Automotive DesignLine Blog
Battery R&D heats up
George Leopold
3/18/2009 1:29 PM EDT
Despite the steady stream of bad news coming out of the global automotive industry these days, efforts are underway to remake it a more energy efficient, cleaner enterprise.
"Not all the news coming out of Detriot is bad," Jack Wagner of lithium-ion battery technology specialist A123 Systems, told the Applied Power Electronics Conference in February. A123 is developing a modular approach based on its proprietary nanophosphate technology for deploying lithium-ion batteries in automotive applications. Its target market is hybrid-electric cars.
There is, of course, a lot of government stimulus money flying around that will target battery technology in general and automotive applications specifically. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the House Science and Technology Committee that new R&D efforts will focus on "automobile batteries with two to three times the energy density that can survive 15 years of deep discharges."
The pace of battery technology R&D is quickening. We'll track it closely.
Comments
J_Wags
4/1/2009 11:16 AM EDT
Hi George,
I just wanted to make one correction to your entry; the work we're doing here at the Novi, MI branch of A123 Systems is targeting Plug-In Hybrid and pure EV and hence require much larger (energy storage) batteries than HEV applications. We also are engaged in HEV work within A123 as well but I just wanted to draw that distinction. It tends to get lost in all the jargon and acronyms sometimes.
Thanks,
Jack Wagner
Sign in to Reply