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Jan 25, 2013

BATTERY TROUBLES * USA

* DC - Boeing's battery woes could short-circuit e-cars 

 Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit Bureau, by Paul A. Eisenstein -23 Jan 2013: -- The ongoing investigation of faulty lithium-ion power packs on the new 787 Dreamliner could have implications far beyond the aerospace industry, some observers worrying that Boeing’s battery problems could short-circuit the nascent market for plug-ins, hybrids and other electrified automobiles... Investigators in the U.S. and Japan have put a spotlight on the lithium backup power systems used on the new Boeing jet, linking the technology to several recent incidents, including a fire on one of the Dreamliners parked at a gate at Boston’s Logan field... Some observers are pointing to a series of fires involving the battery packs used in various electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Karma... With the Boeing story getting a lot of airplay, “This is definitely an issue,” said Joe Phillippi, of AutoTrends Consulting. “This could be particularly bad timing,” the analyst cautioned, considering the push to increase sales of battery-based vehicles in the years ahead...

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Apr 28, 2011

BATTERY * Germany - Standardisation on the way?

Berlin,Germany -Fleet Europe, by Tim Harrup -14 April 2011: -- The German Automobile Industry Association (VDA), Hans-Georg Frischkorn, spoke about the future of electric vehicles, and in particular batteries. He said that at the moment, the desire was to arrive at standardisation for lithium-ion batteries, but that future new standards for new types of batteries was a possibility. He went on to point out that he proposed standard will define cell dimensions and not requirements for technical features (material usage) or technological features (energy density, lifetime cycle or charge and discharge rates). The main benefit would be in cost, he believed, as the battery represents such a major proportion of the cost of an electric vehicle. He also said that standardisation would lead to clearer competition between battery suppliers...

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Feb 23, 2010

LITHIUM * WORLDWIDE - Finding Good Lithium Battery Sources a Challenge

Hopes of electric car boom spurring companies to seek new lithium source

Mexico,DF,MEX/LA Paz,Bolivia -Reuters, Mica Rosenberg & Eduardo Garcia - February 11, 2010: ... Lithium key component in rechargeable batteries that power laptop computers, digital cameras, cell phones... Demand expected to surge if carmakers start producing electric or hybrid vehicles on a large scale... Excitement brewing about new projects in Bolivia which could hold world's largest lithium bounty. Small company in Mexico says it has site wtih up to 800K tonnes of highly reactive and versatile metal... Some companies choosing to play it safe with leading lithium suppliers and start-ups in Argentina and Chile. These countries have source of more than half of world's lithium output... Toyota sister company agreed with Australia's Orocobre Ltd to jointly develop $80M-$100M lithium project... 9 pipeline projects in places like Australia, Finland, Canada, Serbia, and US... 60 early-stage exploration project... Not all lithium deposits created equal; experts say new finds may be poor quality or expensive to extract. New finds may be lower quality, costlier to develop than established deposits able to meet future demand...

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Jan 12, 2010

STUDY * USA - Battery breakthrough needed for EV, hybrid success

Boston,MASS,USA -Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -Jan 11, 2010: -- A new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) concludes that a major breakthrough in battery technology is necessary in order to foster “mass market” demand for all-electric and hybrid electric vehicles within the next decade. Without such a breakthrough, the firm determined, all-electric and hybrid vehicles will remain too expensive – both in terms production costs and sticker price – to penetrate the market in large numbers... BCG’s report Batteries for Electric Cars: Challenges, Opportunities and the Outlook to 2020 is based on an analysis of existing electric car battery research and interviews with more than 50 battery suppliers, auto OEMs, university researchers, start-up battery-technology companies, and government agencies across Asia, the U.S., and Western Europe...

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Apr 21, 2009

New Virus-Built Battery * USA - Could Power Cars, Electronic Devices

For the first time, MIT researchers have shown they can genetically engineer viruses to build both the positively and negatively charged ends of a lithium-ion battery

Massachusetts,USA -MIT News, by Anne Trafton -2 April 2009: -- The new virus-produced batteries have the same energy capacity and power performance as state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries being considered to power plug-in hybrid cars, and they could also be used to power a range of personal electronic devices, said Angela Belcher, the MIT materials scientist who led the research team... The new batteries, could be manufactured with a cheap and environmentally benign process: The synthesis takes place at and below room temperature and requires no harmful organic solvents, and the materials that go into the battery are non-toxic... Three years ago, an MIT team led by Belcher reported that it had engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire... Because the viruses recognize and bind specifically to certain materials (carbon nanotubes in this case), each iron phosphate nanowire can be electrically "wired" to conducting carbon nanotube networks. Electrons can travel along the carbon nanotube networks, percolating throughout the electrodes to the iron phosphate and transferring energy in a very short time... The viruses are a common bacteriophage, which infect bacteria but are harmless to humans... (Photo by Donna Coveney - Angela Belcher holds a display of the virus-built battery she helped engineer. The battery -- the silver-colored disc -- is being used to power an LED)

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Mar 26, 2009

Battery Breakthrough * USA - Could Make Electric Cars Practical

MASS,USA -Australian Broadcasting Corp. News (Australia), by Jennifer Macey -12 March 2009: -- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed battery cells capable of charging in under a minute, approximately 100 times faster than a regular rechargeable battery... The breakthrough could revolutionize electric car battery technology and pave the way for ultra-fast charging electric vehicles in as little as two years... The discovery came when MIT researchers found out how to get a common lithium compound to release and take up lithium ions in a matter of seconds. The compound, known as lithium iron phosphate, has a crystal structure that creates perfectly sized tunnels for lithium to move through, allowing the team to reach faster charging rates... The MIT researchers say their battery could be especially critical to making electric cars more practical. Rather than waiting hours for the car battery to recharge, it could take as short a time as filling the tank with gas... The renewable energy sector is also looking with interest at any developments in battery technology, as the storage of energy from the sun or wind is one of the main obstacles to the wider take-up of green energy...

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