Lithium News

In Japan, where old traditions are constantly being updated with new technology, one inn is making use of automated driving technology to offer the latest in hands-free hospitality — self-driving slippers, Reuters reported.

Nissan Motor Co has developed a system for slippers to ‘park’ themselves at the entrance of the traditional inn at the push of a button, ready for guests to use upon arrival. Each slipper is equipped with two tiny wheels, a motor and sensors to ‘drive’ across the wooden lobby floor using Nissan’s ProPilot Park technology, Reuters added.

Bavarian firm Torqeedo is hoping to become the Tesla of the waters, pushing electric boat motors. But first it has to overcome scepticism about environmentally-friendly power in a sector wedded to diesel.

Christoph Ballin claims he has a simple way to eliminate the same amount of pollution created by 39 diesel cars in a single stroke: Substitute just one traditional 5-horsepower outboard motor with an electric motor from his fast-growing Bavarian firm, Torqeedo.

Torqeedo is the only company in the world that manufactures electric boat motors in serial production. But despite its environmental feats, it still encounters stiff resistance to e-mobility among watersport aficionados.

The fear that car owners initially had of being stranded somewhere on the road with an electric motor is even more pronounced with boat owners afraid of being marooned on the open sea. Mr. Ballin estimates the market share of e-motors on yachts is just 1 percent. The leaves plenty of upside for Torqeedo and a growing list of rivals.

Mr. Ballin was presenting his line of electric boat motors this week at the Düsseldorf International Boat Show. His math would mean that the dual 325-horsepower Suzuki engines featured at the trade fair emit the equivalent nitrogen oxide of 5,000 diesel cars. According to the co-founder of the company, which is located on Lake Starnberg just outside Munich, even a low-powered outboard with no catalytic converter or exhaust purifications puts out as much nitrogen oxide in an hour as 39 diesel-powered cars traveling at 95 kilometers (60 miles) per hour.

Torqeedo has grown 35 percent a year since its founding in 2005 – long before e-mobility was a buzzword. Cologne-based diesel motor manufacturer Deutz acquired Torqeedo in October as part of its drive into electric and hybrid motors. That has made Mr. Ballin, a former McKinsey consultant, head of strategy for the parent company while continuing as chief executive at Torqeedo. Deutz paid something in the higher two-digit millions for a company that last year had sales topping €25 million ($30 million). Its workforce of 130 delivered 10,000 motors.

Torqeedo doesn’t try to compete with that 325-horsepower outboard or the larger engines installed in superyachts. Sailing yachts up to 80 feet, on the other hand, are very interesting, in Mr. Ballin’s opinion. The motor firm works together with Hanse Yachts, the second-largest serial producer of sailing yachts globally, based in Greifswald on the Baltic Sea.

To help allay concerns about getting stranded, Torqeedo works together with BMW on battery technology, using versions of the high-performance motor batteries going into the automaker’s i3 electric car and the hybrid i8 for its biggest boat motors.

These engines are significantly more expensive than their diesel equivalents, but, as Mr. Ballin notes, someone who can spend hundreds of thousands on a sailing yacht doesn’t need to worry about how much the engine costs. “Luxury sailors want to enjoy nature,” he says, “and not have the stink and noise of a diesel motor while they idle in the bay.”

The BMW link also gives Torqeedo an entrée into commercial ship motors like ferries and water taxis. The company has supplied small passenger ferries in Ottawa and Dubai, for instance.

Other exhibitors at the Düsseldorf show, one of the biggest marine trade fairs in the world, have moved into this niche as well. Austrian machine maker Kräutler is working together with Ostseestaal, a Baltic manufacturer of ship components, to build small ferries and excursion boats. The partners have delivered 10 boats – a ferry on the Mosel River and several excursion boats for Berlin among them – and have 20 on the books for this year.

The potential is much greater. “We could replace a thousand boats in Germany alone,” says Ostseestaal’s Ingo Schillinger, especially the diesel barges that have been plying the country’s rivers for 40 years. It will take some rethinking at the shipyards to make that exchange, however. They all come from a diesel background and as a result hulls are too heavy and engines too high-powered, says Axel Büchling, an engineer at Kräutler.

Planning has to be much more exact for electric-powered boats, because otherwise the cost for batteries and charging technology gets out of hand. Shipyards traditionally have not focused on energy-efficient construction, but that is what’s needed for electric-powered ships, Mr. Büchling says.

Boat owners, too, will have to do some rethinking, much as car owners have. At the Düsseldorf show, Suzuki pulled out all the stops to present that 325-horsepower motor. A hostess dramatically unveiled the motor itself, as a big as a tall man, and then ran a video with a speedboat roaring across an azure sea.

It reminded Mr. Ballin of another presentation at the Amsterdam boat show. One manager there touted the trends for deep sea fishing yachts with photos of boats sporting three 300-horsepower motors mounted on the stern. Mr. Ballin just shrugs: “I just always think – you go your way, I’ll go mine.”

