EnerDel Says Its New Lithium Battery Tested Positive: For Increased Power and Energy
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
A lithium battery pack that will cost less than the current batteries in a Toyota Prius while providing twice the energy and power has been developed by battery-maker EnerDel.
The company says the battery's performance has been validated in independent tests by the Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research.
EnerDel is making the formal announcement this morning at its production facility in Indianapolis.
In a statement provided to Green Car Advisor, the company, co-owned by Ener1 Inc. and Delphi Corp., said the 1,000 watt-hour pack's lithium-titanate chemistry enables it to operate, sans external cooling system, without the heat build-up that can cause conventional lithium ion batteries to overheat and, in extreme circumstances, catch fire. Eliminating the cooling system makes the battery system smaller, lighter and less expensive.
While the price, size, power and energy claims would seem to move EnerDel's battery into the front of the pack in the race to come up with lightweight, affordable power for conventional gas-electric hybrids, the company seems happiest about the safety element of the tests.
"The principal outcome of this test is the validation of EnerDel's specific battery chemistry, which we believe is the safest of any approaching the automotive market today," said chief executive Ulrik Grape.
The company hasn't established a market price for the battery, but Grape said it "is expected to cost significantly less" than a nickel-metal hydride battery.
EnerDel said its battery pack can be reduced to half the size and weight of the nickel-metal hydride batteries presently used by Toyota for its popular Prius hybrid while providing the same or improved performance.
Independent testing by researchers at Argonne, a laboratory run by the University of Chicago and funded by the Department of Energy, showed the EnerDel pack demonstrated twice the usable energy as the stock Prius battery pack, provided twice the power and was three times more efficient in delivering the battery's energy to the electric motor.
EnerDel's lithium titanate chemistry is suited to batteries designed for high power applications, such as conventional gas-electric hybrids, in which the battery must provide substantial amounts of electricity quickly but for relatively short periods.
The company has a battery development and supply contract with Norwegian electric-car maker Think Global and uses a manganese oxide chemistry for that energy intensive application.
Battery electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrids with extended all-electric range, such as the Chevrolet Volt concept, demand long, steady supplies of electricity punctuated by occasional bursts of extra power when demanded for acceleration.
EnerDel is hosting a conference call at 11 a.m. Eastern Dayight Time (8 a.m. on the West Coast) this morning to discuss the tests and is providing access to a webcast of the event via its parent company's corporate website.
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- John O'Dell April 24, 2008, 5:00 AM
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- Batteries, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric
I rip you guys. So i'll applaud you as well.
Thanks for being correct and stating that a battery failure results in a fire. As opposed to lesser journalists that like to hype things up, and would say,the batteries EXPLODE.
opfreak -- Thanks. 'preciate both the applause AND the rips.
It's when there's no one around to question and criticize what we do that the sloppiest reporting gets done.