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New batteries

Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 7 months ago

 

 

      August 28, 2008

Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries

(Photo Courtesy of Belcher Laboratory/MIT)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In a surprise development that could have implications for powering electronics, cars and even the military, researchers at MIT have created the world's first batteries constructed at the nano scale by microscopic viruses.

A much-buzzed-about paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences earlier this month details the team's success in creating two of the three parts of a working battery—the positively charged anode and the electrolyte. But team leader Angela Belcher told PM Wednesday that the team has been seriously working on cathode technology for the past year, creating several complete prototypes.

"We haven't published those yet, actually. We're just getting ready to write them up and send them off," says Belcher, who won a MacArthur genius grant for her work in 2004 and a Breakthrough Award from PM in 2006. "The cathode material has been a little more difficult, but we have several different candidates, and we have made full, working batteries."

Instead of physically arranging the component parts, researchers genetically engineer viruses to attract individual molecules of materials they're interested in, like cobalt oxide, from a solution, autonomously forming wires 17,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper that pack themselves together to form electrodes smaller than a human cell.

"Once you do the genetic engineering with the viruses themselves, you pour in the solution and they grow the right combination of these materials on them," Belcher says.

The team is working on three main architectures: Filmlike structures—as small as a human cell—could form a clear film to power lab-on-a-chip applications to laminate into smart cards, or even to interface with implanted medical devices. Meshlike architectures—billions of tiny nano-components all interfaced together—might one day replace conventional batteries in larger applications such as laptops and cars. And fiberlike configurations—spun from liquid crystal like a spider's silk—might one day be woven into textiles, providing a wearable power source for the military. "We definitely don't have full batteries on those [fiber architectures]. We've only worked on single electrodes so far, but the idea is to try to make these fiber batteries that could be integrated into textiles and woven into lots of different shapes," Belcher says.

The M13 viruses used by the team can't reproduce by themselves and are only capable of infecting bacteria. At just 880 nanometers long—500 times smaller than a grain of salt—the bugs allow researchers to work at room temperatures and pressures with molecular precision, using and wasting fewer hazardous materials in the process. Now that they've demonstrated the construction of such tiny electronic components is possible, the challenge facing researchers is how to make them practical.

"What we're working on is not thinking about a particular device application, but trying to improve the quality of the anode and cathode materials—using biology just to make a higher quality material for energy density," Belcher says. "We haven't ruled out cars. That's a lot of amplification. But right now the thing is trying to make the best material possible, and if we get a really great material, then we have to think about how do you scale it." — Chris Ladd

 
Reader Comments 10. RE: Feeding the bacteria?

Sure the viruses are providing the blueprint DNA/RNA to build the batteries, but the battery materials are actually built by the infected bacteria. Viruses don't have the capability of making anything on their own, they require an infected host (the bacteria). As for application of this technology to memory chips and processors, the article states that the viruses are ~800nm, but we are already mass producing transistor gates that are 45nm and the 32nm node is well on its way to becoming a reality. I doubt even viruses would help us get much smaller.

9. RE: Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries

So what does the energy density of these cells compare to 'normal' batteries?

8. RE: Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries

Dennis Quaid already did this in the movie "Innerspace". It was cool.

7. Re: Feeding the bacteria?

How many hundred year old cars have you seen? And, if you read the article, you'd see that they are 1) using viruses, 2) they don't care about the health of the viruses, just the nanowires they create on their protein casings.

6. Re: Feeding the bacteria?

Not bacteria, viruses. And as I read it, the viruses don't provide power. They are simply the "construction workers" who build the components of incredibly small, highly efficient batteries. Once the batteries are built they are used like any normal battery: you charge it and then use the power later. The reason this is cool is that nano-structured batteries can be much more efficient and store much more energy than any traditional battery. Current battery-powered cars have a maximum range of perhaps 250 miles at best. With nano-structured batteries that number could go way, way up. But we're still a long way from practical applications, obviously.

5. RE: Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries

The bacteria are used to BUILD the battery components - not generate electricity.

4. RE: Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries

Website: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/51835

Viral Mediated Design - Viruses create larger genomes I worked on Human Genome and HIV genome. HIV like elements make up 8% of human genome. We already interact with viral DNA daily. We are made up of it. Cartoons of lateral DNA transfer in ocean bacterial and viral genomes. Trace ocean viruses to viral pathogens and their transfers of RNA/DNA into larger genomes. http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/51835 http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/235527

3. Feeding the bacteria?

Surely you cannot have a petridish of bacteria in your gas tank for a hundred years doing lots of work without any way of feeding or maintaining them. Perhaps, in addition to the electricity, you need to throw a half-eaten sandwich into the gas tank every now and then?

