Even before its first production vehicle ships with a lithium ion battery, Toyota is already making plans for the next wave of energy storage technology. We expect to see Toyota and Lexus products with lithium ion packs sometime around 2010, and Toyota is said to believe that the technology will last about twenty years. Therefore, a replacement will be needed around 2030. For this reason, Toyota has set up a new team of fifty people this month to begin working on the next-next generation of electric power, which could use chemical batteries, capacitors or some combination of the two.

Whatever the next technology for energy storage turns out to be, Toyota doesn't want to be caught off guard. Considering that battery supply is already one limiting factor when it comes to how many hybrid vehicles the Japanese giant can produce, we are hardly shocked that Toyota has plans to stay on the cutting edge in battery technology.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

While Electro Energy is keeping its Gainesville factory busy making the standard 18650 type rechargeable lithium ion batteries, the company has continued to forge ahead in its better-battery oriented research. To that end, they have just announced a "contract award of $750,000 sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to continue development of ultra-high energy density, rechargeable, lithium battery chemistry for Air Force applications."

According to a press release, the battery being developed involves a composite cathode of metal fluoride and should be more powerful and compact yet give the packaged batteries specific energies of 400-500 Wh/kg, which is about double that of modern lithium ion polymer cells. The potential impact for hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as for military applications such as UAVs and directed energy weapons, could eventually be enormous. That would turn the 200+ mile range of a Tesla Roadster to (engaging mythical mathematical prowess powers) over 400 miles or a 120 mile Aptera into, well, 240 miles. Now if they could also somehow halve the cost, your grandchildren may one day ask you what gasoline was.

[Source: Electro Energy, h/t to Karen]

In an interesting twist to the saga that is the development of the Phoenix Motorcars electric SUT & SUV program comes news that they are now partnering with a Canadian battery maker. In a press release from that company, Electrovaya says that they are now negotiating an arrangement with Phoenix and have already begun the work of integrating their proprietary Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® battery along with its intelligent battery management system ("iBMS").

Phoenix Motorcars President and CEO, Daniel J. Elliot is quoted by the release as saying, "We are pleased to have Electrovaya join forces with us, and we are excited to be working with their team and their advanced technologies. Electrovaya's innovative Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® battery technology stands apart from its peers as a platform, chemistry agnostic technology. Electrovaya's systems expertise and design experience provide what we need in terms of battery performance." Hmm. That strikes us as possibly being in conflict with a statement made by the CEO a couple months ago in a different press release which can still be found on the Phoenix Motorcars website. And we quote, "We wholeheartedly support Altairnano's technology and believe they provide the greatest product available on the market today." Altairnano being the company that has been trumpeted as the supplier of their battery of choice for some time now, we wonder if a similar fate has befallen them as has their original motor supplier, UQM. Or perhaps Phoenix plans on utilizing the power packs from both companies. We shall try to get the straight dope and let your enquiring minds know but in the mean time go ahead and read the available details in the press release after the break.

Mitsui Mining and Smelting, a company with roots that go way back in history, is out to make history in the lithium ion battery market. Known in Japan as Mitsui Kinzoku, they are part of the humungous Mitsui Group whose origins can be traced back to a humble miso shop founded more than a hundred years before the American War of Independence. That's old.

What's new is their breakthrough with silicon-based negative electrode (SILX®) for lithium ion batteries. It seems they've been able to achieve double the energy capacity of a carbon-based negative electrode, boost the energy density 30 to 50 percent and dramatically improve cycle life. What's that mean in English? Their battery could help your electric car accelerate faster, go further and last longer.

Mitsui Mining and Smelting plan on commercializing their technology in 2010. There are still some details like manufacturing processes to work out and the matching of other components like positive electrodes and such. They already have companies knocking on the door for their SILX® and are planning to partner with battery makers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to get their tech in your hands (or car) as quickly as possible. Read more about their battery chemistry and marketing strategy from their press release after the jump.

Although the target launch date is still over two years away and there haven't been any major hitches, some consultants are expressing doubts that the GM Volt program will end in success. The "experts" to which I refer are members of the Gerson Lehrman Group Automotive Council who conducted an analysis of a Reuters story that appeared on the MSNBC website detailing the efforts and progress of the Volt program.

The most critical of the four assessments (two of which lie behind a subscription service and whose tone can only be estimated to be positive and mixed by their given report titles) was written by Mark Fendley who is the "Continuous Improvement Manager at BMW Manufacturing in Spartanburg, South Carolina" and has been with that company since 1998 according to the GLG website. His report, titled, "The Volt - GM's Attempt at Green Marketing without the Green Product or the Green Return," contends that the battery technology behind the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) is too unproven, environmentally destructive, and expensive to "ensure a 2010 launch." No sources are given to bolster the environmental claims in the article. Also unmentioned, unfortunately, are any details of the battery tech an all-electric car his employer is rumored may produce.

