Monthly Archives: May 2009

Kawasaki To Cut Workforce

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According to a press release from Kawasaki Motors, 320 employees at their Lincoln, NE plant are being offered buyouts.  Besides utility vehicles, the plant produces all-terrain vehicles, personal watercraft and other leisure  vehicles.  The buyout offer follows the laying off of 170 employees in January of this year.  The press release states that, “Kawasaki is experiencing increased inventory levels due to rapidly declining sales”.  Management also remaked that the plant has been operating on short weeks since the beginning of the year.  Learn more   omaha.com

Trojan Battery Introduces Watering System For Golf Car Batteries

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Trojan Battery has introduced their Hydrolink battery watering system for 6, 8 and 12-volt golf car batteries.  Hydrolink was developed in partnership with Flow-rite Controls, the leading designer and manufacturer of watering systems.  The product is available pre-installed on Trojan Batteries and features a non-mechanical water level indicator that will not give a false reading, according to the company.  The system can fill a set of batteries in less than thirty seconds.  Learn more:  earthtimes.org

Technology & Research Developments

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Battery/Ultracapacitor System for Small EVs – Using an NEV as the target vehicle, researchers from the Illinois Institute of Technology and Allborg University (Denmark) are working on a hybrid system that combines a battery pack with an ultracapacitor.  The battery handles average power loads while the ultracapacitor handles peak loads.

The target NEV has a speed limit of 40-50 km/h (25-31 mph), maximum power of 40 kW, and a weight of about 800 kg. The battery pack comprised two parallel strings of 14 series-connected 12 V NiMH batteries (Saft NHE 10-100). The ultracapacitor was a Maxwell BMOD0063 module with a nominal voltage of 125V.

Learn more:  greencarcongress.com

Bi-polar Lead Acid Battery For EVs – Last week a partnership between University of Glamorgan (Wales) and Atraverda was announced for the purpose of developing bi-polar lead acid batteries for a variety of commercial markets including EVs.  Atraverda has expertise in conductive ceramics that would be used in the batteries.  Prototypes are expected to begin testing within a year.

The partners say their work could lead to lead-acid batteries that are up to 40% lighter, 20% smaller, have 40% more energy capacity and twice the lifespan of traditional lead acid batteries.

Learn more:  greencarcongress.com