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StoreDot Ships Cell Samples
StoreDot, the pioneer of extreme fast charging batteries for electric vehicles, has commenced shipping EV cell samples of its ‘100in5’ battery technology to strategic electric vehicle OEM partners and potential customers.
Following the successful completion of series D funding round, StoreDot commences shipping its production ready battery cell samples to global Electric Vehicle OEMs. It represents another significant step on StoreDot’s roadmap to begin mass-producing its ‘100in5’ battery cells during 2024, and to deliver a step-change in global EV adoption. This technology provides 100 miles of range in just 5 minutes consistently and without compromising battery’s health.
Shipped in EV form factor, the 30Ah silicon-dominant anode, lithium-ion pouch cells are currently undergoing intensive real-world testing with strategic OEM partners and other automotive players.
Battle Motors (CCC) Funding
Battle Motors, formerly Crane Carrier Company (CCC), has completed a Series B investment round with $150 million in new growth capital from a cornerstone global institutional investor. This capital raise follows a $120 million Series A investment round announced in December 2021. “We have validated our strategic growth initiatives and the attractive sector fundamentals while identifying additional market opportunity,” said Michael Patterson, CEO of Battle Motors.
Battle Motors has executed its expansion plans and promises to lead the electrification of the vocational fleet truck industry since acquiring CCC in 2021. Since then, the company has grown production throughput at its Ohio manufacturing facility from [less than] 1 truck per day to its current daily throughput of [approximately] 6 trucks per day through increased automation, expanded floorspace to 325,000 square-feet, and nearly tripling its workforce to 300 employees. Additionally, Battle Motors has bolstered its management team through several industry veteran hires, expanded its dealer network, and successfully gained market share in North America.
Striving for daily continuous improvement throughout the company gave Battle Motors the ability to increase production within its legacy footprint while construction was still underway. “Challenging ourselves to learn from adversity and to be better every single day has built the exceptional team necessary to reach all our goals. Now we have the manufacturing facility to match,” says COO Cody Boggs.
Development and commercialization of a reliable severe-duty EV (Electric Vehicle) truck has been core to the Battle Motors strategy and the company is pleased to announce FMVSS certification for its EV truck line. Complementing the EV rollout, Battle Motors has developed its innovative “Smart Cab” platform which boasts enhanced Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) and a proprietary connectivity software system, RevolutionOS™, designed to deliver actionable data to drivers and fleet managers for enhanced safety, efficiency, and security. Battle Motors is now delivering its Class 8 severe-duty electric truck to refuse customers and serves over 750 municipal customers through 180 dealers in over 320 locations across the United States and Canada.
“Receiving FMVSS certifications and moving into production on our first EV model validates our team’s perseverance in creating revolutionary innovations and expanding our EV capabilities allows us to create even more disruptive technologies to deliver to the market,” says CTO Kelleigh Ash.
The proceeds from this capital raise will be used to expand production throughput to 16 trucks per day, fulfill existing order backlog, expand EV manufacturing capabilities, and general corporate purposes.
ENC Intros Axess Battery Electric Bus Fuel Cell Electric Bus
ElDorado National (California) or ENC, a subsidiary of REV Group Inc. and an industry leader in heavy-duty transit buses and emission-free technology, announces the next generation of its zero-emission products, Axess® Battery Electric Bus (EVO-BE™) and Axess Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Bus (EVO-FC™), are now in development.
Both buses utilize the field-proven Axess platform, a market-leading product in performance and safety, and have advanced technology enabling longer ranges. Available to order now with expected delivery in 2023, ENC offers multiple Axess variations: Axess EVO-BE in 32’, 35’ and 40’ and Axess EVO-FC in 40’.
“The innovative designs of the next generation Axess EVO-BE and Axess EVO-FC further support ENC’s commitment to revolutionizing the heavy-duty transit bus industry by advancing zero emission vehicles,” said Jason Moore, Vice President and General Manager, ENC. “We are implementing the most ground-breaking low and zero emission technology by working with best-in-class suppliers.”
