xcel
04-13-2007, 09:58 PM
While blessed with strong private backing and the benefit of Prof. Chiang's technology, A123 Chief Executive David Vieau believes the company couldn't have accomplished the progress it has made without financial assistance from the U.S. government. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117642662763068592-q3NFhLFtHQ9GjaxgHVgsNyTK2P4_20070513.html?mod=tff_article)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/A123_Systems_Prius_II.jpgNorihiko Shirouzu - Wall Street Journal - April 13, 2007
In 2005, General Motors (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=gm) Corp. executives -- blue over their company's less-than-green reputation and envious of eco-darling Toyota Prius -- began searching the world for advanced batteries they hoped would power a new generation of gas-electric hybrid cars.
Most roads led them to Japan, the leader in battery technology and Toyota Motor (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=tm) Corp.'s home turf. Several GM engineers and executives describe their experience at Panasonic EV Energy Co. Ltd., one of the top makers of hybrid-car batteries, as typical of the reception they received there: When GM team members asked for detailed information about the company's most sophisticated automotive lithium-ion batteries, Panasonic EV refused.
A Panasonic EV spokesman says that as a matter of company policy it only discloses that kind of information to its parent company, Toyota.
The car business may have gone global, but the rush to develop new technology to reliably and inexpensively electrify 21st-century cars has rekindled some 20th-century-style economic nationalism. Facing growing pressure to curtail greenhouse-gas emissions, U.S. auto makers are increasingly worried that the critical battery technology they'll need to compete is getting locked up by Japanese rivals who moved more quickly to develop gas-electric hybrid vehicles.
"It's important to have the knowledge base on advanced automotive battery technology and manufacturing capacity right here locally in the U.S." says Beth Lowery, GM vice president of Environment and Energy.
So now, GM, which sells more than half its vehicles outside the U.S. and has an aggressive strategy to shift more purchasing and engineering to Asia, is talking up the importance of an American solution to the problem of building longer-lasting, more-reliable, less-costly automotive batteries, and looking for help from the federal government to subsidize those efforts.
One beneficiary of this battery war is a small Watertown, Mass., start-up called A123 Systems, which has developed a small pack of lithium-ion batteries that can be retrofitted into the spare-tire well of a Toyota Prius. The batteries turn the Prius into a "plug-in hybrid," which can be recharged through an electrical outlet and run almost exclusively on electricity in the first 40 miles of driving. During a test drive around Watertown, near Boston, there is nothing noticeably different about how the converted black Prius drives, except for a screen in the center of the car's dashboard that flashes its eye-popping fuel economy, sometimes 100 miles to the gallon and at other points 150 miles to the gallon.
This is the kind of technology GM wants to use, to develop, among other future vehicles, a Saturn Vue Green Line plug-in hybrid SUV and a real-world version of the Chevrolet Volt show car the company has been promoting to demonstrate its seriousness about clean technology.
Nearly all hybrid vehicles sold today, including the Toyota Prius, are equipped with a less sophisticated kind of technology, nickel metal hydride batteries. But these batteries and the accompanying technology are heavy and expensive -- adding $2,000 or more to the cost of a car. Moreover, nickel metal hydride battery systems can't power the car very far on electricity alone, which means the fuel savings are relatively modest, especially if the car is driven mainly at highway speeds.
Auto makers are looking to lithium-ion batteries to take hybrid vehicles to the next level by allowing them to be recharged from the electrical grid, theoretically reducing total carbon emissions. The batteries would be able to pack more electricity in the same space and weight as the current generation, enabling them to power the vehicle for longer distances on electricity alone.
Toyota, considered the industry's hybrid leader, is looking to adopt lithium-ion technology in the redesigned Prius, due to be launched as early as the second half of 2008. Rivals, from GM to Honda Motor (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=HMC) Co. to Ford Motor (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=F) Co. to DaimlerChrysler (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=dcx) AG, are fighting to match Toyota and are expected to come out with their own lithium-ion hybrids by the end of the decade.
As with many other technology wars -- from computer operating systems to video recorders to music players -- each of the combatants wants to be the winner that sets the industry standard, giving it an edge as the market moves from old technology to new. The key will be finding the chemical recipe that makes lithium-ion technology safe, durable and reliable enough to power cars under a wide range of road and temperature conditions without breaking down.
