Zoomi Life

Engineers at the Northwest National Laboratory in Washington have a new smart charging device for electric cars they’re showing off. The unit communicates wirelessly with the electric utility to get current rates and grid load. It uses this information to slow down the charge or stop it altogether until a better situation is available. This saves consumers money and the utility some extra load on their grid.

Read More: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Shows Off New Smart Charger

The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries (NATTBatt) has selected Glendale, Kentucky as its choice of locations to build a manufacturing campus. NATTBatt is a consortium of more than fifty corporations, associations, and research institutions involved in advanced lithium-ion battery cells for transportation.

Read More: Kentucky the Choice For Li-ion Plant From NATTBatt

A123Systems has announced a round of funding from General Electric and others totaling $69 million. The money will be used to expand existing facilities in Massachusetts and Michigan and to build a new facility in Michigan.

Some of the proceeds will also be used to develop applications for the smart grid–namely utility-scale storage, which A123 has been working on for some time.

Read More: SIXTY-NINE Million in Funding for A123 Systems

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Biomolecular Materials Group is advancing techniques of using engineered viruses to build batteries. Or at least, battery electric storage components.

The genetically engineered viruses first coat themselves with iron phosphate and then grab carbon nanotubes to create networks of high conductive material. MIT is calling this “bio-industrial” manufacturing. Assembling molecules by using biological agents is considered the next generation of industrial engineering and using it to “evolve” key energy components like cathodes and membranes for batteries and fuel cells is the frontier of this process.

Read More: Building Batteries With Viruses at MIT

In announcements that surprised no one, both Chrysler and General Motors have announced their battery suppliers for plugins and electrics. One announcement was made in the usual on-screen handshake and press release and the other was made amidst heavy fanfare and money-wasting jubilee. One guess as to which was which.

Read More: Chrysler and GM Pick Battery Suppliers

Valence Technologies has applied for a $608 million low-interest loan from the Department of Energy under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program to expand operations so they can provide many more batteries than they do now.

Read More: Valence Wants in on the Li-Ion Game In a Big Way

Keeping things on the continent, Fisker Automotive has signed a battery deal with Vancouver-based Advanced Lithium Power, Inc. The deal has two aspects: thousands of lithium-ion batteries for the Karma and a sizeable cash stake in the Canadian company.

Read More: Fisker Signs Battery Deal with Canadian Supplier

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed battery cells capable of taking on a charge in under a minute, which is a rate 100 times faster than standard rechargeable batteries.

Read More: Battery Technology Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Electric Vehicles

Physicists at the University of Miami and Tokyo have together invented a new type of battery, featured in the journal Nature. The batteries are “spun” fibers about the thickness of a hair and utilize nanotechnology elements to give them incredible energy density.

Read More: Battery Technology Breakthough: Physicist Develops New Type of Battery with Incredible Energy Density

The Carolyn Dorothy appeared in Long Beach, California on January 23 to report for work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The tug was made by Foss Maritime in Seattle, WA.

Read More: The Foss Hybrid Tugboat