Volvo invests in battery developer StoreDot. Subscribe to Electric Vehicle News Bitesize Podcast for FREE!
Electric Vehicle News Bitesize is now featured in Feedspot Top 40 Electric Vehicle Podcasts.
Volvo invests, through its venture capital arm Volvo Cars Technology Fund in Israeli company StoreDot, which develops ultra-fast charging battery technology for electric vehicles.
StoreDot is working on breakthrough technology that the company says will allow the battery to be recharged in five minutes to cover 100 miles of all-electric range. The investment gives Volvo Cars the opportunity to work closely with StoreDot to develop exciting new battery technology as the company aims to become a pure electric vehicle company by 2030.
By partnering with Volvo Cars, StoreDot aims to accelerate the time-to-market of its technology and aims to reach mass production by 2024. Volvo invests as the first premium car manufacturer to do so.
The collaboration between the two companies will primarily take place as part of a battery technology joint venture Volvo Cars established with Sweden’s leading battery manufacturer Northvolt last year. Through its investment in StoreDot, Volvo Cars has gained access to all the technologies resulting from the partnership.
“We aim to be the fastest transformer in our industry and the Tech Fund plays a crucial role in establishing partnerships with future technology leaders,” said Alexander Petrofski, head of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund.
“Our investment in StoreDot perfectly fits that mindset and their commitment to electrification and carbon-free mobility matches our own. We’re excited to make this a successful collaboration for both parties and work towards bringing this groundbreaking technology to the market.”
StoreDot’s breakthrough battery development focuses on unique silicon-based anode technology and associated software integration. The aim is to develop an extremely fast rechargeable battery technology, in line with Volvo Cars’ ambition to develop electric vehicles with longer range, faster charging and lower cost.
Volvo invests as the first major automaker to commit to full electrification, aiming to sell only pure electric vehicles by 2030. By 2025, half of its global sales should be pure electric vehicles.
The joint venture with Northvolt, announced last year, will focus on developing and manufacturing state-of-the-art batteries that will be specially designed and customized for use in next-generation Volvo and Polestar all-electric vehicles.
As part of an investment of around SEK 30 billion in the joint venture, the two companies are building a joint research and development centre and a battery manufacturing plant in the Gothenburg region of Sweden. Together, the facilities will create more than 3,000 new jobs and pave the way for Volvo Cars’ ambitious electrification strategy.
In the coming years, Volvo Cars plans to launch a new range of pure electric vehicles, one of the most ambitious electrification plans in the industry. The switch to full electrification is part of its goal of becoming a carbon neutral company by 2040, as it works to continuously reduce carbon emissions from its operations.
Meanwhile in other news;
North Yorkshire Council is applying for an electric vehicle charging fund.
A Council serving large rural areas with a low concentration of electric vehicle charging points is vying for a share of the £10m government competition to increase the number of charging points in remote areas.
North Yorkshire Council is expected to submit a £2.7m bid to the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund to support a pilot project aimed at supporting the county’s transition to the provision of local charging points, which will eventually run commercially without public funding. The basic start is guaranteed.
The agency hopes to install 140 electric vehicle chargers at four rural sites in each of its seven districts as part of the project, which is supported by county and local councils and two national parks.
This ambition was evident when a survey commissioned by Fleet World concluded that the country was facing an Electric Vehicle crisis, as current installation rates mean there will be less than One in four chargers available for public use by 2030.
At the required rate of 1,176 charging points per 100 kilometres, it turns out that the current rate of charging point installations will result in a huge deficit by the end of the decade when the ban takes effect.
A few weeks ago, the government outright rejected a £116m proposal by the county council to modernise and expand transport in North Yorkshire.
North Yorkshire’s latest proposal focuses on delivering renewable energy solutions that are “aesthetically sympathetic in deeply rural areas where grid upgrades would otherwise be prohibitively expensive,” a report by officials said.
In addition, the pilot will ensure that one site in each region has accessible electric vehicles that provide “on-demand” public transportation.
The proposal would allow the council to submit a proposal to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to help address the challenges of poor connectivity and the resulting lack of opportunities for local communities, the officials’ report said.
The report adds: “If at the next stage the bid is unsuccessful the effort would not be lost as we could continue to develop the project for future funding opportunities perhaps a second pilot or the main fund opening.”
The project should be completed within the current fiscal year.
Councillor Don Mackenzie, the authority’s executive member for access, said the authority would continue to work with the private sector to ensure there were enough charging points in the right places.
However, he added that the rural nature of much of North Yorkshire meant it would not be easy to build an extensive network of charging points.
He said: “It’s a challenge not only of making sure the market place is viable, but also of getting sufficient power to very remote places to get batteries charging.
“If public-private partnerships for electric vehicle charging points will get us forward faster then I’m all for it.
“We can encourage the transfer to electric vehicles but in the end the market will decide.
“I believe the market has already decided if you look at the latest new vehicle figures with more electric vehicles being bought than there are diesel vehicles.”
Subscribe to the Electric Vehicle News Bitesize Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Deezer, Breaker, Castbox, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Audible, Gaana, Samsung Podcasts, Google News and the Electric Vehicle News Bitesize Alexa Skill.
For more Articles and Episodes visit New laws to make electric vehicle charging networks 99% reliable.
