Game Changer 100 kWh charge in 5 min
Two companies – Piëch and Desten – claim to have a breakthrough in ultrafast charging that would make charging an EV as simple as getting a fill-up on a regular car. They each claim this requires no special cooling of the battery packs. This is a huge deal. Getting 100 kWh is effectively putting 300 miles range in the vehicle. But skeptics abound. The claim is so far beyond what others have done, it naturally raises doubts. Read the full article here.
Beyond the problems of avoiding damage to the EV batteries with such a high rate of charging, there are numerous questions about where such stations could be built. The implied rate is 1.2 MW/hour per charger, and there could be multiple charge points per site. The wire for each charger to connect to the EV shown in the rendering would carry about 50 amps, so that would mean charging at 24,000 volts. Wow! Don’t stick your finger in that socket! To do that without taking down the grid would imply a massive on-site battery bank (unlikely since it would be the size of small multistory office building) or connecting to the transmission level of the grid, probably somewhere at 115 kV and above so it would not represent a significant fraction of the total load served by that line. You don’t do that just anywhere. It would need to be adjacent to a substation. Not that many to choose from and not cheap to build new ones.
So, these claims raise a number of issues, but certainly push out the thinking on what might be possible as this technology advances. Learn more about Charging at our May 30th Meetup.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.
RePurpose Energy a Double Winner at Big Bang
At Thursday nights Big Bang Finals at UCD, RePurpose Energy hauled in $12,500 in cash and a $3,000 credit for space in a local incubator. This comes on the heels of their double win in UC Berkeley’s Big Ideas contest. Plus, they announced they are in final negotiations for two more demo installations of their energy storage systems based on giving used EV batteries a second life. Big congratulations to the team!
This was the biggest year ever for the Big Bang. At the start there were 105 teams entered, a new record. Several of those teams were from outside the state and two were international, also a record. The use of virtual platforms is making this possible. Still, teams needed to travel here for the final judging and for the award ceremony, which unfortunately eliminated the team from Iran. This competition is clearly getting global attention.
Of the 105 teams, there were 13 semifinalists with five advancing to the finals to compete for the People’s Choice and First Prize. Total prize money added up to $86,000 this year, with the top prize increased to $20,000. There were a number of category prizes as well as the first place prize and the People’s Choice award ($7,500). RePurpose won the $2,500 CleanStart Prize and the $10,000 Energy Prize sponsored by SMUD.
The First Place winner was Respira Labs with a device that provided simple and quick monitoring of COPD patients. The winner of the most money was BioMilitus with a sustainable animal feed derived from insect larvae. They collected $22,000 by winning in a number of categories.
In addition, $10,000 was awarded in the Little Bang Poster competition. Including all in-kind awards, the total was $110,850.
The Big Bang has now become the premier business plan competition in the area, drawing mentors and judges from a wide area. It is wide open to the public. The new cycle begins in the fall. It is not only the prize money but also the coaching, practice and connections the competition provides that make it so valuable. Any early stage clean tech company here should seriously consider entering next time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.
Companies Get Excellent Advice from Top Start-Up Lawyer
Last Tuesday CleanStart held its second legal roundtable with Michelle Hallsten at GT law to support early stage startups in the Sacramento region. Companies who just started a few weeks ago, like EV Life, to ones growing in popularity like RePurpose Energy came to find answers supporting their growth. It was entirely a Q&A format with Michelle willing to offer advice on any topic the companies wanted to raise.
Popular questions centered around a few areas:
- What is the first thing a company should do when fundraising?
- What type of investors are out there and what are a company’s responsibilities to them?
- When do I need to protect my IP?
- How do I have a conversation with current equity holders, other founders, and friends and family?
- What about crowdfunded equity?
The Roundtable started at 4 pm but went past the 5:30 end time to beyond 7 as Michelle discussed all the different options startups need to consider when fundraising, growing and protecting themselves. It is important to remember that while each startup is different, needing individualized support, building a competent team with quality legal counsel pays increasing dividends over time, putting a company in an increasingly strong position. This was such a successful event, we are planning to do another session later in the year.
Make sure to follow CleanStart by signing up for our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on these events.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.
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Profile: Vortex Green Energy
Did you know that 20-40% of the energy produced by utilities is wasted? A Sacramento based company called Vortex Green Energy has a solution to this problem by using TriPac Systems’ phase angle synchronization (PAS) technology using machine learning to combat energy waste.
The reason that 20-40% of energy produced is wasted is because of phase shift creating “reactive power”. This phenomenon is caused by inductive loads (think motors, HVAC, refrigeration) the unused portion of reactive power is still in the magnetic field, out-of-phase and attempting to return to the generator.
This known issue dates back to the 1920s and capacitor banks are the current fix to this problem. The industry pioneers’ Capacitor banks are rather crude in our computerized society, requiring extensive site engineering and regular maintenance. They always apply too much or too little capacitance, never saving energy but changing where the losses occur.
However, Vortex Green Energy’s goal is to cut those costs (on the utilities side) by introducing the PAS system in industrial and commercial sites
With up to 0.992 efficiency Vortex Green Energy believes they can reduce the utilities reactive power output by over half. Not only that, it also requires no cooling and requires little maintenance. This is achieved through proprietary machine learning that is able to make power corrections in fractions of a cycle.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christian is in his senior year at California State University, Sacramento where he is studying electrical and mechanical engineering. His love for technology, the great outdoors, personal growth and giving back have driven him to become involved in clean tech where he hopes to learn about and contribute to the local clean technology sector.