California said on Friday it would ramp up efforts to boost electric vehicles even as it holds talks with the Trump administration over the fate of fuel efficiency standards through 2025.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed an executive order “to curb carbon pollution from cars and trucks and boost the number of zero-emission vehicles driven in California.”

Brown set a new target of 5 million zero-emission vehicles in California by 2030, up from a prior target of 1.5 million by 2025.

Brown wants the state to spend $2.5 billion over eight years to add 250,000 vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations by 2025. Automakers have announced plans to spend tens of billions of dollars to add dozens of new EV models.

The push comes as the Trump administration is considering rolling back the 2022-2025 fuel efficiency standards.

Officials from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and administration held a new round of talks earlier this week to discuss the vehicle requirements.

CARB chair Mary Nichols told reporters on Friday on a conference call the administration has not made any specific proposals to reduce requirements.

Nichols said there’s been a “general conversation about the Trump administration’s desire to do something” to indicate sympathy with automakers who say they have problems meeting the standards.

CARB does not believe standards should be lowered but is willing to discuss modifications if warranted. “Absent any such evidence, we will certainly resist any changes,” Nichols said.

Environmental Protection Agency air office chief Bill Wehrum said Thursday the goal of the California meetings was to keep national standards. “What we’re talking about is whether adjustments need to be made,” Wehrum said. “We want to stay aligned with California.”

California, joined by nearly a dozen other states, could seek to enforce existing emissions rules, even if the Trump administration softens the federal 2022-2025 requirements.

Automakers want the White House and California to reach agreement because a legal battle over the rules could result in lengthy uncertainly for the industry. They want changes to address lower gasoline prices and a shift in U.S. consumer preferences to larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles.

A group representing General Motors Co, Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), Toyota Motor Corp and other automakers has encouraged more talks in hopes an agreement is reached.

The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) — the registered body representing Indian manufacturers of electric vehicles (EV) and electric vehicle components — has urged the Indian government to reduce GST rate to 5 per cent on all electric vehicles and electric vehicle subsystems.

The body sees unreasonably high GST as one of the key impediments to faster adoption of EVs in the country and as one of the main stumbling block in achieving the electric-green vehicle adoption target as visualized in the Centre’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) policy, which was rolled out two years back with much fanfare.

“GST reduction is critical to achieve FAME targets and galvanize e-vehicle industry,” said Sohinder Gill, director, Corporate Affairs, SMEV.

Gill also pointed out that to support the government’s ambitious vision of selling only e-vehicles in the country by 2030, and to help the industry grow at a faster pace, SMEV expects the government to take immediate remedies and proactive measures, which have been identified by SMEV and were also known to the government.

The SMEV expects the government to launch the next phase of FAME Scheme for a longer period of 6 years and its time-bound implementation.

“We expect the government to timely announce the launch of the next phase of FAME scheme for a longer period. Due to high ownership cost of EVs in the present scenario, the approach to Demand Incentives and Viability Gap Funding needs to be changed and the existing subsidy module needs to be enhanced for the next 6 years as compared to the previous short term periods i.e. 6 months – 1 year.

Rebate on Income Tax for consumer adopting EV. Many countries such as Norway, France, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands have already implemented this policy in their respective systems and have garnered a plethora of benefits out of it. For example, Norway now has 36 per cent of EVs on road due to such supportive policies.

Similar policy can be introduced in India as well as a step to encourage faster e-vehicle adoption, wherein the government need not spend money by utilizing public funds to make any transactions. It will further encourage customers to purchase more EVs in the upcoming future as well.

IGST for all imports should be 5 per cent. In addition, import duties on motors, controllers and DC-DC converters should be zero in the first three years, and should be increased to 10 per cent in the fourth year and 20 per cent in the sixth year. This will encourage local manufacturing and give time to companies to set up their local manufacturing.

It’s not always easy being green, as Kermit the Frog was fond of saying. Sales of environmentally friendly vehicles have lagged in an SUV-focused market. But at least three automakers are hoping they can gain a little momentum thanks to the green car trophies they’re taking home this week.

Kia nabbed honors as the Green SUV of the Year during a ceremony at the Washington, D.C. Auto Show with its new Niro crossover vehicle. Two other awards were presented by Green Car Journal, the sponsor of the awards, including Green Luxury Car of the Year, which went to the Karma Revero, and Connected Green Car of the Year, which was presented to the Cadillac CT6 Plug-in Hybrid.

The Kia Niro – which got a big send-up during last year’s Super Bowl thanks to a humorous Melissa McCarthy commercial – is one of a small but growing number of vehicles offered with a selection of different, low and no-emissions powertrains. The crossover initially debuted in hybrid and plug-in hybrid form and a prototype version of an all-electric Niro was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas early this month. A production version is expected late in 2018.

“We’re thrilled to have received this special distinction from Green Car Journal,” said Orth Hedrick, Vice President of Strategy and Planning at Kia Motors America. “The Niro represents years of hard work by Kia to provide eco-conscious car buyers a vehicle that is fun, versatile, economical, and a pleasure to look at and drive.

