WASHINGTON, Aug 20(Reuters)-General Motors Co GM.N said on Friday it will recall about 73,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles at a cost of$1 billion to address fire risks and indefinitely halt sales over the battery issue. The massive recall comes as GM is aggressively moving to ramp up electric vehicle sales. GM said it will seek reimbursement from its battery supplier, LG. The largest U.S. automaker said the recall covers all remaining Bolt vehicles not previously recalled in July.GM said it will replace defective battery modules in Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs with new modules. It added it was pursuing commitments from LG for reimbursement of the recall. GM said earlier that previous Bolt recalls would cost about$800 million. The $1 billion is in addition to that, a spokesman said. In July, GM issued a new recall for nearly 69,000 Chevrolet Bolts for fire risks after reports of two fires and said it will replace defective battery modules as needed. GM said it will not sell Bolt vehicles until it is satisfied with the fix. It added it is "working aggressively with LG to increase production as soon as possible.GM will notify customers when replacement parts are ready." Some Bolt EVs recalled in July were first recalled in November for fire risks and at least one of the two new fires was in a vehicle that had already had the software update released as part of that recall. The July recall came after GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) urged Bolt owners to park their vehicles outside and away from homes after charging. GM in July had confirmed a total of nine Bolt fires. The automaker said in rare circumstances, the batteries supplied to GM for these vehicles may have two manufacturing defects–a torn anode tab and folded separator–present in the same battery cell, which increases the risk of fire. LG officials could not immediately be reached for comment. After investigation into the manufacturing processes at LG and disassembling battery packs, GM said it "discovered manufacturing defects in certain battery cells produced at LG manufacturing facilities beyond the Ochang, Korea, plant. GM and LG are working to rectify the cause of these defects." The new recall includes 9,335 Bolt EVs from model year 2019 that were not included in the previous recall and 63,683 2020–2022 model year Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs. GM said owners of the vehicles in the new recall should park them outside immediately after charging and not leave them charging indoors overnight. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/gm-recalling-73000-bolt-evs-at-cost-of-%241-billion-halts-sales-2021-08-20

To achieve the goal of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral", the electrification of vehicles is the core field,and the development of electric ships is an important part of it.On June 26, the first domestic pure electric container ship"GuoChuang"was successfully launched in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, marking the arrival of the era of intelligent,green and efficient development of inland river shipping. On the spot, Quan Shengming, chairman of State Grid Electric Vehicle Service Co., Ltd. Wu Chaozhong, vice president of Wuhan University of technology, Yan Xinping,academician of Chinese Academy of engineering and chief professor of Wuhan University of technology,and Zhu Ruming, director of Jiangsu maritime administration, attended the launching ceremony and delivered speeches. "Guochuang" is the first 64 TEUs standardized intelligent new energy container ship in China, with a total length of 64.95 meters,a width of 12.5 meters, a depth of 3.4 meters and a gross tonnage of 994 tons.Jia Junguo,a three-level consultant of State Grid Electric Vehicle Company and chairman of State Grid Electric innovation center,said that the R&D and construction of the ship is another major measure for State Grid Electric Vehicle Company to deeply implement the energy development strategy of State Grid and promote the electrification of transportation. The successful operation of the ship will effectively promote the implementation of the"Yangtze River Protection"strategy and promote the green development of water transportation,A significant demonstration effect has been formed. The project is a special demonstration project of"comprehensive transportation and intelligent transportation"under the national key R&D plan in 2018.According to the green and intelligent technology requirements of ships,the project has carried out a number of innovative technologies,such as pure battery integrated module mobile power supply,DC electric propulsion,intelligent charging and exchanging system,ship shore cooperative platform,shaftless wheel rim drive,ship shore cooperative safety assisted driving,etc,It is the first inland river green intelligent container ship with independent R&D,design and construction and completely independent intellectual property rights in China. "The 64TEU inland river green intelligent container ship is a major special demonstration project of the Ministry of science and technology of the people's Republic of China.It adopts many innovative technologies applied for the first time in the industry and can achieve the development goal of green,intelligent and safe inland river transport ships.At the same time,it explores new modes and new concepts of ship operation through the new generation shipping system under the ship shore cooperation,It is of pioneering significance to inland river shipping in China.”As is told by Academician Yan Xinping. The navigation mileage of inland river in China is 127000 km,ranking first in the world.The number of inland river transport ships is 119500.The market prospect of green intelligent technology for inland river ships is extremely broad.The development of the ship adheres to the enterprise concept of"leading technology,leading industry and leading standards"of the national innovation center.In the process of research and development,the national innovation center has worked closely with the ship designers,ship standard setters,equipment developers and ship manufacturers of Wuhan University of technology and Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding Engineering Co.,Ltd.to overcome many technical difficulties,It has formed more than 50 intellectual property rights and a number of industry standards.At the same time,it has also set a number of firsts in the field of water transportation in China:the first inland ship with modular battery power pack;The first inland river vessel operated by power exchange mode;It is the first inland ship to adopt intelligent ship auxiliary navigation system and shaftless wheel rim propulsion system;It is the first inland ship to meet the three-level green ship certification standard. From September,the 64TEU inland river green intelligent container ship will carry out commercial operation on the inland river route from angi Shangang port terminal to Waigaoqiao Wharf in Shanghai more than 270 km.The Anji power station,which is matched with it,is also under the cooperation of State Grid Huzhou Power Supply Company and Huzhou port and navigation management center,and will be put into operation as scheduled to provide power for the operation of the ship.It is estimated that the ship can reduce fuel consumption by 130000 liters and reduce CO2 emission by 340 tons per year after commissioning.

