Month: June 2025

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced the expansion of the New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program to include new zero-emission agricultural, construction, rail, and warehouse off-road equipment and Class 3 vehicles. Manufacturers can now apply for eligibility to offer their off-road equipment and vehicles through the program, which provides vouchers or discounts to fleet operators that purchase or lease medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles and equipment.

Manufacturers are invited to submit applications for their vehicles or equipment—including terminal tractors, construction and agricultural equipment, large forklifts, freight locomotives, airport ground support vehicles, and transportation refrigeration units (TRUs)—to become eligible under the program. Dealers can also apply to participate in the program starting on July 14.

An additional $53 million in program funding will become available in August after the expanded equipment and truck manufacturers and dealers have enrolled to participate. The new guidelines offer incentives of up to $340,000 for a battery-electric truck, up to $425,000 for a fuel cell truck, and up to 45% of the base cost for off-road equipment. Additionally, bonus incentives are available for small fleets, fleets operating in disadvantaged communities, and for fleets that voluntarily scrap an older diesel/gasoline vehicle. The program also supports transit buses for select transit operators with up to $385,000 per purchase.

NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, “This expansion of the New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program will help more fleet owners and operators across the state realize the benefits of using cost-effective and quiet zero-emission powered equipment and medium-and heavy-duty trucks.”

Additional incentive programs, such as NY Joint Utility Make Ready Pilot Program and Fleet Electrification Advisory Services, are available from participating utilities. Under the Make-Ready Pilot program, utilities can provide incentives of up to 90% of utility-side infrastructure costs and up to 50% of customer-side costs to qualifying projects to mitigate the cost of developing EV charging infrastructure.

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton said, “New Yorkers deserve smart environmental policies that protect our air and workable solutions to ensure our communities are able to realize the health and economic benefits of cleaner transportation throughout the state. Despite the current federal administration’s efforts to erode certainty in the ongoing transition to cleaner vehicles, New York State will continue to act to protect our air, lands and waters.”

Source: NYSERDA

Solid-state battery developer Factorial has launched a new proprietary simulation platform designed to accelerate the development of next-generation batteries by improving how battery performance is predicted, validated and optimized.

Factorial built its new Gammatron as a necessity-driven tool to address critical delays in battery development. Unlike traditional platforms focused solely on system-level modeling, Gammatron fuses electrochemistry, thermodynamic, and high-fidelity lab data to simulate and optimize battery behavior at both the material and cell-system level.

“Validating a new cell design can take years, but with Gammatron, we’ve demonstrated that we can dramatically shorten that timeline—forecasting long-term performance from just two weeks of early testing, instead of the typical three to six months,” said Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial. “By combining automation with data-driven insights, we’re accelerating development with greater speed and control.”

Gammatron features a digital twin for battery cells that’s designed to accurately deliver cell state of health predictions, and to accelerate fast charging optimization that maximizes capacity and minimizes degradation and internal stress, while ensuring battery safety and longevity.

The system accelerates electrolyte formulation using molecular modeling and machine learning to engineer compositions for specific performance targets based on a deep understanding of molecular interactions.

Physics-based modeling simulates internal battery behavior, including stress, heat and degradation, that can’t be directly observed in testing.

Used in Factorial’s joint development with Stellantis, Gammatron helped forecast battery performance before full test completion—a key factor in advancing the validation program ahead of its original schedule. In some cases, Gammatron-enabled protocol tuning has doubled cycle life without altering cell chemistry, according to the company.

“Batteries are complex dynamic chemical systems. Gammatron combines machine learning with scientific feature engineering,” said Raimund Koerver, VP of Business Development at Factorial. “Where most platforms hit a wall with shallow machine learning, Gammatron goes deeper and shows engineers which material and design changes will unlock longer life and higher performance. It’s not just about predicting outcomes—it’s about enabling better ones.”

Gammatron will be operated in-house for co-development with select partners. The platform is available for solid-state battery development and legacy lithium-ion programs.

Source: Factorial

US-based Navitas Semiconductor has formed a partnership with BrightLoop to support BrightLoop’s latest series of hydrogen fuel cell chargers with its automotive-qualified Gen 3 Fast (G3F) silicon-carbide MOSFETs for heavy-duty agricultural transportation equipment.

BrightLoop’s systems provide power conversion efficiencies over 98% and power densities up to 60 kW/L. The company’s high-voltage (HV), high-power multiverters paired with its Power Flow Processor technology are designed for both AC and DC applications, such as energy management scenarios for fuel cells and heavy-duty applications, as well as HV network adaptation.

BrightLoop is incorporating Navitas’s G3F SiC MOSFETs into its 250 kW HV DC-DC converter, which has an output of 950 VDC at 480 A and can be paralleled to deliver megawatt power capability. 

Navitas’ GeneSiC trench-assisted planar technology delivers high-speed, cool-running operation for high-power, high-reliability applications. G3F SiC MOSFETs deliver high efficiency and high-speed performance, enabling up to 25° C lower case temperature, and up to three times longer life than SiC products from other vendors, according to the company.

“Navitas offers leading-edge SiC technology where efficiency, ruggedness, and reliability are paramount. Our high power-density, smart, efficient, and scalable multiverters enhance the quantity and quality of energy delivered to our customers,” said Florent Liffran, CEO and founder of BrightLoop.

Source: Navitas Semiconductor

Canadian silicon anode materials developer NEO Battery Materials has announced that its P-300N silicon battery material has outperformed its target metrics for long-term capacity testing.

The P-300N High-Stability Variant exhibited over 90% capacity retention for 300 cycles in the coin full cell format, exceeding the target set at 80% retention given the same cycle frequency.

The results establish P-300N as one of the most stable silicon battery materials utilizing metallurgical silicon (MG-Si), which is the lowest-cost silicon input available for battery-grade applications, the company said.

The results now allow NEO to proceed toward large-cell format testing. The company has initiated the battery cell design and architecture of single-layer pouch cells, which will involve long-term battery performance tests of 500+ cycles to optimize interactions between P-300N, graphite anodes and various cathode materials.

To prepare concurrently for near-commercial, multi-layer cell testing, NEO is in active discussions with battery prototypers and global manufacturers in South Korea, the US, and Germany.

Multi-layer cell manufacturing will be outsourced due to the need for specialized equipment. To fulfill requests from global downstream partners, NEO has secured all post-treatment equipment and installation is nearing completion at the R&D Scale-Up Centre. It has also decided to add a key manufacturing unit to expand its overall capacity. This high-specification machinery will enhance quality levels as it will enable higher precision control and efficient MG-Si processing.

NEO Battery Materials is working with industrial automation specialist Rockwell Automation to set up a 240-ton facility with the capacity to expand to 5,000 tons of silicon anode material per year, in Windsor, Ontario. 

Source: NEO Battery Materials