lithium batteries

Nissan’s eNV200 and the automotive revolution – It’s a pod, pod, pod

Not enough room and functionality for most Americans? Please

Time for the automotive revolution to evolve

It’s hard to argue that electric cars don’t make sense. Well, aside from costs and range of course. But over time those issues will become less and less relevant. Still, it could be many years, even decades, before an electric car can offer the same range and refueling times as conventional ones — at similar cost.

That’s why I believe the auto — the entire concept of transportation — needs to be reinvented, or at least re-imagined. Doing so would make electric cars far more feasible and far sooner.

And that’s why Nissan’s eNV200 tripped my trigger, if even only a little. Read more…

EVs are awesome, but they can’t save the world. What now?

The Leaf is a great car, but can it really change the world?

Can the world wait for electrification?

I was never much of a car guy growing up. It wasn’t until the first hybrid cars hit the street that autos started catching my attention, especially since code was such a big part of their powertrain, and coming from the software industry, that was compelling. Plus, after 9/11 it just seemed obvious that things needed to change, and batteries and fuel cells seemed so necessary.

For years I didn’t care about any new vehicle technology except those with batteries. I even wrote off fuel cells for a while. Sure I believed they would happen one day, but my focus was today. In that regard hybrids, including those with plugs, seemed the game-changing call to action. Read more…

Taking on the future: Model S versus Volt versus Prius plug-in

Tesla's EV range superstar

A few thoughts about battery strategies

Getting old sure is fun, and funny, especially in terms of technology. As a boy, renting a VCR for the weekend was one of the greatest technological highlights of my pre-teen years. Of course, eventually my family bought a VCR, with no regard to the whole betamax versus vhs debate. Ultimately, the only thing that mattered to my parents was price.

And that brings me to the future of the battery-powered car and the battery strategies being utilized in the Tesla Model S, the Chevy Volt and the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid.

Which is better? Which is smarter? Read more…

A tale of chemistry: Expect more plug-in vehicle uncertainty

Plug-in success is all in the chemistry

More turbulence before real plug-in success

I remember the day I learned that Toyota was ready to switch to lithium for the launch of its 3rd generation Toyota Prius. Now, I thought, hybrid mainstreaming would really begin. Then a few lithium batteries from notebooks and cell phones blew up and not long after, Toyota announced that it would stick with NiMH.

At that time the Chevy Volt was just a concept, but when asked about Toyota’s reversal, GM’s Bob Lutz laughed and countered that unlike Toyota, GM had focused on the right battery technology. Yet now, just a few short years later — and only a few thousand Volt sales — comes word that the Volt’s battery chemistry could be dead. Read more…

Chevy Volt battery fire suggests new mitigation strategies, not panic

A Chevy Volt battery pack.

Neither Volt nor EVs more dangerous than conventional vehicles – NHTSA

Three weeks after undergoing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash tests, a Chevy Volt lithium-ion battery pack started a fire at a NHTSA facility. Consequently, the NHTSA is going to conduct some additional tests on the Volt and its battery pack, while reviewing battery protocols from all EV manufacturers.

Nevertheless, the NHTSA maintains that neither the Volt, nor any other EV, is a greater fire risk than other, non-lithium-powered, vehicles. Read more…

When Chevy Volt battery costs are cut in half, what happens?

A Chevy Volt battery pack

Is the Volt a $30,000 car with a $10,000 battery?

Last I heard, GM is selling the Chevy Volt plug-in at cost. Likewise, GM has suggested that its battery pack costs about $8,000 per Volt, however, soon the Volt should be able to utilize new chemistries and materials to cut the cost of the Volt battery in half.

So, would Volt sales shoot through the roof? Read more…

Can lithium make a stand, without tax credits?

The revolution is waiting, but is lithium ready?

Can lithium push hybrids beyond 3 percent?

Lithium, lithium, lithium. Is it all just hype?

When Toyota decided not to use lithium in the 3rd gen Hybrid Synergy Drive and the 3rd generation Toyota Prius, it was hard not to be disappointed. It’s obvious that NiMH isn’t the future of the battery vehicle, whether plugged-in or not, but it seems almost equally as obvious that today’s lithium batteries aren’t any more up to the task. Read more…

Would lithium make the Toyota Prius 4 much better?

Will a sports coupe help usher in the lithium-based Prius 4?

Or is a split battery approach the best option for the fourth generation Prius?

When Toyota launched the third generation Toyota Prius without lithium, there was some disappointment. Likewise, when Toyota announced that the 2012 Toyota Camry hybrid would also continue to use NiMH batteries, there was further disappointment.

However, I’ve never agreed with this NiMH-based disappointment, and while I think the fourth generation Toyota Prius 4 will offer lithium, I believe NiHM could still play an important role in Toyota’s hybrids for some time. Read more…

Toyota’s 600 mile battery. Did everything just change?

Are today's lithium batteries already obsolete?

Or is the battery space full of disruptive potential?

For many years now Toyota has been working on a number of advanced battery technologies. Yesterday, Toyota announced that they are going to try to commercialize one of these new technologies — a solid state lithium battery capable of 621 miles of range — sometime between 2015 to 2020.

So, what does commercialize really mean? Did everything about the hybrid and plug-in space just change? Read more…

The road to plug-in success goes through China. Time for a US pullback?

Chinese manufacturing a tough nut to crack for America

Is US energy policy too fixated upon batteries?

I’m pretty confident that electrification is the future of the auto industry, but I’m not sure whether that electrification will be dominated by batteries, or whether fuel cells will also have a role to play. OK. That’s not really true. I’m confident both fuel cells and batteries will dominate the future of the auto industry. If I have any doubts, it’s whether chemical fuels, such as those derived by artificial photosynthesis, could make both batteries and fuel cells less relevant.

Even if fuel cells and/or batteries are the future, however, I’m really beginning to wonder if the current US focus on plug-in technologies is going to be an expensive exercise in futility. Read more…