’s currently made up of 86 individual parts in a 33-step process. Among other benefits, this could reduce production time for the part from several hours to three minutes.
Toyota hopes the die-casting process (or gigacasting, to use the term coined by Tesla), combined with other production advances, will reduce total assembly times by 50%. The carmaker plans to show off some of its new processes and technologies in a concept EV at next month’s Japan Mobility Show, and says it will use gigacasting to make the front and rear sections of a new EV due out in 2026.
Tesla’s gigacasting technique uses giant casting machines to make car bodies with just a few massive cast parts, saving costs and improving efficiency. The company began using it to produce Model Y in 2021. Soon after, several Chinese companies placed orders for gigapresses with the LK Group. Hyundai and Volkswagen are also said to be investigating the technology.
Did the recent news that Tesla is outselling Toyota in California apply some heat to the Japanese automaker’s corporate posterior? The closest thing to such an admission we’re likely to hear is this coy statement from Chief Production Officer Kazuaki Shingo: “We’re learning new options from specialized EV makers to take on the challenge” of electrification.
Mercedes-Benz is developing its own public charging network, and it has chosen SwissAI to provide network planning and site selection services. SwissAI’s AI-based analysis and forecasting SaaS platform, AIOME, is designed to facilitate location selection and charging infrastructure deployment.
By the end of the decade, Mercedes-Benz Mobility plans to build some 2,000 charging hubs with 10,000 fast chargers “across the planet,” starting in China, North America and Europe. SwissAI’s AIOME platform is playing an essential role in the latter two regions.
Planners can use AIOME to simulate the impacts of different scenarios, to explore location optimization and equipment rollout strategies, and to ensure comprehensive network coverage. SwissAI takes into account evolving charging demand and other relevant factors, such as changing technology and driver behavior.
“Where are the best locations for present and future customer demand? How will the competition and technology evolve? By harnessing artificial intelligence to respond to evolving driver needs and technological advancements, our partners can strategically select economically optimal locations that ensure customer satisfaction and profitability,” said Anna Gawlikowska, CEO of SwissAI.
CarMax, a major national retailer of used cars, has begun pilot operation of its first electric semi-truck. The company is using a Freightliner eCascadia as a vehicle hauler in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The truck can transport up to seven vehicles at a time, and has a range of around 230 miles, which enables it to efficiently service CarMax’s stores in the region. It will be recharged using a DC charging station at CarMax’s Stockton, California store.
CarMax’s plan is to test the electric semi in real-world conditions. The results of the pilot will help the company make decisions on future deployments of electric semi-trucks.
“We are excited to test the efficiencies of the all-electric semi-truck within our transportation fleet and to see how this vehicle can support our overall sustainability efforts,” said Matt Aman, VP of Logistics at CarMax.
CarMax is leasing the eCascadia from Psenske Truck Leasing.
“Collaborating with forward-thinking customers like CarMax to use electric trucks within their vehicle delivery operations is important to advancing sustainability in the transportation industry,” said Patrick Watt, VP of Alternative Vehicle and Emerging Technologies at Penske. “These electric semi-trucks are well-suited to meet CarMax’s regional delivery needs while also reducing emissions.”
St. Petersburg, Florida is known as a boater’s paradise (and of course, the epicenter of EV journalism), so John Vo, the former Global Head of Manufacturing at Tesla, saw it as the perfect site for his new electric boat company, Blue Innovations Group (BIG).
Only about a year after setting up shop in the suburb of Pinellas Park, the company unveiled its flagship product, the R30, a 30-foot electric cabin cruiser. Bad weather delayed a planned demonstration at the St. Petersburg Pier, but production plans remain on schedule.
“The one thing in startups that I learned over the years is that everything changes except for the schedule” Vo told the St. Pete Catalyst. “You change the schedule, you’re dead.”
Customers can now reserve an R30 for a minimum deposit of $1,000, and deliveries are to begin in Q3 2024.
