Electric Vehicles: New Dual-Carbon Batteries Potentially Better Than Lithium-Ion

As reported by Green Car Reports: In the search for better electric-car batteries, lots of lab research has to happen before anything can be announced.

A company called Power Japan Plus came out of stealth mode to unveil a new battery chemistry, with both electrodes--anode and cathode--made of carbon.

The new cell, known as the Ryden Dual-Carbon Battery, promises energy density equal to today's lithium-ion cells, but less capacity loss over time and far greater safety.

Dual-Carbon Battery vs Lithium-Ion Battery

Same energy, longer life, safer, recyclable
It is also almost entirely recyclable, with less energy input over its lifetime--and none of the rare or heavy metals required in various lithium-ion cell chemistries.

Dual-carbon cells have been described in theory since at least 1978, but years of development were required to make them reliable, cost-effective, and suitable for mass production in high volumes, Power Japan Plus CEO Dou Kani told Green Car Reports.

The breakthroughs in chemistry were achieved by chief technology officer Kaname Takeya and Dr. Tatsumi Ishihara of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, which partnered with the company to develop the cell for commercial applications.

While they cannot provide details due to multiple pending patents, Takeya said that the chemistry requires specific and proprietary changes to the nanostructure of the carbon crystals.

While Power Japan cannot disclose its first customer today, CEO Kani said, it will announce a partner in August, that will build battery packs and add a battery-management system.

Energy capacity over cycle life: Power Japan Plus

What electric cars need to succeed?
The company isn't holding back the hyperbole.
“The Ryden dual-carbon battery is the energy storage breakthrough needed," said CEO Kani, "to bring green technology like electric vehicles to [the] mass market.”

With energy density comparable to lithium-ion, the company claims that its Ryden dual-carbon chemistry can both recharge up to 20 times as fast and deliver more than 4 Volts of power from a single cell.

In testing, the cell has completed more than 3,000 charge/discharge cycles with virtually no performance degradation, meaning that it could conceivably last the lifetime of a car.

Power Japan says a Ryden cell barely heats up during charge and discharge--it "experiences minimal thermal change"--vastly reducing the risk of thermal runaway that can lead to explosion and fires.

Energy capacity over cycle life: Power Japan Plus

In other words, an electric car's battery would hold its full energy over 10 years or more, and could be discharged right down to 0 percent of capacity without damage.

New chemistry, same production process
And equally important for practicality, the new dual-carbon anode and cathode can both be produced by existing cell manufacturing processes--and require essentially just a single material as input: carbon.

That reduces the number of materials that must be procured for the supply chain, simplifying the entire production process.

Power Japan Plus says it will start production of Ryden cells in the 18650 "commodity cell" format later this year at its small production facility in Okinawa, Japan.

Satellites first
Those cells will be intended for low-volume specialty markets, including satellite and medical-device energy storage--in volumes of 500 to 5,000 cells per month.

For higher-volume production intended for other markets--including plug-in electric cars--the company will license its technology and consult with existing battery makers to enable them to produce the anode and cathode materials in their own facilities.

The next announcement will be a partnership with a "world-renowned company" in the auto racing field, which will build packs and complete battery systems, test them, and offer them in the market.

Comblex carbon made from organic cotton - Power Japan Plus

Separate from the announcement of the Ryden battery, Power Japan Plus is also working on a new form of carbon that is entirely organic.

The material, known as Carbon Complex, which is made using naturally-grown organic cotton that is then processed using special techniques to control the size of the carbon crystals formed during production.

Early test cells are not produced with the organic carbon, but the company's goal is to create a battery cell that is not only competitive with today's lithium-ion cells but uses entirely organic input materials that can be fully recycled at the end of their life.

Meanwhile, Power Japan Plus--which has been internally funded until now--is seeking its first investments of private funds.  And, we suspect, car companies all over the globe will already be making plans to acquire some of the earliest Ryden dual-carbon cells to see if they hold up to the company's claims under independent testing.

Lithium-ion cells are likely to remain the default battery chemistry for electric cars at least through the end of the decade.