2. RE: Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries

Ummmm, how is this a "surprise development"? Wasn't it clear that the Belcher lab was working on all this for the past few years? It's at an evolutionary, not revolutionary stage right now.

1. RE: Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries

Seems like this breakthrough could also be used to scale down memory chips and processors. If these viruses are forming nano-wires, the wires could be used for much more than just batteries!

 

 

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/2...

 

Better Batteries Charge Up

 


 

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

A startup reports progress on a battery that stores more energy than lithium-ion ones. By Tyler Hamilton

A Texas startup says that it has taken a big step toward high-volume production of an ultracapacitor-based energy-storage system that, if claims hold true, would far outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market.

Dick Weir, founder and chief executive of EEStor, a startup based in Cedar Park, TX, says that the company has manufactured materials that have met all certification milestones for crystallization, chemical purity, and particle-size consistency. The results suggest that the materials can be made at a high-enough grade to meet the company's performance goals, as well as withstand the extreme voltages needed for high energy storage, the company said in a press release last week.

"These advancements provide the pathway to meeting our present requirements," Weir says. "This data says we hit the home run."

EEStor claims that its system, called an electrical energy storage unit (EESU), will have more than three times the energy density of the top lithium-ion batteries today. The company also says that the solid-state device will be safer and longer lasting, and will have the ability to recharge in less than five minutes. Toronto-based ZENN Motor, an EEStor investor and customer, says that it's developing an EESU-powered car with a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a 250-mile range. It hopes to launch the vehicle, which the company says will be inexpensive, in the fall of 2009.

But skepticism in the research community is high. At the EESU's core is a ceramic material consisting of a barium titanate powder that is coated with aluminum oxide and a type of glass material. At a materials-research conference earlier this year in San Francisco, it was asked whether such an energy-storage device was possible. "The response was not very positive," said one engineering professor who attended the conference.

Many have questioned EEStor's claims, pointing out that the high voltages needed to approach the targeted energy storage would cause the material to break down and the storage device to short out. There would be little tolerance for impurities or imprecision--something difficult to achieve in a high-volume manufacturing setting, skeptics say.

But Weir is dismissive of such reactions. "EEStor is not hyping," he says. Representatives of the company said in a press release that certification data proves that voltage breakdown occurs at 1,100 volts per micron--nearly three times higher than EEStor's target of 350 volts. "This provides the potential for excellent protection from voltage breakdown," the company said.

Jeff Dahn, a professor of advanced materials in the chemistry and physics departments at Dalhousie University, in Nova Scotia, Canada, says the data suggests that EEStor has developed an "amazingly robust" material. "If you're going to have a one-micron dielectric, it's got to be pretty pure," he says.

 

mPhase/AlwaysReady Set to Make Battery History

Monday March 31, 9:22 am ET

 

LITTLE FALLS, NJ--(MARKET WIRE)--Mar 31, 2008 -- mPhase/AlwaysReady, Inc. (OTC BB:XDSL.OB - News) stated today that it is set to make battery history on Thursday, April 3rd at 9:00am ET, by demonstrating for the first time a significant breakthrough in battery technology enabled by microfluidics -- the science that deals with the behavior, control and manipulation of fluids geometrically constrained to a small, typically sub-milimeter, scale. The event will be held at AJ Maxwells located at 57 W. 48th Street in New York City and will be hosted by mPhase/AlwaysReady, Inc. The mPhase/AlwaysReady Smart NanoBattery uses microfluidics to transfer liquid electrolyte through a nanostructured separator known as a membrane which makes contact with the solid electrodes, enabling activation of an electrical device. The membrane is designed to keep the electrolyte separate from the electrodes until activation is initiated.

Source: mPhase Technologies  


(click to enlarge)

Call Gerard Adams for code 862 220 8808

     
 
"This microfluidic phenomenon serves as the basis for a new type of battery with unlimited shelf life that can be used to provide power in portable electronic devices for commercial and military applications," said Ronald A. Durando, CEO of mPhase Technologies Inc.

