Battery Technology

[HenryTo]

Nissan to (finally) spend funds on battery technology and hybrids - starting with the following joint venture with NEC:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nissan-NEC to make lithium-ion batteries
Sunday May 18, 11:09 pm ET
By Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
Nissan-NEC joint venture to invest US$115 million to mass produce lithium-ion batteries

TOKYO (AP) -- Nissan's joint venture with electronics maker NEC Corp. will invest 12 billion yen (US$115 million; euro74 million) to start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries -- a technology widely viewed as key for next-generation green cars.

Nissan Motor Co. Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares told reporters Monday the Japanese automaker wants to be a global leader in "zero-emission vehicles."

Lithium-ion batteries are now more common in laptops and other gadgets, although all the world's automakers are working on applying the batteries for their cars.

Nissan's joint venture called Automotive Energy Supply Corp. plans to make advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, hybrids and fuel cells -- all important technology to reduce pollution as well as global warming gases.

"Nissan firmly believes the ultimate solution for sustainable mobility lies in zero-emission vehicles," Tavares said at a Tokyo hotel.

A plant for the batteries, set to be running by 2009, will have annual production capacity of 65,000, and starting capacity of 13,000, Nissan said. The investment will cover three years, it said.

Tokyo-based Nissan has been sometimes criticized as falling behind Japanese rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. in ecological technology.

Toyota has a big hit with its gas-electric hybrid, Prius, which has already crossed the 1 million sales mark worldwide. Honda also has its own hybrid and fuel-cell models.

Nissan has said it will introduce an electric vehicle in the U.S. and Japan, as well as its own hybrid, in 2010.

By 2012, Nissan plans to mass-market electric vehicles to consumers globally. It is also planning to make available on a wide scale zero-emission vehicles in Israel and Denmark in 2011.

[diesel]

Wheres the hydrogen going to come from though?

If we all start reforming our natural gas NATGAS will go through the roof and if we electrolyze water we are still using that inefficient grid.

Go the nanobattery I say.
_________________
All cats are gray in the dark.

[rffrydr]

That's the one they couldn't produce in the US. I still think owing to weight and grid ineffieciencies alternative fuels (yes, even good ol' hydrogen) has a shot.

Gazprom chief, after dismissing OPEC as irrelevant and talking up a 1000billlion market cap, talking of Alaska NG pipeline to keep up well supplied for our Honda home power system.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

Boston Power makes great strides in Lithium-ion battery technology:

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6569183.html?nid=2790&rid=428554835

[HenryTo]

Well, GM outsources its battery development, and it's coming down to either A123 systems and another potential (unnamed) supplier (my guess is Altair Nano: http://www.altairnano.com/markets_energy_systems.html).

Other than that, I agree with you.

[rffrydr]

GM, or Toyota for that matter, would never enter such a contest...the failure of such a promise would cost far too much.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

McCain's stance on battery technology:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/23/campaign.wrap/index.html

[HenryTo]

Not sure if natural gas conversion will be a good long-term solution. The US still produce 85% of our natural gas consumption but if/when we have a colder-than-normal winter given current storage levels, I may end up paying more for natural gas than for gasoline on an energy equivalent basis!

[rffrydr]

Over in the San Gabriel Valley they already have that Prius. Works great.

Leave the social charity to the Santa Monicans (Prius rules) until you see what the replacement costs on those batteries will be. Added to the premium in outright costs over a plain vanilla Tercel and judging by what it costs for batts on laptops and drills.......not pretty down that road.

Better, take over payments on Range Rover and spend the Prius premium on Nat Gas conversion. 71 cents a "gallon" in Utah. 2bux CA. The 2500dollar Tata special will never be electric. Biofuels HAVE to come through.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

Toyota commits to a 2010 roll-out of its long-awaited plug-in hybrids, with lithium ion batteries to boot. I would not be a first adopter - but will definitely look to grab one as soon as the technology proves to be relatively safe (especially in 100-degree weather driving through Death Valley).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toyota promises plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2010
Wednesday June 11, 1:34 am ET
By Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
Toyota promises plug-in hybrid vehicle in Japan, United States and Europe by 2010

TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota is introducing a plug-in hybrid with next-generation lithium-ion batteries in Japan, the U.S. and Europe by 2010, under a widespread strategy to be green outlined Wednesday.

