Robotics & Automation News

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batteries

Comau and LiNa Energy develop automated manufacturing for battery production

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Comau has joined forces with LiNa to design an “innovative and scalable manufacturing” solution for solid-state sodium-metal-chloride battery cells.

Through simultaneous engineering, the team has finalized a concept design, allowing LiNa, a provider of low cost solid-state sodium battery technologies, to automate their battery production process.

The companies intend to validate the sustainable, safe, and efficient oxygen-free dry box environment as a step towards larger-scale manufacturing. [Read more…] about Comau and LiNa Energy develop automated manufacturing for battery production

Boost Your Business Operations With These 5 Battery Intelligence Software Tips

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Is there anything more frustrating than being out and about and realising your phone has no battery?

Well, for businesses that rely on batteries at the very core of their operation, charging issues are a lot more problematic than this!

The likes of original equipment manufacturers and fleet operators know how they manage battery life and performance can significantly impact their success. [Read more…] about Boost Your Business Operations With These 5 Battery Intelligence Software Tips

Comau developing fully automated system for battery recycling

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Comau has renewed its commitment to the EU’s Flexible Battery Dismantling (Flex-BD) project for the second year, to help deliver a fundamental pillar on the path towards a truly circular economy.

Flex-BD is a robotized system that automates the entire process of dismantling worn-out electric batteries using a highly flexible, repeatable and standardizable process.

Now, having validated the proof-of-concept, Comau has expanded the scope to include second life repurposing of automotive batteries. [Read more…] about Comau developing fully automated system for battery recycling

Beyond Lithium: Scientists discover a promising cathode material for magnesium rechargeable batteries

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Scientists discover the optimal composition for a magnesium secondary battery cathode to achieve better cyclability and high battery capacity

Magnesium is a promising candidate as an energy carrier for next-generation batteries. However, the cycling performance and capacity of magnesium batteries need to improve if they are to replace lithium-ion batteries.

To this end, a research team focused on a novel cathode material with a spinel structure, Mg1.33V1.67−xMnxO4.

Following extensive characterization and electrochemical performance experiments, they have found a specific composition that could open doors to high-performance magnesium rechargeable batteries. [Read more…] about Beyond Lithium: Scientists discover a promising cathode material for magnesium rechargeable batteries

Electric Future: Two wheels good, four wheels not so much

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If you want to get anywhere fast in any developing country in the world, the best way is by motorbike. While most European and North American countries have relatively good-quality road networks that cover most if not all their regions, the same cannot be said of countries in Asia and elsewhere.

Even inside a typical Asian city, the traffic congestion is so bad that you can expect to be sitting in a four-wheeler for several hours to make a few km from one side of an urban sprawl to another. And outside these built-up areas, in rural settings, you’re highly unlikely to be complete your journey unless you’re on two wheels because either roads simply don’t exist or they’ve fallen into serious disrepair.

For these reasons and more, motorcycles are a massively popular mode of transport in Asia. In fact, when it comes to the number of electric motorcycles and scooters worldwide, the vast majority – 90 percent – are in the Asia Pacific region alone, according to Global Market Insights, which values the market now at $30 billion in total across the lithium-ion and sealed lead acid battery types. Annual growth is forecast at more than 5 percent. [Read more…] about Electric Future: Two wheels good, four wheels not so much

Electric Future: Stalled car revolution

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How green are electric vehicles?

Believe it or not, if you had been walking through Manhattan in 1900, there is a good chance you would have seen an electric car. Roughly one third of cars on the road in New York back then were electric, while the city’s taxi fleet had 30 electric vehicles (EVs). It was to be a brief heyday.

It was Henry Ford’s Model T – first produced in 1908 – that signalled the beginning of the end of the electric car. Suddenly, petrol-fuelled cars were relatively affordable and, thanks to Ford’s pioneering use of the production line, ubiquitous.

Improved roads and cheaper petrol prices saw the electric car all but disappear by the mid-1930s, and it wasn’t until the 1970s – amid soaring oil prices and gasoline prices – that the potential of EVs began to be seriously considered again. [Read more…] about Electric Future: Stalled car revolution

Everactive launches ‘batteryless IoT’ development kit

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Everactive, a startup company making what it describes as “category-defining batteryless Internet of Things (IoT) systems”, is releasing its first development kit to allow third-party developers to build their own IoT products without the constraints of batteries.

The company’s self-powered hardware and managed network is purpose-built to acquire and deliver the dense physical-world data that will usher in an age of hyperscale IoT. Opening up that technology will allow IoT developers to easily create the scalable, sustainable, and data-rich products long demanded by their customers.

The development kit includes two of Everactive’s patented batteryless IoT devices, each with a comprehensive sensor suite that simultaneously measures temperature, humidity, pressure, and triaxial acceleration. [Read more…] about Everactive launches ‘batteryless IoT’ development kit

Liminal launches automated system for battery inspection in manufacturing

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Liminal, a specialist in electric vehicle battery manufacturing intelligence, has launched its EchoStat platform, a fully-automated commercial-ready manufacturing inspection solution based on ultrasound and machine learning.

Scheduled to be fully operational in 2023, this in-process inspection innovation is a groundbreaking, critical advancement toward helping EV battery manufacturers achieve the accelerated production ramp rates and cost reduction required to catalyze EV adoption at scale.

EchoStat’s core technology has been validated across 50 different cell types by six EV OEMs and seven cell manufacturers.

Anders Thor, director of communications at Northvolt, says: “We see potential in the automated EchoStat platform, enabling in-process control of saturation quality and prediction of cell performance and cycle life. The in-line inspection solution provides opportunities to improve manufacturing efficiency, saving resource, cost and time.” [Read more…] about Liminal launches automated system for battery inspection in manufacturing

Deutsche Bahn and Kia give used electric car batteries a second life as stationary energy storage systems

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Korean carmaker Kia and Deutsche Bahn have partnered up to increase the useable life of batteries used in electric mobility. Their solution is to re-use used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles to create efficient and cost-effective energy storage systems for green electricity.

These second-life battery energy storage solutions are modular and can be used in a wide variety of different applications.

For example, they can save surplus electricity from photovoltaic systems or, as part of a distributed system, can supply power throughout the day to DB maintenance depots and depots where trains are prepared for operations. [Read more…] about Deutsche Bahn and Kia give used electric car batteries a second life as stationary energy storage systems

Volvo Trucks opens its first battery plant in Belgium

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Volvo Trucks is opening its very first battery assembly plant. Located in Ghent, Belgium, the plant will supply ready-to-install batteries for Volvo Trucks’ full electric heavy-duty trucks.

Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks, says: “This investment shows our strong commitment to electrifying truck transportation. By 2030, at least 50 percent of all trucks we sell globally will be electric and by 2040, we will be a carbon-neutral company.”

In the new battery plant, cells and modules from Samsung SDI will be assembled into battery packs that are tailor-made for Volvo Trucks´ heavy-duty electric range: Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX. Series production starts in the third quarter of this year. [Read more…] about Volvo Trucks opens its first battery plant in Belgium