A123 Systems Sees Future In Lithium-Ion Starter Batteries Key Benefits over Lead Acid: Cold Temperature Performance: Outstanding cold crank power that outperforms lead acid on industry standard tests Dynamic Charge Acceptance: Accepts high rates of charge and captures more energy from regenerative braking for improved fuel economy Lighter Weight: up to 60% lighter than comparable lead acid batteries Extensive Life Cycle: More than 4X longer life than lead acid provides lower total cost of ownership Reliability: Real-time data and diagnostics protect the battery and prevent premature failures, reducing service and warranty costs Product Specifications Capacity 60 Ah Cold Cranking (-18ºC) 900 A Weight 10 kg Voltage, Nominal 13.2 V Operating Temp -30ºC to 50ºC Storage Temp -40ºC to 60ºC Dimensions (LN3) 278 x 175 x 190 mm Primary Applications: Standard lead acid replacement for all vehicle types Enables mild hybridization for start-stop and micro hybrid battery systems Optimized 12V power net system for improved fuel economy (disable alternator under certain conditions)
So much talk about the 12V battery that I am starting to experience "12V battery anxiety", not just for BEV owners anymore! Yes, A123 now wears Chinese Uniforms!
Ah, yes, this is the company that sucked up about $129 million of Federal money in 2010 (our politicians made great speeches and took pictures at the groundbreaking) and went belly up in 2012, and now the Chinese are picking at the carcass. A123 Systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
With startups in new technology, you make bets and some you lose. As the point of the government's investments, there were several successful A123 product implementations, several US factories were involved and thousands of jobs. The fact that they were there pushed others to develop better designs and production processes. Plus there were other countries subsidizing the same industry. And other companies betting on A123 including Honeywell, GE, Chrysler, etc.
A123 was battery supplier for Fisker Karma, so both went into bankrupcy. Probably very expensive and I am not aware of any production vehicle with a Lithium-Ion SLI.
But wait there is more .... How do they do it? Volume, Volume VOLUME! JCI also is american and has a Lithium/Lead Acid battery for mild hybrids. It is the largest auto battery company in north america. It sells 12V batteries to all the major players in North America, and some in Europe and China. A123 probably would not have gone bankrupt, but the terms of the government money made them expand too fast. JCI offered a reasonable amount for A123, and would have kept it american. The chinese offered more, and the bankruptcy court decided screw the american tax payer, those a123 needed more chinese money. Now the chinese government may help a123 compete better and take over from American corporations. Thanks washington.
As long as the charging system is designed to work with and optimized for Li-ion battery chemistry, that type of battery should work fine for starting applications. The problem arises when Li-ion batteries are subbed for Pb-acid when the charging system is designed for Pb-acid. That combo guarantees short life for the Li-ion battery.
The chinese guy who bought up Fiskar bko debts also paid up the A123 bko debts. He's got a lot of dough and plans to put more of 'em on the road any time now. He's already paying for work on existing models to existing owners ... maybe 2,500 of 'em or so. It's kind of a funky phev system, and it'll never be Tesla ... but hey, folks buy jaguars ... and they can't be any less unreliable then that. .
A123 had superior technology. Unfortunately the US government gave them money with strings attached that foreced them to spend money too fast. They didn't have good manufacturing and testing expertise, which along with them building too much to serve fisker The US is better off here than with Nimh car batteries. Those were funded by MITI, and Sanyo and Panasonic monopolized the market, then panasonic ate Sanyo. All the jobs were in Japan, until China complained loud enough (trade barriers threat) and the Japanese built plants in china. GM back in the nimh days competed with JCI with its delco battery division, and scooped up the US nimh pattents, initially buying from panasonic and allowing them to use the patents, then selling them to texaco (now chevron) and burying them. Bad US government for not stopping GM, and bad GM/Texaco/chevron. GM eventually sold delco batteries to JCi, and JCI now makes its lead acid batteries. In Lithium batteries we have korean, Japanese, and Chinese companies competing with domestic JCI. Tesla has immense market power here, and can dictate its batteries will be built in the US (lowering its costs) versus say Ford that had lowered hybrid sales because the Japanese claimed they could not deliver nimh in the past. LG is now producing in the US, NEC/Nissan has been doing it for years, Ford is buying cells not whole packs from japan, Tesla should be making batteries in Nevada with partner Panasonic. The US program was bad for domestic battery companies (a123, JCI), but at least american workers and american produced lithium powered cars look like they are benefiting. The fact that the congress sided with the chinese on the bankruptcy proceedings against an american company in owning US developed and government funded intellectual property is a little troubling though.
Broadly speaking, when the U.S. government is depending on China to buy our treasury securities, then China's got a lot of leverage. This is presumably a major factor when the American government seems to favor foreign business interests. In a sane world, the ideal of living within our means would appeal across the political spectrum, and then we'd have latitude to take care of our own. But, fancy rhetoric aside, we've seen the reality that fiscal responsibility is the lowest priority on both sides of the aisle. This cannot end happily. Forgive me for drifting off topic, but I worry about this stuff.
these things are not going to be cheap and the underhood location (in most cars) is not optimal either.
Most cars have there cg forward, with the battery making this imbalance worse. redesigning the battery location to where the prius has it, helps balance the cars cg, and this is fine for lithium. Say A123 gets the batteries down to $400/kwh then the battery portion of say a 400 wh battery will only cost $160, say engineering and profit make the manufacturer charge $500 for the lithium option, that still isn't a bad choice compared to probably $200 toyota and mazda probably started charging for the sealed rear located batteries. Porsche Offers Lithium-Ion Battery, But Only For Starting The problem is A123 doesn't exactly have a quality reputation, and there are technical issues getting the battery working in the cold. Alternatively JCI is proposing this battery for new start stop designs. Micro Hybrid Lithium-Ion Battery Technology | Johnson Controls Inc. It allows the car manufacturers to have the battery in the same place as the non-start stop designs. There is a small inexpensive lead acid battery that should work well in the cold, dc/dc converters between the 12V lead acid and 48 V lithium. It should allow for more efficient 48v eps, air conditioning, charging while keeping around the lead acid for cold.
