Electric Vehicles, Tools, & Other Once Fossil Fuel Things

[LFC]

The development of battery operated trains continues to move forward.

Battery-electric power is commonplace in cars and trucks and is being tested in planes, helicopters, and container ships. Now, battery power is coming to trains, in place of the diesel-fueled generators that have powered locomotives for more than a century.

Last week, Union Pacific Railroad agreed to buy 20 battery-electric freight locomotives from Wabtec and Progress Rail. The deal, which drew praise from President Biden, is worth more than $100 million. The battery-electric locomotives initially will be used to sort train cars in rail yards in California and Nebraska.

Battery-electric locomotives have already begun rolling on California tracks. As part of a demonstration with the Pacific Harbor Line, Progress Rail, a Caterpillar company, began operating battery-electric locomotives in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach late last year.

Also last year, Wabtec tested its FLXdrive locomotives on 18 trips between Barstow and Stockton, California, under a $22 million grant from the California Air Resources Board. The battery-electric locomotive sat between two traditional diesel locomotives, pulling as much as 430,000 pounds. Wabtec CTO Eric Gebhardt says the combination saved an average of 11 percent on fuel and emissions. Wabtec says its next-generation battery locomotive will nearly triple its energy storage capacity to 7 megawatt-hours, nearly 100 times the capacity of a Tesla Model 3. That could cut emissions by up to 30 percent, Gebhardt says.

[pnwguy]

Feb 7, 2022 20:42:04 GMT LFC said:

The development of battery operated trains continues to move forward.

Battery-electric power is commonplace in cars and trucks and is being tested in planes, helicopters, and container ships. Now, battery power is coming to trains, in place of the diesel-fueled generators that have powered locomotives for more than a century.

Last week, Union Pacific Railroad agreed to buy 20 battery-electric freight locomotives from Wabtec and Progress Rail. The deal, which drew praise from President Biden, is worth more than $100 million. The battery-electric locomotives initially will be used to sort train cars in rail yards in California and Nebraska.

Battery-electric locomotives have already begun rolling on California tracks. As part of a demonstration with the Pacific Harbor Line, Progress Rail, a Caterpillar company, began operating battery-electric locomotives in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach late last year.

Also last year, Wabtec tested its FLXdrive locomotives on 18 trips between Barstow and Stockton, California, under a $22 million grant from the California Air Resources Board. The battery-electric locomotive sat between two traditional diesel locomotives, pulling as much as 430,000 pounds. Wabtec CTO Eric Gebhardt says the combination saved an average of 11 percent on fuel and emissions. Wabtec says its next-generation battery locomotive will nearly triple its energy storage capacity to 7 megawatt-hours, nearly 100 times the capacity of a Tesla Model 3. That could cut emissions by up to 30 percent, Gebhardt says.

Switching yards are ideal applications, especially as they are typically in urban areas where the resulting diesel exhaust remains concentrated in the neighborhood. Union Pacific a has huge one about two miles from me, where they transfer shipping containers on and off of trucks and trains.  Since the switchers never leave the yard, recharging them is not a struggle.  I'm curious if the Wabtec design has huge battery packs so they could swap them out with freshly charged ones.  Our yard here operates 24x7.  

[goldenvalley]

Take a look at this WaPo article about the experiences of Tesla's self driving cars. It seems those cars have a lot to learn, especially in urban settings.  Some interesting video in this one.

[LFC]

The U.S. military has plans that would simultaneously cut emissions and increase security.

The US Army released its climate change strategy this week, and it’s a lengthy document that shows how the largest and oldest branch of the military will not only prepare for climate change but will also zero out emissions from most of its operations and activities.

“We have a unique opportunity to improve our defense capabilities and become a more efficient force, while securing a better future,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in an introduction to the report. “The Army is on track to build on the progress we’ve achieved to date and reach every aspect of the Army enterprise.”

The Army says that the goal isn’t just to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions—though that’s a key outcome—but also to make the force more resilient by “adapting infrastructure and natural environments to climate change risks.”

The strategy takes a multipronged approach toward addressing the climate threat, including overhauling the Army’s installations and its acquisitions and logistics practices.

