Energy Secretary Chu: Progress Needed in Batteries, Solar and Biofuels
Energy Secretary Steven Chu discussed the ways the U.S. should fight climate change in an interview with the New York Times. Chu noted that while President Obama and much of Congress has endorsed a cap-and-trade system similar to that in-place in Europe, alternatives could still emerge like a simple tax on carbon emissions or a modified cap-and-trade.
Chu highlighted three fields in particular that would require significant scientific breakthrough to combat climate change: electric batteries, solar power, and biofuels. Of course, batteries and biofuels are keys to shifting our automobiles off of petroleum, and solar could eventually replace dirty coal.
However, (taking a page from Friedman’s playbook) Chu noted that countries like India and China, which have large coal reserves, will not abandon that cheap energy source, so the U.S. better lead the world in finding a way to burn it cleanly.
Chu noted that while the technology may not be there yet, these feats are far from impossible. He analogized the situation to the turn of the nineteenth century when European scientists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch made scientific discoveries that allowed the development of cheap nitrogen fertilizers that saved Europe from starvation.
VC John Doerr Told Senators About Promising ‘Stealth’ Battery Company
Katie Fehrenbacher at Earth2Tech has some more juicy details on venture capitalist John Doerr’s meeting with Senate Democrats yesterday:
for industry-watchers interested in Kleiner’s portfolio [the VC firm where Doerr is a partner], it’s worth pointing out that Doerr mentioned a new “stealth mode” lithium-ion battery maker. He says the unnamed startup “creates stable, durable lithium ion batteries with higher effective storage capacity” that can power electric vehicles “twice as far, and eventually three times as far, to over 100 miles before recharging.”
Doerr also gave a few clues on the company’s origins and future plans – supposedly the startup was found “outside the U.S.,” but is building manufacturing plants in the Midwest and will ship batteries at the end of the year. Doerr positioned the company as no less than an automotive breakthrough and said: “This technology could be a key driver for the electrification and revitalization of our automotive industry, helping us retain and create many jobs.”
Hat-tip: DealBook
Michigan May See Growth in Local Battery Production
Given that battery technology will be the key to any Detroit renaissance, it is welcome news that domestic companies are beginning to apply for the government loan program for next generation battery development. One such company is A123Systems, which said on Wednesday that it had applied for such a loan under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program.
If the company receives this nearly $2 billion loan, they intend to build a series of factories in Michigan to produce lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars.
The Detroit News notes that “more than 70 companies have applied to the $25 billion retooling program, with Detroit’s Big Three requesting more than $21 billion. None have been approved yet.”
It is unclear whether A123Systems would also be applying for local tax rebates recently made available to battery companies by the state of Michigan.
Michigan Law to Encourage Local Battery Production
While the federal government was busy with the travel habits of CEOs and propping up a failed business model, the state legislature in Michigan was planning for the future. Recognizing that the real technology for 21st century cars will be battery technology, the state legislature has agreed to offer up to $335 million in local tax rebates for the development of next generation car batteries. With this move, Michigan is aiming to carve out a piece of what is predicted to be a $50 billion market by 2020.
Newsflash: Europe is more committed to electric cars than U.S.
With battery technology being the biggest hurdle to the widespread adoption of electric cars, the state of that industry is of utmost importance to any American attempts to rebuild our auto industry and transition off of oil.
Unfortunately, Bob Kanode, CEO of U.S. battery manufacturer Valence Technology, warned that the U.S. is miles behind Europe on both the will to act, as well as the demand for electric car batteries:
“In Europe, the determination is absolute,” he said. “They have had high energy costs our whole lifetime. Second, they want to decrease their reliance on foreign oil…And third, they are absolutely committed to improving their carbon footprint, both the public and the governments.” READ MORE
New company Boston-Power on cutting edge of U.S. battery technology
With the generally sad state of American battery technology being a hot topic lately, it was good to read a post at Green Inc. about the first American based company to have their batteries sold inside a top tier laptop computer: READ MORE
Intel to manufacture advanced batteries for electric vehicles?
We firmly believe that Detroit and America cannot go green without advancements in battery technology. Any electric vehicle network must be built upon advanced battery technologies, and as we’ve noted before, if the current state of laptop and cell phone batteries are any indication, we’ve still got a long way to go.
However, not only do we need advancements in battery technology, we also need to build a domestic battery industry. It is not a great strategy to trade one foreign dependency (oil) for another (batteries). Right now, “virtually all advanced nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion (Li-ion) production is done overseas, mainly in China, Japan and Korea.” READ MORE
Detroit and America can’t go green without a focus on battery technology
With all the talk of bailing out the Detroit automakers and the need for them to make more efficient vehicles, there has been little attention paid to the actual technology that efficient cars are built upon– batteries.
EV World sums up the problem: “Little if any attention was paid to the fact that America has next to no advanced automotive lithium ion battery production capacity. With the exception of a currently shrinking handful of US-based firms, virtually all advanced nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion (Li-ion) production is done overseas, mainly in China, Japan and Korea.” READ MORE
Does Tesla deserve to receive $400 million in low-interest federal loans?
