20 Years and 10,000 Charges? New Lithium Ion Battery Touts Big Numbers

The numbers say it all- The Japan-based company Eamex is claiming to have developed a lithium ion battery that could very well be a new standard for automobile batteries of any kind. The initial reports on them, coming from Eamex, is that they can be charged and discharged over 10,000 times, while lasting up to [...]

Measurable Progress? Better Place Touts $350 Million in Financing

Better Place, the California-based company proposing to set up a network of battery swap stations for electric vehicles, recently announced that it has raised $350 million in investor financing to help advance its plans.

Panasonic to Supply Nickel-Based Lithium-ion Batteries to Tesla

In what’s been a growing trend of alliances between automobile makers and electronics manufacturers, Panasonic and Tesla Motors have recently announced a deal in which both companies will work together to develop and produce next-generation battery cells for electric vehicles. With hybrid and all-electric vehicles becoming more common by the day, auto manufacturers worldwide are [...]

Federal Dollars Go To Advanced Battery Systems Plant in North Carolina

“If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future.” - President Obama
Recipients of $49 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the hybrid and [...]

GM Produces First Volt Battery Pack

Exactly three years since the day the Chevrolet Volt concept car debuted, GM yesterday manufactured the first advanced lithium-ion battery for a mass-marketed electric vehicle at GM’s Brownstown Battery Pack Assembly Plant.
“This is an important milestone for GM - and a critical step in bringing the Chevrolet Volt to market,” said GM Chairman and CEO [...]

New Year Comes With New Battery Recycling Laws for U.K.

When the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. in the U.K. on Dec. 31, manufacturers of automotive and industrial batteries in the U.K. will become responsible to arrange the collection, treatment and recycling of such batteries, free of charge, if requested by business end-users and final holders. The new regulations will also require battery manufacturers to register [...]

Energy Department Hands Out Millions to Sandia Battery Project

As recently displayed with the the battery being used in the Chevrolet Volt, rigorous testing is a vital part of the battery production process. One of the nation’s leaders in this type of testing, BATLab(Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory) at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., will now be able to ramp up its efforts as it has just become the recipient [...]

A123 Systems Strikes Deal With Leading OEM in China

2009 has been a busy year for Massachusetts-based battery maker A123 Systems. Having already landed a contract to supply Chrysler with lithium ion batteries, received nearly $250 million in grant money from the U.S. Gov’t, and launched a public stock offering; A123 Systems is now capping off this calendar year with the announcement that they’re [...]

Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Volt Battery Undergoes Rigorous Testing

With the future of GM resting largely upon the success of the Chevrolet Volt, and with the success of the Volt largely dependent on the development of a battery that can truly be classified as a ‘game-changer’; GM is doing its best to ensure prospective Volt owners that the batteries powering the new vehicle are [...]

Lithium-Ion Battery Boom: $878 million in 2010 to $8 Billion in Sales by 2015

“I have no doubt that every lithium-ion battery manufacturer with an operating factory and a quality product will have more customer demand than it can possibly satisfy. I also expect the emergence of more robust lithium-ion batteries to create entirely new classes of demand that we don’t even recognize today.”-John Petersen, former director of Axion [...]