On just the facilities side, the Army buys more than $740 million of electricity every year, producing over 4.1 million metric tons of carbon pollution. To bring those numbers down while also improving its ability to operate when the grid goes down, the Army says it will install microgrids at each of its more than 130 installations by 2035. Already, 25 microgrids are “scoped and planned” through 2024.

Microgrids are usually connected to the wider grid, though they can be easily cut off without losing power, allowing operations to continue if the connection is severed or the grid goes down. Currently, the Army is looking into solar, wind, and batteries to power microgrids.

On bases, myriad vehicles support day-to-day operations, and the new plan calls for the nontactical vehicle fleet to be all-electric by 2035. That includes everything from light trucks like Chevrolet Tahoes and Ford F-150s to massive prime movers like the “Dragon Wagon” and the HEMTT. Light-duty vehicles like the Tahoe are scheduled to be all-electric by 2027.

Tactical vehicles, though, will take a bit longer. The Army hopes to hybridize them by 2035 before moving to all-electric in 2050. The plan doesn’t spell out what it considers to be tactical vehicles, though the designation likely includes things like Humvees and MRAPs.

[LFC]

An EV bus just made a 1,700 mile round trip using only public chargers. The charging times were still on the long side but technology will solve that over time.

An electric coach just completed a 1,700-mile (2,743-km) trip from Newark, California, to Seattle and back. The journey was a demonstration of battery-electric transport and was organized by the coach operator MTRWestern and ABC Companies, the US importer for Van Hool coaches.

What makes this trip noteworthy—some might even say amazing—is that it relied on public fast chargers. The coach averaged 280 miles (450 km) between charging stops, with some stretches of over 300 miles (482 km).

The coach in question is a Van Hool CX45E and uses a Proterra battery pack similar to the one that powered a Proterra bus that completed a 1,101-mile (1,772-km) journey on a single charge in 2017. Van Hool picked Proterra as its battery supplier later that year.

"We are thrilled to be among the first operators in the US to offer true zero-emission green travel to our customers," said Todd Paulson, director of operations at MTRWestern. "Our groups were extremely excited to experience EV travel firsthand, and their feedback provides critical insight as we test EV integration within our fleet. Both passengers and drivers were impressed by the incredibly quiet ride, and our drivers were especially pleased with the smooth coach handling and power, particularly during elevation gains."

Paulson also said that the drivers reported "relative ease of use" at all charging points, despite the fact that most EV fast-charging locations are designed with light passenger vehicles in mind, not a 45-foot (13.9-m) passenger coach. Charging times were shorter than expected, averaging between two and a half to three hours per stop, and according to ABC, no leg of the trip used more than 65 percent of the coach's state of charge.

The coach averaged 55 mph (88.5 km/h) on its trip and used 3.4 MWh of electricity. Half a mile per kWh sounds like pretty bad efficiency if you're used to thinking about (comparatively) tiny passenger EVs, but with 660 kWh onboard, the CX45E has more than enough lithium to stave off range anxiety. A comparable trip by diesel coach would consume 262 gallons of the fuel, according to ABC.

[LFC]

Ford is splitting its EV and ICE facilities into separate units.

Ford Motor said Wednesday it will reorganize operations to separate its electric and internal combustion engine businesses into different units within the automaker.

The company expects the move will streamline its growing electric vehicle business and maximize profits. It’s a similar strategy to how Ford is operating its Ford Pro commercial vehicle business under CEO Jim Farley’s “Ford+” turnaround plan.

Ford also upped its expected investment in EVs and other technologies to $50 billion by 2026, up from a previously announced $30 billion through 2025. It plans to spend $5 billion on EVs this year, double its 2021 total.

“We’re announcing one of the biggest changes in our history today,” Farley said Wednesday morning.

Separating the operations but keeping them in-house goes halfway to appeasing some Wall Street analysts who have been pressuring legacy automakers such as Ford to spin off their electric vehicle operations to capture value that investors have been awarding some EV start-ups.

This article states that it may be a tougher than Ford thinks.

