Nanom in Iceland has developed a nanotechnology process that can turn carbon fibre structures into solid-state batteries (writes Nick Flaherty). The company says this can provide a more than nine-fold increase in performance for lithium-ion batteries, and that it is talking to a wide range of transportation...

Researchers in the US have taken a key step forward towards using aluminium for rechargeable batteries that have far higher capacity than current lithium-ion cells (writes Nick Flaherty). The team, at Cornell University, coated the metal with carbon fibres to improve the performance over more than 10,000 charging cycles and 3600 hours when cycled at a charging rate...

Nissan has developed an electrified version of its Note vehicle using a gasoline engine as a generator, as well as its first full EV since the Leaf (writes Nick Flaherty). The Note e-Power uses a three cylinder IC engine to charge a small, 1.5 kWh lithium-ion NMC battery pack that drives dual electric motors in a four wheel-drive hybrid design. This allows the 60 kW/103 Nm engine...

Infineon has launched a 650 V hybrid silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon transistor for inverter designs (writes Nick Flaherty). The CoolSiC Hybrid Discrete for Automotive combines a 50 A fast switching IGBT and a CoolSiC Schottky diode to reduce the cost compared to a pure SiC part but provide the high reliability needed...

Pre-Switch has developed a 200 kW inverter architecture that achieves more than 99% efficiency with silicon carbide (SiC) transistors (writes Nick Flaherty). The 100 kHz CleanWave200 evaluation inverter uses three discrete, low-cost 35 mΩ SiC MOSFETs from UnitedSiC per switch location...

Horizon Aircraft has developed a hybrid electric vertical take-off (eVTOL) aircraft with safety at the heart of its design (writes Nick Flaherty). The Cavorite x5 eVTOL fan-in-wing platform is designed with a redundant gas/electric powertrain to enable safety certification for carrying up to five people. The high-wing canard design has six motors in each wing...

Curtis Instruments has launched a series of programmable AC motor controllers for vehicle traction designs from 24 to 96 V and up to 425 A continuous current (writes Nick Flaherty). The 1238SE series uses the Curtis Vehicle Control Language (VCL), which allows vehicle developers to write powerful logic functions...

Vector and CSM have combined their measurement technologies to validate e-mobility platforms up to 800 V (writes Nick Flaherty). The layouts of the powertrain, the charging components and the HV elements present new requirements for test and validation, which vary from vehicle to vehicle depending on the electrical system topology...

It’s not often that we get the opportunity to dig into the details of an important EV subsystem from the point of view of an independent engineering team, but that is what Cory Steuben of Munro & Associates provided at the recent Battery Show and EV Tech online event (writes Peter Donaldson). The subsystem was the Tesla Model Y’s heat pump, in particular...

A consortium in the UK is to develop a new quiet motor for urban electric aircraft (writes Nick Flaherty). The two-year InCEPTion – Integrated Flight Control, Energy Storage and Propulsion Technologies for Electric Aviation – project will develop a modular electric propulsion unit for VTOL and conventional take-off and landing aircraft...