The mPhase/AlwaysReady Smart NanoBattery was recently mentioned by Credit Suisse, a global research and investment banking firm, in a report entitled "Nanotechnology for Energy Systems of the Future."

To view the full Nano Circle report please visit www.Credit-Suisse.com and search mPhase or visit the following link: https://entry.credit-suisse.ch/csfs/p/b2c/en/privatebanking/services/nanotech/media/pdf/newslett er0208_en.pdf. mPhase is mentioned on page 5 under "Nanotechnology for the Energy Systems of the Future."

mPhase Technologies, Inc. Advances Battery Technology

Tuesday February 19, 8:45 am ET

 

 

 

LITTLE FALLS, NJ--(MARKET WIRE)--Feb 19, 2008 -- mPhase Technologies, Inc./Always Ready Inc. (OTC BB:XDSL.OB - News) announced today that it has successfully advanced its new battery technology based upon a well patented phenomenon known as electrowetting. This phenomenon allows an alternative to today's conventional batteries by being able to mix the liquid electrolyte, on command, thereby potentially creating an infinite shelf life. The result is a more reliable, more versatile, cost competitive battery. The battery is also a "green" product that may be disposed of without the normal toxicity associated with conventional batteries.

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

AlwaysReady Nano Technolog

LITTLE FALLS, N.J., Oct 05, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- mPhase Technologies, Inc. (XDSL, Trade), today announced that Dr. Fred Allen, President and CEO of its AlwaysReady Inc. subsidiary, will present the company's breakthrough Smart Nanobattery technology at the New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC) Public/Private Company Showcase in New Jersey.

Today's conference will be the first venue at which Dr. Allen is making a presentation on the AlwaysReady Inc. Smart Nanobattery since he was named the company's CEO in August.

 

AlwaysReady, Inc. is a micro and nanotech development company focused on advanced power and sensing solutions. Its flagship product is the Smart Nanobattery featuring Power On Command(TM) capabilities. Developed in conjunction with Alcatel-Lucent/Bell Labs, the Smart Nanobattery offers a revolutionary approach to energy storage and power management in commercial, consumer and military applications. AlwaysReady is seeking collaborations with suppliers and customers to expedite product development and commercialization.

 

According to Dr. Allen:

"The NJTC Public/Private Company Showcase is important for smaller companies such as mPhase Technologies and AlwaysReady Inc. because the venue generates awareness among the members of the investment community to the investment opportunities in the region's technology companies."

 

Dr. Allen added: "We see events such as this as being key in our collaboration phase to identify funded product development sources, which will then lead us to commercialization/ distribution of our breakthrough technologies."

Dr. Allen is expected to advise conference attendees that AlwaysReady Inc.'s Smart Nanobattery if properly marketed could expect to capture between 3-5% of reserve and advanced battery markets. The total addressable market for the Smart Nanobattery is currently $1.1 billion and expected to grow to nearly $2 billion by 2016.

 

Dr. Allen will address the many advantages of AlwaysReady Inc.'s Smart Nanobattery, including its long shelf life and Power-On-Command (TM) addressabililty feature and uses in commercial (active RFID tags, healthcare monitoring electronics, smart credit cards) and military applications (small, lightweight systems, alternative power sources, and sensing devices).

 

"These are exciting times in the nanotechnology industry and for all of us at AlwaysReady, Inc.," Dr. Allen said. "AlwaysReady designs and develops proprietary technology by manipulating matter at the scale of atoms and molecules, controlling properties at the micro- and nanometer levels, and packaging solutions into products that provide value to customers."

 

"We are currently focused on energy storage, but sensor devices based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology are being pursued as well. NJTC conferences give companies like AlwaysReady Inc. the opportunity to capture the imagination of investor sources seeking the 'next big thing.' I'm thrilled to be working with a such as a company as ours that can change the way we look at energy storage and power management."

 

AlwaysReady and its technologies will have a number of exceptional advantages in its two initial products: a "smart" nanobattery capable of producing current on demand after long term storage, as well as a family of uncooled magnetometers, including ultra sensitive versions capable of hundreds of times' improvement in sensitivity over currently available designs.

 

An immediate defense and security application for the nanobattery is as an energy source to power remote sensors in areas lacking electricity. mPhase has produced the first core components of a sensor package, technically referred to as a magnetometer that is predicted to be many times more sensitive than commercially-available uncooled sensors used in metal detectors. Acting much like a miniature tuning fork or oscillator, with movements only perceptible under a microscope, it is designed to detect changes in magnetic fields and can be used in applications to establish direction of movement of magnetic objects - ideal for defense and perimeter security.

