Toyota has announced this week, that it could make a solid-state battery with a range of 745 miles that charges in 10 minutes. “For both our liquid and our solid-state batteries, we are aiming to drastically change the situation - current batteries are too big, heavy and expensive,” said Keiji Kaita, president of Toyota research and development. Solid-state batteries have been widely seen as a potential gamechanger for electric vehicles.And Prof David Bailey, from Birmingham University said “If it is a genuine breakthrough it could be the holy grail of battery vehicles.”Watch this space...minuteshttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/04/toyota-claims-battery-breakthrough-electric-cars

Railway officials believe that Hydrogen could change Train design and reduce transport emissions, as testing and production ramps up particularly in North America. Hydrogen-powered locomotives can use fuel cells to produce electricity that’s stored in batteries and sent to each unit’s conventional traction motors. A high-horsepower, AC-traction locomotive, is currently being converted to hydrogen power at the shop of Canadian Pacific’s partner, Bilton Welding and Manufacturing in Alberta, Canada."We’re creating an ecosystem of change,” said Kyle Mulligan, Canadian Pacific’s chief engineer of railway technology. “This project is the chance to change the industry entirely.”https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-w

Japanese automotive leaders still seem to have their heads in the sand when it comes to the future of the auto industry.While Tesla and Chinese car makers like BYD have spent much of the last two decades perfecting electric vehicle manufacturing, Japan has bet the house on its hydrogen strategy and is now paying the price. Japanese automotive exports have plunged 21% since 2019 while China’s have almost tripled. So, the reluctance of Japan’s automotive executives to recognise the limitations of hydrogen powered vehicles may have catastrophic implications for Japan’s economy.https://thedriven.io/2023/05/23/hydrogen-and-cow-manure-japanese-auto-leaders-still-cant-see-the-electric-future/

The Electric Vehicle Council forecasts a million EV's in Australia by 2030, but it could be up to 1.7 million electric vehicles. This will require a lot of new charging by networks and much greater household electricity usage. In such an environment, 'managed electric vehicle (EV) charging' could save energy networks and energy generation owners millions, but only if  drivers of the future hand over control of their refuelling electricity use.Managed charging is a concept that gives third parties access to smart chargers in order to adjust power levels up or down - watch this space:https://reneweconomy.com.au/jemena-sees-big-rewards-for-vehicle-to-grid-services-big-risks-to-unmanaged-ev-charging/

 Electric appliances are cheaper to run than equivalent gas. Also, If every Australian gas household went all-electric today, we would “save”  30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 10 years.And, analysis from a team at Stanford University found that a cooktop burner on high or gas oven set to 180 °Celsius, can raise the levels of house-bound benzene (linked to blood cancer) to levels more dangerous than passive smoking.So, we should all be electrifying and the government should subsidise low-interest bank loans for domestic electrification - watch this space:https://reneweconomy.com.au/all-electric-homes-save-money-and-emissions-new-gas-connections-should-be-banned/ 

Described as the “biggest change to the power system in history”, we are seeing a move to High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission grids around the world. These grids are overtaking alternating current/AC systems whose magnetic fields generate substantial losses in the process of transmission.And to facilitate the switching from AC to DC and back (given most of our household systems are AC) we now have the insulated gate bipolar transistor or IGBT.Maybe sounds technical, but with these two technologies, we will be able to better manage our grids for renewable energy.A thoroughly interesting development: https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2023/04/05/electric-grids-fed-by-renewables-n