The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Long-term partnership will secure battery-grade lithium hydroxide for automaker and accelerate both companies' expansion into EV space. This week, Albemarle announced a long-term partnership with BMW to deliver battery-grade lithium hydroxide for the automaker's next generation of high-performance electric vehicles and to work together to develop technology for safer and more energy-dense batteries. "Albemarle is committed to building a more resilient world," said Albemarle...
H2 infrastructure - Nikola builds out, Shell pulls back, and passenger cars lag heavy vehicles. Shell's withdrawal from passenger-vehicle hydrogen refueling operations has ignited debates on the developing industry's overall timing and viability. However, automakers and governments are still backing hydrogen fuel cells due to growing concerns about the slow pace and environmental expense of new critical mineral mines needed for lithium-ion batteries currently powering most...
While most leaders in the clean energy sector strongly indicate the concept of solid-state batteries is better, a few hurdles have long held this superior rechargeable battery in the realm of pacemakers and smartwatches, and out of electric vehicles where they are desperately needed. Solid-state technology replaces the liquid electrolyte in lithium batteries with a solid ceramic or polymer material. This increases energy density, stability, and heat resistance. For EV...
Deepens alliance with Solid Power to commercialize next-gen cell tech. Under an expanded joint development agreement, BMW Group and Solid Power have added a research and development license as a basis for their common next steps, showing how much the luxury car maker believes in this next-gen technology of solid-state batteries. Spun out of a program at the University of Colorado in 2011, Solid Power is a U.S.-based battery developer that has been advancing solid-state...
Replacing this oft-maligned lithium-ion battery metal comes at a cost Traditionally a headline-grabbing metal due to the perceived human rights and monetary costs it adds to lithium-ion batteries and the electric vehicles they power, cobalt is being overshadowed by the enormous demand and price increases for the lithium and nickel that also go into the storage cells that deliver the "E" to the EV revolution. Cobalt, however, continues to be a vital ingredient that improves...
With the ability to charge faster, store more energy, and be less likely to catch fire than their liquid lithium-ion battery counterparts, solid-state lithium batteries are considered by many in the automotive industry as the Holy Grail of the electric vehicle revolution. With the June 6 announcement that Solid Power Inc. has completed a pilot production line, Ford Motor Company and BMW Group are one step closer to realizing their vision of producing longer-range, lower-cost,...
Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company Ericsson, one of the first and leading providers of 5G, and HERE Technologies, a leading location data and technology platform, have teamed up to provide the global mining industry with custom mapping capabilities. With the rapid mobilization of Industry 4.0 technologies and services, access to private cellular networks is a key driver to enabling safer, more productive, and more sustainable mining operations,...
Upon exceeding 500,000 electric vehicles – including battery EVs and hybrids – in 2019, BMW Group announced plans to surpass 1 million electrified vehicles within two years. Fast forward, Dec. 6, 2021, and the German automaker has kept its promise. "The delivery of our one-millionth electrified vehicle marks a milestone in our transformation – and we already have the next one in our sights: We aim to break through the two-million mark in just two years," said Pieter Nota,...
With its sights set on putting around 10 million fully electric vehicles on global highways over the next decade, the BMW Group is investing in an innovative process to sustainably and efficiently produce the lithium that will go into the batteries powering the BMWs, Mini Coopers, and Rolls-Royces rolling off its assembly lines in the coming years. To help support environmentally sound and resource-efficient extraction of lithium, BMW Group's venture capital fund, BMW i...
Market and business research firm, IDTechEx, predicts that while battery electric vehicles (BEV) are paving the way for decarbonizing road transport, the hydrogen fuel cell will claim a leading role, an estimated US$160 billion role. In the latest report by UK-based tech speculator, "Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles 2022-2042," IDTechEx forecasts the market value of on-road fuel cell vehicles will grow to US$160 billion in 2042 at a compound annual growth rate of 23.9% over the...
Seeing solid-state batteries as a game-changer for the automotive sector, BMW Group plans to have a prototype of this higher density electric storage technology ready for demonstration in less than four years and be commercially producing solid-state cells for use in its electric vehicles by 2030. "We are doing intensive research on solid-state battery technology," said Frank Weber, who heads BMW AG's development division. "By the end of the decade, we will be implementing an...
In a move to secure the lithium needed to power its e-mobility aspirations, BMW Group has entered into a deal with Livent Corp. to supply roughly US$335 million (285 million euros) worth of this vital battery metal beginning in 2022. BMW Group plans to have about a dozen fully electric models on showroom floors and expects that battery EVs will make up more than half of its total sales by 2030. As a result, the German luxury automaker expects to deliver roughly 10 million EVs...