 

mPhase for some time now has had a multi-pronged effort under way with its partners to commercialize a battery that is built on a microscopic nanostructured architecture. mPhase has proven it is possible to fabricate nanotech-based "smart" batteries, which can store reserve power for decades and generate electric current virtually on demand.

The prototype battery was based on a discovery that liquid droplets of electrolyte will stay in a dormant state atop microscopic structures until stimulated to flow, thereby triggering a reaction producing electricity. This super-hydrophobic effect of liquids can permit precise control and activation of the batteries when required.

 

The mPhase Nanobattery was highlighted in a feature article, "Building a Better Battery," in the November 2006 issue of WIRED magazine. The article said that the project that could potentially increase "battery life storage by an order of magnitude for the first time in 100 years."

 

Next-Gen Car Batteries Promise Longer Life, More Power

Dan Orzech 07.05.07 | 2:00 AM
 

Remember the lowly car battery? That greasy thing with corroding terminals, universally ignored until it runs out of juice?

It's being ignored no longer. With the advent of electric cars and plug-in hybrids like the Tesla Roadster and the Lightning GT, the battery is now taking center stage.

A new generation of batteries -– safer, cleaner and far more powerful -– is beginning to emerge, batteries that can meet the demanding requirements of cars propelled by electricity.

Firefly Energy, a spinoff from heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, is breathing new life into lead-acid batteries, a technology that hasn't changed much since Thomas Edison used them to power electric cars in the 1890s.

 

Firefly has replaced the lead plates found inside conventional batteries with a lead-impregnated foam made from carbon graphite –- one of the few materials that can withstand the highly corrosive sulfuric acid inside batteries. The foam increases the surface area of lead inside the battery, delivering more power and slashing the recharge time, says Firefly CEO Ed Williams.

Equally important, Firefly's approach eliminates the crystals that can build up inside lead-acid batteries. Over time, those crystals reduce the amount of electricity a battery can hold, one of the major reasons electric and hybrid automakers have favored lithium-ion or nickel batteries, even though lead acid is less expensive.

 

"Our batteries will come back to their full capacity for years," says Williams.

In addition to electric and hybrid cars, Firefly is looking at snowmobiles and lawn mowers -- anything that sits for long periods without being used. Lack of use is really hard on lead-acid batteries, and shortens their life significantly because of the formation of those crystals.

 

Firefly is eying other markets as well, such as data centers, which use lead-acid batteries in backup power systems, and truck manufacturers, who pack large banks of batteries into the cabs of semis to provide power for drivers when they're not on the road.

 

Don Hillebrand, director of the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne National Laboratory, which evaluates plug-in hybrid vehicles and batteries for the Department of Energy, said Firefly's technology is very promising, a "potentially game-changing technology."

 

But Hillebrand believes that the ultimate medium for electric vehicles' batteries may well be lithium ion, the same material used today in batteries for laptop computers.

"Lithium is just in the right place on the periodic table," he says. Already, lithium-ion batteries are the power storage device of choice for the sleek and sexy electric Tesla Roadster, which is packed with 6,800 of them.

 

But lithium-ion batteries aren't exactly trouble-free.

"In their charged state, lithium-ion batteries are intrinsically unstable," says Bart Riley, the CTO of A123Systems, a Watertown, Massachusetts, company that is using nanotech research to create a new and safer version of lithium-ion batteries.

 

"If they get damaged, or there's a manufacturing defect, as was the case with the Sony batteries last year, there can be a spontaneous internal short, and you've got an explosion or fire," Riley says.

A123Systems has modified the chemical structure of lithium-ion batteries, substituting iron for the cobalt used today.

The result is a battery that can be recharged far more often, and is more stable chemically, and thus safer. The combination makes the company's batteries "particularly well-suited for plug-in hybrids," Riley says.

 

The batteries are in use in an aftermarket module that converts cars like the Toyota Prius into plug-in hybrids, and General Motors is evaluating them for its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.

A123Systems' batteries are already in use in a line of souped-up power tools from Black & Decker, which hold anywhere from two to three times the charge of existing handheld power tools. The company is also launching a laptop computer battery.

 

Reno, Nevada-based startup Altairnano, meanwhile, is also using nanotechnology to build a new generation of lithium-ion batteries.

