The long-simmering confrontation between South Korea and Japan has affected all sorts of relationships between the two countries. While mostly peaceful over the last few decades, there remains some bad blood between the two countries. A new rule that the South Korean government will soon introduce could bring the disagreements to the electric vehicle market.

According to the Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun, starting on July 1, South Korea will begin to regulate goods that have lithium-ion batteries. South Korea and Japan are two of the world's biggest li-ion battery makers, and the new rule "could in effect shut products using Japanese-made lithium batteries out of the South Korean market," the Yomiuri wrote. Exactly how the li-ion products are supposed to get the certification the South Koreans are requiring isn't exactly clear, one Japanese government official told the paper. How EVs might be affected is also unknown at this time. U.S. products will be exempt from the regulation starting in October.

[Source: Yomiuri via Green Car Congress]

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of AutoblogGreen that there are a ton of hybrid and electric vehicles scheduled to show up on the market over the next few years. All of these machines will share one major component: batteries. According to a study by The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm, the worldwide demand for the materials needed to produce these batteries will rise to $22.8 billion – a 3.9-percent increase – by the year 2012.

Most of the demand will be for lithium- and nickel-based batteries, with older technologies like lead acid, zinc-carbon and nickel-cadmium actually decreasing as a result. Not surprisingly, China, which is the largest producer of batteries in the world, will account for the greatest growth. See the full press release after the break.

[Source: Freedonia Group via EV World]

While lead acid batteries have energized electric cars for most of the motoring age and nickel metal hydrides (NiMH) have helped hybrids return high gas mileage numbers more recently, the future seems to securely belong to lithium batteries for both applications. With all that's riding on this technology, can it really fulfill its green promises? Of the dozens of electric vehicle announcements have been made over the past few years, practically all of them have named lithium ion batteries as their energy storage solution of choice. Indeed, lithium ion batteries power the best-known electric car on the road today, the Tesla Roadster. But, with reports of lithium-powered laptop fires and the press ponderings on the possibility of "peak-lithium," it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Is there hope beyond the hype or is there, perhaps, a different energy storage around the corner? Hit the jump and we'll investigate the possibilities.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been looking at where the bottlenecks are inside lithium ion batteries that limit charging and discharging rates learned some interesting things. Lithium iron phosphate chemistry is particularly promising in terms of high charge and discharge rates. They found that some new processes for manufacturing the lithium phosphate coating on lithium iron phosphate crystals could provide for better access to the lithium ions allowing them to move around more readily.

This all sounds similar to the premise behind the lithium iron phosphate batteries produced by A123 Systems and the lithium titanate cells produced by Altairnano. The increased surface area of material allows more ions and electrons to move in and out without heating up as much as lithium cobalt oxide cells. The result is that cells made with these materials can be charged at very high rates without degrading the charge capacity over time.

The downside is that at higher charge rates, the maximum energy density of the cell decreased although the power density is improved. The bigger issue remains the power needed to actually charge an automotive sized battery pack in a few minutes. A five minute charge would require 180 kW or more, not something available at home or any existing charging stations.

[Source: ars technica]

French industry giant Group Bolloré, which we're familar with for their involvement with Pininfarina in a handful of interesting electric car projects, announced it has contacted Bolivian President Evo Morales to secure a supply of lithium in order to produce advanced batteries. Negotiations have been in the works for more than a year to guarantee access to what is estimated to be half of the total lithium resources in the world, located in Salar de Uyuni. Bolloré is competing against Japan's Mitsubishi. One of the questions that arose during these negotiations was Morales's demand that a complete EV industry be established in Bolivia, instead of just simple mining facilities. Morales is currently visiting France on an official visit.

[Source: La Voz de Galicia via Econoticias]

When companies need to know about future market conditions for various commodities, they hire a firm with the expertise to evaluate the situation and report back. For instance, as Mitsubishi was mulling the possible future of electric cars equipped with lithium ion batteries, they hired TRU Group to do an analysis on future battery options. Usually, ordinary folks don't get to see the results of this kind of work, but in the case here, we can. In a rare move, Mitsubishi has allowed their consultants to release some of the findings about the global markets for lithium through to 2020 and that's just what they did at the IM Lithium Supply & Markets Conference Santiago 2009.