The R30 has an aluminum hull, a 221 kWh battery pack, dual inboard motors with 800 hp total power, and a 2.7 kW solar canopy. BIG says its Blue Fast Charger can fully charge the R30’s battery pack in about 45 minutes. The cruiser boasts a maximum speed of 45 mph, and nominal runtime of up to 8 hours, or a range of about 100 miles (an offshore model offering a 200-mile range is planned).
“The R30 was designed from scratch. We threw out the playbook most boatbuilders follow because if you squint your eyes at a boat show, most boats look the same,” said Vo. “The R in R30 stands for Revolution, we decided to offer something radically different, radically better.”
“I look at it from the boat owner’s point of view,” Vo said, channeling his tenure at Tesla. “Why do you want to buy a boat? What do you want to do with the boat? Then I use physics and science to answer that question.”
The R30 is a luxury craft, featuring a half-walk-around deck plan, a head (with a bidet!), a kitchenette (galleyette?) and an infotainment system with satellite and WiFi connectivity and over-the-air updates, and it has a luxury price—around $300,000. Vo pointed out that the purchase price is comparable to that of similar-sized luxury gas-powered boats, before considering the R30’s reduced fuel and maintenance costs.
BIG is currently manually assembling the R30, but will soon start to automate welding and fabrication processes. The initial goal is to produce about 500 R30s annually. Vo’s ultimate goal is to build a boat every 30 minutes. “When we first started out with the Tesla factory, it took us like four weeks to finish a car,” Vo told the Catalyst. “But right now, they do one every 55 seconds. If I can make a car in less than a minute, I can definitely make a boat in less than 30 minutes.”
Colorado-based CIE Solutions builds a variety of custom battery packs for specialized applications. Its new MonoLith Battery System is a versatile and scalable battery pack that can be customized to fit into a vast variety of motive and stationary applications.
The MonoLith features a flat-pack design, a liquid-cooled architecture and sophisticated internal logic controls. It’s available in two distinct configurations to cater to different needs: the Energy Pack, designed for sustained energy output with a 2C continuous discharge rate; and the Power Pack, crafted for high-current applications with an 11C continuous rate of discharge.
At the core of the MonoLith’s adaptability is its CAN-configurable BMS, which can be tailored to integrate with any Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) or system messaging architecture.
Even the dimensions of the MonoLith can be customized. The system has a low-profile fixed height (170 mm), but its length and width can be configured to customer specifications (from 856 to 1,996 mm long, and from 512 to 2,000 mm wide). Mounting solutions are also completely customizable. External T-slots on the sidewalls of the pack allow it to be attached to a vehicle chassis with custom brackets or mounting plates. CIE will even help design custom brackets.
The structural integrity of the MonoLith is another feature. Constructed with high-strength aluminum, it boasts a rigid skeletal design that enables it to be used as a structural component.
Best of all, the plug-and-play pack can be delivered quickly. CIE says that, after consulting with a customer, the first pack can be designed and built in 8-12 weeks, and subsequent packs can be available in less than 2 weeks.
The doleful reliability performance of public EV charging infrastructure isn’t news to anyone, and charging providers and government regulators are working to identify the problems and address them. However, as Canary Media reports in the second installment of a three-part series on public charging, one of the metrics that the white hats are relying on may not give an accurate picture of reliability issues.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes reliability requirements for federally funded projects. Specifically, public EV charging stations must deliver 97 percent “uptime.” That’s a laudable goal, but the way federal regulations define “uptime” is pretty simplistic: if a charging station operator’s remote monitoring system indicates that a charger is powered and ready to deliver a charge, it is considered to be “up.” But this doesn’t guarantee that an EV driver will be able to charge, much less charge at the advertised rate.
“The uptime requirement…is widely recognized to be necessary but not sufficient,” John Smart, Director of the National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX), told Canary Media.
Finding better ways to enforce reliability standards may be a tall order. It’s not clear whether the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, which oversees federal EV charging funding, has the authority to require anything beyond “uptime” as currently defined. Furthermore, charging operators don’t share data on charger reliability with government agencies or regulatory bodies in a comprehensive way.