The other viewable report, written by Michael Kowalski (described as a self-employed consultant who is an adjunct professor at Wayne State University and who worked for GM as a staff engineer from 1970 until 2002) is titled, "Can the General Motors Volt meet the expectations?" and is a little less hysterical in tone. He does make sobering mention of GM's diesel engine "experiment" in the '80s and outlines some of that company's other efforts to develop alternative drivetrains. Although we can't say we completely agree with his analysis, especially as it pertains to GM using nickel metal-hydride as a battery chemistry it could fall back on, it does make for an interesting read. We look forward to reading analysis from our own experts (i.e., our readers) in the comments section following this post.

[Source: Gerson Lehrman Group]

The most important part of an electric or hybrid vehicle is often said to be the battery. With all the breakthroughs in energy storage and the emergence of new companies, it can be a difficult field to keep up with. If you are a potential investor or just a curious onlooker you might be interested in how Mike Millikin has graded what he believes to be the top dozen companies in the field.

In a three-part article for EnergyTechStocks.com, the founder and editor of the informative Green Car Congress hands out report cards for the leading battery and ultra-capacitor companies out there today. All the big battery names you read about on AutoblogGreen are represented as well as the secretive EEStor ultra-capacitor folks and impressive upstarts like Valence. While nobody gets an "F," Mike pulls no punches with a frank assessment of each. We thinks he is pretty much "on the money" but if he's slipped up, we are sure you'll let us know.

[Source: EnergyTechStocks.com]

In an attempt to keep our readers up to date on the very latest developments in technology as it pertains to transportation and the lessening of our carbon footprints, we often burn the midnight oil and labor to understand technical papers until our brains cramp and ears bleed. OK, maybe I'm the only one with the ear thing but what I'm trying to get across is that we are not slackers (Not that there is anything wrong with that.) And it is in that spirit of brain-crampedness (and sore ears) we present you now with some of the latest news of breakthroughs
in the batteries that may one day power your hybrid or electric car.

We all know that our modern batteries do their thing (charge and discharge) by sending lithium ions back and forth between the anode (where the current comes in) and cathode (where the current goes out). This action is what eventually degrades your electrodes (anodes and cathodes). By improving the materials that bear this beating, scientists aim to increase the amount of energy batteries hold as well as the number of times you can recharge them. Hear about a couple of these efforts after the break.

There is much more to building complete battery packs for electric cars and hybrids than most people think about. Sure, cells are available - they are powering the laptop that this story is being written on. Just ask Tesla about taking a few thousand of those batteries and turning them into a unit capable of powering an electric car. To help turn those loose cells into usable battery packs, power-train engineering consultant Ricardo has created a new Battery Systems Development Center in Detroit. This group of 32 people will work to create turn-key battery packs and their related necessary equipment to be offered for use in battery-powered vehicles. This development work falls under Ricardo's Total Vehicle Fuel Economy work that we've reported on in the past. Of course, battery cost is another hurdle to overcome, but Ricardo's been working on that one too.

[Source: Ricardo]

The National Research Council (NRC) has finished conducting research into the possibility of powering vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells and other alternatives. Despite mixed reviews, the report suggests that even without ready solutions to quite a number of major issues, taxpayer-funded research into hydrogen "is justified by its potentially enormous benefits to the nation."

Also in the report was a suggestion that too much money is being spent on reducing the cost of lightweight materials, and some of it "should be redistributed to areas of higher potential payoff." Interesting ... like what? Could be plug-in hybrids, which they suggest are not being researched with enough verve. Not surprisingly, the target date being thrown around for hydrogen cars (2020) is now seen as a bit unrealistic; the NRC sees 2030-2035 as a more likely possibility. The question that remains is whether we'll even need hydrogen fuel cells by then, what with battery technology potentially getting good and cheap enough. View the entire press release after the break.

[Source: NRC via Automotive News (sub. req'd)]

Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Project Better Place, gave an amazing speech at a New Democrat Network meeting recently. Want to know how Agassi's idea for electric cars got $200 million -- the "largest seed round of any venture in history?" Then you have to check out his speech below the fold which tells the history of the company, makes a case for electric cars and details his company's future plans.

The 25 minute video flies by thanks to Agassi's charm and humor. Project Better Place begins testing this year and it plans to have hundreds of cars on the road a year later. Agassi refers to renewable energy sources as "virtual oil fields" and talks of feeding power to the grid as a backup power source for a country. The speech ends with him predicting that by 2020, more new cars will be electric. If that prediction comes true, he will have likely played a significant role.


[Source: Google Video]

Look out, A123. Better dust off your spurs, Saft. There's a new cowboy busting through the bat wings of the electric-car-battery-makers saloon. Yup, the E-One Moli Energy Corp, perhaps better known as the folks who the power in cordless Milwaukee Tools, are jumping into the automotive saddle. </silly Western babble>

During their 10th anniversary celebrations the other day in Taiwan, the company took the wraps off a li-ion battery intended for the hybrid and electric car markets. What they didn't reveal was any details about the new product so specific information on chemistry, energy density and such are still unknown. The company does make several different chemistries such as LiMn₂O₄ and LiFePO₄ and produces both cylindrical and prismatic cells. I'll keep my ear to the track and let you know when I hear more.