Made from tiny particles of titanium dioxide and other ceramic materials, the company's NanoSafe battery has up to 100 times more chargeable surface area inside than existing batteries. That means they can be recharged in minutes, and deliver three times the power of existing lithium-ion batteries, says Alan Gotcher, Altairnano's president.

The batteries are going into the ultra-sleek -– and ultra-pricey –- British electric sports car, the Lightning GT, as well as the American-made Phoenix Motorcars electric truck, which is due to start shipping later this year.

 

While Firefly, A123Systems and Altairnano are among the leading contenders to power the next generation of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, none of them yet has all the features they need for that market, according to Hillebrand. And there are wild cards, like the battery that isn't a battery from reclusive EEStor, a Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers-funded startup out of Cedar Park, Texas.

EEStor is using exotic materials such as barium titanate to build a ceramic supercapacitor capable of storing enough energy to power an electric car.

Richard Weir, the company's president, is tight-lipped about details, but says the device, which can be recharged in minutes, will weigh less than 100 pounds, and should begin shipping later this year.

With all these options, car makers are waiting and watching to see which technology will emerge as the leader, says Hillebrand.

 

The new batteries could replace the ones in cars now, but this probably won't happen for a generation or two -- maybe three to five years. Current cars don't ask much of a battery, which is partly why major battery manufacturers haven't done much new product development. High volumes of current lead-acid batteries mean manufacturing costs are much lower than new battery technologies, even if the new technology lasts two to three times longer.

 

"It's still a wide-open frontier," Hillebrand says. "Battery research is an exciting place to be right now."

 

South Coast AQMD Awards Hymotion, A123Systems and AeroVironment Contract to Supply the State of California with Plug-In Hybrid Electric Fleet Vehicles

 

Contract will Provide First Nanophosphate Lithium-Ion Batteries to Power +150MPG PHEVs for the State of California

Nanophosphate Lithium-Ion Batteries

WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hymotion and A123Systems today announced that the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) has awarded the companies a contract to provide 10 converted plug-in hybrid electric passenger vehicles (PHEVs). The South Coast AQMD PHEV program will evaluate and help identify a recommended PHEV-conversion method for the state of California.

 

The AQMD has identified the use of alternative clean fuels as a key air quality attainment strategy, and has sponsored plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) demonstrations for over six years because of the potential for this technology to enable zero-tailpipe emissions for portions of a typical driving cycle. Similar to commercially available hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), PHEVs utilize a battery pack and an electric motor in concert with an internal combustion engine. PHEVs, however, employ a larger battery pack which can be designed to extend the electric portion of the driving cycle, providing improved fuel economy, lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduced petroleum dependence.

The Hymotion solution incorporates A123Systems batteries into a highly advanced PHEV module that is lightweight, compact and requires minimal modification to the stock vehicle. All necessary components and safety features are integrated and contained within the module, including: batteries, power electronics, crash sensors, power electronics, charger, battery management system, safety sensors and manual-electric interlock. Due to its plug and play installation, the system does not require removal of the OEM battery pack and can be installed in less than 2 hours.

"This exciting program will not only demonstrate the power of todays technology, but pave the way for larger-scale demonstrations of Plug-In Hybrid technology in Southern California," said Ricardo Bazzarella, Founder and President of Hymotion.

 

The awarded solution uses A123Systems' nanophosphate technology that provides unprecedented specific power, safety and life - all critical to the optimization and commercialization of PHEVs. A123Systems' automotive class lithium ion technology renders the solution durable and more safe than other chemistries. The system is expected to get up to 220 miles per gallon in city driving and cut carbon dioxide emissions in half. The solution also includes power processing and rapid chargers provided by AeroVironment, Inc.

"California has traditionally served as a leader to the rest of the country in matters of air quality and renewable energy," said David Vieau, President and CEO of A123Systems. "This award is further validation of our efforts to date as we continue on our path to providing smarter, more fuel-efficient and market-ready options for organizations, agencies and individuals that are concerned about fuel consumption and the environment."

 

As a leading developer and supplier of commercial fast charge systems for electric vehicles and power processing equipment, we are pleased to support the South Coast AQMDs plans for demonstrating the potential of PHEV technology, said Tim Conver, CEO of AeroVironment.

