The United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced yesterday that over the next three years it is ploughing $11 million into research projects to develop advanced batteries for electric cars. The projects are also in line to benefit from a whopping $19 million in further support from the private sector.
A total of seven cutting-edge projects will focus on improving battery material performance and developing the manufacturing processes to produce them.
The ultimate aim is to reduce the cost of batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), one of the main financial barriers to more widespread uptake.
Late last year, the DOE provided initial funding of $13.9 million (including cost-sharing) for projects at 3M Company, BASF Catalyst LLC and FMC Corporation.
The additional funding announced yesterday will provide support for a raft other projects, including:
- $1.1 million to A123Systems to develop a high throughput electrode fabrication process for its lithium-ion batteries.
- $1.6 million from the DOE for a $3.2 million Angstron Materials LLC project investigating nano carbon fiber/graphene high-capacity anodes.
- A $1.35 million joint project on high-energy composite Nanofiber anodes at North Carolina State University and American Lithium Energy LLC.
- An $800,000 project at SION Power Corporation to demonstrate the viability of lithium sulphur (Li-S) rechargeable battery technology.
A further three projects will also address the performance of lithium-ion batteries. EnerDel Inc. will receive $3.3 million to overcome overcharging problems, with a further $2.36 million going to TIAX LLC to prevent internal short circuits. Finally, MaxPower Inc. is in line for $500,000 to adapt its battery management systems to lithium-ion batteries.
Source : gas2.0, by Andrew Williams, June 17th, 2009
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