Stanford researchers estimate the impact of rising EV ownership in the western U.S. could boost power demand as much as 25% by 2035, the year when California has banned the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles.The study says more EV charging should be done during midday hours—ideally at work or public stations—when wind and solar power supplies are at their peak, sometimes producing more energy than the grid can handle.
Researchers developed a novel AI agent with the ability to seek out new knowledge by asking people questions. "Socially situated artificial intelligence" combines aspects of computer vision and human cognitive and behavioral sciences to take machine learning in a new direction.
In this latest law, policy and AI update, two developments are notable: The U.S. continues to ramp up export controls to prevent China from expanding its chip manufacturing capabilities and the first lawsuit against Github's CoPilot system was filed in the Northern District of California.
Stanford Scholar envisions using AI to complement people by enabling them to do new things. “Both automation and augmentation can create benefits and both can be profitable,” says Erik Brynjolfsson. “But right now a lot of technologists, managers, and entrepreneurs are putting too much emphasis on automation.”
Researchers at the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis and the Precourt Institute for Energy and the DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Lab reported a way of encapsulating catalysts in a web-like alumina framework could reduce the amount needed in catalytic converters which in turn would reduce the practice of precious metal mining.
New modeling of how lithium-ion cells in a pack degrade show a way to tailor charging to each cell's capacity so EV batteries can handle more charge cycles and stave off failure. Simulations by Stanford professor and senior study author, Simona Onori, suggest batteries managed with the new technology could handle at least 20% more charge-discharge cycles even with frequent fast charging.
By 2035, California will ban sales of new gasoline powered cars and light trucks. Yi Cui, professor, materials science and engineering and director, Precourt Institute for Energy predicts the broad adoption of EVs will force a revolution in battery design. The need for fast charging, he says, “will definitely provide opportunities for new battery chemistries to emerge.” By using new materials for electrodes or charge-carrying ions, he and others have already come up with promising candidates.
