Johnson Controls-Saft has been awarded a contract worth some $8.2 million for the development of lithium ion batteries and the associated system that goes into making them an automotive-ready pack. The goal is to find out how feasible the planned push for PHEVs really is. According to Mary Ann Wright, head of the Johnson Controls-Saft joint venture and vice president at GM for Johnson Controls' hybrid battery business, "Specifically, key goals for this PHEV contract are to optimize cell and battery system design for 10-mile and 40-mile electric range vehicles." See the press release after the break for more on that.

Well, good, right? Sort of. The agencies that awarded the money are the United States Advanced Battery Consortium and the U.S. Department of Energy. Of these two organizations, Wright says, "The fundamental issue that we have in the government ... is they're ignorant," adding that the organizations "need to be completely revamped." At issue seems to be the lack of standards and sufficient incentives for auto-spec batteries from the American manufacturers in cooperation with the government. For our part, we know that there is only so much money to go around, so we can only hope that it's being spent in the best possible way.

[Source: Johnson Controls-Saft, The Detroit News]

In our reports on the Mercedes-Benz S400 and S300 Bluetech hybrids we mentioned that the cars use a lithium ion battery. Both of these cars, as well as the C-Class hybrid that Mercedes is displaying at the Frankfurt Motor Show, use a new mild hybrid system. The mild hybrid system was co-developed with BMW although the Munich brand has yet to show any of their applications. A mild hybrid system can't drive the vehicle on electricity alone so it doesn't need as much battery capacity as a strong hybrid like the Two-Mode system in the ML450.

In order to optimize the packaging of the system to allow it to be easily installed in many vehicles, Mercedes is placing the battery pack under-hood by the engine. Limited under-hood space means a nickel metal hydride battery was out of the question. The lithium pack is being supplied by Johnson Controls-Saft which is also one of the development suppliers to the Saturn Vue PHEV program at GM. Since GM has indicated that they have no interest in pursuing lithium metal oxide chemistries (those are the kind used in laptops that have nasty thermal problems), it's likely the JCS unit for Mercedes doesn't use this type either. The first of the Mercedes S400 hybrids is due to launch in 2009 at about the same time as the PHEV Saturn Vue. It remains to be seen which one makes it to market first.

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