But the Power Japan Plus announcement--along with other potentially promising advances in lithium-air cells and other advanced chemistries--show the vital importance of battery technology to the future of transportation.

Known Problem with Certain GPS Devices

As reported by American Surveyor: May 15, 2014 - Recently, many GPS users have reported intermittent GPS outages in their devices. After investigating, the U.S. government has linked the problem to flawed processing of GPS satellite data within certain GPS receiver chipsets. The GPS satellite service continues to function as designed and is fully operational and available worldwide.

The problem affects only user equipment that erroneously ignores the satellite health status information broadcast from every GPS satellite. The problem is not related to the April 28, 2014, activation of civil navigation messages on the GPS L2C and L5 signals.

Since March 15, 2014, the Air Force has been conducting functional checkout on a GPS satellite, designated Space Vehicle Number (SVN) 64. SVN 64 broadcasts a data message that clearly indicates SVN 64 is unusable for navigation. Nevertheless, the U.S. government has confirmed that certain GPS receivers are using data from SVN 64, in violation of GPS interface specifications, resulting in outages or corrupted, inaccurate position calculations.

The Air Force testing is scheduled to end in mid-May 2014 at which time SVN 64 will begin normal operation. At that point, these problems may stop occurring. Meanwhile, the U.S. government urges all GPS device makers to review their products for compliance with the GPS interface specifications, and if necessary, to issue software/firmware updates to users as soon as possible. View specifications http://www.gps.gov/technical/icwg/

Users experiencing GPS outages should check with their device manufacturers for available software/firmware updates. In addition, any civil user seeing unusual behavior in GPS user equipment should report it to the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center (NAVCEN). Aviation users should file reports consistent with FAA-approved procedures. Military users seeing unusual behavior should report it the GPS Operations Center (GPSOC).

Please direct any civil user questions to NAVCEN at (703) 313-5900, http://www.navcen.uscg.gov. Please direct any military user questions to the GPSOC at (719) 567-2541, DSN: 560-2541, gpsoperationscenter@us.af.mil https://gps.afspc.af.mil Military alternate: Joint Space Operations Center, (805) 606-3514, DSN: 276-3514, jspoccombatops@vandenberg.af.mil

See also:
Technical explanation for device makers (PDF) http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/gps/GPSOC_PRN30_Notice.pdf 

Proton-M Rocket Carrying Russia's Most Advanced Satellite Crashes

As reported by RT: A Russian Proton-M rocket with an advanced satellite on board crashed outside of Kazakhstan's territory on Friday, about nine minutes after lift-off. The Express-AM4R would have been Russia’s most advanced and powerful satellite.

The crash was likely caused by a failure in one of the third stage’s steering engines, reported Oleg Ostapenko, the head of the Russian national space agency Roscosmos.

“The exact cause is hard to establish immediately, we will be studying the telemetry. Preliminary information points to an emergency pressure drop in a steering engine of the third stage of the rocket,” he said.

Fragments of the rocket and its cargo have apparently burned in the atmosphere, he added, which means they could not cause any damage on the ground.

The launch went abnormal on the 540th second of the flight, when an emergency engines shutdown kicked in in response to the rocket deviating from its intended trajectory, the Russian Federal Space Agency reported after the crash. The third stage, which is called Briz-M, was approximately 150km above the ground at that moment and had some 40 seconds to go before deploying its payload into the orbit.

Commenting on the failed launch, Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said “the only way to cut down the accident rate is to coherently implement the decision we have taken on the reform of the space industry.”

All other launches of Proton-type rockets will be halted at Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan until the reason for the crash is determined.

A special commission from the Russian Federal Space Agency will be in charge of investigating the causes of the crash. A separate internal probe has been launched by the Voronezh mechanic plant, the producer of the engines for Briz-M third stages.

The launch, including the equipment and possible damage to third parties, had been insured with Ingosstrakh, the company said in a statement. The coverage may amount to up to $225 billion. 