“We do not currently have great insight into how reliable the stations actually are, nor do we have good insight into the root causes of the problem when they are not working,” Sarah Hipel, Standards and Reliability Program Manager at the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, told Canary Media.
In the absence of any comprehensive approach, various industry players are relying on anecdotal evidence to identify the causes of charging station failures, and “chipping away at the problem from different angles,” as Canary puts it.
Here at Charged, every interview with a charging industry player includes a question about why operators can’t seem to keep their chargers working. One theme that comes up often is the fact that a typical installation tends to involve so many different companies (hardware manufacturer, installer, operator, site host, utility, etc, etc, etc).
“There are multiple stakeholders involved in making things work together,” said EV Connect COO Seth Cutler, who contributed to a a recent white paper from installer network Qmerit, which diagnosed the top reasons for public EV charging problems. That divided responsibility can make it hard to diagnose the root cause of problems, Cutler told Canary.
“Our data today does not tell you what the problem is,” said Bill Ferro, a ChargeX member and CEO of EVSession. “We [often] do not have enough information to tell you whether the payment system is out, if the pin in the connector is damaged, if the screen is blank, or if it’s the vehicle’s fault.”
Charging providers are taking various measures to improve the reliability of their offerings. Some are voluntarily introducing metrics that give a more detailed picture than the limited definition of “uptime” used by the BIL. EVgo Senior VP Sara Rafalson told Canary that her company uses a “one and done” metric. “If a customer shows up, are they going to get what they came for, which is a successful charge?”
The California Energy Commission will collect data on public chargers in the state, and set “uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards” for chargers receiving state funding, starting in 2025. Those rules are expected to require far more detailed data than what federal agencies are collecting today.
British EV charger manufacturer myenergi’s zappi smart charger now integrates with UK-based renewable energy group Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, which allows access to six hours of low-cost energy each night.
The zappi charger is certified as fully compliant with the UK Electric Vehicle Smart Charge Point Regulations. It was already capable of integrating with self-generated renewable energy.
“Our zappi chargers are also able to help the grid,” said myenergi co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Jordan Brompton. “With more than 500 MW of connected capacity in the UK—more than the rated capacity of the Hinckley Point A nuclear power station (470 MW)—our customer base is set to play a crucial role in supporting the flexible, decentralized and distributed energy system of tomorrow.”
Mining involves some of the most extreme energy requirements of any industrial process. To extract the minerals needed to power our technological lifestyle, billions of tons of rock have to be dug up, transported, crushed and processed, generally at remote locations.
Regardless of what the “We love EVs, but…” crowd incessantly claims, the transition to electric transport will not result in an expansion of the extractive industries. On the contrary, as Michael Barnard explains in a recent Forbes article, the sheer tonnage of raw materials we extract will actually fall. (Extraction of coal, oil and gas will plummet, and unlike single-use fossil fuels, the critical minerals required for EV batteries and other components are recyclable.) But both hard rock mining (for aluminum, iron, copper, gold, platinum, et al) and soft rock mining (potash, uranium, limestone) will certainly continue.
Mining companies will still be moving billions of tons of rock and soil around to get at those lovely minerals, and that requires enormous, massively powerful vehicles. Will these be powered by hydrogen, biodiesel or other neo-fossil fuels?
Not according to mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP and FMG. This year, all three firms affirmed that battery-electric vehicles (or in some cases, EVs powered by overhead catenary wires) are the best choice for mining equipment. They’ve assessed hydrogen, biodiesel and other options, and found that using electricity as directly as possible is so much cheaper and more effective that it’s no longer worth considering alternatives. (The world’s largest mining firm, Glencore, is still investigating hydrogen trucks, but it’s already ordering BEVs.)
EVs offer significant advantages to the mining industry, whether operating underground or above ground. Regenerative braking can recharge batteries as the vehicles roll down hills. Electric mining vehicles’ lack of emissions significantly reduces the high expense of providing ventilation in underground mines. The torque and speed requirements fall neatly into electric motors’ sweet spot.
