Batteries
Dana Holding Corporation has been named the ‘Best Battery Solution Provider of the Year by the China Decision Makers Consultancy (CDMC). The honour recognises Dana’s research and contributions to thermal-management technologies for hybrid-electric vehicles and battery-electric vehicles.
A newly-presented Bosch battery technology for electric cars, a battery containing solid-state cells, may be production-ready in as little as five years and offer more than double the energy density of comparable current products – at a lower cost. The company says the recent acquisition of Silicon Valley start-up Seeo Inc. for an undisclosed sum will help make this possible, as thanks to the acquisition Bosch now possesses the first sample cells needed to further its development work.
A new automotive battery pack manufacturing research centre is to be set up in Coventry and will work on developing the next generation of traction batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. The University of Warwick’s WMG will lead a 14 million consortium known as AMPLiFII (Automated Module-to-pack Pilot Line for Industrial Innovation). Government agency Innovate UK is funding the project to the tune of £10 million.
Over the past few years Manbat has told workshops to get ready for more business with vehicles fitted with start-stop systems. The UK’s largest automotive battery distributor now offers garages and workshops a new device for dealing with aftermarket start-stop jobs – it has released its own Manbat ‘Connect + Reset’ battery validation tool.
Forelettronica has introduced a new line under its ‘BC Battery Controller’ brand name, and it anticipates that it will become its top-selling range.
The Lucas range of automotive batteries now includes an AGM fitment. Lucas AGM products will be available throughout the Manbat branch network, and Manbat says AGM batteries have joined the Lucas line-up to accommodate growing start-stop vehicle numbers.
Car batteries from world famous battery brand Duracell are now in stock at all 185 branches of Euro Car Parts. With exceptional long-life performance, the 20-strong Duracell Advanced automotive range covers over 95 per cent of cars, including every popular make and model.
Five years and more than 35,000 European sales since the launch of its all-electric Leaf, proprietary data released by Nissan for the first time shows that 99.99 per cent of its battery units remain entirely fit for purpose.
Banner Batteries has appointed Lee Quinney as country manager in a bid to expand its presence here in the UK. Quinney will take on the new role as of 28 February. Joining Banner Batteries after eight years with GM brand, ACDelco where he held the position of director, Quinney brings 30 years’ experience of the […]
The hybrid batteries used in Toyota and Lexus models can last longer the vehicles themselves, so often they are only recovered when the cars reach the end of their useful life, or if they have been involved in an accident. Toyota already has a battery collection rate of more than 90 per cent, but is now widening its strategy and targeting a 100 per cent result.
Yamaha has added the BS Batteries range to its Genuine Yamaha Parts line-up and is now selling these products for all Yamaha motorcycle models through its Authorised dealer network.
A project is bringing Bosch, the BMW Group and Vattenfall together sees the companies reuse old electric vehicle batteries to form a large-scale energy storage system in Hamburg. Bosch, BMW, and Vattenfall believe in the concept to the extent they have launched the Second Life Batteries alliance. BMW is supplying batteries from its ActiveE and i3 electric vehicles, while Vattenfall has agreed to operate the massive storage system at its site for a period of 10 years. Bosch is in charge of integrating the batteries and managing the system. The storage solution will become part of an already existing Vattenfall virtual power plant. This allows the partners to combine various small, decentralized power generating systems to market them as a shared power plant.
Rapidly growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in China is triggering an explosion of investment in the lithium-ion battery industry, with China’s production of power lithium-ion batteries set to jump 400 per cent by 2017, according to market research firm CCM.
In September 2014, Varta announced two new developments, and Manbat reports these are now available in the UK through the network of branches it supplies. The first new arrivals are the EFB and AGM batteries launched at the Automechanika show, and the second, although less relevant to the automotive sector, is the Promotive EFB heavy-duty battery.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are aiming are advocating tyre pyrolysis as a way of recovering carbon black for use as a graphite substitute in lithium-ion batteries. The goal is to scale up the recovery process and demonstrate applications as anodes for lithium-ion batteries in large-format “pouch cells”. These batteries could then be used in plug-in electric vehicles and to store energy produced by wind and solar sources.
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