CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Issue 36 MAR/APR 2018 by CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE

ISSUE 36 | MARCH/APRIL 2018 | CHARGEDEVS.COM

A look at

Lucid Q &A

WITH PETER RAWLINSON, CTO OF LUCID MOTORS 52

WILDCAT BENCHMARKS BATTERY MATERIALS TO FIND THE BEST p. 28

AXLETECH PIVOTS TO ELECTRIFICATION 36

EVGO SIMPLIFIES PRICING OF PUBLIC DCFC NETWORK 70

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE CURRENT STATE OF WIRELESS EV CHARGING? 76

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THE TECH CONTENTS

24 A closer look at contactors 30 Benchmarking battery materials Wildcat sorts through new battery materials to find the best

36 AxleTech goes electric AxleTech develops custom electric drivetrain systems for heavy-duty electric vehicle applications

current events 12

AVID Technology ships first EVO motors, secures £50 million in new orders

Punch Powertrain acquires power electronics specialist Apojee

Tesla to establish electric motor R&D group in Greece New membrane extracts lithium from fracking waste water

16 MDL’s new Motor-CAD v11 motor design software 17 ION Energy acquires battery management company Freemens SAS 18 Sendyne’s battery simulation tool boasts high accuracy, compact footprint

Toyota develops new magnet cutting the use of neodymium

19 Garnet ceramic electrolyte helps block dendrite formation 20 Ionic Materials raises $65 million to develop its solid-state electrolyte

New Li-ion battery sensor tech promises 5x faster charging

21 Delphi announces combined inverter and DC/DC converter for Chinese market 22 EVs expected to boost demand for aluminum

Saft joins forces with European partners to develop advanced Li-ion tech

THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

52 A look at Lucid

52 82 What does electrification mean for auto industry profits? Q&A with Peter Rawlinson, CTO of Lucid Motors

current events 42 Market penetration of stop-start systems for light trucks doubled in 2017

Harley Davidson and Alta to collaborate on electric motorcycle tech

44 UPS: Workhorse electric truck will be the first to rival cost of ICE vehicles

Jaguar reveals details of electric I-Pace

46 EDI delivers electric bus powertrains to Golden Dragon in China

Eviation and Kokam announce electric aircraft battery supply deal

47 2018 Renault ZOE uses new electric motor 48 Rivian appoints five executives, prepares to launch its first EV in 2020

Bloomberg launches Tesla Model 3 tracker

49 California car shoppers can now be preapproved for EV rebates

New study finds consumers are behind the curve on EVs

50 Lilium hopes to make its VTOL electric jet an airborne Uber

Formula E reveals next-generation race car in Geneva

Madrid deploys 15 Irizar electric buses

IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (ISSN: 24742341) March/April 2018, Issue #36 is published bi-monthly by Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC, 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259. Periodicals Postage Paid at Saint Petersburg, FL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine, Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC at 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259.

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70 EVgo simplifies DCFC pricing 76 What’s the current state of wireless EV charging?

64 How to take advantage of VW-funded transportation grant programs

UK government awards 30 million quid for V2G projects

65 E-bus maker Proterra orders 57 fast chargers from Tritium

Porsche plans fast chargers at all US dealerships, exec disses Tesla

66 Fastned and ABB unveils new generation of 350 kW charging stations

Blink Charging secures listing on Nasdaq Capital Market

67 ABB fast chargers support two different brands of e-buses in Trondheim

Tritium announces European expansion, opens EU HQ in The Netherlands

68 Tesla’s new Workplace Charging program offers free EVSE to businesses

ClipperCreek’s new CP-50 hand-held EVSE tester

69 eMotorWerks expands to Europe

US budget deal reinstates EV charging station tax credit

Scalable, durable, and safe enough for EV infrastructure.

Visualization of the concentration of V3+ and VO2+ ions (top), V2+ and VO2+ ions (middle), and electrolyte potential (bottom) in a vanadium redox flow battery. When developing rechargeable batteries for electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, vanadium is a stronger contender than lithium. Advantages include scalability, longer and more consistent operation lifetimes, and safety. But vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) do bring shortcomings of their own. Engineers looking to improve EV charging infrastructure often start by optimizing VRFB designs. The COMSOL MultiphysicsÂŽ software is used for simulating designs, devices, and processes in all fields of engineering, manufacturing, and scientific research. See how you can apply it to modeling vanadium redox flow batteries. comsol.blog/VRFB

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Performance, not efficiency, will drive consumers into more plug-in vehicles Electrification advocates have long argued that you can build better cars by adding more electric components, and, one after another, automakers are realizing the truth of this, and beginning to prove it to their customer base. There’s a growing trend that started as far back as 2013 when Porsche starting marketing its Panamera PHEV as its highest-performance variant. Porsche told us that “any customer who is coming in to look for that higher-level Panamera S performance could want this car...it gives you a lot more benefits [than the best gas version].” Since then, we’ve seen examples of this strategy from many auto brands that focus on targeting luxury car buyers. BMW, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, and Mercedes have all added PHEV options to some of their top-selling models and marketed them as top-of-the-line. Adding PHEV variants makes perfect sense for the luxury brands. Plugging in offers an array of new driving modes and performance upgrades, including more torque, superior acceleration and smooth and totally silent driving modes. If an automaker could effectively communicate those advantages to its high-end customer base, it could capitalize on a fast-growing new segment. Ford is the latest carmaker to indicate a shift in this direction. Although the only advances in electrification we’ve seen from Dearborn in the past five years have been in the form of press releases and lip service, there are a few reasons to believe that Ford has changed course. Recently, the company announced that it plans to introduce hybrid versions of five of its SUV models by 2020 in an “all-in push on hybrid-electrics to bring new capability and features to customers on high-volume, profitable vehicles like F-150, Mustang, Explorer, Escape and Bronco.” According to Green Car Reports, company execs confirmed that, in order to amortize the high cost of today’s battery technology, Ford will focus on performance and utility vehicles, rather than fuel efficiency, for its hybrid and electric offerings. In terms of all-electric models, Ford says that we can expect a rollout of its new EVs to begin in 2020 with “performance utility,” and a total of six new EVs by 2022. The company is playing catch-up on electrification - the few plug-ins it currently offers have seen few updates in the past five years. Some industry analysts have speculated that one of the reasons that previous CEO Mark Fields was replaced last year was his bearish approach to EVs. It seems that the momentum of electrification is proving tough to escape these days, even for its harshest and most powerful critics. While Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchione still maintains that investing in EVs is a fool’s errand until the future of the market is more clear, he recently offered one concession. Speaking to journalists at the Geneva auto show, Marchione admitted that previously underestimating the market for EVs in China was a mistake. “We are looking at that,” he added.

Christian Ruoff | Publisher

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Publisher Christian Ruoff Associate Publisher Laurel Zimmer Senior Editor Charles Morris Associate Editor Markkus Rovito Account Executive Jeremy Ewald Technology Editor Jeffrey Jenkins Graphic Designers Chris Cox Pam Moses Oktane Media

Contributing Writers Paul Beck Lisa Jerram Jeffrey Jenkins Michael Kent Charles Morris Christian Ruoff

For Letters to the Editor, Article Submissions, & Advertising Inquiries Contact: Info@ChargedEVs.com

Contributing Photographers Michael Kent Nicolas Raymond Cover Image Courtesy of Lucid Motors Special Thanks to Kelly Ruoff Sebastien Bourgeois

ETHICS STATEMENT AND COVERAGE POLICY AS THE LEADING EV INDUSTRY PUBLICATION, CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE OFTEN COVERS, AND ACCEPTS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM, COMPANIES THAT ADVERTISE IN OUR MEDIA PORTFOLIO. HOWEVER, THE CONTENT WE CHOOSE TO PUBLISH PASSES ONLY TWO TESTS: (1) TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE THE INFORMATION IS ACCURATE, AND (2) IT MEETS THE INTERESTS OF OUR READERSHIP. WE DO NOT ACCEPT PAYMENT FOR EDITORIAL CONTENT, AND THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY OUR EDITORS AND WRITERS ARE IN NO WAY AFFECTED BY A COMPANY’S PAST, CURRENT, OR POTENTIAL ADVERTISEMENTS. FURTHERMORE, WE OFTEN ACCEPT ARTICLES AUTHORED BY “INDUSTRY INSIDERS,” IN WHICH CASE THE AUTHOR’S CURRENT EMPLOYMENT, OR RELATIONSHIP TO THE EV INDUSTRY, IS CLEARLY CITED. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ANY OPINION EXPRESSED IN THE CHARGED MEDIA PORTFOLIO AND/OR WISH TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR VIEW OF THE INDUSTRY, PLEASE CONTACT US AT CONTENT@CHARGEDEVS. COM. REPRINTING IN WHOLE OR PART IS FORBIDDEN EXPECT BY PERMISSION OF CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE.

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Punch Powertrain acquires power electronics specialist Apojee Belgium-based Punch Powertrain is acquiring Francebased power electronics expert Apojee, which supplies inverters for Formula E, as well as components for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in the German and French automotive industries. The Apojee acquisition adds a fourth European development center for Punch Powertrain, in addition to its existing facilities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In 2017, Punch opened a new factory in Iran and another in Nanjing, China. This month, the company opened another production plant in Ningbo, China. Punch Powertrain’s products include: emKERS, an electro-mechanical Kinetic Energy Recovery System consisting of a steel flywheel regulated by a 15 kW 48 V machine and a power-splitting planetary gear wheel system; the TwinMotor system, which allows steering each of 4 wheels independently, enabling full torque vectoring capabilities; and the TwinSpeed gearbox, which uses an extra gear to increase an EV’s performance and range.

AVID Technology ships first EVO electric motors, secures £50 million in new orders

Image courtesy of AVID Technology

Image courtesy of Punch Powertrain

THE TECH

UK-based AVID Technology has begun shipping its EVO electric motors. AVID took over the design, manufacture and distribution of EVO motors from GKN Hybrid Power last year, and has now completely transferred production to its plant in Cramlington, Northumberland. Since the start of the year, AVID has secured over £50 million in new orders for the motors, with exports to Germany, Poland, Spain, the US and Asia in the pipeline for 2018. Under the agreement with GKN, AVID is developing the existing EVO technology to create new variants of the motor for a variety of alternative applications. “After securing the license with GKN in 2017 we invested over £4 million to expand our production and testing facilities,” said AVID Managing Director Ryan Maughan. “This investment has increased our manufacturing capabilities to enable us to meet the rising demand we’re seeing in our primary commercial and passenger vehicle markets.”

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Tesla to establish electric motor R&D group in Greece

Image courtesy of Tesla

THE TECH

Tesla is expanding its international R&D operations with a small office in Athens, Greece to develop new electric motor technologies. According to Greek Reporter, Tesla Greece expects to recruit up to 50 R&D staff over the next few months. Why Greece? For one thing, three of Tesla’s top electric motor designers are Greek. Principal Motor Designer Konstantinos Laskaris (who recently spoke to Charged about designing a permanent magnet machine for Model 3), Motor Design Engineer Konstantinos Bourchas and Staff Motor Design Engineer Vasilis Papanikolaou were all members of the Prometheus EV research team at the National Technical University of Athens, which has won several international prizes for designing high-efficiency EVs. “Tesla is building a small research and development office in Athens,” a Tesla spokesperson told Electrek. “This team will focus solely on limited research and development activities to accelerate electric motor technology development through close collaboration with our team in the US. Greece has strong electric motor engineering talent and technical universities, offering tailored programs and specialized skills for electric motor technology.” Tesla will initially be operating from the National Center for Scientific Research (aka Demokritos) in Athens, the largest multidisciplinary research center in Greece. The team will start out small, with just 10 engineers. Demokritos welcomed Tesla to its facility, expressing “particular satisfaction that a global innovation giant has chosen Demokritos as a base for one of its top research departments, that of designing electric engines.”

New membrane extracts lithium from fracking waste water As EVs proliferate, global demand for lithium is rapidly outpacing the rate at which it can be mined or recycled, but an international team of researchers is working on a solution. Professor Benny Freeman of the University of Texas, along with colleagues at Monash University and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, have discovered a new way to extract lithium from water. In a paper published in Science Advances, the team describes a metal-organicframework membrane that mimics the filtering function, or “ion selectivity,” of biological cell membranes. The membrane process efficiently separates metal ions, offering a possible way to extract lithium from waste water from the mining industry. The waste water generated by hydraulic fracturing in some areas of Texas has high concentrations of lithium, which could be extracted by the team’s membrane filter. “Produced water from shale gas fields in Texas is rich in lithium. Advanced separation materials concepts such as ours could potentially turn this waste stream into a resource recovery opportunity,” Freeman said. Each well in Texas’s Barnett and Eagle Ford formations can generate up to 300,000 gallons of water per week. Using their new process, Freeman and his team estimate that just one week’s worth of waste water could yield enough lithium for 200 EV battery packs. “The prospect of using metal-organic frameworks for sustainable water filtration is incredibly exciting from a public-good perspective, while delivering a better way of extracting lithium ions to meet global demand could create new industries,” said Anita Hill, CSIRO’s Chief Scientist.

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THE TECH

Motor design software specialist Motor Design Limited (MDL) has released a new version of its Motor-CAD software package. Motor-CAD is aimed at motor designers, and is designed to perform quick and easy electromagnetic and thermal performance tests on electric machine designs. Motor-CAD is composed of three main modules: EMag, Therm, and Lab. The EMag module is an FEA transient electromagnetic solver combined with analytical models that can be used to calculate parameters such as torque, power, and efficiency. The Therm module provides thermal and flow network analysis of electric motors and generators, including steady-state and transient analysis. The Lab module is a virtual testing laboratory designed to provide calculations over the complete range of the operational envelope by using intelligent loss algorithms.

Image courtesy of Motor Design Limited

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ION Energy acquires battery management company Freemens SAS Start up ION Energy, which builds energy storage systems and EV infrastructure, has acquired French battery management company Freemens SAS. Freemens founder and CEO Alexandre Collet joins ION as VP of Engineering. Freemens products include the FreeSafe Extended (FS-XT) battery management system, the FreeSafe LT battery management system, Fusion firmware and Freeway cloud fleet management. Freemens products are chemistry-agnostic. Current clients include Airbus Safran, CarWatt and more than 20 others. “In an increasingly crowded market, Freemens’ unparalleled battery management know-how has helped

ION leap forward in sync with our mission to build reliable, high-performance, no-compromise energy storage systems,” said ION Energy co-founder and CEO Akhil Aryan.

