Lithium Ion batteries still have a lot of problems waiting for answers
Prabhakar Patil was in charge of Ford's hybrid vehicle operations from 1998 to 2003 and is now CEO of a start-up called Compact Power Inc. Compact Power is developing lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles and is a division of Korean company LG Chem. As anyone with a laptop from Dell, Apple or several other companies discovered earlier this year, lithium ion batteries have a nasty tendency toward thermal events (that is, they tend to explode in flames) if they're not manufactured correctly. The chemistry of these batteries is very complex and can generate a lot of heat as you might find during long calls on cell phone.
On the other hand, lithium-ion batteries are a huge advance over the lead-acid and other battery types used on the electric vehicles of the '90s. They have much better energy density and less of a memory effect. But they do have a limited number of charge cycles, generally on the order of 300-500 cycles. If you have any devices with lithium batteries like laptops, phones, iPods etc, you know that after a couple of years, the batteries are pretty worthless and won't hold a charge. In order, to make the batteries last the lifespan of a car, engineers use complex control software that manages the charging and discharge of the cells in the battery to maximize the lifespan. Tesla, for example, has sized their battery pack to be three times what is actually needed and then uses different segments of the battery over the lifespan of the car in order to make it last. Compact Power has a preliminary agreement to supply their batteries to an auto-maker for a 2010 program. Right now they are working on optimizing the chemistry and the control systems to maximize both the battery life and the safety in the automotive environment.
[Source: Automotive News - subscription required]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 5:30PM (11/27/2006)
Altair Nanotechnologies has already solved the problems with lithium-ion batteries. http://altairnano.com/documents/NanoSafeBackgrounder060920.pdf. I guess that Prabhakar Patil doesn't read the news.
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George Krpan 7:15PM (11/27/2006)
No mention of some sort of breakthrough like Altair.
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Mike Z. 6:44PM (11/27/2006)
1. Enough about Altair Nano--> At this point they have no 3rd party verification, for all we know the technology is impractical or will not scale for mass production. We need either independent reports or reputable companies forming agreements before we make it the toast of the town. Until more details emerge we need to take a wait-and-see approach. If this is a pump-and-dump stock scheme we are only adding and abetting.
2. "Tesla, for example, has sized their battery pack to be three times what is actually needed and then uses different segments of the battery over the lifespan of the car in order to make it last."
Am I the only ones that reads this to mean that a Tesla Roadster already has a 750 mile range sans the software limiter?
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George Krpan 1:04PM (11/28/2006)
A quote from an earlier Autobloggreen article about the Phoenix SUT which use the Altair batteries.
"Dan Reigert of Phoenix said a production run of 500 units is planned for 2007. Since the vehicle is based on a Korean-made chassis, the technology may be transferred to Korea for expanded production. The goals include 6,000 units in 2008 followed by 20,000 in 2009 and 100,000 in 2010."
The battery conservation method used by Tesla is an artifact of the deficiency of present day batteries.
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CM 2:07AM (11/28/2006)
There are a lot of companies working on safer and/or higher capacity lithium batteries, including Altair, A123, Toshiba, Vector, Saft, and PolyPlus.
Lead acid stores about 20 wh/kg, NiMH stores 60 wh/kg, LiIon 80 to 140 wh/kg. Thats what's on the market now. Fire resistant LiIon using phosphate or titanate are coming on the market.
Upcoming: Lithium Sulfur batteries storing approx. 340 wh/kg will be on the market soon.
Laboratory tests on experimental Lithium air cells have reached over 1,000 wh/kg, and may reach 3,000 wh/kg! At those levels, it rivals gasoline in energy density. No word on when they will reach the market.
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