Lithium Batteries for Hybrid Cars

"The first production car to use lithium-ion batteries was the Toyota Vitz CVT 4, a small car sold only in Japan. It used a four-cell, 12 ampere-hour lithium-ion battery pack to power its electric accessories and restart the engine after idle stop."

"Take Toyota, which builds the lion’s share of hybrid vehicles globally. In 2005 it purchased General Motors’ share of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (which manufactures Subarus)—in part, analysts suggest, to get Fuji’s share of its joint venture with Tokyo Electric Power to develop automotive lithium batteries. Subaru has already announced that in 2009 it will build and sell the R1e, an electric version of its tiny R1 urban car that will use lithium-ion batteries. Mitsubishi Motors, in Tokyo, will do much the same with its “i†urban car, most likely using batteries from Litcel, its joint venture with TDK Corp.

Analysts estimate the price premium for today’s hybrids at roughly US $5000, some $3000 of which goes to cover the cost of a NiMH battery pack. At today’s gasoline and electricity prices, you’d need six to 10 years of operation to pay it back. But the analysts also say the hybrid premium could fall to $2000 in five years ($1200 or more of it the cost of lithium-ion batteries), which would allow for a three-year payback.

The payback period could be longer for a plug-in hybrid, because it would have larger, costlier batteries—though fuel mileage is hard to calculate. It all depends on how much of the mileage is covered in electric mode, with power taken from the grid, and how much in gasoline mode."


http://spectrum.ieee.org/print/4848