An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: [S]cientists at IBM Research have developed a new battery whose unique ingredients can be extracted from seawater instead of mining. The problems with the design of current battery technologies like lithium-ion are well known, we just tend to turn a blind eye when it means our smartphones can run for a full day…
Tag: Electric vehicles
Volkswagon Has ‘massive’ Software Problems With New ID3 Electric Vehicles
Socguy shares a report from Electrek: Germany’s Manager Magazine reports today that Volkswagen is struggling with software problems for its ID3 all-electric car. According to the report, the ID3 will be built for months with an incomplete software architecture that could affect up to 20,000 electric cars. These units, intended for sales in Europe and not the U.S., will require a…
Vietnam’s Richest Man Bets $2 Billion To Sell Cars To Americans
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The billionaire behind six-month-old Vietnamese auto startup VinFast plans a feat even Toyota and Hyundai couldn’t pull off during their early days: sell a car in the U.S. Pham Nhat Vuong, the Southeast Asian country’s richest man and now in charge of the new automaker, is so intent on exporting electric vehicles to…
Will Plunging Battery Prices Start a Boom In Electric Power?
An anonymous reader quotes Utility Dive: Average market prices for battery packs have plunged from $1,100 per kilowatt hour in 2010 to $156 per kilowatt hour in 2019, an 87% fall in real terms, according to a report released Tuesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Prices are projected to fall to around $100 per kilowatt hour by 2023, driving electrification…
Solid State Battery Breakthrough Could Double the Density of Lithium-ion Cells
Researchers at Australia’s Deakin University say they’ve managed to use common industrial polymers to create solid electrolytes, opening the door to double-density solid state lithium batteries that won’t explode or catch fire if they overheat. Tangential writes: Dr. Fangfang Chen and Dr. Xiaoen Wang from Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials claim to have made a breakthrough with “the first clear and…
Tesla’s Cybertruck Will Have Solar Charging Options
An anonymous reader quotes CNET’s Roadshow: The Tesla Cybertruck will have a solar charging option that can extend its driving range 15 miles a day, Chief Executive Elon Musk said Friday. On top of that, “fold-out solar wings” could increase that extra range to 30 to 40 miles per day, he said. “Would love this to be self-powered,” Musk tweeted of…
Volkswagen Axes All Non-Electric Racing Programs Worldwide
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: Volkswagen announced Friday that it will discontinue all of its motorsport activities outside of electric vehicles. The Volkswagen factory will no longer support racing efforts powered by internal combustion engines, which includes halting the development of a new Golf GTI TCR car. Because works racing programs largely exist to market a company’s…
Why the Electric-Car Revolution May Take a Lot Longer Than Expected
New submitter magzteel shares a report from MIT Technology Review: A new report from the MIT Energy Initiative warns that EVs may never reach the same sticker price so long as they rely on lithium-ion batteries, the energy storage technology that powers most of today’s consumer electronics. In fact, it’s likely to take another decade just to eliminate the difference in…
Will Electric Cars Last Longer Than Combustion-Engine Cars?
Long-time Slashdot reader jimminy_cricket shared Qz’s report on some of “the highest-mileage Teslas in the world”: Few have driven a Tesla to the point at which the vehicle really starts to show its age. But Tesloop, a shuttle service in Southern California composed of Teslas, was ticking the odometers of its cars well past 300,000 miles with no signs of slowing……
Tesla’s European Gigafactory Will Be Built In Berlin
Tesla’s European gigafactory will be built in the Berlin area, Elon Musk said Tuesday during an awards ceremony in Germany. TechCrunch reports: Musk was onstage to receive a Golden Steering Wheel Award given by BILD. “There’s not enough time tonight to tell all the details,” Musk said during an onstage interview with Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess. “But it’s in the…