US-based magnet manufacturer Niron Magnetics has licensed a portfolio of foundational variable flux motor (VFM) patents.

The portfolio covers motor design technologies that, when combined with Niron’s rare earth-free Iron Nitride magnets, enable high efficiency and performance improvements across applications, including automotive traction, robotics, pumps, compressors, HVAC systems and more. The high efficiency enables smaller battery pack sizes in vehicles.

Industry leaders agree that this is an important shift in motor design. “Variable flux motors have been built and proven before,” said Daniel Hervén, CEO at global engineering and motor design firm Alvier Mechatronics. “What’s held these motors back is the lack of an ideal material. Rare earth magnets are not well-suited for this motor type. Until now, most VFM work was done with AlNiCo, but VFMs with AlNiCo magnets fall short of the performance needed for commercial use, and cobalt faces supply chain challenges. Iron Nitride presents the opportunity to unlock VFM for mainstream commercial use.”

“This licensing agreement is the result of decades of world-class motor research meeting the best of material science ingenuity to bring next-generation motor performance to commercial reality,” said Jonathan Rowntree, CEO of Niron Magnetics. “Our iron nitride technology provides the missing piece that accelerates this achievement into industrial scalability, enabling multiple ongoing customer projects that are focused on commercializing breakthrough technology.”

Source: Niron Magnetics

Qnovo has partnered with Sonatus to drastically reduce the time needed to integrate advanced battery diagnostics into EVs, from months to just days.

The partnership combines Qnovo’s Health and Safety Diagnostics (HSD), which reports 98.7 percent battery fault prediction accuracy, with the Sonatus AI Director platform. Qnovo says this integration enables manufacturers to rapidly deploy battery monitoring and management systems anywhere within the vehicle architecture or in cloud environments, addressing the needs of modern software-defined EVs.

Qnovo’s HSD solution continuously monitors 12 battery health indicators—including detection of lithium plating, manufacturing defects and thermal risks—offering a predictive lead time weeks ahead of traditional diagnostic tools. In production with global OEMs and running across millions of kilometers and 200 million devices without reported safety incidents, the technology is designed to enhance operational safety in electric mobility applications.

By integrating with Sonatus AI Director, Qnovo says its diagnostics system can leverage contextual data—such as environmental and operational parameters—to further improve predictive accuracy, personalize battery management based on driver profiles, provide advanced maintenance alerts, reduce false positives, support targeted recall mitigation, and enable over-the-air software updates.

“Software-defined electric vehicles depend on intelligent management of their most critical component – the battery,” said Nadim Maluf, CEO of Qnovo. “Through our partnership with Sonatus, we’re removing the barriers that have prevented OEMs from rapidly deploying advanced battery intelligence directly in their vehicles. This collaboration enables the seamless integration that software-defined vehicles require, while delivering the predictive safety and performance capabilities that define the future of electric mobility.

Source: Qnovo

The Adhesive Technologies business of Henkel, a manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, has expanded its manufacturing facility in Brandon, South Dakota.

The site has doubled in size from 35,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet to increase its production of thermal management materials under the LOCTITE and BERGQUIST brands to support the EV and electronics markets. The company invested approximately $30 million, and received additional support from South Dakota’s government and economic development organizations.

The expansion includes the installation of additional mixers, enabling high-volume manufacturing of advanced thermal management and adhesive products. The materials are used to maintain optimal operating temperatures and ensure the long-term performance, safety and durability of automotive batteries and electronic components.

“Aligned with the addition of our new North America Battery Application Center in Madison Heights, Michigan, we are deepening our collaboration with customers and accelerating innovation in EV and electronics and building a more sustainable future,” said Marcel Fleck, Senior Vice President, Automotive Components, Henkel Adhesive Technologies.

Source: Henkel North America

EV infrastructure provider Emobi has formed a partnership with Curo, a Virtual Depot platform that enables leasable EV charging for fleets across the US.

Through the collaboration, Curo gains access to Emobi’s network of charge point operator partners in North America, while Emobi benefits from increased utilization of its chargers as Curo parks and manages more fleet customers across locations.

The companies hope the partnership will benefit existing fleet customers while bringing new users to charge point operators and opening revenue opportunities for commercial real estate partners.

Curo aims to enable EV fleet operators to scale without having to build new charging infrastructure. Tapping into Emobi’s network will give Curo’s customers more charging options.