The next generation Axess EVO-BE will have an industry-leading 738 kWh of battery energy storage. The battery system and energy storage for the bus are supplied by Proterra Powered™, a manufacturer of exceptional battery packs for zero-emission electric vehicles.
The next-generation Axess EVO-FC bus is designed to have a range up to 400 miles, based on application, and will build on the legacy of ENC’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric bus. ENC was the first bus manufacturer to complete the 12-year/500,000 miles FTA Altoona test for a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric powered bus in 2018. ENC selected BAE Systems, the industry leader in electric drive systems and controls for the transit industry, for its new Gen3 powertrain for the next generation Axess EVO-FC.
Both the Axess EVO-BE and EVO-FC buses leverage a common structural platform, propulsion system and technologies, with over 90 percent commonality. This provides a simpler solution of aftermarket support, employee training and maintenance for our customers that currently or in the future operate a mixed Battery Electric and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric fleet.
INFINIQ AI Dectects & Anonymizes Faces & License Plates
INFINIQ, the leading AI data company in South Korea, has introduced a data anonymization solution that automatically detects and anonymizes all identifiable faces and license plates in videos and images captured.
It can blur out or use Deepfake technology to anonymize personal information in real-time with over 99% accuracy on a large scale. The solution can be installed into the built-in logging system of a data logging vehicle or in various other ways including on-premises, cloud, restful API, and embedded software.
“Protecting personal information in the vast amounts of data collected for autonomous driving is one of the difficulties automotive companies faces,” Park Jun-Hyung, CEO of INFINIQ said. “With stricter data privacy rules, companies such as the EU’s GDPR and the California CCPA in the US, are looking for ways to implement data protection measures for data collection and annotation. The challenge is how to accomplish this efficiently and cost-effectively. This is where Wellid, the data anonymization solution, comes in.”
Wellid was showcased at the Autonomous Vehicle Expo 2022 in San Jose which was held from 7~9th September. Automotive, sensors, and AI model developing companies were interested in how they can incorporate the solution into their products and workflows.
INFINIQ intends to provide Wellid to various global customers as it is a proven solution used in many projects of government agencies and automotive companies in Korea.
At the expo, INFINIQ also introduced its all-in-one data service platform called ‘DataStudio.’ It provides data collection, anonymization, and annotation services in all domains including autonomous driving, retail, security, smart city, robot, and healthcare. It is based on the DataOps framework which allows data reuse and fast data discovery resulting in time and cost savings for AI development.
AMPLY Morphs into bp pulse
AMPLY Power is becoming part of bp’s global electrification brand, bp pulse.
bp acquired the fleet EV charging and energy management provider in December 2021. AMPLY Power has seen continued growth as it helps fleets accelerate the transition to EVs. This success lays the foundation for bp pulse’s expansion in the fleet electrification sector in the Americas and beyond.
The decision to roll-out the bp pulse brand follows the successful brand launch in the United Kingdom in 2020. In Germany, bp’s charging solutions business operates as Aral pulse. Worldwide, bp pulse operates around 16,000 charge points with an ambition to install 100,000 by 2030.
Ionic Mineral Technologies Debuts Halloysite Nano-Silicon Ionisil
Ionic Mineral Technologies (Ionic MT), a domestic advanced battery materials technology company, emerges from stealth mode to debut its breakthrough halloysite-derived nano-silicon, Ionisil™, which can be used as a drop-in replacement for graphite in lithium-based batteries. Nearly all automakers are seeking nano-silicon to unlock significantly longer range and faster charging for electric vehicles (EVs).
As the only vertically integrated producer of nano-silicon, Ionic MT is uniquely positioned to be a leading domestic supplier of nano-silicon and accelerate the electrified future. The Company controls the world’s largest deposit of high-purity halloysite, the ideal feedstock to manufacture nano-silicon at scale. Halloysite’s naturally occurring nanotubular structure enables Ionic MT to employ a “top-down” approach to manufacturing nano-silicon, presenting significant scalability and environmental sustainability advantages compared to competitors.
