Automakers BMW, Volvo Back Moratorium on Deep Seabed Mining
Automakers BMW and Volvo announced Wednesday that they support a moratorium on deep seabed mining for minerals used in electric vehicle batteries and other products.
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batteries
Computer Chip Shortage Will Bring Patch for Supply-Chain Holes
An executive order has been signed to support four critical industries: pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, semiconductors and large-capacity batteries.
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NTSB Says Vehicle Battery Fires Pose Risks to 1st Responders
Electric vehicle fires pose safety risks to first responders and guidelines from manufacturers about how to deal with them have been inadequate, according to U.S. investigators.
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Indonesia in $9.8 Bln Electric Vehicle Battery Deal With Korea’s LG
Indonesia said Wednesday it had signed a $9.8 billion electric vehicle battery deal with South Korea’s LG as it moves to become a global production hub for the green technology.
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Apple to Pay $113 Million to Settle Investigation Over Slowed IPhone Batteries
California-based Apple settled an investigation by nearly three dozen states Wednesday, agreeing to pay $113 million in a global settlement to rectify its practice of slowing down older model iPhones to preserve the devices’ aging batteries.
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California Lawmakers Slam Agency Over Snail’s Pace of Battery Plant Cleanup
California lawmakers excoriated the state agency tasked with cleaning up the neighborhoods surrounding a shuttered battery recycling plant, blasting cost overruns and the excruciatingly slow pace of operations.
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Finland’s Battery Plans Spark Environmental Fears
Lines of trucks carrying piles of rock crisscross Finland’s rugged Terrafame mine, which sits 186 miles below the Arctic Circle and is Europe’s largest source of nickel for electric car batteries.
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California Auditor Slams Expensive and Slow Cleanup of Battery Recycling Plant
Cleaning up the abandoned Exide battery recycling plant in Los Angeles County will cost California taxpayers nearly $400 million dollars in addition to other costs the state has already paid and the regulatory agency in charge is woefully behind schedule, the state auditor found.
Read moreAmazon Batteries
Amazon customers have filed a class action against the e-retail giant claiming it is going against its own prohibition on the sale of lithium-ion batteries by selling fake or recycled batteries salvaged by Chinese sellers who are marketing them as new.
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Chemists Are Turning Ordinary Bricks Into Fast-Charging Batteries
It turns out any old red brick could be a power brick, according to new research from chemists who’ve devised a coating that can turn red bricks into blue batteries.
Read moreBankruptcy
Battery-making giant Exide Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, declaring more than $1 billion in liabilities; it plans to sell all of its assets, in a crunch partly brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read moreKilled by a Vape
The family of the late William Eric Brown sued Smoke and Vape DZ, of Fort Worth, claiming it sold him and installed an LG 18650 battery for his vaping device, and it exploded, lacerating an artery in his neck and killing him, in Tarrant County Court.
Read moreChild Labor
A federal class action claims Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Dell, Tesla, et al. knowingly profit from brutal abuse of young children in the Democratic Republic of Congo to mine cobalt for lithium-ion batteries used in their electronic devices.
Read moreEU Approves State Aid to Develop Car Batteries Industry
The European Union has approved $3.5 billion in subsidies from seven member countries that want to develop the electric battery industry and challenge China’s supremacy.
Read moreGruesome Death
The Estate of the late Caleb Michael Joyner sued Olight Technology, Mica Electronics, et al., of China, for fraud and negligence, claiming Nuon brand lithium batteries in an Olight flashlight exploded while Joyner held it in his mouth fixing his car, killing him, in federal court.
Read moreTesla Accident
Parents of a man who died in a single-vehicle car crash sued Tesla Motors, claiming the Model S Tesla accelerated uncontrollably, smashed into a wall and “the vehicle’s lithium-ion batteries burst into an uncontrollable and fatal fire,” in Santa Clara County Court, Calif.
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Nobel in Chemistry Awarded for Work on Lithium-Ion Batteries
Three scientists on Wednesday were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries, which have reshaped energy storage and transformed cars, mobile phones and many other devices in an increasingly portable and electronic world.
Read moreBattery Antitrust
A federal judge approved a $49 million settlement for indirect purchasers of lithium ion batteries: Samsung will pay $39.5 million, Panasonic $5.5 million, and Toshiba and Tokin each will pay $2 million.
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