Electric Car Battery jobs on the way up!
Obama coming to Michigan to build electric auto enthusiasm
Alisa Priddle / The Detroit News July 14. 2010 10:07 PM
During his visit to Michigan on Thursday, President Barack Obama will stress that battery costs will come down and job creation will go up because of government support for the emerging electric vehicle sector in the United States.
Much of this fledgling sector is centered in Michigan. That includes the $300 million Compact Power Inc. battery facility in Holland, Michigan (near Grand Rapids) which has Obama on the guest list for Thursday's groundbreaking.
It is the ninth new battery plant opening in the U.S. with government aid. Four of the nine will be operational by the end of the year, while 21 other plants have received grants to make battery or electric vehicle components, a federal government report released tonight concludes.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said 16 companies in Michigan are now involved in the electric vehicle sector. They will generate 62,000 jobs over the next decade, she said, including the 400 at the CPI plant in Holland.
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quick battery charger for electric vehicles
New Electric Vehicle Fast Charge System Developed in Japan
5th of July 2010
* The system reaches a 50% battery charge in 3 minutes
* It offers a 70% battery charge level in 7 minutes
* The system will be offered by April next year
One of the major issues that stands in the way of the large scale adoption of electric vehicles today is the fact that their batteries take a long time to be recharged. However, the Japanese company JFE Engineering Corp has developed a new solution for the problem, which promises to be a major breakthrough, as JapanToday reports.
The company, which is based in Tokyo, has developed a quick charger that is destined for electric vehicles, claiming that its product can replenish half of a battery’s charge in just three minutes. This is a significant improvement compared to what other systems on the market offer. We are not talking about standard charging systems, but about fast chargers coming from various worldwide companies, which need about 30 minutes to bring an electric vehicle’s battery to an 80 percent charge level.
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the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory gets additional funding
NREL Battery Testing Capabilities Get a Boost
by Heather Lammers, NREL; Feb. 11th 2010
Batteries are the heart of today's advanced electric drive vehicles and many manufacturers have their own preference for specific battery geometry and chemistry including their choice of materials for cathodes and anodes. However, all of the manufacturers are concerned about the performance, life, safety and cost of lithium ion batteries even though their designs are varied. The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) is looking to help the U.S. battery industry with a simple goal -- to mass produce better batteries domestically while addressing safety, affordability, life, and performance.
As a result of DOE's support, more work and funding for battery research is coming to NREL via both indirect and direct avenues thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In March, President Obama announced $2.4 billion to help drive the development of the next generation of electric drive vehicles in the United States. As part of that announcement, DOE released a competitive solicitation for up to $1.5 billion in federal funding for manufacturing advanced batteries and related drive components.
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Big Oil, GM, & Toyota Fuel-Cell Plans Clash With US Battery Car Push
By Alan Ohnsman, Bloomberg; Saturday, October 10, 2009
Oil Co's, General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers want to sell consumers electric cars powered by hydrogen within six years. Their plans clash with the U.S. government`s infrastructure priorities.
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Battery Stimulus Scramble
Forbes Magazine dated June 08, 2009, Kerry A. Dolan, 05-20-2009
Dangle $2 billion of stimulus money in front of them and battery makers will get all charged up. As many as 50 are applying for a piece of the loot available for electric-vehicle batteries. Among them: a small company called Quallion in Sylmar, Calif. that is 90% owned by Alfred Mann, who made his fortune in medical devices.
Mann founded Quallion in 1998 to supply long-lasting batteries to the devices his other companies made: pacemakers, insulin pumps, cochlear implants and the like. Over the past few years Quallion has expanded into supplying lithium-ion batteries for spacecraft, airplanes and military Humvees and helicopters. It says it produces 70,000 lithium-ion cells a year (mostly for medical devices), more than any other U.S. company. Revenues should come in north of $25 million this year.
The batteries for hybrid cars now on the road are the nickel metal hydride variety, but automakers expect that lithium, which packs more energy per pound, is the way to deliver on the high-mpg promise of plug-in hybrids. The U.S. doesn't have much to crow about when it comes to battery manufacturing. For hybrid electric cars such as the Toyota Prius and the Ford Fusion, pretty much all the batteries are made in Japan or Korea. Hence, the taxpayer stimulus.
