Podcasts about a123 systems

XL Batteries is pioneering a revolutionary approach to grid-scale energy storage, leveraging organic molecules derived from oil and gas feedstocks to create long-duration batteries that can operate for 50+ years. Founded in 2019, the company has raised $20 million to develop their non-lithium flow battery technology that aims to enable the transition to renewable energy by solving the critical challenge of intermittent power generation from solar and wind sources. In this episode of Category Visionaries, Thomas Sisto shares insights from shipping their first commercial unit and discusses their vision for transforming the energy storage landscape. Topics Discussed:  The $4 trillion market opportunity in grid-scale energy storage  Technical breakthrough in organic molecule-based flow batteries  Evolution from laboratory discovery to first commercial shipment  Advantages over traditional lithium and vanadium flow batteries  Strategic approach to building world-class technical teams Commercial product development and scaling challenges GTM Lessons For B2B Hardware Founders:  Build an elite technical team early: Thomas emphasized the importance of bringing in experienced leaders from successful companies in adjacent spaces. He recruited the co-founder/CTO of A123 Systems (largest battery IPO of 2009) as chief commercialization officer and executives from Pfizer and Plug Power. This mix of startup scaling experience and deep technical expertise helped them avoid costly mistakes and technical debt. Start with proven architectures: Rather than inventing entirely new systems, XL Batteries focused on innovating within established frameworks. They used the proven flow battery architecture but replaced expensive vanadium/sulfuric acid with organic molecules in saltwater. Thomas explained, "We haven't invented a new mousetrap. It's an old mousetrap. The key for us is to just really drive cost out of it." Focus relentlessly on cost in utility markets: Thomas highlighted that unlike consumer products where premium pricing can work, utility products must prioritize cost and reliability above all else. "Energy and electricity is hidden... you just want your lights to work and you don't want to pay more than 15 cents per kilowatt hour." This drives every product design decision. Leverage existing industry infrastructure: By using organic molecules from oil and gas feedstocks, XL Batteries tapped into established supply chains and manufacturing capabilities. This reduced scaling risk compared to approaches requiring entirely new manufacturing processes or rare materials. Time market entry carefully: Despite having revolutionary technology, XL Batteries waited until they had a fully integrated demonstration unit before pursuing major marketing efforts. Thomas noted they're only now approaching the "tipping point" for marketing as they near commercial product availability.   //   Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.  www.GlobalTalent.co

Where is Michigan (and America) at with electric vehicles and battery technology? Gabrielle Coppola, a journalist at Bloomberg, joins me for a conversation on the Daily Detroit podcast. Coppola wrote a very interesting piece, “America's long, tortured journey to build EV batteries,” and it caught my eye because A123 systems — a Michigan company — was bought out of bankruptcy by Chinese investors and their cutting edge tech now is used over there. Over here? Americans are left having to license technology we created. This conversation is about more than that, though. It's about the immense change happening to the automotive industry, and what the challenges and opportunities really are for American automakers to compete in the EV and battery space. Follow Gabrielle Coppola on social media:  X: https://twitter.com/gablova?lang=en Threads: https://www.threads.net/@gablova Episode rundown: 02:10 - Where are we at with EVs right now in the United States?  05:20 - Is Electric the future technology? What about alternatives? 07:20 - Automakers need to produce a lot of one car to make money 08:21 - Many people in auto industry are very worried about the future and how the changes coming will impact their lives 09:50 - It will take 30% fewer labor hours to make an electric car  11:18 - Carmakers are learning about batteries, and want to bring more in house  13:25 - Challenges for the future of suppliers and the jobs tied to them  14:40 - Michigan's lead with battery tech from A123 Systems that China bought out of bankruptcy and now uses as they speed ahead with EV adoption 25:22 - Why Michigan has to offer so many subsidies to battery plants, it's multiple levels.  26:42 - China does not make for a level playing field  27:41 - Competition with China is not a fair fight, and their government puts in seemingly endless dollars (we really don't know, there's no transparency) 28:26 - Thinking about quarters vs. generations  30:16 - Whatever America and American consumers decide to do, the rest of the world is not waiting on electric vehicles  30:58 - EVs are wrapped in political identity in America, despite any facts on the ground 34:37 - Michigan advantages for the road ahead  Feedback as always - dailydetroit - at - gmail - dot - com or 313-789-3211 Follow us on Apple Podcasts: https://lnk.to/dailydetroitonapple  Or Spotify: https://lnk.to/dailydetroitonspotify  Thanks to our members: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit  Or those who do a one-time contribution: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/dailydetroit  