“Halloysite-derived nano-silicon is a game-changer for the industry,” said Andre Zeitoun, founder and chief executive officer at Ionic Mineral Technologies. “At Ionic Mineral Technologies, we are the first to leverage this vast natural resource for the electric vehicle supply chain. With our approach, scalability is our advantage.”
“Ionic Mineral Technologies enters a hot market at an opportune time,” said Ram Chandrasekaran, head of road transport at global energy research firm, Wood Mackenzie. “With the demand for electric vehicle batteries expected to grow to over 3TWh by 2030, the need for next-generation battery materials is greater than ever.”
The Company launches just weeks after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed into law. The IRA’s EV tax credits hinge on domestically produced battery minerals, a largely non-existent supply chain. Ionic MT is positioned to address this ‘Achilles heel’ of the legislation and supply U.S.-sourced battery minerals and materials.
The Company will be exhibiting next week at The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan at Booth #3420, and CEO Andre Zeitoun will give a presentation, “Halloysite-Derived Nano-Silicon: Scaling Up from the Top Down,” in the Gold Ballroom on Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 3 pm EST.
Ionic MT is operating out of its initial pilot plant and lab space, which includes a full battery testing lab, wet beneficiation of halloysite, and a patent pending, pilot-scale silicon production furnace to convert halloysite into nano-silicon.
Castrol ON EV Thermal Fluid
The vast majority of today’s EV battery modules are thermally managed using water-glycol based coolants housed within channels that regulate the temperature of the cells. By comparison, the battery modules being developed as part of Project CELERITAS use Castrol ON EV Thermal Fluid, an innovative dielectric fluid that circulates within the module and comes into direct contact with the individual battery cells, increasing the thermal management surface area. This enables faster charging1 and significant improvements in thermal management in a range of operating conditions2, at high and low ambient temperatures, for a longer battery life3.
By directly cooling the individual battery cells, Castrol’s dielectric fluid will also help to avoid the risk of ‘thermal runaway’, where high temperatures cause irreversible failure to individual battery cells as a result of overcharging or short-circuiting. Thermal runaway can also lead to thermal propagation, where heat from the damaged cell is transferred via convection and conduction to adjacent cells, a process that can potentially lead to catastrophic failure of the entire battery module. With direct cooling systems, temperature spikes within individual cells are less likely, and if they occur, can be quenched at source – unlike coolants used in indirect cooled systems.///
FirstLight Power Celebrates Installation of V2G Charging Stations in Western Massachusetts
FirstLight Power, Fermata Energy, Skyview Ventures, State Representative Susannah M. Whipps (2nd Franklin), and other elected and appointed officials celebrated a clean energy milestone – the installation of the first ever vehicle-to-grid (V2G) bidirectional charging stations in Western Massachusetts. Located in the visitor parking lot outside of FirstLight’s Northfield Mountain Pumped Hydro Storage Station, the installation also includes two separate, single-directional public EV charging stations.
The V2G installation, the first at a U.S. hydroelectric power facility, includes two bidirectional chargers, controlled by Fermata Energy’s proprietary software platform, that can both charge EVs and send energy stored in the EV batteries to the grid. The FirstLight operations team, which drives two leased Nissan LEAFs, has the option to discharge some of the energy stored in the EV batteries to the grid when it is needed most, such as during peak demand times caused by heat waves and other extreme weather events, which also reduces the system’s demand for fossil fuels. The Fermata Energy bidirectional charging system also supports the region’s clean energy transition by enabling EV fleet owners to store and discharge energy generated from intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind.
Imperalis Acquires TurnOnGreen
Imperalis Holding Corp. (OTC: IMHC) (“Imperalis”) announced it closed the securities purchase agreement, whereby Imperalis acquired all outstanding shares of common stock of TurnOnGreen, Inc., an electric vehicle charging and custom power solutions company (“TurnOnGreen” or the “Company”) from BitNile Holdings, Inc. (the “Acquisition”). As a result of the Acquisition, TurnOnGreen became a subsidiary of Imperalis. Upon the closing of the Acquisition, Darren Magot resigned from his position as Chief Executive Officer but remains a member of Imperalis’ Board of Directors, David Katzoff remains as Imperalis’ Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer, Marcus Charuvastra remains as Imperalis’ President, Douglas Gintz remains as Imperalis’ Chief Technology Officer, and the Board of Directors of Imperalis (the “Board”) appointed Amos Kohn as Imperalis’ Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.
