Bill Gates founded Breakthrough Energy and has recently announced that its first Catalyst project funding will come in the form of a $50 million grant to LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in Soperton, Georgia.
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a unique program that brings together businesses and nonprofits to fund key first-of-its-kind commercial-scale projects that speed up the deployment of essential technologies.
Most efforts so far have relied on external heating and cooling systems, but these add a lot of bulk and also tend to use up a considerable amount of energy themselves. The researchers’ innovation, outlined in a recent paper in Nature , was to add an extra component to the batteries: a sheet of nickel foil just a few micrometers thick between the stacked electrodes of each cell.
This ultra-thin sheet is used as a heating element, and when a current is passed through it the cell heats up to 149° Fahrenheit in about a minute. This temperature is maintained through charging, but the cell then quickly cools back to room temperature as soon as the current is switched off.
When they tested their approach, the researchers found that they could charge a 265 watt-hour battery to 70 per cent in 11 minutes. They also showed that heating the battery didn’t seriously affect its lifetime, as it survived 2,000 cycles of charging, which would provide enough energy to drive more than 500,000 miles overall.
A collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Washington State University opens the door to sustainable jet fuel.
An underused natural resource might be just what the airline industry needs to reduce carbon emissions.
U.S. researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT.
The Indian Electric Vehicle market is set to reach a sales volume of 10.8 lakh units by 2025. However, these vehicles are currently at a high price and are not affordable to consumers in low-income categories.
To bridge this gap, a team of seven students at the KL University, Hyderabad have retrofitted an old and discarded bike into an EV.
“We also added futuristic features including wireless charging and cell balancing, which ensures equalised charging,” says Charan Sai (21), a fourth-year student of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, and the lead of the project.
The apparent lovechild between a helicopter and a ramjet, the Focke-Wulf Triebflügel might just be the oddest aircraft you’ve ever seen.
In the closing months of WWII, the Germans were experimenting with some very fascinating aircraft designs, like the Focke-Wulf Triebflügel.
Part helicopter and part conventional plane, this aircraft used ramjets to turn its unique rotor design. Thankfully for the Allies, it never saw the light of day.
In 1944, the indestructible and unbeatable reputation of the German Army was in tatters. Under pressure from the East and West, it was gradually being pushed back to the German homeland.
Vanessa Ravencroft/Fandom.
The first in the world to do so.
Researchers at the North University of China have successfully completed the test of a Hyperloop-like train system that runs trains in a low vacuum environment inside a tube, local news outlet, China Daily.
In theory, the system can be used for transporting people as well as goods and consists of long tubes that maintain a low vacuum to allow transport with minimal air resistance.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
Hyperloop is the name given to a high-speed transit system that was popularized by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2012. A year later, Musk also released a white paper that conceptualized such a system running between Los Angeles and San Francisco in the U.S.
That’s what Musk announced during Tesla’s Q3 2022 earnings call.
The third vehicle platform for Tesla, following the big one supporting the Model S and X and the small one supporting the Model 3 and Y, has received new information from company CEO Elon Musk.
Customers, investors, and Tesla supporters have been anticipating the company’s introduction of a new vehicle that will be less expensive than the current models for some time.
Tesla.
The cost and labor involved in manufacturing Tesla’s new vehicle platform will be significantly reduced. The company added that it will produce more than all of its other existing vehicles put together.
As sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) increase, OEMs need to focus on R&D excellence, flexible manufacturing, and value-chain integration to improve profitability.
Even in countries where BEV sales are picking up, many automotive executives are concerned about profitability. Some EV OEMs have already begun investigating changes to their go-to-market models that may increase sales and reduce costs quickly. Over the midterm, however, they will need to apply additional measures to be profitable, and our recent research shows that three levers will be particularly important in this respect:
Most OEMs do not have all the required capabilities, such as the ability to develop software for both batteries and e-drive, to move BEV production completely in-house. Consequently, they often need to form strategic partnerships across the ecosystem, including those for BEV design, manufacturing, and component sourcing. These partnerships will also allow them to share the burden of capex spending until they achieve sufficient scale.
Partnerships can take many forms, such as joint ventures, and OEMs may form links across the value chain, such as those with battery suppliers. These partnerships may have various goals, from securing a supply of high-quality lithium-ion battery cells to codeveloping vehicles to building a supporting charging infrastructure. Managing such partnerships will require close attention and the ability to lead a complex network.
BEV profitability will continue to face headwinds from high e-drive and battery costs, as well as the need for high investments at a time when sales volumes remain challenged. By focusing on additional cost reductions in R&D, manufacturing processes, and value-chain integration, companies may realize profitability and put themselves in a stronger position as the BEV market gains traction.
Elon Musk made a bold prediction during Tesla’s Q3 2022 earnings call stating that Tesla would grow to become an enormous company by the end of this decade.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk dazzled and entertained listeners during the call, which was full of jokes and ambitious goals. That’s when he made the bold statement that Tesla could surpass both Apple and Saudi Aramco’s market cap in the future.
Back in 2017, Elon Musk said Tesla would exceed Apple’s market cap of $700 billion in just a few years. Tesla did just that back in 2020 during its glorious bull run and hit the $1 trillion mark during the height of the 2021 stock market bull run.