As we evaluate the Biden team's approach to building back domestic manufacturing and climate-positive infrastructure, we keep coming back to the question: what makes the current push different from the Obama era one?  You can't answer the question without exploring the factors behind the demise of some companies of the cleantech 1.0 era – in particular, the story of A123 Systems. This week, we're talking with Gabrielle Coppola, a Bloomberg auto journalist, about her new magazine feature about America's tortured journey to build EV batteries. A123 Systems was supposed to represent the next generation of domestic manufacturing. Instead, it showed how America excels at inventing new energy technologies, but not building them. The Carbon Copy is supported by FischTank PR, a public relations, strategic messaging, and social media agency dedicated to elevating the work of climate and clean energy companies. Learn more about FischTank's approach to cleantech and their services: fischtankpr.com. The Carbon Copy is brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow's solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial & industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Augmented reveals the stories behind the new era of industrial operations, where technology will restore the agility of frontline workers. In this episode of the podcast, the topic is "How Academia Shapes Manufacturing". Our guest is John Hart (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajhart/), Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director at the Center for Advanced Production Technologies at MIT. In this conversation, we talk about John's research on micro and nanotechnology and material science, which universities and colleges that teach manufacturing, the role of MIT in this ecosystem, and why now is a key moment in manufacturing history. If you like this show, subscribe at augmentedpodcast.co (https://www.augmentedpodcast.co/). If you like this episode, you might also like Episode 92 on Emerging Interfaces for Human Augmentation (https://www.augmentedpodcast.co/92). Augmented is a podcast for industry leaders, process engineers, and shop floor operators, hosted by futurist Trond Arne Undheim (https://trondundheim.com/) and presented by Tulip (https://tulip.co/). Follow the podcast on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AugmentedPod) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/75424477/). Trond's Takeaway: There has never been a more interesting time to be in manufacturing or to watch manufacturing. The tremendous breakthroughs that we are about to witness have been made possible by a confluence of emerging technologies and startup innovations, as well as a growing awareness of the importance of building human-centric technologies. We are indeed at a crossroads with profound challenges in the growing talent shortage, the need for workforce training, an aging industrial base, and the demands for manufacturing competency from the wider innovation ecosystem. We have to make progress fast, and innovations are just maturing to be able to do so at the scale and pace required. It will, again, be amazing to watch the manufacturing industry. Parts of it will perhaps, again, become the industry of industries. Transcript: TROND: Welcome to another episode of the Augmented Podcast. Augmented reveals the stories behind the new era of industrial operations where technology will restore the agility of frontline workers. Technology is changing rapidly. What's next in the digital factory, and who is leading the change? And what are the skills to learn and how to stay up to date on manufacturing and industry 4.0. In this episode of the podcast, the topic is How Academia Shapes Manufacturing. Our guest is John Hart, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director at the Center for Advanced Production Technologies at MIT. In this conversation, we talk about John's research on micro and nanotechnology and material science, which universities and colleges that teach manufacturing, the role of MIT in this ecosystem, and why now is a key moment in manufacturing history. Augmented is a podcast for industrial leaders, for process engineers, and for shop floor operators hosted by futurist Trond Arne Undheim and presented by Tulip. John, how are you? Welcome. JOHN: I'm well, Trond. Great to see you. Thank you for having me. TROND: Well, I'm excited to have you talking about...well, hopefully, a lot of different things, but how academia gets to shape manufacturing, this fascinating venture that is manufacturing. But you yourself, John, you grew up in Michigan, is that right? You were close to this from an early age. JOHN: I was close to it. Yeah, I grew up in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb north of Detroit. If you know the Detroit Metro area, there are the mile roads, and the Detroit River is sort of Zero Mile. And I grew up between 14 and 15 Mile Roads, so in the hotbed of the good, old U.S. auto industry. TROND: Well, exactly. Because looking a little bit at your background here, you spent quite a few years as a summer intern at General Motors before you got yourself to...or actually perhaps in the beginning, in your undergrad years from UMichigan, is that right? JOHN: I did. After my first year at UofM, I worked as a summer intern at GM and went back a few years in a row in different roles in different areas. And honestly, when I decided to pursue a graduate degree and ended up at MIT, I thought I might just get my master's and go back and work in the auto industry, but things changed, and here we are today. TROND: Well, here we are today. You got yourself an undergrad from UMichigan. And you worked there for a little while, I believe, but then came to MIT with a master's, Ph.D. This is way back. But you won the prize for the best doctoral thesis in micro and nanotechnology. So that set you off on the path to rediscover nanomaterials, I guess. JOHN: Yeah, well, it's a really maybe exotic combination of topics. My master's thesis was on precision machine design, the design of these large mechanical couplings for industrial robots. And then, for my Ph.D., with the same advisor, I worked on carbon nanotube synthesis. But there you have the dipoles of manufacturing research, materials, processing, and mechanical design that have shaped how I've taken things forward since then. TROND: Well, but it is in these unique combinations that innovation starts to occur, right? JOHN: Yeah, exactly, combining different topics. And that's one reason I love manufacturing is that it is the union of materials processing, and automation, and software, and now also getting more interested in the organizational workforce aspects. It's a very rich, multidisciplinary layered topic. TROND: Yeah. And we'll explore this both from the organizational angle, and, indeed, I'm super interested in this material angle on things because it seems to me like you're exploring the very, very small nanostructures, but then you're then printing them on the very large canvas. So you're exploring materials from one extreme to the other. JOHN: Yeah. Well, it depends on your objective and what topic you're working on. There are cases in our research where we need to understand the formation of materials, not quite from the atom up but from the nanoscale or microscale up. And there are cases where we more or less abstract or coarse grain those link scales and focus on macroscale properties. TROND: Well, and then you also focus quite a bit on teaching. I noticed that you actually launched the first massive online course on manufacturing processes, and hopefully, we'll get to this a little bit as well. JOHN: Sure. TROND: But teaching and basically working on the next generation of manufacturers, whether they be the engineers or really anybody else, has certainly been one of the big challenges in manufacturing really forever. What is it that fascinates you so much about teaching this to a grander audience than the usual university audience? JOHN: Well, first, I'll say I believe that the top priority of universities, including in the area of manufacturing, is to educate future leaders and engineers. That said, the number of people we educate on our campus is a small fraction of those who could really benefit from what we teach and the way we teach. And that's not just geographically, but it's also in terms of their role in the workforce. So I believe manufacturing education should address all levels of the workforce. And to get at your question more directly, when I came to MIT, I was asked to take over our core undergraduate manufacturing class in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. And as I learned to teach the class for myself, I was intrigued by this emerging trend of digital learning, and this was 2015, 2016. And I was able to get some funding from MIT internally to create an online version of the course that would be offered free to the world, and probably 100,000 People have taken it so far. And it's been a great experience and evidence of how there is very broad interest in manufacturing really across the world. TROND: 100,000 people have taken this course. JOHN: Yeah. Well, I'll say 100,000 people have signed up for the course. This is the classic trade-off with online courses. It doesn't mean 100,000 people complete the course. It means that number signs up and hopefully took something away from it. It also speaks to the flexibility. You can sign up for a course and maybe just listen to one lecture, but if you take something valuable away from it, that's great. TROND: So I wanted to talk a little bit about how academia shapes manufacturing. And I know that there are, you know, you and I work at MIT, and you've had experiences obviously at University of Michigan. But there are other manufacturing centers and institutes all around the world. Could you lay out this landscape a little bit for us so that we get a sense of where the excellent centers of manufacturing are located? I mean, one structure, just to pick that, is manufacturing institutes, and I know that's sort of dear to your heart for a couple of different reasons that we'll get into. But what are some of the centers beyond MIT where there is activity that is organized in a way that really is something to focus on? JOHN: First, I think of in the U.S., Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Michigan, Stanford, places that have defined manufacturing centers or have a body of work that relates to manufacturing that I would say there's a critical mass of faculty, and students, and affiliation with industry. Also, Penn State in the area of additive manufacturing and product design. It's hard to be comprehensive. I don't want to forget anyone big, but that's a sample of some of the notable ones. Internationally, a lot of activity in Europe; I admire the University of Cambridge, the Institute for Manufacturing there, where manufacturing is more or less a department, or it's within the Department of Engineering, which is analogous to what we would say is a school or college of engineering here in the U.S. And they have a broad set of activities that have been there for decades focused on manufacturing at the IFM. TROND: And if you think about the best schools to get educated in this topic, is it necessarily only the top brands? I mean, certainly, they have different roles. So when it comes to undergrads or even shorter, or I guess even community colleges have a really fundamental role in the formation of this sector, can you talk a little bit about that? JOHN: Oh, for sure. When you think of manufacturing education, we must think of the full stack of institutions that educate the workforce, from vocational institutions to community colleges where the student's goal may just be to complete a vocational program or complete a two-year degree and then exit the workforce, all the way to the four-year degrees, advanced degrees, and executive education. And given how manufacturing is paramount in the workforce and the economy, we need to educate folks at all those levels. But by far, the largest number of people are at those vocational community college levels and then to the bachelor's level. So I have a Ph.D. I love to mentor Ph.D. students. But that's a small fraction of the manufacturing workforce. TROND: What about in the U.S. setting? There's something called the Manufacturing USA, and there are these institutes that have sponsorship from various government agencies, most of them through the Department of Defense. But there's also a bunch at the Department of Energy and one, I guess, from the Department of Commerce. What is the role of basically government-sponsored sort of research and innovation activities in this field? It would strike me, I guess, that historically, it's quite important. JOHN: Certainly. You're alluding to the manufacturing innovation institutes, the MIIs that were started during President Obama's administration. Actually, MIT's work, the Production in the Innovation Economy study, and the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, which emerged from that, was key in scoping the MIIs, and now there are 16 or so around the country. It's one example of public-private partnership. Public-private partnership is key to cultivating interest in manufacturing and also providing resources for technology translation and commercialization. I think the MIIs have had a great impact on awareness of manufacturing, on R&D, and really applied research in some critical technology areas. But it's only a small part of what we need to do to regrow and expand our industrial base in the U.S. TROND: So I want to move us shortly to MIT to discuss both your own research activity and how extensively you are now aiming to take a more organizing role to kind of get more out of all of the exciting work that's happening at MIT. But before that, I just spotted perhaps an older project of yours that I thought was extremely cool. You were once called a nanoartist, and you had this NanoArt Nanobliss gallery with visualizations. You previously mentioned Obama. I believe you made a NanoArt structure called Nanobama or something of that sort. How did this come about? And, again, I mean, I'm guessing this just sort of testifies to your interest in science communication as much as in the depths of science, which we'll get into in a moment. JOHN: You got it. The inspiration was how do we communicate what we're doing in the lab to broader audiences just to make them aware of what's happening in new technology, new materials? In that case, it was nanotechnology. If you don't mind, I'll tell you a bit more of the story. When I was an assistant professor at Michigan, we were doing a lot of work on carbon nanotube manufacturing, which was a follow-on from my graduate work at MIT. And I admired President Obama, or he was a presidential candidate at that time. And without implying a political inclination, I somehow put together the words nano and Obama in my mind. TROND: [laughs] JOHN: And I said, wow, it would be cool to have a Nanobama. So one thing led to another, and I actually worked with some students in my group to fabricate these little portraits out of carbon nanotubes representing Shepard Fairey's portrait of Obama that was used widely during that first presidential campaign. And I just posted it online, I think one day after the election, and it took off. It went viral, so to say, and was featured as Nature's Image of the Year. It was printed on the newspapers you used to get as you walk onto the subway in the morning around the world. There was a company that would syndicate this stuff, and they just sent it around. So it got a lot of attention. And it showed me the power of an image in communicating something. And, of course, President Obama, that was a historic election. The play on words was exciting, and also the fact that it was a little bit intriguing science and technology that was nano was interesting. And one more thing, a colleague of mine at Michigan then was working in the White House, and he said, "Hey, can you send us a Nanobama?" So I made this frame with a little piece of the real material, and a picture of it from the microscope sent it to Washington. I didn't hear anything about it until I got a call from the White House asking me to declare the value for the President's tax return because he decided to keep it; I kid you not. And then, after Obama left office, I was with my family at a bookstore in Wellesley, and I saw the book, the retrospective book of Pete Souza, the White House photographer. And I opened up the book, and I see a picture of Obama and John Boehner in the Oval Office in the middle of this book. And right on the doorframe is the Nanobama. So it actually made it to the White House, which was a pretty awesome feeling. TROND: It must be an awesome feeling, and, again, I think that, especially in this field of manufacturing which is so challenged at times, right? And people are talking about how these factories are greedy, or is this a great job, or whatnot. And there have been all of these historical moments. But then there is also this fascination around the topic of certainly of technologies and the excitement around it. Why don't we continue a little bit on this strand before we get into sort of the overall role of MIT? I'm really curious about how your research has evolved. So generally, I get that you're combining these nanostructures with manufacturing and materials research, and certainly, you have applied it to additive manufacturing. How would you say that your research has evolved over these years? What are the things that you have been doing? I've picked up on a few things that I definitely wanted to cover. I mean, certainly, you've been working on this industrialization of 3D printing, both as a research area and as a commercial area. Carbon nanotubes must have been kind of where you started. I'm curious where that work is going. And then I saw that very recently, with a student, you've been doing some work that I'm personally very enthused about, which is a plant-derived composite that might replace, hopefully, plastics with sort of a hardness and stiffness that is somewhere at the boundary between conventional plastics and metals. I mean, for me, I don't quite see how all of these things are intimately connected. Where do you go for, you know, where's my next proposal here, and where's my next patent? JOHN: They aren't necessarily closely connected. But I like to say that the themes are typically one or more of materials, manufacturing, and mechanical systems or automation. And what I love about manufacturing, especially in the materials domain, is to control a process, to understand a process, and then to do something new, you need to investigate its fundamentals. And sometimes, you need to design a new instrument or machine to get the job done. So our work is often problem-inspired or opportunity-inspired. Like, the cellulose work that you mentioned recently was actually sponsored by a large consumer products company interested in a more sustainable composite material that could be used in packaging. And we looked at potential routes to formulating different materials, and we landed on cellulose. And then, we developed a formulation, a mixture of cellulose nanocrystals and polymers that ended up having exciting mechanical properties, particularly very high hardness, and toughness, more so than existing polymers. And another unifying theme is scalability. It's important not to worry too much about scalability in the early stage of research, and there's lots of amazing research that's just for science. But we like to do things that we hope will be scalable one day, so choosing ingredients that would be cost-effective or using techniques that could be industrialized, even if the techniques look very different in the lab. And maybe I've lacked to give a precise definition or focus, but I think it's also indicative of the broad span of manufacturing. And manufacturing has many, many dimensions beyond the ones that we work on in my lab at MIT. TROND: Well, you kind of answered a question that I was going to ask, too, which is it doesn't seem like you start in a linear fashion, you know, in other words, you start with some sort of basic problem that everybody in their literature has established and then you move to this, that, or the other. Sometimes it comes from a company. The challenge comes from a company, but you formulate the solution completely. It seems to me that students also have lots of ideas and kind of formulate projects. Talk to me a little bit about this process of where the problem comes from versus where the solution and impact comes from because you seem to...sometimes the output truly is just, you know, like, in this case, art or a physical prototype, and you're sort of happy with that outcome. Other times, you're actually delivering something into, presumably, eventually, an assembly line. JOHN: Yeah. And we work as hard as we can on technology translation, both in terms of the knowledge that we publish but also in terms of the steps that we take to spin technology out. You're right; the early stage is very important. And I like to often see the early stage as a collaboration between myself and the researchers. And in many cases, the core idea we end up pursuing comes largely from the research or the research team. In many cases, it might be seeded by the interest of a sponsor or an idea I have, and then we work together on actually figuring out what's the approach, what are the outcomes, and what's the path to success. MID-ROLL AD: In the new book from Wiley, Augmented Lean: A Human-Centric Framework for Managing Frontline Operations, serial startup founder Dr. Natan Linder and futurist podcaster Dr. Trond Arne Undheim deliver an urgent and incisive exploration of when, how, and why to augment your workforce with technology, and how to do it in a way that scales, maintains innovation, and allows the organization to thrive. The key thing is to prioritize humans over machines. Here's what Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, says about the book: "Augmented Lean is an important puzzle piece in the fourth industrial revolution." Find out more on www.augmentedlean.com, and pick up the book in a bookstore near you. TROND: You have commercialized at least two ventures together with others at MIT and external people as well that I know about for sure. I wanted to just briefly mention both Desktop Metal and VulcanForms. Let's perhaps cover Desktop Metal first, so that's a 3D printing company. Tell me how that got started and what your role was there. JOHN: So I was very fortunate to be a member of the founding team of Desktop Metal. So there were seven co-founders, and we launched the company in early fall of 2015. And Ric Fulop, who's the lead founder and CEO, approached me at that time, and he heard that I was interested in working on 3D printing and, of course, knew a bit about my background in manufacturing and machine design and asked me to jump on board. And funny story, how just connections persist over the years; I actually knew Ric when I was a grad student because I was doing my carbon nanotube work using the space of now my colleague, Yet-Ming Chiang. And at that time, Yet and Ric were launching A123 Systems, a successful battery company. So that was a reason why I think Ric knew to get in touch with me when he heard about me. And serendipity was a great experience. TROND: Serendipity when you are in the right places, right? If you're hanging around Yet-Ming Chang, yeah, that's right, very special serendipity. Tell me a little bit about VulcanForms. Until very recently, you couldn't talk so much about it. Nowadays, you did go out in New York Times. I've read that piece. So there is a little bit more detail around it. Let me ask a very basic and perhaps dumb question, large-scale metal 3D printing, what's the big deal there? I thought didn't Desktop Metal do 3D printing? So it's kind of a dumb question. Why is there a second company? Is there really such a variety? I think that the regular person just thinks 3D printing is 3D printing. JOHN: 3D printing is a broad and deep subject. Like, first of all, 3D printing processes exist for polymers, for metals, for many other materials. And there are even several 3D printing technologies for metals. I'll tell the origin story for VulcanForms quickly if that's okay, and then get back to the question. So when I came to MIT as faculty in 2013, I had been a professor at Michigan for a few years. And I landed, and one of the topics I thought of looking into was 3D printing. I was actually asked by a colleague to teach a class not on 3D printing, but I was able to propose the topic. And in that class, there were many incredible students. One of them, named Martin, stuck around at MIT after finishing his master's in manufacturing, and we ended up comparing notes and launching VulcanForms in 2015, a little bit before Desktop Metal came to be, but not that long before. And we stayed quiet for seven years. We raised our seed round a couple of years ago. And the focus of the company is number one, laser-based metal additive manufacturing. And second, while we've built our own additive technology, we're a manufacturing company. So we produce parts at scale, and that is a real need and has been a barrier to growth of the additive industry. There's so much interest and uptake in additive. But the ability to achieve high-quality production using additive as the formative step in the process at scale has largely been untouched. So from the early days, we thought that we could approach the market with that plan to become a manufacturing company. TROND: Staying quiet for seven years that can't have been [laughs] particularly easy. JOHN: Yeah, it's not easy, but it's very, very worth it because we got to focus. And also, there are different boundary conditions that allow you to keep your head down and get work done, and one of them is having great and patient investors who believe in your approach and who see the progress behind the curtain. And as a result, we felt we would hold off launch. And we were fortunate to get picked up by the New York Times earlier this summer. And now we're excited to talk about what we do. TROND: Yeah, that article did hint a little bit at what your printers can print that others cannot and kind of at what scale. Can you give some examples of the kinds of things that you are now contracted to print or are perhaps already printing? JOHN: So the company is focused on a variety of industries, generally industries where high-value metal parts are difficult to manufacture and where there is a real pent-up need for more agile, high-value manufacturing medical devices such as medical implants, semiconductor components, not microchips but cooling devices for various computer systems. We have a lot of business in the aerospace and defense area, working with several of the defense primes, both on additive parts and on machining, honestly. The company, as described in the New York Times article, we acquired a machine shop in Newburyport, Massachusetts, earlier this year. And that was twofold, one because in order to deliver finished parts, you need to often integrate additive with machining. So it's not just 3D printing; it's building a stack of software and physical processes to create a finished part. Second, advanced machining is also a digital manufacturing technology, and as a company, we're very interested in applying our capabilities as a digital manufacturing organization to the area of CNC machining as well. TROND: So, taking that experience then from these two companies and your vast interest and research area plus your interest in communication, what is it that you're now focused on at MIT more largely? That's another kind of secret that's slowly being let out. But you have had this notion and have shared this with me and others, obviously. There was a seminar open to whoever was invited, I think, but not a full public launch. Manufacturing at MIT has historically been quite important, but you think that there's even more, to be done. You lined up a couple of the projects, but there are many more things that MIT has done. Could you maybe just briefly address the role of MIT historically in influencing manufacturing? And what else is it that you now want to accomplish? JOHN: Yeah, for sure. And since I came to MIT nine years ago, I've learned of the incredibly rich history that the institute has in manufacturing, both on the technology side, you know, in the mid-1950s, building among the first CNC machines, ultimately transformed commercial aviation in 1980 building one of the first 3D printers in the world, and so on. But not only that, but also, historic accomplishments in the social sciences, understanding the globalization of manufacturing, you know, what delineated the U.S. versus the Japanese auto industry in the 1980s. What is the intrinsic role of manufacturing in innovation, the production, and innovation economy led by my colleague Suzanne Berger in around 2010. And then broader than manufacturing, though, the work of the future study just a couple of years ago looking at the connection between technology and work. So looking at all those accomplishments and understanding the present moment that we're in, which I can also reflect on later, I've been exploring how to create a new presence for manufacturing at MIT. And the term manufacturing at MIT is more or less a placeholder representing the community of faculty and students across disciplines, both technology and social sciences, that touch on all the dimensions of manufacturing. So as we've returned from Zoom life to more in-person life, I've been making my way around campus and building a team of folks, faculty advisors, external advisors, industry partners, and so on to hopefully put forward a new center at MIT that has a focus on manufacturing across the disciplines. And this is not to replace existing activities but just to augment those activities and bring industry together with us to support research, to lean deeply into workforce training programs, to collaborate with public organizations at the state and federal level and internationally, and also hope to cultivate more entrepreneurship. Because my experience, fortunate experience as an entrepreneur over the past several years tells me that there's opportunity for more new companies that contribute to the future of manufacturing, whether they're manufacturing companies actually making stuff, whether they be software and services companies. Or perhaps the biggest need is hardware companies for whom manufacturing is a route to success. So you may not be manufacturing something yourself, or you may not be manufacturing goods for others, but understanding manufacturing and scaling a process is really key. And that intellectual DNA of manufacturing is more cross-disciplinary than ever. And I've observed over my nine years at MIT how there's just more engagement in manufacturing as a discipline, as this cross-disciplinary theme. And that's an area where I feel such a center can really play a role by adding something to the intellectual community across the institute. TROND: There are so many things that come to mind when you produce this narrative because, I guess, on the one hand, manufacturing is a little bit of everything. On the other hand, it is clearly very delineated because it's all about making things and making them at scale. And there's a whole industry, but, of course, every industry almost has a manufacturing arm. How do you delineate the subject of manufacturing? And I'm sort of curious, you know, at MIT, if you use a broad church definition, almost everybody there contributes to manufacturing. So that would be both a challenge and an opportunity, I guess. JOHN: Yeah, you're exactly right. So, first, within MIT, we have many collaborations with different departments and other research centers. And the nature of the collaboration depends on what the focus is. Second, when it comes to interfacing with industry, I've come to look at industry as kind of a grid where you could say the columns are the end users, say, aviation and space or consumer or construction. And then, the horizontal lines in the grid are technologies, robotics and automation, 3D printing, software and IT, et cetera. And getting a little bit in the weeds of the organization here, so first, we're working on launching a flagship industry consortium, or we're recruiting flagship industry partners for a new center. And those will be companies, world-leading manufacturing companies across the grid. Second, we will operate consortia in different technology in industry areas that may be located within our center that may be in collaboration with others around MIT to really drive focus. And when industry comes and interacts with us, I want them to understand how their business fits into the broader spectrum. And we find particularly in the work related to 3D printing that companies appreciate being connected with peers across the value chain. They say 3D printing is materials at the frontend and finished parts at the backend, and there are some machines and software, and so on. When you bring companies together across their value chain, across their supply chain, under the umbrella of an academic organization with this sort of problem-solving mindset, we find that that can be valuable to the companies that we partner with. TROND: And, John, there's obviously a scale at MIT that's hard to replicate for any university or school just because there are so many people involved in technical innovation. But on the other hand, I would say there has been a sense that other sectors if you could call them that, have always been moving much faster than manufacturing. And, you know, okay, fine, there are industrial revolutions, but the ones we talk about now as industrial revolutions are more, you know, they are maybe on the software side and stuff, but that the core of manufacturing it may be because of its inherent nature. It's complex; it's about physical infrastructure, at least a lot of it still. So it's hard to innovate in that sector. Would you say that one of the ambitions you have with this manufacturing at MIT initiative is to speed up that innovation? And if so, what are the mechanisms that would bring manufacturing as a whole, I guess, on an even faster sort of clip? JOHN: First, if I look within MIT, we see the opportunity to combine the physical side, the mechanical engineering, the material science, with the digital side, with software, and controls, and computation. And that's an area where it's clear that new technologies can be de-risked, can be scaled more quickly. And it really requires this symbiosis of the physical processes and the digital intelligence. Second, I think we can do better research. I can do better research by understanding where the big problems and opportunities are. And by connecting closely with industry, forming networks with various stakeholders, we can define better problems that we can ask our students to solve. And third, I've noticed, especially over the past year with all the geopolitical discussions and the imperative for sustainability, that we're at a time where there's this alignment between industry and government and the investment community and manufacturing, physical manufacturing, physical industry is vital. We can't do enough there to catch up, to grow. And I think that's a real opportune moment to recognize that while I think the pendulum has swung to the digital world and software over the past 10, 20 years, life has changed for the better in so many ways. We have to focus on the physical world now, especially to address the climate crisis, and also think of how we can improve economic equality across our communities, how we can provide better job opportunities, how we can deliver education to individuals who don't have the opportunity to go to university or don't have the resources to travel, all those things. So that's another reason why, one, I see manufacturing as this rich, cross-disciplinary topic that I can file a patent and write some exciting papers and graduate with a Ph.D., but it means so much more to feel technology at scale. And second, you need the intersection of these disciplines to understand not just technology but organizations and human dynamics to create change and create positive impact. TROND: So I realized that we're going to have to cover... there are so many other questions I have for you is what I'm trying to say here. But my last question in this round, I think, is going to be one on...we briefly mentioned, or you briefly talked about augmentation. And you know that I have a special interest; obviously, the topic of the podcast and the title is augmentation. So there is something here about the tension, perhaps between augmentation and automation. How do you see that tension or the relationship between working from the human-centric perspective that technologies are in service to perhaps augment people and processes versus this automation perspective which maybe takes, and I'm paraphrasing here, a little bit more of an efficiency approach and tries to go for machine scale first and then just adjust everything later? How do you see those two things now, as perhaps, you know, manufacturing is coming into another kind of growth moment? JOHN: If I understood you correctly, I don't think they're mutually exclusive, right? Certainly -- TROND: No. Not necessarily. Not necessarily. JOHN: Certainly, manufacturing will become more automated in places where automation makes sense. Certainly, automation is challenging to implement to scale, to get right. But in some cases, the driver to more efficient technology-first manufacturing is automation. In other cases, and hand in hand with that, human workers and businesses, organizations can only become more effective and efficient, working in synergy with data and automation. I'll use the example of someone overseeing a 3D printer, a state-of-the-art 3D printer, and watching the screens to make sure everything is going well and doing a better job by being presented with information that shows, hey, this might be a problem, or there are no problems here, but being empowered to make that data-driven decision. And also, from my work outside of MIT, we find that folks who do best operating that advanced equipment with digital data might have a machining background. They might also have a passion for gaming on the side. So they might be used to sensing and responding to dynamic digital events. And that's another comment on skills evolving in the workforce too. TROND: Well, I mean, one thing that is for certain is that if MIT gets its act together on manufacturing, things will happen. I trust that we're going to have to come back and talk about a lot of emerging projects here in the coming years if you get people lined up. So very exciting. Thank you for speaking to me. Is there sort of a challenge that you want out there to the community when it comes to how, you know, not just academics can contribute to shaping manufacturing but how we all should think of these manufacturing challenges? Is it something that we should leave to experts right now because it's so complicated? Or are there ways that the broader interested public can get engaged in this problem? Is it possible to engage, and where should one engage? JOHN: That's a great question. First, to the general public, I'd say stop and think about what manufacturing means to you, or find one of your favorite things and look up how it's manufactured. Imagine the life, the journey of the product as it comes to your door. And second, I'd say the area where most of us can make an impact is in education and learning and contributing to our communities. Perhaps if you're an engineer working somewhere, you might want to teach at a community college one night a week if you have time in a future semester or explore ways that you can bring new knowledge, new technology to your organization if it makes sense. TROND: Exciting challenges. Thank you so much for sharing a little bit of what you're up to with us, John. JOHN: Thank you, Trond. TROND: You have just listened to another episode of the Augmented Podcast with host Trond Arne Undheim. The topic was How Academia Shapes Manufacturing. Our guest was John Hart, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director at the Center for Advanced Production Technologies at MIT. In this conversation, we talk about John's research on micro and nanotechnology and material science, which universities and colleges that teach manufacturing, the role of MIT in this ecosystem, and why now is a key moment in manufacturing history. My takeaway is that there has never been a more interesting time to be in manufacturing or to watch manufacturing. The tremendous breakthroughs that we are about to witness have been made possible by a confluence of emerging technologies and startup innovations, as well as a growing awareness of the importance of building human-centric technologies. We are indeed at a crossroads with profound challenges in the growing talent shortage, the need for workforce training, an aging industrial base, and the demands for manufacturing competency from the wider innovation ecosystem. We have to make progress fast, and innovations are just maturing to be able to do so at the scale and pace required. It will, again, be amazing to watch the manufacturing industry. Parts of it will perhaps, again, become the industry of industries. Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, subscribe at augmentedpodcast.co or in your preferred podcast player, and rate us with five stars. If you liked this episode, you might also like Episode 92 on Emerging Interfaces for Human Augmentation. Hopefully, you'll find something awesome in these or in other episodes, and if so, do let us know by messaging us. We would love to share your thoughts with other listeners. The Augmented Podcast is created in association with Tulip, the frontline operation platform that connects the people, machines, devices, and systems used in a production or a logistics process in a physical location. Tulip is democratizing technology and empowering those closest to operations to solve problems. Tulip is also hiring, and you can find Tulip at tulip.co. To find us on social media is easy; we are Augmented Pod on LinkedIn and Twitter and Augmented Podcast on Facebook and YouTube. Augmented — industrial conversations that matter. See you next time. Special Guest: John Hart.

