We recently confirmed the rumor that, yes, Mercedes is planning on building an electric car or two and now some of the details are starting to be firmed up. In an interview with German business daily, WirtschaftsWoche, Thomas Weber, a Mercedes board member responsible for research and vehicle development, let it be known that the company is building what was originally meant to be the fuel cell-powered A-Class (and possibly B-Class) as an all-electric model. Because of its "sandwich" construction and pre-existing electric drivetrain, these cars should be the first to join the electric Smart in the e-Mercedes lineup.

Another magazine, Automobilwoche, as well as reporting 2010 as the year of the e-Mercedes arrival, states that the supplier of the battery for the cars would be none other than the American firm Tesla Motors. The source of their information was not revealed and since this has not been officially stated by either company, it's still somewhat speculative. We know from talking with Tesla's Elon Musk that something is going on between them and Mercedes and it's definitely not a motor for the Whitestar, since Musk made it clear that Tesla products will remain gasoline-free. We also know that Daimler claims to have solved the thermal issues associated with lithium ion batteries of a certain chemistry by integrating battery cooling systems with that of the car. Then again, Continental has already been named a battery supplier for the Mercedes S 400 hybrid. If you care to enter into the supplier speculation sweepstakes, hit us up in the comments section.

Source: WirtschaftsWoche / Wall Street Journal]

Most of the lithium ion batteries available today are coming from the Far East. However, when problems such as factory fires or potentially prickly political situations arise, a domestic source is reassuring for certain customers. For this and other reasons, Electro Energy is happy to announce that after twelve months of intensive effort, they have completed the largest manufacturing facility for 18650-type cells outside Asia. The plant in the heart of Gator country, Gainesville Florida, which can put out over 30 million of the approximately AA-sized cells a year, has already been producing a large quantity that are being used for testing internally, by customers as well as independent labs. One customer has been so satisfied with their testing results they have already placed an order to be delivered immediately, so not only is the facility up and running but they are "in business."

The numbers on their 18650BX cells are pretty good too. They have a 2400mA capacity with a nominal voltage of 3.6V. Their volumetric energy density is 525 Wh/l and the specific energy is 188Wh/kg and the cells can operate at a temperature range of -30C to 60C. For all the nitty gritty details hit the jump for the press release.

While many other car-makers (with the notable exception of Toyota) are jumping on the lithium ion bandwagon for new hybrid models, Honda will stick with nickel metal hydride for now. Honda President Takeo Fukui told Automotive News that lithium ion batteries are not yet reliable or durable enough for high volume applications. When Honda debuts a new dedicated hybrid model early next year to take on the Prius, it will continue to use nickel metal hydride batteries.

Honda hopes to top 200,000 annual sales with its new hybrid model, a car that is expected to be priced below the current Civic hybrid. Honda has chosen to use a lithium battery in its FCX Clarity fuel cell car, but those will be very low volume initially and much more expensive. The continued use of nickel probably has as much to do with cost as anything else at this point. Given Honda's price and volume targets, there is probably no lithium battery available right now to the meet the need. According to Fukui, the new model is being engineered to allow for a running change to lithium when the batteries do meet the company's specifications.

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

Electric car advocate and vlogger Doug Korthof has posted several videos from EVS23, including the video above, which is a look at Ener1's lithium-ion Prius. Doug asked Ener1 fairly technical questions, so if you are interested in things like the top of the discharge curve, the above video is just for you.

Below the fold is Doug's look at Vectrix's new three wheeler and a walk and chat around the A123 and Killacycle booth. That video has interesting tidbits about the Killacycle crash. Apparently, if the bike had not slowed down, it would have torn the other vehicle in half ... that would have been cool.

Doug is still adding videos and AutoblogGreen was there as well, so stay tuned for more coverage from EVS23 very soon.

Related:

• EVS23: Enerdel's "end-to-end" lithium solution for hybrids
• Ener1 first to integrate lithium-ion battery into HEV

[Source: YouTube]

Below the fold are two more videos from yesterday's Green the Capitol Office Expo. The first video is Electro Energy telling me about their battery which has a structure that takes up less space and weighs less than your average battery. Electro Energy showed a Prius hybrid with extra batteries added where the spare tire would usually go. The second video is a Prius converted by Hymotion for the Department of Energy. Hymotion, which was bought by A123Systems, adds lithium-ion batteries to the Prius extending the electric-powered range.

BAE Systems already provides the hybrid electric drive system for DaimlerChrysler's Orion VII buses that are operating in transit fleets around the world. The company has just announced their next-generation system that will be available in 2008 switching to lithium ion batteries. The lithium batteries are using NanoPhosphate electrodes developed by A123Systems. The BAE battery pack is designed to monitor individual cell performance and route around cells that have failed for any reason so that the whole pack can keep operatiing.

[Source: BAE Systems]

One of the things that makes automakers so important to the economies of many industrialized countries is the jobs that go along with those companies. The carmakers and their suppliers employ several million people worldwide. Over the past century the world's automakers have built up a base of suppliers for all of the thousands of components that go into a new car or truck.

When General Motors announced the Chevy Volt last January they indicated that they were designing it to be built economically in volumes of 100,000 or more annually. Although automotive lithium ion battery technology appears to be coming along rapidly, no manufacturer has yet tooled up to build the millions of high capacity lithium cells that would be necessary to support hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles per year.

So far Tesla is the highest volume automotive user of lithium batteries and when they start production later this year, they will only be building a few hundred cars per year propelled by pack filled with standard cells used in consumer electronics devices. They are assembling packs and using a special cooling system and control software for thermal management. Higher volume applications will require lower cost robust solutions and that's one of the areas that companies like GM are working with their suppliers to develop. Manufacturing capacity for these large cells and battery packs will have to be ramped up quickly over the next two to three years in order to make cars like the Volt a reality.

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

Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko said the company plans to start selling an electric car similar to the hybrid concept they showed at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show. The car is likely to be based on the next-generation Colt platform which is smaller than the Lancer platform, the smallest car Mitsubishi sells in the US market. With fuel cells still some way off in the future, according to Mitsubishi (ed.: and everyone else), and diesels unpopular in North American and Japan, they feel that electric car and possibly a hybrid variant are the way to go in the short term. Timing hasn't been announced yet, but the car is likely to be marketed in Japan first and then the US market. The car will use lithium-ion batteries for maximum energy density. Hopefully they have come up with a way to increase the maximum number of charge cycles for the battery pack, because current lithium batteries can only handle about 300-500 charge cycles before being replaced. Also, presumably, the batteries won't be sourced from Sony!

[Source: Automotive News - subscription required]

Lithium ion batteries have been bandied about as a possible solution to the development of more efficient regular hybrids, plug-ins, or practical electric vehicles. The Tesla roadster, for example, is powered by an extremely efficient lithium ion pack.

Unfortunately such batteries have a greater likelihood to catch on fire or even explode ("spontaneously combust"). As sib blog engadget reports, it's one thing for a laptop battery to blow up; cars performing such pyrotechnics would have a larger impact (and possible lawsuits).

Enter Valence Technology. The Austin-based company has modified its U-Charge Power System lithium ion batteries to lower the chances for fires. Instead of using a cobalt oxide cathode found in most such batteries, Valence's batteries use metal phosphate which doesn't have the same tendency to burn when the battery gets hot. Unfortunately, such batteries only hold 75% of a charge compared to a regular battery. Engadget rightly points out that many drivers, especially in the U.S., may not be willing to lose efficiency in the name of safety.

[Source: CNET News via Engadget]