Exclusive: With Nvidia’s Help, Revenue Surges at Smaller Cloud Providers
Read more
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: A New Way to Save Water, and Money, in Making Cathodes
By
Steve LeVine
· July 13, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
Three years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pledged to halve the cost of batteries and produce a $25,000 electric vehicle for the mass market. Much of the savings was to come from changing how the batteries’ electrodes were produced, using a dry process that would eliminate thousands of gallons of chemicals, solvent and water.Now, in a new paper, Jeff...
Three years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pledged to halve the cost of batteries and produce a $25,000...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Recycling Changes the Economics for Iron-Based Batteries
By
Steve LeVine
· July 10, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
As major Western automakers have struggled to make the transition to electric vehicles, they have stubbornly favored nickel-based batteries, even though they are costlier and subject to more supply chain snarls than the iron-based batteries used by market leaders Tesla and China’s Byd. A primary objection to iron-based batteries has been...
As major Western automakers have struggled to make the transition to electric vehicles, they have...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: The U.S. EV Industry is in the Line of Fire in China’s Trade Retaliation
By
Steve LeVine
· July 6, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
1 comment
Chinese restrictions on the export of two key materials for the high-tech and defense industries could be a harbinger of problems for Western makers of electric vehicles. China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday said it would require permits for the export of gallium and germanium beginning next month. The timing of the announcement, just ahead...
Chinese restrictions on the export of two key materials for the high-tech and defense industries...
The Electric: The IRA Has Triggered a Nickel War
By
Steve LeVine
· July 3, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
2 comments
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: The IRA Has Triggered a Nickel War
By
Steve LeVine
· July 3, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
2 comments
In December 2021, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) killed one of President Joe Biden’s signature initiatives—an extension of the $7,500-a-vehicle consumer tax credit on the sale of electric vehicles, which he said did not need public subsidies. Months later, though, Manchin said he would go along with the subsidies—if they were tied to a robust effort...
In December 2021, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) killed one of President Joe Biden’s signature...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: The EV Industry Confronts the Valley of Death
By
Steve LeVine
· June 29, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
Two years ago, a wave of electric vehicle, battery and mining companies went public with boasts of coming profits. Today, things look very different. Just this week, Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy protection, the U.K.’s Cornish Lithium warned that it might go bust, and Ford, whose EV division will lose $3 billion this year, reportedly...
Two years ago, a wave of electric vehicle, battery and mining companies went public with boasts...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Inside the White House Plan to Speed Battery Metals Mining
By
Steve LeVine
· June 26, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
U.S. auto and battery makers are racing to build battery assembly plants for the transition to electric vehicles. But mining companies and metals processors have moved excruciatingly slowly to establish a domestic supply chain of raw materials and finished electrodes for those batteries. They blame regulators who stretch out permit approvals,...
U.S. auto and battery makers are racing to build battery assembly plants for the transition to...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Union Negotiations for a U.S. Battery Plant Are Likely to Take a Year
By
Steve LeVine
· June 22, 2023 5:30 AM PDT
The United Auto Workers’ contract talks with Ultium Cells, General Motors’ joint venture for electric vehicle batteries, could take as long as a year as the union also attempts to hammer out a new national four-year agreement with the big three U.S. automakers, according to a union official.Six months after workers at the Ultium plant in...
The United Auto Workers’ contract talks with Ultium Cells, General Motors’ joint venture for...
The Electric: The U.S. Battery Program Spreads the Wealth. Will That Save It?
By
Steve LeVine
· June 5, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
1 comment
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: The U.S. Battery Program Spreads the Wealth. Will That Save It?
By
Steve LeVine
· June 5, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
1 comment
As it has for decades, the U.S. this year will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on its military. Political support for that spending remains strong, through peace and war, in part because the Pentagon is careful to disburse it across virtually every Congressional district and through 200,000 defense contractors. Critics claim the system...
As it has for decades, the U.S. this year will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on its...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Congress’ Move on Permitting Reform Leaves Industry Wanting More
By
Steve LeVine
· June 1, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
Congress appears poised to shrink a key obstacle to the creation of a competitive U.S. electric vehicle battery industry—the agonizing, often yearslong wait to obtain permits to mine for battery metals such as lithium and nickel. On Wednesday night, the House approved small but important changes to the permitting process as part of a bill to...
Congress appears poised to shrink a key obstacle to the creation of a competitive U.S. electric...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Western Auto and Battery Makers’ Big Gamble on Indonesian Nickel
By
Steve LeVine
· May 29, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
For much of the last century, metals companies have made stainless steel from nickel mined in Russia or the Philippines and smelted at temperatures up to 2,900 degrees. But demand for nickel is outstripping supplies because the metal is a key component in most electric vehicle batteries. So metals producers have turned to a new supplier—...
For much of the last century, metals companies have made stainless steel from nickel mined in...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Ford EVs Will Use Iron-Based Batteries, but Not Many and Not for a While
By
Steve LeVine
· May 25, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
The world’s top-selling electric vehicle makers, Tesla and China’s Byd, have one thing in common—they largely use inexpensive iron-based batteries in their cars. By contrast, legacy Western car manufacturers have stuck almost entirely with more costly nickel-based EV batteries. Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis have said they will use...