Ford’s decision to divide its business into two separate entities — one focused on electric vehicles and the other on gas-powered ones — may complicate the automaker’s efforts to recruit top-tier talent and could risk upsetting dealers already chafing under the shift to electrification, auto analysts and experts said Wednesday.

Ford also isn’t going so far as to spin off its EV divisions entirely as a separate business, as some major Wall Street banks advised. The automaker’s share price could suffer as a result. By keeping both divisions within the same company, Ford is entwining their fates. Ford Model E won’t succeed without the profits and efficiencies created under Ford Blue.

[snip]

Ford framed it as a necessary move that will help it better compete with companies like Tesla that have the luxury of focusing on only one type of vehicle technology. But as with everything that Ford does, it will come with 118 years’ worth of baggage that may hamper the company’s $50 billion EV push.

The move was “radical and rational,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds. “Right now, it’s almost as if Ford is running two companies anyway,” she added, “so it makes operational sense to draw lines between the two as it likely gives the employees more focused goals.”

But that could hurt the company’s efforts to attract talent and recruit new workers. “Some might view the internal combustion engine line of business as a less exciting dinosaur of the past compared to the more compelling EV products of the future,” Caldwell said.

Michael Ramsey, vice president of automotive at Gartner, noted that Ford risks creating an internal imbalance, in which the Ford Blue employees are forced to watch as the profits from their work are plowed into the less profitable, more cost-intensive Ford Model E side of the business.

I've been reading several pieces discussing the possibility that the division may accomplish several things.

• They can build new facilities in states that are unfriendly to unions. Apparently unions at other companies, including VW in Germany, are trying to slow EV development because it will cause a shift and possibly a reduction in jobs.
  
• They can start to unwind their dependency on a the dealership network, something that is pretty much hated by a LOT of consumers, myself included.
  
• Once ICE vehicles age out they can spin off the division into a new company so the write-offs and losses don't impact the new company.
  

We'll see how it all plays out but clearly Ford sees the future as EVs.

[LFC]

Rivian is jacking up the prices on their pickups by 20%.

Automaker Rivian announced yesterday that it is raising the prices of its R1T truck and R1S SUV and that the new prices would apply to nearly all preorders.

Both the R1T and R1S weren’t inexpensive vehicles to begin with—the truck started at $67,500 before any eligible tax credits, and the SUV started at $70,000. At those prices, the vehicles came equipped with a quad-motor drivetrain and a “large pack” battery that would provide about 315 miles of range.

Now, to get the same vehicle, buyers will have to fork over $79,500 for the R1T and $84,500 for the R1S, increases of 17 percent and 20 percent, respectively. The only customers locked in to the old pricing are those whose vehicles are already in production or will be soon. Given Rivian’s slow ramp-up, there aren’t likely to be many who qualify.

There is an update about Rivian realizing that it effed up a bit for people who already placed orders.

Update 9:57 am ET 3/3/2022: Rivian has said it will honor previous prices for customers who placed preorders for an R1T or R1S before March 1. Customers who canceled preorders that had been placed before March 1 will be able to have them reinstated if they so choose.

"As we worked to update pricing to reflect these cost increases, we wrongly decided to make these changes apply to all future deliveries, including pre-existing configured preorders… it was wrong and we broke your trust in Rivian," CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement released today. "We made a mistake in how we approached our pricing changes, and what is important now is that we fix it."

[goldenvalley]

Mar 3, 2022 19:43:30 GMT LFC said:

Rivian is jacking up the prices on their pickups by 20%.

Automaker Rivian announced yesterday that it is raising the prices of its R1T truck and R1S SUV and that the new prices would apply to nearly all preorders.

Both the R1T and R1S weren’t inexpensive vehicles to begin with—the truck started at $67,500 before any eligible tax credits, and the SUV started at $70,000. At those prices, the vehicles came equipped with a quad-motor drivetrain and a “large pack” battery that would provide about 315 miles of range.

Now, to get the same vehicle, buyers will have to fork over $79,500 for the R1T and $84,500 for the R1S, increases of 17 percent and 20 percent, respectively. The only customers locked in to the old pricing are those whose vehicles are already in production or will be soon. Given Rivian’s slow ramp-up, there aren’t likely to be many who qualify.