The results are comforting to those worried about a sudden upsurge in the production of electric cars using lithium ion batteries, especially over the next few years. Because of the sudden recession, there is actually an oversupply of the mineral right now and this should continue until about 2013. It doesn't seem as though there will be a "peak lithium" after that either. Although brine deposits, like those in Bolivia and China, may offer the easiest and cheapest supplies to extract, a moderate price rise would support mining here in America, where we appear to have quite a bit.

[Source: TRU Group via Green Car Congress]

For several years now, electric vehicle advocates have been pushing lithium ion batteries as the solution to the issues of global warming and fossil fuel use. Unfortunately, just as petroleum is a finite resource with the most abundant supplies being restricted to certain geographic areas, the same is true of lithium. A substantial proportion of the world's known supplies of lithium carbonate are located in the central Andean region of South America, with the largest deposits in Bolivia and, to a lesser degree, Chile. For an impoverished country like Bolivia, this has the potential to bring the same kind of bounty that Saudi Arabia got in the second half of the last century.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the world that's hoping to use all that lithium, having a dominant player means that the cost of lithium batteries is unlikely to drop significantly any time soon even if production is ramped up. Bolivia's leftist president Evo Morales wants a state-dominated lithium industry in order to ensure that the profits benefit the people of his country. As a result, some automakers are attempting to go directly to the Bolivian government to ensure adequate supplies. That would explain why most of the major automakers are tying up with battery makers in order to keep the technology in house rather than rely on suppliers. Regardless of who controls the supply of lithium, there remain concerns that demand could outstrip supply within a decade. if that happens, we'll have to continue the search for other alternatives anyway.

[Source: TIME]

Azure Dynamics has been making hybrid-powered commercial vans for some time now using nickel metal hydride batteries. Johnson Controls - Saft has just won a deal to supply up to 20,000 lithium ion battery packs to Azure over the next five years so the performance of the company's vans can be upgraded. Azure recently relocated its headquarters from Toronto to Detroit. Azure's vans are used primarily by package delivery companies like Fedex and Purolator, but they are also used as service vehicles for AT&T.

The battery packs will be assembled in Milwaukee, WI from cells provided by Saft that are made in France. JCI-Saft has optimized the cell chemistry and construction for power, durability and long life, obviously important factors in this type of application.

[Source: Johnson Controls - Saft]

Honda has announced that it is following its Japanese compatriots by forming a joint venture to develop and build lithium ion batteries. Nissan, Toyota and Mitsubishi already have such joint agreements. Honda will be the second automaker to hook up with GS Yuasa. Mitsubishi and GS Yuasa established a JV in 2007 to produce batteries for the iMiEV that will launch in 2009.

Honda will own 49 percent of the venture with the rest being held by the battery maker. The only lithium ion application that Honda has shown so far is the fuel-cell powered FCX Clarity. Interestingly, Honda has been relatively disdainful of the whole idea of plug-in vehicles in the near- to mid-term. Instead, the Honda announcement indicates that the lithium batteries will be used in hybrid rather than electric vehicles. The companies will collaborate on R&D, manufacturing and sales of the new batteries.

[Source: Honda]

The United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) announced a $2.3 million grant to develop lithium battery technologies. USABC, which is under the umbrella of United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), a research organization between Detroit's Big Three, awarded the grant, in collaboration with the Department of Energy, to Celgard, LLC. Celgard is a company that supplies materials for lithium-ion batteries. According to the press release (which you can find after the jump), Celgard will work in cost-effective separators for lithium-ion battery applications, a key component for hybrid cars. The release also says that for the Department of Energy, electrochemical energy storage is a key technology for advanced, fuel-efficient, light and heavy-duty vehicles. Hey, that's just what most of the rest of us think.

[Source: USCAR]