EnerDel Lithium-ion Battery for Plug-ins will cost $1,500

According to Michael Kanellos of cnet NEWS.com:

EnerDel says it will come out with a lithium-ion battery for plug-in hybrids that will cost $1,500, a development that could go a long way to making these cars palatable in terms of price.

The Indianapolis-based company, which recently received a $6.5 million grant from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), hopes to deliver the battery to car manufacturers for their 2010 lineups, according to Charles Gassenheimer, vice chairman of the company. The 2010 model cars will start coming out in September 2009, he said. ...

Competitor Altair Nanotechnologies uses a similar chemistry.

EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1, Inc. (OTCBB: ENEI) was one of five battery companies that received awards from The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). They received a $2.5 million contract over two years for plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) research. The award is for the development of cells for 10- and 40-mile range PHEVs using nano-phase lithium titanate coupled with a high voltage Nickel-Manganese cathode material. The total DOE/industry cost share will be $2.5 million and the DOE will fund its share of $1.25 million.

This comes on top of a 18-month contract, valued at $6.5 million, that was awarded on September 18, that was the second of a three-phase USABC program and requires a 50 percent cost share. EnerDel successfully completed Phase I in June. EnerDel's Phase II contract involves development focused on scaling up to a production caliber cell, extensive lifetime testing and evaluation, as well as demonstrating the technology in battery modules.

The company claims the following advantages for its design:

• EnerDel is convinced that a non-graphite anode material is key for success in automobile battery business. EnerDel has developed their own Lithium Titanate Anode material in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for HEV applications. They have also developed a Hard Carbon anode lithium ion battery for PHEV/EV applications. Both chemistries show extremely good safety and cycle life performance in comparison with graphite based lithium ion batteries.
• The mechanical design inside the EnerDel cell is a stack design where the electrodes are stacked on top of each other, i.e. multiple anode and cathode pairs of electrodes are stacked on top of each other. This differs markedly from almost all lithium ion batteries in the market today, which are using a wound design.
• EnerDel’s stack design in the cell is accomplished with a fully automated mass production process.
• The EnerDel design is 50% smaller and 35% lighter than todays NiMH designs.
• Retains over 95% of initial capacity after 1000 charge and discharge cycles at 55°C.
• The technology shows good wide temperature range and very good performance at -30°C to 55°C,  crucial for automotive applications.
• By utilizing a unique, highly automated manufacturing process, EnerDel expects to succeed at being the first company to cost-competitively mass-produce a Li-ion battery in the United States.

More details on EnerDel can be found in this previous post.

The DOE press release for the most recent contract said in part:

On September 25, DOE Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Kevin M. Kolevar announced DOE will invest nearly $20 million in PHEV research. Five projects have been selected for negotiation of awards under DOE's collaboration with the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) for $17.2 million in DOE funding for PCHEV battery development projects. DOE will also provide nearly $2 million to the University of Michigan (U-M) to spearhead a study exploring the future of PHEVs. DOE funding announced today will help advance President Bush's Twenty in Ten Plan, which aims to displace twenty percent of gasoline usage by 2017 through greater use of clean, renewable fuels and increased vehicle efficiency. PHEVs have the potential to displace a large amount of gasoline by delivering up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging - a distance that would include most daily roundtrip commutes.

Companies selected for negotiation of awards include:

• 3M of St. Paul, MN – selected for an award of up to $1.14 million from DOE (total DOE/industry cost share: $ 2.28 million) over two years to screen nickel/manganese/cobalt (NMC) cathode materials through building and testing of small-sized cells;
• A123Systems of Watertown, MA – selected for an award of up to $6.25 million from DOE (total DOE/industry cost share: $12.5 million) over three years for a project to develop batteries based on nanophase iron-phosphate chemistry for 10- and 40-mile range PHEVs;
• Compact Power Inc. of Troy, MI – selected for an award of up to $4.45 million from DOE (total DOE/industry cost share: $12.7 million) over three years to develop batteries for 10-mile range PHEVs using high energy and high power Manganese-spinel;
• EnerDel, Inc. of Indianapolis, IN – selected for an award of up to $1.25 million from DOE (total DOE/industry cost share: $2.5 million) over two years to develop cells for 10- and 40-mile range PHEVs using nano-phase lithium titanate coupled with a high voltage Nickel-Manganese cathode material;
• Johnson Controls – Saft Advanced Power Solutions of Milwaukee, WI – selected for an award of up to $4.1 million from DOE (total DOE/industry cost-share: $8.2 million) over two years to develop batteries using a nickelate/layered chemistry for 10- and 40-mile range PHEVs.

The University of Michigan’s Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute (MMPEI) will receive nearly $2 million from DOE to coordinate efforts among DOE and its Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and DTE Energy to conduct a two-year study on PHEVs.

USABC is a consortium of the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), the umbrella organization for collaborative research among the Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation.  Supported by a cooperative agreement with the DOE, USABC’s mission is to develop electrochemical energy storage technologies that support commercialization of fuel cell, hybrid, and electric vehicles.

Comments

[averagejoe]

Made in USA? Cool...

