Recharge Your Nissan EV Via Wireless Recharger

Nissan wants to leapfrog its competitors and gun for EVs that can be recharged without a cord. Good, bad?

Nissan wants to follow the route of the electric toothbrush – that is, invent a way for us to charge EVs (or their EVs, at least), using a wireless charger. Electric toothbrush batteries are refueled by inducing a charge without actually making contact between battery and electricity source.

So, too, Nissan hopes that one day we can park electric cars over a scaled-up version of the same charger, and refuel them without lifting a finger.However, there’s a reason that we only use induction chargers for the occasional piece of technology such as the toothbrush, and don’t use them for most mobile electronic devices (ok, with the exception of the Palm Pre): they take longer to charge, and they are more expensive and complex than a simple wire plug.

Obviously, though, Nissan’s engineers know all that. And Nissan is certainly going to be sticking to conventional plugs for now – they are unveiling their 2012 model EV on August 2, and although they claim that it was designed to be compatible with future induction technology, it will be charged by a regular plug. And Nissan’s partner Renault is busy designing cars to work with Better Place’s system, which most certainly involves a physical cord.

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In fact, Nissan’s vision goes beyond just parking spots. Nissan sees an even wider system of wireless charging, built into the very roads that we drive on, so that we can refuel as we drive. Sound farfetched and inefficient? Perhaps, but what if you got stuck in a traffic jam, and your battery began to dwindle? Would you pay a little extra to be able to charge on the go in those situations?

- Brewskie

Reva, the $12,000 Electric Car

Yup, this car too is manufactured in the land of Tata Motors, the maker of the Nano - India (link).

Family-owned Reva Electric Car is building a new factory 25 miles (40 km) south of its Bangalore headquarters to mass-produce the Reva hatchback, a two-passenger city car priced at little over $12,000 that the company has been selling in India and Europe since 2001. When production begins next January, the new factory will be the world's largest for low-cost electric cars; annual capacity is expected to hit 30,000 cars within three years. "The opportunity today is very high," says Chetan Maini, Reva's vice chairman and chief
technology officer.

[...]

The Indian company, however, aims to leverage low production costs to build simple, cheap vehicles and sell them in India, Europe and, within five years, the U.S. The Reva, branded the G-Wiz in Europe, costs about $12,200 there and about $7,000 in India. The pint-size commuter vehicles are powered by lead-acid batteries, which provide about 50 miles (80 km) of driving per charge. Top speed is about 50 m.p.h.

The cars haven't exactly taken the world by storm. Reva — which has received venture capital from Draper Fisher Jurveston, the Global Environment Fund and Mellon HBV Master Global Event Drive Fund — has sold only 3,000 cars over the past eight years. Half of those have been exported to Europe, mainly to London.

But Reva officials say they are improving their cars and plan to sell 8,000 vehicles next year after the new factory opens. In May, the company began equipping Revas with more-powerful lithium-ion batteries that increase range to 75 miles (120 km). A new model with sportier looks and upgraded electronics is expected to be launched by 2010.

- Brewskie

Buffet Bucks for Volkswagon Electric

Volkswagen singed a deal with Chinese carmaker BYD for a lithium-ion battery partnership.

Volkswagen says it has signed a "memorandum of understanding" with Chinese carmaker BYD to explore "options for partnership in the area of hybrids and electric vehicles powered by lithium batteries."

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought a 10 percent stake in BYD last fall, and Buffett has been personally promoting the company's efforts. (See last month's WBW post Fortune Puts Warren Buffett In "Car of the Future" Driver's Seat.")

Dow Jones notes that many of the world's biggest automakers are scrambling to "secure supplies of batteries for alternative vehicles" and reports that BYD is also talking to Ford Motor about "similar arrangements."

- Brewskie

Hitachi's Potent Lithium-ion Battery

Did you know Japan accounts for 70% of the world's electric car patents? It's little wonder when you have bellwethers like Hitachi cranking out lithium-ion batteries practically juiced up on a concoction of plutonium, and Alex Rodriguez's cocktail of steroid/HGH supplements. This demon packs the "world's highest power density of 4,500W/kg, 1.7 times the output of the company's mass-produced, automotive lithium-ion batteries;" sampling starts this fall!

You can read about it here. Big hat tip to B Cole for sniffing this out.

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT / TSE:6501,hereinafter Hitachi) today announced that Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd. which develops and manufactures lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications, such as hybrid electric vehicles, have developed a lithium-ion battery having the world's highest power density of 4,500W/kg, 1.7 times the output of the company's mass-produced, automotive lithium-ion batteries. Sampling of the new battery by domestic and overseas car manufacturers will start in the fall.