[Read More (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117642662763068592-q3NFhLFtHQ9GjaxgHVgsNyTK2P4_20070513.html?mod=tff_article)] …
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/A123_Systems_Prius_II.jpgNorihiko Shirouzu - Wall Street Journal - April 13, 2007
In 2005, General Motors (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=gm) Corp. executives -- blue over their company's less-than-green reputation and envious of eco-darling Toyota Prius -- began searching the world for advanced batteries they hoped would power a new generation of gas-electric hybrid cars.
Most roads led them to Japan, the leader in battery technology and Toyota Motor (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=tm) Corp.'s home turf. Several GM engineers and executives describe their experience at Panasonic EV Energy Co. Ltd., one of the top makers of hybrid-car batteries, as typical of the reception they received there: When GM team members asked for detailed information about the company's most sophisticated automotive lithium-ion batteries, Panasonic EV refused.
A Panasonic EV spokesman says that as a matter of company policy it only discloses that kind of information to its parent company, Toyota.
The car business may have gone global, but the rush to develop new technology to reliably and inexpensively electrify 21st-century cars has rekindled some 20th-century-style economic nationalism. Facing growing pressure to curtail greenhouse-gas emissions, U.S. auto makers are increasingly worried that the critical battery technology they'll need to compete is getting locked up by Japanese rivals who moved more quickly to develop gas-electric hybrid vehicles.
"It's important to have the knowledge base on advanced automotive battery technology and manufacturing capacity right here locally in the U.S." says Beth Lowery, GM vice president of Environment and Energy.
So now, GM, which sells more than half its vehicles outside the U.S. and has an aggressive strategy to shift more purchasing and engineering to Asia, is talking up the importance of an American solution to the problem of building longer-lasting, more-reliable, less-costly automotive batteries, and looking for help from the federal government to subsidize those efforts.
One beneficiary of this battery war is a small Watertown, Mass., start-up called A123 Systems, which has developed a small pack of lithium-ion batteries that can be retrofitted into the spare-tire well of a Toyota Prius. The batteries turn the Prius into a "plug-in hybrid," which can be recharged through an electrical outlet and run almost exclusively on electricity in the first 40 miles of driving. During a test drive around Watertown, near Boston, there is nothing noticeably different about how the converted black Prius drives, except for a screen in the center of the car's dashboard that flashes its eye-popping fuel economy, sometimes 100 miles to the gallon and at other points 150 miles to the gallon.
This is the kind of technology GM wants to use, to develop, among other future vehicles, a Saturn Vue Green Line plug-in hybrid SUV and a real-world version of the Chevrolet Volt show car the company has been promoting to demonstrate its seriousness about clean technology.
Nearly all hybrid vehicles sold today, including the Toyota Prius, are equipped with a less sophisticated kind of technology, nickel metal hydride batteries. But these batteries and the accompanying technology are heavy and expensive -- adding $2,000 or more to the cost of a car. Moreover, nickel metal hydride battery systems can't power the car very far on electricity alone, which means the fuel savings are relatively modest, especially if the car is driven mainly at highway speeds.
Auto makers are looking to lithium-ion batteries to take hybrid vehicles to the next level by allowing them to be recharged from the electrical grid, theoretically reducing total carbon emissions. The batteries would be able to pack more electricity in the same space and weight as the current generation, enabling them to power the vehicle for longer distances on electricity alone.
Toyota, considered the industry's hybrid leader, is looking to adopt lithium-ion technology in the redesigned Prius, due to be launched as early as the second half of 2008. Rivals, from GM to Honda Motor (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=HMC) Co. to Ford Motor (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=F) Co. to DaimlerChrysler (http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=dcx) AG, are fighting to match Toyota and are expected to come out with their own lithium-ion hybrids by the end of the decade.
As with many other technology wars -- from computer operating systems to video recorders to music players -- each of the combatants wants to be the winner that sets the industry standard, giving it an edge as the market moves from old technology to new. The key will be finding the chemical recipe that makes lithium-ion technology safe, durable and reliable enough to power cars under a wide range of road and temperature conditions without breaking down.
[Read More (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117642662763068592-q3NFhLFtHQ9GjaxgHVgsNyTK2P4_20070513.html?mod=tff_article)] …