There is an update about Rivian realizing that it effed up a bit for people who already placed orders.

Update 9:57 am ET 3/3/2022: Rivian has said it will honor previous prices for customers who placed preorders for an R1T or R1S before March 1. Customers who canceled preorders that had been placed before March 1 will be able to have them reinstated if they so choose.

"As we worked to update pricing to reflect these cost increases, we wrongly decided to make these changes apply to all future deliveries, including pre-existing configured preorders… it was wrong and we broke your trust in Rivian," CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement released today. "We made a mistake in how we approached our pricing changes, and what is important now is that we fix it."

We'll never move away from petroleum powered vehicles if only well off people can afford electric.  And if well off people are the only ones who buy them, those who dislike "elites" will double down on their refusal to ever buy one, even if the prices are similar to those of petroleum powered vehicles.  Sort of like the olden days when beer was the working class alcohol while wine was for the snooty elites.  (now craft beer is just as snooty as wine for some folks)

[LFC]

Tesla hiked prices across the board.

Tesla raised prices last night on every model it sells. The move comes just a week after the company increased prices for its long-range battery packs by $1,000. The new increase means that the cheapest Tesla, a Model 3 with rear-wheel drive, now costs $46,990 before taxes and fees, a jump of $2,000.

CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company is “seeing significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials and logistics.” Prices are up in several sectors of the economy, of course, though economists are debating what is driving them higher. For electric vehicles like Teslas, the main culprits today could be nickel and cobalt prices, which have shot through the roof in recent weeks, though Tesla has also made a habit of increasing prices in recent months.

[pnwguy]

I traveled for close to two weeks in Costa Rica, returning this Wednesday. Even though I saw no EV's there yet, I saw highway signs show EV charging locations in on some remote mountainous (and treacherous to drive) roads. They are a very eco-friendly country, locking up huge swaths of the country into national parks. But at least they are doing their part on the chicken-and-egg aspects of fostering EV's. I also saw quite a bit of wind farms in some mountainous areas.

[LFC]

Geothermal plants in California may end up being a significant source of lithium.

Geothermal energy has long been the forgotten member of the clean energy family, overshadowed by relatively cheap solar and wind power, despite its proven potential. But that may soon change—for an unexpected reason.

Geothermal technologies are on the verge of unlocking vast quantities of lithium from naturally occurring hot brines beneath places like California's Salton Sea, a two-hour drive from San Diego.

Lithium is essential for lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles and energy storage. Demand for these batteries is quickly rising, but the U.S. is currently heavily reliant on lithium imports from other countries—most of the nation's lithium supply comes from Argentina, Chile, Russia and China. The ability to recover critical minerals from geothermal brines in the U.S. could have important implications for energy and mineral security, as well as global supply chains, workforce transitions and geopolitics.

As a geologist who works with geothermal brines and an energy policy scholar, we believe this technology can bolster the nation's critical minerals supply chain at a time when concerns about the supply chain's security are rising.

[LFC]

Polestar is bringing a Tesla 3 price competitor to the U.S.

Swedish electric automaker Polestar is bringing its most affordable model to the US. The long-range, single-motor Polestar 2 may not have as much performance as the dual-motor variant, but it will certainly be more accessible.

The single-motor was previously only available to pre-order in the US. Starting this week, deliveries of this variant are beginning. Interested car buyers can also test drive the EV if they want, at Polestar’s two dozen retail locations around the country.

The single-motor Polestar 2 starts at $45,900, as compared to $51,200 for the dual-motor version. Polestar says the price can get down to $33,400 after qualified federal and state incentives. (The federal EV tax credit is $7,500, while some states, like New Jersey, offer as much as $5,000 in additional incentives.)

[LFC]

VW wants to improve charging stations for people.

The most notable change for Electrify America’s current design is the inclusion of solar panel awnings, which have the dual effect of sheltering customers from the sun and inclement weather while also supplying power for the station’s operations. The company says it is currently in the process of adding solar awnings to 400-500 individual chargers at 100 charging stations across the country. It already has solar canopies at its flagship charging stations in Baker and Santa Clara, California.

