Thread for new battery breakthrough PR releases

[Lock]

I'll stick with my lipo, thanks.

If ya are charging in a LipoSack(TM) or out doors or in a fireplace or stove or cast iron cooking pot etc this is not "mass market"... To take over the world ya need "idiot proof".
:wink:
10Ck

 

[Arlo1]

"Saft designed and developed the VL 10V Fe Super-Phosphate™ cell capable of producing continuous power of 7 kW/kg, making it the world’s highest power lithium iron phosphate cell."
http://www.saftbatteries.com/SAFT/UploadedFiles/PressOffice/2009/CP_61-09_en.pdf

http://www.saftbatteries.com/Produit_Large_VLFe_cell_range_301_66/Language/en-US/Default.aspx


VL 10V Fe
10 Ah
W/kg 5000 (2 second pulse / 2.5 V)
Wh/kg 54
Maximum discharge @ cont./25°C 1500A

6.8 in.
1.85 in.
1.3 lbs.

tks
LOk

This is cool if the numbers are right. I quickly run the numbers on a 90c 6s 4000 mah nanotech lipo pack and they are at 10.3 kw/kg

 

[teddillard]

crap. Just got this from Corporate.

"Although Saft is a leader in Li-Ion technology in many markets, we currently do not manufacture plug and play systems for small vehicles such as motorcycles. To design a system requires a substantial amount of time and expense (NRE) and require substantial volumes. We currently do not supply cells or modules only."

 

[John in CR]

...To design a system requires a substantial amount of time and expense (NRE)...

Tab weld 24 cells in series. Add +/- leads. Connect 25 wires for balance taps. Wow, that was difficult. Where do I send my invoice for my time consuming and expensive design work?

 

[Gordo]

...To design a system requires a substantial amount of time and expense (NRE)...

Tab weld 24 cells in series. Add +/- leads. Connect 25 wires for balance taps. Wow, that was difficult. Where do I send my invoice for my time consuming and expensive design work?

Why would you tab weld to machine screw connections???

These cells have been on the market for 2 years now and yet no one can find them. A little odd?

 

[auraslip]

Maybe if we all e-mail them...

 

[John in CR]

...To design a system requires a substantial amount of time and expense (NRE)...

Tab weld 24 cells in series. Add +/- leads. Connect 25 wires for balance taps. Wow, that was difficult. Where do I send my invoice for my time consuming and expensive design work?

Why would you tab weld to machine screw connections???

Now I know why the refuse to pay my invoice. Bolt together will be even more difficult to design a pack :wink:

These cells have been on the market for 2 years now and yet no one can find them. A little odd?

Somehow we have to help the decision makers see the light. China tried to help out Big O with a hint of how they did it two years ago when they gave him a pair ebikes as a state gift. I bet he didn't even try them. How can the best manufacturers miss the fact that new ebikes sales in many individual countries will carry Kwhs totaling more than the Chevy Volt packs sold world wide for years to come, if not all years. How can they not want a piece of that? It's just a complete lack of respect for the ebike. All we have to do is get upper management on an ebike and they'll instantly understand, just a moderate power ebike for the first spin around the parking lot. Then if they appear somewhat coordinated and comfortable, let them try a high power ebike.

That's the route to having A123 prismatic cells or similar built into our bikes. No one repects the ebike until they try one. It can't be explained, only experienced. Everyone is instantly sold though, as long as they aren't too spastic to ride a bike.

 

[Arlo1]

It's just a complete lack of respect for the ebike. No one repects the ebike until they try one. It can't be explained, only experienced. Everyone is instantly sold though, as long as they aren't too spastic to ride a bike.

Thats a very good point.
I kind of knoticed that. but never payed atention to it. I know my bike is fast but you cant tell how fast it is because of how quiet it is.
SO a test ride or a race against a car is always needed to prove it.
And its not just about speed. I turn down the power and put through town with great peace as well.
It truely needs to be experianced!

 

[teddillard]

Who needs 44ah on their bike?

uh... me?

