The overall market for energy storage technologies that power electric cars is set to grow from $13 billion in 2011 to $30 billion in 2016, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%.

But, while prominent plug-in passenger cars like the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF grab most of the headlines, the bulk of future growth will be driven by more humble vehicles, such as e-bikes and micro-hybrids, the report says.

Titled “Small Batteries, Big Sales: The Unlikely Winners in the Electric Vehicle Market,” the report offers a reality check on the hype surrounding batteries for electric passenger cars by looking at the overall market for electric vehicles. Specifically, it provides both a bottom-up analysis of the potential for storage technologies, including batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells, as well as a top-down analysis of the demand generated for these technologies by different vehicle types, including e-bikes, passenger vehicles, buses and trains.

Among the report’s key findings:

•  Micro-hybrids offer auto OEMs the shortest road to improved fuel efficiency. Micro-hybrids, which apply energy storage only toward start-stop and/or regenerative braking applications, require neither the drastic redesigns nor the more expensive battery costs that all-electric or hybrid electric vehicles do. Thus, they are set to surpass these other passenger vehicle types in terms of both total storage and dollars in 2016, growing from 5.1 GWh and $495 million, to 41 GWh and $3.1 billion – CAGRs of 52% and 44%, respectively.
•  E-bikes pack minimal storage but compensate with sheer volume. Although their 0.4 kWh to 1.0 kWh of storage is a far cry from the Nissan Leaf’s 24-kWh battery pack, e-bikes will continue to dominate the overall market in terms of dollars and MWh. Replacement batteries for the currently deployed base – largely in China – plus strong growth in new sales will drive growth from 84.2 GWh and $12.0 billion in 2011, to 156.6 GWh and $24.3 billion in 2016, a CAGR of 13% in kWh and 15% in dollars.
•  Advanced lead-acid batteries dominate the current and future storage market. While Li-ion technology will eat into lead-acid sales for e-bikes, and supercapacitors will steal share in micro-hybrids, lead-acid will maintain a comfortable lead in both of these high-volume and growing markets. Overall, the market for lead-acid batteries will grow from 83 GWh and $9.4 billion in 2011, to 165 GWh and $16.1 billion in 2016, CAGRs of 15% and 12%, respectively.

The AES project, located in Johnson City, New York, will help provide a more stable and efficient electrical grid for the state’s high-voltage transmission network.

Traditionally, grid frequency regulation, which is needed to balance power generation and consumption on the grid, is maintained by burning additional fossil fuels at power plants.

The AES project eliminates the need to burn fossil fuels and instead uses battery technology and new software that will provide the same regulation at a lower price.  This advanced frequency regulation capability will allow renewable electricity generation to play a larger role in New York’s transmission network.

The AES technology can help reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent compared to frequency regulation provided by fossil energy suppliers.

The AES project will include advanced lithium-ion battery cells from A123System, Inc., a leading supplier of lithium-ion batteries that provide grid stabilization more efficiently and with less environmental impact than existing resources. The contained battery and related electrical systems are assembled, tested and validated in an A123 manufacturing facility in Hopkinton, MA.

The maximum life of a lithium-ion battery today is up to 5 years and Hitachi claims the new batteries can last up to 10 years without needing to be replaced.

The method that Hitachi uses will extend the life of the manganese cathodes inside a cell, resulting in the batteries being able to achieve a lifespan of 10 years before needing to be replaced.

The additional benefit of this new technology is that it uses less cobalt than usual batteries. Since Hitachi has reduced the use of cobalt, which is a rare material, the new batteries will be less costly.

The batteries are expected to be used for industrial applications such as storing energy from wind power or powering construction gear.

[source: Pure Green Cars]

A team of researchers at MIT has announced that they’ve made significant progress on a technology that could lead to commercial development of lighter and more powerful lithium-air batteries.

Lithium-air batteries (also known as lithium-oxygen) are similar are similar in principle to the lithium-ion batteries that now dominate the field of portable electronics and are a leading contender for electric cars. But because lithium-air batteries replace the heavy conventional compounds in such batteries with a carbon-based air electrode and flow of air, the batteries themselves can be much lighter improving the range of electric cars.
In a paper published this week in the journal Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Yang Shao-Horn, an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering, along with some of her students and visiting professor Hubert Gasteiger, reported on a study showing that electrodes with gold or platinum as a catalyst show a much higher level of activity and thus a higher efficiency than simple carbon electrodes in these batteries. In addition, this new work sets the stage for further research that could lead to even better electrode materials, perhaps alloys of gold and platinum or other metals, or metallic oxides, and to less expensive alternatives.

However, as far as electric cars go, Shao-Horn says it is too early to predict how long it may take for this technology to reach commercialization. “It’s a very promising area, but there are many science and engineering challenges to be overcome,” she said, in an announcment, noting that if the research truly demonstrates two to three times the energy density of today’s lithium-ion batteries, the likely first applications will be in high-value portable electronics such as computers and cell phones; the technology would only trickle down to vehicles once costs were effectively reduced.