THE TECH

Battery management specialist Sendyne has unveiled new technology it says can predict cell and pack behavior of lithium-ion batteries with better than 5 percent accuracy in real time. CellMod, a lithium-ion battery simulation tool, has already been deployed by a US battery manufacturer. It’s designed to reduce design time and costs by employing rapid cell prototyping. “Unlike empirical models often used today, CellMod is a true physics-based model,” says Sendyne. “It considers physical processes occurring inside the cells. Hence CellMod can predict future battery cell behavior with a high degree of accuracy.” The CellMod software includes Sendyne’s Pseudo-2D physics-based lithium-ion battery cell model, coupled with the company’s proprietary dtSolve. The software can be used alone, or it can be integrated with other simulation packages through the Functional Mockup Interface for co-simulation. CellMod is designed to be compact, so it can be embedded on a microcontroller in a battery management system for real-time predictive control. What’s more, several CellMod units equal to the number of cells in the pack can run simultaneously in real time. Little computing power or memory is required. As a result, “pack safety can be greatly improved and costs due to over-design can be eliminated,” according to the company. CellMod can be adapted to any type of lithium-ion cell - the only requirement is experimental data on the cell. “CellMod can achieve high levels of accuracy without detailed knowledge of the cell design information, which is typically not made available by the cell manufacturers,” the company said.

Scientists at Toyota have developed a new heatresistant magnet that uses “significantly less” neodymium, a rare earth element commonly used in magnets for electric motors. Neodymium is critical for maintaining magnetization at high temperatures. The amount of neodymium in Toyota’s magnets has been reduced by up to 50 percent, partially replaced with lower-priced rare earths lanthanum and cerium. This would normally lead to a decrease in motor performance. However, Toyota said it is using “new technologies” to suppress the loss of magnetization and heat resistance to produce a magnet that is just as heatresistant as a magnet containing notably more neodymium. “This new type of magnet is expected to be useful in expanding use of motors in various areas such as automobiles and robotics, as well as maintaining a balance between the supply and demand of valuable rare earth resources,” Toyota said. The new magnet also contains no terbium or dysprosium, expensive rare earth elements also deemed critical to heat resistance. Terbium and dysprosium are typically added to neodymium magnets to increase coercivity at high temperatures. Toyota’s reduced-neodymium magnet comes amid concerns about supply shortages of rare earth elements stemming from the increasing popularity of EVs. The company pointed to the combined use of three new technologies: • Grain refinement of magnets • Two-layered high-performance grain surface • Specific alloying ratio of lanthanum and cerium

Image courtesy of Toyota

Sendyne’s new battery simulation tool boasts high accuracy, compact footprint

Toyota develops new magnet, cutting the use of rare earth element neodymium

Garnet ceramic electrolyte helps block dendrite formation Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a new template that they hope will enable a safer alternative to liquid electrolytes, which have several drawbacks, including flammability, leakage and dendrite formation in the electrodes. In “Lithium-ion conductive ceramic textile: A new architecture for flexible solid-state lithium metal batteries,” published in Materials Today, UMD researchers Eric Wachsman, Liangbing Hu and colleagues explain how they developed a solid-state battery using a non-flammable ceramic electrolyte known as garnet. The research team used available fabrics as a template for creating lithium-conducting garnet fiber mat textiles, then filled the pore space between the fibers with a solid polymer electrolyte. The result was a scalable process to create hybrid ceramic/polymer lithium electrolytes with higher conductivity and strength.

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“The goal of this research is to develop safe solid-state components for use in lithium-metal batteries,” said lead author Dr. Yunhui Gong. “Such components should have good ionic conductivity, abundant surface area and scalable production potential. We have successfully developed a garnet-fiber textile to meet these key requirements.” “Nothing like this has ever been done before,” said Dr. Wachsman. “The resulting hybrid structure is capable of fast-ion conduction through the continuous ceramic fibers, but with the flexibility of more traditional polymer electrolytes. What’s more, the garnet fibers will help block the formation of Li-dendrites, thus enabling higher capacity Li-metal anodes.” The research group will continue its research efforts with the goal of making the textile thinner to reduce resistance to ionic transport between electrodes.

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THE TECH

Ionic Materials has secured $65 million in a Series C financing round from investors in the battery manufacturing, consumer electronic and EV fields, who will be working with the company to speed the development of its solid polymer electrolyte battery material. “This funding round will allow us to add to our talented technical staff while continuing to engage and partner with companies interested in developing tomorrow’s solid-state battery technology today,” said founder and CEO Mike Zimmerman. Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi’s Alliance Ventures, which is focused on electrification, autonomy, connectivity and artificial intelligence, is one of the strategic investors. The Alliance has also signed a joint-development agreement with Ionic to cooperate on R&D. Massachusetts-based Ionic has developed a solid polymer electrolyte that is compatible with chemistries having much higher theoretical performance limits than the materials used in current batteries. According to Ionic, replacing a liquid electrolyte with its solid plastic polymer material makes solid-state batteries that are safe, cheaper and operational at room temperature possible for the first time. Ionic’s electrolyte also supports lithium-ion cells with little to no cobalt in their cathodes. “The Ionic Materials polymer is truly groundbreaking,” said investor and Board Member Bill Joy. “The many innovations in electrochemistry that the polymer unlocks will change the future of renewable energy.” “Ionic Materials has created a new composition of matter that will be fundamental to the transformation of the battery as we know it,” said Jan van Dokkum, a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “Over my 30-year career working in energy storage, Ionic Materials’ polymer stands out as a breakthrough innovation that is a critical element to the next generation of batteries.”

According to researchers at the University of Warwick (UK), a new testing technique they have developed shows that commercially available lithium-ion batteries can safely be charged up to five times faster than currently recommended. In a paper entitled “Understanding the limits of rapid charging using instrumented commercial 18650 high-energy Li-ion cells,” published in the journal Electrochimica Acta, the researchers explain that their test of internal temperature and electrode potentials works in situ during a battery’s normal operation, and has no impact on performance. They claim that the new technology will enable advances in battery materials science, flexible battery charging rates, and thermal and electrical engineering of new battery materials and technology. The new test developed by the Warwick researchers “allows direct, highly precise internal temperature and per-electrode status monitoring.” This is achieved by using in-situ battery sensing that “employs miniature reference electrodes and Fiber Bragg Gratings threaded through a bespoke strain protection layer. An outer skin of fluorinated ethylene propylene was applied over the fiber, adding chemical protection from the corrosive electrolyte. The result is a device that can have direct contact with all the key parts of the battery and withstand electrical, chemical, and mechanical stress inflicted during the battery’s operation, while still enabling precise temperature and potential readings.” “This method gave us a novel instrumentation design for use on commercial 18650 cells that minimizes the adverse and previously unavoidable alterations to the cell geometry,” said researcher Dr. Rohit Bhagat. “The device included an in-situ reference electrode coupled with an optical fiber temperature sensor. We are confident that similar techniques can also be developed for use in pouch cells.”

Image courtesy of University of Warwick

Ionic Materials raises $65 million to develop its solid-state electrolyte

New Li-ion battery sensor tech promises five times faster charging

Delphi announces combined inverter and DC/DC converter for Chinese market Delphi Technologies plans to introduce what it says is the first combined inverter and DC/DC converter in China. According to Delphi, adding these components will create a more efficient and cost-effective way to deliver increased power density in a smaller and lighter package. The potential to deliver more efficient electric propulsion systems has already attracted the attention of major automakers, who have selected the technology to power their EVs, Delphi said. Delphi has invested $80 million in a 180,000-squarefoot manufacturing plant in Suzhou, in Jiangsu Province. Delphi described the product launch as underpinning the technological advancements it is pursuing to meet standards required in the Chinese market.

“This launch marks another major step forward for Delphi Technologies’ pioneering position in electrification and another development of power electronics as an enabler,” said Kevin Quinlan, Delphi’s General Manager of Electronics and Electrification. “We bring two decades of expertise to this product, which began with an initial investment in advanced engineering of electric vehicles.”

THE TECH

EVs expected to boost demand for aluminum A recent analysis by mining and metals consultancy CRU finds that demand for aluminum, driven by increased production of plug-in vehicles, is set to skyrocket by the year 2030. Demand will reach nearly 10 million metric tons, a tenfold increase over 2017 levels. According to CRU, demand for “primary aluminum-intensive extrusions and rolled products will be significantly higher than we see in internal combustion engines today.” Also, the use of scrap for secondary castings will fall as the market shifts to pure EVs. Plug-in vehicles use 25-27% more aluminum than the typical ICE vehicle (based on 160 kg of aluminum per vehicle). While the increased use of aluminum in ICE cars is primarily for weight savings, EVs use aluminum for various electric powertrain components, including battery housings, motors, inverters, converters, chargers, heat pumps and reduction drives. Plug-in vehicles also use aluminum for the body-in-white and for components that they share with ICE vehicles, such as brakes, steering components, wheels, etc. CRU estimates that approximately 60 kg worth of these types of components will remain in all types of electrified vehicles. To estimate the aluminum intensity of EVs, CRU interviewed carmakers, as well as Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers. Their analysts also reviewed investor materials, information from auto shows and conference presentations from industry members. Regarding scrap usage, CRU explains that “excluding used beverage cans, car engines are the main market for end-of-life aluminum scrap,” and predicts that by retaining the engine, plug-in and hybrid vehicles will support demand for secondary aluminum castings. CRU also suggests that makers of rolled aluminum products should be “betting against great leaps in battery technology and extended driving range,” as rolled products are less suitable for these components.

Saft joins forces with European partners to develop advanced Li-ion and solidstate tech Battery manufacturer Saft, a subsidiary of oil giant Total, has announced that it will join forces with a handful of European partners to form an R&D partnership focused on creating cutting-edge batteries. Saft CEO Ghislain Lescuyer recognizes that “batteries are at the heart of the current technological revolution. Their development and production play a strategic role in the ongoing transition to clean mobility and clean energy systems.” The primary focus of the initiative is on two specific technologies - advanced high-density lithium-ion and solid-state - and is aimed at several industries, including electrified vehicles, other forms of transportation such as rail and aviation, and energy storage. According to Saft, not only will these next-generation batteries provide improved performance and safety, as well as lower costs, compared to current Li-ion technology, but they will create a new standard for integration into their overall system environments. They will also feature state-ofthe-art digitalized functions and interfaces. Saft says that it will meet the most stringent sustainability standards throughout this project. The new R&D alliance will include several material suppliers, including: Solvay, a Belgian materials and chemical company; Manz, a German specialist in battery cell and module assembly; and German tech giant Siemens. “This program is focusing on the battery technology of the future, and when development of such solid-state technology is successfully achieved, innovative industrialization processes with scalable 1 GWh manufacturing blocks will start,” said Lescuyer. However, Saft was careful to note that “to build European leadership in this domain, the Alliance will need strong regulatory support and appropriate funding from European and national authorities.”

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A CLOSER LOOK AT CONTACTORS By Jeffrey Jenkins

THE TECH

ontactors may not be the sexiest component in an EV, but they are critical both for safety and general functioning. Basically a heavier-duty version of the relay, a contactor is used to switch power to any of the loads supplied by the traction battery in an EV. The motor drive, the heating and cooling systems, the DC/ DC converter that supplies all the 12 V loads, and anything else that draws more than a few amps from the traction battery, will almost certainly be switched with a contactor. Contactors, relays and solenoids are all names for an electromechanical switch. Usually an electromagnet is used to operate the switch - a coil pulling in a steel plunger - but motors have also been used, particularly at very high power ratings or when “latching” operation without requiring continuous energizing is required (that is, no power is required to maintain the switch in either state). Whether you call an electromechanical switch a contactor, a relay or a solenoid depends more on power rating and industry/ application than any formal definition. Typically a contactor refers to a high-power device with a limited number of “poles,” or individual switches (one to three most commonly), and which only offers a single “throw,” or on/off action (rather than “dual throw,” or A/B action). Relays tend to be smaller devices rated for 20 A or less and with much more variety in poles and throws. The term solenoid used to refer to all contactors, but these days it is pretty much only used to describe the specialized contactor on ICE starter motors which both energizes the motor (i.e. the contactor function) and which moves the pinion gear to engage the ring gear on the engine (i.e. the solenoid function). Despite being a nearly obsolete terms these days, solenoid is actually a rather descriptive one for modern contactors and relays as it refers to an electromagnet operating a plunger. A solenoid is a cylindrical coil of wire, while the plunger is a rod of magnetically soft material (that is, one that resists being permanently magnetized). When the coil is energized it creates a magnetic field that pulls in the plunger; all that is required to turn a solenoid into a contactor, then, is to attach the plunger to a plate with a pair of

Basically a heavier-duty version of the relay, a contactor is used to switch power to any of the loads supplied by the traction battery in an EV.

contacts on either side which face another pair of fixed contacts. In the most common construction, Normally Open (NO), a spring holds the movable contacts away from the fixed ones until the solenoid coil is energized. For Normally Closed (NC) action the construction is inverted, with the spring holding the movable contacts against the fixed ones until the coil is energized. One subtle caveat of the NC construction is that the force exerted by the spring must be lower than what the coil is capable of exerting at the beginning of its pull (when it is at its weakest), otherwise the coil would not be able to move the plunger at all. In practice, this means the NC contacts are far more susceptible to bouncing open and closed from shock or vibration, which greatly reduces their lifespan and current rating. For AC, low-voltage DC (<24 V) and moderatecurrent (<200 A) applications, the simple construction described above can provide years of service before the contacts are too damaged to function. As both the operating current and, especially, the DC voltage increase, however, additional measures must be taken for the contactor to survive even one switching cycle, much less the many tens to hundreds of thousands typically expected. Circuit conditions must also be considered, as well as the operating environment (temperature, amount of vibration and even orientation can have an effect). The three types of circuits that a contactor might face are (predominantly) resistive, capacitive or induc-

MAR/APR 2018

THE TECH tive in nature (real circuits have all three qualities, but one does tend to dominate). A heating element is a classic example of a resistive load, and tends to be a fairly benign one for any contactor. Most motors are inductive in nature (one notable exception: over-exciting the field of a wound-field synchronous motor makes it appear capacitive, and can even be used to correct power factor), so the contactors used to select between forward and reverse operation of a series DC or a 3-phase industrial motor must be designed to withstand a highly inductive load. Since modern EVs use inverters, there is no need for these types of contactors in them. However, the input to any switchmode power converter - especially the traction inverter - invariably appears capacitive in nature, and this presents an extreme risk of contact welding upon closure if the capacitance is not charged up to near (but not the same as) the same voltage as the supply. Bringing the voltage on the bus capacitance up to near that of the supply is called, “precharging,” and it is usually done with a separate, smaller contactor in series with a resistor - to limit charging current - that is wired in parallel with the main contactor. The reason why it is not good to precharge the bus capacitors to the same voltage as the supply - so that there is zero voltage differential - is because then no current will flow through the contacts at the moment of closure, a condition called, “dryswitching,” which can actually cause the contacts to become more resistive over time. Consequently, contactors intended for use in EVs usually advise ending precharge when the voltage differential is around 5 V so that a reasonable current will flow at the moment the contacts meet. Opening a contactor that is looking into a capacitive circuit is generally a benign event even if current is still flowing. This is because an arc requires a voltage difference to form, and capacitors resist a change in voltage; the capacitance in the load stops the change in voltage needed to form an arc. Conversely, inductance resists a change in current and will create whatever voltage is necessary to maintain said current, hence a contactor will not experience adverse conditions when closing into an inductive load, but will if opening an inductive load while current is still flowing. If it is not possible to ramp down current in an inductive load before opening the contactor then a “snubber” must be used. A snubber can be a device placed across the contactor or the inductive load which starts conducting above a certain voltage or it can be a series RC network placed across

