Posted on 11/28/2007 4:12:21 AM PST by thackney
Exxon Mobil Corp. believes it has found an answer to a problem that has bedeviled the auto industry in recent years: using rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, like those found in cell phones and laptops, to power cars and trucks.
This weekend, at a conference in Anaheim, Calif., Exxon Mobil will unveil a super-thin plastic sheeting the company says can improve the power, safety and reliability of lithium-ion batteries for use in automobiles.
Exxon Mobil considers the film a breakthrough because it allows battery makers to build smaller and cheaper battery systems — removing key obstacles that have kept automakers from building hybrid and electric vehicles on a wide scale.
"That desire to use batteries that are more powerful and lighter is something that the auto companies have yearned for for years," said Jim Harris, senior vice president at Exxon Mobil Chemical Co., a Houston unit of the Irving-based energy giant.
Today, most vehicles have toaster-sized nickel-metal hydride batteries under the hood. But battery makers and auto manufacturers have begun turning their attention to lithium-ion batteries because they are smaller, lighter, able to hold a charge longer and have a higher energy density.
"It's the natural next step for advanced battery technology," said Brian Corbett, a spokesman for General Motors Corp., which is developing models like the Chevrolet Volt that incorporate lithium-ion batteries.
Safety issues First introduced by Sony in 1991, lithium-ion batteries were designed to help slim down portable electronics devices. But automakers have struggled to adapt them for vehicles because of operational limitations, high costs and safety issues.
Last year, 6 million Sony lithium-ion batteries in Dell and Apple notebook computers were recalled because of overheating that in some instances resulted in fires.
That recall gave a boost to companies working on improving lithium-ion batteries, including Exxon Mobil Chemical, which has 20 years of experience in the field, and Boston-based Optodot Corp., which has also developed a separator film for lithium-ion batteries.
Separator films are membranes that keep the battery's positive and negative fields, which are wrapped in a jelly-roll configuration, from touching.
Exxon Mobil developed its film with Japanese affiliate Tonen Chemical. Invented in research labs at Exxon Mobil's Baytown complex, the film is the first to squeeze multiple layers of plastic into a single white sheet the width of a human hair.
The added layers enable the batteries to run at higher temperatures — and produce more power — while still protecting them from overheating, company officials said. It also incorporates features that cause it to shut down if there is a short circuit in the battery.
Exxon Mobil sees the separator film technology as more than just a chance to green up its image. Company officials said there is a legitimate business motive for pursuing the technology.
"Clearly, hybrid and electric vehicles are going to play a role in the future, and we want to be a part of that," Harris said.
This year, Americans will buy 354,000 hybrid vehicles, accounting for about 2 percent of total U.S. auto sales, according to J.D. Power and Associates in Troy, Mich. By 2012, hybrid sales will grow to 1 million, or nearly 6 percent of the market, the firm projects.
A hybrid, like the Toyota Prius, combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor to achieve better fuel economy and lower emissions than vehicles with only a traditional internal combustion engine.
But hybrids still cost roughly $3,000 more than their gas-powered counterparts, and can weigh up to 900 pounds more, leading to sluggish performance.
More practical If Exxon's film separator can reduce the costs and weight of battery systems, then hybrids could become more than a niche market, said Erich Merkle, auto analyst with IRN, an industry research firm in Grand Rapids, Mich.
"Quite honestly, that's the type of thing that's going to make hybrids much more practical, because right now there's some real economic factors that hold hybrid sales back," he said.
Exxon Mobil is working with the leading battery manufacturers to incorporate its film separator technology, Harris said. To date, the company has only produced test batches of the film but has the capability to begin mass production through its affiliate in Japan, he said.
Among the biggest lithium-ion battery manufacturers are Japan's Sony, South Korea's Samsung and Johnson Controls in Milwaukee, Wis.
But when asked if Exxon Mobil had contracts with those companies, Harris sidestepped, promising only that there is more news to come.
>> You still haven’t addressed the basic issue...its the chemicals that contain the ions that need to be greater in size
Well, it IS “ABC” (All About Chemistry).
Just last night I was reading an article in Electronic Design News explaining the new markets for LiIon batteries (power tools, automotive); the difference in design constraints for automotive batteries (safety, not capacity, is paramount); and how new battery chemistries were achieving this (e.g. cobalt is a problem, and newer technologies found a way around using cobalt).
