A123 Systems has just earned yet another development contract for developing lithium ion cells for plug-in hybrid applications. The US Advanced Battery Consortium and the Department of Energy have awarded a $12.5 million, 36 month contract to A123. The company has already been working on several automotive plug-in hybrid battery applications including the Saturn Vue PHEV and the Chevy Volt. A123 also purchased Hymotion last year, a company that has been developing plug-in conversion kits for existing hybrids. The first retail Hymotion kit using A123 cells is due to be available this summer for the Prius.

The USABC contract calls for A123 to focus on improving the energy density of cells for plug-in applications. The A123 battery chemistry is of interest to automakers because of its inherent stability compared to the lithium metal oxide chemistry used for consumer electronics batteries. However, the more stable chemistry from A123 has lower energy density. The goal is to improve that characteristic for so-called charge depleting applications that are designed to run longer on electricity alone. The three-year program will also try to reduce cost, improve durability and make the cells more resistant to abuse.

[Source: US Advanced Battery Consortium]

Upstart lithium battery maker A123 is a lesson in how fast things can move in the battery space. The MIT Technology Review has a story, An Electrifying Startup, in its May/June issue recounting the tale.

Founded in late 2001, small amounts of funding lead to technological breakthroughs by mid-2002. By 2003 Black & Decker was interested in powering its new line of cordless power tools with A123's new lithium cocktail, and product was rolling off assembly lines in Asia by 2005.

Cut to the burgeoning success of hybrid cars, dependent on batteries to utilize the great efficiencies of electric drive technologies to raise the fuel economy of gasoline-powered cars. NiMH batteries are already raising mpg by 30-50 percent, and had propelled all-electric cars 100 to 140 miles per charge. The greater energy of lithium could promise even higher mpg for hybrids and longer range for EVs with much less weight, the battery bugaboo.

GM finally began to face the reality of hybrids' market success just as the company was being battered in the press by the true story of EV1 emerging via the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? GM could have been years ahead of the competition with electric cars powered by its own NiMH venture, just as Toyota carved out its preeminence with hybrids. But, having sold off its 50 percent stake in NiMH to Texaco when it killed off its own electric car, by the time they got serious and announced the Volt, they had to look elsewhere. Into the picture stepped A123 (and other lithium battery makers like LG Chem/Compact Power Inc.). GM may or may not be the first major auto maker with lithium powered cars, but the evidence is in that it is batteries, not fuel cells, that will bring cars with zero emission capability to market in the near term.

[Source: MIT Technology Review]

All you Prius owners out there who have been waiting patiently to to start running on grid power can almost stop holding your breath. Hymotion, the company that has been developing a plug-in kit for the Prius, has now started taking deposits for the L5 conversion kit. The kit costs $9,995 plus $400 for shipping and, of course, any applicable taxes. That price includes installation at an approved shop and a three year warranty. The first deliveries and installations should start this July.

The kit consists of a 5kWh battery pack filled with A123 lithium ion cells that fits into any second-generation (2004-2008) Prius. The pack can be fully charged in 4.5 hours at 110V and Hymotion claims a converted Prius will get up to 100mpg for 30-40 miles. Your mileage will of course vary. The pack has been crash tested and meets all current federal safety standards. Hymotion was bought up by A123 last year after doing a number of conversions for fleets and government testing.

[Source: Hymotion]

In commenting on the battle royal taking place on the testing benches at GM between two contending battery suppliers, "Maximum" Bob Lutz said Tuesday it was a "horse race. An apt analogy in a sense because the two teams, Continental Automotive Systems, using cells from A123 Systems Inc., and Compact Power Inc. who are using cells developed by its parent, LG Chem seem to be neck and neck in performance. No one has stumbled as the two sprint down the final stretch to the, oh, what's that? The finish line has been moved? O rly?

Apparently, GM feels the need to hold off on making the final battery supplier decision, that had been announced for April, as it continues to weigh the pros and cons of each product and conduct more testing. In light of the postponement of mule day, I suspect there is something they aren't telling us. Regardless of the exact timing of the conclusion of this contest, we are now taking bets in the comments section.

[Source: CNN Money]

Just as I thought I was recovering from the shock of the new Th!nk Ox concept announcement, today's press release from GE made me feel like I was caught up in a Ronco commercial, "But wait, there's more!" No, GE is not getting into Super Bass o' Matics. It sights are set on no less than the "global electrification of transportation". Toward this noble and glorious end they have announced a $4 million investment in Th!nk Global.

GE knows that good battery tech will be an integral part of the success of its transportation market objectives and its taking a decidedly synergistic approach. From the ongoing Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIRC) they disclosed that not only will A123Systems, producer of the patented Nanophosphate(TM) lithium-ion batteries, be able to draw on the research and technology development expertise of GE Global Research in Niskayuna, New York, but GE will sink a further $20 million to become the company's largest single investor.

$24 million may seem like a lot to you or I but it is still only part of the $100 million financial commitment GE has made to different companies in the past 18 months through its ecomagination(SM) initiative. For more on all the in and outs of the initiative and GE's investment arrangements check out the press release after the jump.