Today's guest is Mujeeb Ijaz, Founder and CEO of ONE. Widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) not only face technical challenges, but also psychological barriers that consumers need to overcome. ONE has the audacious goal to design a battery that can double the range of EVs while using sustainable and safe materials, avoiding nickel and cobalt in particular. The company is also working to develop and localize raw material supply chains to bring down costs associated with this clean energy solution. In today's episode, we cover: Mujeeb's background in EVs and battery innovation at Ford, A123 Systems, and AppleBattery range anxiety and its impact on widespread adoptionONE's solution to double the range of EV batteries to 600 milesDensity of charger networks and the implications for EV driversPredictions for the used market for EVsImpact of local driving conditions on EV range and comparisons to ICE vehiclesImpacts of location and climate on battery rangeONE's latest accomplishments, including their partnership with BMWThe company's two types of batteries: Gemini and AriesDifferences between battery chemistries like lithium ion, manganese, and nickel cobaltHow ONE avoids nickel and cobalt in their batteriesThe predictability of commercial fleets like package delivery trucks and busesCost structures associated with different battery chemistriesONE's go-to-market roadmap and funding to dateGaps in talent and training for battery manufacturingONE's focus on sourcing the right talent and workforce development effortsEnjoy the show!You can find me on Twitter @codysimms (me), @mcjpod (podcast) or @mcjcollective (company). You can reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded July 11, 2022.