Customer lounges at the redesigned charging stations will feature dedicated event spaces. On-site cameras and additional lighting will help provide a sense of security for those EV owners charging at night. And those stations built near shopping locations may offer valet charging and curbside delivery options, Electrify America says.

The company has also begun rolling out a redesigned EV charger with a slimmer profile and newly simplified controls. The ultra-fast chargers with up to 150 and 350 kilowatts of charging power stand at nearly 8 feet tall, with recessed screens to help reduce sunlight glare.

And lastly, Electrify America said it would be deploying on-site battery storage systems to 150 chargers across the country in an effort to help manage the energy load to the grid and capture excess solar energy where possible. “The momentum moving us closer to an electric transportation system is accelerating with consumers finding more and more choices of EVs from virtually every manufacturer,” Palazzo said.

[LFC]

Electric scooters via Lyft? Interesting. Apparently Uber has been partnered with a different scooter company for several years.

Lyft is integrating Spin’s electric scooters into its app, with the goal of eventually featuring the scooters in all 60 cities where Spin operates in the US.

The move comes amid more consolidation in the micromobility world after Berlin’s Tier Mobility acquired Spin from Ford earlier this month. Lyft, which owns Citi Bike in New York City, continues to operate its own fleet of e-scooters despite many financial headwinds.

Lyft’s partnership with Spin will kick off in Nashville, followed by 13 additional markets throughout April, including Phoenix, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Providence, Raleigh / Durham, Charlotte, Fort Collins, Ann Arbor, Kansas City, and Memphis.

Riders will see Spin scooters as an option when they search their destination in the Lyft app. A Spin scooter can be unlocked via the Lyft app by scanning its QR code or entering the scooter ID number — similar to how Citi Bike customers can unlock a bike through the Lyft app.

[LFC]

An electric Lotus SUV. Even typing that doesn't seem right.

This week we found out what an electric Lotus SUV will look like when the company showed off a new car called the Eletre. Not everyone will be a fan of the styling, and others will just object to the idea of Lotus making an SUV, electric or otherwise, in the first place.

But keep an open mind, at least until the first road tests. As long as it drives like a Lotus, it might be just the thing to bring a lot of new customers to the marque, not just in Europe and China but here in the US from 2024. And as Porsche so ably demonstrates, it's a good way to pay for the stuff that makes car nerds get hot under the collar.

The English manufacturer of lightweight sports cars has been in an unusual position these last few years—sufficiently funded, thanks to the same deep pockets that rejuvenated Volvo. Instead of having to warm over an increasingly old platform for small two-seaters, Lotus got to work developing not one but four new architectures.

[andydp]

Mar 30, 2022 21:17:08 GMT LFC said:

An electric Lotus SUV. Even typing that doesn't seem right.

As long as it drives like a Lotus, it might be just the thing to bring a lot of new customers to the marque, not just in Europe and China but here in the US from 2024. And as Porsche so ably demonstrates, it's a good way to pay for the stuff that makes car nerds get hot under the collar.

The English manufacturer of lightweight sports cars has been in an unusual position these last few years—sufficiently funded, thanks to the same deep pockets that rejuvenated Volvo. Instead of having to warm over an increasingly old platform for small two-seaters, Lotus got to work developing not one but four new architectures.

Porsche showed you can make a four door and a couple of SUV models and be successful at it.  They didn't compromise the Porsche marque.  They made sure performance characteristics were maintained.  Something Ford didn't figure out with that "electric Mustang". 

There has been chatter in Corvette circles about making and SUV and four door with a Corvette badge.  It won't work unless they make sure the performance is not compromised.  But believe me they will have a hard sell.

[LFC]

F***ing Putin.

The car industry’s multibillion-dollar bet on electric vehicles was built on a single premise: that batteries would carry on getting cheaper.

In 2019, Volkswagen executives even brandished charts predicting a steady decline in battery costs as they laid out their ambition to consign the combustion engine to history.

