According to some auto industry estimates, electric vehicle (EV) batteries that can no longer charge to approximately 80 percent of their original capacity may be candidates for replacement. Duke Energy and ITOCHU believe batteries that become unsuitable for use in EVs could live on in other applications. Reuse possibilities for these batteries include providing a supplemental home energy supply, storing renewable power and providing a fast-charging power source for EVs.

To determine the technical feasibility and commercial viability of these second-life applications, Duke Energy and ITOCHU will first gather and analyze data from at least 2,000 kilowatt-hours of Ener1 lithium ion batteries deployed in a fleet of approximately 80 Th!nk plug-in EVs. Initial testing will occur in Duke Energy’s Indiana service territory.

Duke Energy and ITOCHU’s pilot program builds upon their involvement in Project Plug-IN, a large-scale public/private EV initiative based in Indianapolis.

The companies will assess how EV batteries perform in their “second lives,” including stationary applications in homes, neighborhoods and commercial buildings. This pilot project will help Duke Energy and ITOCHU validate potential business models for future commercialization. In addition, the companies believe increasing the total lifetime value of batteries through second-life applications could help reduce initial battery cost.

Duke Energy will provide engineering design support for battery installations, as well as supply test sites and personnel. ITOCHU will provide its stationary energy storage infrastructure expertise to enable the reuse of automotive batteries.

Both companies have served in leadership roles as the world prepares for the potential widespread adoption of EVs.

Duke Energy has been working closely with auto manufacturers, charging infrastructure companies, other electric utilities and the Electric Drive Transportation Association for several years to understand and influence the development of the EV customer experience, as well as impacts to the power grid.

In January 2010, ITOCHU became the first international board member of the Energy Systems Network, the Indianapolis-based organization behind Project Plug-IN. In May 2010, ITOCHU launched the Green Crossover Project in the Japanese city of Tsukuba. The purpose of this initiative is to develop an EV battery reuse business model; enhance energy management; and build the infrastructure necessary to enable EV quick-charging and streamlined customer billing transactions.

Source: Duke Energy

“This contract is significant for us because it recognizes that Eltek Valere’s chargers meet the product and quality requirements for mainstream electric vehicle manufacturers,” said Colin Howe, Eltek Valere’s CEO. “This is a major step in building trust with future customers. The battery charger is a key part of what makes an electric car green, and we can produce the compact, energy efficient and competitive chargers customers need.”

The EV Powercharger 3000 provides an industry-leading efficiency up to 96 percent, minimizing heat generation, charge time, lowering consumer charging costs and maximizing mileage. The design can be adapted to different battery technologies and ensures fast charging while still maintaining optimal battery life. Its compact design and thermal performance will fit into any free space in an electrical or plug-in hybrid vehicle.

About Eltek Valere

Eltek Valere is a technology leader developing and marketing high-efficiency (HE) power solutions for telecom and industrial applications. The company also has a growing business in renewable markets, such as photovoltaic grid inverters and chargers for electric vehicles. Headquartered in Drammen, Norway, the company’s global operations employs approximately 2,200 people, and generated revenue of NOK 3.1 billion in 2009. More information is at http://www.eltekvalere.com.

Source Eltek Valere Press Release

Fraunhofer wheel hub motor on "freccO" demo vehicle

Battery systems, chargers, wheel hub motors – in the cars of the future, what will the components look like, and how will they interact with each other? Fraunhofer researchers are engineering the parts for electric vehicles and testing them on »Frecc0«, their demonstration vehicle. In a multi-disciplinary collaborative effort, 33 Fraunhofer institutes are working together on the diversity of issues that surround »electromobility.« The goal is to help companies speed up their pace of innovation.

A lot’s going to change with the transition to electric cars: The automotive industry will no longer manufacture certain parts for vehicles, yet new ones will take their place instead. Utility companies will need modified business models and fee structures for supplying electricity to vehicles. In Germany, electromobility must be expedited on a systematic and holistic basis, and must be seen from the perspective of a complex system. Fraunhofer is working on all angles of electromobility: Designs, system integration, energy generation and distribution, storage technologies and a whole lot more. The expertise is uniquely available at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and bundled into their consortium »Fraunhofer System Research on Electromobility,« as Professor Ulrich Buller, Senior Vice President for Research Planning, points out. The goal of the Fraunhofer researchers is to develop prototypes for hybrid and electric vehicles, in order to support the German automotive industry as it makes the crossover to electromobility. The German federal ministry for education and research BMBF is funding these plans with a total of 44 million euro from Economic Stimulus Programs I and II.