[Source: Businesswire]

Episode 20 of the AutoblogGreen Podcast has us recapping Geneva mere days before we head to New York. There were lots of exciting things over in Switzerland, and we touch on a few of them. Th!nk's new Ox will be a Tesla-magnitude achievement if it hits the market doing what the company says it will. GM rolled out the new version of its mild hybrid system that will be propagating across virtually all models in all brands to help boost CAFE. Better efficiency for about half of what a sat nav option costs? We'll take it. Speaking of hybrids, there was a lot of talk from BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen ,and others about upcoming Euro-branded hybrids, and diesel hybrids at that. Mercedes will debut li-Ion batteries in a production hybrid, while Toyota has yet to see a compelling argument for diesel hybrids. Rest assured that if people want it, Toyota will build it, though. Before closing, we look forward to the couple of things we know about in New York, like the debut of the Acura TSX/Honda Euro Accord which will sport a 50-state legal diesel, and the Automotive X-Prize folks will be holding a press conference, as well. 32 minutes this time around. Stay tuned, we'll surely be abuzz when we return from New York.

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According to a press release on Altairnano's web site, Dr. Alan Gotcher has agreed to resign "as an officer of the company." Dr. Gotcher was appointed CEO back in August 2004 and President in March 2005. No reason was given in the release but the language makes it sound like it wasn't his decision. Dr. Terry Copeland, formerly of Millennium Cell, Inc., who was hired on as vice-president in November of last year, will step in as interim president.

For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past of couple years, Altairnano is a company which exploits nanotechnology to create disruptive products and is best known for their fast charging, umpteen-cycle-enduring lithium titanate battery.

Altairnano stock dropped sharply on this news but now appears to be rebounding nicely. Hopefully the company can put this transition behind them quickly and get on with the business of getting their product out of their doors and into our cars, Navy ships, and dragsters. Read the press release for yourself at the jump.

Related:

• AutoblogGreen Q&A: AltairNano CEO Alan Gotcher

General Motors has apparently placed Cobasys on their list of distressed suppliers, a move that could be very bad news for some of GM's hybrid programs. Cobasys is the battery company jointly owned by Energy Conversion Devices and Chevron Technology Ventures. Cobasys supplies the nickel metal hydride batteries used in GM's mild hybrid system in the Saturn Aura and Vue and the Chevy Malibu. They are also one of two supplier teams with development contracts to provide lithium ion battery packs for the PHEV Saturn Vue that was shown at the Detroit Auto Show. Cobasys is doing the pack integration for cells provided by A123 systems for that program.

Apparently Cobasys lost $76 million in 2007 and expects the amount to widen to $82 million this year. ECD and Chevron are apparently at odds about funding the battery supplier and coming up with a spending plan for this year. When GM declares a supplier distressed they start watching them much more closely and the chances of a supplier on that list winning new business are slim. GM's full-size hybrid trucks, such as the Tahoe/Yukon, utilize batteries produced by Panasonic while the plug-in lithium battery programs all use multiple suppliers, so they should be ok unless another supplier stumbles. GM has not announced the name of the supplier for the Vue Two-mode hybrid that is due to launch this fall.

[Source: The Car Connection]

Toyota says hybrid sales will be lower in 2008 than 2007, not because people don't want them, but because Toyota simply can't make any more. Bob Carter, general manager of Toyota Division, told Ad Age, that Toyota sold 181,000 Priuses in 2007 and that's simply the best they can do right now: "We can't repeat that [181,000 Prius sold in a year], no way, even though the demand may be there. We just can't keep up. So you will see much more moderate growth because of the supply," Carter said.

Carter then added something ominous: "We are very committed to hybrids but it's not our position that hybrid is the solution to the future." He continues with, "We're looking at high-efficiency gasoline, clean diesel, fuel cells and the plug-in hybrid" which is a little more comforting. Toyota has said battery production is a hurdle for the introduction of plug-in cars. Batteries may be keeping more hybrids from reaching customers as well. Carter (and Toyota's Jaycie Chitwood) described Toyota's plans in great depth with ABG recently.

So, Toyota, the #1 maker of hybrids is saying that, while there is hybrid demand, they have reached the limit of production. For everyone who wonders why hybrid market penetration can't go above a certain percentage of car sales, there's your reason. We've done your part and driven up demand, but apparently more work needs to be done to be able to make more hybrids.

UPDATE: Typos and style edited
UPDATE: Toyota responded by clarifying that Mr. Carter's quote was misinterpreted. The automaker can and will, in fact, produce more Priuses than it did last year. What it likely won't be able to do is match or exceed the rate of growth Prius production had in 2007.

Related:

• Did Toyota hybrid sales peak in 2007?
• Toyota tells Popular Mechanics battery production is the "biggest hurdle" to plug-in cars
• Toyota still apprehensive about lithium ion in spite of PHEV plans
• Malibu, Vue hybrid Superbowl ads might not air because of low inventory

[Source: Ad Age]