Ener1 CEO and Chairman Charles Gassenheimer certainly isn't afraid to talk up the li-ion battery work that battery subsidiary EnerDel is doing. It looks like the U.S. federal government is also willing to get behind the lithium-ion research going on in Indianapolis. The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded EnerDel a $4 million research and development contract for work that should:

• create lightweight, high-performance battery solutions for real-time tracking of vital military assets in harsh climates, and
• create high-energy batteries to power miniature unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), increasingly critical to battlefield troops.

Just think, your Th!nk could be powered by the same battery that flies around and kills people, although perhaps not - does an EV need a "severe-duty" battery? Probably not. More details after the jump.

[Source: EnerDel]

The EnerDel li-ion battery company continues charging ahead in Indiana. The company got a visit from governor Mitch Daniels today at its Indianapolis location and the big news for EnerDel is that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has offered the company up to $7.125m in "performance-based tax credits and up to $58,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans." Those plans include creating over 850 new jobs between now and the end of 2012. Gov. Daniels was suitably impressed, saying in a statement that, "When those jobs are in a technology of tomorrow, like electric cars, it offers the prospect of even bigger news to follow. Indiana has what it takes to lead this automotive revolution and today is step one." Currently, Ener1 (which owns EnerDel) currently employs 92 people at the Indy location. More details after the jump.

[Source: Ener1]

There are changes in EnerDel/Ener1 land. Yesterday, Ener1 said it would be moving its headquarters to New York City. Today, in a more important announcement, Ener1 said that it has taken complete control of EnerDel, Ener1's li-ion battery subsidiary, by buying some equity interest away from former joint venture partner Delphi. Delphi let its 19.5 percent equity interest in EnerDel go as part of its work to get out of bankruptcy. Ener1 gave Delphi 2.8m shares of Ener1 Restricted Common Stock and a cool eight million bucks. Even with the cash outlay, Ener1 says it remains debt free and "fully funded at present levels of activity through the end of 2009." Not a bad place to be in the current economic and automotive climate. Check out Ener1's press release for more details



[Source: Ener1]

EnerDel is the battery division of Ener1, an energy storage solutions company. EnerDel's batteries can currently be found in a plug-in Prius and a Th!nk City. The parent company announced today that it has raised $29.7m worth of equity capital through something called a Warrant Exercise. The influx of funds means that Ener1's cash position on its balance sheet is now around $42.5m, the company said in a statement. While the statement doesn't specifically mention any of Ener1's automotive battery technologies, Ener1 Chairman Charles Gassenheimer said that, "We also now have access to a $7 million equipment lease facility that will help finance our plant expansion in Indianapolis and increase our financial flexibility." That Indianapolis facility is where people like Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) go to take test drives of EnerDel li-ion hybrids. More details on the stock deal after the jump.

EnerDel's lithium-titanate battery has been independently tested by the Center for Transportation Research of the
Illinois-based Argonne National Laboratory. For the tests, a stock Toyota Prius had its nickel metal hydride battery pack replaced with a new 1kWh lithium ion unit from EnerDel. No problems were reported, despite the fact that no additional cooling modifications were made to the vehicle or battery pack. Additionally, a test was run which was intended to predict what the battery pack would be capable of if the Prius were converted to a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). Test results were promising, with the EnerDel-equipped Prius achieving 77.41 miles per gallon on the city test. Although these results are just an approximation of what a PHEV Prius could offer, they are still promising. Also of note is the fact that internal resistance of the pack was reduced by sixty-seven percent over the stock Prius pack.

According to the press release pasted after the break, EnerDel's pack could be half the size of the Prius' stock pack while still offering the same performance, meaning that a similar-sized pack as stock would offer twice the power potential. Thanks for the tip, Jan!

Want one of the all-electric Th!nk City cars powered by a lithium-ion battery? You're one step closer today than yesterday thanks to an announcement by EnerDel, the battery division of Ener1, that it has delivered the first mechanical prototype of the lithium-ion battery pack to Th!nk for form and fit evaluation. Even though Th!nk Citys are popping up in Paris and London, the pack is being tested in a City that is at EnerDel's Indianapolis facility in a car that was delivered last week.

With all of the problems the electric car companies have, it's kind of rare to see li-ion technology moves that happen on schedule. Last October, the two companies said Ener1 would deliver production prototypes to Th!nk in March 2008. Tests will continue until the end of April and EnerDel said in a statement (available after the break) that it expects to have its battery pack operating in the Th!nk City by the end of the year. We'll be waiting for a test drive and reports from customers before we call this a success, but I think this calls for at least a little bit of hope, no?

At EVS23, AutoblogGreen had a chance to speak with the chairman of Ener1, Inc., Charles Gassenheimer, about his company's batteries and the future of Enerdel's lithium-ion batteries in automotive applications. He told us then that "We think 2008 is going to be a very exciting year for us." Now we know one reason why.

Yesterday, Gassenheimer told Fox Business News that his company's batteries will be on the market by the end of 2008. From what we know so far, it's likely that Th!nk will have the first vehicles featuring an Ener1 lithium ion battery inside (see links below).

According to a press release sent out by Ener1, here are Gassenheimer's comments to Fox:

Our batteries have already been tested by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium, which is General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. We are the only battery company today using this Lithium-ion technology, which has met or exceeded all of the Big Three's requirements, especially and most importantly best-in-class in safety. We have already announced a commercial contract with Think Electric Vehicle in Norway. It's the largest electric vehicle company in Europe. You will see our batteries in their cars by the end of 2008 (read the rest after the jump).

In the race to bring lithium-ion to the masses, Ener1 is not waiting around. Now, let's see what happens when these cars are on the road, preferably with us in the driver's seat.

Related:

• Ener1 first to integrate lithium-ion battery into HEV
• Ener1 shuffles management in preparation of battery commercialization
• Everything you ever wanted to know about Ener1's batteries
• Ener1 and Th!nk sign the largest contract for lithium-ion batteries in automotive history

[Source: Ener1, Inc.]