[source: Pure Green Cars, MIT]

In 2007, the same team led by materials science professor Yi Cui, developed silicon nanowire anode that could hold 10 times as much charge as conventional lithium-ion batteries.

By combining the new cathode with the previously developed silicon anode, the team created a battery with an initial discharge of 630 watt-hours per kilogram of active ingredients.

This represents an approximately 80 percent increase in the energy density over commercially available lithium-ion batteries, according to Stanford’s Cui, who was a coauthor of a paper describing the work published last month in Nano Letters.

The new battery combines a Li2S/mesoporous carbon composite cathode and a silicon nanowire anode.This new battery yields a theoretical specific energy of 1,550 Wh kg-1—four times that of the theoretical specific energy of existing lithium-ion batteries based on LiCoO2 cathodes and graphite anodes (~410 Wh kg-1). The team experimentally realized an initial discharge specific energy of 630 Wh kg-1 based on the mass of the active electrode materials.

This new technology is apparently safer, and it currently achieves 80 percent more capacity than lithium-ion batteries, but it’s nowhere near commercial launch with just 40 to 50 charge cycles.

To be competitive with lithium-ion batteries, the batteries developed at Stanford would have to operate for 300 to 500 charge cycles for consumer electronics applications and as many as 1,000 cycles for vehicle use.

Designed as a four-to-five seat hatchback, Nissan says the Leaf is not just for use as a specialty urban runabout, but rather, it was designed as an everyday vehicle – a “real car” whose 160-kilometer+ (100 mile) all-electric range meets the needs of 70% of the world’s motorists.

Nissan Leaf is powered by laminated compact lithium-ion batteries, which generate power output of over 90kW, while its electric motor delivers 80kW/280Nm.

Nissan plans to lease the battery for the upcoming Leaf EV for roughly $150 U.S. per month in addition to the cost of the car which will be in the $25-30,000 range.

The car has a top speed of over 140 km/h (87 mph).

The battery can be charged with 440 volt, 220 volt and 110 volt sources. With 440 volts, it can be charged to 80% capacity in about 30 minutes with a special quick charger that sends 440/480 volt direct current to the battery. With 220 volt, it can be charged in 4 hours, and in North America and Japan using standard household 110 volt outlets it can be charged in 8 hours.

Nissan Leaf’s frontal styling is characterized by a sharp, upright V-shaped design featuring long, up-slanting light-emitting diode (LED) headlights that employ a blue internal reflective design that announces, “This car is special.”  But the headlights do more than make a statement.  They are also designed to cleverly split and redirect airflow away from the door mirrors, thus reducing wind noise and drag.  And, the headlights provide yet one more benefit in that they consume about 50 percent of the electricity of conventional lamps, which helps Nissan Leaf to achieve its world-class range autonomy.

Through bright trim colors inside, Nissan Leaf creates a pleasing and stylish cabin environment.  An environmentally friendly “blue earth” color theme originates from the Aqua Globe body color of Nissan Leaf’s introductory model.  This theme is carried into the interior through blue dashboard highlights and instrument illumination.

While Nissan promises to deliver the Leaf to its first American customers in late 2010, it isn’t immediately clear where it will be made available, to whom, and how.

Commercial US production would begin in late 2012 at Nissan’s manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Nissan isn’t just dumping its sleek entry into the market — it’s also building a home charger with new partner AeroVironment and partnering with local, state and federal governments — both in the U.S. and abroad — on public charging stations.

On October 22nd, 2009, Nissan announced that it would be traveling across North America to 22 cities, 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Vancouver, Canada with the Leaf as part of their Zero Emission Tour.

Zero-emission mobility programs under the banner of the Renault-Nissan Alliance include partnerships with countries such as the UK and Portugal, local governments in the Japan and the USA, and other sectors, for a total of nearly 40 partnerships worldwide.

NISSAN LEAF Specs

Dimensions
Length: 4445 mm / 175.0 in.
Width: 1770 mm / 69.7 in.
Height : 1550 mm / 61.0 in.
Wheelbase: 2700 mm / 106.3 in.

Performance
Driving range over: 160km/100miles (US LA4 mode)
Max speed (km/h): over 140km/h (over 87 mph)

Motor
Type: AC motor
Max power (kW): 80kW
Max torque (Nm): 280Nm

Battery
Type: laminated lithium-ion battery
Total capacity (kWh): 24
Power output (kW): over 90
Energy density (Wh/kg): 140
Power density (kW/kg): 2.5
Number of modules: 48
Charging times: quick charger DC 50kW (0 to 80%): less than 30 min; home-use AC200V charger: less than 8 hrs
Battery layout: Under seat & floor