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PDI: Most American Are Considering EVs
PDI Technologies, a global leader delivering powerful solutions and insights that serve as the backbone of the convenience retail ecosystem, today new resources and insights to support adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the convenience industry. Key insights found that most Americans are considering buying or leasing an electric vehicle, but concern over battery charge duration and travel distance is inhibiting their decision to purchase.
Recent survey data from PDI Technologies revealed:
- Seventy percent of respondents are considering buying or leasing an electric vehicle, or already have an EV. With an increase in EV trends and adoption comes an increased need for adequate charging stations to keep up with demand. This creates an opportunity for the convenience industry to play a crucial role in facilitating the adoption of EVs by providing accessible charging infrastructure to assist EV drivers on their journeys.
- Forty-five percent of respondents state their biggest concerns about leasing or buying an EV are battery charge durations and travel distance, which opens the door for a solution-oriented response from the convenience industry. By serving as a resource for accessible and timely information, PDI aims to empower its customers to make strategic business decisions that enable them to lead the charge for EVs.
- Forty-one percent of respondents noted that affordability is the most important thing when finding an EV charging station, and 40% currently, or plan to, find charging locations for their EVs online.
In addition to insights into the energy transition, PDI today unveiled its new electric vehicle (EV) resource center to serve as a comprehensive outlet for stakeholders to discover how the convenience ecosystem is driving the energy transition toward EV and e-mobility adoption.
ABC & Quench to Provide Charging Without Grid
Advanced Battery Concepts, LLC (ABC), a Michigan-based energy storage technology company, and Quench EV Chargers announce a joint strategic collaboration to provide electric vehicle (EV) owners with reliable, fast and convenient charging, completely independent of traditional power grids.
The collaboration between Quench and ABC is timely and vital. The U.S. government predicts a need for 2.5 million EV charging sites by 2030. Many sources suggest that the U.S. electrical power grid cannot support a 28 percent annual growth rate from now to 2030.
“That’s a big concern”, says Michael Everett, ABC’s president. “ABC’s bipolar battery-based Energy Storage System (ESS) levels demand peaks and reduces costs to consumers in three ways. First, by sourcing in-coming electricity during lower-cost “off-peak” hours. Second, our ESS minimizes charging station time-of-use, because direct DC-to-DC (Direct Current) charging is faster and more efficient than (Alternating Current) AC-to-DC charging which is the current charging station ‘norm’. Third, there is a constant supply of energy to the charger. Faster charging provides lower per-visit time, cost and allows more EV’s per hour”, he added.
ABC’s ESS can receive, manage and store electric energy from every source—power grid, wind, solar or a combination. This broad input capability is of particular importance as concerns about the rising demand for energy is discussed. ABC’s storage system’s versatility is an important environmental benefit and one not missed by the Quench Charging team in their discussions with ABC.
At the core of this versatile system is a new and highly efficient bipolar battery breakthrough called the “EverGreenSeal™ Battery”. Bipolar batteries are widely respected for uniform electric current and overall power “density”. These batteries do not “steal” lithium resources away from the EV’s they intend to power. They don’t use lithium. Instead, these patented and highly efficient batteries rely on readily available, domestically-sourced materials, low-cost manufacturing and a unique structural design that allows for total recycling of active chemistry and battery case elements. Here again, Quench management, which is also concerned about the global environment, saw these factors as vital to the future of EV charging.
Lyten Lithium-Sulfur Batter Pilot
Lyten, Inc., pioneer of the Lyten 3D Graphene™ decarbonization supermaterials platform, is announced the commissioning of its Lithium-Sulfur battery pilot line during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held at its facility in Silicon Valley.
In response to strong customer demand, the Lithium-Sulfur pilot line will begin delivering commercial battery cells in 2023 to early adopting customers within the defense, automotive, logistics, and satellite sectors. Battery delivery will be used to support testing, qualification and initial commercialization across the sectors. Reservations for the remaining battery cells will be limited by the pilot line’s nameplate capacity of 200,000 cells per year.
The pilot line is housed within Lyten’s 145,000-square-foot Silicon Valley campus. The campus also includes Lyten’s 3D Graphene fab and its operations supporting the development of additional Lyten 3D Graphene applications. These include lightweight composites and revolutionary forms of chemical, resonant, and biological sensing solutions for transportation, aerospace, industrial, energy, and defense customers.
The Lyten battery pilot line will produce Lithium-Sulfur cells in a range of pouch and cylindrical form factors to support a variety of customer requirements and allow Lyten to further develop manufacturing equipment capabilities for scaled Lithium-Sulfur cell production. The pilot line will deliver cells that exceed conventional Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese (NMC) lithium-ion battery gravimetric energy densities.
