Panasonic Energy e Mazda Motor Corporation have announced they have agreed to enter into discussions on establishing a medium- to long-term partnership to meet demand for battery EVs and automotive batteries.
Panasonic Energy and Mazda will commence discussions with a view toward Panasonic Energy supplying Mazda with automotive cylindrical lithium-ion batteries manufactured at Panasonic Energy’s plants in Japan and North America, and Mazda installing batteries procured from Panasonic Energy in battery EVs scheduled to be launched in the latter half of the 2020 decade.
“As the automotive industry rapidly advances electrification and is leading in this technology, collaboration with Mazda will be a major step towards the achievement of our mission of realizing a society in which the pursuit of happiness and a sustainable environment are harmonized. With our superior technology and extensive experience, we will drive growth of the lithium-ion battery industry and further accelerate our efforts to achieve zero emissions”, said Kazuo Tadanobu, President, CEO of Panasonic Energy.
“Mazda is working with its partners in three phases to flexibly respond to changes in regulatory trends, consumer needs, and other areas. We are delighted to collaborate with Panasonic Energy, which has been a pioneer in automotive lithium-ion batteries, developing high-quality products”, stated instead Masahiro Moro, Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer of Mazda.
Panasonic Energy e Mazda to supply automotive cylindrical lithium-ion batteries
More and more electric car sharing also in Rome
Recently, in Rome the fleet of Enjoy, the car sharing of Eni Sustainable Mobility has become also electric due to the introduction of 100 new zero-emission city cars on the road, with an unmistakeable lime green colour. The refuelling of electric vehicles is up to Enjoy, which so allows new customers to move in full freedom because they will find the new city cars with a battery recharge exceeding 30%.
“Enjoy car sharing has been present in Rome for nine years, during which it has consolidated as a service, complementary to the local public transport, useful to favour citizens’ simple displacement and able to share in making urban mobility more sustainable”, declared Stefano Ballista, managing director of Eni Sustainable Mobility. “Eni Sustainable Mobility shares in the course towards the Net Zero target by 2050 fixed by Eni: the car sharing, now also electric, is part of the many already available solutions to contribute to the decarbonization of transports, as the development of HVO biofuels, of the biomethane, of electric and of hydrogen”.
ZF presents the compact concept car EVbeat
The concept car EVbeat is based on a Porsche Taycan and is inspired, as benchmark, by the leader standard technology by ZF and by other market players. With the prototype of the new 800-volt electric motor by ZF it has a torque density of 70 Nm/kg with a power pack weight decreased by 30%.
The constant and peak power of the electric motor is respectively 206 and 275 kilowatts and the constant power is about 75% of the peak power. In terms of sizes, the transmission saves 50 millimetres of width due to the compact reducer and to the “Braided Winding” technology patented by Z: a further development of the so-called corrugated winding that allows 10% less of installation space in all.
The winding head alone is up to 50% smaller in comparison with conventional approaches, with the consequent copper saving by about 10%.
Concerning the cooling, ZF allows the oil to flow directly around copper bars, precisely in the point when most of the heating during the operation is generated. Such highly efficient cooling significantly enhances the performances with the same weight and the same installation space. Moreover, it is possible to give up the use of heavy rare earths and the electric motor can be manufactured in more sustainable manner.
In addition, a new coaxial gearbox transmits the driving forces of the electric motor via two planetary gears. Compared to conventional offset concepts, where input and output shafts are not on the same axis, the coaxial solution reduces weight and installation space without affecting efficiency, noise and vibrations.
The joint venture Nidec Aerospace LLC was born
Japan’s Nidec Corporation and Brazil’s Embraer have recently announced an agreement to establish a joint venture company, called Nidec Aerospace LLC to develop Electric Propulsion Systems for the aerospace sector. “The transaction combines the complementary synergies and distinct areas of expertise of two world-class engineering companies to spearhead a new era of air mobility”, Nidec informs.
The joint venture will develop and manufacture the Electric Propulsion System for electric Vertical Take-Off Landing (eVTOL) vehicles, with the aim of providing the system to non-eVTOL vehicles in the future.
Nidec Aerospace will be jointly owned, with Nidec owning a 51% share and Embraer the remaining 49%. The headquarters, located at Nidec Motor Corporation (NMC) in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, will be supported by both companies’ existing industrial footprint in Brazil and Mexico.
“Technological innovation will be a key contributor to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050. The JV is a natural extension of both companies’ respective and continual investments in green technologies across multiple industries to accelerate global carbon neutrality.” said Michael Briggs, Senior Vice President and President of the Motion & Energy Business Unit, at Nidec.
The companies expect their transaction to close at the second half of 2023.
Featuring efficiency by using a nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloy
Aisin Corporation has developed the prototype of a motor featuring efficiency by using Nanomet®, a nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloy that achieves both high saturation magnetic flux density and ultralow iron loss, invented at the Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University. It is sold exclusively by TMI, a spin-out from Tohoku University.
