Electric vehicles have high voltage systems that require precise connections, and demand for innovative components is rapidly increasing around the globe. Recently acquired by Eaton, Royal Power Solutions is recognized for its numerous industry-leading electrical components, including stamped battery and eyelet terminals specially designed for electrified vehicles. These power connection technologies provide vehicle manufacturers with components possessing superior reliability, while its in-house design expertise specializes in manufacturing efficiency and system architectures. Watch this free webinar at our Fall Virtual Conference on EV Engineering, presented by Eaton, to learn how these connection solutions help reduce complexity, time-to-market while optimizing EV system...

GM and OneD Battery Sciences will cooperate to research the possible use of OneD’s silicon nanotechnology in GM’s Ultium cells. Meanwhile, OneD has raised $25 million in Series C funding from investors including GM Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies. “Given a licensing business model and low operational costs, Series C funds will be used to continue SINANODE research and development, while advancing pilot production and providing OEMs and battery manufacturers a seamless integration into the manufacturing of EV batteries via licensed manufacturing partners,” says GM. OneD’s SINANODE platform includes technology that puts more silicon into anodes by fusing silicon nanowires...

Bidirectional electric school buses are such a good idea, they almost sound too good to be true. School buses represent a perfect use case for V2G technology, revenue from providing grid services can help defray the costs for school districts, and protecting schoolchildren from diesel fumes is a worthy goal that should be popular on all sides of the political divide (as long as school boards make sure the pitchfork-and-torches crowd understands what “bidirectional” means). US Senator Angus King, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has introduced legislation that aims to promote electric school buses and...

Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis, (ADL) a subsidiary of the NFI Group, is expanding its zero-emission bus portfolio with the addition of two new electric bus products fully designed and integrated in-house. The two new models, a small bus and double-decker, are expected to be available for customer delivery from late 2023. They will complement the products of ADL’s partnership with Chinese bus-builder BYD, which will continue to be sold and supported. The move advances Alexander Dennis’s long-established strategy of offering its own integrated vehicles alongside buses built on selected partners’ chassis. Buses for the United Kingdom and Ireland will be...

Public charging networks have been coming in for their share of criticism lately. Recent studies from UC Berkeley, J.D. Power and Plug In America (among others) have quantified what EV drivers already know: the uptime performance of public chargers is abysmal. As EV sales have grown, accounts of malfunctioning chargers have spread from bitch sessions on PlugShare to articles in the mainstream press. Naturally, the anti-EV crowd has seized the opportunity, citing the unreliability of public chargers as yet another reason that we’d better just stick with gas-burners. Electrify America, which claims to be the largest DC fast charging network...

ZF has introduced several new e-mobility systems designed for commercial vehicles, including an electric drive, a vehicle power take-off system and a power steering system. The CeTrax 2 electric drive is composed of two oil-cooled e-motors, two 800 V SiC inverters and a three-speed gearbox. The modular system designed for heavy-duty vehicles provides continuous power of 360 kW and peak torque of 24,700 Nm for vehicles weighing up to 44 tons. “With all components integrated within a compact single unit, CeTrax 2 allows manufacturers to offer both conventional ICE and electric drivelines on the same vehicle platform,” says the company....

Battle Motors, formerly Crane Carrier Company (CCC), has raised $150 million in a Series B investment round. This capital raise follows a $120-million Series A round announced in December 2021. Battle Motors serves the vocational truck industry, providing diesel, methane and now EV chassis for refuse and recycling applications to some 750 municipal customers across the US and Canada. The company is also taking aim at the middle-mile and last-mile delivery markets. Since acquiring the 76-year-old commercial vehicle OEM Crane Carrier in 2021, Battle has increased production throughput at its Ohio manufacturing facility from around a single truck per day...

Internet of Things (IoT) specialist Terbine has announced a new initiative designed to intelligently synchronize EVs, charging stations and electric utilities. The system is based on the company’s cloud-based platform, TerbineLink. The idea is that EVs share their locations and states of charge via the cellular network to an automaker or fleet operator’s cloud system, which feeds the data to TerbineLink. In parallel, chargers share their statuses, and TerbineLink uses machine learning technology to correlate vehicle movements and battery levels with data about charging station availability and electricity rates. The system then sends a list of operational chargers currently available...

The states of California and New Jersey offer voucher programs to help fleet operators purchase commercial EVs (the HVIP and ZIP programs, respectively). GreenPower Motor Company (NASDAQ: GP), a manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty EVs, has become expert at helping its customers navigate the voucher application process. GreenPower recently secured an additional 85 vouchers under the California HVIP program for 75 EV Star 22-foot cargo vans, 8 EV Star box trucks and 2 EV Star 25-foot cargo vans. The company delivered 15 EV Star vehicles to customers with vouchers this quarter, and has scheduled deliveries for another 55 units with...

TCCI Manufacturing, a provider of automotive compressor technology, will present its 850 V electric compressor for the commercial vehicle and transport market at IAA 2022 in Hanover, Germany. The compressor, available in sizes of 34, 46, 60 and 120 cc, is designed to provide cabin and battery cooling for commercial EVs. TCCI has been working with customers throughout the design and development phase of the new compressor. The 850 V range of compressors is designed to run at 8500 RPM. TCCI offers a wide range of capacities, allowing OEMs to optimize their systems. Also on display at the IAA show...