Furthermore, it’s much cheaper to build transmission lines to mines and/or build local wind, solar and hydro facilities than it would be to truck in liquid or gaseous fuels. As for manufacturing hydrogen on-site, that would require three times the electricity compared to running BEVs.
As Mr. Barnard points out, mines are already operating a vast variety of heavy-duty electrical machines: drag lines, drills, conveyor belts, rail systems, ventilation, ropeways. Trucks and earth-moving machines are increasingly plugging in as well.
German EV charging management platform Plugsurfing has introduced a route planner tool for finding chargers along any desired route across 27 European countries. The company’s network currently encompasses 600,000 charge points.
The route planner is powered by Amsterdam-headquartered Chargetrip’s range prediction and EV routing platform. It uses an algorithm that includes up to 15 parameters that can affect range, such as road conditions, driving style, weather, traffic and elevation.
The route planner tool displays only high-speed chargers and omits those that are out of order. It also allows the route to be exported to Google or Apple maps for compatibility with most car navigation systems.
Canada-headquartered EV charging network and infrastructure provider FLO will install four solar-powered dual-port CoRe+ chargers at the Pennsylvania headquarters of Phoenix Contact USA, a subsidiary of Phoenix Contact, a German manufacturer of industrial automation, interconnection and interface equipment.
FLO has provided similar charging equipment to Phoenix Contact Canada at locations in Ontario for use by company employees.
The new installation will include a 110 kW solar carport, 180 kW of battery storage and EV charging stations with automatic transfer switching. Transfer switching enables the chargers to pull power from the grid when there is insufficient solar power generated and stored to meet demand, and feed excess solar-generated power to the main facility when the battery storage is full.
“FLO’s charging stations will enable employees to charge up while their cars are sitting idle for hours at a time,” said Louis Tremblay, President and CEO of FLO. “We applaud Phoenix Contact for providing this additional perk to employees who have made the switch to an EV.”
Adding EVs and hybrids to its fleet is just one part of AT&T’s strategy to reduce its emissions—the company is also using AI to optimize routes, and reducing the overall size of the fleet. The company says its vehicles drive 20% fewer miles each year, reducing emissions by a significant amount.
AT&T is the exclusive provider of connectivity to all Rivian vehicles in the US and Canada. Rivian uses AT&T connectivity to deliver over-the-air software updates to improve its vehicles with new features.
The Rivian Commercial Van was designed from the ground up to prioritize safety, sustainability and ownership cost. Safety features include automatic emergency braking, collision warnings and 360-degree visibility. Rivian’s in-house software stack underpins the fleet management system, which is designed to improve efficiency and reduce total cost of ownership.
“We’re excited to purchase Rivian EVs for our fleet,” said Hardmon Williams, SVP, AT&T Connected Solutions. “With advanced connectivity and a vision for a sustainable future, Rivian is setting the standard for the evolving demands of modern transportation.”
“Around a quarter of CO2 emitted in the transportation sector in the US comes from commercial vans, so it’s imperative we do all we can to help cut emissions,” said Dagan Mishoulam, VP, Strategy & Fleet at Rivian. “Our category-defining vehicles offer some of the most advanced technology in the sector and are continually improved through over-the-air updates.”
dSPACE, a provider of simulation and validation solutions, and Argus Cyber Security, a specialist in automotive cybersecurity, have formed a technology partnership aimed at streamlining the development and compliance of automotive embedded systems.
The companies aim to enable early-stage cybersecurity testing. By integrating Argus’s Fuzzing automation tool with dSPACE’s SCALEXIO Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) systems, dSPACE can now offer vehicle manufacturers and suppliers a continuous integration, delivery and testing (CI/CD/CT) toolchain.
The need for cybersecurity testing in the automotive industry is growing as a result of the focus on software-defined vehicles, as well as new regulations such as WP.29-UNR 155 and ISO/SAE 21434. As dSPACE explains, developers need to perform cybersecurity testing early and often to reduce the risks of late-stage vulnerability discoveries. dSPACE says its “shift left” approach enables developers to increase product quality through more frequent tests, while shortening time to market by allowing for faster and cost-effective fixes.