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Global Lithium Reserves: More Than Abundant
Posted on: March 27th, 2009 by Ed Ring
In a briefing last week General Motors reaffirmed their commitment to the launch of the Chevy Volt by late 2010. The primary purpose of this briefing was to discuss the benefits of lithium battery technology as well as the reasons for their choice of LG Chem to produce the first generation of batteries for the Volt. Several points are worth noting:
GM is completing what will be the largest automotive battery lab in the U.S., and they intend to maintain in-house manufacturing capacity to integrate the battery cells into modules and complete battery systems. This gives GM more flexibility to choose cell suppliers for their 2nd and 3rd generation extended range electric vehicles, and lets them have complete control over how the battery interacts with the power management system of the vehicle. The fact GM is keeping 100% of the battery integration in-house illustrates the centrality of the battery in electric vehicles.
Another interesting point made was the reusability of the battery cells. Apparently these batteries, which are designed to last the life of the vehicle, can be reprocessed and recycled for use in a new battery in a new vehicle. One question not answered during this briefing was whether or not lithium resources globally are sufficient to supply these batteries for a global automotive fleet. So we did some digging:
According to a 2006 study by William Tahil of Meridian International Resource, there are 13.4 million tons of lithium extractable from various raw minerals, primarily lithium carbonate. According to R. Keith Evans, in a March 2008 study entitled "Lithium Abundance - World Lithium Reserves," there are 28.4 million tons of lithium extractable from known reserves worldwide. In the Wikipedia entry on Lithium, 30.0 million tons of lithium are apparently currently available.
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Lithium-ion Batteries that are 100 times smaller and charge 20 times faster!
BBC NEWS, 2009/03/11
"new battery material could enable EVs to charge in 5 minutes"
A new manufacturing method for lithium-ion batteries could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that can be both charged and discharged in just seconds. Batteries that discharge just as quickly would be useful for electric and hybrid cars, where a quick jolt of charge is needed for acceleration. The approach only requires simple changes to the production process of a well-known material.
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Battery Breakthrough Could Increase Li-Ion Capacity by 1000%
November 25th, 2008
In what could potentially be a revolutionary breakthrough for everything from laptops to electric cars, a South Korean team of researchers have made a major discovery in Lithium-Ion battery technology. A team of researchers at South Korea`s Hanyung University, led by professor Cho Jaephil, has claimed a discovery that could extend lithium ion battery energy capacity by up to 1000% or more.
The key to Jaephil`s discovery was the application of a three-dimensional porous silicon graphite material which has the ability of holding up to ten times the number of lithium ions as conventional graphite cathodes. Patents have already been applied for. from the press release:
source:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/w-csi112008.php
QuantumSphere Develops a Lithium-Ion Battery with 5x the Power
QuantumSphere a developer of advanced catalyst materials, electrode devices, and related technologies for portable power and clean-energy applications, has filed a patent for technology that extends the capacity of rechargeable lithium ion batteries up to five times. The patent filing covers a novel electrode structure enriched with nano lithium particles that increases the fuel source in a rechargeable lithium ion battery, thus increasing battery life.
QuantumSphere intends to commercialize the technology to improve next-generation batteries for energy storage, consumer, and transportation applications.
This news follows a previous QuantumSphere battery announcement highlighting the development of a high-rate, paper-thin, nano-enabled electrode for disposable batteries. This earlier breakthrough patent pending air-electrode design increased power output by 320% in zinc-air cells, providing roughly 4x more power than equivalent sized alkaline batteries, and is expected to be commercialized in 2009.
"The electrodes our company is developing will expand battery capacity in a profound way, without a sacrifice in safety. Instead of four hours of operating time on a laptop computer, a single charge could last up to 12 hours and provide users with enough computing time for a complete round-trip flight between Los Angeles and New York," said Kevin Maloney, president and CEO of QuantumSphere. "We believe this is a commercially viable technology that will have a major impact in a variety of consumer, industrial, and transportation applications."
Researchers Develop Paper Thin Super-Capacitors to Power Vehicles
September 22, 2008
SuperCapacitor-UTDallas-NanoTech-Inst.jpg
But research by post-doctoral Researcher Jiyoung Oh and Research Scientist Mikhail "Mike" Kozlov at UT Dallas` NanoTech Institute offers tantalizing insights into a new, lightweight, reliable means of delivering power via the mighty supercapacitor.
Supercapacitors are beefed-up electronic components that can be charged and counted on to store energy reliably for long periods. They deliver power in a smooth, steady stream safe for operating sensitive electronics. Unlike car lead batteries, which are typically heavier and bulker, capacitors and super-capacitors accumulate electric charge instead of delivering it via a chemical reaction.
The team, along with legendary nanotechnology pioneer Dr. Ray Baughman, developed a means to create supercapacitors using "paper" sheets of single-walled carbon nanotubes embedded with a special polymer called polypyrrole.
