Lithium-air batteries seemed destined for the dustbin of automotive history just a few years ago. But the US Department of Energy has tapped four different Li-air projects in a new round of funding aimed at developing new batteries powerful enough to move full-sized airplanes, locomotives, and seagoing vessels.
Kubota is considering in-house production of batteries for electric agricultural equipment. It is considering developing and designing its own batteries and building a new plant in Japan.
The company intends to launch electric tractors and mowers in Europe and the United States by 2030. Kubota is preparing for increased demand in Europe, the U.S., and other markets by establishing a system for in-house production of batteries, which determine the running time of electric agricultural machinery.
Kubota currently manufactures diesel engines for agricultural machinery, mainly in Thailand and Japan and ships them to the United States and Europe for final assembly. Regarding batteries, which are a key component of electric agricultural machinery, President Kitao said, “As with engines, we would like to be able to produce batteries for Asian markets in Thailand, and those for Japan, Europe, and the United States in Japan.”
The electrification of the construction machinery industry in China continues to accelerate. For example, CATAL and Longgong have signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Ningde, Fujian, a move that follows the January cooperation agreement between CATAL and Lingong Heavy Machinery. According to the agreement, both parties will expand cooperation in the development and production of construction machinery, the development of power batteries for construction machinery, and jointly research and develop adaptive products and market promotion to jointly explore the new energy construction machinery market.
More and more construction machinery companies are turning their attention to the electrification market. Domestic and foreign engineering machinery companies such as XCMG, Sany, Zoomlion, and Carter have developed and launched electric products such as loaders, excavators, and mixer trucks.
CATL has launched a battery pack with Yutong Bus Co to power commercial vehicles like buses and trucks. Yutong said the new battery packs will be used in upcoming electric vehicles and that the new long-lasting EV battery has zero degradation through the first 1,000 cycles.
The new EV battery pack, made with CATL, has a 932,000 mile (1.5 million km), 15-year warranty. Yutong calls the long-life battery an industry first. The bus manufacturer introduced another battery with a 10-year and 621,000 mile (1 million km) lifespan.
A new report by the European Commission shows that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles create much more emissions than we previously thought – by an average of 3.5 times as much as lab testing indicates.
Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) were thought to bring the best of both worlds – a large enough battery to take care of your daily tasks, paired with a gas engine for longer trips. There are downsides in cost and complexity, but the powertrain choice does provide more options than others.
Hydrogen has the potential to be emissions free but only if we understand how the hydrogen is generated / manufactured or whether it occurs naturally. Several new terms have been used recently in the press, and this article explains them.
Gold hydrogen refers to naturally occurring deposits of the gas trapped underground in a way similar to how natural gas and oil deposits are found under the Earth’s surface. This type of H2 is different from White in that White now typically refers to the gas when it is above the surface, such as in the atmosphere, but Gold refers specifically to the gas found in underground deposits.
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