Group 14: The Next Battery Innovation?

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Tina Casey, writing in Clean Technica, reflects on the coming changes in the “gasmobile” to EV ratio.  “Somewhere in the outer reaches of talk radio, a ghost stalks the halls, mumbling of light bulbs and plastic bags and electric cars that won’t start in cold weather. Meanwhile, most automakers are not waiting around for the other shoe to drop. They have finally begun pivoting into the sparkling green world of zero emission personal mobility, even those once wedded to the idea of ‘clean diesel,’ and a new battery formula is here to help.” Her article, “Game Over For Gasmobiles: Electric Vehicle Batteries Just Keep On Getting Better,” describes efforts at Group 14, the second of two electric vehicle firms recently visited by Washington Governor Jay Inslee.  The first was Eviation, based in Arlington. SCC55™ Group 14 is reputedly, “The largest manufacturer of lithium-silicon battery materials,” capable of producing 120 tons per year of SCC55™, its patented battery anode material.  SCC55, …

Whistling at High Frequencies in the Dark

Dean Sigler Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

The same millimeter wave-length scanning that sees through your clothes at TSA’s very personal pre-flight inspections in airports could also provide a new type of heads-up display for pilots.  With an ability to distinguish power lines and other finely-resolved images in otherwise total visual blackouts, the technology could find a place in navigation, searches, and even private flying.  A few drawbacks stand in the way, however. Extremely high frequency MMW devices sense objects at a range just below that of the lowest frequency infrared light.  The high frequency allows a high level of discrimination in imaging. Used in automobiles for applications such as radar braking and adaptive cruise control, the potential for adapting such devices to weather flying is promising.  Used today in military helicopters, it is highly useful in places like Afghanistan, where blackouts of Biblical proportions darken mountain passes at incredibly high density altitudes.  Operation Eagle Claw, the 1979 rescue attempt of 400 American prisoners in Iran was …

Charging Your EV on the Move

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

Qualcomm is best known for its quirkily-named Wi-Fi and other wireless communications technologies; ETHOS®, Haystack®, and Gobi®, for starters.  Relatively low-powered, they allow notebooks and smartphones access to broadband connectedness. Qualcomm has now expanded its reach, and its power, to inductive charging for electric vehicles.  Its wireless electric vehicle charging (WEVC) technology, HaloIPT will first allow wireless recharging of electric vehicles which park over a “sweet spot” that has the capability of sending power “over an air gap of hundreds of millimeters while still maintaining high-energy transfer electricity,” according to the company. PCWorld reports that Halo’s inductive “WEVC can transfer up to 3.5 kilowatts of power at greater than 90 percent efficiency – that’s as good as, or even better, than wired charging.  Instead of plugging in the EV to a charging station, the car will have a charging plate attached to its chassis.  A charging mat, placed above or below the pavement, magnetically transfers power to the vehicle through …