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| Toyota plant in Indiana: leading the battery field. |
Asia is the leading lithium ion (li-ion) battery source, as electric cars take to the road around the world. More specifically, Japan and South Korea are the technology leaders because of their experience with the increasingly important lithium ion chemistries and because of their highly automated plants.
China is set to be an important player as it takes control of the environmental fallout from the lucrative Mainland car sector.
Most hybrids on the road today use previous generation nickel metal hydride (NiMH), but lithium ion's smaller footprint, greater energy density and lack of a "memory" give it clear advantages over NiMH.
Best estimates indicate that car batteries account for less than 1% of all lithium ion batteries in use, and they're also a relatively small segment of the batteries going into cars.
But lithium ion is moving toward taking a far more prominent position in the vehicle battery field, as manufacturers tinker with cars now on the drawing boards in their design shops.
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| The chemistry and price are key factors. |
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| Lithium ion the best option. |
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As central as it is in the current time frame, with further R&D on battery chemistry underway, li-ion also may not yet be the final word in car battery technology and chemistries.
"Lithium ion batteries are probably the best technology we have now for the development of plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars," said John Hanson, Manager for Environmental, Safety, and Quality Communications with Toyota. He explained that Lithium ion is not replacing NiMH in current Toyota hybrids. "Nickel metal will be around for a long time in conventional hybrids," Hanson said.
"Lithium ion does have a higher energy density, but to fully realise the full potential of electric cars we need lower costs and even greater energy density," Hanson said.
Toyota has a 60% stake in its battery partner, Panasonic EV Energy Co Ltd. "There are still many challenges. We feel we are going to have to develop a battery that goes beyond lithium to realise the full potential of plug-ins and pure electrics. We have a programme to do that," he said.
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| Programme is underway. |
Meanwhile Toyota will be running a lithium ion pilot programme on 500 Prius plug-ins later this year, as a test to see how it will work in the real world, Hanson said. "This programme will tell us a lot, not just about the technology but about how consumers will use the cars."
Size of the market is questionable
It's all but impossible to know for sure how many hybrids, plug-ins and all-electric vehicles are in use today. In addition to models like the Prius now on the world's roadways, people are converting existing cars to electric.
Concept cars shown over the past year by Toyota, GM and other car makers are expected to join current models over the next one to five years.
Inhibiting factors include the high cost of the batteries, the need for a fast charge and a network of charging stations or locations, and the still limited driving distances possible on a single charge.
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| Work underway to perfect the battery.* |
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| Manufacturer EnerDel is manufacturing arm of Ener1.* |
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But pollution concerns, gasoline costs and availability, and a host of government incentive programmes point to electric cars as central in the coming years, as well as to intensive R&D in battery chemistries.
It won't happen fast, and gas-powered cars will always be on the roads. But, said Rachel Carroll, Vice President for Corporate Communications with lithium ion battery producer, Ener1. Norway, Israel, Portugal and Sweden are among the countries which are ahead of the US in developing the needed infrastructure.
Carroll and others point to the possibility of charging stations in places like big box store parking lots as more electric cars are sold and the infrastructure needs are addressed. "This is a new technology. It didn't spring up overnight," she said.
Sorting the players
Highly automated Japanese and South Korean battery makers - the likes of Sanyo, LG Chem and others - have years of experience with mass production of lithium ion cells and packs.
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| Higher profile Ener1.* |
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| Monitoring equipment.* |
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Lithium ion manufacturers Quallion and Ener1 are among the US companies entering the competitive picture in a highly visible way.
Chinese mainland companies are expected to move away from hand-based processes to greater automation as they move into mass production to become important players.
"Lithium ion will be huge in electric vehicles, and not just cars," said Carroll, pointing to uses in postal fleets, commercial vehicles and military applications. Ener1 is working with the US Department of Defense.
The company also recently announced that the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) signed a contract with EnerDel, Ener1's lithium ion battery subsidiary, to produce batteries for its buses.
Ener1 purchased and now owns Enertech in South Korea. "We make everything in-house, from the cells to the packs," Carroll said. Ener1's plant in Indiana does cells, modules and pack integration.
Off-the-shelf sales constitute a potential target for lithium ion car batteries, but at this point there's a great deal of customisation. Different car models call for different shapes and sizes of batteries, Carroll said. Ener1 is also highly automated to match the market.
"We don't see doing it any other way," Carroll said. "You have to have exactly the same specs on the 50th cell, on the 100th, as you do on the first."
Manual labour won't accomplish that, making automation central to quality control, said Joe DeCarlo, Sanyo Director of National OEM and New Business Development. "When you're putting 500 cells into a battery, they have to be identical. You need automation. You can't do it manually with people."
Sanyo batteries are in Porsche, Ford, Volkswagen and Audi cars, along with others. "Japan and Korea will probably be the battery technology leaders in automobiles because they have completely automated systems," DeCarlo said.
Higher gasoline prices an incentive
Higher oil and gas prices (and availability of these fuels) are set to help drive infrastructure development needed for electric vehicles. In the US, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, otherwise known as the stimulus package) and a growing number of national, state and local anti-pollution measures provide powerful incentives for further electric car developments and battery chemistries.
So do programmes like the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP), a loan scheme established by the Energy Independence and Security Act, 2007.
US government support from these and other programmes could be game-changers for Ener1, which has an application underway, said Carroll.
The same goes for other US companies as the government seeks to make the country energy independent in the age of batteries.
"Lithium ion comes down to how you put the battery together and especially to how it works under onerous conditions," said Quallion President Paul Beach. Making batteries domestically, Quallion has close ties with Japanese factories and sources cells there.
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| Beach: battery must be dependable. |
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| Product must be distinct. |
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Quallion is waiting for the okay on a cost-sharing application to the California Energy Commission that would provide up to US$9 million toward a new state-of-the-art lithium ion plant, conditional on the company getting an award under ARRA's renewable fuels programme.
Beach said car batteries require different designs and features than those used in electronic devices. They have to be tougher to withstand routine road conditions, and they must be able to go through thousands of cycles and survive heat, cold, rain, snow and all kinds of bumps from less-than-perfect road surfaces.
"The nature of the product is distinct," Beach said of lithium ion batteries for cars. "You need a different supply chain because you'll have different requirements flowing down to your vendors."
Anti-idling capabilities for trucks are a Quallion focus. Batteries, silent as well as energy-efficient, are a solution. "It's a question of timing. We're working with trucking companies to develop the systems. The battery technology is there, but the trucks need to be retrofitted."
from special correspondent Lisa Harbatkin, New York
(*Images courtesy of Ener1)
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