I found the same article online; if you’re technically inclined you may enjoy reading about it.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6501082.html?text=battery+chemistry
Once this comes out next year (if it does), then we'll find out what's wrong with it and what took so long.
Just like an internal combustion engine.
Check the story on the new thread I posted to you...........
>> I could have sworn mine was Lead-Acid
Your regular old vehicle — you know, the one that carried you to the “cathose” for your bonding sessions :-0 — prolly DOES have a lead-acid battery.
They must have been talking about “electric” vehicles.
LOL!!!!......................
We all know that would NEVER happen with a car that carries a tank full of volatile liquid.
Awesome news. Good for the environment, good for business, good for the consumer. Stupid PowerPoint slides from a fat, bearded liberal? Nope. Pissing and moaning from insane hyperenvironmentalists? Nope. Good ol’ American business know-how and scientific ingenuity? Ding, ding, ding.
I’m not surprised to see ExxonMobil investing heavily in research and development - they have quite a bit of money to invest and diversifying their energy offerings is always a good business move for a company of their size.
The amount of energy captured would be negligible. In full sunlight the best available solar panels now, sized to cover a car, would only deliver a few hundred watts and even at 100% efficiency could not produce more than a couple of thousand watts, so it would take weeks to fully charge a car's batteries that way. Even parking all day in full sunlight would not add more than a couple of miles to the vehicle's range.
They're making that claim about the battery type, not the battery size.
No, it’s the Rockefellers. Everyone knows you can’t have a good conspiracy without a Rockefeller involved.
I thought so too, but the Prius doesn’t have “toaster-sized” batteries, the individual cells are rectangular d-cells, put together into a rather large flat box (the previous Prius had round d-cells).
Have any car companies started using Nickel Metal Hydride for their 12-volt auxillary battery?
Oh have faith, that problems like that will be worked out in advance..........Geeesh..........
The fastest sports car available in the 0-60 race is an all electric car.
That is not what is said. They are using the technology of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, like those found in cell phones and laptops. This will reduce the size of battery required to power a vehicle. They are not saying they will be the same size as a laptop.
>> I thought so too, but the Prius doesn’t have “toaster-sized” batteries
Then maybe it was just your typical “journalistic license”. They don’t need no stinkin’ fact-checking...
>> the individual cells are rectangular d-cells, put together into a rather large flat box (the previous Prius had round d-cells).
That’s interesting! If you ignore the warning and tear apart just about any NiMH “battery pack” (like from a cordless power tool) you find round cells — the individual cells are commercial off-the-shelf items that come from not-too-many manufacturers, and are assembled into proprietary “battery packs”.
Just a guess, but it sounds to me like Toyota took the same route — assemble COTS cells into a proprietary battery pack — rather than do battery R&D themselves, to get the car to market quicker.
>> Awesome news. Good for the environment, good for business, good for the consumer. Stupid PowerPoint slides from a fat, bearded liberal? Nope. Pissing and moaning from insane hyperenvironmentalists? Nope. Good ol’ American business know-how and scientific ingenuity?
Agreed.
You may be interested in this article from OpinionJournal:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110010913
Sounds like nothing more than a fancy capacitor.
Meh - only almost 2 years or so behind Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) and Nihon:
Tokyo, Feb 6, 2006 (JCN) - Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), the manufacturer of Subaru vehicles, announced on February 6 that it has signed a five-year agreement to license its lithium ion capacity technology to Nihon Micro Coating.
Under the license agreement, Nihon Micro Coating will nonexclusively be able to develop, prototype, manufacture, use, and market lithium ion capacitors based on FHI’s capacity that uses its proprietary pre-doping technology to occlude lithium ions on a negative electrode to significantly increase the capacitor’s energy density.
Known for its expertise in coating, Nihon Micro Coating has manufactured lithium ion capacitor electrodes for FHI since 2002.
Given that lithium ion capacitors will have potential to be deployed in hybrid vehicles and replace automobile lead batteries, as well as find applications in consumer devices and industrial equipment, Nihon Micro Coating will work on the manufacturing of capacitor cells and the commercially producing lithium ion capacitors. In the meantime, FHI will also work with other companies to further research lithium ion capacitors.
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