 Show #1331 If you get any value from this podcast please consider supporting my work on Patreon. Plus all Patreon supporters get their own unique ad-free podcast feed. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Wednesday 5th January. It's Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to. Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they've built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It's a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too. Welcome to a new Patreon Executive Producer ROBBIENY. BMW IX M60 REVEALED – 619BHP FLAGSHIP TO RIVAL AUDI E-TRON S - The striking new BMW iX SUV has just been given a high performance flagship in the form of the new M60 range-topper. This bold high performance electric SUV will rival Audi's e-Tron S and Tesla's Model X, while also giving the M Performance sub-brand a second model. - M60 utilises two electric motors with one placed on each axle, but power is raised from the most potent iX 50i's 523bhp to a more robust 619bhp. - Feeding these more potent electric motors is the same 105.2kWh battery pack, giving the M60 a 357-mile range – only slightly down on the lesser iX and way above the Audi e-Tron S's problematic 222-mile quoted range. - The new iX M60 does lack the Audi's tri-motor setup though, explaining why something akin to the Audi's rear axle torque vectoring is missing. - The iX in all forms t hen doubles down on this advantage with an application of carbonfibre reinforced plastics along the roof rails, sills and rear subframe. - That huge weight figure doesn't do much to hurt the M60's acceleration time, mind, hitting 62mph in just 3.9sec, over half a second clear of the Audi – the top speed is limited to 155mph. - Customer cars are expected to be delivered in the summer, with prices starting at £111,905 in the UK Original Source : https://www.evo.co.uk/bmw/204466/bmw-ix-m60-revealed-619bhp-flagship-to-rival-audi-e-tron-s BMW IX M60 STARTS AT €130,200 - BMW specifies torque of 1,015 Nm in Sport Mode, and 1,100 Nm when Launch Control is activated. - The fifth generation of BMW electric drives are current-excited synchronous motors. In addition to efficiency, BMW emphasises that these motors have a consistent power delivery - The high-voltage battery achieves a gross energy content of 111.5 kWh, the same as in the familiar iX xDrive50. The AC charging capacity is 11 kW, with direct current up to 200 kW is possible Original Source : https://www.electrive.com/2022/01/05/bmw-ix-m60-starts-at-e130200/ CHRYSLER PREVIEWS ITS ALL-ELECTRIC FUTURE WITH AIRFLOW CONCEPT SUV - Chrysler, the iconic American brand owned by Stellantis, will only sell electric vehicles by 2028, the company announced at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show. - the company revealed its latest concept, the Airflow crossover SUV with a similar profile to the Tesla Model Y and Ford Mustang Mach-E. The vehicle unveiled at CES is meant to be just a concept, but it looks very close to production-ready. Chrysler says its first EV will start production in 2025. - Stellantis, the multi-national conglomeration that formed last year when Fiat Chrysler merged with the French PSA Group, intends for Chrysler to serve as the tip of the spear for its electrification strategy. - The concept Airflow comes with all-wheel drive thanks to two 150kW motors, one in each axle. However, the drivetrain can be adjusted to accommodate more powerful motors in the future, Chrysler says. The company didn't provide details on the battery's size or energy capacity, but it did estimate a range of 350-400 miles per charge. - Inside, the vehicle is chock-a-block with screens: four in the front and two for rear passengers. The large central infotainment screen is flanked by smaller screens for the driver and passenger. The instrument cluster screen is set back a ways from the steering wheel, closer to the windshield than the dashboard, making it seem almost like a heads-up display. An additional screen sits below the main infotainment screen for HVAC controls and seating adjustments, among other features. And there are two screens on the seatbacks for rear passengers. Original Source : https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/5/22862387/chrysler-electric-only-2028-airflow-concept-ces-2022 SONY SHOWS OFF SUV, WILL EXPLORE BUILDING ELECTRIC CARS AS ‘SONY MOBILITY INC' - At CES in Las Vegas this evening, Sony's Chairman, President and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida showed off a brand new prototype of its Vision S concept electric car, and announced that the Sony Group is starting a new division — the Sony Mobility Inc – which will start commercializing its electric vehicles. - On the CES stage during the Sony press conference, the company showed off its existing Sony Vision-S sedan, which was revealed at CES last year. This year, it also flexed a new model in the lineup, the Sony Vision-S SUV prototype. - Sony announced that it was establishing a new company (Sony Mobility Inc.) to accelerate the efforts of “exploring the commercial launch of Sony's EV” — hinting that a Sony car may be coming to a lot near you in the none-too-distant future. Original Source : https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/04/sony-mobility/ TESLA RIVAL LUCID PLANS TO LAUNCH IN EUROPE THIS YEAR - Lucid plans to start selling its cars in Europe this year. - The California-headquartered firm, which competes with Tesla, announced the expansion on Tuesday after a Twitter user asked if an image of some new Lucid owners were based in the U.K. - In January 2020, Lucid started taking online reservations in 15 European countries for its flagship Lucid Air sedan but the firm has not specified when the vehicles will be delivered. - Locations included Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Original Source : https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/05/-tesla-rival-lucid-plans-to-launch-in-europe-this-year.html TESLA MODEL S GOES 752 MILES WITH A STARTUP'S PROTOTYPE BATTERY - Imagine an electric car that covers 752 miles on a single charge. You can't buy it today, but a modified Tesla Model S drove that distance across Michigan last month. It was the work of a two-year-old Michigan startup, Our Next Energy (ONE), which says it is aiming to make safer and more sustainable batteries. ONE retrofitted the car with a battery holding twice the energy of Tesla's original—while fitting entirely within the same space. It's a proof of concept for the company's own future battery design. - ONE's project didn't mess with anything to alter the Model S's efficiency, but employed a much higher-capacity battery. "We want to accelerate the adoption of EVs by eliminating range anxiety, which holds back consumers today," said ONE founder and CEO Mujeeb Ijaz. He's a battery engineer with more than 30 years'  experience, including stints at Apple, A123 Systems, Ford, and others. - The original Tesla battery had a capacity of 103.9 kilowatt-hours, while the prototype ONE battery that replaced it in the same space has 207.3 kWh. - ONE's drive took place in mid-December in Michigan—with chilly winter temperatures working against range maximization—where the company drove up and down the length of the mitten state for nearly 14 hours, averaging 55 mph, before winding up back at its Novi headquarters in southeastern Michigan with the trip odometer showing 752.2 miles. - The capacity of more than 200 kilowatt-hours was provided by high-energy cobalt-nickel cells Original Source : https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38668912/750-mile-ev-battery-michigan-startup-our-next-energy/ TESLA MODEL S PLAID TOP SPEED RAISED TO 175 MPH WITH TRACK MODE UPDATE Original Source : https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-s-plaid-new-top-speed-track-mode-update-video/ A NEW TESLA MODEL X WON'T BE AVAILABLE UNTIL LATE 2022 Original Source : https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/no-tesla-model-x-availability-for-months.html GAC AION LX PLUS LAUNCHED WITH 144KWH BATTERY Original Source : https://carnewschina.com/2022/01/06/gac-aion-lx-plus-with-1000km-range-launch-on-jan-6/ GM DELIVERED ONLY 26 EVS IN Q4 2021, INCLUDING JUST 1 ELECTRIC HUMMER   Original Source : https://insideevs.com/news/558804/gm-delivered-26-evs-2021q4/ QUESTION OF THE WEEK WITH EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM This question was suggested by Joshua Pritt: “If you live in an apartment or condo or otherwise can't charge at home, how do you charge? Is it a terrible inconvenience or do you have a simple routine to charge during your shopping trips?” Email me your answer now: hello@evnewsdaily.com It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast. And  if you have an Amazon Echo, download our Alexa Skill, search for EV News Daily and add it as a flash briefing. Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, I'll catch you tomorrow and remember…there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid. PREMIUM PARTNERS PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE BRAD CROSBY PORSCHE OF THE VILLAGE CINCINNATI AUDI CINCINNATI EAST VOLVO CARS CINCINNATI EAST NATIONAL CAR CHARGING ON THE US MAINLAND AND ALOHA CHARGE IN HAWAII DEREK REILLY FROM THE EV REVIEW IRELAND YOUTUBE CHANNEL RICHARD AT RSEV.CO.UK – FOR BUYING AND SELLING EVS IN THE UK EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM

