Batteries and energy storage

Norwegian automaker Think plans to deliver 15 of its Think City cars to Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana today.

Think CEO Barry Engle is expected to hand over the vehicles at Fort Harrison State Park as part of a ceremony to promote the all-electric vehicle.

Indiana will be the first U.S. customer, as part of the state's Project Plug-In initiative, to drive U.S.-assembled versions of the Think City, and it's obvious why.

Think's U.S. assembly plant happens to be in Elkhart, Indiana. And while not all the City's parts are "Made … Read more

When it comes to buses, a group of researchers say two batteries based on different technology are better than one large battery.

The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) Hybrid Transit Bus project team, which GE scientists are a part of, has built a hybrid electric bus by loading it with one high-power lithium battery and one high-energy density sodium battery, GE Global Research, GE's research arm, announced today.

Lithium batteries can provide bursts of power, but don't have much capacity. Sodium batteries, meanwhile, can store more energy, but can't provide those bursts of power necessary to propel something … Read more

Look at who's logging supercomputing time these days and you are likely to get a glimpse of some major innovations on the horizon.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced today it has just granted the largest award ever of the department's supercomputing time through it's Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program, now in it's sixth year.

The large award, a total of 1.7 billion hours distributed over 57 projects, was partially attributed to the fact that the Energy Department has been expanding its supercomputing capacity, and, therefore, simply has the means to grant more time. But it also reflects a growing interest in using computer modeling now that it has increased in sophistication, according to the Energy Department.

The INCITE program is somewhat like the lottery in that everyone has a chance. The Energy Department has an open application process in which any scientist, whether working in the academic or commercial world, is welcome to submit a request to win supercomputing hours, and it's not restricted to energy-related science.

The winning hours are divided between two supercomputers, the IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory aka "Intrepid," and the Cray XT5 supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory aka "Jaguar," which recently lost its first place status to China's Tianhe-1A as the world's most powerful supercomputer.

Among these latest 57 recipients, are large companies like Boeing and General Electric that are going to use the time for sophisticated modeling of potential designs for jet engines and wind turbines, respectively. There are also the climate change and earthquake prediction simulation projects, as one might expect.

Most interesting to the energy sector perhaps is the Lithium/Air Battery Project led by Jack Wells, group leader of the Computational Nanotechnology Group at the Center for Engineering Science Advanced Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His team will be running simulations of lithium/air battery reactions. A successful version of the air battery would be capable of storing 10 times the amount of energy as a lithium ion battery of the same weight. Such a battery might make electric cars more competitive compared to gas-powered cars since it would offer greater driving range on a single charge than current models.… Read more

This year's Cleantech Open 2010 Business Competition winner, announced last week, is Puralytics, a company developing photochemical water purification products.

Since 2006, the Cleantech Open has offered a venue for competition among green tech start-up companies looking for funding. Winning alumni of the contest include Cool Earth Solar, Green Volts, and Micromidas.

This year's winner, Puralytics, is an Oregon-based start-up that uses natural sunlight or LED lighting as the catalysts to remove pathogens, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals from waste water. Its processes under development have applications for both industrial manufacturing facilities and small rural communities. Puralytics will receive $250,… Read more

Automaker Think plans to introduce its all-electric Think City car in mid-2011 at a price of $34,000 before incentives, the company's chief marketing officer announced via a Monday interview with blog PluginCars.com.

Think CMO Michael Lock said he is under no illusions about the company's place in the U.S. car market. He said Think's management does not expect the average American family to replace its combustion engine car with a small electric vehicle. It does believe, however, that the urban family will consider buying the Think City as a second car, with which to … Read more

Fuel cell company Lilliputian Systems today announced an investment and manufacturing deal with Intel, a step toward bringing a handheld fuel cell charger for gadgets to market.

Intel Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in Wilmington, Mass.-based Lilliputian and will produce silicon wafers for its first planned fuel cell. The portable fuel cell, about the size of a deck of cards and powered by butane cartridges, can charge small electronics, such as smartphones, through a USB connection.

By the end of this year, Lilliputian plans to announce partners which will distribute the portable fuel cell charger, called the USB … Read more

In the geeky world of energy storage, there are well-understood limitations to plain old batteries and to ultracapacitors, devices able to store relatively little energy but also deliver big bursts of power.

Energy storage company Ioxus on Monday plans to announce a hybrid storage device that combines the attributes of an ultracapacitor with a lithium-ion battery. In the first quarter of next year, it plans to make available a second generation of the device, which could potentially be used in auto applications, according to Ioxus CEO Mark McGough.

Its first hybrid will store more than twice the energy of traditional … Read more

A General Motors patent application addresses one of the downsides of electric vehicles--battery degradation--with a system that would let technicians refurbish a lithium ion car battery.

The patent application, submitted a year ago and spotted by GM-Volt.com, would be something like the electric auto equivalent of scheduled maintenance.

After several years of driving, the lithium ion batteries would either be refurbished on site or the battery pack would be swapped out. Even if a fresh battery pack is installed, GM's patent application argues that refreshing used batteries without totally dismantling them can save on costs significantly.

"The … Read more

Japanese electronics giant and battery manufacturer Panasonic has invested $30 million in Tesla Motors, the U.S. automaker best-known for its all-electric luxury sports car, both companies announced Thursday.

Per the terms of the deal, Panasonic, which already has a working relationship with Tesla through their battery pack collaboration, purchased Tesla common stock at $21.15 per share, acquiring approximately a 2 percent stake in the company.

Tesla, which also builds power trains for use in electric vehicles in addition to manufacturing cars, has previously used battery components from a variety of companies. But the company announced Thursday that it &… Read more