Natural Science Forum / Chemistry / Electrochemistry / June 2008

What do you guys think?
http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=610

It looks like it brings attention to the right area, with possible
tremendous
improvements.

But we will need a structure - because price $ / W or Wh is a very
"production oriented" parameter.
If you wont to find a best 10 existing $ / Wh batteries that satisfy
electric car energy/weight
criteria, you can't find it. Such battery hit parade does not exist!
There are separate
"price-lists" for Notebook cells, cell-phone cells, power-tool cells
and car cells.
     Probably most transparent is pricing for 18650 notebook cells,
thanks for yearly
Florida conference.

There first has to be a market for electric-car cells, than we can
talk about pricing!
Fortunately we already have hybrid car batteries, so it will give an
idea what
they (mostly Ni-MH) cost per $ / W.
 Presently it appears more expensive than Li-ion notebook
cells. This is a result of a constrained market. Only Matsushita and
Sanyo can make
them at the moment. To resolve this, intensives into production of
existing cell
models is needed rather than prices for new models.
 For example, a tax break for American cell production (or at least
design).

So it is not a particular cathode/anode material that will make
electric battery
cost effective (I think LiFeP04/carbon already has what it takes),
it is the entire infrastructure. And reality of battery manufacturing
is,
that most cost effective infrastructure presently exists in China.
  There is no Li-ion manufacturing in US, and only US companies that
design them are
A123 Systems and Boston Power, which both have actual production in
China.

That is because it is
- chemistry, so intrinsically limited by ecological laws
- labor intensive
or (paradox)
- very high-tech, so USA is far behind after quitting 10 years ago.

There are Japanese Li-ion companies (Sanyo, Sony, Matsushita) that
have a very high-tech manufacturing.
Interestingly, it appears to be working well economically against
Chinese manufactures
(which in turn are also becoming as high-tech as Japanese).

Anyway, Li-ion battery departure from USA and Europe is still puzzling
and hard
to understand. But it is a fact and it is not obvious what can reverse
the trend.
     Maybe at this point focus on design in US, or smart
leadership from US car makers in organizing production in China makes
more sense.

Regards,
Yevgen