An article in Sunday’s NYTimes asks if Tesla Motors deserves to receive $400 million in low-interest federal loans as a part of Congressional efforts to assist the auto industry.
The author, a professor at San Jose State near Silicon Valley, makes some interesting observations:
First, he comically wonders if the $25 billion in low interest loans passed by Congress last year, of which Tesla is seeking a piece, should be called the “2008 Bailout of Very, Very High-Net-Worth Individuals Who Invested in Tesla Motors Act?” READ MORE
GM makes a huge bet on the Volt
With Detroit facing criticism from every corner, industry “leader” GM seems to be betting their future on the Chevy Volt. Although the electric powered Volt is being widely marketed by GM and touted by them as proof of a new philosophy, the car is not slated to arrive in showrooms until late 2010.
The NY Times estimates that, since the Volt requires the development of completely new technologies, that the R&D price tag for this car could exceed the $1 billion it generally costs to develop a new car model. READ MORE
Nissan may lease batteries separate from the cost of its electric cars
The biggest challenge in building an electric vehicle that can replace traditional cars is battery technology. Currently, EV batteries are very expensive and potential owners, aware that they have a limited lifespan, worry that replacing them will be an expensive proposition.
Responding to these concerns, Nissan has announced that buyers of its upcoming EVs may have the option of leasing the battery, separate from the cost of the car. This is intended to lower the sticker price of the car, as well as ease consumer concerns that they will be stuck when their battery stops holding its charge.
Nissan intends to begin selling its electric car in the US in 2010 and to mass market it by 2012.
Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, is a big supporter of natural gas
While electric vehicles running off of a clean national electricity grid would be the ideal response to carbon emissions from cars, it is unclear to us whether battery technology has developed enough to support this shift. As we’ve noted before, anyone who has experienced frustration with their laptop or cell phone battery dying after minimal use has first-hand experience regarding the current state of battery technology. READ MORE
Increased natural gas supplies would improve feasibility of Pickens Plan
Assuming, as we have recently, that battery technology is not yet developed enough to support an all electric automotive system throughout the country, that leaves us with the question of what to do now. As we know, T. Boone proposes that we use natural gas as a “bridge” fuel to power our cars until battery technology progresses. He reiterated his concerns about battery technology after the debate last week, asserting that electric cars “are still a long ways off.”
If this is true, we have to decide whether we are going to have an ad hoc approach to changing the current fuel situation, or whether we are going to implement a comprehensive, albeit temporary, solution like switching our cars to natural gas. READ MORE
Battery technology must progress substantially before fully powering cars
It seems that the state of battery technology is still a ways away from being able to allow for widespread adoption of purely electric vehicles. This is one of the key points in the debate about the Pickens Plan. That is, whether we should convert all of our cars to natural gas, or go straight to electric? The answer depends on whether the technology is or is not there yet.
The next generation of car batteries are going to be litium-ion, which will replace nickel metal-hydride batteries. However, in order to move to the next generation of vehicle batteries, big improvements must be made to extend the life, lower the cost, and increase the safety of these new batteries. This is according to Tien Duong, a high ranking official at the U.S. Department of Energy, who answered questions at a lithium battery conference last week.
According to Duong, we are still some ways away from developing a lithium battery that can power a car for 40 miles on electricity alone by 2016, a goal of the Dept. of Energy. On the one hand, this sounds surprising given the recent excitement over proposed electric cars like the Chevy Volt and Toyota Prius plug-in. But on the other, as I sit here with an overheating notebook computer on my lap and a cell phone whose battery can’t last for more than one day, both of which use lithium-ion batteries, I can’t say that I’m shocked. If that is in fact the case, we better not put all our eggs in the electric car basket quite yet… at least for the near future.
[Note: in the Reuters article, Duong does say that there is a lot of discussion in Washington of funding a Department of Defense $1 billion battery project. This marshalling of resources, to me, would seem to be one of the best shots at making rapid progress with this technology.]
Is the next step plug-ins or natural gas for cars?
As the movement to get our cars off of petroleum creeps forward, there seems to be two main alternatives being proposed: electricity or natural gas. The electricity proponents argue that it is the cleanest alternative, since energy produced for the national electricity grid can be generated by renewable sources like wind, solar, nuclear and geothermal. They also argue that natural gas, while cleaner burning than oil, is still a fossil fuel that is limited in supply and therefore a less than ideal solution. The natural gas proponents don’t disagree that electricity could be a cleaner solution, but argue that existing battery technology is not yet sufficient to allow widespread electric car adoption.
Companies like Tesla Motors, and now Toyota with their proposed electric Prius, would beg to differ with this assessment. Last week, Toyota’s president announced that electric Priuses would be released to government and commercial fleets by next year (a year ahead of schedule). However, there is no firm date set for the sale of these cars to the public, over lingering concerns about the state of the technology, as well as limited plug-in infrastructure. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how this debate plays out. Unfortunately, in order to really shift off of oil burning cars, a decision needs to be made sooner than later. Hopefully a better understanding of the potential for widespread battery usage in vehicles will develop in time to make an informed policy decision.
