Lifeboat Foundation

The automotive electric vehicle revolution paves the way for urban air mobility, but people must not be naive to believe that electric vehicle batteries are enough for electric flight. The need for fast charging, 30 times the energy throughput, and three times the power demand requires a new generation of batteries.

Engineers at Penn State have now demonstrated two energy-dense lithium-ion batteries that can recharge with enough energy for a 50-mile eVTOL trip in five to ten minutes. These batteries could sustain more than 2,000 fast charges over their lifetime.

In the last couple of years, several prototypes have emerged – including from companies like Volocopter, Boeing, Lilium, SkyDrive. While some prototypes have included wheels, they all incorporate spinning rotors to facilitate takeoff and landing, including the air taxi shown off last year by Hyundai, which is basically a small helicopter.

Continue reading “Innovative flying car batteries promise 50-mile trips on 10-minute charge” »

Elon Musk recently shared a rather interesting update on Twitter — his companies now employ about 110,000 people worldwide. This is quite impressive considering that in the grand scheme of things, Tesla, SpaceX, and Musk’s other ventures are still just getting started.

Musk’s update came as a response to a TSLA bull on Twitter who inquired if his companies had already reached the 100,000-employee milestone. Musk’s response revealed that his companies had not only met their 100,000 employee mark — they had already passed it.

Elon Musk did not share further details about his companies’ worldwide employee headcount, though there is a good chance that the lion’s share of his workers today are in the United States and China. These are the two countries where Tesla, one of Musk’s largest companies, has operational vehicle production plants, after all.

The Tesla Model Y has boosted Tesla’s presence and sales in Europe. Charts that track EV sales in Europe reveal that Tesla Model Y sales have already exceeded numbers from legacy automakers in Norway, including Volkswagen, Ford, and Audi.

In terms of the full transition to electric vehicles, Norway might be considered the closest to the goal. The Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV) reported that most new passenger car sales in July were zero-emission cars, taking up 64.1% market share.

Norway might be an excellent place to test the Tesla Model Y’s future in Europe as Giga Shanghai continues to send exports to the continent. As of August 30 the top EV brand selling in Norway is Tesla, with 1,776 vehicle registrations. The top model sold in Norway this month was the Tesla Model Y, with 1,115 registrations.

In the past week, CleanTechnica readers were most attracted to stories about cool & cheap electric motorcycles, an Australian pastime that electric vehicles are sure to kill, and the standard-range Tesla Model 3 and Model Y getting LFP batteries. Following those medal winners, the BYD Dolphin potentially getting millions of sales, love for water batteries, and solar-powered trains took the next three spots.

For the details on those stories, to see the rest of the top 20 list, or to go explore the sometimes wild and crazy (but almost always useful) comments under the pieces, scroll down and have a gander.

Belgium-based hydrogen solution company CMB.TECH and crane equipment developer Luyckx have presented what they believe to be the world’s first hydrogen-powered dual fuel excavator. The team has converted a 37 ton Hitachi ZX350LC-7 excavator to a dual fuel machine that can continue to operate on diesel if the supply of hydrogen is not available.

The dual-fuel excavator provides gradual ecological development within the heavy construction and earthmoving sector. With this machine, companies within the sector can embark on energy transition with today’s machines without being permanently dependent on the availability of hydrogen. The solution allows companies to take a first concrete step toward greening the entire heavy excavator sector without limiting the machine’s power or autonomy.

“Driven by the wishes of our end users and fleet owners, we launched an own-initiative feasibility study with regard to possible alternative solutions that help to reduce CO₂ emissions, make the machine park more sustainable and do business in a socially responsible way. We have been looking for the right solutions for several years. The challenge was mainly in the area of energy requirements for heavy machinery,” said Jos Luyckx, the CEO of Luyckx.

Continue reading “World’s first hydrogen-powered dual fuel excavator unveiled” »

A plant fossil from a geological formation in Scotland sheds light on the development of the earliest known form of roots. A team led by researchers at GMI – the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Oxford realize the first 3D reconstruction of a Devonian plant based exclusively on fossil evidence. The findings demonstrate that the appearance of different axis types at branching points resulted in the evolution complexity soon after land plants evolved sometime before 400 million years ago. The results are published in eLife.

New research demonstrates how the oldest known root axed developed more than 400 million years ago. The evolution of roots at this time was a dramatic event that impacted our planet and atmosphere and resulted in transformative ecological and climate change.

Firms that make chips for cars are set to see big benefits if electric car sales continue rise. Here are some of Goldman, UBS and Morgan Stanley’s stock picks.

Batteries are widely used in everyday applications like powering electric vehicles, electronic gadgets and are promising candidates for sustainable energy storage. However, as you’ve likely noticed with daily charging of batteries, their functionality drops off over time. Eventually, we need to replace these batteries, which is not only expensive but also depletes the rare earth elements used in making them.

A key factor in battery life reduction is the degradation of a battery’s structural integrity. To discourage structural degradation, a team of researchers from USC Viterbi School of Engineering are hoping to introduce “stretch” into battery materials so they can be cycled repeatedly without structural fatigue. This research was led by Ananya Renuka-Balakrishna, WiSE Gabilan Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and USC Viterbi Ph.D candidate, Delin Zhang, as well as Brown University researchers from Professor Brian Sheldon’s group. Their work was published in the Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids.

A typical battery works through a repetitive cycle of inserting and extracting Li-ions from electrodes, Zhang said. This insertion and extraction expands and compresses the electrode lattices. These volume shifts create microcracks, fractures and defects over time.

Circa 2017

Transformers are found at generating stations and distribution substations. Their primary function is to reduce the high voltages used to transport electricity long distances to the lower voltages needed by homes and businesses. But today’s transformers only operate in one direction. They are poorly equipped for boosting electricity from local sources — typically wind and solar — to the higher voltages needed to mesh efficiently with the larger grid.

Beginning in 2,010 researchers at the National Science Foundation’s FREEDM Systems Center at NC State introduced the first solid state transformer. It could perform all of the functions of a traditional transformer, but could also redirect power as needed to address changes in supply and demand.

Continue reading “Solid State Transformers Could Be Key To Smart Grid Functionality” »