The Embedded Blog: August 2023

Monday, August 28, 2023

AMD buys Mipsology for AI FPGA compilation .... TE to buy Schaffner ... Organic semiconductor breakthrough for quantum systems

AI drives AMD to buy French FPGA compiler firm Mipsology

Business news | August 25, 2023

AMD has acquired French FPGA compiler expert Mipsology for an undisclosed sum. The Mipsology software team will join the AMD…

	TTP spins out satellite connectivity company for drones Business news \| August 26, 2023 UK consultancy TTP has launched a spin off company to commercialise lightweight technology to connect drones to satellites. Gotonomi has…
	Organic semiconductor breakthrough for room temperature quantum systems Technology News \| August 25, 2023 An international team of researchers has found a way to use light as a switch to connect and control the…
	Oxa signs first US self-driving deal with Beep Business news \| August 25, 2023 UK startup Oxa (formerly Oxbotica) has signed a strategic partnership with Beep in the US to deploy Oxa’s self-driving software.
	Blumind startup pursues analog AI at the edge Technology News \| August 25, 2023 Blumind Inc. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is a startup company that has developed an analog architecture for neural network inferencing at…
	Draft standards for post quantum cryptography algorithms Technology News \| August 25, 2023 NIST in the US has released draft standards for three of the four algorithms it selected for the next generation…

	World’s largest ship battery for 40MWh electric ferry Business news \| August 27, 2023 Wärtsilä in Finland has commissioned the world’s largest ship battery from Corvus Energy for…
	TE to buy Schaffner for €335m EMC boost News \| August 25, 2023 TE Connectivity is to buy Schaffner Holding in a deal worth €335m. TE Connectivity…
	Perovskite solar cell on steel substrate Technology News \| August 27, 2023 Researchers in Australia have boosted the efficiency of perovskite photovoltaic (PV) solar cells built…
	Siemens to buy Heliox for eBus and eTruck ultra fast charging News \| August 25, 2023 Siemens is to acquire Heliox Energy, a Dutch developer of fast charging systems for…
	Northvolt adds $1.2bn for battery gigafactory expansion Business news \| August 23, 2023 Northvolt has raised $1.2bn to further expand its European and North American battery gigafactory…
	Second life battery packs slot straight into grid storage Technology News \| August 24, 2023 UK car maker JLR is working with Wykes Engineering to simplify energy storage systems…
	Jacobs to provide National Grid management consultancy Business news \| August 24, 2023 US engineering consultancy Jacobs has been appointed to National Grid’s new General Management Consultancy Framework to support…
	Submarine batteries market to reach $2.4bn by 2033 Market news \| August 24, 2023 The global submarine batteries market is set to grow to $2.4bn by 2033 from…
	Computational model boost for thermoelectric materials Technology News \| August 24, 2023 Researchers from EPFL’s School of Engineering have used a computational model to boost the…
	Infineon H7 650V IGBT adds diode New Products \| August 26, 2023 Infineon Technologies has expanded its 7th generation TRENCHSTOP IGBT family with a 650V H7…
	Dual output DC-DC converter for railway designs News \| August 25, 2023 Bel Fuse has launched a dual output DC-DC converter for railway and transportation systems.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

BAe buys Ball Aerospace ... Monetising the Moon ... Phasecraft £13m for quantum materials

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Behind BAe’s blistering $5.6bn Ball Aerospace deal

Feature articles | August 19, 2023

BAE Systems has catapulted itself into the US space business with its $5.6bn bid to buy Ball Aerospace. Ball is…

	EV not to blame for ship fire says report Business news \| August 19, 2023 A preliminary investigation into the recent ship fire has shown that electric vehicle batteries were not to blame despite media…
	DARPA looks to monetise the Moon Business news \| August 17, 2023 DARPA in the US is requesting innovative and revolutionary technical approaches to monetise integrated lunar infrastructure in a parallel with…
	Stellantis in $100m Hell’s Kitchen lithium deal Business news \| August 20, 2023 Stellantis has invested over $100 million in a geothermal lithium project in California to provide a material supply chain in…
	NECTO IDE adds ARM GNU C for ST, TI and NXP controllers New Products \| August 18, 2023 MikroElektronika (MikroE) has launched a new version of its Integrated Development Environment (IDE) adding GNU C for ARM as well as…

	Phasecraft raises £13m to reach quantum advantage for power materials Business news \| August 17, 2023 UK university spinout Phasecraft has raised £13m to develop its quantum algorithms to the…
	MEMS cooling for world’s fastest compact SSD Business news \| August 19, 2023 Phison Electronics has used a MEMS-based cooling system from Frore Systems for the world’s fastest…
	Artificial leaf cooling boost lifetime, efficiency of PV panels Technology News \| August 20, 2023 Researchers at Imperial College in the UK have developed a cooling system for photovoltaic…
	Wolfspeed results highlight costs of building huge SiC fab Business news \| August 20, 2023 Wolfspeed has highlighted the high cost of building its 200mm silicon carbide (SiC) fab…
	Nexperia launches its first integrated 5 V load switch New Products \| August 18, 2023 Nexperia has launched its first high density 5V Integrated Circuit (IC) load switch with…
	First co-packaged rectifier and TVS New Products \| August 17, 2023 Vishay Intertechnology has launched a surface mount device that combines a standard rectifier and…
	Infineon teams for 240W PD3.1 GaN notebook adapter Business news \| August 17, 2023 Infineon Technologies is expanding its partnership with one of the largest power supply makers…
	First 4in single crystal aluminium nitride wafer opens up power Technology News \| August 16, 2023 Crystal IS in the US has developed the first 100mm (4in) single crystal wafer…

Monday, August 21, 2023

Tevva merger with US manufacturer sees major shift for hydrogen trucks

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

UK electric truck pioneer Tevva is to merge with ElectraMeccanica in the US, adding manufacturing for the UK and Europe in the US.