The two main techniques used to increase the DC power rating of contactors are magnetic blowouts and specialized gas fills.

the contactors, with R chosen to limit the discharge current when the contactor closes again (because otherwise it would be shorting out a charged capacitor - i.e. the same reason why precharging is necessary). The two main techniques used to increase the DC power rating of contactors are magnetic blowouts to push arcs away should they form, and specialized gas fills to either inhibit arcing or to prevent contact oxidation if some arcing is unavoidable. Magnetic blowouts, as the name implies, are simply magnets placed near the contacts so that their field will push away any arc that forms upon contact opening. One caveat is that current must flow in one direction through the contactor, as indicated by polarity markings next to each contact; if the contactor is wired up backwards then the magnetic blowouts will instead suck any arcs towards them - generally not a good thing. Magnetic blowouts basically force the arc to travel over a longer distance, and since voltage drop across an arc is directly proportional to distance traveled (and relatively insensitive to current - behaving as a negative resistance, in effect) this will cause the arc to extinguish sooner, and without requiring excessive separation of the movable and fixed contacts. Magnetic blowouts do not stop an arc from forming in the first place, nor can they mitigate damage to the contacts from any arcing that does occur. Hermetically sealing the contactor and either evacuating most of the air or else replacing it with a special gas or gas mixture can reduce damage to the contacts from arcing, and even increase the voltage rating. Evacuating the contactor is primarily reserved for switching high-voltage (>3 kV or so) and high-power RF, while gas fills - primarily nitrogen, hydrogen and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), either alone or in mixtures - are commonly used everywhere else. Simply excluding oxygen from the contactor will stop oxide formation, but these fill gases also have other useful properties which can

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GIGAVAC is a leading designer and manufacturer of contactors for the EV market.

Simply excluding oxygen from the contactor will stop oxide formation, but these fill gases also have other useful properties which can improve contact life and/or voltage rating.

improve contact life and/or voltage rating. SF6 has a much higher dielectric strength than air (~3x) and higher thermal conductivity, but its ionization products (that is, the products formed from arc plasma) are corrosive, so it tends only to be used in AC switchgear. Hydrogen has a lower dielectric strength than air (around 35% less) but it is often used in DC switchgear because it rapidly extinguishes arcs and it has a surprisingly high heat capacity for such a low-density gas (usually heat capacity goes up with density). Its main downside is that it tends to diffuse right through the walls of just about any container holding it, including solid steel, and can form complexes called hydrides along the way that can make the metal quite brittle. Lastly there is nitrogen, which seems to be gaining momentum as the fill gas of choice because it has a slightly higher dielectric strength than air (+15%), is relatively inexpensive and does a decent enough job by

Gigavacâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GX series contactor

itself. One potential downside of nitrogen is it can form extremely hard (and poorly conducting) metal nitrides when an arc both ionizes it and vaporizes some of the metal from the contacts; the presence of magnetic blowouts can circumvent this issue by pushing any arcs that form away from the contacts. The next thing to be considered is the construction of the contacts themselves: their shape, base material and surface plating all play key roles in contactor operation and lifespan. There is a witchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brew of variety here, with dozens of combinations of metals, shapes and surface plating. Two important details to keep in mind about any mechanical switch - whether manually or electrically operated - is that the initial meeting of two contacts is always at a single point, and that contacts invariably bounce several times before finally closing for good. The former simply means that the surface of each contact looks like treacherous mountain terrain when viewed microscopically, even when polished to a mirror finish. Since contact area must go up with current rating (at least until roomtemperature superconductors are a reality), so must the force applied to the contacts to quite literally smash them together. This is also why dry-switching is bad for heavy current switches: the current which flows at the very moment of initial contact is concentrated on a relatively small area which tends to soften, if not melt, the microscopic peaks and valleys. Contact bounce is equally unavoidable as there must be some springiness in the contacts for them to have a chance of meeting. If the load is capacitive then contact bounce is a nonissue; for resistive and, especially, inductive loads, each

Image courtesy of GIGAVAC

Gigavacâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s HX series contactors

time the contacts rebound from each other an arc may form, but because the contacts soon close again (and perhaps bounce several more times), this arcing doesn’t cause as much damage as would result from, say, interrupting a heavy inductive load. Lastly, contactors tend to be one of the least reliable components in any high-power system because they are electromechanical devices with a difficult job to do. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a good “solid state” alternative, to use a term from a bygone era when transistors first started to replace vacuum tubes. This is because no semiconductor switch can truly replicate an open circuit when turned off (some leakage current will always flow), and even though contactors can fail by welding closed, this is a much less frequent failure mode than it is with semiconductor switches. Finally, the semi in semiconductors means that they exhibit a higher bulk resistivity than even the most resistive metal conductor, so they simply can’t handle as much peak power as a mechanical switch of equivalent area. As much as engineers like to grouse about contactors, it appears they will be with us for quite some time to come.

SORTING

THROUGH THE AVALANCHE OF

NEW BATTERY

MATERIALS

TO FIND THE BEST As automakers and cell manufacturers begin to realize the complexity of benchmarking new battery materials, Wildcat Discovery Technology is using its high-speed R&D technology to help find clarity By Christian Ruoff

THE TECH

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f you follow battery technology news on a regular basis as we do, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the volume of new announcements. There are just so many “breakthrough” and “next-best-thing” claims about new battery materials and manufacturing techniques coming from academia and material suppliers. It’s not only daunting for those of us who are trying to evaluate the credibility of press releases - the top scientists at the automakers and cell manufacturers also have a difficult time sorting through the facts to view these claims in an apples-to-apples comparison. Those whose job it is to evaluate these materials for commercialization are finding that this is extremely complex work, and most don’t have the bandwidth to test and compare them in a truly comprehensive and accurate way. Now, many are looking for help from the battery chemistry and material science experts at one of the most unique companies in the industry: Wildcat Discovery Technologies. Wildcat has been at the forefront of battery research since its inception in late 2006. The company adapted high-throughput combinatorial

MAR/APR 2018

chemistry techniques - processes that are well known for discovering new pharmaceuticals - and started using them to rapidly synthesize and evaluate energystorage materials. The innovative group of scientists say they can build and test hundreds of batteries with new materials in the time standard labs might test just a few. Wildcat recently told Charged that, while it still uses its techniques to help its customers discover new and novel materials, now its fastest-growing type of project is helping to benchmark and compare existing materials. “Five years ago we were trying to convince companies that we could help them with this type of valuable benchmarking R&D, but we didn’t really see much of a response,” explained Jon Jacobs, VP of Business Development at Wildcat. “The dynamic has recently changed, and many companies are beginning to see the value in this kind of fundamental benchmarking work. Increasingly, the amount of R&D resources required to rapidly evaluate new materials has become overwhelming for companies throughout the supply chain, - whether it’s a cathode, anode, electrolyte, or most importantly, combinations of these in a full cell.” Automakers, consumer electronics companies and battery manufacturers are inundated with requests from suppliers to try new self-proclaimed great materials, but very few, if any, have the bandwidth to test and compare them in a truly comprehensive and accurate way. At first glance, it may seem that the multi-billiondollar car companies with thousands of engineers would be flush with resources to do this type of bench-

The innovative group of scientists say they can build and test hundreds of batteries with new materials in the time standard labs might test just a few.

marking, but in context, it’s clear that they are not. High-performance battery-powered EVs are brand-new in an industry with little historical precedent for quickly adopting new technology. When talking to most auto execs, there’s a sense of consensus that EVs will soon see an unprecedented increase in market share. And that realization has brought a blanket of angst and uncertainty about who will emerge as the leaders - both in terms of EV sales and in terms of fundamental technologies like the specific battery chemistries that are key to profitability. While accurately benchmarking the potential of new battery materials may someday become a core competency of every automaker, today it is not. The problem with drop-in replacement testing Any engineer worth their weight in nickel knows that data sheets need to be independently verified, and that, typically, you can only compare products if each was

THE TECH

tested in exactly the same way. However, making an apples-to-apples comparison of new battery materials is orders of magnitude more complicated than comparing traditional automotive parts from new suppliers. “When a material supplier sends out new samples of its next-best-thing, customers want to drop it into their existing processes for evaluation,” said Jacobs. “They don’t really want to modify anything, because it’s difficult, time-consuming, and requires a fair amount of research resources. But simply dropping a new material into a full cell system often results in poor cell performance, causing some great new materials to get overlooked, and leaving material suppliers frustrated with negative feedback.” “In other cases, the customer - usually a cell manufacturer or OEM - will try to evaluate as many variations of prototype cells as they can,” added Dee Strand, Chief Scientific Officer at Wildcat. “However, they don’t have ready access to all the different possibilities - for example, different additives or mixing methods - or the capability to create nearly as many variations as we do. So then they have to make a decision with incomplete data collection - they may not have a comprehensive or fair comparison of the new materials available.” As an example, Wildcat recently began a project, in partnership with a major automaker, to optimize, evaluate and compare new cathode materials, using samples from nine of the world’s leading suppliers. Each of these suppliers has different developmental

Simply dropping a new material into a full cell system often results in poor cell performance, causing some great new materials to get overlooked, and leaving material suppliers frustrated with negative feedback. versions of its material, and, although the samples fall into the general category of a NCM material, they’re all quite different. “They have different particle sizes, different morphologies, proprietary coatings on the particles,” explained Jacobs. “If you formulate them in an electrode recipe with the same binders and conductive carbon, some of them might perform well and others will not. But that’s not necessarily the fault of that base material - each needs to be optimized. So that’s the first thing that creates an immediate need for our type of highthroughput prototyping and testing. At a minimum, you’re going to want to test dozens, if not hundreds, of modified cells to give each base material supplied a fair chance to perform well. We often start off by formulating the base materials identically, and then, very quickly, each one will take a turn and get a unique set of other ingredients like conductive carbons and binders that allow these materials to perform at their best.” “Also, the rheology might be different for the slurries,” added Stand, “so the process that you use to make a good coating for one material might not be the

MAR/APR 2018

THE TECH same as a process for another material. For example, with silicon anodes and the incorporation of nanoparticles in those, the processing is more challenging. And some of the more highly-conductive carbons - like graphene or carbon nanotubes - those high-surfacearea materials can be challenging to deal with. Any time you vary the compositional recipe of what’s going into the electrode coating, you need to do a highthroughput screen on the process used to make that coating to ensure that you get a high-quality coating with Material A and a high-quality coating with Material B. Only then can you obtain a fair electrochemical performance comparison.” Wildcat admits that when it started one project to evaluate different silicon anode materials, it assumed that silicon would be relatively robust in terms of the manufacturing process, like most electrode materials. “We found that if you change the base silicon anode material, most silicon formulations required some process optimization to get a good film,” said Jacobs. “If a company is waiting for silicon samples to arrive at the door and expects to drop them into its existing manufacturing process, it may be disappointed with its initial results.” The same challenges also extend to electrolytes. Wildcat explains that, in anode and cathode design studies, where they are typically varying the thickness and porosity of electrodes, it’s really important to test the different electrode designs with a variety of different electrolytes. Active materials from different suppliers - even if they are in the same general category like silicon - will often perform differently with different electrolyte variations. Competitive edge and cost savings The ultimate result of a comprehensive benchmarking study and true apples-to-apples comparison can be quite profound. If your company is testing thousands of cells in this type of optimization work, while everyone else is testing 20 or 50 cells in a standard lab, you could potentially discover a novel formulation with commercially available materials that gives you significantly better cell performance than others with the same access to those materials. Also, reducing costs is always important in the automotive industry, and minimizing battery costs is vital to EV growth and profitability. True optimization of each material allows you to discover the most affordable solution. Imagine testing 10 material samples

If a company is waiting for silicon samples to arrive at the door and expects to drop them into its existing manufacturing process, it may be disappointed with its initial results.

of an expensive active ingredient like a high-nickel cathode material. Each sample from different suppliers will have a range of purity and costs, and only when you optimize each to perform its best can you identify the most affordable solution that meets all the required performance specs. Unlocking meaningful potential Wildcat believes that the lack of rapid benchmarking techniques is inhibiting the battery industry in a few ways. “Material suppliers know that when they send samples of new products to customers, for the most part, it’s going to get dropped into existing manufacturing lines to be tested,” explained Strand. “This is actually one of the reasons why materials companies are often hesitant to try new things. They tend to look for more incremental improvements instead of going for the bigger breakthroughs that may require some recipe change or process optimization.” On the other side of the same coin, Wildcat says the lack of widespread rapid benchmarking is also reducing the potential for incremental battery advances for materials that are already commercially available. “A lot of published research and conference topics focus on transformational efforts to solve really challenging things like solid-state, lithium-metal and lithium-air,” explained Jacobs. “Those are certainly more exciting presentations than citing modest improvements from benchmarking. However, very small incremental improvements for a sustained number of years lead to big advances in a technology, and there are a lot of very good materials already out there from which these small improvements can be derived.”

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AXLETECH GOES

ELECTRIC By Paul Beck

Image courtesy of AxleTech

BETWEEN THE WHEELS:

THE TECH

an a company that’s 100 years old be called a startup? Mary Petrovich, Executive Chairman of AxleTech, certainly thinks so. AxleTech was founded in 1919 as Wisconsin Custom Built Axles, and has seen a century’s worth of sales, acquisitions, and rebrandings since then. Petrovich herself brought AxleTech back from the brink of failure not once, but twice - and now she’s at it again. She’s repositioned the company in the technology space, and

AxleTech is now smack-dab in the middle of the EV industry. “If you think about us today, we are very much a technology company,” Petrovich says. “We are what you might consider a hundred-year-old startup.” Though AxleTech has had to bring in new recruits to aid its electrification effort, the company’s hundred years of experience in suspension, brakes, wheel ends, gearing and drivetrains has proven advantageous.