The efficiency motor, made by transforming Nanomet® into the core of the motor and in the stator, has then been developed by joining the two realities’ forces. This technology halves the loss in comparison with conventional motors for BEV that use electromagnetic steel plates and should improve the vehicle’s overall energy efficiency by over 3%.
Aisin will further perfect the technology and will proceed with tests and assessments, with the goal of releasing this motor on the market of BEV within 2029. In the future, Aisin will speed up the development, with the goal of expanding the technology not only to the mobility field but also to various other sectors highly needing to improve the energy efficiency through the use of efficiency motors.
The tests for the solar electric propulsion in the space are starting
The solar electric propulsion is one of the crucial technologies to assure the success of the missions directed to the Moon, to Mars and the deep space. So, Nasa and Aerojet Rocketdyne have started the tests on the Advanced Electric Propulsion System (Aeps), the solar electric propulsion (Sep) that will be used on board of the moon Gateway. Sep is based on the combination of solar cells and electric thrusters that ensure the thrust of a spacecraft through the space. This technology has already been tested by various probes by Esa, Nasa and Jaxa.
In the specific case, the Advanced Electric Propulsion System supplies 12 kilowatts of energy and it is over twice more powerful than the current systems of electric propulsion in the space and allows an extremely high fuel saving at low thrust, unlike the traditional chemical propulsion ones.
The Gateway, the space station in cislunar orbit, which will be used as base by the future astronauts of Artemis mission, will be equipped with three Aeps thrusters that will be integrated in the Power and Propulsion Element. Tests have put the motors through their paces, subjecting them to various thermal shocks and extreme vibrations. Other tests will be carried out next year, for about 23 hours of operation overall inside the vacuum chamber of the Glenn Research Center of Nasa.
Great satisfaction for Formula SAE Italy
The events of Formula SAE Italy, which involve the teams of all participating classes, have recently ended. The automotive world has drastically changed in the last 5 years, as we could notice it also in some of the Business plan proposals submitted. One of the competing teams, for instance, has focused the project on the recovery of motors, motor components and car components to be reused to decrease wastes and costs.
In the 1C class, finalist teams are UniBo Motorsport of Bologna University, Race Up
Combustion of University of Padua and Bimasakti Racing Team of the University of Gadjah Mada, an Indonesian team who has taken part in the event for the first time.
Concerning the Driverless Class, finalists are the Driverless PoliTO Race Team of Turin Polytechnics, MoRe Modena Racing Driverless of University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and UniNa Races – Race Teams of the University of Naples Federico II.
In the 1E class (electric cars), the Dynamis PRC team of Milan Polytechnics is finalist together with E-team Race Team of University of Pisa and the ISC FS Racing Team of ICAI- Comillas Pontifical University. The Dynamis PRC team of Milan Polytechnics (Class 1 E) confirms to be a high-level team, among Italians. It stood out for the integration of the autonomous drive system in the car.
A new technological pole for the naval electric mobility
The collaboration between Reinova, company specialized in the development, test and validation of components for the electric powertrain, and E2C (Energy To Come), company in the sector of power electronics and energy conversion, has currently consolidated and resulted in the creation of a technological pole for the electric mobility and recharge infrastructures in the naval sector. The target consists in activities of research and development, manufacturing and services in the enlarged chain of the e-mobility in the naval sector. In particular, they intend to develop an infrastructural recharge system for electric boats that is expected to be safe, green and economically sustainable. To implement that, it will be necessary to integrate systems of prevention, monitoring and control that are intelligent. “We strongly believe in the electrification for boats and in the development of infrastructures. Our business plan identified a centrality of this market, starting from the development of solutions for the transport of people and freights with courses defined to optimize flows and recharge systems”, commented the CEO of Reinova Giuseppe Corcione.
“The collaboration concerns a chain of competences that involve the part of naval engineering, storage and propulsion, mutually correlated by expert systems that check their use state”, explained Luca Balbo, CEO of E2C. It was a Made in Italy project framed in the development of the Italian naval market and, at the same time, it makes use of its efficient provisioning chain and of its shipyard tradition.
Nidec has set up a new factory in Serbia
As response to the tightening of environmental regulations in Europe and to the more severe directives about CO2 emissions for cars in the main Countries, the demand for vehicles’ motors and inverters and for control units is steeply rising. This has communicated Nidec on the occasion of the inauguration of the new factory at Novi Sad, in Serbia, built to assure an efficient supply system in Europe.
The project complies with the “Western Balkans Cooperation Initiative” the Japanese Government is accomplishing in Serbia and in other regions.
Nidec Electric Motor Serbia plans to mass-produce automotive motors, and Nidec Elesys Europe plans to mass-produce automotive inverters and ECUs.
In order to this aim, the company will strengthen recruitment activities, mainly for technical personnel, and contribute to the revitalization of the regional economy the Novi Sad surrounding area in Serbia.
With the future view of mass production of the “E-Axle” traction motor system for electric vehicles in Europe, it is also promoting activities to attract suppliers and we will build an industrial cluster of automotive motors for the European market.