Demonstration vehicle as scientific test platform

 The researchers in the group project are therefore not only working on new parts, but also on an electrically operated demonstration model, the »Frecc0«, which is the abbreviation for »Fraunhofer e-concept car Type 0«. Currently under construction, this vehicle serves as a scientific integration platform and will indeed demonstrate the system competency of Fraunhofer institutes. Automobile manufacturers and suppliers can also use the »Frecc0« to test new components jointly with the Fraunhofer institutes starting in 2011. The basis is an existing car: The new Artega GT from Artega Automobil GmbH provides an ideal platform for the integration of Fraunhofer components. For example, researchers can test how a crash-proof battery system, a wheel hub motor and a battery charger behave in the car as a total system.

Networked research on the battery system

The experts from eleven Fraunhofer institutes are working at full speed on the battery system: It’s no easy task, because the batteries and electrical systems in the vehicle are subject to the toughest standards. They must be safe, durable and efficient. And the driver must be able to tell at any time how much farther he can get before the battery needs a recharge. He also wants to know about traffic hold-ups so that, if necessary, he has enough time to find a service station. Whereas it is easy to determine the filling level of a gas-powered vehicle, this is not so easy with the battery of an electric car. A lithium-ion battery system mostly consists of several hundred cells, and they do not always run down at an equal pace. And if isolated cells break down or no longer deliver the intended capacity, then the entire battery may be affected.
To counter these problems, elaborate, cross-networked battery management systems are used, as well as a higher-level energy management system. Researchers are developing such a system, which until now, has only existed in prototypes – for stationary battery systems, at that. Project manager Dr. Matthias Vetter of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, who is coordinating the plan, explains the basic principle this way: »Within fractions of seconds, the electronics measure the line-to-line current, the single cell voltage and the temperature of each cell, and from this determine their state of charge and state of health. This way, a determination can be made for each cell on the threat of overload, excessive discharge, overheating or premature aging.«

One challenge that scientists face is being able to determine reliable values during continuous operation. For the most part, the data cannot be captured here in the quality required. One has to draw conclusions regarding the actual measured values and internal conditions – like state of charge and state of health – based on defective measurements. Vetter explains this complex car battery system: »It contains two strings, each with eight modules of twelve cells. For controlling, a total of 16 interlinked battery management systems are used. They communicate with an energy management system integrated into the battery pack via a databus widely used throughout the automotive industry – a CAN (Controller Area Network). For example, the system can equalize differing charge statuses of the cells, and thus always provide maximum capacity and energy. At the same time, it can also issue forecasts.« The electronics also measure the onward and reverse flow temperatures of the attached cooling circuit. On the one hand, the pump should ensure that no overheating occurs; on the other hand, it should consume as little energy as possible itself. To do so, the system also controls the cooling circuit by means of a model-based regulator, thus optimizing energy consumption, lowering peak temperatures, and increasing reliability.

At the same time, the system takes over communication with the vehicle. For instance, it submits forecast reports on distances and threshold values, both for drive control as well as for charging operations. In addition, it monitors itself to determine if the desired power violates critical current and voltage limits. Then, at any time, the driver can read from the instrument panel how far he needs to drive until the battery has to be recharged.

Even in an accident, the system takes precautions: Through its circuit breaker, the higher level energy management is capable of shutting down the battery either in its entirety, or just line-by-line. This could be necessary if individual cells overheat, suffer an internal short circuit or have gone completely dead. Even in the event of an accident, safeguards must be taken to make sure the car’s body is not exposed to any live voltage, so that emergency rescue squads can open the car without risk. This is guaranteed by the appropriate sensors.

The scientists bring in their expertise – from designing the battery system to safety tests; from the connection technology through to recycling. Through shared efforts, it is possible to rapidly accelerate research projects, and swiftly usher the results to market-ready condition. Because if German industry intends to hold its ground against the international competition, it has to move its pace of innovation to the fast track.

For more information on their research projects, visit their website.

Such metals, needed to make key components for wind turbines and photovoltaics to the battery packs of hybrid cars, fuel cells and energy efficient lighting systems, exist in nature in relatively small supplies or in discreet geographical locations.

