The supply of batteries for electric cars could far surpass the demand for electric vehicles over the next few years, estimates Lux Research. It could be a “severe mismatch,” that could cause consolidation and the need for new markets for battery makers. Read More »
Cleantech
The automotive battery joint venture between Johnson Controls and Saft has gone sour and according to analysts with Needham & Company Johnson Controls is unhappy because the Saft deal is holding it back from the power grid battery market (and Hitachi might be a better partner). Read More »
Auto makers aren’t making much money (if any) off of electric cars yet. The same thing is true for the makers of the batteries that will run them. A123 System on Monday reported lower sales and widened its loss for the first quarter. Read More »
GM and LG Chem are licensing a broad suite of patents from Argonne National Laboratory to develop lithium-ion battery cells and packs for next-generation electric cars. LG Chem will use the IP to make cells in Michigan starting next year. Read More »
The green car battery recycling bandwagon just got a bit more crowded. General Motors and Swiss grid giant ABB announced that the two companies will jointly research ways to reuse old batteries from GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid for storing power on the grid. Read More »
Compact Power, a Michigan subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Chem, is starting to look like the player to beat in the competition to supply lithium-ion cells and battery packs for electric vehicles, having bagged deals with General Motors, Eaton and Ford. Read More »
The Obama administration has kicked off its electric car and battery offensive with a report laying out the facts and figures for its investments in advanced vehicles and batteries so far under the Recovery Act. Here’s the digit-by-digit highlights. Read More »
President Obama’s visit to Smith Electric Vehicles in Kansas City, Mo. last week was just a warm-up for what’s shaping up to be a full-on electric car and battery offensive by the White House this week. Read More »
In the few months remaining until GM fires up production of the Chevy Volt, the automaker plans to focus on software and controls — or what Vehicle Chief Engineer Andrew Farah calls the “glue” that “make this whole thing work.” Read More »
Regardless of all the possible benefits of having a battery manufacturing industry in the U.S. for plug-in vehicles, building out that fledgling industry won’t come cheap. This morning an announcement from LG Chem — the Korean electronics behemoth whose U.S. subsidiary Compact Power will supply lithium-ion… Read More »
Huge electronics conglomerates in Japan and Korea — Sharp, Panasonic, Samsung, LG — have long been leaders of gadget, battery and mobile innovation. China has also spent decades as the low-cost manufacturer always “just about to emerge” as the electronics innovator and massive purchaser. Now it’s… Read More »
Having logged a quarter of a million miles on the road in pre-production models, built more than 300 prototype battery packs and completed tests for more than 50,000 lithium-ion battery cells, GM says its Chevy Volt is on track to meet its remaining production milestones… Read More »
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