Silicon-enhanced battery materials and components firm NEO Battery Materials has developed and manufactured its first battery cell designed for drone applications.

NEO received its first purchase order from an Asian manufacturer for drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) late last year.

The NBM Drone Cell, which is intended for reconnaissance and surveillance applications, achieves an average discharge capacity of 34.2 A and specific energy of approximately 300 Wh/kg, compared to 22.0 Ah and 214 Wh/kg in widely deployed commercial drone cells manufactured in China, NEO said.

This performance improvement was achieved without altering the physical size or dimensions of the cell, addressing a fundamental constraint in drone and unmanned aerial system (UAS) platforms where battery dimensions are fixed by airframe and design.

These advancements are expected to translate into including prolonged flight time, widened mission operability and expanded payload capacity.

The development program was initiated following a teardown evaluation of Chinese-manufactured drone battery cells currently integrated into operational surveillance systems. The process enabled NEO to assess cell architecture, materials selection and performance characteristics, forming the technical foundation for a targeted redesign.

NEO engineered a new cell architecture optimized for higher energy density while maintaining compatibility with existing drone and UAS platforms. A total of 48 prototype cells were manufactured and evaluated to validate performance consistency and repeatability across the sample set.

Following cell-level validation, NEO has proceeded to battery pack assembly in collaboration with a pack manufacturing partner in South Korea. The company plans to conduct a live field test, installing finished drone cell packs into a commercial surveillance drone platform to evaluate performance under real-world operating conditions.

“Chinese-sourced battery cells currently represent nearly all global supply for drone and UAS platforms. Our demonstrated ability to materially improve performance at fixed battery sizes provides a compelling opportunity for customers seeking supply diversification, extended operational range, enhanced mission flexibility, and increased payload capacity without requiring system-level redesign,” said Mr. Seok Joung Youn, NEO’s Head of Facility Operations and Manufacturing. “NEO’s battery customization and optimization capabilities can be applied across a range of drone platforms and any battery-powered electronics systems.”

Source: NEO Battery Materials

U.S. Energy has added a smaller model to its Volt Vault mobile EV charging line. The Volt Vault Lite is a trailer-based DC fast charging unit built on a 22-foot platform that can be towed by a mid-sized pickup truck.

The unit offers two ports of Level 3 charging at up to 60 kW and can run on propane, utility natural gas or renewable natural gas (RNG). The company says the Lite model is aimed at fleets that need fast charging in locations where grid infrastructure isn’t available or where charging is only needed temporarily. Lead time is four months.

“Solving for EV charging shouldn’t feel like a game of ‘would you rather’ and with Volt Vault Lite, it won’t,” said Jerry Miller, director of business development. “The Lite model is ideal for fast charging in areas that just can’t get the necessary electrical infrastructure or when charging infrastructure is only needed for short durations.”

The Volt Vault product line is now deployed across 15 states, according to the company.

Source: U.S. Energy

As the power electronics industry shifts from silicon IGBTs to SiC MOSFETs—driven largely by the efficiency demands of EV inverters, onboard chargers and DC fast charging—one persistent headache has been the gate driver. Legacy designs built around optocouplers and opto-emulators typically need significant rework to handle SiC’s faster switching speeds and higher noise immunity requirements.

Infineon’s new EiceDRIVER 1ED301xMC12I family is designed to eliminate that barrier. The isolated gate driver ICs are pin-compatible with existing opto-emulators and optocouplers, allowing them to serve as drop-in replacements in legacy designs while delivering the performance SiC demands.

The family includes three variants—the 1ED3010, 1ED3011 and 1ED3012—supporting Si MOSFETs, IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs respectively. Key specs include up to 6.5 A of output current, CMTI exceeding 300 kV/µs, propagation delay of 40 ns and timing matching below 10 ns. The devices come in a CTI 600 6-pin DSO package with more than 8 mm creepage and clearance, and use a pure PMOS sourcing stage for improved turn-on performance.

Target applications include motor drives, solar inverters, EV chargers and energy storage systems. All three variants are available now, along with an evaluation board (EVAL-1ED3012MC12I-SIC).

Don’t miss Infineon’s upcoming webinars at our next virtual conference:

Source: Infineon

Focus Graphite Advanced Materials, which is developing high-grade flake graphite deposits and graphite materials, has announced that the Canadian Intellectual Property Office has allowed its Canadian patent application for battery anode materials.

Patent No. 3,209,696, entitled Advanced Anode Materials Comprising Spheroidal Additive-Enhanced Graphite Particles and Process for Making Same, covers proprietary processes and compositions for silicon-enhanced, spheroidal graphite particles. These are designed to improve performance characteristics critical to lithium-ion battery anodes, including energy density, charge efficiency and cycling stability, Focus said, by incorporating silicon within the graphite particle architecture while leveraging graphite’s structural stability and conductivity.