To reduce internal resistance, the battery employs a new manganese cathode and an original Hitachi battery structure, in such as thinner electrodes, power collection method and effective configurations to achieve the world's highest output.

The new battery will be on display at the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2009 held at PACIFICO Yokohama from May 20 to May 22. Right now.

- Brewskie

China's Rapacious Drive to Electric Cars

More on China's drive to turn the "lights" on for electric cars:

China is the only major car market still growing in the world, and it could mean the difference between life or death for some of these companies.

There's also been a lot of buzz that China is the place where electric cars will take off. Nick Reilly, the head of GM in Asia, said there was a "clear need" in Chinese cities for a small electrified car and that if the government handed out enough subsidies, "there could be very rapid sales growth".

[...]

Mr Reilly said that a closer look at the range and recharging abilities of the Chinese cars showed they weren't very different from technology elsewhere.

What will make China the leader in electric cars, however, is the infrastructure. Again according to GM, China is already able to absorb the impact of a huge switchover to electric vehicles without much new investment.

Kevin Wale, the former head of Vauxhall who now heads GM in China, said: "We are talking to the power grid, as are all car manufacturers who are interested in electric cars, and we don't think infrastructure us a major issue. The widespread distribution of electric cars can be more than covered by the existing power grid."

On top of that, China is pouring money into new nuclear power stations, wind farms and hydroelectric dams to increase the share of electricity it produces cleanly. As Greenpeace says, an electric car is only as green as the electricity it runs on.

One former car industry executive told me that China's strategy is straightforward. First, it builds the infrastructure. Then it waits for foreign brands to unveil their electric car technology. Then the technology gets "adapted".

- Brewskie

China's Hungry Ambition to Become the Electric Car Capitol

Napoleon may have been a sage when he said, "Let China sleep, for when she awakes, she will shake the world (article link here)."

Senior Chinese officials on Friday outlined how they aimed to turn their country into the world’s largest producer of electric cars, including a focus on consumer choice rather than corporate subsidies.

Speaking at a conference at the government’s prestigious Diaoyutai guesthouse here, the officials acknowledged that their efforts faced challenges in terms of the cost and safety of electric cars. They promised a nationwide effort by manufacturers, universities, research institutes and government agencies to overcome these obstacles.

We need to be sustainable in different sectors, particularly in the auto sector,” he said.

Zhang Shaochun, a vice minister of finance, said that the government wanted to let the market determine which electric vehicle models would become popular. So while the government is providing some research subsidies, the main step will be to provide very large subsidies for buyers of electric cars — already up to 60,000 yuan, or $8,800, for purchases by taxi fleets and local government agencies.

"The fiscal subsidy gives voting rights to the consumer,” he said.

China also has a 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) program to help the industry with automotive innovation.

In the United States, the government is providing $25 billion to help cover Detroit’s research costs in the coming years.

[...]

Electric car makers may find it easier to gain a following in the Chinese market than in other countries. First-time buyers in China are less accustomed to the power of gasoline-powered cars; most commutes are short and slow because of traffic jams; and Chinese law makes it hard for consumers to sue automakers for safety problems.

- Brewskie

100W DC Motor Achieves Near 100% Efficiency

A piece of work unveiled by Tokai University:

Researchers at Tokai University developed a brushless DC motor that coverts electric power to motor output at a conversion efficiency of more than 96%.

The announcement was made at the 56th Spring Meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics, which took place from March 30 to April 2, 2009, at the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

[...]

The DC motor features a "rated output of about 100W" and uses iron-based
amorphous metal for the motor core (See related article). The conversion efficiency is as high as 96.5% when the output is around 100W.

This time, the high efficiency motor was realized by tracking down the
causes of energy loss and making some improvements to reduce the loss. Specifically, motor energy loss is attributable to (1) power consumption of the control circuit (controller loss), (2) loss from the coil winding (copper loss), (3) loss due to current surge in the core (iron loss) and (4) loss from rotation axis friction and air resistance (mechanical loss, windage loss).

The high efficiency of more than 96% was achieved mainly by improving (1) and (2). Specifically, a microcomputer featuring a low power consumption of 156mW was employed to reduce the controller loss. In addition, an inverter composed of nMOSFETs alone was used. This is because the on-state resistance of nMOSFET is lower than that of pMOSFET, Kimura said.

In respect to the copper loss, it was reduced by optimizing the thickness of the coil winding and the winding number. Copper loss generally increases as the current supplied to the motor becomes larger. Therefore, the reduction significantly contributes to the improvement, he said. The iron loss was reduced by using iron-based amorphous metal as the core material. This is because amorphous metal has low electron mobility, resulting in less current surge, Kimura said. However, the same material was used in the motor developed in 2003.