With the resumption of work after the epidemic, enterprises actively resume production. We strive to help the economic recovery of enterprises in the aspects of "saving electricity cost", "reducing enterprise load" and "stabilizing logistics support". In April, our nearly 10Mwh energy storage operation projects have passed the acceptance and officially put into operation in Foshan and Shenzhen. They are 4Mwh distributed energy storage operation project of Foshan xinlianfa Ceramics Co., Ltd.,4Mwh distributed energy storage operation project of Foshan Gaoming Haineng Technology Co.,Ltd. ,and 1.2Mwh distributed energy storage operation project of Shenzhen Maibo Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. At present, all enterprises are in urgent need of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, promoting economic recovery, and adopting the operation mode of "valley filling and peak releasing", which can greatly reduce the electricity cost of industrial and commercial enterprises, and has a significant effect in slowing down the expansion and reducing the demand. It can also be used as a standby power supply in emergency response to sudden situations.              

On September 26, the 4Mwh distributed energy storage operation project of Xiangyang enteen Yulong Transmission System Co., Ltd. was officially accepted. The project is operated and managed by our company, which marks the formal start of the contract energy management   cooperation with enteen Yulong Co., Ltd. The cooperation period of the project is 10 years, and 2.14 Million Kwh of electricity can be saved for the park every year. It is estimated that the total coal equivalent is about 7700 tons during the operation period, achieving good social and   environmental benefits. The project will become a distributed energy storage demonstration power station in Xiangyang City and even Hubei Province, which will promote the demonstration and application of large-scale energy storage.

On March 24th, the 20 MWh large-scale user side energy storage power station project cooperated with Jiangsu Suyan Jingshen Co., Ltd. successfully held the grid connection ceremony. The customer side energy storage project is invested, constructed and operated by us and the project is also strongly supported by State Grid Jiangsu comprehensive energy service Co., Ltd. and Huai'an power supply company. In the current context of high demand for clean energy supply, the grid connection of the project is conducive to promoting local clean energy production and nearby consumption. It has a very important social effect and demonstration significance for building a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system, and helps enterprises achieve the goal of" carbon peak, carbon neutral". The scale of the project is 5MW/20mwh, and the grid connected voltage is 6kV. It is connected to the local power dispatching department through dispatching automation equipment, and can participate in power peak shaving and demand side response. The project adopts a variety of advanced safety and management technologies, aiming to provide customers with a highly reliable and safe large-scale user side energy storage grid connection solution. The project uses our high-cost performance lithium iron phosphate battery, which has the characteristics of high safety, good consistency and long cycle life. The smooth grid connection of the energy storage power station can adjust the power load, cut the peak and fill the valley, optimize the energy consumption, and effectively reduce the electricity cost of customers.

