Author: David Smith

Idemitsu Kosan, Japan’s second largest oil trading company, plans to close one of its refineries in Yamaguchi Prefecture by the end of March 2024. The refinery contributes 13% of Idemitsu’s total refining capacity, with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day (bpd). The closure of the refinery was triggered by the widespread use of electric cars which made the demand for fuel fall. “The company has concluded that gasoline demand will continue to decline as electric cars become more popular,” Idemitsu said in a statement. Idemitsu controls the Yamaguchi refinery through Seibu Oil, an affiliate in which he owns 38%…

Tesla is considering building new plants to produce electric vehicles in Canada and Mexico. Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk held a meeting with all his employees to discuss the plan. During the meeting a Tesla employee asked Musk where the next Tesla factory would be built. Musk then replied that Tesla’s new factory would likely not be built in the United States. “We’re currently looking for sites, but we’re considering several site options more broadly in North America, so include Canada and Mexico.” Musk said as quoted by Electrek.co, Tuesday (14/6/2022). See also: Tesla begins Giga Berlin 100-hectare expansion…

BMW will test a long-range battery developed by the company Our Next Energy (ONE) in the iX electric SUV, the company said on Tuesday. The battery, named Gemini, was developed by ONE, a Michigan-based startup. The Gemini battery is claimed to store more energy and allows a vehicle range of 600 miles (965 km) or more on a single charge. The Gemini battery was developed to reduce the use of minerals commonly used in the production of traditional electric vehicle batteries such as cobalt, nickel, graphite and lithium, according to Mujeeb Ijaz, founder and chief executive of ONE. ONE will…

South Korean lithium-ion battery cell manufacturer LG Energy Solution on Monday (06/13/2022) unveiled a 730 billion won ($568 million) investment plan to expand production of electric vehicle batteries, including the next-generation, larger 4680 type cylindrical battery. than today’s conventional batteries. The company will disburse 581.8 billion won from June 2022 to October 2023 by adding a 9 gigawatt-hour production line to its factory in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province. “This new line will produce cylindrical batteries with a diameter of 46 millimeters and a length of 80 millimeters from the second half of 2023,” according to the company, The Korea Herald…

Endurance tests or vehicle endurance tests are not new in the automotive world. With this test, manufacturers can see the advantages and disadvantages of a car before it is finally launched to the market. To make electric cars more reliable, Volkswagen open battery lab worth $ 22 million which is used for testing electric cars batteries. Not only used to test cars, the laboratory built at the Chattanooga facility, United States, is also designed to speed up testing of locally produced battery packs. Volkswagen has even put in about 30 of the best engineers ready to expose extremely hot and…

Fiat is testing inductive charging on the Fiat 500 electric car at the Arena Del Futuro. The test facility located in Chiari, Italy, uses a coil system located under the asphalt that transfers energy directly to cars, buses and trucks when equipped with special power receiving components. That energy flows directly from the road to the electric motors, allowing them to drive without running out of battery. Arena del Futuro uses direct current (DC) to reduce power loss during the energy distribution process. The road used uses thin wires made of aluminum instead of copper, which is cheaper and easier…

Honda Motor Company is planned to issue new products to meet its customers. The vehicle leads to the type of SUV or Sport Utility Vehicle which will be electric-powered in the future. The Japanese company named this new car the Honda Prologue, which was embedded with advanced technology. Later, this new model will start entering the market in the United States in 2024. The new car is a crossover built on the GM Ultium platform. This platform is believed to be capable of delivering electric vehicles with a range of up to 450 miles. In appearance, this Honda Prologue uses…

Electric vehicles with the help of solar panels are not new, considering that previously there were several manufacturers who had the same idea. The car with solar panels is also the basis of an electric car produced by a Dutch start-up company, Lightyear. The Lightyear 0 is an electric car with a drag coefficient (Cd) rate as low as 0.19, making it the most aerodynamic family car compared to the Mercedes EQXX concept model. At 5,000 mm in length, this provides Lightyear with space to install 5 square meters of solar panels so that the Model 0 can be charged…

The wheel design of an electric car is a bit odd, it turns out that it has an important function. If you see some electric cars have wheel designs that are somewhat different from conventional vehicles. We can see this in the Hyundai Ioniq Electric or Hyundai Kona Electric, which are similar to fan blades, Tesla Model 3 or MINI Electric with a wide crossbar that almost covers the brakes. The unique wheel design functions as aerodynamics. Better aerodynamics results in a lower drag coefficient. The drag coefficient is lower, so the car can go more effortless. The positive impact…

The US Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is stepping up Tesla’s investigation into engineering analysis, another sign of increased scrutiny of Tesla and its automated steering systems. An investigation is underway in connection with a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles or trucks with warning signs. With the investigation, a number of Tesla cars with an automatic drive system (autopilot) will be recalled, as quoted from the Associated Press. Documents uploaded this week by NHTSA raise some serious issues about Tesla’s autopilot system. The agency found that the feature was used in areas where its capabilities were limited, and…