Our friend Lyle over GM-Volt.com has a couple of new stories up that deserve a little clarification. For those unfamiliar with the site, it's content is pretty self explanatory from the title. There is usually a pretty lively discussion going on there regarding the most anticipated new car from Detroit in many a year. First up is the issue of the first battery pack delivery from Continental/A123. LG Chem/CPI have already delivered two packs to GM's battery lab. GM had hoped to receive the first A123 pack by the end of this month. It now looks like that won't be happening until early January.

Being a single company, coordination of these efforts is actually easier for LG Chem and CPI because they use common systems. As a relatively new partnership, Continental and A123 are still getting their ducks in a row so they are a little behind. At this point GM is expressing no concerns about A123 and feels everything is well in hand. One thing to recall is that pretty much everyone in the auto industry including suppliers shuts down for the week between Christmas and New Years so anything that doesn't get done by next Friday will just have to wait until January 2nd. Having worked on the supplier side of such prototype delivery programs for 17 years, I can say that this is not at all unusual.

The other subject Lyle posted about the charging ports. In a story on the Wired blog, Marty Jerome reported that the production Volt would have charging ports on both front fenders. Marty attended an episode of the Volt road show in San Francisco this week. GM spokesman Rob Peterson was also there and spoke briefly to Marty. According to Rob, the port on the passenger side is strictly ornamental and the intent for the production car is to only have a driver side port. Presumably Marty saw the passenger side copy and assumed it was a functional port since the cutaway renderings of the car show that one being functional. Unfortunately that is not the case.

[Source: GM-Volt, Wired, General Motors]

Electric car advocate and vlogger Doug Korthof has posted several videos from EVS23, including the video above, which is a look at Ener1's lithium-ion Prius. Doug asked Ener1 fairly technical questions, so if you are interested in things like the top of the discharge curve, the above video is just for you.

Below the fold is Doug's look at Vectrix's new three wheeler and a walk and chat around the A123 and Killacycle booth. That video has interesting tidbits about the Killacycle crash. Apparently, if the bike had not slowed down, it would have torn the other vehicle in half ... that would have been cool.

Doug is still adding videos and AutoblogGreen was there as well, so stay tuned for more coverage from EVS23 very soon.

Related:

• EVS23: Enerdel's "end-to-end" lithium solution for hybrids
• Ener1 first to integrate lithium-ion battery into HEV

[Source: YouTube]

Sunday's New York Times has an article about the complete lack of a normal electric car the average person can afford. There are smaller vehicles you can buy and you can search Ebay for a good conversion or a RAV4 but the New York Times is essentially correct. If you are a middle class guy with 2.5 kids and you want a four-door sedan, electric car for about $30,000 you are SOL. Here are some quotes from the article;

"Strip away the promises and the offerings are virtually nonexistent. Not a single purely electric vehicle with four seats and the ability to reach highway speeds is being mass-produced anywhere in the world. ... There is still not a single E.V. or plug-in hybrid available that can approach the driving range, interior room and performance of a typical gas-powered family sedan, at anywhere near the price that an average consumer would pay."

Below the fold is a video of the Exar-1, a failed normal looking electric car. Lots of electric cars have failed not just in the '70s,'80s and '90s as the New York Times mentions, but from the '20s to '60s as well. Will history repeat itself with the new promising batch of fully electric car and/or battery companies like Miles, Tesla, Phoenix, A123, Altair and EEstor? Maybe the fully electric car will never play a large role?

Editor's Update: I think we should point out these ten electric cars, which are perhaps not normal or affordable, but they are (mostly) available.

[Source: New York Times and tipster Phil]

Since we have brought you past news on Bill Dube's KillaCycle, we thought that you might like to know that the owner/builder of the machine (and not the normal rider!) is all right after a crash. The accident happened while Dube was giving a demonstration of the electric bike, which is capable of covering the quarter mile in around 8 seconds at over 150 miles per hour. With power like that, it is not surprising that the bike shot out from under Dube while he was putting on a show by doing burnouts. After crashing into a minivan, paramedics took Dube to the hospital for X-Rays.

There is a video at this link of an interview with Bill Dube who explains that the bike uses A123 lithium ion batteries which can propel the bike to sixty miles per hour in less than one second. Right after the interview, you can watch the crash! The accident took place on the 13th in Los Angeles at the Wired NextFest conference. We wish Bill a speedy recovery!

On last thing: please consider this a reminder to be safe while operating any vehicle. Especially consider safety on a motorcycle, where a helmet at the very least should always be worn. Oh yeah, maybe it's time to change the bike's name.

UPDATE: I've pasted the video here after the break!

Related:

• Electric Killacycle to attempt world record dragstrip pass
• Edmunds editor Karl Brauer offers a brief opinion on batteries for electric cars
• Watch an electric motorcycle run an 8-second quarter mile

[Source: TGDaily via Engadget]

We regularly get questions from readers asking for more detail or clarifications on the topics we write about. This morning Andrea wrote in with this question:

I was wondering if you could help me out. I was reading about this new car, the Lighting, that uses NanoSafe batteries you talked about in one of your posts. They say that in order to charge it's nanosafe batteries you only need 10 minutes. Is it only 10 minutes of normal electricity (the one we have at home)? Are they saying that you plug your batteries into a normal home outlet for 10 minutes and you are done or there's something I am missing?

