A123 Systems Applying for Government Loans

From Autobloggreen today:

A123 Systems announced today that it has applied for $1.84 billion in loans from the Department of Energy to help contribute to the $2.3 billion required to pay for the construction of battery plants in the United States. In what should be good news for Michigan, the first of the facilities A123 is planning would be located there. If A123 gets the funds, it plans to have enough cell manufacturing capacity in place by 2013 to support 5 million hybrid vehicles or half a million battery electric vehicles. The factories would produce employ 14,000 people when fully operational.

A123 claims to be working with seven different automakers right now on 19 different vehicle programs. Those include General Motors for the plug-in hybrid Saturn Vue and the Chevy Volt and Chrysler with its electric programs through its ENVI division. A123 is also working with Better Place on its charging and battery swap network programs. There’s no word so far on when a decision on the application might be made or construction might start.

14 US Companies Form Alliance to Create Super Battery

This post appeared in AutoBlogGreen on December 20, 2008:

A Voltron for lithium batteries? 14 companies, Argonne National Lab join forces

Posted Dec 20th 2008 at 3:03PM by Sebastian Blanco
Perhaps a flock-like approach to building lithium batteries for vehicles is what it’ll take. A new alliance has been formed between the Argonne National Laboratory and 14 US companies to try and “perfect” li-ion batteries for cars, the lab announced this week. The alliance, called The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture, will ask for between $1 and $2 billion from the US government over five years to help with the task. Much has been made of the way that America is losing the advanced battery race to Asian countries, and an Argonne spokesman said that, “A small, fragmented (U.S.) battery industry will not long survive in the face of determined Asian competition.”

The companies involved in the alliance include:

• Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions
• 3M Co
• ActaCell
• All Cell Technologies
• Altair Nanotechnologies Inc
• Eagle Picher Industries Inc
• EnerSys
• Envia Systems
• FMC Corp
• MicroSun Technologies
• Mobius Power
• SiLyte
• Superior Graphite
• Townsend Advanced Energy

ZENN, EEStor, and LightEVs Love Triangle

There seems to be a lot of confusion recently concerning who owns the rights to EEstor’s breakthrough (hopefully) battery technology. Let me simplify it to the best of my knowledge:

ZENN- as of April 2007 ZENN has exclusive rights to EEStor’s capacitors (EESU) for use in small 4-wheeled vehicles.

Lockheed Martin- as of January 9, 2008 Lockheed Martin has exclusive rights to integrate and market EESU units in military and homeland security applications.

LightEV- as of September 24, 2008, LightEV has exclusive rights to EESU units for two and three wheeled vehicles.

So basically, none of these overlap. ZENN still has exclusive rights to use EEstor’s game changing technology in their four wheeled vehicles. LightEV, who nobody has ever heard of, seems to have really pulled a fast one, and gained exclusive rights to make three and two wheeled vehicles with it. I mean, look at the LightEV site. A lot of three wheeled and two wheeled electric vehicle producing companies are probably kicking themselves right now. I’m looking at you, Aptera, Zap!, VentureOne.

In April 2008 ZENN Motor Company announced that a future highway speed electric vehicle using EEStor’s capacitors will achieve 80 mph (130 km/h) speeds, 250 mile (400 km) range and charge in 5 minutes. EEStor also claimed it would weigh 90% less than conventional batteries. That is how powerful this technology could potentially be. But ZENN stated later in May, “[The Batteries] are still under development and there can be no assurance that it will be successfully commercialized at all or on a timely basis.” This was in the latest press release on the ZENN homepage. Anyways, the hype surrounding the EEStor technology seems to be tapering off, with rumors that it might not be much of a breakthrough after all. Some say the government got hold of it when EEStor signed with Lockheed Martin, hiding it with Bigfoot and the Area 51 aliens. You never know.

[Edit] The official name of the company is LightEVs, not LightEV.

Lightning GT promises 10-minute recharge

-Provided you have an industrial strength outlet. But the Lightning GT was unveiled at the London Motor Show this summer, and boy does it look mean. With four at-the-wheels electric motors, the vehicle puts out 640 bhp, propelling it from 0-60 in 4 seconds with a top speed of 130 mph. The 30 Nanosafe batteries should provide a 180 mile range and weigh around 400kg. These batteries employ a new lithium-ion technology that replaces graphite with a titanite-based material to make them more thermally stable. The price could be comparable to the Tesla Roadster, but with exchange rates going the way they are, the GT will probably be around 200,000 USD. The car is still on schedule to be released in 2009. Here’s the Lightning GT’s London Motor show debut:

Well, I’m certainly looking forward to the UK’s answer to Tesla.

ZENN Motor Company making strides

ZENN stands for Zero Emission No-Noise and is known for its Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV). I wasn’t expecting to find much intrigue about a Canadian based company best known for a car that, on the surface, looks and performs like a over hyped golf cart. The lead-acid battery powered NEV has a top speed of 25 mph and a range of 30-50 miles on a charge.

But you know what? Zenn is fixing to to make a run in the EV industry. First of all, the 25 mph top speed is restricted by the Canadian government because they did not feel the vehicle met safety standards of higher speed operation. Then Canada wouldn’t allow the ZENN cars to operate on roads unless they were outfitted with warning lights and signs. It was not until June 17, 2008 that residents of Quebec were allowed to drive ZENN in Canada without warning signals.

The real kicker is that ZENN gained exclusive rights from EEStor over the past few years to make electric vehicles up to 3,100 lbs. EEstor is developing a solid-state electric battery that is being considered game changing in the electric vehicle industry. The Ceramic EESU should be less than half the weight of lithium-ion batteries, fully chargeable in minutes rather than hours, and have an unbelievably long charge life.

Using this technology, Zenn is hoping to release the cityZENN, a vehicle with a top speed of 78 mph and a 250 mile ev range. The 5 minute recharge time will not be available from household outlets, but special charging stations. Home charges will still take you a few hours, more or less, depending on your outlet. ZENN is hoping these models will be ready by Fall of 2009 with a price range of $25,000-$30,000. The company also hopes to retrofit our current gas guzzlers with its EEstor equipped, “ZENNergy drivetrain”.

Sounds like ZENN has a lot in store for us, here’s hoping they succeed in bringing us their fancy new technology.