“The partnership with Argus enables our customers to perform cybersecurity testing on our test platforms, which have already been established for functional testing for many years,” said Dr. Herbert Schütte, Executive VP for Real-Time Test and Development Solutions at dSPACE. “Performing cybersecurity tests using our fully automated HIL systems, which are already highly integrated into our customers’ processes, is a reasonable next step.”
“Our partnership with dSPACE leverages the respective strengths and know-how of each company to set a new industry standard for cybersecurity testing,” said Ran Ish-Shalom, VP of Strategy and Product at Argus Cyber Security. “The integrated solution elevates the cost-effectiveness and scale at which automotive cybersecurity testing can be conducted, helping the industry deliver on the promise of secure automotive systems in an increasingly connected world.”
Poland-based EV charging infrastructure producer Ekoenergetyka has announced that Norwegian fueling services provider Wennstrom will sell and service its products in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Ekoenergetyka says it will provide 24/7 remote monitoring and repair services for the charging stations from its Polish headquarters, allowing it to address nearly 60% of malfunction reports. Wennstrom will handle repairs that require physical intervention.
As part of its pan-European expansion plans, Ekoenergetyka recently announced distribution agreements for Germany and the UK, and has provided customized infrastructure for public transit operators in such cities as Berlin and Paris.
In Norway, about 90% of all new passenger car registrations are for electric vehicles, and in Sweden, the share exceeds 60%. “Drivers in the Nordic countries may be the world’s most enthusiastic buyers of electric vehicles,” said Ekoenergetyka CEO Bartosz Kubik, “so we simply have to be present in these markets.”
Pity the poor souls who get their “news” from headlines alone, seldom clicking through to read the articles that lie beneath—what a warped view of the world they must have. As the mainstream media announced that Tesla has recalled almost all of its vehicles, headline-grazers must have envisioned two million enraged Tesla owners having to bring their vehicles to mobbed service centers—what a financial and PR disaster for the company! Some may even have shorted the company’s stock on the “news.” (Some hot-stock-tip sites were predicting a big drop for TSLA.)
In fact, the subject of the “recall” is Tesla’s controversial Autopilot system. In response to a judgement by NHTSA, the company will add new safeguards to the system to encourage drivers to pay more attention. It will do so via an over-the-air software update. No owners will need to bring their vehicles anywhere, or do anything beyond pressing a couple of “OK” buttons, but in the automotive safety world, this is technically a “recall.”
Tesla says: “At no cost to customers, affected vehicles will receive an over-the-air software remedy, which is expected to begin deploying to certain affected vehicles on or shortly after December 12, 2023, with software version 2023.44.30. Remaining affected vehicles will receive an over-the-air software remedy at a later date. The remedy will incorporate additional controls and alerts to those already existing on affected vehicles to further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged, which includes keeping their hands on the steering wheel and paying attention to the roadway.”
NHTSA has been investigating Tesla’s Autopilot features for two years, in response to a spate of collisions involving first-responder vehicles parked alongside roadways, and now the agency has required Tesla to make certain changes to Autopilot.
Tesla drivers are going to see more alerts and warnings (“nags” as Autopilot fans call them) when using the Autosteer feature. There will be more visual alerts on the user interface, there will be additional checks upon engaging Autosteer, and dozy drivers will face “eventual suspension from Autosteer use if the driver repeatedly fails to demonstrate continuous and sustained driving responsibility while the feature is engaged,” Tesla said.
The update will affect some 2.03 million of the company’s S3XY vehicles in the US, and 193,000 in Canada. We don’t know yet if vehicles in other markets will be affected.
Naturally, Tesla said it did not agree with NHTSA’s analysis, but will comply. NHTSA said its investigation will remain open as it monitors Tesla’s remedies.
Polestar and South Korean battery manufacturer SK On have signed an agreement for the supply of battery cell modules for the forthcoming Polestar 5 electric 4-door GT.