“Fleet operators need solutions that simplify electrification, not add to their burden,” said Lin Sun Fa, CEO of Emobi. “By integrating with Curo, we’re making it easy for fleets to tap into chargers already in the ground, while giving our CPO partners higher utilization. It’s a win-win.”

Source: Emobi

Cable theft from EV chargers is a frustrating trend for the EV charging industry. Bringing a damaged EV charger back into service isn’t as simple as replacing a broken window or a stolen street sign. In many cases, the chargers must be recertified and recommissioned, a time-consuming and money-losing process.

To combat the criminal cable-cutters, UK-based charging provider InstaVolt has introduced a system based on live GPS tracking technology to detect, trace and recover stolen charging cables, in partnership with Trackit247. The system is now live across InstaVolt’s UK network of charging sites, delivering real-time visibility every three seconds.

Each tracking device is geo-fenced to its charger location, so the moment a cable is moved outside its designated area, an alert is triggered in the company’s control center. The technology is able to follow stolen cables in transit, so if a thief attempts to remove a cable in a vehicle, InstaVolt should be able to guide police to its location in real time.

“Cable theft is a growing challenge for our industry, threatening the confidence of EV drivers and undermining investment in charging infrastructure,” said InstaVolt CEO of Delvin Lane. “By adopting GPS technology, we’re setting a new benchmark for how the industry can deter offenders, safeguard infrastructure and support law enforcement.”

Source: InstaVolt

Switzerland-based Oerlikon offers a full portfolio of customized safety components for EVs, including thermoelectrical barriers, SafeVent gas guidance systems, cell separators and high-voltage arcing protection.

The portfolio covers all critical parts from heat shields and gas guidance components to cell separators. They are highly heat-resistant, mechanically durable, ultra-light and thin.

In the event of a battery fire, these components are designed to improve the thermal electrical protection of EV batteries, reducing the likelihood of battery fires spreading to the passenger area at an early stage, according to the company.

Thermal runaway poses a challenge in high-performance battery systems and can potentially cause extensive vehicle damage or endanger passengers. “At Oerlikon, we understand these challenges and provide our customers with engineered solutions to mitigate thermal propagation,” said David Garrett, Sales Manager of Technology.

The components meet the basic regulatory standards of the UN Electric Vehicle Safety Regulation (GTR 20) and some often more stringent rules in individual countries.

Oerlikon offers solutions tailored to customers’ specific requirements and ready to install. All components are 3D-moldable, so they can be customized to the design of the battery system and the vehicle.

Source: Oerlikon

Pickering Interfaces has launched the PXI and PXI Express (PXIe) battery simulator modules, models 41-754 (PXI) and 43-754 (PXIe), which are designed for testing and verification of battery management systems. These modules are available in a single-slot form factor and provide either two or four channels, each capable of supplying up to 8 volts and 5 amps. All channels are fully isolated from ground and from each other, supporting series connection to mimic batteries in a stacked configuration typical of modern electric vehicle propulsion systems.

Pickering says that more modules can be added to achieve higher voltage stacks, minimizing capital expense and supporting future scalability. The modules can be integrated with other PXI or PXIe instruments, such as fault insertion units or thermocouple simulators, making it suitable for advanced fault and thermal response testing.

Key features include isolated channels with a 1,000-volt channel-to-ground and 750-volt channel-to-channel barrier, allowing safe and representative battery stack simulation for electric vehicle applications. Each channel can replicate up to 16 cells in parallel, while providing a 300 milliamp balancing current per cell—helpful for faster development cycles and enhanced safety. The modules enable simulation of faults like cell imbalance, cell aging, temperature effects and safe testing of extreme fault modes, including overcharge and short circuits, by emulating cells rather than storing energy.

Pickering says this approach drastically cuts test time, since engineers can switch conditions instantly without waiting for batteries to charge or degrade. The system also supports software and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, enabling real-time validation of algorithms for state-of-charge, state-of-health and cell degradation in BMS development.

Drivers are available for Windows, Linux, and real-time operating systems. All modules include a three-year warranty and guaranteed long-term support, says Pickering Interfaces.

“Our 5 A battery simulator family is designed to simplify and accelerate BMS testing,” said Stephen Jenkins, Simulation Product Manager at Pickering. “With up to four fully isolated channels, it enables customers to emulate battery cells or modules in both low- and high-voltage stacks. It combines high current drive and precision readback in a compact platform ideal for demanding applications across EVs, energy storage and beyond.”