"Our electrode preparation procedure is an extension of conventional bucky-paper [a film made of 100 percent carbon nanotubes] fabrication technique for the multi-component system," Oh said. "This procedure is easily scalable for device fabrication on an industrial scale."
This team`s research was supported in part by the International Research Internship Program of the Korea Research Foundation, a Korea Research Foundation Grant, a Robert A. Welch Foundation grant and funds from the LINTEC Corporation-a firm that collaborates with UT Dallas` NanoTech Institute on supercapacitor research.
New Battery Player Creeps in on Heated Race for Chevy Volt Power
April 29, 2008
WATERTOWN, Mass. - As if the threat of $200 a barrel oil with today's unlimited resources weren't enough, battery researchers are readying themselves for the final sprint to the finish line as plug-in hybrids finally approach their first real shot at your garage. With the plug-in Toyota Prius, Mercedes Hybrid S-Class and Saturn Vue Plug-In suddenly not far off the production line, the competition couldn`t be hotter-especially watching A123 Systems, based here, and Compact Power, Inc. (CPI), a Michigan-based subsidiary of LG Chem, face off to build the best battery pack for the Chevrolet Volt.
And even as word was getting out that General Motors had tested Volt prototypes disguised as 2005 Chevy Malibus at proving grounds this summer, a surprise contender in this lithium-ion death match was surfacing, with a composite cathode material for supersafe, ultrapotent cells.
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Cobasys Crisis has GM Buying Batteries from Toyota
By Frank Williams
February 27, 2008
GM may soon be feeling some of Chrysler's pain over bankrupt suppliers. The CarConnection reports Cobasys, supplier of the NiMH batteries used in the light-hybrid Vue, Aura and Malibu and holder of "a key contract in the development of GM's much-anticipated plug-in hybrid, the Volt," is out of money. The battery maker lost more than $76m last year and expect to lose $82m this year. To make matters worse, the company's joint owners, Chevron and ECD, can`t agree on the 2008 budget. So Cobays' operating budget is $92m short. Cobasys is now on GM's "distressed supplier list;" the General refuses to comment on the situation. In the meantime, GM has struck a deal to buy batteries for its two-mode hybrid trucks from a Panasonic - Toyota joint venture.
[no comment on A123 Systems, their alternate supplier!]
Renault & Nissan Motor Co. to Include A123Systems Battery
Renault, Nissan Weigh Lithium-Ion Battery For Electric Car Projects
By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU, Wall Strreet Journal
January 29, 2008
DETROIT -- Renault SA and its global alliance partner Nissan Motor Co., which this week announced a major commitment to develop battery-powered cars, are considering using lithium-ion batteries from their in-house team and the American battery start-up A123 Systems for two electric car projects the auto makers are pursuing, people familiar the matter said.
"In some markets we will use Nissan-NEC battery technology and in others we are thinking about adopting technology from A123 Systems." (more...)
Nanowire battery can hold 10 times the charge of existing lithium-ion battery
Stanford Report, December 18, 2007
BY DAN STOBER
Photos taken by a scanning electron microscope of silicon nanowires before (left) and after (right) absorbing lithium. Both photos were taken at the same magnification. The work is described in “High-performance lithium battery anodes using silicon nanowires,” published online Dec. 16 in Nature Nanotechnology.
Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices.
The new technology, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. A laptop that now runs on battery for two hours could operate for 20 hours, a boon to ocean-hopping business travelers. [the batteries that power the Chevy Volt for only 40 mi. could power it for 400 mi.!]
"It's not a small improvement," Cui said. "It's a revolutionary development."
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Toshiba SCiB Super Charge ion Battery
December 12, 2007
Toshiba Corporation has announced the commercial launch of the SCiB the Super Charge ion Battery a breakthrough rechargeable battery primarily targeting the industrial systems market that can recharge to 90% of full capacity in less than five minutes. The battery offers excellent safety and a long-life cycle of over 10 years, even under conditions of constant rapid charging. Toshiba aims to make this high potential battery a mainstay of its industrial systems and automotive products businesses, with global sales of 100 billion yen targeted for fiscal year 2015. The first SCiB will be shipped from March 2008.
With the SCiB Toshiba has progressed beyond the breakthrough in fast recharging lithium-ion technology that it announced in March 2005. In order to realize the outstanding characteristics of the SCiB, Toshiba adopted a new negative electrode material, new separators, a new electrolyte, and new manufacturing technology. The result is a highly reliable rechargeable battery with well-balanced performance, offering excellent safety, a long-life cycle and a rapid charge-discharge capability.
contact Obama! 