Ric Fulop is the Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Desktop Metal (NYSE: DM), a leader in mass production and turnkey additive manufacturing solutions. DM is changing the game in 3D printing with printers that can print a variety of metals, carbon fibers, wood composites, and more. The convo is short and fast-paced - Ric is a really busy guy. But its rife with a ton of advice to young entrepreneurs on how to pick a market problem to solve. Lessons learned from his previous company, A123 Systems, a battery company that also went public, yielded his repeated advice: High margins, recurring revenue, low account concentration. He also references Carlota Perez, an economist at LSE, whose work talks about technological breakthroughs and how they transition from installation to deployment phases. It's really valuable stuff. We also talk about how he formed A123 by licensing a technology from MIT, how he runs DM, and much more. Enjoy! More about Ric Prior to founding Desktop Metal in October 2015, Ric was a General Partner at North Bridge, a VC fund with $3 billion under management, for five years following a fifteen- year career as an entrepreneur. Ric is the founder of six technology companies, including A123 Systems, Boston's largest IPO in the past decade and one of the world's largest automotive lithium ion suppliers with revenue exceeding $500M in 2016. At North Bridge, Ric led the software and 3D investing practices and was an early stage investor and board member in Dyn (acquired by Oracle for $600 million), Onshape, MarkForged, Salsify, Lytro and Gridco. Ric is a former Board Member of the Electric Drive Transportation Association and holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School where he was a Sloan Fellow. More about Desktop Metal Founded in 2015 by leaders in advanced manufacturing, materials science, and robotics, the company is addressing the unmet challenges of speed, cost, and quality to make metal 3D printing an essential tool for engineers and manufacturers around the world. With solutions for every stage of the manufacturing process - from prototyping and pilot runs to mass production and aftermarket parts - we are reinventing the way engineering teams produce metal and composite parts across a wide range of applications and industries. Learn more about DM on their website and follow Ric on Twitter. Join the Bountiful community today and realize your power to save the world. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn if you haven't already.