For years the industry was proved right: battery costs fell from $1,000 per KWH for the first models more than a decade ago to about $130 in 2021, paving the way to making them affordable for middle-income families.

But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to halt the slide.

Prices of nickel, lithium, and cobalt—key raw materials for battery manufacturing—were already rising because of global demand. But with Russia accounting for 11 percent of the world’s nickel, and supply chains already stretched, the war has sent the cost of such commodities skyrocketing.

The price of these three metals required in a 60KWh battery, enough for a large family sport utility vehicle, has risen from $1,395 a year ago to more than $7,400 in early March, according to battery group Farasis Energy.

Battery companies, carmakers, and suppliers are now grappling with the prospect that electric cars may be less profitable, or require cheaper materials, if they are to remain financially competitive.

“At the moment the raw material prices are a burden for our target to reduce battery costs,” said Audi chief financial officer Jürgen Rittersberger, whose brand has pledged to launch battery-only electric cars from 2026.

However, neither Rittersberger nor most of his fellow European car executives are yet raising the alarm about the impact of rising prices on the rollout of electric cars.

For a start, battery material prices are not rising in isolation—costs of aluminum, steel, and copper that are also used in engine-powered models have risen since the invasion, too.

“We have to bear in mind that we need specific materials for batteries... but we also need, for example, rhodium, palladium, and platinum for the [catalytic] converters in our [combustion engine] cars, so we have to expect that the cost in both cars will increase,” said Volkswagen’s chief financial officer, Arno Antlitz.

[LFC]

GM and Honda are pushing towards making a more affordable EV.

On Tuesday, General Motors and Honda announced that the two companies are working together on a new range of affordable electric vehicles. The two manufacturers will develop a new architecture that uses GM's new Ultium battery platform for North America, South America, and China. Production of the first vehicles by both companies should begin in 2027.

Honda and GM have been growing closer for some time. In 2017, they set up a joint venture to mass-produce hydrogen fuel cells, then the following year partnered on autonomous driving technology through Cruise as well as on next-generation battery development.

In 2020 the two companies announced that Honda would design two new EVs for North America using GM's Ultium batteries. Those two EVs are still in development, as is Honda's EV collaboration with Sony—this announcement is in addition to those plans.

"The progress we have made with GM since we announced the EV battery development collaboration in 2018, followed by co-development of electric vehicles including the Honda Prologue, has demonstrated the win-win relationship that can create new value for our customers," said Shinji Aoyama, Honda senior managing executive officer. "This new series of affordable EVs will build on this relationship by leveraging our strength in the development and production of high quality, compact class vehicles."

GM and Honda want to design a new flexible architecture (like Volkswagen Group's MEB), specifically for affordable cars like compact crossovers. But both say that affordability will come through scale and combined purchasing as well as design.

I wish them well but I don't know that partnerships with good car companies and GM have really borne much in the way of real winners in the past.

[LFC]

Earlier Hertz announced they'd be buying Teslas. Now they've announced they'll be buying Polestars.

Car rental company Hertz is significantly expanding its electric vehicle fleet. On Monday it announced a new partnership with Polestar, the Swedish performance EV startup. If all goes to plan, Hertz will buy 65,000 Polestar EVs over the next five years to be deployed in Europe, North America, and Australia.

This is not the first big EV buy from Hertz. After filing for bankruptcy during the first few months of the pandemic, it's back and well-capitalized and on a mission to electrify.

In 2021, Hertz announced that Teslas would make up more than a fifth of its US rental fleet by the end of this year, in a mix of Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossovers.

But Hertz is evidently not limiting itself to one supplier. "We are excited to partner with Polestar and look forward to introducing their premium EV products into our retail and rideshare fleets," Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in a statement. "Today’s partnership with Polestar further builds on our ambition to become a leading participant in the modern mobility ecosystem and doing so as an environmentally forward company. By working with EV industry leaders like Polestar, we can help accelerate the adoption of electrification while providing renters, corporate customers, and rideshare partners a premium EV product, exceptional experience, and lower carbon footprint."

[LFC]

The Hummer EV is an electric truck for people who think EVs are stupid

Hummer fans thinking EVs are stupid? That's hilarious!