- Brewskie

New MIT Lithium-Ion Battery on Par With Ultracapacitors

This from the light of Technology Review:

A lithium-ion battery electrode described this week in the journal Nature can deliver electricity several times faster than other such batteries. It could be particularly useful where rapid power bursts are needed, such as for laser weapons or hybrid race cars.

Test batteries based on the new electrode--developed by Gerbrand Ceder, a professor of materials science at MIT--can be discharged in 10 seconds. In comparison, the best high-power lithium-ion batteries today discharge in a minute and a half, and conventional lithium-ion batteries, such as those in laptops, can take hours to discharge. The new high rate, the researchers calculate, would allow a one-liter battery based on the material to deliver 25,000 watts, or enough power for about 20 vacuum cleaners.

This level of power output would put these batteries on par with ultracapacitors, gadgets that can rapidly discharge power but can't carry much energy for their size, says John Miller, a vice president for systems and applications at Maxwell Technologies, a manufacturer of ultracapacitors, who wasn't involved in the research. The new batteries would store nearly 10 times as much energy as an ultracapacitor of the same size. The combination of small size and extreme power could make the batteries particularly useful for race cars, he says. (Starting this year, new Formula One racing rules will allow race cars to store energy from braking to deliver very brief jolts of acceleration.)

[...]

The fast-discharging materials may also recharge quickly, raising the possibility of cell phones that charge in seconds, Ceder says, but this would require expensive chargers. Ric Fulop, vice president of business development at A123 Systems, a battery maker based in Watertown, MA, that has licensed Ceder's new material, says that it could be useful for hybrids or for delivering the power needed for laser weapons. (Fulop notes that A123 is not developing batteries for the latter application.)

- Brewskie

Bolivia Poised for Lithium Boom (But the Socialism...)

South America is stuffed with Lithium; Bolivia is to be believed by some as possessing the world's largest reserves. As automakers around the world prepare to launch electric and plug-in hybrid cars (note: the current generation Toyota Prius, not a plug-in hybrid, uses a nickel-metal hydride battery), Bolivia is poised to take advantage of the boom - not only by producing and supplying lithium, but making lithium batteries for cars and consumer products.

Excerpts include:

On a remote Andean plain here, a short drive on unpaved roads from the world's largest salt flat, 120 government workers are constructing a facility to help power the fuel-efficient electric cars of the future.

The plant, in a sparsely populated region, is supposed to begin producing basic compounds of lithium, which is used to make batteries for cell phones, power tools, computers and other electronic devices, by year's end.

"Bolivia will become a big producer in six years of batteries," Luis Alberto Echazu, the minister of mining and metallurgy, said in an interview. He ticked off three companies that he said have expressed interest in investing in the government's lithium venture: Sumitomo, Mitsubishi and Bollore, a French company.

Oh, but that socialism...

The country's socialist president, Evo Morales, and its powerful union leaders are all deeply suspicious of foreigners, and their politics could stymie yet another opportunity for Bolivia to improve the lives of its citizens.

He (President Morales) said that the government should own and operate any lithium mining operations, and that foreign companies can invest their cash but must play only secondary roles.

In his biggest move as president, he also raised taxes on the foreign companies that hold the rights to Bolivia's natural gas reserves, the second largest in Latin America, and also gave the government the right to decide when and where the gas is sold.

Morales declared that the gas belonged to Bolivians, not "transnationals," as foreign companies are known here. Bolivians lionized Morales for sticking it to the foreigners.

The result? Foreign gas companies have stopped investing in Bolivia, and Bolivia has been unable to supply the gas it promised in contracts with Brazil and Argentina.

Like much of South America, Bolivia's economy and natural resources have been unfairly exploited by wealthier nations, and has suffered tyrannical wrath under extremist dictatorial leadership (some friendly to Western interests). Still, swinging from one mood extremity to another, in hastened attempt to solve deplorable state, never works and often excacerbates the situation. Just look at Venezuela. A poor country with a long history of being exploited, now in the grasp of a myopic dictator whose socialist drive has driven up inflation, hindered the oil sector, and hurt the economy. He kicked out Western oil companies and now he wants them back.

South America should heed the Greek maxim: "Moderation is the answer to everything; any extremity is bad."

- Brewskie

Multi-Battery Pack Geared to Electric Cars and Plug-in Hybrids

Any idiot can slap in a battery, and make a plug-in hybrid or an electric car; but the true genius - the holy grail, if you want to call it - is finding the ideal battery or power storage medium that can hold bundles of power (enough for a 300 or 400+ road trip, and recharges in a matter of minutes - not hours). Ironing out these kinks is still years away.

