Lifeboat Foundation

Today’s rechargeable batteries are a wonder, but far from perfect. Eventually, they all wear out, begetting expensive replacements and recycling.

“But what if batteries were indestructible?” asks William Chueh, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University and senior author of a new paper detailing a first-of-its-kind analytical approach to building better batteries that could help speed that day. The study appears in the journal Nature Materials.

Chueh, lead author Haitao “Dean” Deng, Ph.D. ‘21, and collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MIT and other research institutions used artificial intelligence to analyze new kinds of atomic-scale microscopic images to understand exactly why batteries wear out. Eventually, they say, the revelations could lead to batteries that last much longer than today’s. Specifically, they looked at a particular type of lithium-ion batteries based on so-called LFP materials, which could lead to mass-market electric vehicles because it does not use chemicals with constrained supply chains.

GreenCore EV Services has a goal of building and operating a network of over 10,000 solar EV charging plazas throughout the United States by the end of the decade. The company’s charging plazas will serve both consumer and commercial vehicles.

To help usher in this goal, GreenCore announced that it has selected B&D Industries to provide labor and prefabrication services to build out the company’s network of solar-powered EV charging plazas.

The U.S. used to be a global leader in lithium production, but now has fallen way behind. Several domestic projects are in the works, but will it be enough?

Lithium-sulfur batteries have three times the potential charge capacity of lithium-ion batteries, which are found in everything from smartphones to electric cars. Their inherent instability, however, have so far made them unsuitable for commercial applications, with lithium-sulfur batteries undergoing a 78 per cent change in size every charging cycle.

Overcoming this issue would not only radically improve the performance of battery-powered devices, it would also address some of the environment concerns that come with lithium-ion batteries, such as the sourcing and disposal of rare raw materials.

In order to come up with their design, MAHLE said it used a state-of-the-art simulation process that allowed it to adjust and combine the parameters of different motor designs incrementally in order to settle on the optimal solution. The company says this new method allows it to “quickly create the necessary technical conditions in order to advance e-mobility in a sustainable manner worldwide.”

Though the new motor design was conceived using the very latest simulation processes, the inception of induction motors dates back to the 19th century when they were invented by Nikola Tesla. A new electric vehicle development, EV-charging roads, similarly builds on the inventor’s early work on alternating currents.

A Black-owned tech firm based in Miami, Florida, has begun manufacturing self-driving vehicles called JéGO Pods. The firm will start releasing the pods in late 2022 and will be used to mobilize healthcare services.

JéGO Technologies Inc is founded by Frederick Akphoghene, a Nigerian immigrant, who started his career in tech as early as 16. Since he started his journey, he has built and partnered with hundreds of companies and startups including Abovav Technologies and Oddio Tribe Holdings.

According to Akphoghene, the purpose of his company is to use its mobile platform to connect users with businesses that provide on-demand services like Flu Testing, COVID testing, IV therapy and other services which can be brought directly to customers using driverless JéGO pods.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated over 5 million TSLA shares to an undisclosed charity, according to a SEC Form 5 filed on Monday, February 14, 2022.

The filing reveals that Elon Musk donated approximately 5,044,000 TSLA shares worth about $4.42 billion, considering that Tesla stock is priced at $875.76 as of this writing. Based on the SEC filing, Elon Musk started donating the stocks on November 19, 2021, a time when over 5 million TSLA shares were worth roughly $5.74 billion.

The transaction code for the stock was filed under “G,” which stands for “Gift of securities by or to the insider” or “Bonafide gift.” Under “Explanation of Responses,” the filing reads: “Represent a bona fide gift of the Issuer’s common stock by the Reporting Person to charity.” The charity Elon Musk donated to was not revealed.

The DeLorean is returning in 2022 as an electric vehicle, reviving the brand made famous by Back to the Future.

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