Category Archives: Batteries

Recent Company News

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Navistar and Modec complete joint venture agreement – Navistar International and Modec completed their joint venture agreement for the production of Class 2c-3 commercial trucks. The all electric trucks will be produced in Elkhart, Indiana. In 2010 400 of the trucks are expected to be produced. Learn more: Tradingmarkets.com

Northwire introduces charging cable for electric vehicles – Northwire, Inc. announced the availability of CoilBoss Retractile Cords for use in electric and hybrid vehicles. All EV Cable options are available in standard or custom configurations. Customization includes hybrid designs, colors, private labeling and more. Learn more: Northwire.com

GM & SAIC Motor Corp pursuing venture – GM and SAIC Motor Corp, China’s largest automaker, are looking to create a joint venture to sell minivans, mini-trucks and mini cars in the Indian market.  It would be a 50-50 joint venture.  Learn more:  Wheels.unwireindia.com

Smith Electric Vehicles places battery order with Valence Technology – Smith Electric Vehicles placed a $1.4 million order with Valence Technology for batteries to be used in their Newton electric truck being produced in Kansas.  Learn more:  austin.bizjournals.com

Think thinking of Indiana for plant site – Think North America is in negotiations with officials from the state of Indiana and Elkhart County as it tries to decide on where to locate a manufacturing plant.  Besides Indiana, Oregona and Michigan have been on their short list.  Elkhart County is considering ten years of tax abatements to attract the company.  Learn more:  WSBT.com

Club Car Increasing Vehicle Prices 2.5%

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Driven by sharp increases in commodity prices, Club Car announced that prices 2010 for golf cars and utility vehicles will increase about 2.5% immediately.  The main commodities contributing to the price increase are lead, copper and aluminum.  According to the report Club Car annually uses approximately 20 million pounds of lead for batteries, eight to 10 million pounds of aluminum for vehicle chassis and significant amounts of copper for wiring in electric motors and other components.  In the last year commodity costs have increased an estimated 35% for lead, 50% for copper and 15% for aluminum.  Learn more:  Blogs.augusta.com-Scuttlebiz

Comment: It will be interesting to see if E-Z-Go or other manufacturers, especially electric vehicle manufacturers follow suit.  If the economy improves over the next year it is likely to drive demand for these commodities even higher. – Marc Cesare

Think Looking At Three States For Electric Vehicle Plant

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Indiana, Michigan and Oregon have made Think’s final list of states for their electric vehicle plant.  The company is also in the early stages of applying for loans from the US government under what is believed to be the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program.

Indiana could be the front runner among the states since battery manufacturer Ener1, which is a battery supplier for Think and owns a 31% stake in the company, will be producing the batteries in Indiana.  Another Think battery supplier, A123 Systems, is located in Michigan.  The weight of the vehicle battery packs makes shipping distance and costs a significant issue when deciding plant location.  Learn more:  Earth2tech.com

Electric Vehicles International Opens US Plant

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Electric Vehicles International opened up their new manufacturing facility in Stockton, CA yesterday.  EVI will design and assemble zero-emission, all-electric, medium-duty delivery vehicles and light-duty vehicles using EVI electric motors and controllers made at the location.  The Stockton location will also serve as the company’s world headquarters, previously located in Mexico.  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger participated in the opening ceremonies.

The medium-duty vehicles are being produced in partnership with Freightliner Custom Chassis and EVI plans to ship 1,000 of the all-electric trucks in 2010.  The vehicles will cost $120,000 to $180,000 and have ranges of 60, 80 and 115 miles depending on the size of the lithium-ion battery pack chosen. The company also plans to enter the plug-in hybrid business, and possibly perform electric conversions of school buses and port equipment as well.  Learn more:  Collisionconcierge.com

Textron Eyeing China Factory

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Last week a story from a Chinese business news service reported that Textron, manufacturer of E-Z-Go vehicles is looking into establishing a plant in China for the production of LSVs.  The company would partner with a Chinese automaker and produce neighborhood electric vehicles powered by lead acid batteries.  The plant would have the potential to produce 10,000 vehicles annually.  The story noted that the Chinese market for NEVs could be ripe given government incentives and their desire for developing clean vehicles.  There was no mention of exporting the vehicles to the US.  Learn more:  blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor

Discovery Energy To Be e-Ride’s Battery Supplier

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Discovery Energy of Vancouver has been named the exclusive supplier of batteries to LSV manufacturer e-Ride Industries. Discover Energy’s Clean and Green EV Traction Dry Cell Batteries will be used in the vehicles. The batteries are non-hazardous and maintenance free. For the transportation market e-Ride offers the exv4 and for the utility market the exv2. Learn more: EVWorld.com

Supply Chain News

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LG Chem of South Korea will be supplying lithium-ion batteries to CT&T, the South Korean based LSV manufacturer.  CT&T last year won a contract to supply 4,000 LSVs to California police departments, and is currently looking around the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas for locations to build assembly plants.  Learn more:  Tradingmarkets.com

Zytek of Great Britain will be providing the Navistar and Modec joint venture with a 70kw electric powertrain for the venture’s commercial electric trucks being marketed in the Americas.  Four hundred of the trucks will be produced in 2010 using $39 million in grant money from the US government.  Learn more:  Autoevolution.com

Battery Developments and Implications for STOVs

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The ongoing development of battery power holds significant potential for small, task-oriented vehicles (STOVs).  Most of the development and most discussion and analysis of battery development is in the context of powering on-road vehicles.  The crumbs off the table of this development process, however, could have a significant impact on market development of small, task-oriented vehicles.

STOVs are certainly not confined to electric power, but given the trend toward electric power in all but the off-road UTV (and derivatives) market–and that is coming, too–as well as the market drivers pushing toward electric, a focus on electric power is hardly unjustified.

In a presentation at the Industrial Utility Vehicle Technology Conference, I outlined four areas of product development that were needed to encourage market growth of the small, electric vehicle market.

  • Greater range, moving from 30-40 miles to 100 miles;
  • More power, deliverable through the adaptation of AC electric motors;
  • Faster speeds, increasing from the upper limits now of 25 m.p.h. to the 40-45 m.p.h. range;
  • Better ergonomic features, including all-weather driveability.

The ensuing years have seen improvements in all categories.  – Steve Metzger

For the full article see:  IUVMag.com

Universities Give Miles Automotive LSVs A Failing Grade

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Three Michigan universities have returned or are in the process of returning three electric vehicles produced by Miles Automotive because of limited range. According to reports university personnel were promised a vehicle range of 80 miles per charge but have only been able to realize half that or less, the equivalent of about half a work day. This is approximately the range that is currently estimated by the manufacturer for the vehicle, so it sounds like performance for these vehicles, which the universities were using on a trial basis, was over promised. The range problem is being attributed to the cold Michigan weather’s negative impact on battery performance. Learn more: Autologgreen.com

Sunpods Demonstrates Solar Powered EV Charging Station In San Jose

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SP-300 SunPods EV Plug-N-Go™ Charging Platform

SP-300 SunPods EV Plug-N-Go™ Charging Platform

SunPods announced today the first public demonstration of their revolutionary SunPods’ EV Plug-N-Go™ Solar Powered EV Charging System. The world’s first transportable, modular, integrated solar powered electric vehicle charging station, ready to power up on delivery. The SunPods SP-300 EV Plug-N-Go designed specifically for companies, institutions and public agencies that need an instant solar powered infrastructure solution for on-road electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and electrical industrial utility vehicles. The SunPods EV Plug-N-Go deploys rapidly, building a lasting green power infrastructure solution for today’s electrical powered vehicles.

Learn more:  www.sunpods.com