A123 Systems partners with IHI to sell lithium batteries in Japan
A123 Systems has garnered plenty of attention for its lithium ion battery technology over the last several years, mostly here in the United States. The Massachusetts-based startup has now formed a partnership with IHI to market its batteries in Japan, a market that already has a number of domestic suppliers. According to IHI, it favors the A123 batteries because they are lower in cost. A123's battery chemistry has an advantage over other suppliers because it uses no rare earth materials. Rare earths are becoming increasingly important because many batteries use them but 97 percent of current production is coming from China. The increased demand is driving up prices for these materials. IHI will be marketed toward plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles as well as ships. Here in the U.S., A123 has worked with both General Motors and Chrysler on development of plug-in vehicles.
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ziv 3:04PM (10/29/2009)
So how much do A123 batteries cost per kWh? Are they going to last 10 years of regular useage? Is there a warrantee for that time frame? The last I heard was that they cost about $500 a kWh, is that still the case?
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augustus 3:56PM (10/29/2009)
As much as I would like to know that, they aren't going to list prices. I think that we all know that the price per kwhr is quite bad right now. Hopefully not needing any rare earth elements will help and they can get the price down.
Serge 4:08PM (10/29/2009)
I've only seen specs for their "power" cell (see ref), which exhibits shallow linear capacity loss with ~95% DoD at 1,000 cycles. These are really some of the best cells on the market right now in terms of reliability.
The $500 / kWh looks good. Where did ya hear that?
Ref: http://www.a123systems.com/cms/product/pdf/1/ANR26650M1A_Datasheet_APRIL_2009.pdf
ziv 5:44PM (10/29/2009)
Serge I can't find my link for A123, and when I google it I get tons of crap links. What the article stated was that Patil of LG was talking $612 per kWh and A123 was going to be closer to $500 per kWh. Then later Patil went at length into how he came to the $612 number, that is the only article I can find and even there he is fairly difficult to interpret.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/02/profile-li-ion.html#more
augustus 3:53PM (10/29/2009)
Good for A123.
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Joeviocoe 9:16PM (10/29/2009)
Great reliability, sustainability and a good price.
But at not as good on energy density as laptop batteries. The primary reason why Tesla went in another direction.
2.3 ah x 3.3 volts = 7.59 Wh per 70 gram battery
Which is 108 Wh/kg
Not bad but other Li-Ion packs can get over 160 Wh/kg
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