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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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.
Intelligent, Large-Format Lithium-Ion Battery
December 03, 2007
Valence Technology Premieres First Intelligent, Large-Format Lithium-Ion Battery System at EVS-23
Valence Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VLNC) unveiled its third generation of lithium-ion battery technology, EpochTM, at The International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exposition (EVS-23), which started Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.
From their press release and website:
Valence believes its new generation of phosphate-based lithium-ion battery systems will move the electric vehicle industry one step closer to the Holy Grail -- finding a battery solution that is safe, intelligent, lasts longer and weighs less than outdated technologies being used today. Epoch batteries are equipped with an advanced management system that will monitor and adjust cell performance so battery packs will always operate at their optimum performance capacity. Epoch batteries present a safe, powerful and reliable energy solution designed to be low maintenance, cost competitive and environmentally friendly.
Epoch represents significant electronic, mechanical and thermal improvements over their second generation U-Charge(TM) product. Some of the main advantages are fail soft capability, improved balancing for optimized energy delivery, enhanced SOC calculation, higher system voltage capability, field serviceability, remote access capability and higher continuous discharge capability.
Exxon: Film May Lead to Car Battery that is Lighter and Safer
November 29, 2007
Exxon: Film May Lead to Car Battery that is Lighter and Safer
It seems that everyone is getting into the battery business, one of them will succeed in making a smaller, lighter and less expensive battery. This development by Exxon-Mobil sound very promising.
Exxon-Mobil Chemical and Exxon-Mobil's Japanese affiliate, Tonen Chemical have developed a thin film separator for use in lithium-ion batteries, that would enable production of batteries like those found in cell phones and laptops, to power cars and trucks. These new film technologies are expected to significantly enhance the power, safety and reliability of lithium-ion batteries, thereby helping speed the adoption of these smaller and lighter batteries into the next wave of lower-emission vehicles.
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Combining Ultracacitors and Li-ion Batteries
November 24, 2007
Maxwell Technologies, Tianjin Lishen Battery to Develop "Hybrid" Products" Combining Ultracacitors and Li-ion Batteries
Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MXWL) and Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-Stock Co., Ltd. , (Lishen), China`s leading producer of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, have announced an alliance to manufacture and market novel "hybrid" energy storage products combining the companies` respective ultracapacitor and li-ion battery technologies.
David Schramm, Maxwell`s president and chief executive officer, said that the companies see a large market opportunity for products that leverage the complementary strengths of double layer capacitor and li-ion battery technologies.
"We believe that the products we envision will give end-users the best of both worlds in terms of the long cycle life, rapid charge/discharge characteristics and low temperature performance of ultracapacitors and the large energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries," Schramm said. "We also plan to move some of our BOOSTCAP product assembly to Lishen in order to leverage our joint process engineering capabilities, and Lishen will conduct development and qualification testing on battery electrode material produced through Maxwell`s proprietary dry process, so we see this as a deep and strategically important alliance for both companies."
The companies have identified a number of initial target applications for the new products, ranging from quick-charge cordless tools to electric vehicles, and anticipate production and delivery of initial product samples in early 2008.
This is not the first announcement of such a poroduct, but it brings together two very large companies who can pull off this feat.
Printable Batteries with “Nanotube Ink” from UCLA
UCLA team creates printable batteries
November 16 2007, Tom Simonite
NewScientist.com news service
The batteries were created by George Gruner and colleagues at the University of California in Los Angeles, US, and use the same zinc-carbon chemistry as ordinary non-rechargeable batteries.
Being able to print flexible batteries onto different surfaces should prove handy for powering disposable devices, such as long-range RFID tags or small displays, the researchers say.
The batteries are made from two layers containing carbon nanotubes and a third layer of zinc foil, and are less than a millimeter thick. A great many carbon nanotubes can be packed into these layers. They form randomly aligned nanotube networks that conduct charge more efficiently than the metals normally used - connecting many points in the battery simultaneously, without hampering the electrochemical process that generates power.
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contact Obama! 