Propulsion

Who among the world’s automakers is best positioned in this race toward electrification, who’s on the cusp and who still has work to do?

China’s economy is showing multiple signs of weakness at a time when battery-electric-vehicle makers are looking to the region for growth.

Ford has secured 100% of the battery materials needed to produce 600,000 BEVs in 2023 and 70% of the materials for 2 million in 2026.

With mobility companies focused on building better batteries, Lowell, MA-based ePropelled sees an opportunity to build better electric motors. Just don’t call them a manufacturer.

Tesla is a wildly successful company by any measure. Yet, a lot has changed for the BEV maker in the past year: The economy is slowing down; Legacy OEMs are finally getting in the game; And there is a flood of BEV makers in the global market. Despite some rosy predictions, it’s not clear if Tesla’s can retain its market position.

Aptera and innovative in-wheel motor producer Elaphe are linking up to begin production of an electric vehicle later this year.

The world’s largest EV battery manufacturer, CATL, announced yesterday its third-generation cell-to-pack technology (CTP), Qilin. The improvements in the pack, including increased pack-level energy density for ternary and LFP batteries, faster charging time, and safer operation, may help CATL move beyond the price increases from Q1 2022 and retain current client Tesla, who may be looking to other suppliers for its LFP batteries.

Battery chemistry is changing rapidly and is being influenced by material price volatility, supply constraints, and politics. While lithium-based batteries are the current standard, lithium is not the only option for batteries. Sodium is one alternative. Here are the factors affecting its use and the future of lithium.

The goal of the public-private zero-emissions-vehicles initiative is to “decarbonize” economic activities in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and demonstrate the capability of the French hydrogen sector.

ZF is developing a full stack open platform solution for production-volume vehicle control, ADAS and AD vehicle systems with central processing and enhanced sensor suites that is gaining traction with suppliers and carmakers.

The administration has set an aggressive target for half of all U.S. new-vehicle sales to be battery-electrics by 2030. To get there, more government-backed programs likely will be needed to support charging infrastructure and incentives to lure buyers into the market, industry insiders and analysts say.

The Symbio H2 Central Valley Express project, supported is designed to demonstrate that a hydrogen fuel-cell truck can match the performance of a truck with a 15.0L diesel engine while delivering a zero-emission solution for regional-haul trucking operations.