CleanTechnica: EV Battery Pack Costs 90% Lower in 2023 Than in 2008
The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Vehicle Technologies Office estimates the cost of a electric vehicle lithium-ion battery pack for a light-duty vehicle declined 90% between 2008 and 2023 (using 2023 constant dollars). The 2023 estimate is $139/kWh on a usable-energy basis for production at scale of at least 100,000 units per year. That compares to $1,415/kWh in 2008. The decline in cost is due to improvements in battery technologies and chemistries, as well as improvements in manufacturing and increases in production volume.
Pretty cool. What a time we live in!
Electrek: The real story behind EV charger-reported uptime vs. actual uptime
Los Angeles-based EV supply equipment (EVSE) O&M service provider ChargerHelp examined what’s causing reliability issues for EV public charging infrastructure. The findings are in a new report, “ChargerHelp Annual Reliability Report: The State of EV Charging and the Driver Experience,” which was reviewed and endorsed by Professor Gil Tal, director of the Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis.
⋮
The report explored three interrelated categories: the discrepancy between reported uptime and true uptime; how reliability varies by EV charging infrastructure’s age, state, and network; and what drives downtime and what it takes to improve uptime.
Wikipedia: POSSE (disambiguation)
POSSE, a social web and IndieWeb abbreviation for “Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere”, a strategy for content producers.
TIL!
dtinth (GitHub): Comic Mono | comic-mono-font
A legible monospace font… the very typeface you’ve been trained to recognize since childhood. This font is a fork of Shannon Miwa’s Comic Shanns (version 1).
via Otávio (@otaviocc)
Matt Birchler: Shout out to the best way to make a cup of coffee
This is a simple appreciation post for the AeroPresscoffee maker. If I want to make a single cup of coffee and I want it to be as good as possible, I’ll reach for the AeroPress every time.
… since I happen to have a mug of AeroPress-made coffee sitting beside me.
Electrek: SunPower files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Solar developer SunPower has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, and it’s selling parts of its business to Complete Solaria for $45 million in cash.
Bloomberg (Yahoo): Stumbles for Embattled Solar Firm SunPower End in Bankruptcy
Over the course of less than two years, the once-darling of the industry was forced to fire workers to cut costs, restate earnings and default on a credit agreement. In 2024, the firm replaced its chief executive officer, restructured its operations and lost its accountant.
⋮
“SunPower’s travails are emphatically a company-specific issue and should not be seen as a comment on the underlying demand for US residential solar,” Pavel Molchanov, an analyst with Raymond James, said by email. “It has been a difficult six months for SunPower.”
Electrek: Tesla sues EV charging accessory aimed at preventing carjacking
Some EV owners are afraid of carjacking at public charging stations due to the fact that if you are in your vehicle while charging, you are a somewhat easy target because if some people rush your car, you’d have to get out to unplug before you can escape with your vehicle.
It’s not a very common problem in the EV industry, but it’s apparently big enough that a company, EVject, decided to build a product around it.
The $299 EVject Escape Connector is designed to be able to separate itself from the charge connector by driving away.
⋮
Tesla is now suing the company in California court, claiming that the connector can reach dangerous temperatures, which creates a safety risk. Tesla wrote in the complaint (via Jalopnik):
In the event of an over-temperature condition in the Connector, the lack of overtemperature protection creates a safety risk. Testing of high-current simulated charging through the Connector, utilized in conjunction with a Tesla Supercharger cable and Tesla EV charge port, demonstrated that surface temperatures of the Connector may reach as high as 100C, after 30 minutes of charging at 420 ADC.
Electrek: This anodeless, compressionless solid-state battery could be the next big thing [Update]
Maryland-based ION Storage Systems is about to dramatically accelerate the commercialization of its unique solid-state batteries (SSBs).
Kottke: Amazing stat about the disappearance of bands from the UK music charts
Amazing stat about the disappearance of bands from the UK music charts (29:40 mark): in the first half of the 80s, bands were #1 for 146 weeks; the first half of the 90s, it was 141 weeks. In the 20s so far: 3 weeks that songs by bands were #1. 🤯
NYT: Kennedy Fights to Stay on Ballot, but Everyone’s Talking About the Bear
Mr. Kennedy has a home in Los Angeles he shares with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines and — occasionally — some ravens. Mr. Kennedy’s federal filings for president list a California address, and California is also the home of his running mate, Nicole Shanahan. Under a constitutional oddity, presidential and vice-presidential candidates who come from the same state are ineligible to receive its electoral votes. And California is the nation’s richest electoral prize.
But Mr. Kennedy’s New York petitions listed an address in Katonah, N.Y. Lawyers for the voters trying to bounce him from the ballot say that address is not his home but that of a friend, arguing that Mr. Kennedy “does not, and has never, resided” there.
Last Updated: 06.Aug.2024 21:49 EDT
