Altair Nanotechnologies has attracted a lot of attention in recent months for the claims they have made about their new ceramic nano-material based lithium battery technology. The first committed customer for the NanoSafe battery is Phoenix Motorcars and this week they received the first ten Altair NanoSafe batteries. The units that have been shipped are the 35 kWh units that should provide the Phoenix SUT with a 130 mile range. Altair also claims that the batteries can be charged in ten minutes if a 480V industrial charging station is used. When charging from 110V or 220V outlets, charging still takes several hours. The ten batteries fulfill a $750,000 order, and Phoenix has also ordered one additional battery which is supposed to be shaped later this week.

Related:

• Alt Car Expo: Q&A with Roy Graham on Altairnano batteries, Phoenix electric SUV
• EDTA Conference: revisiting Altair Nanotechnologies' NanoSafe batteries, Phoenix EV Truck

[Source: Altair NanoTechnologies via GreenCarCongress]

While the Barker Hanger was still mostly empty on Friday, the day before the Alt Car Expo starts in Santa Monica, I caught up with the Phoenix Motors and Altairnano crew standing next to the electric Phoenix SUV prototype. Bryon Bliss and Daniel Elliot of Phoenix Motors said the SUV is currently going through safety testing, just like any other vehicle destined for commercial sales. In fact, that was their main message, that the electric SUV will drive and feel like an ICE SUV. The 480 ft lbs. of torque and the rest of the powertrain have been electronically adjusted to make the vehicle feel "normal." One slight difference: while the prototype model doesn't beep when backing up, the production model likely will, otherwise you might not know it's coming. Expect the Phoenix SUV in the second quarter of 2007.

I also spoke with Roy Graham, Senior Vice President for Commercial Development at Altairnano, about the nano-titanate lithium-ion batteries I first wrote about at the EDTA Conference. You can listen to Graham explaining how the batteries will work in the Phoenix SUV here (~5 min. interview, 1.3 MB file). Also, check out a picture of the batteries under the hood after the jump.

As critics will quickly point out, the range, charging time and power of an electric vehicle's batteries need to be constantly improved if EVs are ever going to take off in America. Recently, Phoenix Motorcars put in an initial order of $750,000 for high-powered batteries from Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. The batteries, proprietary nano-lithium ion batteries, use a "nano-structured negative electrode material called nano Lithium Titanium Oxide, or nLTO, that replaces the graphite used in 'standard' lithium ion batteries with safe nanomaterials", according to The Energy Blog. Phoenix has a prototype electric truck that can go 85 mph and 120 miles on a charge, which can be done in about 10-15 minutes. The company has big plans to get these cars into consumers hands in the near future just over $40,000.

[Source: The Energy Blog]
[UPDATE: changed "mpg" to "mph"]