Show #1251 If you get any value from this podcast please consider supporting my work on Patreon. Plus all Patreon supporters get their own unique ad-free podcast feed. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Friday 22nd October. It's Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to. Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they've built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It's a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too. TESLA SUPERCHARGING NETWORK TO TRIPLE Drew Baglino, Tesla's senior vice president of powertrain and battery engineering: "On the Supercharger side, the supercharging team monitors congestion and plans expansion to ensure customer experience with minimal wait times alongside the growth in our vehicle fleet. While we certainly have work to do in expanding capacity in some congested areas, average congestion on the network has decreased over the past 18 months. Nonetheless, we're not standing still. We are executing on accelerating expansion plans globally. The network has doubled in the last 18 months, and we are planning to triple it over the next two years. And even so on an individual-site basis to combat existing congestion more quickly where it is isolated and problematic, we expedite local relief sites, deploy mobile Superchargers, and we try to introduce pricing strategies that encourage more off-peak usage to avoid the waiting." There are 29,281 Superchargers and 3,254 locations worldwide. TESLA'S DRIVING DATA STORAGE SYSTEM HACKED BY DUTCH INVESTIGATORS "A team of Dutch forensic researchers have decrypted Tesla's data storage system, providing access to a trove of information that could be useful in crash investigations. (The news was first reported by Reuters.) It's no secret that Tesla records information about its customers' driving behavior, both to improve its advanced driver assistance system, Autopilot, and also in the event of a crash, to provide to investigators." says The Verge: "Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) discovered that Tesla's vehicles store far more detailed data than previously known, including speed, accelerator pedal position, steering wheel angle, and brake usage. Some of this data can be stored for up to a year, the institute said. The team was investigating a crash involving a Tesla with Autopilot in use that had rear-ended another vehicle after it braked unexpectedly. Rather than seek the data from Tesla, the Dutch investigators chose to “reverse engineer” the company's data logs in order to “objectively” assess them. The NFI said that even though Tesla has complied with data requests from the government in the past, the company also left out a lot of data that could have proven useful." Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/21/22738747/tesla-driving-data-hack-dutch-investigators-autopilot TESLA GIGA BERLIN FACES FURTHER DELAY OWING TO REGULATORY PROCEDURES "A regional environmental ministry in Germany will conduct a repeat online consultation with local citizens to review objections to Tesla's Berlin manufacturing facility, Reuters reported on Thursday." says Benzinga: "The repeat consultation will run from Nov. 2 to Nov. 22 and is open to those who expressed an objection in previous public consultation rounds but were not satisfied with the response from Tesla or the environmental ministry, as per Reuters. The agency is carrying out some consultations again to address concerns that the earlier process did not comply with regulations. There were also concerns that citizens were not given enough information that the consultation would be digital. Objections submitted in the previous round will still be valid. The fresh consultation could further delay the production start at the Gigafactory Berlin." Read more: https://www.benzinga.com/government/21/10/23500299/tesla-giga-berlin-faces-further-delay-owing-to-regulatory-procedures BMW TO SOURCE HYDROGEN-PRODUCED STEEL FROM H2 GREEN STEEL "With the potential that hydrogen-produced steel has in decarbonising the supply chain for car manufacturing, BMW Group has revealed that it will source green, hydrogen-produced steel from Swedish start-up H2 Green Steel." writes h2-view.com: "With the steel production facility set to be constructed in the province of Norrbotten, Northern Sweden and close to the Arctic Circle, H2 Green Steel employs hydrogen produced using green power to remove oxygen from the iron oxide. The direct reduction of the iron ore produces almost no carbon with water the emission and will be used in BMW's manufacturing operations from 2025. In addition to this, BMW and H2 Green Steel have also agreed to create a closed-loop material cycle. Raw materials can then be used multiple times in a circular economy to protect natural resources." Read more: https://www.h2-view.com/story/bmw-to-source-hydrogen-produced-steel-from-h2-green-steel/ TOYOTA EXEC: NOT EVERYONE SHOULD DRIVE A BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLE "Many people are passionate about climate change, but not everybody should drive a battery electric vehicle as a means to combat climate change, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) Chief Scientist Gill Pratt said on Thursday at the Reuters Events Automotive Summit. Pratt's comments, during a discussion on electric vehicles, appeared to amplify remarks made over the past year by Toyota President Akio Toyoda." reports Reuters: "Toyoda and other company officials have said that electric vehicles will play a greater role in reducing emissions, but other solutions should be used, Toyota's gasoline-electric hybrid models or hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles." Reuters adds: "Toyota was among major automakers that supported the Trump administration in its attempt to bar California from setting its own zero-emission requirements" Gill Pratt said: "It's not for us to predict which solution is the best." Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-exec-not-everyone-should-drive-battery-electric-vehicle-2021-10-21/ *AD BREAK* GM INAUGURATES NEW ULTIUM CENTER FACTORY IN CHINA "A few weeks after launching a marketing campaign for the Ultium platform in China, General Motors has just inaugurated the new Ultium Center factory in the city of Shanghai. The Ultium Center is qualified as a “super factory” that will produce entire battery systems and state-of-the-art motors for the automaker's upcoming fully electric vehicles in the Asian country." says GM Authority: "SAIC-GM, the US automaker's main joint venture in China, announced the start of operations at the new Ultium Center factory as a milestone for mass production of next-generation Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet electric vehicles. As such, it will become the main supplier of powertrains and battery packs for Ultium EV platform-based electric vehicles built in China." Read more: https://gmauthority.com/blog/2021/10/gm-inaugurates-new-ultium-center-factory-in-china/ VOLTIA TO PRODUCE ELECTRIC VANS IN 2022 BASED ON STELLANTIS PLATFORM "Electric vehicle conversion company Voltia has announced the launch of five new electric XL van models. The new 11-cubic metre vans are based on the Stellantis platform for Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Vauxhall and Toyota vehicles." reports electrive: "As with the well-known Voltia models based on the Nissan e-NV 200, the Slovakian specialist's conversions only affect the body, specifically the load compartment. While the Stellantis models and the Toyota are offered in three vehicle lengths (4.60 metres, 4.95 metres and 5.30 metres), Voltia uses only the 5.30-metre version. Voltia specifies a range of 280 kilometres for the large and 190 kilometres for the small battery. For the intended use, which is mainly in last-mile delivery, these values are sufficient. For AC charging, Voltia will offer both the 7.4 kW charger and the three-phase onboard charger with 11 kW." Read more: https://www.electrive.com/2021/10/21/voltia-to-produce-electric-vans-in-2022-based-on-stellantis-platform/ POLESTAR IS OFFERING TWO YEARS OF FREE DC-FAST CHARGING FROM ELECTRIFY AMERICA TO POLESTAR 2 DRIVERS "The free charging offer is being provided to all Polestar 2 owners, even those that have already purchased their vehicles or are still waiting to take delivery. Each free charging session will be good for 30 minutes, which is enough to provide a Polestar 2 with an optimal amount of charge when stopping on a long journey, according to Polestar. " reports FutureCar: "Drivers will be able to access the free charging offer through Electrify America's smartphone app using a unique enrollment code, from late October.  Existing Polestar 2 owners will receive a communication from the company containing their enrollment codes or can visit their local Polestar Space retail showroom to get one. New customers will begin their two-year free charging period upon delivery." Read more: https://www.futurecar.com/4945/Polestar-is-Offering-Two-Years-of-Free-DC-Fast-Charging-From-Electrify-America-to-Polestar-2-Drivers ARE RECYCLED EV BATTERIES AS GOOD A NEW ONES? "A new study by Professor Yan Wang and a research team from the US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), in partnership with battery company A123 Systems, has found that batteries with recycled cathodes are as good as, or even better than brand new ones." says The NExt Web: "The recycled material ended up having a more microscopic porous structure, which makes it easier for lithium ions to slip in and out. According to the research, the new structure produced some amazing results: the batteries displayed the same energy density to those made with commercial cathodes, and showed a longer life by a whopping 53%. This makes it difficult to argue that batteries with recycled cathodes will leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere, calling for road assistance." Read more: https://thenextweb.com/news/are-recycled-ev-batteries-as-good-a-new-yes-thousand-times-yes NEW QUESTION OF THE WEEK WITH EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM When buying a used electric car, how do you feel about servicing? Do you want the previous person to have been back to a dealer every year? Do you care? Some manufacturers like Tesla don't even have a service schedule so how do you feel about buying a used EV and it's service history, or lack of. Email me your thoughts and I'll read them out on Sunday – hello@evnewsdaily.com It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast. And  if you have an Amazon Echo, download our Alexa Skill, search for EV News Daily and add it as a flash briefing. Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, I'll catch you tomorrow and remember…there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid. PREMIUM PARTNERS PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE BRAD CROSBY PORSCHE OF THE VILLAGE CINCINNATI AUDI CINCINNATI EAST VOLVO CARS CINCINNATI EAST NATIONAL CAR CHARGING ON THE US MAINLAND AND ALOHA CHARGE IN HAWAII DEREK REILLY FROM THE EV REVIEW IRELAND YOUTUBE CHANNEL RICHARD AT RSEV.CO.UK – FOR BUYING AND SELLING EVS IN THE UK EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM/