The ecological gas-electric vehicles, which can be recharged from a home electrical outlet, will target leasing customers, Toyota Motor Corp. said. Such plug-in hybrids can run longer as an electric vehicle than regular hybrids, and are cleaner.

Lithium-ion batteries, now common in laptops, produce more power and are smaller than nickel-metal hydride batteries used in hybrids now.

The joint venture that Toyota set up with xxx Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic products, will begin producing lithium-ion batteries in 2009 and move into full-scale production in 2010, Toyota said.

Toyota also said it's setting up a battery research department later this month to develop an innovative battery that can outperform even that lithium-ion battery.

Japan's top automaker, which leads the industry in gas-electric hybrids, has said it will rev up hybrid sales to 1 million a year sometime after 2010.

Hybrids reduce pollution and emissions that are linked to global warming by switching between a gas engine and an electric motor to deliver better mileage than comparable standard cars. Their popularity is growing amid soaring oil prices and worries about global warming.

"Without focusing on measures to address global warming and energy issues, there can be no future for our auto business," Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters at a Tokyo hall.

He said developing breakthrough technology was critical to allow Toyota and other automakers to continue to grow while avoiding damage to the environment.

The Prius, which has been on sale for more than a decade, recently reached cumulative sales of 1 million vehicles. When including other Toyota hybrids, the company said it sold 1.5 million hybrids so far around the world.

Toyota said it is also working on fuel cell vehicles, which produce no pollution by running on the energy produced when hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to produce water.

It is also improving mileage of all its models, including gasoline engine and clean diesel vehicles, it said.

The company plans to set up more environmentally friendly factories that will produce fewer carbon gas emissions and develop production techniques that require less energy, using solar energy and planting trees, Watanabe said.

On Tuesday, Toyota said it will start making the Camry hybrid in Australia and Thailand as part of its efforts to step up production of "green" cars around the world.

The two plants were only Toyota's second and third overseas production point for the Camry hybrid after its Kentucky plant in the U.S. The only other nation where Toyota manufactures its hybrids besides Japan is China.

Toyota, close to overtaking General Motors Corp. as the world's No. 1 automaker, faces competition from rivals, which are also all working on ecological technology.

For 2010, General Motors is planning a Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric vehicle, while Nissan Motor Co. is planning electric vehicles for the U.S. and Japan. Honda Motor Co. is also developing new hybrid models, targeting sales of 500,000 hybrids a year sometime after 2010.

[HenryTo]

Honda now making a serious effort in battery technology - and to challenge Toyota in the process:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Honda to sell new gas-electric hybrid next year
12 hours ago

TOKYO (AP) — Honda Motor Co. will sell a new, improved and affordable gas-electric hybrid in the U.S., Japan and Europe starting in early 2009, the company's president said Wednesday.

Takeo Fukui told reporters that "green" cars, especially hybrids, will be a pillar of Honda's strategy for the next three years, starting this fiscal year that began April 1.

He did not say what the price of the vehicle would be. But he said the new hybrid will be a five-door sedan seating five passengers, and it will feature new technology that reduces the size and weight of the hybrid system to increase fuel efficiency.

"Hybrids have drawn attention for their image, but time has come to go to the next step," he said, stressing that Honda was serious about selling hybrids in numbers.

Honda plans to sell 500,000 hybrids per year sometime after 2010, he said.

To expand hybrid sales, Honda will introduce a new sporty hybrid based on the CR-Z model, a Civic hybrid and a hybrid model of the Fit subcompact, which is sold as the Jazz in Europe, in addition to the new hybrid going on sale next year, Fukui said.

[rffrydr]

If only they didn't want to catch 'a fire:

http://www.sacbee.com/304/story/927646.html
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!