The world’s top-selling electric vehicle makers, Tesla and China’s Byd, have one thing in common—...
The Electric: Welcome to CATL's World
By
Steve LeVine
· May 22, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Welcome to CATL's World
By
Steve LeVine
· May 22, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
In April 2022, Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. announced a blockbuster deal in Indonesia: With local partners, it would spend $6 billion on a complex on North Maluku island that would mine nickel, process it into electrodes and then manufacture electric vehicle batteries. There would even be a factory to recycle...
In April 2022, Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. announced a...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Tesla’s Rivals Are Missing a Big Opportunity to Slash Battery Costs
By
Steve LeVine
· May 18, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
2 comments
Early this month in the Texan port city of Corpus Christi, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a phalanx of local officials shoveled dirt onto the site of the first commercial-scale factory of its kind: a $375 million lithium refinery using equipment that slashes operating costs by a third while processing enough of the metal to power 1 million electric...
Early this month in the Texan port city of Corpus Christi, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a phalanx of...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: U.S. Automakers Face Another Threat—Restive Battery Plant Workers
By
Steve LeVine
· May 15, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
1 comment
In 1966, General Motors opened a new factory in a cornfield in Lordstown, Ohio, 210 miles southeast of Detroit, to manufacture top-selling Chevys and Pontiacs. When it opened, Lordstown was the most modern GM plant, to which the company soon added 26 robots. For workers, though, the plant was a brutal physical experience with a vastly...
In 1966, General Motors opened a new factory in a cornfield in Lordstown, Ohio, 210 miles...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: In the Battery Olympics, Startups Must Overcome Multiple Hurdles
By
Steve LeVine
· May 11, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
When lithium-metal battery developer SES AI held its first-quarter earnings call this week, executives were especially prepared for one question: When would the company complete its “A Sample”? And when that was done, when would SES finish its “B” and “C” samples? CEO Qichao Hu assured analysts that all three were on schedule, and the battery on...
When lithium-metal battery developer SES AI held its first-quarter earnings call this week,...
The Electric: An Afternoon With Chip Tycoon T.J. Rodgers on His Latest Act—Batteries
By
Steve LeVine
· May 8, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: An Afternoon With Chip Tycoon T.J. Rodgers on His Latest Act—Batteries
By
Steve LeVine
· May 8, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
In the 1980s and 1990s, Silicon Valley revolved around semiconductors, and T.J. Rodgers stood out. The company he founded, Cypress Semiconductor, was relatively small, but a 1991 BusinessWeek cover story showcased him as “The Bad Boy of Silicon Valley,” and The New York Times declared him “Silicon Valley’s most flamboyant cowboy capitalist.”...
In the 1980s and 1990s, Silicon Valley revolved around semiconductors, and T.J. Rodgers stood...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: QuantumScape Pivots to Small Batteries In a Bid to Stay Relevant
By
Steve LeVine
· May 4, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
Trailing rivals in the U.S. and China, once high-flying electric vehicle battery developer QuantumScape is lowering its ambitions and aiming to make smartphone-size batteries, a pivot it hopes will restore its momentum and contain the damage from a delayed production ramp.Until now, the San Jose, Calif., company has sought to make a single...
Trailing rivals in the U.S. and China, once high-flying electric vehicle battery developer...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: A Wake-Up Call for the West at the Shanghai Auto Show
By
Steve LeVine
· May 1, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
1 comment
After three years of pandemic lockdowns that kept out most foreign visitors, China last week concluded a mobbed Shanghai Auto Show, and people returning from the event had a near-unanimous message: Chinese electric vehicle makers are coming to the West, and legacy auto and battery makers appear unready to defend their turf.The verdict seemed...
After three years of pandemic lockdowns that kept out most foreign visitors, China last week...
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: GM’s Baffling Decision to Kill the Magnificently Priced Bolt EV
By
Steve LeVine
· April 27, 2023 4:30 AM PDT ·
2 comments
General Motors’ decision this week to kill the electric Chevy Bolt brings to a close a turbulent chapter in the company’s foray into electric vehicles, including one of the past decade’s biggest battery scandals and a fire hazard that forced the recall of the entire Bolt fleet. It’s a mystifying decision—and a big mistake.
General Motors’ decision this week to kill the electric Chevy Bolt brings to a close a turbulent...
The Electric: Signs of Progress Toward Electric Airliners
By
Steve LeVine
· April 24, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
The Electric
electric vehicles
The Electric: Signs of Progress Toward Electric Airliners
By
Steve LeVine
· April 24, 2023 4:30 AM PDT
In 2011, the U.S. Energy Department, building on advances in battery technology over the prior three decades, devised a road map for the development of cheap and powerful lithium-ion batteries that would make electric vehicles competitive with combustion ones. It set specific, super-stretch goals for cost and capacity. The resulting batteries...
In 2011, the U.S. Energy Department, building on advances in battery technology over the prior...
1
2
3
4
5
…
Next ›
Last »
Join now to read full stories
Get Started