Recent independent degradation tests of commercial lithium batteries reveal a big surprise! Contrary to the claims of many NMC-based lithium battery manufacturers, LFP chemistry is superior compared to NMC—it is safer, offers a longer lifespan, and is generally less expensive than NMC, NCA. The Two Main Types of Lithium-ion Battery Chemistries Used Of all the various types of lithium-ion batteries, two emerge as the best choices for forklifts and other lift trucks: Lithium Ferrum Phosphate, or Lithium lron Phosphate (LFP) and Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC). The LFP battery chemistry has been around the longest. NMC is a relatively new technology. However, that doesn’t always translate into being a universally better technology. In electric vehicles (EVs) such as cars and trucks, it’s often the preferred choice due to overall less weight and higher energy density per kilogram. However, in the warehousing environment, where ambient temperature extremes are possible and weight is not the issue, the LFP battery is widespread and conversely may be a more favorable choice. As a default, both NMC and LFP chemistries useful life can range between 3000 to 5,000 cycles. However, with opportunity charging, that can be increased significantly, anywhere up to 7,000 cycle count. Whereas lead-acid shouldn't be charged until it’s depleted to 20% battery capacity, Lithium-ion batteries thrive on what it calls opportunity charging. While the two types-LFP and NMC-operate similarly, there are some differences. Degradation of Commercial Lithium-ion Cells: Test Results According to a 2020 paper from the Journal of the Electrochemical Society (Degradation of Commercial Lithium-ion Cells as a Function of Chemistry and Cycling Conditions), LFP batteries have a longer lifespan than NMCs. This data contradicts the wide-spread notion that NMC cells are more durable and have a longer life span. These tests were first published in September 2020 but reached the news sections of material handing publications only recently. The authors of the article give one possible explanation - the data on real commercially available cells may vary with the change of manufacturing process, however subtle. Under strict test conditions, commercially available lithium cells of both types were repeatedly discharged and charged from 0% to 100%. The result? According to the paper, “The LFP cells exhibit substantially longer cycle life spans under the examined conditions." The tests were performed at the Sandia National Laboratories as “part of a broader effort to determine and characterize the safety and reliability of commercial Li-ion cells,” The study examined the influence of temperature. depth of discharge (DOD), and discharge current on the long-term degradation of the commercial cells.   LFP chemistry is superior compared to NMC. All cells were charged and discharged at a 0.5 C rate or the amount of discharge that will deplete the full capacity of a battery in two hours. In the graphical representation shown (taken from the Journal's 2020 technical paper), you can easily see that the discharge capacity retention for the LFP lithium battery (blue data points) far exceeded the NMC battery retention (indicated by the black data points) for each round of charge/discharge cycling. The graph indicates that the NMC degrades almost twice as quickly as the LFP, showing the superior overall performance of the LFP cells. The testing showed LFPs had a better RTE (round trip efficiency) than NMCs, calculated by dividing the discharge energy by the charge energy. This calculation shows that the LFP is the more efficient, economical choice. Lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide battery, or NCA, was also a part of this experiment and performed similar or worse than NMC. We do not focus on NCA in this article as it is not mainstream in the commercial use of lithium batteries for Material Handling, mainly due to safety and cost issues. Both NMC and NCA cells demonstrated strong dependence on the depth of discharge, with greater sensitivity to full SOC range cycling compared to LFP cells. LFP cells had the highest cycle lifetime across all conditions, but this performance gap was reduced when cells were compared according to the discharge energy throughput. LFP and NMC Lithium Cells Chemistry: Charging Speed There is one other major difference between LFP and NMC often used as a selling point in material handling. NMC batteries are sometimes charged at a higher, faster rate, often compared to LFP using a 0 to 100% charge cycle. However, there is a tradeoff. To do this, the cables and connectors must be beefed up as the temperature generated by the process is higher. Additionally, the individual cells must be insulated from each other to contain and dissipate the heat. This is usually done using ceramic shields. Increasing the cost of the battery unit. LFP Lithium-ion batteries normally charge at a lower rate, often up to 1.5 C rate. They can be fitted with dual plugs. However, that doubles the charge rate, while still maintaining a lower charging temperature. The current draw during the charging process is lower overall. Potentially translating into a safer charge. In reality, the higher charge rate of the NMC is a non-issue. With the use of opportunity charging (which benefits lithium batteries), the battery should never become fully discharged. Therefore, charging from a fully discharged battery to a fully charged battery will rarely, if ever, be encountered. The takeaway is simple. Even though it may be promoted that the higher charge rate for NMC is possible, there is no measurable