Free Republic

In the last decade, China has rapidly expanded its “green” new energy vehicle (NEV) industry but recycling and disposing of hundreds of thousands of tons of used car batteries has become a pressing issue due to environmental concerns. Growth in China’s NEV industry took off in 2014 when nearly 78,500 NEVs were produced and some 75,000 were sold. As of September of this year, China’s NEV registration reached 6.78 million, of which 5.52 million are fully electric vehicles. The NEV industry predicts that its production and sales growth rate will remain above 40 percent in the next five years prompting...

SK Innovation has asked the US president to intervene in its battery patent fight with LG Energy Solution, saying it might have to “abandon” a $2.6 billion production base in Georgia after its defeat last month in the top US trade court. Making a case for a presidential veto of the court decision, the South Korean firm gave a presentation to US government officials, which the Wall Street Journal reported underscored that the Georgia plant will create 2,600 new jobs and contained so far undisclosed plans to expand the complex by investing another $2.4 billion, which would create an additional...

Electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) plans to introduce a new low-cost, long-life battery in its Model 3 sedan in China later this year or early next that it expects will bring the cost of electric vehicles in line with gasoline models, and allow EV batteries to have second and third lives in the electric power grid. For months, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has been teasing investors, and rivals, with promises to reveal significant advances in battery technology during a “Battery Day” in late May. New, low-cost batteries designed to last for a million miles of use and enable...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A highly-charged crime spree of sorts has erupted in Queens, and the ill-gotten goods being taken have been some of the most unusual in recent memory. As CBS2’s Scott Rapoport reported, it amounts to the latest wrinkle in smash and grab car thefts. Police said thieves are stealing 50-pound hybrid car batteries of all things — right from under the trunks. “I never heard of it. It’s odd,” one resident said. The NYPD said 14 incidents have been reported citywide since November of last year. Twelve of them happened in the 108th Police Precinct, which includes...