[AnBr]

Dash looks more like a cockpit than a dashboard.

[LFC]

Nissan is partnering with NASA to try to create batteries that do not depend on rare metals.

Nissan is partnering with NASA on a computational approach to developing all-solid-state batteries that don’t rely on rare or expensive metals, the AP has reported.

The automaker, which was the first to market with an affordable, mass-produced electric vehicle in the Leaf, is clearly hoping to make up for lost time. Nissan has floundered of late with its electrification strategy. Its second EV, the Ariya, is scheduled to arrive this fall, some 12 years after the first Leaf was sold. The company hopes that its in-house solid-state batteries will debut in passenger vehicles by 2028.

To get there, the company said it’s opening a pilot solid-state battery plant in 2024. The small-scale factory will be a key step in rolling out solid-state technology; many of the concepts that underpin the batteries have been demonstrated in laboratories time and again, but making the leap to manufacturing often reveals unexpected problems that can take years to solve.

Building a pilot plant shows that Nissan is confident enough in its current solid-state battery tech that it believes it’s worth investing money to work out any manufacturing kinks. The 2028 target for mass production is similar to competitors like Solid Power. That suggests the industry is feeling confident in the timeline for when all-solid-state batteries will be ready for automotive use at scale.

The Nissan-NASA partnership, which also involves researchers from the University of California, San Diego, is likely looking beyond those first cells. While today’s solid-state battery designs change some fundamental parts of lithium-ion batteries—mostly by doing away with flammable liquid electrolytes—they largely leave others in place, including the use of rare or expensive metals like cobalt and nickel. By eliminating such metals, future batteries would not only be cheaper but also have potentially cleaner and more ethical supply chains. Cobalt mining, for example, is rife with human rights abuses and environmental hazards.

[goldenvalley]

I've been following the adventures of an acquaintance who just bought a hydrogen fuel cell car, a Hyundai Nexo,  three weeks ago. For his first refueling he had to drive to two hydrogen filling stations before finding one that was in service.  This was despite online info that said the first one was in operation.  His second fueling attempt went very well with a station near his house.  Unlike EVs there is no down time for fueling (once he finds an operational place).  The tank fills quickly.  Acceleration, handling are all good. Until there are more filling stations he won't be driving out of town.

[andydp]

Apr 12, 2022 0:26:46 GMT goldenvalley said:

I've been following the adventures of an acquaintance who just bought a hydrogen fuel cell car, a Hyundai Nexo,  three weeks ago. For his first refueling he had to drive to two hydrogen filling stations before finding one that was in service.  This was despite online info that said the first one was in operation.  His second fueling attempt went very well with a station near his house.  Unlike EVs there is no down time for fueling (once he finds an operational place).  The tank fills quickly.  Acceleration, handling are all good. Until there are more filling stations he won't be driving out of town.

I’m not really looking for a hydrogen refill station but the only one I’ve ever seen is on 295/12 in Mass. I’m sure there’s more but I have yet to notice another.

[LFC]

It seems that many EV companies really are staying at the high end for now.

On Tuesday, Lucid Motors added a new version of its electric sedan to its lineup. It's called the Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance, and at the not-inconsiderable price of $179,000 it slots above the already superlative-laden $139,000 Lucid Air Grand Touring, offering a lot more power, albeit at the cost of about 13 percent of its range.

I guess that's pretty much the model Tesla followed as well with less expensive, and likely lower margin, models coming later.

Lucid has pegged the Air Grand Touring Performance back slightly, so as not to eclipse the Air Dream Edition Performance (the 1,111 hp version). But only slightly. Therefore the twin-motor Air Grand Touring Performance generates a combined 1,050 hp (783 kW), which will propel the ultra-slippery sedan to 60 mph from a standstill in 2.5 seconds.

You do give up some range compared to the Grand Touring—70 miles (112 km) in fact—but it still has an EPA range of 446 miles (717 km) on a single charge.

However, fans of Lucid from the early days will be disappointed that the planned single-motor $60,000 entry-level version will now cost at least $80,000. Production of that car was meant to begin this year, but perhaps 2024 is more likely.