The deal will initially focus on the UK, where Tevva has its operations, then Europe and the United States. ElectraMeccanica is a contract manufacturer that has designed a single passenger, three wheel electric vehicle called Solo, and is opening a manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona, later this year.

The combined company will operate as Tevva, Inc and be domiciled in Delaware with shares traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange. This is largely driven by the opportunity for support from the US government, says the CEO of the merged company.

Deliveries of Tevva’s 7.5t battery-electric truck to commercial fleet customers started earlier this year. The current trucks have a unique and purpose-built, commercial-grade electric battery system, and its future product portfolio is being developed to include a proprietary hydrogen range-extender technology. This was developed as part of a £12.2m UK government project called Sangreal project for a patented time triggered vehicle-control strategy with on board telematics to optimise the use of the hydrogen range extender to eliminate range anxiety. It uses rare earth free electric motors from Advanced Electric Machines (AEM).

Tevva had raised nearly $174m in venture and corporate financing, with additional backing in grants from the UK government via the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC).

Under the deal, Tevva’s existing 110,000-square-foot EV manufacturing facility in Tilbury, United Kingdom, would be complemented by ElectraMeccanica’s recently-commissioned 235,000-square-foot facility in Mesa, Arizona. The Mesa plant is “expected to enable the combined company to scale its production to serve the UK, European and US markets,” says the deal documentation. This is confirmed by the US-based CEO of the merged company, Susan Docherty.

“Tevva is extremely well positioned in the UK and European market and our world-class manufacturing facilities, combined experienced senior executive team and balance sheet, will help take our combined company to the next level,” she said.

“We believe this is the right time and Tevva is the right partner with which to pivot from consumer vehicles to commercial vehicles and respond to commercial fleet customer demand for superior, reliable and cost-efficient trucks. The complementary operations of the two companies and our similar values and mission give me complete confidence we can jointly create significant shareholder value,” said Docherty, a former senior manager at General Motors who is also a board director at the as a Board Director of The Brink’s Company, which is a large potential customer.

The Mesa plant is partly funded by the US government through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“We believe this market will benefit from strong government incentives, including the $1 billion set aside for electrifying heavy-duty trucks as well as an up to $40,000 rebate per medium-duty commercial vehicle in the US,” said Docherty in a letter to US shareholders.

“Since Tevva’s founding more than ten years ago, we have focused our engineering and product development capabilities on developing a portfolio of zero-emission commercial vehicles that have generated significant customer interest,” said David Roberts, current Director of Tevva and anticipated incoming Executive Chairman upon the closing of the deal.

He also chairs the Board of Directors of fusion energy firm TAE Technologies and at Evtec Group, an automotive supply chain company). Previously, he held executive positions with Chrysler and Aston Martin Lagonda.

“Our vehicles have undertaken more than 300,000 miles of testing and operating experience in real-world conditions by demanding fleet operators. We are excited to merge with ElectraMeccanica and accelerate the growth of the combined company. Throughout the process, we have been impressed with ElectraMeccanica’s management team and strongly believe that ElectraMeccanica’s complementary assets, skills and capital will further enhance our advantages in this large and rapidly growing market,” he said.

While many fleet operators recognize the benefits zero-emission vehicles deliver, they also need reliable and cost-effective solutions. Tevva’s trucks have demonstrated reliability in trials, and the company has built a commercial vehicle ecosystem alongside its technical partners, including strategic investor Bharat Forge, with which it has worked with since 2018, to tailor its products to the needs of its customers accordingly.

The proposed merger was initiated by ElectraMeccanica’s Board of Directors to explore a range of possible strategic alternatives for optimizing ElectraMeccanica’s assets, evaluating Tevva and other companies.

Upon the closing of the proposed transaction, ElectraMeccanica shareholders will own 23.5% of the combined company and Tevva shareholders will own 76.5% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis. The combined company expects to have a cash balance of approximately $80 million, with debt of approximately $26 million.

The Board of Directors of the combined company will consist of nine directors, comprising five directors from Tevva and four directors from ElectraMeccanica, of which seven are expected to be deemed independent.

The deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, will be via a newly formed company in British Columbia, Canada, also called Tevva, Inc, to manage and hold the combined business of ElectraMeccanica and Tevva. This will directly and indirectly, acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares in ElectraMeccanica and Tevva.

A $6 million credit facility to Tevva can be drawn in whole or in part until the closing of the deal.

www.tevva.co.uk; www.electraMeccanica.com