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China’s NIO invests in LiDAR startup Innovusion

Innovusion, a two-year-old startup developing LiDAR sensor technology for autonomous vehicles, has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Chinese firms Nio Capital and Eight Roads Ventures along with U.S.-based F-Prime Capital. Other seed round and strategic investors joined the round, the startup said. Nio Capital is the venture arm of… Continue reading China’s NIO invests in LiDAR startup Innovusion

Porsche Consulting: A New Age Dawns

Death Valley seems almost pleasant in comparison to the Atacama Desert, located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile—the driest place in the world, where rain might not fall for decades and temperatures can swing between 86 degrees Fahrenheit by day and 5° F at night. This is also a land of massive, gaping craters—and one… Continue reading Porsche Consulting: A New Age Dawns

Chinese EV startup WM Motor raising at least $288 mln from Baidu, others – sources

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup WM Motor Technology Co Ltd aims to raise at least 2 billion yuan ($288.33 million) in its latest funding round to finance growth, valuing the nearly four-year-old firm at over 20 billion yuan, two people told Reuters. FILE PHOTO: WM Motor’s founder and CEO Freeman Shen… Continue reading Chinese EV startup WM Motor raising at least $288 mln from Baidu, others – sources

Groupe PSA: Q3 2018 Revenue +7.8% growth

Groupe PSA Q3 revenue at €15.4 billion[1] and YTD revenue up 29.1% at €54 billion; Peugeot Citroën DS (PCD) Automotive division revenue up 0.8%: Strong market share increase in Europe: +0.7 pt[2]; Negative impact of exchange rates especially in Argentina, Brazil and Turkey; Opel Vauxhall (OV) Automotive division revenue amounted to €3.9 billion; Consolidated worldwide… Continue reading Groupe PSA: Q3 2018 Revenue +7.8% growth

Enevate Battery Start-Up Secures Funding From LG Chem

4 H BY MARK KANE LG Chem invested in Enevate in its search for next-gen tech. Enevate Corporation, a battery start-up which develops silicon-dominant composite anode materials, attracted LG Chem among other investors in the recent funding round. Details of the transaction or partnership were not announced, but it seems that the South Korean manufacturer had… Continue reading Enevate Battery Start-Up Secures Funding From LG Chem

Uber to bank London surcharge toward electric vehicles for its drivers

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Uber announced Tuesday that it will levy a surcharge for its ride-hailing passengers in London. The goal: to get 20,000 drivers to go all-electric by the end of 2021, on the way to make every car using its ride-hailing app an electric vehicle in the smog- and congestion-prone city by 2025.

The surcharge, which is part of the company’s clean-air strategy announced in 2017, will go into effect in early 2019. It’s potentially as much an environmental image move as it is a response to ever-tightening rules governing the vehicle types that can pass through central London.

DON’T MISS: Uber urges Portland drivers to lease electric cars

Beginning early next year, Uber will charge riders about 19 cents (15 pence) extra per mile. That money will go directly into a piggy bank for the support of drivers looking to upgrade to an electric vehicle.

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Based on the average London trip, that will amount to an extra 58 cents per trip. And through that surcharge Uber hopes to raise $260 million (200 million pounds) over several years.

Uber is offering a significant amount of upgrade money. Every driver will be eligible for assistance in moving to an EV, but the level of assistance will be based on how many miles they’ve driven on the app. It’s anticipating that will add up to about $3,900 (3,000 pounds) for two years of driving—40 hours a week—or $5,800 (4,500 pounds) for three years.

CHECK OUT: London's $27 entry charge for pre-2016 diesel cars to start April 2019

The program complements Uber’s own diesel-scrappage scheme that aims to get 1,000 pre-Euro 4 diesel models—older, dirtier ones—off London streets and highways.

So far in the U.S., Uber’s strategies to electrify have been a bit different. Through a pilot program it calls EV Champions, it’s paying drivers up to $20 per week for driving electric—and giving riders a feel-good alert. Whether it will incentivize electric vehicles more or less effectively than the London program remains to be seen.