"The EnerDel plan is to establish a base technology in the U.S. that can compete strongly with the Asian manufacturers in the production of HEV batteries. Many battery companies have transferred their production facilities to China in order to utilize the lower labor costs; however, quality stability is sacrificed due to the use of manual labor. Quality instability is a serious issue for automotive battery pack because one cell failure will ruin whole battery pack. EnerDel plans to produce quality, reliable products in the U.S. by automating many of the processes. This will allow EnerDel to lower the production cost while still maintaining reliable, safe products. It should be noted that large lithium based batteries have severe shipping restrictions which could delay the supply chain and compromise the production schedule of automotive companies. Therefore, having a U.S. based manufacturing facility will reduce complications for shipment and logistics for EnerDel..."
http://enerdel.com/content/view/100/83/

[kert]

new ultra battery, cost nothing, unique, last forever .. blah blah blah yada yada yada. I think i have heard this tune before. several times.
put the batteries on the store shelves, and let us be the judge. until then, its just vapors.

[Floccina]

Cost, cost and cost are the 3 reamaining issues with PHEVs. This could be big if it pans out.

[Danzig]

"DOE Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Kevin M. Kolevar announced DOE will invest nearly $20 million in PHEV research."

OK, I think I've got it. We are spending $700 billion on our current overseas conflict and $20 million on the development of PHEV batteries. Yep, sounds like we've got our spending priorties just about right. Or, not.

Happily, press releases such as this one remind us that many organizations around the world are devoting significant resources to the Holy Grail of PHEV battery development. Will EnerDel be the winner? I'd bet against it. But somebody will be. And my great grandchildren will, no doubt, enjoy the fruits of their labor. Right, KERT?

And how about that title they have given to Kevin M. Kolevar? A beauty, that. How much do you suppose we are paying him?

[mds]

Anybody know what size of battery in Wh or kWh they are talking about here? How can you know this is a good deal without knowing the energy storage capacity for comparison? Is this the 10 mile battery or 40 mile battery? Big difference.

I'm surprised that similar chemistry to Altairnano gives them only 1,000 deep cycles @ 95%. This is less than three years at one full charge and discharge per day. What was the time duration of each cycle? What happens to capacity at 2,000 or 3,000 cycles? Altairnano claims they can do 15,000 deep cycles (6 minutes each) which is over 41 years at one full charge and discharge per day. Seems like EnerDel is underperforming for this chemistry by an order of magnitude. There are several others using different Li Ion chemistrys achieving between 3,000 and 4,000 deep cycles, i.e. about 10 years at once per day. A123 has acheived 3,700 cycles at 87% capacity left. (Why is EnerDel running their tests at 55 degrees C? Seems kinda hot. Worst case testing?)

Energy density seems quite nice. What is power density of this battery?

Am I missing something or is there missing information? Maybe this is a better battery for replacing NiMH in HEVs than for PHEVs. If they want to use this for PHEVs then seems like they've optimized production before optimizing their battery chemistry. ...or is this just so cheap it doesn't matter? ...how can you tell?

[Harvey D]

Danzing:

Here is another solution I heard recently.

Mr. B... and friends bomb Iran and oil shoots up to $200/barrrel.

Oil Cos use the extra $100 billion/yr profit to gain control of lithium batteries and clean electric energy markets.

We progressively switch to PHEVs and EVs keeping the same energy suppliers.

No more imported oil, much reduced GHG, stable climate etc. Everybody is happy everafter.

[averagejoe]

I'm guessing that the $1500 price tag is for the PHEV-10 battery. If so, the PHEV-40 battery might cost approximately $6000. Sounds great... if they can deliver on their promises in two years. They do seem to have formed a number of strategic partnerships in order to access the needed technical expertise: Delphi, Argonne national labs, Itochu, Enerstruct, etc. If they can cherry pick the most advanced technical and manufacturing info, that certainly would give them a leg up over companies that try to do most of the research in-house.

[Bob Leet]

The RackPack2 beats the EnerDel system on every front including price plus it has more features at a lower cost and the actual patents. They are at www.deviceconduit.com

[Sylvie LG Pollard]

today 7th November, 2007 NYMEX price for oil shot up to over $98 a barrel. At the moment we are using 50k barrels of oil a second. The demand for oil has now grown to 9 times that of supply! The electric car is a no-brainer given these figures. Solar hydrogen power will provide the electricity for them in the future. We have all this technology today, it's the will we are lacking, all over the world unfortunately.Even if you are one of those idiots who doesn't agree with anthropgenic climate change, you have to admit we need a cleaner environment and an inifinite energy source. As a person who suffers with asthma, I am finding it harder to breathe with all this air pollution and their are many many more like me, many of whom are children.

[jeff province]

enerdel's technology is currently the best
Harvey D has a good grip on the situation
Altairnano - Nanosafe Battery Technology -
article available for print is a good explanation of the current (no pun) tech
that will for the present meet EV needs
the new anode material is the difference
enerdel's production line is up and running
their product is safe and ready for use
everybody should jump in and get their feet wet the water is fine check out www.enerdel.com the video intro of the battery is good

[jeff province]

I actually meant to acknowledge averagejoe
Harvey D might be a little extreme(watch-list)

[Theo Critus]

"Solar Hydrogen power" is definitely THE way to go into the future," states Captain Buck Rpgers. And since the ozone hole is no longer en vogue, it's good that you throw in "the children" for tears and sobs sake ! ! Gimme a (sic) brake ! ! Unfortunately, yes their (sic) are many many more like you. Be carful to avoid pieces of that falling sky!!

[hybrid car owner]

for hybrid vehicles, the addition of a new battery is very good. add mileage. price and capacity must also be considered.