MAR/APR 2018

“We’ve been developing everything in between the wheels for the last hundred years,” says Jay DeVeny, AxleTech’s VP of Engineering. “And to do that with a motor now, and the inverters, and the power controls, and shifting pieces, that actually comes quite naturally for us.” AxleTech has partnered with a number of powertrain manufacturers, including Proterra, TM4 and Wrightspeed, to develop custom electric powertrain systems for heavy-duty EV applications, including Class 8 refuse trucks and Class 7 buses. Through these projects, AxleTech has fine-tuned its EV products, developing what it now considers its third generation. It’s all about the battery One of the key factors in AxleTech’s pivot to electrification has been the standardization of battery technology, according to Jay DeVeny. “When we were first getting in these projects, they were looking at ultracapacitors, nickel metal hydride batteries, sodium batteries…all of that has really standardized on lithium-ion,” DeVeny explains. “It’s the VHS of batteries. It may not be the best at everything, but it’s a lot less expensive than the Betamax. Betamax is much better in a lot of other ways, but the standard was VHS. And from our perspective we’ve seen lithium-ion become that, where it just makes it economical for these vehicles. And that’s really been the driver of the big electrification effort that we’ve seen over the last four years. It’s all about the battery.” Petrovich saw the opportunity presented by the burgeoning EV industry, and knew AxleTech could position itself as a market leader. But to do so would require some big changes to the company, as she explains. “To give you an idea of how focused and how committed we are to the electric vehicle space in particular, we have increased our engineering by 70 percent over the last several years,” Petrovich says. “We brought on new skill sets that we didn’t have before - folks that understand transmission, people that have expertise in powertrain as opposed to just drivetrain, and the software and controls engineering capability. We have filed more patents in the last twelve months than we have in the last decade, and that is in great part due to the electric vehicle innovations that we’ve made.”

The first ones to electrify are the first ones that make sense economically. Electric axles “We’re into our third generation of axles for the bus and truck market now,” DeVeny explains. “We’ve really condensed everything so that the whole powertrain is in between the wheels. All of the motors, the gearing, suspension pieces, what you traditionally had with a very long traditional drivetrain. That’s what we call our north-south configuration, which is a diesel engine, transmission, and then running into a T of an axle.

Image courtesy of AxleTech

THE TECH

With electrification you’re able to rotate that around and go what we call east-west, and have everything basically packaged between the wheels.” “But it’s not grassroots for a specific customer, it’s a product line that we can adapt to various vocations and various needs,” adds Petrovich. “So I think we’re one of the very first if not the only axle player to have that capability.” AxleTech’s electric powertrain systems are focused on two markets: low-floor buses and medium-toheavy-duty trucks, both fully electric. “The first ones to electrify are the first ones that make sense economically,” DeVeny says. “And those are the city delivery type of vehicles, drayage vehicles, vehicles that are

I personally view that the hybrid was a transition stage, and it’s quickly being obsoleted. depot-oriented and come back to that depot at night so they can be charged.” Long-haul trucks, DeVeny believes, still require some improvements in battery technology before they’re economically viable. And as for hybrid electric vehicles, DeVeny sees fully electric vehicles as a much better option. “I personally view that the hybrid was a transition stage, and it’s quickly being obsoleted,” he says. “In

MAR/APR 2018

Image courtesy of Proterra

2010 batteries were $1,000/kWh, and we see that going below $150 over the next couple of years. That’s an order of magnitude drop over eight years. And so I think when you look at the complexity and cost of a hybrid system, a fully electric system just makes a lot more sense. Many fewer parts, and little to no maintenance compared to traditional internal combustion engines.” For the low-floor bus market, the move to electrification has been able to solve an annoyance that traditional buses have long suffered from: the rear axle requires the bus floor to be raised at the back. “What we see with electrification is you’re able to get that to be a low-floor bus,” DeVeny explains. “Basically the floor from the front to the back of the bus is the same height. And that gives bus designers and transit authorities a lot of flexibility, because you can add another door at the rear. And that really helps with ingress and egress.” For the truck market, AxleTech has found a sizeable variety of customers, even given the small size of the city delivery and drayage market. “We very quickly came to the conclusion that we would need to work within the existing chassis and suspensions that are out there to provide an electric powertrain. There’s a multitude of body types and suspensions that are in that market. And we needed to be able to provide that type of packaging and interface with the existing platforms while still replacing the traditional diesel transmission prop-shaft configuration,” DeVeny says. A systems engineering approach To properly take on the challenges required in powertrain design, AxleTech has adopted a systems engineering approach, according to DeVeny. “You can, in a simple way, just take out the diesel engine and transmission and put a big electric motor in front of it. But that’s not the best way to do it.”

It's going to be a big part of our growth engine, and we think it could essentially double our revenue. AxleTech’s customers have a few crucial needs, all of which need to be considered in powertrain design: a high load capacity, the capability to go up steep grades, the capability to attain a decent speed, and, of course, efficiency. Balancing all these requirements is exactly why AxleTech has taken a systems engineering approach, and it seems to have paid off: with Proterra, AxleTech recently helped set the world record for longest distance travelled by an EV on a single charge: 1,100 miles. “We showed with the Proterra system, by taking that system-level approach and really thinking about what you’re trying to achieve, you come up with the optimal type of system,” explains DeVeny. “If you look at how far Proterra advanced with the distance, it was over 20% from the prior record holder. And I attribute that to that systems-level approach.” Whatever the reason, AxleTech has undoubtedly found success with its pivot to the EV industry. The company’s collaboration with Wrightspeed is in early production, it will be running production systems for Proterra by the third quarter of this year, and in the next 24 months will see what Petrovich calls a rapidfire succession of programs come into production. “It’s going to be a big part of our growth engine, and we think it could essentially double our revenue, or help us get most of the way there in the next 24 months,” she says.

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Market penetration of stopstart systems for light trucks doubled in 2017

Image courtesy of US Dept. of Energy

Stop-start systems, which have been used in hybrid vehicles for almost 20 years, are now becoming common features on non-hybrid vehicles as well.

According to the DOE, the market penetration of stop-start systems in non-hybrid passenger cars grew from 9.1% in 2016 to 14.2% in 2017, while their use in light trucks nearly doubled, reaching 20.3%. Stop-start systems are particularly effective in city driving, where brief but frequent stops are required. According to the EPA, they improve fuel economy by 4-5%. Engines with stop-start technology have several differences from conventional ICEs in order to prevent premature wear of engine components, including the starter.

Image courtesy of Harley-Davidson

THE VEHICLES

Harley Davidson and Alta Motors to collaborate on electric motorcycle tech Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) has made an equity investment in Alta Motors, a maker of electric motorcycles and lightweight EV drivetrains. The two companies plan to collaborate on electric motorcycle technology and new product development. Having testing the market with its LiveWire prototype in 2014, Harley recently announced that it would bring its first electric motorcycle to market in 2019. Alta Motors offers a portfolio of battery and drivetrain components, as well as electric motorcycles manufactured in California. “Earlier this year, as part of our 10-year strategy, we reiterated our commitment to build the next generation of Harley-Davidson riders, in part, by aggressively investing in EV technology,” said Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich. “Alta has demonstrated innovation and expertise in EVs, and their objectives align closely with ours.” “Riders are just beginning to understand the combined benefits of EVs today, and our technology continues to progress,” said Alta’s Chief Product Officer Marc Fenigstein. “We believe electric motorcycles are the future, and that American companies have an opportunity to lead that future.” “We believe that EV is where global mobility is headed and holds great appeal for existing riders as well as opportunity to bring new riders into the sport,” said Levatich. “We intend to be the world leader in the electrification of motorcycles and, at the same time, remain true to our gas and oil roots by continuing to produce a broad portfolio of motorcycles that appeal to all types of riders around the world.”

UPS: New Workhorse electric truck will be the first to rival cost of ICE vehicles UPS plans to collaborate with Workhorse to develop an electric delivery truck that will be comparable in acquisition cost to legacy ICE trucks without any subsidies, an industry first. Each Class 5 truck will have a range of approximately 100 miles, quite sufficient for delivery routes in and around cities. UPS will test 50 of the vehicles in several cities across the country, including Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles. Following real-world test deployments, UPS and Workhorse will fine-tune the design and begin rolling out a larger fleet in 2019. UPS has approximately 35,000 diesel or gas trucks in its fleet that are comparable in size and duty cycle to the new EVs. UPS expects the operating cost of its new e-truck to be less than that of a similarly equipped legacy vehicle. The new trucks will join over 9,000 alternative fuel vehicles already in the UPS fleet. The company has set a goal that one in four new vehicles purchased by 2020 will be “an alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicle.” “Electric vehicle technology is rapidly improving with battery, charging and smart grid advances that allow us to specify our delivery vehicles to eliminate emissions, noise and dependence on diesel and gasoline,” said Carlton Rose, President, Global Fleet Maintenance and Engineering for UPS. “With our scale and real-world duty cycles, these new electric trucks will be a quantum leap forward for the purpose-built UPS delivery fleet.” “This innovation is the result of Workhorse working closely with UPS over the last 4 years refining our electric vehicles with hard-fought lessons from millions of road miles and thousands of packages delivered,” said Steve Burns, CEO of Workhorse Group. “Our goal is to make it easy for UPS and others to go electric by removing prior roadblocks to large scale acceptance such as cost.”

Images courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover

THE VEHICLES

Jaguar reveals details of electric I-Pace Jaguar has disclosed some details about its first fully electric vehicle. The I-Pace is an SUV with standard twomotor AWD, 394 hp and 512 ft-lb of torque. It will have a range of 240 miles and do 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds. The interior will feature two touchscreens and a heads-up display that projects speed and navigation info on the windshield. Jaguar says the I-Pace will feature wireless software updates, and will gather data about the owner’s driving habits and preferences, using AI to adjust settings. Jaguar plans to begin US deliveries in the second half of this year, with prices starting at $70,495.

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Photo courtesy of Efficient Drivetrains

Efficient Drivetrains delivers electric bus powertrains to Golden Dragon in China

Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI) has fulfilled its largest order of all-electric buses for Golden Dragon in China. The EDI PowerDrive 6000EV system was integrated into a fleet of 18 Golden Dragon 10.5-meter buses, which will run on urban and rural routes around the city of Nantong, China. The EDI PowerDrive 6000 received Chinese government certification after undergoing durability testing in late 2015, and has now logged over 3.8 million miles in city bus fleets in China. Golden Dragon has more than 15,000 new energy buses in service globally. In China, it has deployed new energy vehicles in over 40 cities. EDI introduced its PowerDrive 7000EV drivetrain system to the US in 2017, and has worked with leading bus manufacturers to deliver electric type C and D buses. Globally, EDI expects to close several hundred orders for bus drivetrains this year.

Eviation and Kokam announce electric aircraft battery supply deal

Photo courtesy of Eviation

THE VEHICLES

Eviation Aircraft, a manufacturer of electric aircraft (profiled in the July/August 2017 issue of Charged), and South Korean battery manufacturer Kokam have entered into a battery supply deal valued at $1 million. Kokam batteries will be used to power Eviationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all-electric Alice aircraft, which is scheduled to fly by the end of this year. Alice, which made its debut at the Paris Air Show last June, uses a 900 kWh battery pack provided by Kokam, and will be capable of carrying up to 9 passengers up to 650 miles. Kokamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s battery solutions feature specific energy of 260 Wh/kg, and have been used in aerial, ground and underwater drone applications.

2018 Renault ZOE uses new electric motor Renault’s 2018 ZOE uses a brand-new electric motor. The R110 motor is derived from the R90 motor, to which it is identical in both size and weight, but offers increased output of 80 kW. Renault attributed the extra output to a combination of electrical machine- and power electronics-related innovations, but provided no further details.

since September 2017, replaces the NEDC certification. Renault notes that “the WLTP protocol involves dynamometer testing, is longer [in duration], and involves a higher number of phases. Speeds are also higher and acceleration is harder.”

Photos courtesy of Renault

More Efficiency. More Range. More Vroooooom.

The new motor apparently offers the same low-speed power as the R90, thanks to its 225 Nm of torque, and even manages to reduce the ZOE’s 80-to-120 kph time by almost two seconds. Renault’s electric motor department developed the new R110 motor in only two years. Its introduction increases the number of variants of the Renault motor to five: 44 kW, 57 kW, 60 kW, 68 kW and 80 kW versions are now offered. Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) certification of the R110 motor is now in progress. Early estimates based on the new, more severe WLTP protocol support a real-world range figure of 300 km. The new WLTP cycle, which Europe has been slowly phasing in

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Rivian appoints five executives, prepares to launch its first EV in 2020 EV startup Rivian, which has facilities in Michigan, California and Illinois, plans to introduce its first EV, a five-passenger pickup, in 2020, followed by a seven-passenger SUV. The company recently announced the appointment of five new executives. Mark Vinnels has joined the company as Executive Director of Engineering and Vehicle Programs. Prior to joining Rivian, he led the development of multiple cleansheet vehicle programs. He was the Executive Program Director at McLaren from 2004 through 2017, responsible for all of McLaren’s road cars. Before McLaren, Vinnels was the Head of Vehicle Programs at Group Lotus. Matt Tall has been named Vice President of Manufacturing. He has experience in all key manufacturing disciplines, as well as product engineering and business development. Most recently, Tall was the Plant Manager at AM General’s plant in Indiana, which was responsible for the assembly of the Mercedes Benz R-Class. Ryan Green, Rivian’s new Chief Financial Officer, was most recently the CFO of Harley Davidson’s Financial Services company in North America, and has previous experience at Bayer and Visteon/Ford. Christopher Brown has been named Rivian’s Chief Commercial Officer. He has held senior leadership positions with Nissan, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover in the US, China and the Middle East. Neil Sitron has been named as general counsel. He has represented clients including Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, NEX Group BAE Systems, Polar Tankers and the Global Environment Fund. “All five of these leaders have a proven track record and most importantly, a passion and curiosity that will drive success,” said Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. “These appointments underscore Rivian’s ability to attract the top talent needed to advance the industry’s shift to electric, autonomous and shared mobility.”

Bloomberg launches Tesla Model 3 tracker

Photo courtesy of Tesla

THE VEHICLES

There are around 400,000 of them, and they’re getting impatient. Not only the raft of Model 3 reservation holders, but a passel of stock-market and automotive pundits want details on how many Model 3s are out there, and how quickly they’re being produced. Bloomberg has created a tool to estimate the number of Model 3s rolling out of the Fremont factory, using Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs). Bloomberg’s Model 3 tracker uses two methods to gather VIN data. The first source is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) web site, which reports how many VINs Tesla has registered for Model 3s at any given time. The limitation of this method is that automakers register VINs in large batches that anticipate planned production, so some of the numbers represent cars soon to be produced, but not yet on the road. For a second data set, Bloomberg scours the internet for VINs posted on social media by Tesla customers and fans. Some hard-core fans report the VINs of any Model 3s they see in the wild. Bloomberg also invites owners and spotters to report VINs directly to its tracking system. Bloomberg’s data gurus compare the two datasets with Tesla’s reported production and come up with their best estimate of current Model 3 action. So, what’s the verdict? Bloomberg believes that (as of late March 2018) Tesla has manufactured 10,215 Model 3s, and is now building around 737 per week.

