Lithium Batteries: The Future Technology

Two of the largest battery manufactures have made it official, they both say that Lithium-ion batteries will be the standard battery for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in a few years.

Sanyo Electric Co., the largest manufacturer of nickel-metal hydride batteries, predicts that by 2010, the majority of hybrid vehicles will use lithium-ion batteries. Currently, all hybrids use nickel-metal hydride batteries.

Johnson Controls recently launched an advanced lithium-ion battery development laboratory, to create advanced power-storage solutions for near-future hybrid-electric vehicles. The facility – located at the company’s Battery Technology Center – features a “dry room” and an array of highly specialized tools and equipment for designing, developing and testing power-storage and power-management concepts based on lithium-ion technology. The new laboratory facility and development equipment were installed at a cost of approximately $4 million. The company believes lithium ion technology is likely to replace nickel-metal-hydride as the battery technology of choice in hybrid-electric and electric vehicles in the future. Johnson Controls, the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive original equipment and aftermarket batteries, manufactures and distributes more than 80 million batteries annually.

In 2004, the company was granted a contract for lithium-ion battery development by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC). In this program, Johnson Controls has been tapped to develop an abuse-tolerant, lithium-ion battery offering extended life and significantly improved power-to-weight performance vs. current hybrid-battery technology. The USABC, which includes the U.S. Department of Energy, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors as members, supports research and development for advanced energy systems to power future HEVs.

According to industry projections, sales of HEVs in the U.S. and European automotive markets could reach 6 million units within a decade.

Although lithium-ion batteries are currently more expensive, their advantages over nickel-metal hydride batteries include higher voltage, power density and energy density.  But the batteries still have a number of problems. Early lithium-ion batteries had a tendency to short-circuit internally, sometimes melting cell-phone cases. More testing is needed to ensure that the short-circuit problem has been solved. In addition, the batteries have yet to be proved crashworthy.

According to Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), p 2-8, the cost projected for mass produced lithium ion batteries is comparable or lower than NiMH batteries.  70% fewer cells are required and the cost of materials can be expected to be less than in NiMH batteries.

Valence Technology, Inc. (VLNC), Austin TX, earlier post, with $5.5 million in sales the last quarter and "provider of the industry's first commercially available, safe, large-format lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology" claims that it has solved the safety problems through "the incorporation of phosphates as the cathode material. Phosphates are extremely stable in overcharge or short circuit conditions and have the ability to withstand high temperatures without decomposing. When abuse does occur, phosphates are not prone to thermal runaway and will not burn. As a result, Saphion® technology possesses safety characteristics that are fundamentally superior to those of Lithium-ion batteries made with other cathode materials."

As previously reported A123 Systems is developing Lithium-ion batteries with that "are intrinsically safe and eliminate the risk of explosions and thermal runaway associated with conventional Lithium-Ion batteries that use oxide active materials.  The active materials in their technology are not combustible and do not release oxygen if exposed to high temperature or in the event of battery failure or mechanical abuse.  A123 coats an aluminum electrode inside the battery with nano-scale particles, a few hundred atoms in size, of lithium metal phosphate.  The phosphate is safer than the oxide-based chemistry used in lithium-ion batteries today." The nano-scale particles on the electrode dramatically increase the surface area.  In batteries huge surface area and greater surface energy combine to equal orders of magnitude Increase in reactive performance.   Their batteries can be recharged to high capacity in 5 minutes or less which would be a key enabler of HEV's as it would increase their ability to absorb energy while coasting or during regenerative breaking.

Resources:

Johnson Controls, Inc., Milwaukee, WI, USA
Sanyo Electric Co., Sumoto City, Hyogo, Japan

More blogs about batteries, vehicles, hybrid cars, energy

Comments

[Derek]

Looks like the nanotech lithium batteries a la A123 have already leapfrogged this approach. Besides, the USABC is as brain dead as the US car companies: they already developed an 80mpg car that none of the US carmakers will make. Why would a new battery developed by Johnson be any different?

[Richard Antreasian]

I must be missing something. Batteries for electric cars that will fulfill the needs of local transportation exist(70 to 150 miles per charge). Motors exist . Technology to build lightweight safe cars exist. By swapping out discharged batteries with charged ones at "filling stations" almost exists. Electron delivery systems exist.

It seems to me that energy independence and reduction of CO2 is well within reach.

So why don't people with money and technology make a product that is mass consumable that will address the political rhetoric about energy independence , green house gasses, jobs etc.jobs etc

[amazingdrx]

"why don't people with money and technology make a product that is mass consumable"

In my opinion it is the systematic monopolization of capital, natural resources, and markets for manufacturing that is the most problematic factor.

The US has the biggest market. So when Japanese companies tend to move away from oil, which is natural since Japan lacks its own oil, US trade negotiators start nagging over "voluntary" import quotas. Voluntary? They made the japanese automakers "a deal they can't refuse" is more like it.

Either slow down plugin hybrid and electric vehicle introduction "voluntarily" or import quotas will be installed. Extortion.

When Altairnano or some other US battery technology or electric car upstart makes application for venture capital and government research grants, that capital is very slow in coming, and if/when it does it is short by a few orders of magnitude.

Instead of billions they get millions.

And those controlling the capital also control oil resources that they want to exploit down to the very last drop. It is hard to monopolize wind, waves, solar, and geothertmal heat. It's everywhere free.

[husky air compressor]

I'm working on a green house project. I'm really interested by this Lithium Batteries and I really would like to know if it's reliable for single housing application.
thanks a lot!
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