Henrik Fisker was born in a small town in Denmark in the 1960s. He loved taking rides on Danish country roads with his father in the family's Saab 96 sedan. One day a Maserati blew past them and Henrik instantly discovered his life's passion: Cool cars. He first went to work for BMW where he designed the Z8 and later was recruited by Aston Martin to develop the DB9 and Vantage. In 2007, Henrik founded Fisker Automotive where he designed and developed the Fisker Karma, an electrified supercar. That company met trouble when its battery supplier, A123 Systems, went bankrupt. Today, Henrik is back, building a new company called Fisker Inc. His first product will be the Fisker Ocean, an all-electric SUV that will start deliveries in Q4 2022. In our Winning in Asia conversation,. Fisker talks about the Ocean SUV, manufacturing partnerships with Magna and Foxconn and what America needs to do to win the global electric vehicle race.#WinningInAsia / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Desktop Metal ha llegado a la categoría de "unicornio" (empresas con una valoración por encima del USD$1 Billón). Ric Fulop es un visionario de los negocios y un emprendedor en serie. Graduado de MIT, Ric tiene una carrera de emprendimiento y de inversiones exitosas por más de 15 años. Ric es fundador de 6 empresas de tecnología, incluyendo A123 Systems que fue el IPO más grande de la ciudad de Boston en los últimos diez años. Actualmente, Ric es el fundador y CEO de Desktop Metal, una empresa que está reinventando la forma como equipos diseñan y manufacturan partes de metal con una impresora 3D. Originario de Venezuela.

