SsangYong will debut its SIV-2 concept at the Geneva Motor Show. The SIV-2 – which stands for Smart Interface Vehicle – uses a 48-volt mild hybrid system with a turbocharged, 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine, 500-Wh battery pack and 10-kW electric motor. The Korean automaker says the modular SIV-2 platform can also accommodate plug-in hybrid and battery electric versions. Alongside the SIV-2, SsangYong will introduce a new Tivoli XLV crossover, based on the XLV Air concept, which is expected to offer competitive fuel economy. Read more at Green Car Reports.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is receiving a $1 million contract from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) to make recycled plug-in hybrid batteries. The 50-percent cost-share contract will help Worcester Polytechnic scale up its recycling process to make batteries using recycled cathode material. The process, which USABC calls “novel and efficient,” will make the batteries less costly than ones made with all-new material, “thereby offering a value-driven path towards improved sustainability.” United States Council for Automotive Research executive director Steve Zimmer says, “These programs are critical to advancing the technology needed to meet both near- and long-term goals that will enable broader scale vehicle electrification.” Read more in the press release below.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 17, 2016 – The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), a collaborative organization of FCA US LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors, today announced the award of a $1 million contract to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Massachusetts, for the scale-up and development of its lithium-ion battery recycling process to produce plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery cells made with recovered cathode material.
The competitively bid contract award is 50 percent cost share-funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
The 24-month program will enable WPI to scale up and demonstrate its novel and efficient recycling process, which uses no or minimal sorting, to generate cathode materials for PHEV and other types of electric vehicle applications. The recycled material will be demonstrated using a PHEV cell design and will enable a lower cell cost structure than new materials of the same chemistry, thereby offering a value-driven path towards improved sustainability.
USABC is a subsidiary of the United States Council for Automotive Research LLC (USCAR). Enabled by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. DOE, USABC’s mission is to develop electrochemical energy storage technologies that support commercialization of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles. In support of its mission, USABC has developed mid- and long-term goals to guide its projects and measure its progress. For more information, visit http://www.uscar.org/usabc.
“We are pleased to announce the award of this contract to Worcester Polytechnic Institute as part of USABC’s broad battery technology research and development programs,” said Steve Zimmer, executive director of USCAR. “These programs are critical to advancing the technology needed to meet both near- and long-term goals that will enable broader scale vehicle electrification.”