“Lyten is taking a leadership role in helping to ramp up a domestic battery supply chain in America,” said Dan Cook, Lyten Co-Founder and CEO. “Meeting the electrification and net zero goals of our investors and customers, such as Stellantis and the Defense Innovation Unit, means delivering a higher energy density, lighter weight battery with a localized supply chain free of geopolitical risk. This is what we intend to deliver with our Lyten Lithium-Sulfur battery.”
Celina Mikolajczak, Lyten’s Chief Battery Technical Officer, added: “Lithium-Sulfur is the battery chemistry that has the potential to electrify everything. A projected 50 percent lower cost bill of materials compared to conventional lithium-ion chemistries will enable significantly lower-cost automotive battery packs, making an all-electric automotive fleet economically achievable. The high energy density of the chemistry will make it appealing for application in heavy vehicles such as delivery vans, trucks, buses, and construction equipment, as well as in aviation and satellites. The raw materials for this chemistry are abundant throughout North America favoring a domestic supply chain and domestic manufacturing, supporting a strong American electrification industry.”
The Pentagon’s National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) investment group has invested in Lyten in support of the government’s mission of advancing energy storage technologies in the United States. General Steve “Bucky” Butow, Director of the Space Portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit, is scheduled to speak at the ribbon cutting in support of the Department of Defense’s domestic battery agenda. Attendees at today’s ribbon cutting will also include representatives from U.S. National Labs, members of state and local government, the mayor of San Jose, Matt Mahan, and automotive OEMs and key suppliers.
Keith Norman, Lyten Chief Sustainability Officer, states “Lyten is making a battery with a lower carbon footprint using readily available materials sourced in North America. Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur battery uses no nickel, cobalt, or manganese (NMC), eliminating key environmental and ethical barriers to ramping up battery production to meet global demand. At scale, we target to produce the lowest carbon footprint EV battery on the market, more than 60 percent lower than best-in-class lithium-ion batteries and more than 40 percent below emerging solid-state batteries. For automakers to achieve their net zero commitments, we believe they will require a battery with a fundamentally lower carbon footprint and lighter weight, both features we are delivering with our Lithium-Sulfur battery.”
To meet the expected demand for Lithium-Sulfur batteries, Lyten is progressing engagements across multiple U.S. states to expand 3D Graphene production capacity and build its first Lithium-Sulfur cell gigafactory. Additionally, Lyten is securing domestic supply for its completely NMC-free battery materials, including low emissions natural gas, sulfur, and lithium.
IUC Banks on Banks
Invisible Urban Charging (“IUC”) announced that it has partnered with global leader in project development and management JLL (NYSE: JLL) to roll out and service large-scale banks of electric vehicle (“EV”) chargers worldwide.
Under the terms of the partnership, JLL will serve as IUC’s exclusive Project Management partner, providing a global installation capability through JLL’s network of electrical contractors, logistics, and signage partners, with all chargers connected to IUC’s proprietary core software platform to deploy and provide maintenance for large numbers of EV charger banks at heavily trafficked sites.
“To meet the growing need for better EV charging infrastructure, you need partners able to deliver globally with excellence and JLL has a proven track record of doing just that,” said Nigel Broomhall, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IUC. “We are also exceptionally proud that JLL understands the vision for IUC’s platform and approach that can help the world continue its path to electrification. Together, we will build on our success domestically and roll out large-scale deployments of chargers worldwide.”
“We are excited to partner with IUC to provide end-to-end solutions that will transform the spaces where people live and work by leveraging our global expertise and industry-leading technologies,” said Ken Demske, National Director, Multi-Site, Project and Development Services at JLL. “This partnership allows both companies to harness their combined power to work toward their shared goal of expanding the EV footprint worldwide and shaping a more sustainable future.”
The global partnership builds on several successful high-density deployments of EV chargers throughout the United States. Together, IUC and JLL have successfully deployed banks of chargers in Florida, Arizona, Illinois, and Georgia. Globally, JLL operates in 80 counties with 300 offices, which provides the necessary local presence to deliver logistical support and services at scale. In addition to partnering with JLL on deployment, IUC is also leveraging JLL’s research and sustainability teams to provide timely intelligence on opportunity sourcing based on local need, regulatory standards, and current and expected capacity.
By partnering with major property owners, IUC and JLL facilitate on-site EV charging at scale, helping meet the estimated demand for nearly 7 million chargers in the United States and Europe by 2030. Over the next 12-18 months, IUC plans to deploy more than 80,000 EV chargers across the United States and Europe.