While pricing hasn’t been revealed for the pure battery-electric model, the Niro hybrid starts at $23,340, with the plug-in at $27,900. That underscores the way manufacturers are trying to push down the price of battery-based technology to enhance the appeal of vehicles like the Niro. That said, a senior executive with parent Hyundai-Kia Motors also acknowledged during a CES presentation that almost all automakers now lose money on their electrified models.

That isn’t expected to change until at least the coming decade, when the price of lithium-ion batteries falls by as much as half, to anywhere from $70 to $100 per kilowatt-hour, according to the Boston Consulting Group. The consultancy recently estimated manufacturers are today spending as much as $200 per kWh for lithium technology.

Packing batteries into a mainstream vehicle is especially challenging, as there’s little profit margin to begin with. That may help explain why luxury brands seem to be more aggressive in going electric. Within just the last few months, a number of high-line brands have announced aggressive electrification programs, Infiniti this month saying that will include virtually every vehicle it builds by the end of this decade.

So, the choice for Green Luxury Car of the Year took some observers by surprise – the Karma Revero topping a list of finalists that also included the BMW 530e, Cadillac CT6 Plug-In, Lexus LS 500H and Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid.

“We designed the Revero to strike an elegant balance between design and advanced electric technology,” said Jim Taylor, Karma Automotive’s Chief Revenue Officer. “This award confirms we are on the right path.”

The name, Karma Revero might confuse some folks. The sleek electric sports coupe originally debuted as the Fisker Karma, but that company went broke in 2011 and its assets were sold off to a Chinese automaker that brought the bankrupt firm back as Karma, renaming the car itself Revero. It recently went through a series of modest updates to its exterior and interior design and powertrain.

Cadillac didn’t drive off empty-handed. It’s flagship CT6 Plug-in sedan took the third enviro-trophy at the Washington Auto Show, this one for Connected Green Car of the Year. The award reflects the vehicle’s extensive range of onboard electronics, including the new Super Cruise system which allows limited hands-free driving.

“Technology and innovation have always been at the core of Cadillac,” said Cadillac CT6 Launch and Lifecycle Manager Eric Angeloro, adding that the new model, “Changes the expectations of what a hybrid can be.”

Caddy is actually one of more than a half-dozen manufacturers to offer some form of semi-autonomous technology for the 2018 model-year.

The announcement of the Green Car awards in Washington completes the cycle that began at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show last November. During a ceremony there, the new Honda Clarity was named Green Car of the Year. Like the Niro, it will be offered in three different versions, including a plug-in hybrid, an all-electric model and as a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle.

Elon Musk is notorious for blowing deadlines. But he eventually gets it right.

“Tesla employees say to expect more Model 3 delays,” read a headline from CNBC yesterday. CNBC’s Lora Kolodny reported that despite Tesla’s ambitions to run a highly automated manufacturing process, Tesla has been being forced to perform some battery-assembly steps in its Nevada Gigafactory by hand, borrowing scores of employees from its battery partner, Panasonic, to do it.

It sounds like a big headache for the Palo Alto carmaker until you notice one key detail: the article is talking about the state of Tesla’s manufacturing operation “as recently as mid-December.”

In December, Tesla and Panasonic workers were manually assembling bandoliers, rows of lithium-ion cells glued on either side of a cooling tube. It’s a tricky task to complete by hand, so the manual assembly led to a lot of errors and waste.

But more recently, Kolodny acknowledges, Tesla has begun to ramp up production.

“Once the machines in the factory were able to crank out bandoliers as fast or faster than the manual laborers, Tesla began sending Panasonic workers back to their employer,” Kolodny reports, citing anonymous sources at the factory. “Today, Tesla is winding down manual assembly as much as possible at the Gigafactory.”

In other words, this seems to be a story of Tesla fixing a production bottleneck and ramping up production—even though the headline gives the opposite impression.

To be fair, one engineer told CNBC that a lack of spare capacity leads to frequent shutdowns: “There’s no redundancy, so when one thing goes wrong, everything shuts down.” But automated production with frequent shutdowns is better than manual assembly. And this is presumably a problem Tesla can fix in the coming months.

It’s important to remember the broader context here. Tesla is notorious for setting ambitious deadlines for itself and then failing to hit them.

For example, in 2009, Tesla was planning to ship the Model S in 2011, but the start of production wound up slipping to mid-2012. Tesla then set a goal to produce 5,000 vehicles during that first calendar year, but only managed to produce 3,100.

But Tesla ultimately did figure out how to produce the Model S in significant volume, and the car became Tesla’s biggest success story.

Production of the Model 3 has gotten off to an even slower start than the Model S. The company only managed to produce about 1,800 Model 3s in the third and fourth quarters of 2017. But Tesla has significant financial resources. It can afford a few months’ delay if it’s ultimately able to perfect its production process.

And the CNBC report suggests that Tesla has made significant progress in that direction over the last month. Production processes that had been performed manually in December are becoming increasingly automated.

Tesla still has a long way to go to manufacture the 400,000 Model 3’s that customers have already ordered—not to mention making them cheaply enough to turn a profit. But Elon Musk has no shortage of persistence and determination. We’re not going to count him out yet.