When Ford handed over the keys to a plug-in Escape hybrid to Southern California Edison last December, one of many secrets the companies kept to themselves was which battery maker was responsible for the lithium-ion batteries fulfilling the electric part of the equation. The company has now been revealed and it's Johnson Controls-Saft, which has a dedicated li-ion battery plant in France. Johnson Controls will be providing the li-ion batteries for all of the PHEV Escapes for Ford's demonstration fleet (including those at the Electric Power Research Institute) as it grows from the one or two on the road today to 20 in the coming year and a half. More PHEV Escapes will be delivered to the utilities later this month, and future versions will be tweaked and updated as data comes in from the daily drives. More from Ford after the jump.

The automotive li-ion battery world got a little cozier today, with the news that Continental has purchased a 16 percent stake in the Japanese "battery specialist" (Automotive News Europe's words) Enax. ANE says that the two companies will together develop "high storage batteries for automotive use." The company's official announcement on the new partnership says those batteries will be "lithium-ion cells especially for future hybrid and electric drives in automobiles" that will be safer, have a longer service life and provide better performance than today's li-ion batteries.

Based in Tokyo, Enax was founded twelve years ago and is an independent think tank that has been working on li-ion automotive batteries for over ten years. The company has over 80 employees and had sales of $10.5m U.S. in 2006. Conti also works with A123 Systems on batteries for the Chevy Volt and with Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions.

[Source: Automotive News Europe (subs req'd)]

Nissan has announced a new range of forklifts that use lithium ion batteries provided by Nissan and NEC's joint venture AESC. These batteries were first seen powering the Mixim and the Pivo 2 concepts during the Frankfurt Motor Show. Does this move of the batteries to actual production vehicles mean that we'll get us a Nissan EV as expected? Nissan states that this is part of its Nissan GT 2012 strategy to produce an EV for the U. S. in 2010 and 2012 in the rest of the world. The new forklift models were introduced during Hannover's Logistics Fair and will be on sale in 2009, if development is ready. The first units for the European market will be probably built at Nissan's plant in Navarra, Spain.

[Source: Nissan]

About a month ago, we spoke with Dr. Prabhakar Patil of Compact Power, Inc. about CPI's lithium-ion battery technology. We didn't want to miss the chance to chat in person during the SAE Congress this week, so we stopped by the CPI booth. The reason most AutoblogGreen readers would be following the fortunes of CPI is the company's work with GM on the Chevy Volt (CPI, along with A123 Systems, are supplying the test battery packs for the Volt. BTW, the Volt/Malibu mules are on the track) but Dr. Patil again mentioned that CPI is working with other, unnamed OEMs. We're anxious to learn more about that.

But let's talk about the battery deal we do know about. Based on the packs currently being tested in the Volt, Dr. Patil estimated that a li-ion battery that could move an electric car 100 miles between charges would weigh about 800 pounds. This is double what the Volt's batteries weigh, but would get you 2.5 times the Volt's EV-only distance, because the Volt's batteries reserve some power for the hybrid operations. Regenerative braking can get you the rest of the way. Considering all the studies that show that most people drive well-under 50 miles a day, carrying around all that extra weight for capacity that won't often get used doesn't make a lot of sense, he said. Patil also sees the benefits of the recent CARB ZEV mandate decision. Give a listen.



In the CPI booth was the company's ER2 racer which was setting speed records back in 2002. The ER2 uses an 11 kWh li-ion battery pack and a 165 kW AC induction motor to go from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. More details here.

The thing that strikes you when you enter GM's Battery Systems Lab (BSL) is the EV1. On the hallway walls are the promo images of the Chevy Volt. For our visit, GM also set up two of the T-shaped batteries that powered these vehicles. The older one that moved the EV1 weighed around 1,200 kg lbs. whereas the Volt's powerpack will weigh "just" 400 kg lbs. Standing side-by-side, the batteries are impressive. It's as true to GM today as it was in the '90s that the T-shape is the best way to have a lot of room for the cells without eating into the trunk space.

Micky Bly, director of Global Hybrid Vehicle Integration and Controls, spoke to us for a little bit (sorry for the background noise in the recording, but he was speaking in the BSL while testing was going on) about the tests that GM is running on the batteries - from A123 Systems and Compact Power Inc. - in the lab and on the road.