A123Systems and Hymotion are also working with NYSERDA on a program that could put as many as 600 Plug-In Hybrids on the roads of New York State. Additionally, A123Systems recently announced that it is working with General Motors and Cobasys on the Saturn Green Line Vue Plug-In Hybrid program, and that the company is working with GE to develop systems for the hybrid bus market. A123Systems recently received a $15 million development contract for next generation HEV batteries from the U.S. Department of Energy and the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), an organization composed of DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation.

 

About A123Systems

A123Systems has quickly become one of the worlds leading suppliers of high-power lithium-ion batteries. Based on the companys patented nanophosphate technology, the batteries deliver previously unattainable levels of power, safety and life. Applicable to a wide range of industries, A123Systems products allow OEMs expanded flexibility in system design, removing many traditional technology constraints. Founded in 2001, A123Systems proprietary nanoscale electrode technology is built on initial developments from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For additional information please visit www.a123systems.com.

 

About Hymotion

Hymotion Inc. is a provider of complete integration for hybrid and fuel cell systems. Hymotion brings over ten years of experience in the alternative fuel industry. It can offer mechanical, electrical, control system and power electronics design for OEM customers. As a green technology company, their mission is to provide new generation hybrid and alternative fuel solutions to customers that value green and innovative technologies. For additional information please visit www.hymotion.com.

 

About AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV)

Building on a history of technological innovation, AV designs, develops, produces, and supports an advanced portfolio of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and efficient electric energy systems. The company's small UAS are used extensively by agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense and increasingly by allied military forces to deliver real-time reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition to tactical operating units. AVs PosiCharge® fast charge systems eliminate battery changing for electric industrial vehicles in factories, airports, and distribution centers. For more information about AV, please visit www.avinc.com.

 

About AQMD**

AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The South Coast AQMD is committed to undertaking all necessary steps to protect public health from air pollution, with sensitivity to the impacts of its actions on the community and businesses. This is accomplished through a comprehensive program of planning, regulation, compliance assistance, enforcement, monitoring, technology advancement, and public education.

March 11, 2007

A New Battery Takes Off in a Race to Electric Cars - save $450 a year ! Quest for better battery

Lithium Supplies

By JASON PONTIN

 

VROOOOM! Or, rather, much more softly: brmmm.

 

A123Systems, a start-up in Watertown, Mass., says it has created a powerful, safe, long-lived battery. If the cell fulfills the ambitions of its maker, that softer sound will be the future of automobiles.

 

To date, all-electric vehicles have failed because their batteries were inadequate. General Motors’ futuristic EV1 car of the late 1990s was doted upon by environmentally conscious drivers who admired its innovative engineering, but because the car used large, primitive nickel metal hydride batteries, its range was limited, its acceleration degraded as the batteries weakened with age, and its two-seat layout was not very comfortable for big, corn-fed North Americans.

 

“The problem came down to usability,” said Nick Zelenski, G.M.’s chief vehicle engineer. “You had to plan your life around when you were going to charge the EV1.” G.M. built only 1,117 of the experimental cars because it believed that American drivers would not buy such an affront to the national ideal of the open road.

 

Now, G.M. is planning two plug-in hybrid vehicles. Like the Toyota Prius and other available hybrids, the G.M. models will supplement their electric motors with power from internal combustion engines. What’s different is that most of the power for daily commuting will come from battery packs that can be recharged from ordinary household sockets. The new models are expected to have a range of at least 40 miles without using their gas engines. While that is less than the range of the all-electric EV1, the hybrid nature of the new models will give them far greater total range.

 

G.M. says that the extra cost for the battery packs mean that plug-in hybrids will sell for thousands of dollars more than comparable, non-electric vehicles. But the average driver, going 40 miles a day, would also save $450 a year if gasoline were $2 a gallon. Because the median daily travel of the average American car is 33 miles (well within the new model’s electric range), the cars would achieve 155 miles to the gallon, and many drivers would fill up with gasoline only every few months.

 

G.M. hopes to begin selling the first car, a plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue sport utility, as soon as 2009. The second, the Chevrolet Volt, which exists only as a concept-model prototype, is a startling departure from traditional automotive design. The Volt’s internal combustion engine is not attached to the drive train as current hybrids are. In the case of the Volt, it is used only to recharge the vehicle’s batteries. In short, the Volt would function as a true electric car, with the insurance of an internal combustion engine — and not coincidentally it is also designed as a recognizably conventional American compact, seating five, which could drive hundreds of miles to Mother’s at Thanksgiving.