Indy Power, an Indiana startup, is taking a different approach in this quest, incorporating a combination of storage technologies to improve and perfect vehicle performance. Excerpts from the Technology Review article are as below:

Noblesville-based Indy Power Systems has developed an energy management system for vehicles that can quickly switch between two or more energy sources, even when their voltages are different. "It's basically a switch that directs energy in any amount and any direction," says Steve Tolen, chief executive officer and founder of Indy Power, which operates out of Purdue Research Park. "The hardware handles the switching, and the software handles the timing and amounts."

Tolen says that the power electronics package--called the Multi-Flex Energy Management System--is only slightly larger than a laptop computer. He describes it as a custom, software-controlled, DC-to-DC converter that's bidirectional and variable.

"Imagine adding hot and cold water to a tub. We can add a variable amount of hot and a variable amount of cold in different volumes to match the outflow of the drain, which can also be variable," Tolen explains. "In other words, the motor can ask for different amounts of current, and we can provide that, and in different ratios from the two (or more) power sources, regardless of the voltage of the power sources."

For example, an electric vehicle could have both lead-acid and lithium-ion battery packs. Advanced lead-acid batteries may be cheaper, but they are also heavier and deteriorate more quickly if subjected to regular depletion and recharging. Lithium-ion batteries are generally more robust and lighter but are far more expensive. Combining the two means that you can use less of each. And just as important, says Tolen, the two chemistries can be balanced against each other to optimize performance. For example, the lithium-ion battery can be used to relieve stress on the lead-acid battery and extend its life, and vice versa.

And

The concept is being pursued by many different research groups," says Iravani, who is working on a similar system that utilities could use to switch between energy-storage technologies and renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. Iravani says that within five or six years, hybrid approaches will significantly improve the performance of energy-storage systems.

Indy Power has already demonstrated its technology in golf carts and is scaling up to highway-capable vehicles. A manufacturer approached the company just last week, says Tolen, to say that it was interested in combining two different lithium-ion chemistries and a lead-acid battery pack in a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

Indy's system can also be customized with a simple software upgrade, says Tolen. He envisions a day when we can upgrade the performance of vehicles in much the way we add RAM to computers. "My wife never drives more than 20 miles a day, so I would probably put 100 percent lead acid in her vehicle. Some people might want to go 40 miles, so they'll have five kilowatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries and maybe 15 kilowatt-hours of lead acid. It depends on preferences. We just need to change the paradigm of how we buy cars."

The company has some technical veterans behind it. One of its directors is Bill Wylam, a former General Motors engineer who was responsible for the development of the propulsion system for GM's EV1 electric car. Indy Power's chief operating officer is Bob Galyen, who helped develop the battery pack for the EV1 prototype.

- Brewskie

Possible Lithium Shortage to Impede Future Electric Car Production?

Lithium - an integral component for lithium-ion batteries used in electrical cars, not to mention cell phones and laptop computers - could face shortages if, in the future, demand for electric cars outstrips supply (link). The article goes:

"Mitsubishi, which plans to release its own electric car soon, estimates that the demand for lithium will outstrip supply in less than 10 years unless new sources are found."

"The U.S. Geological Survey’s mineral commodity specialist on lithium, Brian Jaskula, offers a more conservative estimate, forecasting that demand will begin to drive lithium prices up in the next 10 to 15 years. But the signs are clear: Lithium, which now costs less than a buck per kilogram, will not stay cheap for long."

The article does go further into depth and provides some optimism. As is often the case, technology's "invisible hand" often comes to the rescue, pulling us up in our hour of need. This will likely be the case with batteries:

This doesn't sound too good at first, but if the past is any indication of the future, we can probably expect that as demand increases, prices will rise, making both recycling of existing lithium-ion batteries more profitable and exploration for new sources more viable (techniques to extract lithium from sea water in a cost-effective way, for example).

If things unfold like with silicon and solar panels, a constrained supply will lead to innovation; no forms of batteries that don't need lithium (or need much less of it), in the same way that thin film solar that doesn't need highly purified silicon was born.

Another thing to consider is that it would be very surprising if 20-30 years form now the
energy storage that we use is anything like what it is today. Technological innovation builds on technological innovation, and by most measures the pace of change is acceleration. We've seen a lot of movement in the past 30 years, and we'll probably see even more in the next 30. Maybe by then hydrogen will be a viable storage medium, maybe hypercapacitors designed on the nanoscale will totally replace chemical batteries. Maybe ferrous batteries will replace
lithium-ion... Who knows?

Getting a little off topic, the Chinese recently had a breakthrough with nickel catalyst fuel cells.

- Brewskie