Cummins, a leading maker of diesel and natural gas engines for commercial trucks, unveiled a Class 7 heavy-duty truck cab Tuesday featuring an advanced 140 kWh battery pack that it will sell to bus operators and commercial truck fleets starting in 2019. The 18,000-pound tractor cab, dubbed AEOS after one of the four-winged horses driving the chariot of the Sun God, Helios, across the sky in Greek mythology, is just a demonstration model. But the Class 7 urban hauler tractor is fully operational and capable of hauling a 22-ton trailer. With a 100-mile range, the Cummins electric power train is being targeted at urban delivery vehicles (like a beer truck or food delivery truck) as well as for

Reuters has received word that Tesla's upcoming fully-electric Semi trucks will have a range of 321 - 483 kilometers (200 - 300 miles). Although this pales in comparison to a traditional semi's range, it's still a major accomplishment. Elon Musk teased the world back in April with the promise of a Tesla Semi truckcoming in September. A new report from Reuters claims they have discovered the range of the vehicle. An executive at Ryder System Inc, a semi-truck fleet operator, claims to have met with Tesla and learned about the proposed range of 321-483 kilometers (200-300 miles) on a single charge. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Saftey Administration (FMCSA), “In 2015, 4,050 large truc

As intermittent energy resources grow, the United States electric grid will need to become more flexible and resilient. The United States power grid didn't blink as the sun slipped behind the moon for a brief time this week. The much-heralded eclipse did have a significant impact on solar energy--utilities saw several gigawatts of clean energy vanish for a few minutes — but with ample preparation, customers saw no impact. Is that a big deal? Maybe not — yet. Because of cloudy weather, and changes to customer behavior related to the eclipse, the impact was muted. California had expected utility-scale solar output to drop 4,200 MW during the event, but saw a drop-off of only 3,400 MW. PJM Inte

There’s no shortage of battery companies battling with Tesla for market share. Outfits around the world are building out battery capacity to fill the needs of automakers and energy storage developers alike — so much so that overcapacity has led to lower battery prices. Still, a year-old, L.A.-based battery company called Romeo Power thinks its future looks very bright, thanks to a combination of talent, materials, and techniques that it claims enables the company to achieve at least 25 percent more energy density — and sometimes upwards of 200 percent more — than existing lithium-ion battery packs. In fact, its very tagline is: “The world’s most energy dense battery packs.” It’s a bold claim

Mumbai-headquartered JSW Energy, a division of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, has announced plans to launch electric vehicles (EVs) by 2020. In line with the company’s “Make in India and Make for India” vision, the initiative is a means for JSW Energy to venture into emerging verticals, including energy storage and charging infrastructure. To diversify its business operations into EVs and renewable energy storage, the company has committed $545.72 Mn-$623.68 Mn (INR 3,500 Cr-INR 4,000 Cr) for the next three years. Commenting on the development, JSW Energy Joint MD and CEO Prashant Jain stated, “We have been seeing very limited space for growth in the power sector. We will start with around 60

One step off the grid... US-made thermal “ice battery” energy storage technology that could dramatically change the way people cool their homes in summer – potentially cutting household peak power consumption by up to 95 per cent – is poised to take on the Australian market, through a distribution deal with local solar hot water company Apricus. California-based Ice Energy inked an agreement, in June, making the Melbourne-based Apricus the exclusive distributor of all its thermal energy storage products in Australia, covering all market segments, including utilities, commercial and industrial, and residential. The company is best-known for its commercial and industrial Ice Bear technology, w

If you find yourself driving through the rugged and spectacular scenery of western Norway, you'll be mesmerized by snow-capped mountains, cascading waterfalls and deep blue fjords. You'll probably also be surprised by the sheer number of Teslas and other electric vehicles on the country's winding roads. In 2015, 4,000 Teslas were sold in Norway, making it the company's second largest market worldwide. Over a third of all new cars sold there now are either fully electric or plug-in hybrid, more than 10 times the proportion of the United States. The government is even suggesting that by 2025, gasoline or diesel-powered cars will no longer be sold in the country. The transition to electric vehi

First it was cigarettes that got stubbed; now it's the turn of SUVs to face an endurance test. By becoming a tinkerer's playpen, India's nationwide goods and services tax is emerging as a fresh source of uncertainty for business. India's GST Council on Monday recommended an additional levy of 10 percentage points on luxury cars and sports utility vehicles, taking the total to 53 percent. The change comes barely five weeks after the value-added tax replaced a plethora of federal and state levies. Last month, a similar bump in cigarette taxes spooked investors. Imagine yourself at the London headquarters of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. How would you have felt about Indian news reports in July

There's something extremely misleading about the name "lithium battery." We know why lithium gets all the credit: the chemistry that makes these batteries so powerful wouldn't work half as well without this unique metal. Even other older rechargeable battery designs are limited in ways lithium batteries just aren't! What many people don't realize, however, is that lithium really only makes up a tiny part of the battery itself. Still, lithium-based batteries represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the energy industry today. The only thing holding the technology back now is price. And the biggest cost may not be what you think... read the full article on energyandcapital.com

German executives are preparing to announce a new home for a lithium-ion battery plant designed to rival the output at Tesla Inc.’s Gigafactory. Terra E Holding GmbH will choose one of five candidate sites in Germany or a neighboring country next month to build its 34 gigawatt-hour battery factory, Frankfurt-based Chief Executive Officer Holger Gritzka said in an interview. The former ThyssenKrupp AG manager has helped to assemble a consortium of 17 German companies and won government support for the project, which will break ground in the fourth quarter of 2019 and reach full capacity in 2028, he said. The battery factory is the latest sign that German industry, the motor behind the world’

Lithium ion batteries may be the technology of choice for electrified cars, but lead-acid batteries still have a big role to play. Johnson Controls is betting that automakers will pair its absorbent glass mat batteries, which are more durable than conventional lead-acid batteries, with stop-start systems. Many automakers plan to introduce 48-volt systems to optimize their stop-start systems, regenerative brakes and other fuel efficient technologies. Tom Watson, JCI's vice president of powertrain systems, said Tuesday at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars that 13 to 18 percent of vehicles sold in 2025 will have 48-volt electrical systems. "Forty-eight volts will be a pillar of our strategy,

Elon Musk managed to get off a lot of really pithy comments in his recent appearance at the National Governors Association meeting — he spoke of a future in which gas-burning cars will be like horses, and explained how China has taken environmental leadership away from the US. He also discussed the personal sacrifices required of a superhero, and his failed efforts to exert a positive influence on America’s Climate-Change-Denier-in-Chief. Well, let’s squeeze just one more juicy post out of that orange. Elon also described, in simple and engaging language, how solar energy will power the world of the future. He began by noting that, in a sense, we already live in a solar-powered world. “The E