SHOW NOTES Doug Campbell is the President & CEO of Louisville, CO-based Solid Power, Inc. and Longmont, CO-based, Roccor, LLC.  For both companies, he leads corporate governance, strategic partner engagement, business development and fundraising. Both companies were recently recognized by both BizWest and ColoradoBiz Magazines as one of Colorado’s fastest growing and top companies in the areas of advanced technology and manufacturing.  Mr. Campbell is a well-known Colorado-based tech entrepreneur, specializing in bridging the gap between applied R&D and product commercialization.  He is particularly passionate about pursuing commercial opportunities within markets undergoing significant upheaval thereby opening opportunities for new products and suppliers.  He is particularly adept at leveraging new technologies from U.S. Universities and Federal Laboratories having thus far executed Licensing Agreements with the University of Colorado Boulder, Air Force Research Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has led Solid Power from a University of Colorado spin-out business into a leading developer of advanced battery systems in order to support the rapidly growing vehicle electrification market. Solid Power is currently working directly with multiple automotive OEMs for vehicle integration by the early 2020’s and also just recently announced an investment and partnership with A123 Systems, LLC, a leading cell supplier into the automotive market. For Roccor, he has led the company’s rapid growth from an early-stage R&D company into an industry-leading provider of deployable systems and thermal management solutions for the military and commercial satellite industries.  The company recently secured the industry’s largest ever deployable solar array procurement contract based on unit numbers for a commercial satellite constellation customer.  In addition, the company is supporting numerous satellite system development activities for military customers.  The company’s first spaceflight hardware demonstration occurred in Q3 2017 and the company currently has several systems scheduled for launch in late 2017 and extending into 2018 where it anticipates having greater than 15 individual systems on orbit by mid-2018. Listen and Learn: Why starting your own business is not for the faint of heart The importance of being humble in business Why ideas are cheap and it's all about execution How micromanaging will limit the growth of your business TO FIND DOUG ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SOLID POWER, INC, CLICK HERE. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ROCCOR, CLICK HERE.

Yanik talks about his experimenting with game development. Related Links FU: The developer iTunes connect snafu FU: Apple will fight iOS bugs with first-ever iOS Public Betas: 8.3 in March, 9 in summer | 9to5Mac FU: Revealed: The experts Apple hired to build an electric car | 9to5Mac FU: Apple Hairball? Ex-GM CEO Says Building Cars May Not Be Worth It - Bloomberg Business FU: Apple reportedly poached employees from A123 Systems to work on battery tech, now faces unfair competition lawsuit | 9to5Mac FU: Bloomberg: Apple planning to launch its own car by the year 2020 | 9to5Mac Wikipedia: ResEdit Wikipedia: QuickTime VR Wikipedia: TimeSplitters 2 cocos2d LÖVE - Free 2D Game Engine Lua's official site Wikipedia: Lua (programming language) Wikipedia: Prototype-based programming LÖVE Wiki: Game Distribution Useful modules: Donut, lovebird

A Chinese company bought battery maker A123 Systems, which is good news for one EV manufacturer. Japanese automakers are still having trouble in China due to anti-Japanese sentiment. Daimler AG is investing $100 million in its Detroit Diesel plant. All that and more, plus a look at Ford's 1.0 Liter 3-cylinder EcoBoost engine in the 2014 Fiesta.

Nissan hires the top car tester away from Consumer Reports. Engineers explain what has to be done to meet the new small off-set crash test devised by IIHS. We get a first look at the Toyota Auris, set to debut in Paris next month. All that and more, plus John responds to your questions and comments in this week's edition of You Said It!

The UAW in its latest attempt to unionize a foreign owned auto plant is targeting Nissan's U.S. factories. Reports are rolling in about legions of unsold cars in China, with factories and dealers reporting different numbers and extra inventory making up the difference. GM and DOW recently earned grants from the DOE for their work in die-casting and carbon fiber respectively. All that and more, plus a look at the Infiniti EX 35.

Mercedes-Benz is teasing its latest light-commercial vehicle, the Citan which is the first LCV to emerge from the Mercedes-Nissan-Renault alliance. Battery supplier A123 Systems admitted that its battery caused that embarrassing breakdown of the Fisker Karma when Consumer Reports was testing it. An executive from Japanese auto supplier Denso will serve a year in prison for his involvement in a price-fixing scheme. All that and more, plus an overview of Acura’s all-new sedan, the ILX.

As expected IHS Automotive downgraded their 2011 sales forecast for the auto industry, the question now is how will automakers respond? GM will be sourcing its batteries for future EV's from A123 Systems. Goodyear is researching tires that can inflate themselves while rolling along the road. All that and more, plus Peter De Lorenzo spreads his wisdom on management at Chrysler.