The Proton-M rocket, carrying an advanced Express-AM4R satellite, was launched on schedule from Baikonur on Friday. The Express-AM4R would have been Russia’s most advanced and powerful satellite. Ironically, it was of the same design as the Express-AM4, which was lost in August 2011 in a failed launch.

“The spacecraft was ensured. But the time spent to produce it cannot be reimbursed,” lamented the head of the Russian Telecommunications Agency Oleg Dukhovnitsky. “The satellite was ready to work; it’s the rocket that failed.”

He added that the loss would not result in deterioration of service quality.

The spacecraft weighed 5.8 metric tons and had 63 transponders providing X-band, C-band, S-band, L-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band capacity along with 10 antennas installed.

The satellite was to provide internet access in Russia’s remote regions at affordable prices. This was Russia's third launch of Express series satellites this year. In March, Express-AT1 and Express-AT satellites were put into orbit.

In 2013, Russia carried out 32 of the 82 space launches completed worldwide, only one of which failed, Interfax reported. 

Could 'Quantum Navigation' Replace GPS?

As reported by The Daily Mail UK: UK scientists say they are three to five years away from creating a new navigation system that would not rely on space-based technologies. A “quantum compass” might replace the US’s widely-used GPS, first in military and then on smartphones.

The British Ministry of Defense is investing millions of pounds into the “earth-based” technology, which they hope may become an alternative to space-based GPS on board nuclear submarines and ships.
Part of the reason the MoD is so keen to develop a “quantum compass” is that GPS doesn't work underwater.

When submarines dive they navigate using accelerometers to register every twist and turn of the vessel. However, this method is not very accurate.

“Today, if a submarine goes a day without a GPS fix we’ll have a navigation drift of the order of a kilometer when it surfaces,” says Neil Stansfield from the UK Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down that is working on the project.

Eventually, a “quantum compass” might be available for smartphone users who now use GPS to pinpoint their location.

The DSTL’s team was inspired by the Nobel-prize winning discovery that revealed that lasers can trap and cool a cloud of atoms placed in a vacuum to less than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero, to temperatures a billion times colder than outer space.

At their lowest energies, the atoms become the coldest known bodies in the universe.

Super-cooled low energy atoms are extremely sensitive to changes in the Earth’s magnetic and gravitational field.

If trapped on a small device, their fluctuations can allow scientists to track their movements from great distances away and their locations pinpointed with extreme precision.

So far, the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory has developed a quantum navigation system resembling a “1-meter-long shoe box,” according to Stansfield. Scientists are now focusing their efforts on miniaturizing the device, so that it can be used by soldiers and not just on board submarines and ships.

“Quantum TNS [Time, Navigation and Sensing] technologies could bring game-changing advantages to the UK defense sector and support markets measured in billions of pounds, here in the UK and around the world,” Stansfield said.

Unlike GPS, the pioneer in the field of pinpointing locations, a “quantum compass” will be interference-proof. The US has repeatedly warned that its GPS is vulnerable to attacks and deliberate disruption.

A “quantum compass,” may also be used to create the world's most accurate atomic clocks, scientists say.

In 2013, the UK announced an investment of £270 million ($453.3 million) over five years to research the possibility of incorporating quantum science in new products and services, the Financial Times reports. According to the newspaper, companies including Nokia, Hitachi and Toshiba have established quantum research laboratories in Britain. 

In related news, European robins may maintain quantum entanglement in their eyes a full 20 microseconds longer than the best laboratory systems, say physicists investigating how birds may use quantum effects to “see” Earth’s magnetic field.

It’s been proposed that birds’ eyes contain entanglement-based compasses.  Conclusive proof doesn't yet exist, but multiple lines of evidence suggest it. Findings like this one underscore just how sophisticated those compasses may be.

“How can a living system have evolved to protect a quantum state as well — no, better — than we can do in the lab with these exotic molecules?” asked quantum physicist Simon Benjamin of Oxford University and the National University of Singapore, a co-author of the new study. “That really is an amazing thing.”