New study finds consumers are behind the curve on EVs

California car shoppers can now be preapproved for EV rebates California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) is launching Rebate Now, a preapproved rebate program designed to make it easier and faster for California residents to lease or purchase EVs. The program will debut in San Diego and, if successful, will be applied statewide. Car shoppers can apply online and use Rebate Now at participating dealerships to receive a discount on the sale or lease of an eligible model. Since 2009, CVRP has issued over $480 million in rebates for more than 218,000 eligible EVs. Rebates range from $900 for zero-emission motorcycles to between $1,500 and $5,000 for passenger cars. An additional $2,000 is available for qualified lower-income residents. Customers must apply for a preapproved rebate, but are not required to select a specific make or model before car shopping. After CVRP preapproves their application, they can visit a participating dealership, where it should only take a few minutes for sales staff to qualify the rebate application. “Car shoppers in San Diego can now get preapproved before they purchase or lease an EV and then transfer the rebate amount directly to the dealership rather than applying for the rebate after the transaction,” said Lawrence Goldenhersh, President of the Center for Sustainable Energy, which administers CVRP for the California Air Resources Board. “In just a few simple steps, the car dealership can claim the transferred rebate and use it to lower the customer’s down-payment.”

Automakers and policymakers around the world are preparing for the transition to EVs. Toyota, Volvo, VW, BMW, Mercedes and other brands are setting ambitious sales goals and investing substantial sums. Norway, the Netherlands, France, the UK and China are talking about phasing out sales of legacy ICE vehicles. There’s just one key group of stakeholders who are yet to be convinced: car buyers. According to a new study from UC Davis, a total of 780,000 plug-in vehicles (PEVs) have been sold in the US, representing just 0.3% of the 243 million cars on the road. Plug-ins accounted for only 1.1% of US vehicle sales in 2017, and are on track to make up less than 5% of sales this year. “There are no paths to meet the PEV commitments and promises being made by automakers and politicians unless consumers are engaged in the transition to electric drive,” write report authors Ken Kurani and Scott Hardman. “Evidence from California says consumers are not. The excitement among policymakers, automakers, and advocates…is utterly lost on the vast majority of the car-buying public, even in California.” UC Davis researchers conducted five surveys from June 2014 to June 2017 to assess Californian car-owning households’ awareness of PEVs. They found that the percentage of households who had considered buying a PEV was no higher in 2017 than it was in 2014. Between 2014 and 2017, the number of non-residential PEV chargers in California more than doubled, to over 11,500. However, the change from 2014 to 2017 in the number of people who reported seeing chargers at parking facilities was statistically insignificant. What about all the new plug-in models that came on the market between 2014 and 2017? In 2017, fewer Californians were able to name a single EV than had been able to in 2014. Awareness of incentives and understanding of the differences among hybrids, PHEVs and EVs also did not change. “So, what’s to be done? Kurani and Hardman recommend social marketing to promote the need for EVs; traditional marketing by automakers, utilities and charging infrastructure suppliers; more ride-and-drive events; and more PEVs in shared mobility and vehicle rental applications. They also call for auto dealer education and motivation programs, and (of course) ongoing studies.

MAR/APR 2018

Lilium hopes to make its VTOL electric jet an airborne Uber

Photo courtesy of Lilium

EVs are taking to the skies. Startups Eviation and Zunum are working on electrified passenger aircraft. Electric truck maker Workhorse recently spun off a subsidiary that makes a personal octocopter. The latest plane play to hit the headlines is Lilium, which was founded in 2015, and raised $90 million in funding in September. Lilium’s aim is to “revolutionize the way people move in and around the world’s cities,” said co-founder Patrick Nathen. In Nathen’s vision, you’ll be able to hail an e-plane from your phone, and board at a rooftop landing port. Lilium tested a prototype of its aircraft last year in Munich. Lilium’s “electric jet” can take off and land vertically using fans embedded in the wings. Once airborne, the fans fold into a horizontal position and the jet can fly like any small airplane, at a top speed of around 190 miles per hour. The plane will have a total range of around 190 miles. Lilium hopes to test it with a pilot by next year and bring it to market by 2025.

Formula E reveals next-generation race car in Geneva

Photo courtesy of Formula E

THE VEHICLES

Formula E revealed a physical model of its next-generation racer, which will debut in the 2018/19 season, at the recent Geneva Motor Show. Technical specifications of the Gen2 car are also now available on the Formula E web site. Other than the striking new look, the most notable change is the battery, which has almost twice the energy storage capacity of the previous version. With double the range available, there will no longer be any need for a mid-race car change. Maximum power output has been increased by 50 kW, to 250 kW, enabling a top speed of around 174 mph. The Gen2 car also features the new Michelin Pilot Sport tire, which is lighter than its predecessors, and boasts significantly lower rolling resistance. “It’s encouraging to see the progress made in just four years - to double the range of the car and increase the power output is the result of a great effort,” said FIA President Jean Todt. “With the support of so many manufacturers, Formula E will continue to push the development of electric vehicle technology, and promote sustainable mobility in many cities around the world.”

FIA Technical Director Gilles Simon said the Gen2 racer was “a hugely collaborative project.” “If you were to draw a racing car from scratch and base it purely on its looks, you’d come up with just this design,” said Formula E founder and CEO Alejandro Agag.

The Municipal Transport Company of Madrid (EMT) has unveiled the first 15 electric buses to be added to its fleet. The 12-meter Irizar buses will serve three central lines in the Spanish capital. Each bus has a capacity of 76 passengers and a range of over 124 miles. Irizar has also provided 15 chargers for overnight charging at the bus depot. Irizarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s e-bus features the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eco Assist system, which helps the driver to optimize driving behavior in real time, reducing energy consumption and increasing range.

Photo courtesy of Irizar

Madrid deploys 15 Irizar electric buses

This model has already been operating for almost four years in a dozen European cities. Irizar also offers a 10.8-meter city bus, an 18-meter long articulated bus and other EVs.

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Photo courtesy of Lucid Motors

Q &A

with Peter Rawlinson, CTO of Lucid Motors By Charles Morris

MAR/APR 2018

THE VEHICLES

Peter Rawlinson, CTO of Lucid Motors

Photos courtesy of Lucid Motors

he legacy automakers are slowly and methodically developing new EVs, with various levels of enthusiasm, but the most ambitious plans for new vehicles are coming from a handful of EV startups. Most of these pioneers of the new auto industry share a formula: deep-pocketed investors (many from China), former Tesla employees on staff, and plans to emulate Tesla’s strategy of starting with a high-priced, low-volume vehicle as a stepping stone to a more mass-market model. There are several reasons to call Lucid Motors the most promising of this crop of companies. First, Lucid has been around for over a decade. Founded as Atieva in 2007 by former Tesla VP Bernard Tse and others, the company initially focused on battery packs, but in 2014 it decided to take up the quest of building its own EV. Another reason to take Lucid seriously is provided by the impressive prototypes it has built. In 2016, the company revealed a delivery van that can do 0-60 in

just over three seconds. “Edna,” a converted Mercedes Metris van, made her debut with a video of a drag race versus a Ferrari and a Model S - both of which she beat. Atieva used Edna as a test vehicle for its powertrain technology. Later in 2016, the company renamed itself Lucid, and released some teaser images of an electric luxury sedan. A few copies of that vehicle, the Lucid Air, are now tooling around the roads of California. Bloomberg got a ride in a rough prototype in March of 2017. A much more polished version was on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show in December - Wired took a test ride and called it “stunning.” Lucid’s ace in the hole is the impressive pedigree of its vehicle design team. CTO Peter Rawlinson is not just any Tesla alum - after stints at Jaguar, Lotus and Corus Automotive, the Welsh-born Rawlinson became the Chief Engineer behind Tesla’s Model S. The company has a lot of other proven EV talent on

Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz USA

staff. “I have the key brain power behind the Model S team with me today,” says Rawlinson. “We know how to do this, and that is the differentiator [between us and other EV startups].” Lucid is building a factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, and plans to play it slow and steady, starting off at a production rate of 20,000 cars per year, which it calculates will require $260 million in investment. “We’re taking a very pragmatic, almost humble approach to it,” Rawlinson told Wired. “We’re not going in there all guns blazing, saying we’re going to spend a billion dollars on a factory. That’s madness.” Charged was fortunate enough to have a chat with Peter Rawlinson. He’s a highly articulate speaker who does a great job of explaining his company’s unique vision, so we thought it best to present his comments in his own words, lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Q Charged: We’ll make our first question about bat-

teries. What kind of cells are you using?

A Peter Rawlinson: We’ve sourced Samsung SDI for

cylindrical cells. We’ve also got a production contract in place with LG Chem, but our primary production source is Samsung SDI. Q Charged: Are these standard 2170 cells? A Peter Rawlinson: They’re standard in terms of their

size and form factor, but they’ve been co-developed in terms of their chemistry to combine great energy capacity with a tolerance for cyclic fast charging. Some of the leading players out there have a cell chemistry which is particularly vulnerable to repeated cyclic fast charging, and that actually accelerates the degradation of the battery pack in terms of its ability to store energy quite dramatically over the course of maybe a couple of hundred fast charge cycles. The best analogy I can make is that of a decathlete - we’re not just out for sprint or hurdles or a discus throw or a long jump, we’re looking at a rounded ca-

MAR/APR 2018

THE VEHICLES

Photos courtesy of Lucid Motors

We’re able to achieve extraordinary packing density of the cells, and I believe that our packs are extraordinarily safe. I believe they’re intrinsically safer than the nearest competition, and a lot of that is due to the way that we design our cooling system. pability within the cell. Some of the key attributes we look for are power, energy, lifetime, cold-weather capability, storage when being unused (a lot of the degradation takes place during that, actually), and tolerance to fast charging. Q Charged: Why did you make fast charging a top

priority?

A Peter Rawlinson: We see the likelihood of more in-

tense use patterns for electric cars in the future. If you look at China, which would be a big market for us, the typical Chinese owner hasn’t got the ability to readily install an overnight slow charging station in their garage as a typical US owner would. Therefore, they’re more dependent in China upon stop-and-go fast charging, like the way we use gas stations at the moment in the Western world. Also for when we see more intensive ride-share applications, we think having tolerance to repeated fast charging, combined with great energy capacity, is

the way to go. If you look at the way mobility is going to move, it’s going to move towards a shared mobility. We’re already seeing that with ride-sharing and with services such as Uber Black, even for high-end vehicles. Lucid Air is autonomous-ready in terms of its hardware and sensor suite and whole system integration - ready for when appropriate software and legislative conditions allow. We’ll move to the autonomous driving era, we’ll move to this era of shared autonomy, and that will see much more intense use patterns. The electric car is particularly suited to that paradigm. We’ll have a situation where, unlike today where I use my car for about an hour a day, and 23 hours of that day it’s sitting out there gathering dust and depreciating, we’re going to see a much more intense use of the cars that are available. I think that’s going to be hugely beneficial for all people, particularly those who live in a densely populated urban environment. Q Charged: What can you tell me about the

battery packs?

A Peter Rawlinson: We’re water/glycol liquid-cooled

and we have our patented cooling system, which I really believe is a big advance over any competitor that’s out there at the moment. I believe that is really central to our battery technology. We started off 10 years ago as a battery technology company. We have a decade of expertise in this area and we have about 20 million

miles accrued now in real-world use with our battery packs. All the battery pack is designed in-house, and we have a wealth of patents. As a company we have around 300 patents now, and a large part of that is our powertrain and particularly the battery pack. We’re able to achieve extraordinary packing density of the cells, and I believe that our packs are extraordinarily safe. I believe they’re intrinsically safer than the nearest competition, and a lot of that is due to the way that we design our cooling system. Q Charged: Will the Lucid Air be offered with one

motor, dual motors, or both options?

A Peter Rawlinson: Well, both actually. The motors

are designed entirely in-house. We have extraordinary gains in efficiency and we’ve got a breakthrough cooling technology, which we’ve patented. That’s really going to give us extraordinary efficiency and range. We believe in having sprung motors, one motor per axle, so the four-wheel-drive version of Lucid Air has two motors and the rear-wheel-drive entry-level model has just one motor at the rear. We don’t subscribe to in-wheel motors. Q Charged: Is the issue of unsprung mass the reason

that you didn’t go with an in-wheel motor?

A Peter Rawlinson: Partly, although the sprung mass

effect is actually less detrimental than many believe. The real problems are that there’s an efficiency issue and there’s also a steering geometry and a brake cooling issue, so trying to get the suspension characteristics for a great-handling car would be compromised

in a car of this particular class if we were trying to achieve that. There is that unsprung mass issue, which degrades ride, but that’s not the key thing: it’s getting that geometry, the suspension geometry, particularly upfront with the steering geometry, and also getting conventional foundation brake cooling, those are the real killer issues which preclude having in-wheel motors in a class of car like this. Q Charged: The Croatian startup Rimac uses four

motors and electronic torque vectoring. What are your thoughts on that?

A Peter Rawlinson: You can use four motors - and

they don’t have to be hub motors, you can have them inboard, sprung mass - and you can torque-vector with that. Now, that is a very purist solution for an ultimate supercar. If you have four small motors, they’re intrinsically less efficient than two slightly larger motors. There’s a subtle difference between torque vectoring electronically with the motor - assuming you can actually do that, because it is hugely challenging software - versus torque vectoring with the ABS system and the brakes working in harmony with the motor. It’s a subtlety that maybe some very elite drivers on a race circuit might just be able to detect, but would you really do that and compromise range for a car designed for everyday use? I think that this is horses for courses. I think that for an ultimate supercar, probably four motors inboard with torque vectoring is a great solution. That’s what they’re trying to achieve. I believe that solution is inappropriate for Lucid Air. I think for Lucid Air, the priority is phenomenal day-to-day capability, including phenomenal range.

MAR/APR 2018

Photos courtesy of Lucid Motors

Q Charged: I’ve read a lot recently about the relative

advantages of buying components from suppliers versus building stuff in-house. It sounds like you’re leaning towards the in-house solution - motors, battery packs. Why is it better to do all that stuff inhouse? A Peter Rawlinson: There’s a number of reasons.

