Technology Category Archive

Ninth Annual Winter School on Emerging Technologies

Leave a reply Jonny Hankins

Do you fit the requirements for the Ninth Annual Winter School on Emerging Technologies: Accelerating Impactful Scholarship supported by The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure January 3-10, 2022?

The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure Coordinating Office is now supporting the winter school, run by the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, covering fees and accomodation costs..

The Winter School will give junior scholars and scientists an introduction to and practical experience with methods and theory for better understanding the social dimensions of emerging technologies, focused on the broad notion of impact with an aim to explore ways for participants to increase and diversify the impact of their work.

This year’s program will begin with a series of interactive sessions with faculty members to explore a variety of ways in which research can have a positive impact beyond the specific studies involved. The program will conclude with a multi-day immersive “sandpit” experience, where participants will form teams and pitch projects aimed at increasing the impact of scholarship. Successful teams will be awarded funding to help them implement their ideas over the year following the program.

Ample work time and breaks are built into the Winter School schedule to encourage participants to guide their own learning experience throughout the week. Mentorship sessions with attending faculty will also be offered.

The Winter School is an immersive experience for scholars to share their own unique research and learn from peers and experts. The faculty at the Winter School will offer theoretical framings, analytical tools and hands-on lessons in how social science, natural science, and engineering research on emerging technologies can have a greater impact on the world.

Participating in the Winter School will enrich your networks and provide ample opportunities to share ideas, collaborate with peers, and develop proposals to enhance the impact of your work.

Applicants should be advanced graduate students or recent PhDs (post-doc or untenured faculty within three years of completing a PhD at time of application) with an expressed interest in studying emerging technologies such a nanotechnology, robotics, synthetic biology, geoengineering, artificial intelligence, etc.

Applicants may come from any discipline and must be demonstrably proficient in English.

The program will spend its ninth consecutive year at Saguaro Lake Ranch in Mesa, AZ with access to Sonoran Desert hiking, kayaking on Saguaro Lake, horseback riding and relaxing by the Salt River.

The program fees for accepted students will be covered by the NNCI including seven nights at Saguaro Lake Ranch, meals and local transportation from Tempe, Arizona. Participants will be responsible for their own travel to Phoenix, Arizona and should arrive before 1pm on January 3rd.

To access an application and learn more about the 2022 Winter School program visit the dedicated website. Participants are requested to be fully vaccinated before they arrive at the ranch.

 DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS MONDAY NOVEMBER 8, 2021. Spread the word!

Art in Responsible Innovation, Maurizio Montalti in Conversation

2 Replies Jonny Hankins

Long ago, back in February of 2015, I wrote this post about Maurizio Montalti and his work with fungus.

Montalti produces various materials in what he calls a collaboration between living organisms, compostable materials that can be used to replace plastics and chemical based products.

Since I first met him he has begun to produce a host of materials on an industrial scale with the foundation of his company MOGU, and earlier this summer I was fortunate enough to catch up with him again and record the video interview you find below, part of my Art in Responsible Innovation series for the Bassetti Foundation.

Maurizio is a designer, scientist and artist whose works is extremely innovative, research and experiment based and perched on the border between art, design and biology.  He has been active in promoting responsibility within innovation throughout his career, with lots of ideas around sustainability and science communication and the role of science in society.

Learn more about this intriguing character and his work through the video and podcast below.

EV Charging 101

Leave a reply Christopher Roberts

Following Jonny’s electric vehicle charging article, here’s everything you need to know about charging an EV in Europe – from someone who’s driven one since 2019!

You’ve Bought Your First EV 🔌🔋⚡🚗

Fiat 500e Convertable
The convertible Fiat 500e

First of all, fantastic work, you’re awesome!

Thanks for making a great decision and welcome to the future!

So charging, that’s something you need to do now… no more dinosaur juice for you, you’re EV all the way!

🛢️🦕⛽💥

⬇️

☀️💨🔋⚡

But how do you charge?