 

“The real breakthrough is with the new batteries, which offered us energy density — which in turn provided us with a reliable, high-powered package in a relatively small space,” Mr. Zelenski said.

 

G.M. selected A123Systems (along with its partner Cobasys) to develop batteries that might be used for the Saturn Vue, he said, and it is considering awarding A123Systems a similar contract for the Volt concept car, to take advantage of the company’s remarkable new rechargeable lithium batteries.

 

Rechargeable lithium batteries have been used in laptop computers and mobile phones since the early 1990s. (Their common name, “lithium ion batteries,” is a tautology, since all batteries conduct electric current by allowing the passage of ions between two electrodes.) But despite their lightness, rechargeable lithium batteries — which often use a compound of highly reactive cobalt oxide — have hitherto been thought impractical for transportation because they are insufficiently powerful and might, if pierced, jarred or overheated, explode or burst into flames.

 

A123Systems batteries are different. Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor of materials science and engineering at M.I.T. and a co-founder of A123Systems, described their advantages: “Used in a hybrid vehicle, our batteries deliver faster acceleration than any other batteries of the same size,” Professor Chiang said. “And the chemical stability of the cathode material greatly improves safety as well as extending battery life.”

 

The history of A123Systems offers a lesson in entrepreneurial adaptability. When Professor Chiang and two others founded the company in 2002, it was devoted to a radical business proposition: it hoped to develop a technique where component materials would “self assemble” into a practical lithium battery. “Imagine sprayable batteries, conforming to the shape of a device or an appliance,” Professor Chiang said. “They could also be deposited in very small volumes to power micro and nano devices.”

 

But self-assembling batteries, despite their intriguing potential, proved intractably hard to develop — or, at least, more expensive and less sure than the immediate commercial possibilities of a rechargeable lithium battery with novel applications. “It just wasn’t working,” said Bart Riley, another of the co-founders, and A123’s vice president for research and development. (The third co-founder is Ric Fulop, now vice president for business development, who has also participated in the start-up of five other companies.)

 

By late 2003, the company had abandoned self-assembly for another, less alchemical but still dramatic technology. In place of cobalt oxide, it used a commonplace substance, iron phosphate, but assembled it in a novel, nano-structure — the particles used were 100 times smaller than conventional oxides and eight orders of magnitude more conductive than conventional phosphates. The new combination offers high power, stability and longevity.

 

Shifting to the new technology seems to have been a wise, if hard, decision. Today, A123Systems, a privately held venture, has raised more than $102 million in funding from a variety of investors including Sequoia Capital, Motorola and General Electric. It has 250 employees in China, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. Apart from its developmental work with G.M., it manufactures the batteries that drive Black & Decker and DeWalt professional power tools.

 

According to David Vieau, A123Systems’ chief executive, the company enjoys “hundreds of millions of dollars” in contracts.

 

The former commitment to self-assembly is preserved only in the company’s nerdy name, derived from an equation called the “Hamaker force constant,” which is used to calculate attractive and repulsive forces at nano-dimensions, and which begins “A123...”

 

While A123Systems still hopes to return to self-assembling batteries one day, it remains focused for now on the future of transportation. In this, the company’s founders and senior officers mix business acumen with a kind of millennial fervor: they sincerely believe that their rechargeable lithium batteries could reduce the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.

 

These plug-in hybrids “will cut gasoline demand over 70 percent for most drivers, and carbon emissions by 50 percent, which will have a significant effect on the environment,” Mr. Vieau said. Driving a plug-in hybrid powered by batteries from A123, most drivers would seldom use their gasoline engines. And while the electricity that charged the batteries would derive mostly from carbon dioxide-producing power plants, burning gasoline is the most polluting transportation energy of all, according to a 2005 study by the Argonne National Laboratory.

 

A123Systems’ ambition is to apply a new technology, born from original science, to solve a difficult problem. The company’s chairman is Gururaj Deshpande, the entrepreneur who also is a co-founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks. As he explained: “This company can play a role in reducing our dependence on oil and in cleaning up the environment. Any company that gets to contribute to those efforts in whatever measure would have done good in the world.”

 

Jason Pontin is the editor in chief and publisher of Technology Review, a magazine and Web site owned by M.I.T. E-mail: pontin@nytimes.com.

 

 

Transforms Patented Electrowetting Phenomenon Into Working Battery

 

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