Source: Pickering Interfaces

Sponsored by DGeo.

Transporting Li-ion batteries? Make room for mastery, not mistakes.

Transporting very large format lithium batteries—for electric vehicles, solar power storage, data center backup and other purposes—is a major undertaking. Navigating the process safely, compliantly and efficiently is an ongoing challenge, and it’s not uncommon for mistakes to happen.

These mistakes are costly. From penalties for dangerous goods non-compliance to extensive delays to accidents resulting in injuries, mistakes during large-format lithium battery transport can bring about significantly negative financial consequences. To avoid these unforeseen costs and consequences, an organization has to prevent mistakes before they occur.

If your organization is involved in the manufacture or transport of large-format lithium batteries, read the ebook 10 Common Transport Mistakes for Large-Format Lithium Batteries and become a master, plus see why some of the world’s largest manufacturers rely on DGeo to help them build a turnkey supply chain program.

Battery development software specialist About:Energy has launched a new web-based platform and toolset that enables engineers to virtually test and compare battery cells under real-world conditions, before purchase or prototyping.

Cell selection is “the most critical decision in high-performance battery programs.” It determines the economics and performance of every program, and The Voltt is designed to reduce the time, cost and risk associated with making that choice.

“Built on data collected from thousands of batteries and the equivalent of centuries of testing at About:Energy’s flagship laboratory in London, The Voltt gives engineers unmatched evidence to make the right decisions for real programs,” says the company.

Customers can compare multiple cells within seconds, making confident design decisions early in the development process. Custom drive cycles and mission profiles can be run without any existing modelling software infrastructure.

The Voltt offers access to more than 30 high-performance cell models. The database draws on partnerships with battery developers Molicel, Amprius, Enpower-Greentech and Inobat.

“The Voltt is about transforming the economics of battery programs for decision-makers,” said Dr. Gavin White, co-founder and CEO of About:Energy. “In aviation, for example, every kilogram of battery weight affects range, safety and cost. By giving leaders the evidence to choose the right cell at the outset, we’re empowering them to make decisions that unlock performance and commercial advantage without costly trial and error.”

“Engineers are under huge pressure to make high-stakes choices quickly, often without full system-level data because at early stages manufacturers may not yet have it available,” said Lorenzo Bergamaschi, The Voltt Product Lead. “The Voltt bridges that gap by giving them validated data and clear insight so they can evaluate options confidently and design better systems from the start.”

Source: About: Energy

Starting in 2026, Daimler Buses will install its own public charging stations for electric buses and coaches, focusing on high-traffic European tourist destinations such as bus parking lots at amusement parks or in cities. The company aims to drive the expansion of high-performance charging infrastructure away from highways, enabling electric buses and coaches to serve more remote travel destinations.

“The future of the bus is electric. However, building the necessary public charging infrastructure is taking too long,” said Till Oberwörder, CEO of Daimler Buses. “We want to give an important impulse with our charging stations. Our new battery-electric intercity bus, the eIntouro, already connects cities and rural areas. It is also suitable for shorter trips. These are currently the most practical applications for electric buses and coaches outside of urban public transport. For long-distance travel to remote destinations, however, a comprehensive charging network is needed so that bus operators can use electric coaches economically and without compromising passenger comfort.”

The initiative will begin with a pilot project in the city of Cologne, Germany. Four public fast charging points for electric buses and coaches are set to be installed near the city center next year. Daimler Buses subsidiary Daimler Buses Solutions will be responsible for planning, construction, operation and maintenance.

The Buspark Cologne parking facility serves as a central location for all intercity buses and coaches taking tourists to Cologne. Bus operators will be able to quickly charge their electric buses and coaches—regardless of brand—with green electricity. Unlike electric city buses, which serve shorter routes and are usually charged overnight at 50 to 80 kW, coaches require especially powerful charging solutions. The four new fast charging stations will each provide a nominal output of 400 kW. The stations will be accessible to the public 24/7.

Daimler Buses debuted the series-production version of its first battery-electric intercity bus, the Mercedes-Benz eIntouro, at the recent Busworld 2025 trade show in Brussels. The vehicle can be equipped with either one or two lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, and achieves a range of up to 500 kilometers. The fully battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eCitaro city bus has been in series production since 2018.

Source: Daimler Buses