Kreisel Electric, Ciments Vigier, Leclanché, alpha-En.

Kreisel inaugurates R&D centre: Kreisel Electric has opened a 7000 square metres R&D site in the Austrian city of Rainbach. The new centre includes a prototype workshop and a fully automated production line for the company’s storage devices. Besides, Patrick Knapp-Schwarzenegger, nephew of former CA governor and movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, has acquired a stake in the company together with a group of strategic partners.
prnewswire.com, electrive.net (in German)

Gigantic electric dumper truck: Kuhn Schweiz AG and Lithium Storage GmbH have modified a diesel-powered Komatsu HD 605-7 into an electric vehicle with 45 tons empty weight, 65 tons loading capacity and a 4.5 tons battery pack with 700kWh. If the vehicle proves to be suitable for daily use, cement company Ciments Vigier SA could power up to eight units in the long run.
electriccarsreport.com

Leclanché batteries for Fastned fast-chargers: Swiss battery specialist Leclanché teams up with Dutch company Fastned in order to develop a scalable battery storage solution with large-format lithium-ion batteries for Fastned’s fast charging EV stations. In a first step, two pilot projects will be kicked-off at different locations. Leclanché’s buffer batteries shall enable Fastned to deploy several high powered chargers per site while reducing the strain on the grid.
greencarcongress.com, leclanche.com

Promising battery components: alpha-En Corporation has invented a process to produce high-purity thin-film lithium metal anodes for EV batteries and gained now an award of 750,000 dollars from the US Department of Energy. This funding will allow to commercialise Argonne National Laboratory’s proprietary highly conductive solid-state electrolyte coating for alpha-En’s anodes – a decisive step towards market launch.
greencarcongress.com, alpha-encorp.com