Amid much industry chatter, a U.S. company claims a big battery advance

Posted By Steve LeVine Monday, February 27, 2012 - 8:57 AM Share

A U.S. government-backed Silicon Valley company says it has reached a key milestone that will much-reduce the cost of producing lithium-ion batteries, whose high pricetag has been the primary hurdle making electrified cars prohibitively expensive. Envia Systems, whose shareholders include General Motors, said its improvement allows an electrified vehicle to travel for 300 miles at half the cost for the battery pack. If proven on a commercial scale, the advance could bring the price of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles much closer to a par with pure gasoline-driven models.

There are almost weekly claims by private and university scientists to have broken through key technical hurdles preventing the commercialization of electric cars, but Envia CEO Atul Kapadia told the New York Times' Jim Motavalli that the improvement is different. "What we have are not demonstrations, not experiments, but actual products. We could be in automotive production in a year and a half," Kapadia said.

The technology is built from a breakthrough made at Argonne National Laboratory, which licensed the advance to Envia in 2008. Envia also received a $4 million grant from ARPA-E, the radical energy research laboratory at the U.S. Energy Department. GM invested an additional $7 million in the Newark, Ca.-based company. (Envia posted some of its lab data here).

The advance is in energy density -- the number of watt-hours per kilogram of kilogram of battery material. Envia says its battery cells deliver 400 watt-hours per kilogram, or more than twice the best performance currently on the market. Kapadia called the 400-watt-hour level "the holy grail of electric cars," writes Sarah Mitroff at VentureBeat. If GM could commercialize the development somewhere on the scale that Envia describes, it could make the $41,000 Volt much more affordable, writes Mitroff.

Envia's lower cost battery will give GM the chance to lower the cost of the Volt, making it more available to the general car buying public. In addition, other car companies could use the technology to create economically viable cars that could compete with gasoline-powered economy models.

Envia's announcement comes against a black eye suffered by the Energy Department for its investment in Solyndra, a solar panel company that has filed bankruptcy. To the degree the technology is proven out, it could be a public-relations boon for Arpa-E.

EXPLORE:FLASH POINTS, ARGONNE, ELECTRIC CARS, ENVIA, LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES

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PJCPJCPJC

9:07 PM ET

February 27, 2012

nice if it were true

Let's be clear - energy storage is a tough problem. (A lot tougher than extracting oil and gas from shale, that's for sure).

There are more "battery breakthrough" stories in the media than there are hippies at a Phish concert. The real energy story of the last 10 years is shale energy / horizontal drilling + fracking, and I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if the battery people usurp them within the next 10.

JAMES GRADY

9:18 PM ET

March 8, 2012

Re-charging the batteries.

Lets say the Battery story is true. It is Beyond everyone's wildest expectations. Let us imagine that in 4 years almost everyone in Orange County traded in their car for this modern miracle.

What would happen to "The Grid", when 9 million people plugged in their auto's after they sat down to eat there favorite Veggie Burger and soy fry's?

Then what would be the cascade effect?

Car and Truck batteries are not cell phones. The only way the auto industry can become "green" is to ramp up Nuclear power, which is curently the only technology available creates more energy than it consumes.

If the breakthrough is true, and that is a big if. It will mean a great upfront demand and investment on the production side of the equation. Nuclear Power., and a lot of them.

Somehow we need to summon the political will, if this is to be achieved. NatGas, will not last forever.

The World must understand there is no such thing, as a "Risk-Free" society.

Joseph Stiglitz is a smart man. He just happened to be wrong.

MAXIMB

11:25 AM ET

March 22, 2012

That was before WW 2 however

That was before WW 2 however in all fairness the brits dragged into WW 1 there was no need for us to be there Even Mr Churchill said the U S should have stayed out as WW 1 would have ended in a stale mate and may I add the Brits and frogs would not be in a position to impose obscene war reparations on Germany.

"Is rio orange war always forfait sms illimite inevitable ?"
MaximB