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Schuler Group acquires battery testing equipment maker Bitrode

Battery testing equipment manufacturer Bitrode Corporation has been acquired by metalforming firm the Schuler Group. Schuler says the purchase of the St Louis company and its Italian parent company Sovema Group will provide the capabilities needed to equip gigafactories for the mass production of lithium-ion batteries.

Schuler offers customer-specific technology in all areas of metalforming—its product portfolio includes presses, automation and dies, as well as process training. Schuler’s customers include many major automotive manufacturers and suppliers. The company already offers production lines for the mass manufacture of both prismatic and cylindrical battery cell housings.

“We see Schuler’s ownership as a great opportunity for Bitrode to reach its technological potential,” said Cyril Narishkin, CEO and President of Bitrode. “Since 1957, we have served our customers with high-quality, reliable equipment and services.  Now as part of Schuler Group, we will be able to accelerate new product offerings while leveraging Schuler’s wealth of resources and expertise.”

“We can now combine Sovema Group’s technological expertise with our know-how in the production of complex lines for the mass manufacturing of parts and components,” said Domenico Iacovelli, CEO of Schuler Group. “This gives us the potential to develop Schuler into a turnkey supplier of technology for the core process steps of cell assembly and cell formation for existing or planned gigafactories dedicated to manufacturing lithium-ion battery cells.”

Jaguar Land Rover’s new facility to test electrical and radio interference in vehicles

Jaguar Land Rover has opened a new facility in the UK for testing electrical and radio interference in vehicles.

The company says: “The Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) laboratory at Gaydon in the UK, will ensure future vehicles meet current and future legislation and quality standards for connectivity and electronics.” The lab has two anechoic chambers, as well as equipment for testing batteries, motors, Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, 4G, 5G, adaptive cruise control, wireless charging and blind spot monitoring.

According to Jaguar Land Rover, the “New Range Rover Sport, which launched in May, was the first vehicle to undergo a bespoke testing program at the in-house facility.”

New J.D. Power study finds public charging users dissatisfied with charger reliability

The rapid growth of EV sales over the past year is good news, but the accompanying bad news is that the increasing number of EVs on the road is putting more pressure on the country’s already substandard public charging infrastructure. According to the second annual J.D. Power US Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study, EV drivers, especially in hotspots such as California, Texas and Washington, are finding public charging infrastructure inadequate, and plagued with non-functional stations.

The 2022 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study is a collaboration between consumer insight specialist J.D. Power and EV app provider and research firm PlugShare. The study surveyed 11,554 owners of EVs and PHEVs between January and June 2022.

Compared to last year, more public charging stations are in operation than ever before, but customer satisfaction with public Level 2 charging declined to 633 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 643 in 2021, while satisfaction with DC fast charging remained flat at 674.

“Not only is the availability of public charging still an obstacle, but EV owners continue to be faced with charging station equipment that is inoperable,” said Brent Gruber, Executive Director of Global Automotive at J.D. Power. “The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program promises to provide funds to states for building out their EV public charging infrastructure…but just adding stations isn’t the answer. Stations need to be added to areas where there are currently gaps in heavily traveled routes and in high-density areas for people who don’t have access to residential charging, but most importantly, designed with things for users to do while charging—regardless of the use case. Then, we need to make sure those stations are reliable.”

The study measured EV owners’ satisfaction across 10 factors: ease of charging; speed of charging; cost; ease of payment; ease of finding a charging location; convenience of a location; safety of a location; things to do while charging; availability of chargers; and physical condition of the charging equipment.

Most respondents are relatively satisfied with the ease of the charging process. Satisfaction with the ease of charging was 745 for DC fast chargers and 699 for Level 2 chargers. However, users are less happy about the cost of charging: respondents gave a score of 473 for DC fast chargers and 446 for Level 2 chargers.

As so many observers of the public charging segment have reported, the industry needs to do a much better job of maintaining existing charging stations. J.D. Power found that one out of every five respondents ended up not charging their vehicle during their visit to a charging station, and 72% of these reported that this was because a charger malfunctioned, or was out of service.

Among Level 2 network providers, Tesla Destination chargers ranked highest, with a score of 680. Volta came in a close second with 667, and ChargePoint ranked third at 639. Among DC fast charging networks, Tesla Superchargers took the gold with a score of 739. Tesla was the only DC fast charger brand to rank above the industry average.