 

[Lock]

Pretty sure it's all in the approach:
http://www.saftbatteries.com/Produit_Smart_VH_module_330_40/Language/en-US/Default.aspx

Battery systems and chargers (for portable applications) - Smart VH module

Saft smart VH battery modules, based on state-of-the-art Ni-MH technology, are designed specifically for personal mobility applications, and are also suitable for a wide range of applications that require a high level of power and autonomy. Their smart capability means that the battery modules manage themselves, making life as easy as possible for the designer and OEM.

The smart VH module takes advantage of Saft’s latest developments in cell design, housing, connections and electronic devices - ensuring safety, and a long cycle and calendar life, reliability and cost control. A key feature of the advanced technology is that it allows several batteries to be connected in parallel for increased capacity, to communicate with an application and to deliver high current (40 A).

Main applications
electric bicycles, scooters, wheelchairs and other light electric vehicles (LEV)
professional appliances and tools
back-up applications


Benefits
autonomy on demand, thanks to parallel assembly
battery life information saved in the built-in memory
communication capability with the application
remote on/off control HMI (Human Machine Interface) possibility
plug-and-play design
protection against common mishandling (high temperature, short-circuits)
electrical disconnection in sleep mode
compatible with a wide range of constant current power supplies
recyclable and environmentally friendly design

Interesting that they are still "plugging" NiMh

Other off-the-shelf(?) Saft product:
View attachment Saft.jpg

The applications they list for their Li cells are almost exclusively military. Practice torpedos, hybrid electric combat vehicles, U.S. Navy’s Seal Delivery Vehicle...

Don't tell `em it's for ebikes... tell `em it's for a "non-lethal weapon"...

locK

 

[spinningmagnets]

The applications they list for their Li cells are almost exclusively military

Saft needs to embrace the vision, and start promoting mass-production lithium, using their government contract connections...

1896:

1917:

1941:

 

[Lessss]

Remember WWII was primarily a horse drawn war for moving supplies and military forces. Imagine if them bicycles were electric.

 

[7tronics]

I have a 24V 10AHr battery that I bought almost 2 years ago. It works fine for the 400W 24V motor on my 2001 Currie Mountain eBike with 400W BMC motor and I run it fairly light on eBike assist. Also used in a pinch as an electric mower battery!

I see that Colorado Advanced Battery seems to have shut its electronic doors. And the Nilar e-mail response is that the company is resetting up all its manufacturing and supply chain in Sweden. I got the battery for $249 shipped as I recall and it uses a "smart" SLA charger quite well. Using a WattsUP meter, I get just over 30A peak, but that is only on peak part of a few hills in our area. Voltage does sag to about 21.5v at the peak. I haven't measured same route with SLA AGM cells. Light grade uphill is typically 15-20A on the 24V setup for less than 5 minutes at a time.

It will be interesting to see if these 24V/10Ah Nilar packs are available at anything close to $250 for 24V/10Ahr after the relocation of Nilar operations to Sweden.

I am upgrading this bike to a 600W 36V system so will move the 24V Nilar pack to another of the several 24V eBikes we've got. I had hoped to get a 36V Nilar pack, but doesn't look like an option now!

I am hopeful that LifeBATT gets off the ground with their prismatic cells with battery assembly in Danville, VA USA.

Best, Mark

 

[lesdit]

The prismatic a123 cells are what I'm hoping for. Sigh.
Or I can wait till the EV cars like the Nissan leaf start showing up in the car wreckers.
I used to get the Prius packs for $200. Maybe $1500 for a used Leaf pack ?
I hope so.

 

[Ykick]

I tried some of these about a year ago but returned 'em after a couple months and an exchange or two from leaking modules and low C rate - at least the company was very reasonable to work with. They're supposed to be SLA alternative but not for my purposes.

I went for 'em with hope of easy charging arrangement - pressure switch, fuse links but in practice they just didn't work with a a 30A controller. And, they were quite big, heavy and used these gnarly stainless straps (think traffic light mounting) that would chew the paint off anything they get close to.

These are actually what drove me to Lipo and I'm so glad they did...