The answer to this question is an unequivocal NO! You can plug in the Altairnano (or A123) batteries into a 110V outlet to charge but that takes 6-8 hours for a full charge. The fast charging capability requires a special charging station that no one is likely to have at home any time in the foreseeable future.

When ABG interviewed Altairnano CEO Dr. Alan Gotcher earlier this year he explained what was needed. The fast charging requires 480V and somewhere between 500-1000 amps. They foresee gas stations and the like installing charge stations that would store electricity locally in something like a huge capacitor and then pump it into the car on demand. This kind of station won't be cheap, requires a huge cable to charge the battery at that rate and poses potential safety risks. When I spoke to Ric Fulop of A123 last week, he explained that their batteries are capable of such fast charging as well, but they aren't advertising it or focusing on it because of the infrastructure that would be needed to support it. So even though Phoenix, Zap, Lightning and Altairnano are talking up that capability, don't expect anyone, except perhaps some fleet operators, to be able to do this.

A123 is the battery for the Chevy Volt. We live blogged that news for you. One of the selling points of the battery is safety. How safe is it? Ric Fulop and David Vieau of A123 systems gave us their answers, but look for yourself. This video purports to be the A123 battery getting a nail drilled through it. Nothing really happens. The same is done to other batters and they burst in flames and almost explode. If a demo like this was done for GM, I can understand why A123 is the Volt's battery.

Commenter to the video, Allamericom, wonders "if this was another ploy to discourage and frighten others from electric cars?" Ianbruce says they are using them in the Ventureone, an electric vehicle. He also says in a comment ""Don't get in an accident in your battery-electric car, unless you're using something designed for the purpose." ;)" The video has over 4,000 views since March 2007.

[Source: Youtube]

BAE Systems already provides the hybrid electric drive system for DaimlerChrysler's Orion VII buses that are operating in transit fleets around the world. The company has just announced their next-generation system that will be available in 2008 switching to lithium ion batteries. The lithium batteries are using NanoPhosphate electrodes developed by A123Systems. The BAE battery pack is designed to monitor individual cell performance and route around cells that have failed for any reason so that the whole pack can keep operatiing.

[Source: BAE Systems]

Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief at Edmund's has his own blog on the site, and in the latest installment, he highlights an electric motorcycle that I have heard about before, the Killacycle. What I did not know is that the cycle is capable of making a run to sixty from a standing stop in 1.4 seconds. The lithium ion batteries for the cycle come from A123 Systems and cost $12,000 in this one-time application. Karl thinks that if these batteries are available right now for an electric motorcycle, and have been super reliable, then we cannot possibly be that far off from a reasonably priced plug-in hybrid. I think his argument makes perfect sense. Everybody who reads this site is probably familiar with the idea of economy-of-scale. Basically, the more of a product you make, the less each individual product will cost. Makes sense, right? If batteries like these were made in the amounts necessary for a midsize car which sold, say, 50,000 units per year, that $12,000 battery pack should go down in price. That is the idea, at least. Care to comment?

Related:

• Watch an electric motorcycle run an 8-second quarter mile

[Source: Edmunds]

The hybrid battery test lab at the GM Technical Center

Earlier this week, General Motors invited members of the media to their Technical Center in Warren, MI, for a briefing to talk about batteries, and show off their battery development lab. The purpose of the meeting was to provide some background on the design of lithium ion batteries, the current status of battery developments, and the hurdles that remain before bringing lithium ion batteries to market.

The session began with an introduction from GM's VP of Environment and Energy Beth Lowery. She repeated the recent mantra about the need for energy diversity, which we've been hearing from the likes of Rick Wagoner, Bob Lutz and other GM executives for the past few months. She then reviewed the time-line for General Motors hybrid vehicles, from the initial two-mode hybrid buses that have on the road since 2003 through the current mild hybrids to the light duty two-mode hybrids including the two-mode Vue hybrid later in 2008. She wrapped up with fuel-cells and E-Flex before handing off to Denise Gray.

continues after the jump

A123 Systems is getting a lot of media attention lately for their lithium ion battery developments right now and the New York Times has jumped on the bandwagon. A123 who is partnering with Cobasys was one of two companies that recently got development contracts from General Motors to supply batteries for the plug-in hybrid Saturn Vue program, the other being the Johnson Controls/Saft joint-venture.

The New York Times takes a look at A123, from their birth in 2002 trying to develop a technology using nano-particles that would be sprayed on to a device and self-assemble into a battery (which proved to be unworkable) to their current lithium iron-phosphate chemistry. So far the only production contracts A123 has are to supply batteries for Black&Decker/DeWalt power tools, and the GM deal is the first publicly-acknowledged automotive deal.

[Source: New York Times]