“The landscape of gas stations is focused on convenience—readily available, fast fueling and quick convenience items,” Gruber said. “Although fast charging is seemingly getting faster by the day, to expedite the charging process, vehicles will need to accommodate the newest ultra-fast chargers. Currently, only a handful of vehicles can take advantage of the fastest charging speeds. And no matter how fast their vehicle charges, EV owners still indicate they need more options for things to do during each charging session to enhance convenience and fill the downtime.”

Researchers find less than 1% volume expansion in pouch cells with E-magy’s silicon-dominant anodes

Researchers from the German research institute ZSW and the Dutch battery company E-magy have studied cell expansion in lithium-ion pouch cells with silicon-dominant anodes.

The research assessed volume expansion in cells with NMC cathodes and E-magy’s nano-porous silicon anodes through 100 cycles. “E-magy has developed a nano-porous silicon which absorbs the expansion in the nano structure itself,” says the company.

In an article published in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society, the researchers write: “Considering the cycling time required to reach the 80% capacity retention threshold, the cell expanded in total less than 1% of its original thickness.”

According to E-magy, this is the first time that a less than 1% battery cell expansion has been demonstrated in a silicon-dominant lithium-ion battery.

“With silicon-dominant anodes becoming a reality, we will see a whole slew of new product categories that have simply not been possible until now,” says E-magy CEO Casper Peeters.

Dodge to retire gas-powered Challenger and Charger

What will be the “EV tipping point” that marks the beginning of the end of the Oil Age? Of course, there won’t be any one dramatic tipping point, but rather a long series of milestones, and some of the most visible of these will be the end of production of iconic gas-powered models.

Dodge parent Stellantis has announced that it will stop making gasoline versions of the Dodge Challenger and Charger muscle cars, as well as the Chrysler 300 sedan, by the end of next year.

The retirement of a popular model due to changing technology may be an unprecedented event in the auto industry. Usually, models go extinct because consumers aren’t buying, but that’s certainly not the case for the Challenger, which was the top-selling muscle car in the US in 2021.

The Brampton Assembly Plant outside of Toronto, which has built more than three million Challengers and Chargers since 2005, will be converted to produce EVs. Retooling will begin in 2024, and production will resume in 2025 as part of a $2.8-billion investment in Stellantis’s Ontario operations.

Dodge also unveiled a battery-powered Charger Daytona SRT concept car, and said that a similar model will go into production in 2024. Stellantis hasn’t said where the electric muscle car will be built, but some predict its new home will be the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois.

The carrot of superior technology and the stick of government regulation are jointly driving the shift to EVs, as the Associated Press reports. As every EV driver knows, electrons are quicker off the starting line, and a lower center of gravity leads to better handling. At the same time, tightening emissions rules are expected to force US automakers to phase out some of their gas-guzzlers.

Under the latest fuel economy standards, automakers’ fleets will have to average 40 mpg in 2026, a substantial increase over the current 25.4 mpg. Automakers that fail to comply with the fleet average standards could be hit with fines. At last count, Stellantis had the lowest average fuel economy average among major automakers (21.3 mpg) and the highest carbon dioxide emissions, so the company will probably need to eliminate some models to avoid fines. “Compliance fines and things like that associated with a big cast-iron supercharged V8, yes, it’s tough,” Tim Kuniskis, CEO of the Dodge brand, told the AP.

Kuniskis insists that the shift to electricity won’t mean the end of the muscle car, but rather the dawn of a new era. Dodge is working to make its new EVs deliver the classic sound and feel of gas-powered muscle. The new electric Charger will generate air flow to simulate exhaust noise, and will feature a manual transmission. Its 0-60 time hasn’t been announced, but Kuniskis says it will be faster than Dodge’s gas-burning performance cars.

Naturally, Dodge will commemorate the twilight of the Oil Age with a series of special-edition muscle car models. No less than seven “last call” 2023 Challenger and Charger variants will be doled out to selected dealerships in the manner of a “sneaker drop,” as Kuniskis put it. It’s “all about how much more we can jam into and get out of our current cars before they go out of production. We want to make sure we’re celebrating these cars properly.”

“We are celebrating the end of an era—and the start of a bright new electrified future—by staying true to our brand,” says Kuniskis.

The road to a 10-minute recharge (Webinar)

This webinar, brought to you by TE Connectivity, is focused on the technical considerations for efficient and reliable EV charging. With vehicle electrification on the rise, there is a strong demand to safely deliver more charging power in less time. This brings technical challenges, like more heat and component stress within the vehicle from the charging inlet to the battery. 

Learn how TE’s team of engineers and scientists are developing robust charging solutions tailored to our customers’ specific vehicle architectures.

The webinar, hosted by Charged on September 21, 2022, at 1:00 PM EDT, will include a live Q&A session.