First, if you look at the technology we’ve got on our battery pack, our motor, our inverter, even our transmission, you cannot buy that level of technology off the shelf. It’s simply not available. We benchmarked against some very close competitors, and our performance is shockingly better. There is another electric car company in California, their motor spins around 11,000 RPM, and ours spins about 19,000 RPM. They bought theirs off the shelf from a very reputable motor manufacturer, but they’re limited to 11,000 RPM. As you’re probably aware, the speed of spin is just as important an attribute as absolute torque at zero RPM, that really is that bandwidth that defines the capability of the motor. Our inverter for the rear is rated at 650 horsepower. It’s truly state of the art. We’ve used our own multiphysics simulation in-house to make what I believe is the most compact and efficient inverter in the world. We benchmarked that against industry leaders, and

ours is a step more advanced, in my view. So, that stuff simply isn’t available off the shelf if you’re reaching for the stars. I want to create the very best car in the world. If you’re reaching for mediocrity, and just want to create another EV, then you can buy that off the shelf. But the second reason for doing it in-house is perhaps more compelling. We see the five key elements of the powertrain - battery pack, electric motor, transmission, inverter and software - as a really synergous, harmonious system like the human body. It works together as an ecosystem, it’s like matching muscle tissue with lungs and heart rate, these organs are interactive in their capability. If we buy elements off the shelf, that’s a sure-fire way of creating a Frankenstein - that’s the best analogy I can make. Q Charged: Are there any major components that

you’re buying from other suppliers?

A Peter Rawlinson: We’re buying core components

- we buy IGBT chips to put into our inverters. We buy our copper wire for the motors. We buy our electrical steel sheets to make our rotors, and we actually buy the cells for our battery pack. We’re not a cell manufacturer - we do that with Samsung and with LG Chem. At a core component level, of course we’re not trying to

THE VEHICLES

If you look at the technology we’ve got on our battery pack, our motor, our inverter, even our transmission, you cannot buy that level of technology off the shelf... We benchmarked against some very close competitors, and our performance is shockingly better. reinvent the wheel. We’re a tech company - we started as a battery technology company and morphed into a complete EV powertrain company. Then I joined the company a few years ago for it to transition to be a complete vehicle company. I think that’s really an interesting point, because what we’re doing with Lucid Air, we would not have been able to do if we didn’t have real mastery of that electric vehicle powertrain in advance. We’re using that miniaturization of the electric powertrain as a tool to make the car as a whole better. Although others have shown the viability and even superiority of electric cars now - and I think that’s well recognized by the public, and full marks for doing that - I don’t think anyone has really taken this technology to its natural conclusion - far from it. I think others are making cars which are conventional cars, which are designed to be electric from the ground up, but not reimagined as what the car can be. With Lucid Air we’ve said, “Let’s look at the size of this electric motor, 600 horsepower developed inhouse. It’s a fraction of the size of a 600-horsepower gasoline engine. We don’t have the drive shafts, because there’s two power sources, two motors, we’re not trying to split from one gasoline engine to four-wheel drive. Let’s take full advantage of that compactness and the different shape to reimagine the 3D puzzle that is the design of the car and tease out so much more interior space and have a much bigger, transformatively

larger interior and cockpit for the exterior size of the car.” That’s what’s really exciting about Lucid Air and really imaginative about it. It’s more compact on the outside than, say, a Tesla Model S, it’s shorter, it’s narrower, it’s lower, it’s actually about 43 millimeters narrower. Yet it’s got massively more interior space, particularly at the rear. In fact, we’ve got more interior space than a long-wheelbase S-Class Mercedes. I don’t really think that comes across fully in some of the photographs that are out there on the web. When people sit in it, they’re often amazed and say, “Oh my goodness, I didn’t realize it was going to be as good as this. I see what you guys are doing now, this is extraordinary. This is a real breakthrough. No one has actually done this before.” Why that matters is, first of all, a more compact car is a better driving car. I love driving it, it’s a really fast real sports car, a fantastic machine to drive. It’s more maneuverable around town, more usable. I’ve driven some of these big cars - we’ve had a Mercedes S-Class as a benchmark vehicle, it’s a fantastic piece of engineering, but it’s not a real pleasurable driving car - it’s just too big for that. Lucid Air is really usable around town - we were driving it in Manhattan earlier this year. It’s easy to turn, it’s easy to park in multi-story [garages]. That agility just shines, and yet it’s got this ultimate luxury space, which no one else has got. I think that’s what makes it a world car, because its compactness will help particularly in markets like Europe and Japan, and yet it’s got that coveted rear seat space that really is so desirable in the biggest market of all, which is China. The other car companies tend to have a long-wheelbase version of their car and a short-wheelbase [version] for different markets. I think we’ve got it covered - we’ve got a modest wheelbase, with all the handling

I don’t think anyone has really taken this technology to its natural conclusion - far from it.

MAR/APR 2018

THE VEHICLES It’s got massively more interior space, particularly at the rear. In fact, we’ve got more interior space than a long-wheelbase S-Class Mercedes. Photos courtesy of Lucid Motors

and dynamic attributes that brings, coupled with its great interior luxury. Q Charged: At one point, you said, “I have the

key brain power behind the Model S team with me today.” Who are some of the other folks working for Lucid that were on the Model S team? A Peter Rawlinson: In fact, some of my key direc-

tors were with me through Model S. I have Eric Bach, who was with Model S and Model X - he is my Senior Director of Body Engineering. On safety, Dr. Louise Zhang, who was Director of Safety for Tesla Model S - I recruited her into the Tesla team. She’s Director of Vehicle Safety here at Lucid. I also have David Mosely, who’s Director of Powertrain here. David was with me on the formative stages of Tesla Model S. Also Roger Evans, Director of Vehicle Engineering here. Roger was responsible for so much of Model S, right through. Then each of them have brought many members of their teams here as well. These were core team members who were so instrumental in many of the innovations that we made. Q Charged: What can you tell me about things you

learned in designing Model S that made their way into the Lucid Air? Maybe some things you did right, maybe some things you did wrong, some things you did on the Model S that you decided not to do. A Peter Rawlinson: First of all, I’d like to point out

that we’re not using any technology from Tesla here at Lucid. We’ve been really assiduous in our endeavor to make sure that there is absolutely no use of any IP from Tesla. We’ve taken a completely fresh look at

designing an electric car from the ground up. That has been our approach absolutely throughout. The best way to compete at the top table is with new technology, with our own things. In that sense it’s as if Tesla Model S never existed. But it’s inevitable with the experience one accrues through one’s career that the lessons learned are etched in our consciousness, and I’d like to think that I’m more experienced at running engineering teams and how to manage that process and how to operate in a more focused and more efficient manner. One of the things I’d like to say about what we do here is, we are not offering solutions to problems which don’t exist. I believe that the solutions we’re offering at Lucid are of very direct and tangible value to the customer. We’re not doing esoteric door systems, we’re doing comfort and legroom in a very pragmatic and valuable way that you can appreciate and enjoy every mile that is driven in the car. Q Charged: Lucid Air is pretty obviously a luxury ve-

hicle. Are you envisioning a future generation that’s more mass-market?

A Peter Rawlinson: Absolutely, yeah. We’re at a point

in time where battery technology is at a certain price point, and therefore it makes greater sense to start with a relatively upscale product. The other thing is, there’s more than the product to consider here. The first product from a new brand defines the brand, so we have a defining-role function from Lucid Air that it really defines what the brand is about. A great sporting driving experience, the highest of high-tech - just look at those headlights, for example. The car’s just bristling with technology: the vortex air induction system, our

super-compact battery pack, its incredible performance - we have 440 miles of range. This is an extraordinary combination of technologies. We have inverted air springs - no one has got that - to reduce the unsprung mass, and we couple them with active damping. This is super high-tech, and it’s better than the competition in many ways. It’s very overtly and deliberately a technical tour de force, because it defines the credentials of the brand. When someone says they own a Lucid, it means something. I want it to have a huge impact. But of course as battery cells and the price of battery energy come down, we’re looking towards hitting about a magic $100 per kilowatt-hour around 2020 at cell level. That’s going to have a profound effect. People ask me, “Is it energy density that’s going to effect the transition towards mass market for electric cars?” I say, “Not really, it’s going to be the price point. It’s the kilowatt-hours per dollar that’s really going to make a big difference.” I think we’re timing this just right. I want to do

mass-market cars which will really change the world, but we shouldn’t do those yet, and we shouldn’t do those as a first product. But absolutely, they’re going to come. Q Charged: I read that the price of the Lucid Air is

going to start at $60,000. Is that still the plan?

A Peter Rawlinson: That’s correct, and that’s a single-

motor, rear-wheel-drive 400-horsepower, 240-mile range car. That’s entry level, but of course, we’ll have a range of prices going considerably up from that.

Q Charged: You said something in an interview that I

thought was very interesting. You said it’s a myth that EVs lose money, but you’re happy to let everyone think that EVs lose money, so that nobody wants to build them. Did you mean that in terms of your EVs? Or did you mean that existing EVs are actually profitable?

MAR/APR 2018

Photos courtesy of Lucid Motors

A Peter Rawlinson: I think it’s public domain infor-

mation that the margin on a Tesla Model S is now 28%. Here’s the thing: Mercedes Benz averages [a margin of] about 22% and you could go to a really profitable car, maybe a Porsche, which [has a margin] over 30%, but the market believes that Tesla’s an inherently unprofitable company. The product isn’t unprofitable. We’ve done the math for Lucid Air, and there’s a reason we’re making a luxury car, because at that price point we can make a very healthy traditional margin. That is in a traditional model, as if you were selling a traditional car, but actually we see a more progressive business model where the car can be used as a tool and actually can generate a lot more revenue through the data it accrues. In a sort of shared mobility setting, there’s a beguiling set of opportunities where that 28% sort of margin becomes kind of an old-fashioned way of looking at things. Q Charged: You’re referring to a ride-sharing model? A Peter Rawlinson: Yeah, you can have ride-sharing.

With the sensor suite that we have on our car for autonomous driving, the data that can accrue, the value and monetization of that big data can actually be part of the revenue stream the car can accrue. So we’re looking forward to a new sort of model, which kind of transcends that view of selling a car and the margin you make on selling that piece of hardware. Q Charged: What technical features does a car need

to have to optimize it for an autonomous ride-sharing application?

We see a more progressive business model where the car can be used as a tool and actually can generate a lot more revenue through the data it accrues. A Peter Rawlinson: Autonomous and ride sharing

are two slightly different things, but if you sort of fuse those together I think that what really matters for rideshare is...it’s about the rear seat experience, it’s about leg room, it’s about ease of getting in and out of the rear. For example, Lucid Air is not really designed specifically as a ride-share vehicle - it’s more of a luxury product with that sort of capability in mind. Our rear doors open fully to 90 degrees, our rear aperture for getting in and out is sculpted in a very ergonomic way, a very unusual manner actually, compared with the profile of most cars out there, which makes getting in and out of those rear seats and enjoying that experience very accessible. In terms of having the car autonomous-ready, we have endowed it with a very comprehensive set of sensing hardware. We recently announced a technical partnership with Mobileye for sensing, so we have cameras, lidar and radar, both short- and long-range. We really believe in the value of having an overlay of lidar working interactively with the radar, so we get a degree of redundancy in that sensing. Again, perhaps I can point to the human body as a sort of analogy. When we walk around, the brain beautifully fuses visual inputs with balance inputs from the inner ear to see where we are

THE VEHICLES and that we don’t fall over. If you close your eyes, it’s not so easy to walk or jog. When one loses control of one’s inner ear, even with the visual input, balance is difficult. Just as the human brain fuses that balance and that visual sensing, I think it’s really important that these autonomous vehicles can fuse different inputs from cameras, radar and lidar. One of the reasons for that is the range of inclement weather that can be experienced in certain cases, you can have sleet, snow, fog, you can have rainbow effects, reflected light, intense sunlight, headlights, reflected headlights, spray. We merged that [sensor suite] with massive onboard processing and very considerable onboard data storage with a high degree of connectivity for the car. That’s the key hardware systems which were integrated into Lucid Air to enable it to be a full Level 4 or even Level 5 autonomous-ready as soon as legislative conditions allow and/or as soon as the appropriate software will be available. When we go to production, it will be sort of Level 2, (or two and a half, depending upon your definition) at the get-go, and then we’ll be able to flash

over the software to make it Level 4. Nobody knows exactly when that will be. Q Charged: Have we got a rough delivery date yet? A Peter Rawlinson: We’re about two years out. We’ve

secured the [manufacturing] site in Casa Grande in Arizona, between Phoenix and Tucson. We’re about 24 months out from the start of production. Q Charged: I understand that you’re going to be sup-

plying batteries for Formula E.

A Peter Rawlinson: Since you ask, I can disclose that

before we branded as Lucid, the car company, our name was and remains, actually, Atieva. Atieva is delighted to partner with McLaren Applied Technologies of Formula One fame, and Murata, formerly Sony cells, to supply the Formula E packs. It’s the Atieva design, and that will be for seasons five, six and seven, starting in late 2018. That’s not Lucid - I want to be really clear, that’s not under the Lucid banner, that is an Atieva project.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

How to take advantage of VW-funded transportation grant programs in your state Volkswagen has finalized the last of three settlements with the US Department of Justice, part of the German automaker’s penance for its evasion of emissions regulations. Almost $3 billion of the settlement funds is being directed to the Environmental Mitigation Trust, which will fund state-level clean transportation grant programs. States are now in control of designing their own grant programs, and are developing their plans based on their unique funding priorities. For example, Nevada is designating 80% of its funds to on-road usage and prioritizing projects that align with the Nevada Electric Highway Initiative. Pennsylvania is designating 45% of its funds for rail and tug replacement projects. Many states have already begun releasing their draft plans, and the rest are expected to release theirs in the coming weeks and months, so time is of the essence for technology providers, fuel suppliers and fleet managers to identify incentives that could be a good fit for their projects. There is an overwhelming amount of information out there, to say the least - the three partial consent decrees contain 633 pages of legalese, and over 70 state agencies have published their own information about the settlement. Clean tech consulting firm Gladstein Neandross & Associates (GNA) has researched and boiled down the VW settlement details so fleet managers and other interested parties can identify the best incentives for their projects. GNA’s new VW Funding 360 Portal offers access to state-specific intelligence. Users can also sign up to receive email notifications when states release or update their VW funding programs. The portal includes a Project Competitiveness Calculator, a free tool that stakeholders can use to evaluate their projects’ viability for VW settlement funding.