“We look forward to leveraging the public markets to drive the development and distribution of TurnOnGreen’s innovative technology,” said Amos Kohn, Chairman and CEO of Imperalis. “TurnOnGreen has a team of experienced professionals. I am pleased to have Marcus and Douglas on our leadership team to help accelerate our growth and provide shareholder value. Marcus and Douglas’ leadership across the organization will help build a solid corporate foundation from which the Company can expand its e-Mobility products and services. Our team is focused on adding shareholder value and has the objective of pursuing an uplisting to the Nasdaq Capital Market, subject to seasoning rules and other criteria for listing.”
Prior to the Acquisition, Mr. Kohn served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Charuvastra as the Chief Revenue Officer, and Mr. Gintz as the Chief Technology Officer at TurnOnGreen.
“I am excited to help build a team capable of capturing a rapidly expanding electric vehicle market in North America,” said Marcus Charuvastra, President of Imperalis. “The Company is uniquely positioned to build an electric vehicle charging infrastructure that will accelerate the adoption of e-mobility solutions while reducing carbon emissions from internal combustion engine automobiles.”
Imperalis, which intends to change its name to TurnOnGreen as soon as practicable, will operate through TurnOnGreen’s two subsidiaries, TOG Technologies Inc. and Digital Power Corporation. Imperalis intends to dissolve its remaining dormant subsidiary.
For more information on TurnOnGreen please visit www.TurnOnGreen.com.
Webasto Charging Intros Webasto Go
Webasto Charging Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of Webasto Group, will launch the Webasto Go, a Level 2 mobile EV Charger, for electric vehicle owners at the Fully Charged LIVE North America 2022 Show in San Diego, California, which takes place Sept. 10-11, 2022. Audiences in the eastern U.S. can also experience the launch at The Battery Show North America 2022 event in Novi, Michigan, Sept. 13-15, 2022.
The mobile charger, developed, tested, and produced by Webasto, is a globally certified product and is now available in the US and Canada for EV-owners to purchase at major retail stores or directly on the Webasto EV Solutions website. Further roll outs are planned for the rest of the world.
“I am excited to now offer the same product performance and high quality to our end-consumers as we have done for our automotive customers,” said Greg White, senior director of Sales for Webasto Charging Systems Aftermarket. “The Webasto Go is a great addition to our wallboxes and overall EV product portfolio, and we can’t wait to launch the same easy-to-use and safe mobile chargers in Germany, Europe and other regions soon”.
Webasto Go Features At-A-Glance
The Webasto Go charger is a global application that comes with region-specific certifications such as UL, cUL, CE and more. The premium dual-voltage (120V and 240V) portable electric vehicle charger is designed to charge all types of EVs, whether at home or on-the-go. Delivering up to 32A, the Webasto Go can add more than 20 miles of driving range per charging hour; enough for most EV drivers to fully charge overnight. The charger is robust, durable, and designed to endure harsh outdoor conditions while keeping users safe from electrical hazards. Webasto Go meets the highest safety standard with grid plug temperature monitoring and leads the industry with Webasto-patented features, like plug-specific electrical current limitations, automatic adapter detection and built-in temperature sensing. Webasto Go has a IP67 rating, which means it can be submerged in up to three feet of water, allowing users to safely charge indoors or outdoors, no matter the weather conditions.
In the U.S., each Webasto Go set includes a NEMA 14-50 grid plug for Level 2 charging and a 120V grid plug for Level 1 charging; it also features a durable 20-foot cable, which makes charging at home or on the road convenient. The European version will provide the same high quality and safety features and will be delivered with region-specific grid plugs.