 

[jumpjack]

Update:
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/04/05/dbm-energy-record-breaking-kolibri-battery-passes-government-tests/

 

[myzter]

Squeezing More Energy Out of Batteries
A new printing process could increase battery capacity by over 10 percent.
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/32447/?a=f

 

[Lock]

From Altairs annual K-10 filed February 2011:
http://b2i.api.edgar-online.com/EFX...ingHTML1?SessionID=amJFHj_btba0pX9&ID=7756279

On September 20, 2010, we reached a definitive agreement to sell additional common shares to Canon, a Hong Kong-based company. This transaction will result in Canon owning 51% of Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. on a fully-diluted basis (approximately 53.8% of shares outstanding following the transaction). At the same time we signed the Share Subscription Agreement with Canon we also signed a supply and technology licensing agreement with a Canon affiliate, China-based Zhuhai Yintong Energy Company (“YTE”). The agreement calls for the Company to supply YTE with nano-lithium titanate powder (“LTO”), 11 AHr cells and an ALTI-ESS 1 MW battery system totaling $6.6 million. We shipped these products to YTE during the fourth quarter of 2010. As a result of the SSA Amendment, purchases under this Agreement have been indefinitely suspended. During September 2010 we received a $2.0 million prepayment from YTE for these goods, of which $437,000 was recognized in the fourth quarter, leaving $1.6 million in deferred revenue as of December 31, 2010. Deferred issuance costs related to this stock sale totaled $831,000 for the year ending December 31, 2010 and are included in current assets.

Our Relationship with YTE . In addition, we, Altairnano and Zhuhai Yintong Energy Company Ltd. (“YTE”) entered into a Conditional Supply and Technology Licensing Agreement (the “Supply Agreement”) on September 20, 2010. Pursuant to the Supply Agreement, YTE has agreed to purchase nano lithium titanate, 11 Ahr battery cells and a 1 megawatt ALTI-ESS system from us for an aggregate purchase price of $6.6 million for delivery over the coming years. A portion of nano lithium titanate and the battery cells and ALTI-ESS have already shipped. Pursuant to the First Amendment to Subscription Agreement (the “SSA Amendment”) dated February 16, 2011 between Altair and Canon, YTE’s obligation to purchase the remainder of the nano lithium titanate has been deferred until the parties reach mutually satisfactory resolution on the technical issues relating to the transfer of technology. The Supply Agreement also includes an agreement to license our nano lithium titanate manufacturing technology at no cost to the owner of a manufacturing facility in China, as long as we own a majority of the owner of such facility. In addition, under the Supply Agreement, we grant to YTE a license to use our battery technology to manufacture batteries during a term commencing on the effective date of the Supply Agreement and continuing as long as YTE purchases at least 60 tons of nano lithium titanate annually. If the share purchase closes, the battery technology license will be exclusive in China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau) as long as YTE purchases at least 1,000 tons of nano lithium titanate per year after 2010 and is non-exclusive in the remainder of Asia (excluding the Middle East), Australia and New Zealand.

 

[Lock]

BUMP
Seen here:
http://solveclimate.com/news/20110415/pennsylvania-battery-plant-micro-hybrid-market-cars

Pennsylvania Battery Plant Cashes In on $3 Billion Micro-Hybrid Vehicle Market
Battery-maker Axion Power is riding the wave of the micro-hybrid car boom, signing deals with big automakers and climbing to the top of the emerging market
By Maria Gallucci, SolveClimate News

Apr 15, 2011

Fuel efficiency standards in the U.S. and Europe are driving up demand for "micro-hybrid" vehicles — conventional cars that boost gas mileage by adding hybrid technologies. The market's boom has meant big business for a little-known Pennsylvania battery plant.

The New Castle, Pa.-based subsidiary of Axion Power International has nearly doubled its facility space and added more than a dozen jobs recently to help accommodate the soaring interest from major automakers.

The firm makes a patented lead-carbon PbC battery that is well-suited for the charge-intensive nature of the start-stop technology used in micro-hybrids, especially when compared with traditional lead-acid car batteries.

The start-stop systems reduce emissions and improve fuel economy by minimizing the time a car spends idling. At stoplights or in heavy traffic, the engine automatically turns off and restarts as needed while keeping the headlights, air conditioning and radio running.

Germany's BMW has already tapped Axion to provide its lead-carbon batteries in micro-hybrid test models and is expected to strengthen the partnership over the next 18 months.