time savings increase nor downtime decrease to validate the necessity of charge rates over 1 C rate. LFP vs NMC While NMC cells are often promoted as a newer, more advanced technology, they carry some other significant pitfalls. The flashpoint (the temperature at which a chemical will ignite) is significantly lower than LFP. The flashpoint for NMC is 419 degrees Fahrenheit, while LFP's flashpoint is as high as 518 degrees. In other words, the NMC is more likely to ignite and burn under the right conditions. For example, a high charge rate contributes to thermal runaway, potential heat damage and is more prevalent in NMC battery pack than in LFP. Both the technology and chemistry of the NMC cause it to run hotter during both use and charging, requiring more heat dissipation measures. Ceramic tiles are used to separate the cells in an NMC battery for heat control. This is a measure not needed in LFP chemistry technology. While the NMC is a technology with potentially faster-charging rates and a slightly higher nominal voltage per cell (3.7V compared to LFP's 3.2V), there are no distinct advantages to justify the higher purchase price. While exact pricing fluctuates with the market, an NMC battery costs somewhere between 30% to50% more. The LFP chemistry is actually a safer technology and will perform well, and even outperform, the more expensive NMC. The LFP battery outperforms the old, less safe, and less efficient lead-acid battery. So does the NMC. But, when the total cost of ownership of forklift batteries is a driving factor, LFP may be the better choice. Lead-Acid Forklift Batteries We cannot skip the inevitable comparison to the lead-acid chemistry in this article, as this is still a prevalent technology in the forklift world. Lead-acid cells are wet cells. Electrical power is generated by liquid chemicals, interacting with the lead. The lead is converted into lead sulfate by a chemical reaction with the acid. When connected to a load (the forklift), the electrons move through it, balancing the electrons.  Simply put, the battery is "discharged." Recharging the battery reverses the process. While lead-acid batteries have been around the longest, there are some inherent pitfalls. For example, they do have a limited number of charge cycles, somewhere around1,500. However, that also means that a cycle is used up every time you charge the battery. Ideally, the battery should be charged when it's depleted to between 20 and 30 percent remaining charge to avoid capacity loss. Charging when the capacity is less than 20% can damage both the battery and the lift. Charged more often, say above 60%, and you're wasting charges. The battery's life will be shortened. The charging/discharging processes also give off toxic and flammable gases. This makes lead-acid hazardous, both during operation and charging. Lead-acid batteries are also maintenance intensive. If water levels are not monitored and maintained properly-both high and low levels-battery life is shortened, and dangerous conditions can arise. Finally, to properly maintain these batteries, you need to follow the 8-8-8 rule: eight hours of use, eight hours of charging, eight hours of the cool-down period, again, to avoid battery capacity loss due to the degradation mechanism of this technology.  That means the battery can only be used during one full shift in 24hours. And that means that you must have an additional backup battery to swap out for each work shift. Compared to lead-acid batteries, both NMC and LFP Li ion batteries have a longer overall lifespan and a significantly higher number of charge discharge cycles. Unlike lead-acid, lithium-ion chemistry thrives with frequent charges. Their usable life is increased by opportunity charging during breaks and lunches. Additionally, battery maintenance is minimal compared to the lead-acid battery. You don't need to monitor the electrolyte levels because they're non-existent. And battery room ventilation isn't required since there is no dangerous gassing during the charging process. most of the condition monitoring is done by the battery itself using advanced electronics of its battery management system. Final Thoughts on Battery Chemistry Choice In choosing the correct battery for your operation, don't go by initial cost alone. Consider the overall cost of ownership during the life of the battery. The safer operation and longevity of lithium-ion chemistry should be factored in. A battery with lithium-ion chemistry makes better sense, from both an operational efficiency standpoint, and the increased safety factor afforded. Even though, don't make the decision quickly, without weighing the pros and cons of both NMC and LFP battery chemistries. NMC is an excellent choice for electric vehicles. But the price tag. may not be worth it for forklift and PIT (powered industrial truck) use. Overall, there is no significant performance increase, and LFP technology demonstrates a slower battery degradation and a longer cycle life when handled properly. While some NMC batteries may offer a faster charging rate (possibly up to 3 C rate), that isn't necessarily a requirement due to opportunity charging. You rarely charge a battery from 0 to 100 percent. LFP batteries charge at a lower rate, but the rate can be increased easily if it is a requirement. Contrary to existing perception, the data shows that LFP cells have the highest cycle lifetime across all conditions. Both Lithium-ion types are much safer than older lead-acid technology. However, the lower flashpoint of the NMC (419 degrees Fahrenheit) increases the possibility of a fire hazard, particularly at the high charge rate.