By distributing silicon within the graphite structure, the technology is intended to address two challenges associated with silicon-enhanced anodes: charge-induced volume expansion and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) instability.

Embedding silicon within a graphite matrix is expected to help buffer volumetric expansion during cycling, supporting improved mechanical integrity, while the surrounding graphite structure can reduce direct silicon–electrolyte interactions, which Focus said contribute to enhanced cycling stability and battery longevity.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has completed its examination and determined that the Patent claims meet all Canadian requirements for patentability, including novelty and inventiveness.

Subject to the completion of final administrative steps, the Patent is expected to proceed to formal grant.

“The allowance of this Patent represents the culmination of years of focused research and development. The underlying technology was shaped under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Doninger, whose deep technical insight and commitment to innovation were instrumental to its success, and we are grateful for the work he contributed,” said Dean Hanisch, Chief Executive Officer of Focus Graphite. “With the Patent now allowed, we are well positioned to move forward with broader testing and advancement of this technology as part of our downstream strategy.”

Source: Focus Graphite Advanced Materials

Thermal imaging firm Raythink has released a white paper outlining a three-layer approach to monitoring thermal risks across the lithium-ion battery lifecycle, from production and testing through charging, energy storage and end-of-life recycling.

The system centers on infrared-based thermal monitoring. The first layer uses thermal cameras rated for harsh environments, deployed at production lines, storage facilities and other critical areas. The second layer, a cloud platform called VIS3000, centralizes thermal data for trend analysis, incident review and compliance documentation. The third integrates with existing safety systems—including BMS, fire alarms and distributed control systems—to create a unified monitoring network.

According to the company, most thermal monitoring solutions in practice remain fragmented, with different stages of the battery lifecycle relying on independent systems. Raythink’s approach consolidates data from all environments onto a single platform, which the company says also yields process and quality insights beyond safety monitoring.

“The system addresses key gaps in traditional lithium-ion battery safety monitoring and enables proactive, full-lifecycle management of EV battery thermal risks,” according to the company.

The white paper is available for download at raythink-tech.com.

Source: Raythink

UK-based electrification technology firm Equipmake has signed a £2.4-million ($3.28-million) agreement to supply Argentine-Brazilian bus manufacturer Agrale with electric drivetrain systems for 23 electric buses.

The new deal follows a September 2025 agreement worth £5.45 million, under which Equipmake supplied drivetrain systems for 50 Agrale electric buses that are now being deployed in Buenos Aires, Brazil. The companies previously developed a bus model together that was unveiled in 2022.

Equipmake is supplying Agrale with a fully integrated electric drivetrain system combining an electric motor, inverter, control systems and battery pack, using the company’s products and technology in addition to components sourced from third parties.

“The successful deployment of the initial fleet in Buenos Aires has led to this follow-on order which helps cement the relationship with such an important customer, together with our shared commitment to developing a robust sustainable transport network in the region,” said Ian Foley, CEO of Equipmake.

Source: Equipmake

EV charging solutions provider Versinetic is warning UK charger manufacturers and charge point operators to act ahead of charging standards changes taking effect in 2026.

The changes have downstream implications for organizations responsible for deploying EV charging infrastructure.

The convergence of new technical protocols and tougher regulations is raising the minimum technical and regulatory baseline for EV chargers sold or deployed in the UK, according to Versinetic.

Changes include the rapid adoption of ISO 15118 (Plug & Charge), which introduces certificate-based authentication and secure charger-to-vehicle communication, and migration to Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 2.0.1 and 2.1, raising expectations around cybersecurity, smart charging and interoperability with back-office systems. In addition, companies will need to comply with UK-specific regulations such as the Smart Charge Points Regulations and Public Charge Point Regulations, which impose mandatory requirements around smart charging, payments, reliability and data transparency.

These overlapping technical and regulatory requirements are tightening procurement and interoperability expectations across charging networks. Manufacturers that fail to address them risk products stalling at certification, facing costly redesigns or being excluded from future network procurement as operators and fleets increasingly demand full standards compliance, Versinetic said.

The company has published a guide titled “Emerging UK EV Charging Standards: What Manufacturers Need to Know,” to help manufacturers translate the evolving standards into concrete design, testing and certification decisions.

The guide is structured around five areas that directly affect charger roadmaps: standards alignment, compliance and testing, hardware and firmware architecture, operational readiness and future planning.

The guide also includes an interactive audit and compliance toolkit that allows manufacturers to assess their current readiness against emerging standards and identify where late design decisions could create certification, retrofit or market-access risk.

“UK EV charging standards are increasingly acting as gatekeepers for grid connection, certification, and commercial deployment. What many manufacturers underestimate is when compliance decisions are effectively locked in during the development cycle,” said Dunstan Power, Managing Director at Versinetic.