Volvo Cars Tech Fund invests in electric car charging company FreeWire

Volvo Cars Tech Fund invests in electric car charging company FreeWire Volvo Cars has acquired a stake in electric car charging company FreeWire Technologies via the Volvo Cars Tech Fund, deepening the company’s commitment to a fully electric future. While Volvo Cars’s electrification strategy does not envision direct ownership of charging or service… Continue reading Volvo Cars Tech Fund invests in electric car charging company FreeWire

AV Maker Navya Ramps Up US Production

SALINE, MI – French autonomous-vehicle outfit Navya, which boasts of operating the first self-driving shuttle service in the world, begins production in North America after a successful IPO and brokers a supply agreement with a leading private-sector mobility services provider based in Cincinnati. Navya CEO Christophe Sapet says details about the partnership with First Transit,… Continue reading AV Maker Navya Ramps Up US Production

Daimler Mobility Services and Geely Group Company form premium ride-hailing joint venture in China

Daimler Mobility Services and Geely Group Company, Geely Holding Group’s new business entity, announced today that they will form a premium ride-hailing joint venture in China. The 50-50 joint venture (the “JV”) will be headquartered in Hangzhou. The JV will provide ride-hailing mobility services in several Chinese cities using premium vehicles including but not limited… Continue reading Daimler Mobility Services and Geely Group Company form premium ride-hailing joint venture in China

BASF And Norilsk Nickel Partner On New Battery Production In Finland

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Published on October 23rd, 2018 |

by Kyle Field

BASF And Norilsk Nickel Partner On New Battery Production In Finland

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October 23rd, 2018 by Kyle Field

Germany chemical giant BASF and Russian mining conglomerate Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) have inked a new deal for nickel and cobalt supply.

The deal will see BASF build a new factory to produce battery cathode materials in Harjavalta, Finland, adjacent to a Nornickel cobalt and nickel refinery. The deal seeks to capitalize on the potential transition of the German auto industry to electric vehicles, which will require an immense new supply of lithium batteries to power them.

“With the investment in Harjavalta, BASF will be present in all major regions with local production and increased customer proximity, further supporting the rapidly growing electric vehicle market,” president of BASF’s Catalysts division Kenneth Lane said.

To date, most of these batteries are sourced overseas from Chinese and Korean suppliers, leaving local companies out of the mix. The new partnership leverages proximity to turn raw materials from the mine straight into usable battery cathode materials that can be funneled directly to a local battery cell manufacturer at a lower cost than they might be sourced from remote suppliers.

Locally sourcing the very raw materials that are used in batteries was one of the key reasons Tesla built its Gigafactory 1 in Nevada, where there are plentiful lithium reserves.

“The agreement is an important element of Nornickel’s broader strategy to expand its presence in the global battery materials market and establish long-term cooperation with leading producers of cathode active materials,” said Sergey Batekhin, senior vice president at Nornickel.

When it starts production in 2020, the new BASF factory is expected to churn out enough cathodes to supply some 300,000 electric vehicles per year, which, at 60kWh per vehicle, translates to enough cathodes for 18 gigawatt-hours of battery cells per year.

Impressively, BASF said that the new Harjavalta factory will “utilise locally-generated renewable energy resources including hydro, wind and biomass.” As companies around the world ramp up global battery production in support of the electric vehicle transition, it is an opportunity for us to build smarter, more efficient factories.

That happens both by utilizing low-carbon renewables to power them and by building them in intelligent locations. Building factories in close proximity to either raw materials or customers reduces the amount of transportation required and, thus, shrinks the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process. Manufacturing EVs is one of the areas where, according to analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, electric vehicles have higher emissions than gas and diesel vehicles due to lower volumes and what have historically been inefficient manufacturing processes for batteries.

The new cathode factory is but a single cog in a greater machine spooling up at BASF that will see some €400 million ($462 million) being invested into building cathode materials for Europe.

From a pricing standpoint, the cathode is one of the more expensive parts of electric vehicle batteries, thanks to the concentration of cobalt in lithium-ion chemistries. As the sharp uptick in demand for cobalt has driven prices of cobalt up to new heights in recent years, battery cell manufacturers and electric vehicle builders are aggressively looking for ways to trim down the cobalt used in their batteries.

Tesla has committed to decrease its cobalt usage from 3% of the battery in June of this year down to 0% over the next 2–3 years, demonstrating that where there is a will, there is a way.

Source: Reuters

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About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor. Tesla referral code: http://ts.la/kyle623

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