In the BSL, GM can simulate any possible condition that the batteries might encounter when they're plugged into the grid - high loads, brownouts, etc. While these tests provide good information, the real challenge comes on the road. This month, the li-ion batteries will move out of the lab and into a 2005 Chevy Malibu mule vehicles for runs out at the Milford Proving Grounds. The Malibu has been running on the proving grounds since about October with a lot of the E-Flex control software, including the regen-braking, the small ICE and so on. One thing that the battery tests have discovered already is that at least 20 percent of the 40-mile electric-only range that the Volt will have will come from capturing the braking energy.

Listen to Micky Bly:



A big challenge for the Volt team is figuring out how to pack two years of testing so full they will yield ten years of data. This is being done, in part, by Lance Turner, engineering specialist-battery integration and test, and his team in the BSL. Turner explained that the packs are being tested 24/7 in a way that simulates how they will be used in real life. Some packs are being tested in large thermal chambers that simulate different ambient temperatures and seasons. The heat also accelerates battery aging. Turner would not tell us how many cells are in the packs, just that we'd find out soon enough. If you're hoping for insight into which supplier GM is leaning towards, all Turner would say is that both packs are performing quite similarly right now. As I wrote in my initial post, the Volt will only use half (that is, 8 kWH) of the 16 kWh of power in the pack. The operating range will probably be between 80 and 30 percent or 90 and 40 percent, with the latter being preferred. Roland Matthe, GM's engineering group manager, E-Flex rechargeable energy storage system, was also on hand. Listen to Turner and Matthe:

• Next: Wicked 3D Volt in the Visualisation Center

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]

The hybrid technology agreement between Daimler and BMW means that the world's (likely) first lithium-ion battery to go into a production vehicle - the S400 BlueHybrid (pictured) - will also probably make its way into BMW models. According to the Wall Street Journal and Just-Auto (reg req'd)], BMW paid some of the development costs of this battery, developed by Continental AG, in order to have access not long after Daimler does. The li-ion S400 should be out in 2009 and other companies will be able to get similar batteries from Continental, the WSJ reported.

[Source: WSJ, Just-Auto (reg req'd)]

Many of you out there are pretty knowledgeable about the batteries used in today's hybrids and electric cars. I am not. Sure, I've read thousands, nay, million of words about them. I can even recognize the scientific names of the more common chemistries such as LiFePO₄ which stands for lithium, iron and potatoes. Ok, so I don't quite have the chemistry thing quite nailed down. Luckily for me, and people like me, there are articles being written that not only help us understand how these things work but also give a historical perspective and a heads up about what people are working on now.

One such essay has just appeared in The Economist, a somewhat opinionated but respected British weekly, under the title, "In search of the perfect battery." In their quarterly report on technology, the Economist breaks down, in language even I can understand, how a modern lithium cell works (and why some explode). The history of li-ion is discussed as well as the state of the present quest for the holy battery grail. I recommend you give it a read so you, too, can know your anodes from your potatoes.

[Source: The Economist]

The Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid that was announced Friday, will likely be the first production lithium ion hybrid in the world. The important milestone here is the lithium ion battery chemistry, something that Reuters is giving us more information about. The S-class' li-ion cell will be supplied by Continental, which the tea leaves kind of predicted a few months ago. The S400 installs could give the battery maker a potential head start in its effort to beat Korea's LG Chem to produce the batteries for the Chevy Volt. A GM spokesperson told Reuters that both LG and Conti's batteries look encouraging to the automaker, so the advantage of being first on the market may not be as powerful as I suspect.

[Source: Reuters]

Hybrid Technologies, the company that will bring some of its newly re-named LiV line of electric vehicles to the New York Auto Show next month, has announced that its new type of lithium ion polymer battery has passed tests and should allow electric cars to go 200 miles per charge once they're mass produced. The improvement in the li-ion batteries is a new cathode material with what Hybrid Technologies calls a "superlattice structure" where some of the transition metal is replaced by lithium. This new material allows batteries to operate anywhere between 4.3V to 2V. Successful industrial-scale synthesis means that Hybrid Technologies expects these batteries to be used not only in EVs but also UPS power back-up systems. There's lots more at the Hybrid Technologies website. Thanks to Scott S. for the tip!

