Renewables

ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe and Solliance (ECN, imec, TNO, Holst Centre, TU/e, Forschungszentrum Jülich) are counting on a highly promising form of power generation: organic photovoltaics. OPVs are flexible solar cells made of light-active plastics and can be manufactured by cost-effective processes suitable for large-scale production.

For vehicles with battery-electric drive, the use of a range extender appears to be a suitable solution to ensure a range approaching that of a conventional vehicle. The Stuttgart specialist MAHLE Powertrain has developed their own range extender, with flexible mounting position, in just 10 months without the support of an OEM.

Volvo Car Group has a philosophy that an electrified car should be as safe as any other new Volvo car. This is now highlighted by the latest Euro NCAP results. The new Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid has achieved the highest ever score for a plug-in hybrid. The five stars in the recent test, which included a frontal offset collision at 64 km/h (40 mph), demonstrates that the V60 Plug-in Hybrid has the same high safety level as the standard V60.

General Motors is accelerating the development of electrified vehicles in China, the company’s senior technology leader said today.

Littelfuse today announced two new products for protection of solar installations. The new SPFJ 70–100 amp fuses complete the SPFJ series of 1000VDC fuses approved to the new UL Photovoltaic fuse standard – UL2579.

Mitsubishi Electric introduces its 6th generation Mega Power Dual Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor modules. The modules, which are for use in power converters such as large-capacity photovoltaic and wind power generation systems, are also suitable for other high-power applications e.g. in the areas of Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems and AC motor control.

Vishay Precision Group today announced that its Vishay Foil Resistors brand has released a new video that compares the stability and accuracy of three different current sense precision resistor technologies used in solar panels: thick film, metal band, and next-generation Bulk Metal Z-Foil. The short video demonstrates how an increase in ambient temperature results in a change in accuracy and stability in thick film and metal band resistors; but ...

Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced a sixth generation IGBT technology that offers improved switching loss/conduction loss trade off for increased efficiency and improved performance. The new technology is the basis for a new family of compact 600V devices that will suit a variety of hard switching applications including motor drives, solar inverters and uninterruptible power supplies.

General Motors will have up to 500,000 vehicles on the road with some form of electrification by 2017 with a focus on plug-in technology, the company’s top product development executive said Wednesday.

Honda Motor Co, Ltd. have unveiled the 'Micro Commuter Prototype', a micro-sized short distance EV commuter. This vehicle was developed in consideration of the vehicle categories for micro-sized mobility products that are currently being discussed under the initiative of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in Japan as well as for the regulations for the L7-category in Europe*1.