Tag Archives for Li-ionBattery
Is the advanced battery market already too crowded?
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Daily
It seems like not a day goes by that we don’t hear about some battery company expanding its operation by opening more plants to produce hundreds of thousands of advanced batteries. In the last year alone, we heard reports like this from LG Chem, Johnson Control-Saft, EnerDel, A123 Systems, Nissan, Ford and more. So, if every company is expanding battery production at record rates while few electric cars exist on the roadways, where are all of these batteries going? For now, the simple answer is, nowhere, really.
Most of the companies listed above will begin to slowly ramp up battery production over the next two years. As all of the companies reach full capacity, says Ward’s Dave Zoia, chances are high that there will be way too many batteries and not enough electric vehicles (EVs) to use them. The battery producers’ thought process is quite simple: get ahead of the competition as soon as possible because the EV market is about to explode. But if we think about it for a moment and wonder what would happen if EVs don’t take off, the result would be disastrous. With billions invested into the industry and companies devoting everything they’ve got into EV battery production, a failing EV market would have a profound impact felt everywhere. If this disaster occurs, where would we place the blame? On the governments, of course. After all, they are the ones that dished out billions to convince battery makers to venture into this uncertain, unproven market, right?
Photos by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: Ward's Auto]
Is the advanced battery market already too crowded? originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
With new plants in China and Europe, EnerDel to triple li-ion production by end of 2011
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants, Europe/EU, China
EnerDel Inc. announced plans to open li-ion battery plants in both China and Europe in an effort to triple its battery production by the end of 2011 and meet the expected demand of new partnerships. Though the company currently holds deals with just two automakers (Think and Volvo), it plans to announce two additional customers by the end of the year, one hailing from Europe and the other from Asia.
From building electrodes and cells on up to assembling fully functioning battery packs, EnerDel will do it all in-house at its future Chinese plant. Once completed, this facility should have enough capacity to produce 20,000 battery packs per year. The European plant will operate in a different way. This plant will take cells built at another location and assemble them into fully-functional battery packs. The European site is also expected to have an annual capacity of 40,000 packs by the end of next year. Both sites should be functional by the end of 2011.
Once these new plants are completed, EnerDel will be able to produce 60,000 packs per year around the world, three times its current output. Back in January, EnerDel began to expand its U.S. operations by investing $237 million to open a new plant in Indiana.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]
With new plants in China and Europe, EnerDel to triple li-ion production by end of 2011 originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 29 May 2010 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