UK government awards 30 million quid for V2G projects The UK government is awarding almost £30 million ($41.5 million) to 21 vehicle-to-grid R&D projects, which will demonstrate how energy stored in EV batteries could be borrowed by the electricity system during peak hours. Led by EDF Energy, the V2GO program will be a large-scale demonstration of V2G charging in Oxford using 100 electric fleet vehicles (cars and vans) from a number of organizations including delivery and taxi companies. The project will evaluate potential business models for fleet operators’ use of EVs and their suitability for V2G charging. Companies that will receive government funding under the program include SSE Services, Nissan, OVO Energy, Octopus Energy, Cisco, Flexisolar and AT Kearney. “As the number of electric vehicles grows and their battery capabilities increase, there is a huge opportunity for them to make a significant contribution to a smart grid,” said UK Transport Minister Jesse Norman. “These projects are at the cutting edge of their field. Just like the visionary designs of Brunel and Stephenson in transport, they could revolutionize the ways in which we store and manage electricity. “We have shown that growing the economy while cutting emissions, can, and should, go hand in hand,” said Business Minister Richard Harrington. “Vehicle-to-grid technology provides another opportunity for the UK to showcase to the world our leading expertise in game-changing automotive and low-carbon technologies.”

US electric bus builder Proterra has placed an order with Australian EVSE manufacturer Tritium for 57 Veefil-RT 50 kW DC fast chargers. The chargers will be manufactured at Tritium’s recently opened manufacturing facility in Torrance, California, and will be available to Proterra customers across the US. Tritium worked closely with the Proterra team to provide a series of modifications to the software to meet the bus-maker’s requirements. “We aim to partner with like-minded companies,” explains Matt Horton, Chief Commercial Officer at Proterra. “Proterra needed to source a reliable, standards-based J1772 CCS plug-in charger for our Catalyst range of buses, and we were looking for a supplier with the capability to tailor their product to our specifications.” “The US is a major market for us, and now we have a sales and manufacturing facility in the country that replicates the high standards we’ve established at our global HQ in Brisbane, we are ideally placed to offer not only bespoke requirements, but also a full after-sales service to clients,” said Tritium’s US head, Greg Lary.

Photo courtesy of Porsche

Photos courtesy of Tritium

E-bus maker Proterra orders 57 fast chargers from Tritium

Porsche plans fast chargers at all US dealerships, exec disses Tesla

Porsche’s upcoming Mission E sedan is expected to feature a 95 kWh battery pack and 310 miles of range. Such a generous range is sure to create demand for faster charging times, so the German luxury brand has developed a new charging system that can deliver up to 800 V and 350 kW. Now Porsche says it plans to install 320 kW DC fast chargers at all 189 Porsche dealerships in the US. The new stations should be able to charge a Mission E to 250 miles in 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Dr. Stefan Weckbach, Porsche’s VP for Battery Electric Vehicles, took a shot at Tesla, telling a group of journalists that the Mission E’s performance can repeatedly deliver fast acceleration, whereas Tesla vehicles can only hit 60 in 3 seconds twice in a row. “The third attempt will fail,” Weckbach said. “The system is throttled. Porsche drivers won’t need to worry about that [because the Mission E can deliver] reproducible performance and a top speed which can be maintained for long periods.” As Autoblog pointed out, however, his claim is questionable. “At one time Tesla did restrict the number of consecutive and total Launch Control deployments, as well as “full-pedal acceleration,” in order to save wear and tear on the battery and powertrain,” writes Jonathon Ramsey. “However, Tesla erased the software restriction late last year after voluminous customer complaints.”

MAR/APR 2018

Photo courtesy of Blink

Photo courtesy of Fastned

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Fastned and ABB unveils new generation of 350 kW charging stations

Blink Charging secures listing on Nasdaq Capital Market, rings opening bell

Dutch charging company Fastned has unveiled a new generation of DC fast charging stations, developed by ABB, that support charging levels of up to 350 kW. The first of the 350 kW stations is located at a service area on the A8 highway near Amsterdam. The new stations can charge an EV to 500 km of range in 15 minutes. Fastned intends to be ready for a new generation of EVs with larger battery packs, which are beginning to hit the road. Fastned’s station design is also completely new, featuring a unique and recognizable profile with a roof of glass solar panels and sustainable wood. The new station has a higher clearance, so it is even more visible to electric drivers and can accommodate larger vehicles. “María García, our architect, has put a lot of energy into an iconic design that is better in every detail and that’s visible,” said Fastned co-founder Bart Lubbers. “It’s very important to increase the charging speed, because it makes driving EVs attractive to more people. The question that almost every consumer asks is, ‘How long does it take to charge?’” “We are the Shell of the future, only our energy comes from the sun and the wind,” said co-founder and CEO Michiel Langezaal.

Blink Charging, an operator of EV charging services, is now listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols BLNK and BLNKW. To commemorate the event, Executive Chairman Michael D. Farkas and CEO Mike Calise got to ring the Nasdaq opening bell. Blink’s previously announced underwritten public offering raised over $18 million, which the company will use to expand its product offerings, accelerate the launch of the next generation of equipment, deploy additional EV charging stations, increase its sales force and enter new markets. Blink’s EVSE offers connectivity to the Blink Network, a cloud-based system that manages and tracks its charging stations and associated data. The company has strategic property partners representing multifamily residential properties, airports, colleges, municipalities, parking garages, shopping malls, schools and workplaces. “It was truly an exciting day for Blink Charging in that we were finally able to celebrate our long-standing goal of being listed on Nasdaq by ringing the opening bell,” said Michael D. Farkas. “We view this as an important milestone for the industry as a whole and a critical step towards making electric vehicles the norm in this country, not the exception.”

Photo courtesy of ABB

ABB fast chargers support two different brands of e-buses in Trondheim

Swiss electronics giant ABB will supply eight of its HVC 450P charging stations to support a fleet of 35 electric buses in the Norwegian city of Trondheim. This is one of the first projects in which e-buses from two different brands will use the same charging infrastructure. The 25 Volvo 7900 and 10 Heuliez GX 437 electric buses will be operated by Tide Buss. The ABB chargers will be delivered in February 2019, and are due to go into service in August. ABB’s HVC 450P provides 450 kW of DC output power, and can recharge a battery in three to six minutes. The eight chargers, which will be installed at the endpoints of four bus routes, use a pantograph mounted on the infrastructure, and are compatible with OppCharge, an interoperable and open interface for DC charging. The chargers also feature ABB Ability, a web-enabled connectivity solution that allows network operators to perform several functions, including remote monitoring and configuration of charge points, and can connect to any charging network, back-office or energy management solution. “Working with ABB has enabled us to deliver a high-quality and reliable solution which allows operators from different networks to work simultaneously and share infrastructure,” said Per Olav Hopsø, head of the Trøndelag County Council Transport Committee. “This not only provides good economies of scale and return on investment, but continues to support our forward thinking approach in delivering first-rate modern infrastructure for our region. With the help of innovative companies such as ABB, public transport within the city of Trondheim will be fossil-free by 2019.”

Tritium announces European expansion, opens EU HQ in The Netherlands Australia-based EVSE manufacturer Tritium has opened a new European headquarters in Amsterdam. The facility will be the center for its European sales program, and will house a training and accreditation unit for technical service and customer support. It also has the capability to customize Tritium’s products to meet local market needs and specific customer requirements. The Amsterdam site includes an “in confidence” testing center, available for use by auto manufacturers. As a privately-owned company with no strategic partnerships in the automotive sector, Tritium is able to offer comprehensive and confidential testing facilities for any automaker’s vehicles. Tritium claims to have around 20% of the West European market for fast chargers. It has supplied over 50% of the DC fast chargers in operation in Norway, and now aims to develop its sales further in Germany, the UK, France, Benelux and Scandinavia. “The opening of this facility represents a major commitment to the European market, and it’s in direct response to increased demand for our products and services from this region,” explains Jeroen Jonker, Tritium’s General Manager - Sales Europe. “In just a few years Tritium has made a significant impact in the fast charging sector, and we needed to have a local presence in Europe ahead of a very active year, when we’ll be launching a number of new initiatives.” “Thus far, we have been very successful in deploying charging infrastructure in the utilities and network sector and partnering with leading CPOs and back-end providers,” Jonker continues. “The recent surge in new EV model launches in Europe has sparked increased interest in our Veefil range of 50 kW Fast Chargers and Ultra-Fast Chargers (150-475 kW), for both urban and corridor charging. Tritium is working closely with leading companies in the European automotive and petrol/ retail industries, in order to provide the best suited and most efficient fast charging solution in the market. We chose to base ourselves in Amsterdam because it’s central to all our key markets and has excellent transport links. It’s a modern city with a high skills base.”

MAR/APR 2018

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

ClipperCreek’s new CP-50 hand-held EVSE tester

Tesla’s new Workplace Charging program offers free charging stations to businesses Tesla has several different infrastructure initiatives going on, including the Supercharger network, Urban Superchargers, and the Destination Charging network. Now the California trendsetter is adding another piece to the puzzle. Tesla’s new Workplace Charging program is similar to the Destination Charging network, in that it offers free charging stations to businesses, which agree to cover the cost of the electricity. However, the new program focuses on parking lots at workplaces “As Tesla’s fleet continues to grow, it is more important than ever for our customers to be able to easily charge their cars where they park,” says Tesla. “The most convenient way to charge is to plug in overnight at home, and for most people, this is all that is needed. For others, such as those who live in an apartment, Tesla is introducing its new Workplace Charging program. Charging at work is simple and convenient, just plug in and your car is charged by the time you’re done for the day.” “For qualified employers or commercial property managers who choose to provide an EV charging option, Tesla will review, donate their Tesla Wall Connectors and provide installation assistance. Energy costs will be the responsibility of the property.” Businesses interested in the new program can apply on Tesla’s website.

Charger manufacturer ClipperCreek has released a compact hand-held EVSE testing tool designed for installers, technicians and facilities maintenance personnel. The new CP-50, priced at $250, can be used to test a Level 1 or Level 2 EVSE installation without a vehicle present. It can function as a stand-alone device or in combination with a digital volt meter and/or oscilloscope to verify operations and troubleshoot an EVSE. The CP-50 offers test points to view SAE J1772 pilot signal at various states, as well as cable/connector troubleshooting. Designed for use with ClipperCreek EVSE, it should be compatible with all other makes and models of Level 1 and Level 2 EVSE on the market. Primary functions include: • Verifying EVSE operations without a vehicle • Simulating vehicle connected and charge requested • Simulating CCID charging fault to ensure EVSE safety circuitry is functioning properly Pair the CP-50 with a digital volt meter to: • Measure incoming service voltage, each line to ground and line to line • Verify SAE-J1772 connector proximity switch resistance is within specification range • Conduct advanced cable/connector troubleshooting Pair the CP-50 with an oscilloscope for: • Easy access test points to view SAE J1772 pilot signal at various states (i.e. vehicle connected, charge requested) “The CP-50 delivers a variety of test capabilities in a compact, easy-to-carry form factor,” said ClipperCreek Customer Support Supervisor Charles Douglass. “The CP-50 is already being utilized in a variety of applications including installation verification, vehicle compatibility diagnostics, and preventative maintenance testing. We use it regularly in the lab to reproduce charging issues, and it is a valuable tool for any person responsible for installation or ongoing maintenance of EV charging infrastructure.”

eMotorWerks, the charging solution provider recently acquired by multinational utility Enel, has announced its expansion into Europe. The company has set up a European headquarters in Berlin, as well as offices in London and Paris. eMotorWerks has also secured CE certification for its line of smart-grid-integrated JuiceBox charging products, which complement Enel’s DC fast charging stations in southern Europe, the UK and Romania. “JuiceBox and JuiceNet [allow] Enel and our partners from the energy and automotive industries to dynamically shape EV load demand in response to grid signals, avoid demand spikes, exert greater control over regional EV charging, as well as minimize costly grid upgrades and peak energy acquisition costs,” said Vincent Schachter, Senior VP of Energy Services. “As demand in Europe is booming, increasing our footprint here allows us to ensure grids throughout the continent are primed for the smart-grid charging necessary to take advantage of everything EVs have to offer customers and energy providers,” said eMotorWerks founder and CEO Valery Miftakhov. “Our expansion supports Enel’s broader plan for more robust electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout Europe.”

Photo courtesy of ClipperCreek

Photo courtesy of eMotorWerks

eMotorWerks expands to Europe

US budget deal reinstates EV charging station tax credit Green initiatives are on the chopping block in Washington these days, but two of the most important federal incentives have escaped the axe for now. After a bit of back-and-forth, the federal tax credit for plug-in car purchases survived in the final version of the Republicans’ tax cut bill. Now Congress has added a few other EV-related tax credits back into its recent budget bill. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (HR 1892) extends a tax credit for installation of charging infrastructure that had expired at the end of 2016. Taxpayers can take a credit of 30 percent of the cost of purchasing and installing a home charging station, up to a maximum of $1,000, on their 2017 federal tax returns. Congress extended the credit for only one year, so it will surely be the subject of another battle later in 2018. Lawmakers also restored a 10-percent credit (up to $2,500) for the purchase of an electric motorcycle, and a $4,000 credit for the purchase of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Environmental groups generally approved of the reinstatement of the credits, but noted that the bill also includes extensions of tax benefits for the nuclear and coal industries.

MAR/APR 2018

EVgo SIMPLIFIES PRICING FOR THE LARGEST PUBLIC FAST CHARGING NETWORK IN THE US By Michael Kent

Vgo has the highest number of CHAdeMO and CCS fast chargers of any charging network in the US - currently over 1,000 DCFCs in 66 markets. That makes it the largest public fast charging network capable of serving every EV made by the major automakers, as well as any Tesla Model S or X with a CHAdeMO adapter (Tesla has yet to specify when/if Model 3 will work with the adapter). Each EVgo fast charge station is capable of delivering 50 kW or above, and the company is sharply focused on getting ready to increase the power capabilities of its sites as soon as the major automakers begin delivering next-gen EVs.

“In 2017, we really began to invest in that infrastructure so that we are prepared for these new models that are coming to market that can take a charge of 150 to 350 kW,” Terry O’Day, EVgo’s VP of Product Strategy and Market Development, told Charged. “Last year we saw our total power delivered on our network increased by 83%, while EV sales increased 26% in 2017. So we think that trend will continue in 2018, where we continue to deliver more and more power on this network, that they’re being more and more heavily utilized.” In 2017, EVgo’s network powered 40 million miles worth of electric driving, almost double the figure from 2016. With the increase in popularity of EVs,

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Photos courtesy of EVgo

Unique to EVgo is that all of the stations that we operate have the same pricing.

EVgo is also focused on providing a seamless public fast charging experience. “What makes EVgo different is its driver-centric focus,” said O’Day, “and that means working with these partners to make a great retail experience, it means making charging affordable and easy, and it means taking full responsibility for the uptime on the chargers. Unique to EVgo is that all of the stations that we operate have the same pricing. So you won’t show up at one store and pay one price and show up at another one and pay a different price.”