Yet despite concern among the clean tech industry over scarcity and high prices, only around one per cent of these crucial high-tech metals are recycled, with the rest discarded and thrown away at the end of a product’s life.

Unless future end-of-life recycling rates are dramatically stepped up these critical, specialty and rare earth metals could become “essentially unavailable for use in modern technology”, warn experts.

These are among the preliminary findings of a new report entitled Metals Recycling Rates to be issued by the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The report, the final version of which is to be published later in the year, also underlines the big energy and climate change gains that could be achieved if greater end-of-life recycling rates of more commonly known metals were achieved.

Metals such as iron and steel, copper, aluminum, lead and tin enjoy recycling rates of between 25 per cent and 75 per cent globally, with much lower rates in some developing economies.

Boosting those further through better collection systems and recycling infrastructure, especially in developing countries, could save millions if not billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions while also generating potentially significant numbers of green jobs.

This is because recycling metals is between two and ten times more energy efficient than smelting the metals from virgin ores, says the report.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: “Urgent action is now clearly needed to sustainably manage the supplies and flows of these specialty metals given their crucial role in the future health, penetration and competitiveness of a modern high-tech, resource-efficient Green Economy”.

“Boosting end-of-life recycling rates not only offers a path to enhancing those supplies and keeping metal prices down, but can also generate new kinds of employment while ensuring the longevity of the mines and the stocks found in nature,” he added.

“Meanwhile, improving the recycling rates of common, mass-produced metals such as copper and steel could also play an important part in meeting climate change targets and keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees C by 2050. There is currently a gap between the ambition of nations and the science amounting to several gigatonnes of CO2. Metals recycling could play a part in helping to bridge that gap,” said Mr Steiner.

Also launched today was another final report called Metals in Society. The two reports, presented during a meeting of the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development in New York, are part of six being prepared on metals by the Panel.

The Panel is co-chaired by Drs Ashok Kosla from India and Ernst von Weizsacker of Germany and its Working Group on metals is chaired by Thomas Graedel, professor of Industrial Ecology at Yale University.

Professor Graedel said: “One of the phenomena of our modern, industrial age is that increasingly metal stocks are “above ground” in structures such as buildings and ships and products from cell phones to personal computers.”

“For example around 240 kg of copper per person in the United States is now “above ground” and the global total could increase three to nine fold over the coming years given anticipated development patterns,” he said.

“Yet these above ground supplies of both common and specialty metals represent an extraordinary resource for sustainable development not only in terms of supplies but also the opportunity for reducing energy demand while curbing pollution, including rising greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.

Key Findings from Metals in Society and Preliminary Ones from Metals Recycling

• The amount of steel per person in the United States is now 11 to 12 tonnes and in China it is 1.5 tonnes
• World-wide stocks of metals in society have grown such that there is enough copper “above ground” equal to 50 kg per person.
• Since 1932, the amount of copper per person in the United States has grown from 73 kg to close to 240 kg now.
• If this pattern is followed by all countries, the amount of copper and other metals in structures and products would be three to nine times today’s levels.
• The lifetime of copper in buildings is 25 to 40 years whereas in PCs and mobile phones, the in-service lifetime of the metal is less than five years
• For many technology or specialist metals like indium and rhodium, more than 80 per cent of all such metals ever extracted from natural resources have been mined in just the past three decades
• Global demand for metals like copper and aluminum has doubled in the past 20 years
• Lack of adequate recycling infrastructure for WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) in most parts of the world causes total losses of copper and other valuable metals like gold, silver and palladium.

Producing metals from recycled sources has multiple Green Economy benefits when compared with producing and using primary metals from mines.

These include reduced impacts on the environment including water resources and biodiversity, reduced energy requirements and hence cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, and an opportunity to create new jobs and livelihoods.

Other considerations concern the fact that some of these metals deposits and active mines are confined to certain geographical locations. For example lithium in South America and rare earth metals in China.

Other Key Facts

• Current global steel production uses 1.3 billion tonnes of steel annually, which cause 2.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
• “Secondary”, reclaimed steel causes 75 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions.
• Emissions from recycled aluminum are about 12 times lower that primary aluminum production.
• Currently only a few metals, such as iron and platinum, have end-of-life recycling rates of 50 per cent or above.
• For each 100 million tonnes of primary steel substituted by secondary or recycled steel, a saving of around 150 million tonnes of CO2 is possible.