Many animals — including not only birds, but some mammals, fish, reptiles, even crustaceans and insects — navigate by sensing the direction of Earth’s magnetic field. Physicist Klaus Schulten of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proposed in the late 1970s that bird navigation relied on some geomagnetically sensitive, as-yet-unknown biochemical reaction taking place in their eyes.

Research since then has revealed the existence of special optical cells containing a protein called cryptochrome. When a photon enters the eye, it hits cryptochrome, giving a boost of energy to electrons that exist in a state of quantum entanglement.  

One of the electrons migrates a few nanometers away, where it feels a slightly different magnetic field than its partner. Depending on how the magnetic field alters the electron’s spin, different chemical reactions are produced. In theory, the products of many such reactions across a bird’s eye could create a picture of Earth’s magnetic field as a varying pattern of light and dark.

Agency Clarifies Roadside Inspection Rules for Older E-Log Devices

As reported by OverDrive: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Monday issued guidance clarifying the roadside inspection regulation for trucks equipped with automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs).

Specifically, FMCSA is responding to reports that inspection officials sometimes request drivers to provide printouts from AOBRDs, or to email or fax records of duty status (RODS). The agency has also been advised that, in some cases, inspection officials have issued citations to drivers because their AOBRDs did not display certain information.

“The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) have never required AOBRDs to be capable of providing printed records at the roadside, although a driver may voluntarily do so if his/her AOBRD has that capability,” FMCSA says.

The AOBRD requirements for recording – but not displaying – information “reflect mid-1980s information technology,” the agency suggests.

“These requirements were developed when small electronic displays were relatively uncommon and costly, and the amount and type of information they could display were limited,” says the notice.

The new guidance, verbatim, reads as follows:

PART 395—HOURS OF SERVICE OF DRIVERS

Add § 395.15 Questions 5 and 6, to read as follows:

Question 5: What information is required to be displayed on the AOBRD?

Guidance:

(1) Section 395.15(i)(5) requires that AOBRDs with electronic displays must be capable of displaying the following:

‘‘(i) Driver’s total hours of driving today; (ii) The total hours on duty today;  (iii) Total miles driving today; (iv) Total hours on duty for the 7 consecutive day period, including today; (v) Total hours on duty for the prior 8 consecutive day period, including the present day; and (vi) The sequential changes in duty status and the times the changes occurred for each driver using the device.’’

(2) While § 395.15(c) requires additional information be recorded by the AOBRD, only the specific information listed in § 395.15(i)(5) must be displayed.

(3) The two provisions differ because of the data display limitations of a minimally compliant AOBRD.

Question 6: Must an AOBRD be capable of providing a hardcopy printout?

Guidance: No, the FMCSRs do not require AOBRDs to provide a hardcopy printout for an enforcement official. As long as the information made available for display on the AOBRD meets the requirements of § 395.15(i)(5), the driver and motor carrier are not required to provide additional RODS documentation to an enforcement official at the roadside.

However, an enforcement official may request that additional information be provided by email, fax, or similar means within 48 hours for follow-up after the conclusion of the roadside inspection.

Additionally, regarding the AOBRD related rulemaking, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to give stakeholders an extra 30 days to submit comments on the agency’s proposed electronic logging device mandate, citing the complexity and significance of the proposed rule as reasons.  

CVSA Executive Director Stephen Keppler in a formal letter to the agency May 7 made the request to push the current May 27 deadline back to June 26.

“This is a complex and significant rulemaking, for both the state enforcement agencies and the commercial motor vehicle industry,” the letter states, and all parties involved need time to vet and evaluate the rule and give feedback, Keppler writes.

The public comment period is 60 days long and began on the March 28 publication date of the agency’s Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. CVSA says 60 days is not long enough “to develop and submit a comprehensive set of comments,” according to the letter.

FMCSA has not yet responded to the request. Click here to read CVSA’s letter.

To comment on the proposal, visit regulations.gov and use the docket number FMCSA-2010-0167. Comments can also be mailed to oira_submissions@omb.eop.gov using the subject line Attention: Desk Officer for FMCSA, DOT. They can also be faxed to 202-395-6566.