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OMSI announces move into heavy-duty applications

With a 70-year history in manufacturing gearboxes, axles and power take-off (PTO) units for trucks, special-purpose machines and the railway industry, Italy’s OMSI Trasmissioni is now targeting heavy-duty e-mobility applications with a new range of hybrid and electric drives that exploit modern electric motors with high power densities (writes Peter Donaldson). “We can work with […]

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NXP intelligent gate drivers for traction inverters

Long-established IC-engined vehicle OEMs and new EV specialists are competing to get EVs to market rapidly while being faced with rising costs and the desire to maintain control of the intellectual property embodied in their vehicles (writes Peter Donaldson). Under this pressure, many are responding by building up their abilities to design, develop and manufacture […]

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Separator and current collector protect cells from shorts

Soteria Battery Innovation Group, together with a consortium of more than 110 organisations, is making available new separator and current collector technologies that protect battery cells from the effects of internal short-circuits (writes Peter Donaldson). The consortium members include NASA, Mercedes-Benz, Lenovo, DuPont, Bosch and Motorola. As European consortium director Dr Juergen Kellner explains, “We […]

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High-speed marine motor addresses critical need

Rapid acceleration may not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering marine vehicles that serve the offshore industries, but it is important because it increases their operational limits, enabling them to be deployed for longer in higher sea states (writes Peter Donaldson). That is one of the key selling points of Walker […]

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Making the cases for battery transport

As the EV industry grows, the logistics of moving major components – particularly batteries – between facilities has to be closely considered, argues Olivier Saada, business development manager for containers at battery transport packaging specialist Corplex (writes Peter Donaldson). EV batteries are considered dangerous goods and fragile items, and the company makes cases that are […]

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Wireless charging by magnetic induction

Andy Daga, founder, president and CEO of Momentum Dynamics, wants to make charging EVs easier than refuelling IC-engine vehicles while enabling practically unlimited range in day-to-day driving, at least in urban and suburban environments (writes Peter Donaldson). The company is now rolling out its wireless charging system based on magnetic induction technology for large vehicles […]

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Webasto swappable batteries power Staad electrified excavators

With many European cities now insisting that machinery such as excavators used on construction sites must not produce harmful emissions, the pressure on the industry to electrify them is growing (writes Peter Donaldson). In 2020, Staad, the Dutch importer of Doosan machinery, formed its Electric Construction Equipment (ECE) division to convert excavators and now offers […]

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Meeting the challenges of developing e-VTOL air taxis

AutoFlight’s Prosperity I, a Chinese-designed e-VTOL air taxi sized to accommodate a pilot and three passengers, is intended to meet the rigorous safety standards that apply to transport-category aircraft including the largest airliners, and the company is aiming for certification and service entry in 2025 (writes Peter Donaldson). Invited by electric aviation pioneer and AutoFlight’s […]

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A case of plastic over aluminium

Containing thermal runaway, protecting EV occupants from fire and saving weight are all drivers for the application of new materials to batteries, and the battery case is a prime target for replacing aluminium alloy with plastics (writes Peter Donaldson). Multi-industry plastics specialist SABIC has recently re-engineered existing EV battery cases in two proof-of-concept exercises that […]

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Lithium-metal cell packs a punch

With a specific energy of 400 Wh/kg and an energy density of between 700 and 810 Wh/litre, Sion Power’s Licerion-EV rechargeable lithium-metal cells are attracting great interest from EV developers, and the company is in discussion with multiple OEMs to further the development of the technology (writes Peter Donaldson).    The company’s senior applications engineer […]

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