The auto giant is planning to introduce its start-stop M5 sports sedan later this month at a Shanghai car show, though Axion was not involved in that project. BMW's next-generation vehicle improves the earlier model's fuel economy by 25 percent.

Axion is also working with several other vehicle manufacturers, including one U.S. giant, though none can be named at this time, said Thomas Granville, Axion's CEO and president of Axion Power Battery Manufacturing.

European automakers like Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mini and PSA Peugeot-Citroën have already introduced start-stop technology into their fleets. In the U.S., Ford and General Motors are expected to introduce micro-hybrids in 2012.

"We've been working closely with [manufacturers] to try to see how our product can test," Granville told SolveClimate News. "This is an emerging proposition for us."

Axion to Produce 1 Million Batteries a Year

Axion has invested some $63 million in research and development since starting up in 2003. The company also recently acquired a 55,000 square-foot manufacturing facility for robotic electrode equipment and is upgrading its existing 75,000 square-foot battery manufacturing facility.

The plants together will have the capacity to produce 1 million batteries, or battery equivalents, per year — up from a 3,000-battery capacity in previous years.

Axion also added electro-chemists, engineers and other employees to its 74-person workforce with the expansion and aims to continue adding jobs each year.

Granville said the surge in demand for vehicle batteries began shortly after April 2009, when the European Union passed legislation on fuel emissions.

Axion had previously presented its small advanced battery to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), but it wasn't until the standards were set that automakers really began to listen.

"That really got the attention of European OEMs, and it moved our lead-carbon PbC product to the forefront," Granville said.

It also gave the eight-year-old company a share of a lead-acid battery market widely dominated by two global giants: Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls Inc. and Exide Technologies in Milton, Georgia.

Under the European regulations, 65 percent of newly registered cars in 2012 must achieve an average fuel economy of 130 grams per kilometer (42 miles per gallon). The target rises each year before reaching 100 percent of new cars in 2015 and beyond.

The law also sets a limit of 95 g/km (57.6 mpg) for vehicles made in 2020.

Granville noted that automakers will be fined for each vehicle over the fuel efficiency limit, giving the car industry a hefty incentive to install some form of hybridization in new models.

"It begins with a rather small amount — 5 euros for the first gram over 130 grams — but [the fines] quickly ramp up, and they're assessed against the entire fleet," he said.

U.S. interests in micro-hybrid vehicles surged after the Obama administration outlined emissions standards on passenger cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty vehicles for model years 2012 to 2016.

The emissions rules require new models to meet a fuel efficiency standard of 35.5 mpg, for a combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile.

The standards are part of President Obama's larger effort to put 1 million electric vehicles on America's roads by 2015 and make the nation a hub for 40 percent of the world's advanced battery manufacturing.

In 2009, the Obama administration announced that 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects would receive $2.4 billion in federal stimulus funds, to be coupled with another $2.4 billion in cost share from the project leaders.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the fuel standards can cut greenhouse gas emissions by around 960 million metric tons and 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of vehicles sold during the four-year program.

In 2009, transportation sources accounted for 27 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and one-third — or 1.7 billion metric tons — of emissions from fossil fuel combustion. Of that third, more than 50 percent of emissions came from gasoline consumption for personal vehicle use.

European and U.S. emissions standards are not entirely comparable.

Half of European models use diesel fuel and 80 percent have manual transmissions — resulting in an inherently better fuel economy and fewer emissions than gasoline-burning cars with automatic transmissions, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

In the U.S., only 0.5 percent of vehicles use diesel and 7 percent of cars are equipped with manual transmissions.

Battery Market to Grow 44 Percent by 2016

Kevin See, an analyst at Lux Research, explained: "The fastest, most incremental way for an automaker to meet these limits is to start to implement these micro-hybrids, or some degree of hybridization."

"You can use existing vehicle lines and retrofit them or re-design the power train ... whereas with a full hybrid or more complex [electric] vehicles, you really have to design a new vehicle," he told SolveClimate News.

Granville noted: "Our products could be used in a full hybrid, but the OEMs have been really telling us that that is not where their focus is going to be because of the cost" and the desire to roll new models out quickly.