As part of a strategy to significantly lower the cost, improve the performance, and minimize the environmental footprint of batteries going into its expanding line-up of electric vehicles in Europe, Volkswagen Group has placed a US$14 billion order with Sweden-based Northvolt. This massive deal between the European e-mobility partners announced on the eve of Volkswagen Power Day, a March 15 event that laid out the German automaker's roadmap to making the electric car...
Furthering its ambitions to be a premium and sustainable battery solutions leader, Northvolt is investing US$200 million to build the largest energy storage systems factory in Europe. The first stage of the planned 50,000-square-meter (538,000 square feet) cutting edge battery systems factory being built in Gdańsk, Poland is already underway. This initial phase, expected to be completed next year, will be able to produce 5 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery modules and...
BMW Group has gotten behind the wheel of the quickly emerging 3D printing technology to hasten vehicle parts development and production to maximize manufacturing capabilities for its automobile industry. The Germany-based automotive powerhouse has wasted no effort in shifting the direction of its manufacturing with a systematic integration of additive manufacturing scaled up to industrial levels and to firmly establish it in various areas – primarily vehicle development and pr...
Quebec has put in motion a plan to establish itself as a leader in the global transition to a green economy – by both lowering the eastern Canadian province's carbon footprint through the adoption of renewable energy and electric vehicles, and being a source of responsibly mined minerals and metals that make these technologies possible. Provincial officials recently unveiled the Quebec Plan for the Development of Critical and Strategic Minerals 2020-2025, which provides the f...
In what has been series of moves toward expanding its electric vehicle lineup, BMW Group has signed a 2 billion euro (US$2.28 billion) long-term supply contract with Northvolt, a Swedish manufacturer with a mission to build the greenest rechargeable batteries in the world. Northvolt's commitment to sourcing 100% of the energy it needs to produce battery cells from wind and hydroelectric power generated in northern Sweden was a deciding factor for BMW as it looked for new...
BMW Group has secured a deal for 100 million euros worth of the sustainably sourced cobalt needed for the lithium-ion batteries that are powering its expanding line-up of electric vehicles. This important but oft-controversial battery metal will be acquired from Managem Group, a Moroccan mining company that produces cobalt, copper, fluorite, gold, silver, and zinc at its seven mines in Morocco and one in Sudan. The agreement with Managem will provide BMW with about 20% of its...
Scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany have developed a patent-pending process for what may be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to extract lithium from the geothermal waters on the German and French sides of the Upper Rhine Trench. Lithium, a key ingredient in the batteries powering electric vehicles, renewable energy storage and a plethora of rechargeable electric devises. This battery metal is primarily recovered from South...
The BMW Group July 14 announced the world premiere of its the BMW iX3, a sports utility vehicle that provides drivers with an emission-free option for enjoying the comfort, multi‑faceted functionality, and spaciousness of the BMW X3. The iX3 is powered by the fifth generation of BMW's eDrive technology. The German automaker says this newest electric drivetrain represents the major progress it has made in terms of power density, operating range, weight, installation space r...
BMW Group has unveiled its Concept i4, a gran coupe that brings fully electric vehicles to the core of the BMW brand. "The design is dynamic, clean and elegant. In short: a perfect BMW that happens to be zero emission," Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design said when describing the Concept i4. The concept revealed on March 2 represents a look ahead to the BMW i4, slated to enter production in 2021. BMW said the Concept i4 blends a modern, elegantly...
Growing demand for electric vehicles has prompted the BMW Group to accelerate the expansion of production capacity and staff at its Competence Centre for E-Drive Production in Dingolfing, Germany. "We are embarking on a massive expansion of our Competence Centre for E-Drive Production in Dingolfing – from 8,000 square meters currently to 80,000 in the future. This is where we produce powertrain components for our fully and partially electric models," said BMW Group Head of P...
Luxury vehicle company BMW Group has turned renewable energy up to 11 by teaming up with legendary band Coldplay as part of their upcoming Music of the Spheres World Tour. This will be the world's first-ever mobile, rechargeable show, powered by the two partners' shared sustainability vision. Following the successful hit "Higher Power" synced in the BMW i4/iX commercial and the British band's performance in the virtual world of BMW JOYTOPIA at the IAA Mobility in Munich, BMW...
The envisioned green future where every North American is driving a battery-powered electric vehicle charged with renewable energy could be undermined by cobalt, a somewhat scarce and controversial metal that makes lithium-ion batteries better. "Cobalt is considered the highest material supply chain risk for electric vehicles in the short and medium term," the U.S. Department of Energy penned in an April report. This risk has automakers, lithium-ion battery manufacturers, and...
Will gigamines be added to the front of the Tesla supply chain? While Elon Musk's offer of a "giant contract" to mining companies able to supply nickel suggests the Tesla CEO would rather not start his own mining division, subtle clues indicate that he is willing to, if needed. Musk says any bottlenecks along the entire lithium-ion battery supply chain, from mining and refining the metals that go into the batteries powering its EVs and renewable energy storage products to the...