Simplified pricing In early March, EVgo announced that, after careful review of its customer’s habits and feedback, it was reducing and simplifying pricing - effective immediately. The previous iteration of pricing had four options, which have been reduced to two. First is the Pay As You Go plan, offering a per-minute rate with no additional session fees. Second is the Membership plan, which has a $9.99/month fee and offers EVgo’s lowest per-minute rate. Per-minute rates for each option will vary by region. With the Membership plan, the $9.99 monthly fee acts as a pre-paid credit that is applied towards charging activity for the month. Members pay between $0.18

MAR/APR 2018

Photos courtesy of EVgo

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

With longer-range vehicles, higher-power charging, and ubiquitous charging opportunities in public, then you can see new people entering the market. and $0.21 per minute depending on charger location. Through June 2018, EVgo will offer a special promotional rate in California of $0.15/minute for members. With the Pay As You Go plan, customers pay only a per-minute rate of between $0.25 and $0.35 per minute, depending on the state. Through June 2018, California chargers will offer a special promotional rate of $0.20/minute. “People are really excited about the new plans and lower-cost charging rates,” said O’Day, “because when you can get to publicly charging your EV for a lower cost than what you would pay for fueling a gasolinepowered car, that’s really where the market takes off.” O’Day said it’s likely that residential charging will always offer lower electricity rates than public fast charging, and perhaps that’s the way it should be. It’s cheaper to make a cup of coffee at your house than to buy one at the cafe or rest stop. Charging infrastructure requires large new capital investments and operational costs, so most drivers will understand that they have to pay for the convenience. However, EVgo believes it’s also important to drive down the

cost of public fast charging to enable EV drivers who don’t have the option of home charging. “With longerrange vehicles, higher-power charging, and ubiquitous charging opportunities in public, then you can see new people entering the market and finding the cost and service advantages available from EVs,” said O’Day. Drivers using EVgo’s Membership plan can now charge for up to 60 minutes during off-peak hours and 45 minutes during the daytime, whereas Pay As You Go customers are limited to 45 minutes around the clock. Both limits have been increased from the previous limit of 30 minutes - a feature that drivers of longer-range EVs like the Chevrolet Bolt have been requesting. “We don’t want you to have to stop and restart charging sessions because you’ve got a big battery pack,” said O’Day. “We want you to be able to get a streamlined charging session.” EVgo has also simplified the sign-up process, so new customers can start charging within minutes. Customers can initiate a charge directly from the EVgo app, with no RFID card required. Customer-focused growth Today there are a few engineering firms that specialize in helping automakers and charging networks find and evaluate potential charging sites. However, those firms didn’t exist when EVgo launched, so it developed the expertise itself. O’Day explained that taking responsibility in-house for these types of core business functions has been key to EVgo’s success.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

It’s [also] really important that there’s clear responsibility for repair and maintenance on charging stations

“When we started, there weren’t any firms specializing in [charging site selection],” said O’Day, “So we are the first that specialized in it. We’ve developed really important relationships building infrastructure with Simon Property Group, with Whole Foods, with Kimco, with Walmart, with Save Mart, Raleigh’s, Mother’s Market. These are all great retail partners of ours that have helped us to expand the charging infrastructure to where it is now.” “It’s [also] really important that there’s clear responsibility for repair and maintenance on charging stations. We have seen [cases] where that responsibility is not clear, and stations will continue in a state of disrepair for too long and affect the customer experience. We have strict service level agreements and critical repair thresholds that provide for, say, 12-hour, 24hour, 72-hour repairs when our chargers go down. And we stock parts to repair them with service technicians in the region so that we can meet those strict service

standards. For us, having clear responsibility comes from a culture of owning and operating assets.” EVgo owns about 70% of the chargers on its network, and works closely with the other 30% of property owners who are interested in owning the equipment. “In those cases we think it’s important to maintain a consistent price across the network as well as consistent quality, so that a driver knows what they’re getting every time they arrive at the charging station,” said O’Day. EVgo thinks of the public charging infrastructure business model as analogous to that of telecom. Some companies have a phone-booth-like model, in which they sell the charger to the property owner. The property owner pays for the electricity, repairs and maintenance, and collects the revenue, the same way that in the past, a retailer would install a phone booth and then collect every quarter. EVgo, on the other hand, thinks of itself as being similar to a planned distributed network across a region, sort of like wireless cell phone towers. “You can go anywhere in this region, you’ll never be far from a fast charge,” said O’Day.

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WHAT’S THE CURRENT STATE OF WIRELESS EV CHARGING By Lisa Jerram, principal research analyst overseeing Navigant Research’s Transportation Efficiencies program

ireless charging is becoming more mainstream among consumer electronics - witness the proliferation of wireless chargers at CES 2018 - but it is not just for smartphones and fitness bands. Automakers are working in earnest to offer wireless charging options for their plug-in vehicles. It’s seen as a way to make the EV charging experience seamless, which is a key goal for the EV market, in which consumer uncertainty around charging (in place of conventional fueling) creates friction and is a barrier to adoption. Wireless technology for EV charging has been under development for the past decade, with a handful of technology companies exploring different solutions. Regardless of a particular company’s approach, the basic wireless EV charging system includes a ground pad that lies beneath a parked vehicle and a receiving system embedded into the underside of the vehicle, which connects to the EV’s power electronics and battery systems. The system also has a stationary control unit mounted in proximity to the ground pad. Power is transmitted from the ground pad to the receiver and is managed by the control unit. Although aftermarket wireless charging technology has been available since 2014, wireless charging will primarily be offered

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Photos courtesy of Continental

MAR/APR 2018

Photo courtesy of Mercedes

Both Mercedes and BMW have announced that they will offer wireless charging for select plugin vehicles in 2018, and other automakers are set to follow suit.

Photo courtesy of Audi

as a factory-installed option by the OEMs, much the same way DC fast charging capability was initially offered as an option by automakers. Both Mercedes and BMW have announced that they will offer wireless charging for select plug-in vehicles in 2018, and other automakers are set to follow suit. Technology companies, Tier 1 suppliers and automakers have been intensely focused on refining and improving the technology in advance of full-scale commercial rollout. Vehicle positioning and ground clearance are crucial for successful deployment. Wireless chargers must be able to charge a low-riding sports car and an SUV with high ground clearance equally, especially if they will be placed in a public charging location. Also, wireless charging stations must be reasonably forgiving of vehicle placement. If the requirements for parking the vehicle are too exacting, the convenience of the wireless charger for the driver disappears. Companies are developing systems that can accommodate a range of charging levels. EVs have gone from accepting AC power at around 3.6 kW to 7.2 kW, and Tesla supports 17 kW. Many automakers are targeting 11 kW, and perhaps 22 kW. Like connected chargers,

wireless chargers need to meet these charging levels to ensure drivers get the fastest AC charge their vehicle is capable of. Alongside this activity is the need for industry standards. Ultimately, the wireless charging market should be similar to the connected charging market. Today, automakers are responsible for the charging equipment on the vehicle, and a range of suppliers design and manufacture the offboard charging stations, some in collaboration with automakers but most as a standalone product. The goal for wireless charging is for standards to enable a range of suppliers to design and manufacture the offboard equipment and compete on price, design, and capabilities. This means that the onboard receiver must be able to communicate with any charging pad. Automakers, technology companies, Tier 1 suppliers and others are working with the SAE International to establish a set of standards for various power levels. Finally, there is the issue of safety. No automaker wants its EV to create safety concerns. The technology companies are working on foreign object detection and living object detection, which means ensuring charging events are not trigged by stray objects under or near the car, or even more importantly, by children or animals.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

(Chargers) Wireless Charger Sales

Where does wireless charging make 200,000 sense? North America 180,000 Western Europe While these technology issues are critical to Eastern Europe 160,000 the commercial viability of wireless charging, Asia Pacific Latin America they largely look to be solvable. Key developers 140,000 Middle East & Africa in this space, like WiTricity and Qualcomm, 120,000 are devoting significant resources to refining 100,000 the technology in cooperation with OEMs and 80,000 automotive suppliers. There do not seem to be 60,000 any major barriers from a technology perspective, or even issues that would significantly 40,000 delay the introduction of wireless charging as 20,000 an option. However, technological success does not automatically lead to market success. The 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 biggest question around wireless charging toSource: Navigant Research day is, What is the value proposition offered by wireless charging compared to current corded charging technology? For applications where drivers cannot consistently be Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a given that wireless charging will have a price relied upon to plug in the EV - for example, in shared premium over conventional conductive charging. vehicle services or fleets - wireless charging offers a Automakers are quiet on what the final price will be solution. These are all likely applications in the near to the consumer, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reasonable to assume that a term. Navigant Researchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 10-year forecast for wirebuyer might have to pay at least $1,000 to have a wireless charging is conservative, predicting that wireless less charging system, potentially much more. The EV will make inroads into the premium EV home charger charging market continues to be price-sensitive, both market and in public and fleet applications. in the home and in commercial applications. However, there are a few areas that might see wireless charging Wireless charger sales by region, provide value and drive sales. world markets: 2017-2026 Basically, wireless charging could see demand in However, as much as we see uncertain steps toward situations where convenience, reliability, or aesthetwireless charging for smartphones, the way for wireless ics are valued. For drivers of premium EV models, the charging to become the dominant mode for EVs is not convenience and aesthetic benefits of not having a cord yet clear. To get there, wireless charging will have to be could drive interest in paying what would be a relawidely available in the locations where corded chargtively small premium compared to the overall price of ing is offered today (e.g. workplaces, hotels, entertainthe EV. For charging stations in the public right of way, ment, and retail sites) so drivers will not have to switch cords can be hazardous and create visual pollution, so back and forth between using a cord and charging wireless charging could see demand in this application. wirelessly. In the classic chicken-and-egg conundrum, charging site hosts will wait until they see a significant number of wireless-capable EVs on the road before installing new equipment. At the same time, the rate The biggest question around wireless of uptake will increase if automakers commit fully to wireless technology as an EV charging offering and charging today is, What is the value provide it at a relatively low cost. Wireless charging could also be the preferred option for automated EVs, proposition offered by wireless as these vehicles will not have a driver to plug the car charging compared to current corded into the charger. Automated vehicles will not likely see major deployment levels until the mid-2020s, but these charging technology? vehicles could drive significant growth of wireless charging systems from 2025 onward.

MAR/APR 2018

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MEAN FOR AUTO INDUSTRY PROFITS?

By Charles Morris

WHAT DOES ELECTRIFICATION

xcept for a certain California company, automakers are indulging in varying amounts of kicking and screaming as they are dragged into the future. Almost every major brand is working on EVs, and some of them are producing excellent vehicles, but as skeptics love to point out, this is almost 100% the result of government pressure. If fuel economy and emissions regulations were to disappear, it’s a safe bet that most automakers would quietly and quickly shut down their EV programs. The reasons for this reticence are far from clear. While messianic EVangelists imagine a conspiracy orchestrated by shadowy petro-dictators, there’s little evidence that anything so organized is going on (yet). Big Oil and Big Auto are beginning to find common cause and coordinate their anti-EV lobbying efforts, but it would be quite a stretch to claim that decision-makers in Detroit, Wolfsburg and Toyota City are being manipulated by puppet-masters in Houston and Riyadh. There are more mundane reasons for the majors’ electro-skepticism: fear of the future, resistance to change, corporate politics and a focus on quarterly results. This is not just a feature of the business world, but a physical law called inertia, and there’s no doubt that it’s a big part of the problem. However, what if there’s a specific and quantifiable reason for the automakers to fear a plug-in future? Electrification is looking more and more like a money-loser for the majors for several reasons. Most obviously, it will require an enormous amount of R&D investment. The first company to acknowledge this was Daimler, which said recently that it expects an end to profit growth this year, citing (among several other reasons) increased investment in EVs. The industry has been on a roll for years, racking up record earnings and profits. The biggest star in this financial firmament is the US market for pickup trucks - Ford’s F-150 has been described as the most profitable consumer product of all time. A telling moment came in a Bloomberg interview with Bill Ford last May. When the moderator asked Mr. Ford if he foresaw any EV being as profitable as the F-150, he fell silent for a few moments, then changed the subject. Automakers are already planning substantial investments in EVs, but if they truly mean to commit, what’s been announced so far will be no more than a modest down-payment. One reason EV adoption is proceeding slowly is that there isn’t much selection. Consumers are used to being able to choose a vehicle that closely matches

their needs. At the moment, if you want to go electric, and you want anything other than a small city car or a sedan, you’re out of luck. Any automaker that’s serious about riding the electric wave is going to have to offer hatchbacks, SUVs, trucks, etc, and developing these is going to be expensive. Battery research also needs ongoing investment. Drivers want more range and faster charging, and batteries need to be lighter, safer, and above all, cheaper. Some automakers also see charging infrastructure as an important area of investment. Tesla is investing heavily in its Supercharger network, and it’s a huge competitive advantage for the company. However, the greatest threat to profits has to do with vehicle autonomy and the rise of new ownership models. The logical conclusion of these trends is a world in which people get around in electric autonomous taxis, rather than owning their own four-wheeled status symbols. If and when this world comes to pass, autos could become “commoditized.” Market researchers speak off “stacks” of related products and services, and the layers of these stacks are not created equal - some are high-margin branded products and some are commodities that offer no opportunity for differentiation. For example, a smart phone stack consists of four layers: the phone, the software, the network, and the company that bundles and sells all this to the consumer. Manufacturing the hardware and maintaining the network are unglamorous, low-margin businesses. The fun and profit are in the software and in the customer service and marketing operations. As anyone in the industry will tell you, cars are much more than pieces of hardware. When you buy a Corvette, an F-150 or a Model S, you’re buying a bundle that includes technology, mystique, and some undefinable mojo that creates the brand - you’re buying an identity. Automakers’ greatest fear is that, if people no longer own or drive cars, all the fun, the sexiness, the magic, is going to be lost, and with it, the brands’ raisons d’etre. Of course, this is far from a foregone conclusion. The urge to own things is not likely to disappear, and who says that autonomous taxis will have no branding or product differentiation? Megatrends always play out in unexpected ways, and the automakers have proven to be poor at predicting the profit potential of new technologies (in the past, they’ve insisted that innovations from seat belts to airbags to catalytic converters would bankrupt the industry). One who would probably disagree with the negative outlook is Lucid CTO Peter Rawlinson, interviewed in this issue’s cover story. He famously said, “It’s a myth that EVs lose money,” and estimates that the world’s only pure EV-maker currently enjoys a healthy gross margin.

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