Materials

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Condition monitoring

Peter Donaldson examines the factors involved in keeping tabs on the health and performance of key EV components. While an EV’s most costly component is its battery, there are also many other subsystems – inverters, generators and so on – whose condition is critical to safety and efficiency. Machinery health and usage monitoring is well-established...

PS

Battery reuse and recycling

As awareness grows of the environmental problems associated with several types of lithium mining and extraction, it is becoming obvious that the eco-friendly shine on EVs could soon become tarnished unless those processes are cleaned up and a circular economy for lithium-ion batteries and the materials in them can be established (writes Peter Donaldson). A circular economy means reusing...

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Battery materials

Nick Flaherty reports on how recent advances in materials are leading to EV batteries with ever-growing energy densities. Battery systems for e-mobility platforms are based largely around lithium chemistry. Liquid lithium salts with graphite anodes and composite metal cathodes are the dominant combination for battery cells...

Digest

vRbikes vR3

Rory Jackson looks at how this three-wheeler has been designed to carry as much cargo as possible in the smallest footprint possible. Given that an electric powertrain brings with it lower maintenance times and costs compared with ICE powertrains, so more and more EV developers are looking to ‘right-size’ their vehicles into smaller and more compact architectures, for ease of use and...

Dossier

Elaphe L1500 in-wheel motor

The L1500 has been designed to enable it to be used in a wide range of OEM EVs and HEVs. Rory Jackson reports on how it was developed. Slovenian company Elaphe is known in the e-mobility industry for its in-wheel propulsion technology, which is used in a range of automotive applications around the...

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Magnetics

Making electric motors more efficient means looking beyond the magnetic materials and switching techniques, as Nick Flaherty explains. The development of the first rare earth magnets in the 1960s by scientists at the US Air Force Materials Laboratory introduced a key new capability for e-mobility. Combining yttrium and cobalt in an...

Dossier

BB Green ferry

Rory Jackson looks at the development of this battery-powered ferry, which is aimed at shuttling workers to and from work. As more and more people find work in the major urban centres of the world, traffic congestion continues to worsen. While road networks struggle to cope with an ever-growing number of commuters, levels of driver stress and greenhouse gas...

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Lightweight materials

Dan Fleetcroft explains how selecting the right materials can minimise an EV’s weight to maximise its endurance. Consumer interest, combined with the world’s growing concern about the environment, is accelerating the development of electric and hybrid vehicles, driving electrification into multiple industries. Government targets on emissions are having as impact on...

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Radial flux motors

The latest trend in radial flux motor design is to boost power density while reducing cost. Nick Flaherty explains how it’s being done. The radial flux motor is the workhorse of e-mobility. The basic structure of a static rotor (stator) driving a moving rotor in a radial magnetic field is used in different form factors and power ranges for all kinds of...

Dossier

Performance Projects / Dynium electric tractor

Peter Donaldson relates the development of this tractor’s powertrain, which is designed to operate in confined spaces. When Dynium Robot decided to rethink the tractor to work in the confined spaces of orchards and polytunnels, the off-road robotics specialist turned to racecar engineering company Performance Projects to design the vehicle from...