See authored a recent report projecting that the market for micro-hybrid batteries would grow to $3.1 billion — a 44 percent increase — by 2016 due partly to the emissions standards.

He noted that much of that production would come from U.S. manufacturers that are attracted by federal stimulus funds and tax incentives.

Lux Research estimated last November that global sales of micro-hybrids would top 3 million units in 2010 and climb to 34 million by 2015.

By comparison, global sales of hybrid electric and all-electric vehicles are expected to total 5.2 million units in 2020, just more than 7 percent of the nearly 80 million passenger vehicles projected to be sold that year, according to an October report by J.D. Power and Associates.

See's research pointed to lead-acid batteries as the leader in the micro-hybrid storage market.

But Waltham, Mass.-based A123 Systems has also found success with its patented Nanophosphate lithium-ion technology.

"In the micro-hybrid space in particular, we have five customers that we're currently working with, and one of those has already awarded us a production contract," said Jeff Kessen, vice president of automotive marketing and communications.

The company has ten locations across Michigan, Massachusetts, Germany, China and Korea, and sells transportation applications to firms like Fisker Automotive, BAE Systems, Navistar and Eaton.

"Most auto manufacturers are looking at start-stop technology because it is arguably the most evolutionary in change from today's technology and is the easiest to integrate," he said. "It doesn't take long to engineer the vehicles, and they can take another step toward their fuel economy targets with comparatively modest investments."

A123 Systems, which originally supplied batteries for power tools, opened its auto-focused business unit in 2009 and kicked off a $1 billion investment campaign to run through 2012.

Under its expansion efforts, the firm built the largest lithium-ion automotive battery manufacturing facility in North America. The 291,000 square-foot plant in Livonia, Mich., will produce battery cells and packs to be used in micro-hybrid, hybrid electric and all-electric vehicles.

The firm received $249 million in stimulus funds for the expansion and $125 million in refundable tax credits from Michigan’s 21st Century Jobs Fund.

So far, jobs at the plant have jumped from 100 positions a year and a half ago to more than 700 jobs today.

Axion's Competition Mainly from U.S., Europe

Axion's Granville said that his firm anticipates its competition will mainly come from other U.S. and European battery makers, as most of the major hybrid vehicle OEMs have stringent safety and quality standards in this emerging market.

For a lithium-ion battery company, however, the biggest competition comes from China, as well as Japan and South Korea — the three largest markets for those products.

In late 2009, A123 Systems became the first non-Chinese company to form a joint venture for lithium-ion production in China.

The firm is now developing and manufacturing batteries for hybrid-electric and all-electric systems in passenger cars made by SAIC Motor Co. Ltd.

"In terms of incentives and investment support, China is arguably the most aggressive in the world with that" for lithium-ion production," Kessen said.

"As their population continues to buy vehicles, they realize that it is going to become economically difficult to procure as much oil as the country would need. That drives policy in China on electrification," he said.

 

[Lock]

Investors had high hopes... once upon a time...

 

[myzter]

One of the technological bottlenecks in lithium-ion batteries — which have the highest density of any others currently available — has been the ability to increase the voltage without compromising safety. Military batteries, unlike those used in the civilian world, must function in extreme temperatures. “We were able to design materials to make batteries stable at 5 volts, which is a 30 percent increase in energy density,” said Lundgren.

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine....eUphillBattleToLightenTroops’BatteryLoad.aspx

 

[Lessss]

Doesn't surprise me one bit. The us has been keeping certain technologies off the market for quite some time. The even shut down ocean floor mapping for a while back in the 80/90's

 

[Hillhater]

Doesn't surprise me one bit. The us has been keeping certain technologies off the market for quite some time. ..

Could this be whats happened to Eestor and the ultracap hybrid ?

 

[Lock]

...5 volts, which is a 30 percent increase in energy density...
- Cynthia Lundgren, chief of ARL’s electrochemistry branch

ermmmm... voltage by itself ain't a measure of energy density, is it?

LocK

 

[liveforphysics]

There are 5v and 6v lithium chemistries.

The problem is cycle life. If you're a primary cell, or just used for a mission, cycle life doesn't matter.