In March, Elon Musk announced that he was working on the Tesla Master Plan Part 3, which was set to take the company even bigger. Speaking to the media, Elon Musk said Master Plan Part 3 is about reaching even greater scale. This plan will focus on building more sophisticated energy infrastructure and transportation infrastructure than before. “Master Plan Part 3 is all about how you get to a scale massive enough to completely transform Earth’s entire energy infrastructure,” said Elon Musk. Tesla Master Plan 3 is simply about how Tesla can cultivate energy greater than tonnage. Elon Musk even…

Henrik Fisker as the Founder of the Fisker EV, recently shared the interior appearance of the Fisker Pear electric car that looks extraordinary. In his upload, Henrik said that the Pear EV will be a symbol of the revolution of all electric cars that have ever existed. The Pear EV is even rated as comparable to the Tesla Model S and Lucid Air. Although the interior appearance is still a prototype, the interior of this Pear EV looks beautiful and elegant. For a car priced at $ 30,000, the Pear EV is equipped with a panoramic roof that allows passengers…

For the first time, a Volkswagen (VW) research team has managed to recycle battery cells several times. Now, VW is working with several companies and researchers, including Germany’s RWTH Aachen University, to further strengthen the processes needed to recycle these battery cells. Sebastian Wolf, Chief Operating Officer of Battery Cell at Volkswagen AG, said the recycling capability of battery cells and rejected products made a decisive contribution to securing the supply of raw materials. Through the HVBatCycle project, a holistic view of the recycling process and with closed-loop implementation of battery materials is being prepared. “We’re going to keep you…

The Kenworth T680E was first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2022). The T680E Class 8 model incorporates an advanced zero-emissions powertrain. Kenworth T680E is equipped with a battery that has a capacity of 396 kWh. With the battery, the truck is claimed to have a range of about 150 miles (240 kilometers). The battery itself can be charged up to 120 kW. Charging using the CCS1 DC fast charging port, the T680E can be fully charged in about three hours. PACCAR, Kenworth’s parent company, already has electric vehicle charging stations across the US, with output power ranges from…

The number of modifications of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class into a campervan has become a stimulus for coachbuilders to explore the modification of the V-Class’ brother, the Mercedes-Benz EQV for similar modifications. The step was finally initiated by Tonke, a campervan specialist from the Netherlands by releasing the Mercedes-Benz EQV campervan. Interestingly, Tonke immediately provides two campervan EQV variants, there is a compact Adventure variant and a Touring variant with cabin equipment like a mobile home. The first model, the Tonke EQV Adventure variant, is set as the cheapest. The completeness of the cabin of this model offers spacious room for…

Lightyear, a Dutch electric vehicle startup, has just introduced a production version of their solar-powered vehicle called Lightyear 0. The vehicle previously named Lightyear One is a production version of the concept vehicle introduced in 2019. At first glance, the Lightyear 0 has not changed much from the concept vehicle version. The Lightyear 0 is a hybrid vehicle that features a conventional 60 kilowatt-hour EV battery and solar panels on the roof, hood and hatch. The solar panels on the vehicle will charge automatically whenever the car is exposed to sunlight whether it is parked or running. See also: 5,000…

Ferrari finally started their steps to make electric vehicles. The Ferrari production line in Maranello is now expanding due to the new land. Reported by Bloomberg, the new land is predicted to be used for the manufacture of electric and hybrid cars from Ferrari. Not only for production, the new facility will later be equipped with a research and development center that focuses on battery technology. Ferrari is likely to officially announce the factory expansion on June 16, 2022. Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, will use the event to give investors insight into the automaker’s EV strategy. Including their four-year business…

Polestar announced that it has started deliveries of its new Polestar 2 electric vehicle to Hertz . In early April, Hetz announced that it would place an order for 65,000 Polestar electric vehicles to complement their fleet of electric vehicles that already use the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y. Hertz will procure 65,000 electric vehicles from Polestar over five years, averaging 13,000 vehicles per year. Hertz’s order to Polestar is billed as one of the largest single orders for an electric car ever made. Initially, Hertz was going to order the Polestar 2, but the company is expected…

Cupra recently revealed a production version of the all-electric Tavascan that shares the platform with the Volkswagen ID.4 and Skoda Enyaq iV. Expected to debut in 2024, the production version of the Tavascan takes some design elements from UrbanRebel. The specifications of the Tavascan have not been announced by Cupra, but it is suspected that the Tavascan will use the same powertrain as the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX. The ID.4 engine itself is capable of spewing power up to 295 bhp and is powered by a 77 kWh battery that has a range of up to 300 miles. This machine is…

The double-decker electric bus (double-decker bus), Van Hool TDX25E managed to make history by successfully covering a distance of up to 4,023 km. Van Hool TDX25E has passed various tests in different road conditions and also very varied weather conditions to see the ability of the battery mileage. In terms of specifications, this double-decker bus is equipped with a Siemens ELFA II electric motor which has a maximum power of up to 360 kW and a torque of 4,242 Nm. The Van Hool TDX25E uses a 676 kWh battery from Proterra (E2), which can be utilized to achieve a range…