Polestar says it chose SK On due to its “superior battery cell technology that offers high-performing chemistry, fast charging, efficient discharging and superior driving range. The high-nickel battery cell modules comprise ultra-long 56 cm cells with high energy density.”
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, says: “Our relationship with SK On has been fruitful following our initial MOU and their investment in our brand.”
Jee Dong-seob, CEO of SK On, says: “We are delighted to collaborate with Polestar on its top-tier EV model. We will solidify our partnership with Polestar and create new opportunities through this agreement.”
Production of the Polestar 5 is planned to start in 2025. The new EV evolved from the Polestar Precept concept car—the company has documented this journey in a video series, From Concept to Car.
Fleet electrification specialist InCharge Energy has launched a new Level 2 charging solution for fleets. The new Dual ICE-80A charger can simultaneously charge two vehicles at a maximum output of 19.2 kW on each cable. The two-cable option offers a smaller footprint, thus minimizing installation costs and saving space at fleet depots.
The Dual ICE-80A is designed for fleets with vehicles that can dwell for longer periods, such as overnight. It is hardware-ready for ISO15118 (a standard that allows the EV and charging station to dynamically exchange information, enabling bidirectional charging and other nifty features).
This charger can provide battery State of Charge (SoC) information to fleet managers, and will be CTEP/NTEP-certified for public or semi-public charging operations. With the enabled load management features, it intelligently responds to grid and site demand needs, taking the vehicle’s readiness into account. For school bus fleets and others wanting to qualify for government grants, Build America, Buy America Act (BABA)-compliant ICE-80A units are available upon request.
The Dual ICE-80A supports energy management via a backend or on-site controller, which can allow scheduled smart vehicle charging to proceed even if internet connectivity is lost. When paired with InCharge Energy’s proprietary InControl charge management software (CMS), the charger can be set to curtail charging power based on cost, available electrical service and the fleet’s availability requirements.
InCharge products can be purchased using the company’s Charging as a Service (CaaS) financing option, which includes predictable payments and uptime guarantees.
“At InCharge, we are committed to developing reliable charging products that address the multiple use cases of our various fleet customers,” said Nikolas Runge, Interim CTO of InCharge Energy. “We are proud to deliver a charger that can check dozens of boxes for fleet managers. From the simultaneous charging to the government certifications to the competitive price point, the Dual ICE-80A charger has all the key features for a scalable charging infrastructure.”
The Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN), a non-profit standards association with over 300 global members, conducts an annual “Testival” at which vehicle OEMs and EVSE providers test the compatibility between specific EVs and charging stations. CharIN describes the event as “speed dating” for vehicles and chargers.
The 2023 Testival North America, a three-day event hosted by Lincoln Electric in Cleveland, Ohio, brought together over 300 engineers and execs from 17 automakers, including Tesla, Ford, Lucid, Mercedes, Rivian and Volkswagen, and 18 EVSE providers, including ABB, EVgo, IoTecha, Rectifier Technologies and Zerova.
CharIN Testivals aim to replicate real-world scenarios customers face when charging. Challenges include “smart” or optimized charging; bidirectional power transfer; security, encryption, and authentication of transactions; and safety, including plug locking mechanisms. At the Testival, staged interoperability tests allow OEMs and suppliers to witness how their technology performs in order to prevent driver frustration. The tests analyze communication protocols, data exchange and the performance of charging sessions.
Technologies tested at the latest Testival included the Plug & Charge protocol; the proposed SAE J3400 standard for Tesla’s NACS charging plug; standard EV charging error codes recently proposed by the ChargeX consortium; and new cybersecurity protocols developed by a CharIN working group.
“It’s important to verify that EV charging equipment is compatible and using open standards so that any consumer can use it safely, reliably and affordably,” said Erika Myers, Executive Director of CharIN North America. “Events like the Testival are incredibly important to ensure that the equipment we’re putting out into the field will work as intended, so every EV driver has a flawless charging experience.”
The next Testivals will be held in January in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and in April in Ansan-si, Korea.