“One of the biggest risks we’re seeing is manufacturers assuming they can retrofit compliance later. In practice, hardware architecture, firmware structure and security choices constrain what can be achieved, and by the time non-compliance becomes visible, the cost and disruption are often far higher than expected.”

Source: Versinetic

The Baden-Württemberg police department is using ADS-TEC Energy’s ChargePost in a pilot project for battery-buffered fast EV charging at the Pforzheim motorway police station.

The Pforzheim traffic police unit is responsible for one of the busiest sections of motorway in Germany, putting pressure on vehicle availability and charging speeds. Charging infrastructure is critical when emergency vehicles must be available around the clock, noted Thomas Speidel, CEO of ADS-TEC Energy.

ADS-TEC Energy’s battery-buffered fast-charging system delivers ultra-fast charging even in locations that have limited grid capacity, eliminating the need for time-consuming and costly grid upgrades. ChargePost features an integrated battery capacity of 201 kWh in a compact footprint and delivers charging power of up to 300 kW, or the ability to charge two vehicles at 150 kW simultaneously.

The combination of a local battery, intelligent control technology and high charging power is designed to ensure reliable and resilient operations.

“What makes this ADS-TEC Energy solution special is its integrated battery storage, which enables EV charging at high power even at locations with limited grid capacity. This allows us to stress test EVs in real motorway conditions,” said Thomas Strobl, Deputy Minister-President and Minister of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg.

“This project represents the next phase in a journey that we started 15 years ago. Around 630—roughly 12%—of our 5,400 police vehicles are already electric and the Pforzheim traffic police unit will now put the new fast charging system and EVs through their paces,” Strobl added.

Source: ADS-TEC Energy

Orion Energy Systems has announced that it will install 105 EV charging stations and related infrastructure for the Boston Public School system. The contract is valued at $4 million.

Orion’s Voltrek division is installing 105 DC fast charging stations and related infrastructure at the Freeport Bus Yard operated by the Boston Public Schools. The new units feature an innovative above-ground mounting method with Jersey barriers.

Orion/Voltrek is involved in numerous fleet electrification initiatives in the Northeast, including multiple-location deployments for municipalities and rollouts of electric van charging capabilities for school districts. One notable recent project: the installation of 13 charging stations for the Lower Pioneer Valley School Educational Cooperative, which serves the Greater Springfield, Massachusetts area.

“Orion/Voltrek is proud to be a reliable long-term provider of EV charging, infrastructure and maintenance to Boston Public Schools, one of the most innovative public school districts in America,” said Orion CEO Sally Washlow. “Fleet managers increasingly rely on Orion/Voltrek to deliver the quality, reliability and scalability that enterprise fleet managers require.”

Source: Orion Energy Systems

ChargerHelp was founded to address the scandalous reliability problems that have plagued public EV charging providers. The company provides Reliability as a Service (RaaS) to fleets, site hosts and networks. (Read our 2025 interview with CEO Kameale Terry.)

Now ChargerHelp has announced several growth milestones that “underscore the industry’s shift toward data-centric operations and proactive service models.” ChargerHelp has recently increased its number of stations under management, formalized a new partner program, and added to its executive team.

ChargerHelp applies a data-centric approach to optimize charging infrastructure. The company has collected some 300 million data points, which fuel its machine learning algorithms.

ChargerHelp has launched a new Partner Program. This initiative uses the company’s proprietary EMPWR platform, a technology layer that sits above OEMs and CMS platforms, to orchestrate coordination among hardware manufacturers, software providers and field technicians.

The program builds on established partnerships with over 40 EVSE providers. By integrating with backend systems via the EMPWR APIs, ChargerHelp creates “a unified feedback loop” with partners such as ChargeLab. According to ChargerHelp, this collaboration ensures that the 90% of charger outages related to software issues are quickly diagnosed and the appropriate action is determined—resolving issues remotely when possible and eliminating unnecessary truck rolls.

Meanwhile, ChargerHelp has expanded its leadership team. Jerry Varnado, formerly Chief of Staff at ChargePoint, has joined ChargerHelp as SVP Operations. Brad Juhasz, formerly of EV Connect and Eaton, joins the company as Chief Product Officer.

“Reliability at scale is a learning problem, not a maintenance problem,” said Kameale Terry, CEO of ChargerHelp. “When data and field experience are fragmented, every failure is treated like the first, with truck rolls for even minor software issues. By unifying cross-network data with real-world field intelligence into a single platform, we reduce diagnosis and decision latency and create a flywheel where every resolved issue makes the system smarter. Reaching this milestone shows the industry is ready to move beyond reactive maintenance toward intelligence-led infrastructure operations.”

Source: ChargerHelp