Cox Automotive is getting into the electric vehicle battery lifecycle business. The company said Wednesday it acquired Oklahoma City-based Spiers New Technologies (SNT), a business that provides repair, remanufacturing, refurbishing and repurposing services for EV battery packs. The two companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. Cox said the acquisition will help it […]
Pandemic-driven liquid oxygen shortage threatens ULA, SpaceX launches
The ongoing reverberations from the COVID-19 pandemic are continuing to make themselves felt in the most unlikely of places: spaceflight. On Friday, NASA took the unexpected step to ground a September satellite launch due to pandemic-related shortages of liquid oxygen (LOX), and there may be more launch delays yet to come. Demand for oxygen has […]
Power Global eyes India’s auto rickshaw industry with swappable battery and retrofit kit
In India, a country that is more densely populated and has lower rates of car ownership, auto rickshaws and other two- or three-wheeled vehicles play a central role. While many auto rickshaws on Indian roads are already electric, they tend to rely on lead-acid batteries that need to be replaced every six to 11 months. […]
Ideanomics to buy EV fleet maker Via Motors in $450M all-stock deal
Ideanomics, a fintech and electric mobility firm based in New York, has added to its list of acquisitions on Monday to buy commercial electric vehicle manufacturer Via Motors in an all-stock deal valued at $450 million. Ideanomics has been aggressively purchasing mobility businesses this year, as it seeks to build out vertically integrated offerings for […]
Tesla wants to sell electricity in Texas
Elon Musk’s Tesla is looking beyond electric vehicles, solar panels and energy storage and wants to now supply electricity directly to customers, according to an application filed with Texas electricity regulators earlier this month. Energy Choice Matters first reported on the application. The application, filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas on August 16, […]
YC grad Buoyant wants to solve middle-mile delivery with cargo airships
Buoyant says its hybrid design solves the notoriously difficult problem of dropping off cargo – difficult because as airships offload weight, they risk shooting back up into the air.
Dawn Aerospace conducts five flights of its suborbital spaceplane
While the rocket launch sector is quickly becoming crowded, the same can’t be said for companies developing suborbital spaceplanes. This means there’s plenty of room to grow for startups like Dawn Aerospace, which has now completed five test flights of its Mk-II Aurora spaceplane that is designed to fly up to 60 miles above the […]
Peter Beck on Rocket Lab’s public listing debut, space SPACs and the Neutron rocket
Peter Beck’s earliest memory is standing outside with his father in his hometown of Invercargill, New Zealand, looking up at the stars and being told that there could very well be people on planets orbiting those stars looking right back at him. “For a three or four year old, that was a mind-blowing thing that […]
Astroscale successfully demos in-space capture-and-release system to clear orbital debris
Astroscale hit a major milestone Wednesday, when its space junk removal demo satellite that’s currently in orbit successfully captured and released a client spacecraft using a magnetic system. The End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission was launched in March, with the goal of validating the company’s orbital debris removal tech. The demonstrator package, which was […]
Ispace unveils bigger moon lander capable of surviving lunar nights
Ispace, a Japanese space startup that aims to lead the development of a lunar economy, has unveiled its design for a large lander that could go to the moon as early as 2024. Tokyo-based ispace said this next-gen lander, dubbed Series 2, would be used on the company’s third planned moon mission. The lander is […]