NiMH hybrids a long way from dead
Still the battery of choice for hybridsOver the weekend it was reported that Sanyo will supply enough NiMH batteries for several tens of thousands of Peugeot hybrid vehicles per year beginning in 2011. While its not necessarily breaking news that Peugeot is going to develop hybrids - we've known that for some time - Peugeot's choice of battery is interesting.
For years, Ford has complained about a shortage of NiMH batteries. Yet, Ford is also supplied by Sanyo, as is Honda, and not long ago Honda indicated that it was going to significantly increase its production of hybrid cars. Combined with Ford and now Peugeot, its seems that Sanyo must be preparing for a serious uptick in NiMH production.
Likewise, Sanyo will also supply lithium-ion batteries to Toyota and Volkswagen.
Even more interesting, however, is the fact that Sanyo is coming under the control of Panasonic. For more than a decade Panasonic has partnered with Toyota to develop and produce NiMH batteries, a partnership that is now increasing NiMH production to more than 1,000,000 battery packs per year for Toyota alone.
Apparently, NiMH technology isn't dead yet, and Toyota seems extremely well positioned to benefit from this uptick in scale.
Labels: Hybrid Vehicles, panasonic, sanyo
posted by Dahcredyns at
1:54 PM
8 Comments:
Power Hybrids?
Heck.....NIMH batteries could be powering EV's and Range-Extended EV's.
All we need is for one company to release the patent on large format NIMH batteries....
That's true.
Still, for lithium, you can make 10 hybrids for each EV. I can't remember how it is for NiMH, but I'm sure the numbers are close.
Toyota has already had a hard time managing supply chains for NiMH battery production. Today, demand far outweighs supply.
Had EVs sucked up those resources, scale would have probably been impossible, and only a limited number of EVs could have been produced and it would have been terribly cost-ineffective to even consider such a path.
Prius production, likewise, would have also been severely limited.
Thus both vehicles would have been cost-ineffective and sales would have been extremely limited.
I think NiMH is a far better interim technology for conventional hybrid cars as it gave Toyota a chance to develop some level of scale.
Indigo Incarnates
the only reason why the Prius is under-produced is that Toyota knows it can keep charging $3k-$5k surcharges on the cars if there is a supply shortage.
Indigo-
Not according to the analyst data i've seen on the NiMH supply chains.
Ask Ford, for instance, as well. They've complained about this problem for years.
Likewise, during the gas spike of 2008, for example, the costs of many of the battery materials skyrocketed as demand outgrew supply.
The commodities charts on these supplies are quite clear.
Moreover, many other industries, outside of the auto industry, compete for many of the materials in NiMH battery technology, and that competition can lead to extremely high costs.
When Toyota developed the Prius there weren't any battery makers willing to invest in the supply chains to develop enough NiMH batteries on a serious scale because the upfront costs were seen as too risky versus the profit potential.
And there still isn't today major battery maker outside of Toyota, although one could make an argument that it appears Sanyo is willing to give it a try. Of course, Sanyo is about to be owned by Toyota's battery partner Panasonic.
So, again, it all comes back to Toyota. Toyota stuck its neck out extremely far compared to the rest of the auto industry. That kind of investment requires a profit margin, and yet most analysts don't think the Prius is very profitable because Toyota had to lower its price due to the Insight.
also,
i can get you a 2010 prius today with no surcharge if you'd like.
Indigo Incarnates
It's too bad I have to wait to the end of 2012 for a new car. I really, REALLY like the Insight-II. I want one badly enough that I even downloaded the Insight simulator to my iPhone, har har.
hey, honda has been mulling some tweaks on the insight hybrid, so by then you might like the insight even better, as i'm sure the insight will, minimally, receive at least a few minor updates.
Ditto Smurf's comment: "All we need is for one company to release the paptent on large format NiMH batteries.." -- CHEVRON.
That is the focus of a new movement called Two Cents per Mile. President Obama can excercise eminent domain over the NiMH battery patents currently owned and suppressed by Chevron. Check out www.twocentspermile.org.
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