Buses World News

THE BATTERY MIRACLE * USA: Study

* New York - Will transform both transportation and power generation

--- Low-cost, high-performance electric batteries are a game changer for the two key clean energy sectors: power generation and transportation. They enable much greater adoption and penetration of both renewable energy and electric vehicles — not just electric cars but electric buses and electric planes... Since lithium-ion batteries have only just crossed the key price point for enabling widespread usage in both sectors — $300 per kilowatt-hour — we are really just at the beginning of the battery-driven clean energy revolution... And as battery costs and performance continue to improve, they will find a growing use in the electricity storage market. Remember, the BNEF chart above is just for lithium-ion batteries for EVs... And these remarkable projections may actually be conservative because they don’t appear to include the likelihood that “used” or “second-life” EV batteries could be available in quantity with a warranty at a cost below $100/kwh in the coming years... Finally, the battery miracle is so transformational, it is driving NASA, Airbus, and many other plane manufacturers toward electrification of air travel...
New York, NY, USA - Climate Progress, by JOE ROMM - June 17, 2016

Labels: battery makers, studies

ELECTRIC BATTERY MAKER * USA - Tesla Motors, is planning to build its giant battery 'gigafactory' in

* Nevada - Tesla’s $5 billion factory is scheduled to be churning out 35 GWh

-- Tesla Motors Inc. is working on the world’s biggest battery production facility east of Reno, Nevada, as part of its plan to mass-produce a half million electric cars a year by 2020. If all goes as planned it would be the world’s largest lithium ion battery facility... By 2020 from its factories the same year Tesla’s $5 billion Nevada factory is scheduled to be churning out 35 GWh... The Fremont, California-based, is working with Japan’s Panasonic Corp. to rapidly expand its battery supply. A vital component of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s plan to produce a sub-$35,000 Telsa electric car is to install an annual capacity to make billions of small high-energy 18650 lithium ion cells. It takes thousands of these batteries, each a little larger than a standard AA, to make one of the energy storage packs that power the Model S... The so-called "Gigafactory" will make advanced batteries expected to power Tesla's next generation of electric cars, as well as have capacity to supply batteries for other carmakers and other battery users, such as utilities... (Photo from Panasonic: Small high-energy 18650 lithium ion cells) -- Carson City, NEV, USA - USA TODAY, by Chris Woodyard & The International Business Times, by Angelo Young - March 13 2015

Labels: battery makers

BATTERY PRODUCTION * China: BYD it could have capacity equal to Tesla Motors in 2020

* A Chinese ‘Gigafactory’?

-- Chinese electric bus and car manufacturer BYD says it’s planning to expand battery production, increasing output so fast that it will almost match the planned output of Tesla’s so-called “Gigafactory” by the time it’s fully operational in five years... The Shenzhen-based maker of e6 electric cars and K9 electric buses wants to more than double its battery production output this year, from 4 gigawatt hours (GWh) to 10, continuing at that pace for at least three years, according to Reuters. A GWh is a massive unit of electrical energy (equivalent to 1 billion watt hours) used to measure a battery maker’s annual production output... At that pace of expansion, BYD could have 34 GWh of capacity... BYD, which is 10-percent owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, could have 34 GWh a year by 2020 if its plans work out. BYD produces most of its batteries in China, but it’s opening a Brazilian plant this year...
(Photo from Creative Commons - A BYD K9 electric bus waits to pick up passengers in Palo Alto, California, in this 2014 file photo. The bus is used in municipal transport systems in the U.S., China and Europe. BYD is also one of the largest manufacturers of electric vehicle battery packs) -- Shenzen, China - International Business Times, by Angelo Young -March 13 2015

Labels: battery makers

BATTERY MAKERS NEWS * USA

* New York - GE unveils Durathon battery for zero-emission buses

Niskayuna,NY,USA -Gizmag, by Antonio Pasolini -December 21, 2012: -- General Electric’s research team has unveiled its new Durathon battery, which the company says makes it cheaper to power buses using clean energy. It is used in tandem with a lithium battery and a hydrogen fuel cell, a combination that the researchers say makes it possible for the vehicle to achieve full performance with a much smaller fuel cell than previously possible... The battery builds on previous tests with a dual-battery system on a clean fuel hybrid transit bus, combining a high-energy density sodium battery with a high-power lithium battery. This echoes a previous attempt by Harvard scientists to create a fuel cell that produces and stores energy. The idea is to combine the power of acceleration made possible by lithium batteries, with the storage capacity of sodium batteries such as the Durathon...

Labels: battery makers

BATTERY MAKERS * USA

* Massachusetts / USA - A123 announces new, more economical battery pack for buses

(Photo: A Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid electric vehicle -PHEV- powered by an advanced lithium ion battery system from A123)

Waltham,MA,USA -The Detroit News, by Melissa Burden -July 19, 2012: -- A123 Systems Inc. said Thursday it will supply a new type of lithium-ion battery packs to BAE Systems to power city transit buses across the globe... The battery packs are based on A123 Systems' prismatic cells and will be used in BAE's HybriDrive Series propulsion system. The new battery packs, which are more compact and economical, are expected to be used on city transit buses and in other commercial applications... A123 Systems has manufactured battery packs for BAE that power nearly 3,000 buses globally in a partnership that dates back more than five years...

* Massachusetts / USA - A123 stock surges on China grid-stabilization contract

Waltham,MASS,USA -Bloomberg News/The Detroit News, by Christopher Martin -July 20, 2012: -- A123 Systems Inc., a U.S. maker of lithium-ion batteries for electric cars, surged the most in more than a month after winning a contract to supply a 2-megawatt system to China's Ray Power Systems Co. to help regulate power- grid frequency... The batteries will store electricity until needed to help stabilize China's electric grid and allow for the integration of fluctuating renewable-energy resources such as wind and solar power plants, Ray Power Systems said Friday in a statement released by A123...

Labels: battery makers

BATTERY MAKERS * India

* A123 announces plans to make battery packs for Tata hybrid buses

Mumbai,India -Autobloggreen, by Danny King -March 1st 2012: -- A123, the battery company that supplies lithium-ion battery packs, will produce battery packs for hybrid-electric buses made by Tata Motors, India's biggest automaker... Tata represents at least the third new battery-making contract for A123 in the past couple of months...

Labels: battery makers, hidrogen fuel cell bus