Types of Charging

Charging is really a lot simpler than you’d think, there are just two types:

  1. AC – Slow and Fast charging
  2. DC – Rapid charging

AC Charging

Slow Chargers

A slow charger uses AC power. Alternating current (AC) is what comes out of your plug socket at home.

In fact, plugging your car into a Schuko/3-pin plug, is an example of slow charging.

The charging lead (often called a granny charger, because of how slowly it charges) plugs into your home socket at one end and your car at the other. Some chargers and cars enable you to select how many amps to pull. A Tesla can pull between 5 amps and 10 amps from a domestic socket. You might want to vary the amperage if your house has poor electrics, or if you’re trying to use what your solar is generating.

Hyundai Kona Electric Charging
Hyundai Kona Electric

So how much charge can a home plug socket provide?

10 amps x 230 volts = 2.3 kW (kilowatt)

The Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus has a 50 kWh battery pack, so on a 3-pin plug in the UK, you can charge half the battery (or 25 kWh) in 11 hours. That’s over 100 miles topped up on cheap, renewable electricity while you sleep.

Fast Chargers

Fast charging also uses AC power. If you get an EV chargepoint installed at home, it is likely to be a 7.4kW fast charger.

This would enable you to completely “fill” a Model 3 from empty to full in a little under 7 hours.

Fast charging speeds are limited by the cars onboard charger. This converts the AC power into DC power, to feed into the car’s battery.

Charging by AC and DC

Some BEVs (battery electric vehicles) have powerful onboard chargers, like the Renault Zoe, which can charge at up to 22kWh. The Model 3 has a 11kW onboard charger. Some cars are limited to slower speeds, like the VW e-Up! limited to 7.2kW AC charging.

Many supermarkets and retail parks have fast chargers onsite – which are often free! Spending 60 minutes in the supermarket can give you ~40 miles of charge.

DC Charging

Rapid and Ultra-Rapid Chargers

Rapid (and Ultra-Rapid) charging uses DC power. This means the power can be fed straight into the battery.

Rapid chargers can charge from speeds of 43kWh, to speeds upwards of 350kWh!

If you’re on a long road trip, you’d use a rapid charger to top-up the battery at super speed!

The Tesla Supercharger network is an example of an ultra-rapid charging network. Many Supercharger stalls now have 250kW chargers! A Long Range Model 3 can charge at up to 250kWh, which is over 1,000 miles an hour!

Using the Supercharger network, you can top-up 200 miles of range in 15 minutes. That’s 3 hours of motorway driving in the time it takes you to visit the toilet and get a cupa tea.

Rapid chargers tend to be more expensive than Slow and Fast chargers, but they can deliver power at much faster speeds.

Rapid chargers are sometimes supported by battery storage, to ensure consistent supply and the cleanest possible energy. Here’s a video of the GridServe charging hub from the awesome team at Fully Charged.

Charging Plugs

European charging connectors are also really simple now.

European AC connectors for Slow and Fast charging are:

  1. Type 2 (AKA mennekes)
  2. Type 1

European DC connectors for Rapid charging are:

  1. CCS (AKA Combo 2)
  2. CHAdeMO

CCS and Type 2 use the same plug design – CCS is basically a Type 2 plug with an extra two pins.

A CCS plug (left) and a Type 2 plug (right)

Both have been the standard socket in Europe for some time now, with CHAdeMO and Type 1 slowly being phased out.

Some charging posts have more than one type of connector – using the right one for your car will ensure you get the best speed! For example, using a Type 2 charging lead will charge much slower than a CCS lead – if your car has both sockets.

Many charging units can charge more than one car at a time, but not all, so it’s worth checking beforehand.

Generally speaking, Slow and Fast chargers (away from home) don’t come with a charging cable – you plug your own in. Rapid chargers however always come with a cable – be that CCS or CHAdeMO.

Finding a Charger

The UK has more charging stations than petrol stations, so it’s not difficult to find a charger. To help you out (in the UK) Zap-Map have a fantastic live, interactive map! PlugShare is a similar map, which covers most of the world!

How many chargers are there within 10 miles of your home?

I bet it’s more than you thought!