InterPlex Blog

The largest battery factory in Europe is being built by Daimler.

Daimler, one of the few major automakers developing all-electric vehicles, begins construction on a $562 million lithium-ion battery factory in Germany, officials unveiled a few days ago. The German automaker is planning to spend $11 billion on 10 new electric models that would be brought to the market by 2022.

Mercedes-Benz manufacturer Daimler is currently producing its own battery packs through its ACCUmotive subsidiary. A few months ago, they announced an important multi-million investment in a new battery plant in Kamenz, Germany, which will assemble lithium-ion battery packs for Mercedes and Maybach vehicles, as well as energy storage batteries.

The new production facility will be environmentally conscious. Mercedes says that the factory will be carbon-dioxide neutral. The facilities will be supplied with energy from a combined heat and power plant and solar power – a photovoltaic plant in combination with stationary battery storage units. By the end of 2020, the factory will have a total of over 1,000 employees and thus today’s number will be more than doubled.

The new production facility will stretch across 262,000 feet. It is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2018- just in time for Mercedes’ first all-electric vehicle- the new ‘EQ’ SUV. In addition, the German automaker has several other electric vehicle programs, like its all-electric Urban eTruck. Daimler is also currently building 1,500 all-electric Mercedes-Benz vans for Germany’s largest independent logistic firm, Hermes.

Last week, Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy has entered into a partnership with Vivint Solar to Solar to sell residential storage batteries along with solar panels in California.

Major battery factories are currently under construction in other European countries: Poland, Hungary, and Sweden. However, some of these factories are actually being built by Asian giants planning to move into Europe. There are also eight battery factories under construction in China.

Tesla Inc has recalled nearly two-thirds of Model S and Model X vehicles made last year to fix a parking brake issue.
Following the biggest ever recall for the company, announced on Thursday, shares of the luxury electric car maker were down nearly 1 percent to settle at $302.77 in afternoon trading.
The vehicles affected are roughly 53,000 of Model S and Model X electric cars built between February and October of 2016. 31,000 of them were sold in the U.S. More »

Tesla bucks the tradition and the company is going to release the Model 3 with a single central display.
After almost a year of rumors and speculation, Elon Musk has confirmed that Model 3 will not feature a head-up display. That means everything, from navigation to music, will be on the one display.
There will not be a traditional gauge cluster behind the steering wheel, and no head-up display, either; no speedometer, fuel gauge, temperature gauges, rev counter, or even a clock in front of the driver. More »

SpaceX is planning to launch two private investors on a one-week mission around the moon, said Elon Musk during a telephone news conference on Monday.

In order to complete the mission, the company will use its new Dragon 2 space capsule and Falcon Heavy rockets. The trip would cost more than $300 million.

The SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, said that they are planning to send two travelers around the moon and back to Earth before the end of next year. The two tourists would spend about a week inside one of SpaceX’s new Dragon 2 capsules, launched on the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket. More »

Tesla expects to finalize locations for three more Gigafactories later this year, the company revealed Wednesday.
Telsa has currently two Gigafactories. The first one, Gigafactory 1, is located outside of Reno, Nevada and the facility in Buffalo where Tesla is building solar panels together with Panasonic.
Gigafactory 1 spreads on about 3,200 acres in a massive industrial center. The current structure of the factory features a footprint of 1.9 million square feet More »

Tesla Motors Inc. has announced the activation of Autopilot features for cars equipped with the “Hardware 2” camera and sensor set.
Tesla is now beginning to roll out upgraded software to customers with newer cars that launched in October. All Model S and Model X electric cars built since then are fitted with Hardware 2 that includes eight cameras, radar, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a new supercomputer. More »

Panasonic Corp. and Tesla Motors Inc. are planning to begin production of solar cells and modules at a factory in Buffalo, New York.
Japanese electronics company and U.S. electric car maker said Tuesday they finalized an agreement. Panasonic would pay capital costs for the manufacturing and Tesla made a long-term purchase commitment.
The factory in Buffalo is under development of SolarCity, More »

Uber removed its self-driving cars from San Francisco streets on Wednesday bowing to the state’s DMV.
The ride-hailing company pulled its fleet of autonomous cars off San Francisco streets after California’s regulations revoked Uber’s vehicle registrations.
Hours after Uber launched a self-driving car service in its hometown last week, the state’s regulators threatened legal action. More »

Uber won’t stop self-driving car service in San Francisco, despite California regulators say it is illegal.
The legal fight started last Wednesday when any passenger in San Francisco requesting a ride from Uber, might have been picked up by an autonomous car. After receiving on his phone a notification in the Uber application, one could accept or cancel and then request a regular ride. More »

Ultra-fast hyperloop train will travel from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in 12 minutes.
The futuristic Dubai has agreed a deal with Los Angeles-based startup Hyperloop One to study the potential for building a near-supersonic transport line linking it to Emirati capital Abu Dhabi. The announcement of the deal was made at the top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. More »