[Source: Hybrid Technologies]

This week, Sam brings back two interviews - one with Ford's Scott Staley about what's going on in Hybrid land, which is then balanced by a conversation with John Lapetz that pulls back the curtain on the hydrogen research that's been going on in Dearborn. Also touched on are the Chevy Volt and the EFlex architecture itself, set to go into series production in 2010. Things move from the EFlex to the challenge of bringing Li-Ion batteries to market. Ford also announced that there will be an experimental program with Southern California Edison, which will essentially serve as a real-world test for plug-in capable Escape hybrids. It's 53 and a half minutes this week, dig in!


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In February, we brought you news that Hybrid Technologies would be announcing a dealer network at the New York Auto Show this year. Read about all of that here. It seems that Hybrid Technologies showed up at the show right as Benjamin Chertoff from Popular Mechanics was leaving. As any self respecting automotive junkie would do, he talked his way into a test drive. View the video of the event above, and click here for the whole story from their website.

[Source: Popular Mechanics via Autoblog]

Electric vehicle (EV) advocate Jenny Isaacs has decided she can't wait for rising fuel prices to usher in a wave of hybrids and EVs, and has instead started a workshop to teach people how to convert their own vehicles. Isaacs has brought a Californian EV expert in to run a two-week course in her home town that will show 20 vocational-technical school teachers how to convert a petrol-powered vehicle into a straight EV.

A 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon will go under the knife for the sake of the course and be converted into a road-going electric vehicle, a process which typically costs around $10,000 including labour and 8-16 lead acid batteries. Lead acid batteries take many hours to charge and only offer a short travel distance but are incredibly cheap to run once they're set up.

Analysis: With lithium-ion battery technology moving forward so quickly and dropping in price, there will be a real niche for people to offer EV conversions in the future. Imagine a standard, turn-key li-ion battery conversion kit with everything you needed to convert your car being sold on the promise of no more fuel bills. That's an idea that would sell.

Related:

• ZAP is hoping to clear one more electric car hurdle with their new high speed charger
• Cameron Diaz in the Tesla Roadster = porn?
• Editorial: Tesla = GM, Toyota? Tesla > Phoenix Motorcars?

[Source: The Morning Call via Its Getting Hot In Here]

On the 13th February we posed the question "What is the best way to spend the DOE's money?", and asked you to vote for your favourite answer.

After receiving 290 votes, the results are in and it looks like Lithium Ion battery technology was the clear favourite with 29 percent of the votes. Two other ways areas that were popular for sinking vast amounts of government research grant funds into were algae biodiesel production and solar photovoltaics which were tied on 20 percent each. The rest of the field was further back.

Analysis: I think a renewable energy Smart Grid is the long-term answer, but this wont be made up of just a single technology. Plug-in electric vehicles connected to an intelligent electricity network which utilises a large degree of renewable energy production will require better battery technology and more solar photovoltaics. But EVs aren't appropriate in every situation - highly efficient biodiesel production will be needed as well for larger vehicles like freight trucks and container ships. But for a start, let's get those battery efficiencies up.

Be sure to vote in our next poll - Just how fuel efficient is your vehicle?

Related:

• State of Florida gives out grant to develop cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane
• Scientists lump all fuel-economy measures in theoretical Vanguard minivan; but is it that easy in the real world?
• Editorial: Why the carmakers seem to be dragging their feet on batteries

Click on the image for a gallery of 29 images of the VentureOne concept and the Carver three-wheeler.

This is the second part in an interview with Ian Bruce, founder of Venture Vehicles, where he talks about safety aspects of the VentureOne concept, and projected sales growth. In the first part of the interview, Ian shared with us his background with Venture Vehicles, and comments on the design of the VentureOne. Click here to go to part one of the interview.

If you haven't already, be sure to read our guide to the VentureOne first as background to this insightful interview.

ABG: Is the small internal combustion engine used in the hybrid variant taken straight out of a motorbike? What flex-fuel capabilities does it have?

IB: The genset is the other main component in our series-hybrid configuration, and we have a great deal of flexibility in choosing the final configuration. The principal requirement is that it run efficiently while generating a sustained 15kW using standard gasoline, E100, or any blend in between. We only require a small sensor in the fuel system that can detect the relative percentage of ethanol in the fuel and adjust the injection volumes to suit. We plan to use the airflow from the battery cooling system to keep the fuel lines and engine at a minimum temperature, and avoid any cold weather start-up problems associated with E100.

Interview continues after the jump.