The reports cites palladium as an example of the around eight precious metals studied including gold and silver.

Palladium is used in car catalysts, industrial catalysts, and areas such as dentistry and jewelry.

• Currently recycling rates can be as high as up to 90 per cent in industrial applications, with more moderate rates in automotive uses where rates are around 50 to 55 per cent.
• However, in electronic applications recycling rates are just between five and ten per cent, in part because less than 10 per cent of consumer cell phones are recycled properly.

The researchers cite indium as one of close to 40 specialty metals, including rare earth metals, studied.Indium is used in semiconductors, energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs), advanced medical imaging and photovoltaics. The report underlines that such metals are crucial for sustainable, clean technologies like renewable energy and advanced batteries.

• Indium is a metal found in low concentrations in nature and as a by-product of zinc ores.
• Strong growth in gross demand is predicted for indium: from around 1,200 tonnes (2010) to around 2,600 tonnes (2020).
• Current recycling rates are thought to be below one per cent, with a similar story for other specialty metals.
• Other specialty metals include tellurium and selenium for high efficiency solar cells, neodymium and dysprosium for wind turbine magnets, lanthanum for hybrid vehicle batteries and gallium for LEDs.

The award to Planar Energy, announced in Washington, D.C., today by Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu at a Recovery Act Cabinet meeting, will support the company’s development of solid-state, high capacity secondary lithium batteries targeted at transportation scale electrical power-storage applications.

“With our breakthrough technology, which couples a fundamental electrolyte materials innovation with our proprietary low-cost, chemical deposition platform and manufacturing process, Planar Energy is creating scalable, environmentally friendly and cost-effective technology that will enable the U.S. transportation industry to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reestablish U.S. leadership in energy storage,” said President and CEO Scott Faris.

He added that the DOE award will enable Planar Energy to accelerate the development and commercialization of all solid-state lithium batteries, which will encourage the adoption of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles.

Earlier this month, Planar Energy was one of four companies selected to collaborate in a DOE research-and-development initiative at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to address energy-storage challenges presented by lithium-based batteries.

About Planar Energy

Planar Energy was established in Orlando, Fla., in 2007. It was spun out of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., by Princeton, N.J.-based Battelle Ventures and its Knoxville, Tenn.-based affiliate fund, Innovation Valley Partners (IVP). In 2008, Planar Energy identified a new deposition technology, Streaming Protocol for Electroless Electrochemical Deposition, or SPEED, a high-speed, roll-to-roll deposition process for large-format and high-power ceramic-like batteries. SPEED is dramatically more flexible and scalable than existing methods, allowing Planar Energy to make self-assembled, nano-structured electrolyte and electrode materials with superior chemistries and to overcome production barriers to low-cost solid-state batteries. With the SPEED process, Planar Energy’s solid-state electrolyte materials are deposited as thin films directly on active layers in the battery. This direct film deposition of the film allows building stacks of film on top of each other, eliminating the historic process of having to deposit films on separate substrates and then mechanically join them. In March 2010, University of Central Florida researchers independently confirmed that the company’s new generation of solid-state electrolytes have ionic conductivity metrics comparable to liquid electrolytes used in traditional chemical batteries For more information, visit www.planarenergy.com .

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed, fabricated and demonstrated a PHEV traction drive power electronics system that provides significant mobile power generation and vehicle-to-grid support capabilities.

“The new technology eliminates the separate charging mechanism typically used in PHEVs, reducing both cost and volume under the hood,” said Gui-Jia Su of ORNL’s Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center. “The PHEV’s traction drive system is used to charge the battery, power the vehicle and enable its mobile energy source capabilities.”

Providing more power than typical freestanding portable generators, the PHEV can be used in emergency situations such as power outages and roadside breakdowns or leisure occasions such as camping. Day-to-day, the PHEV can be used to power homes or businesses or supply power to the grid when power load is high, according to Su.

The charging system concept, which is market ready, could also be used to enhance the voltage stability of the grid by providing reactive power, Su said.

The Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center is DOE’s broad-based research center helping lead the nation’s advancing shift from petroleum-powered to hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The center’s efforts directly support DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program and its goal to provide Americans with greater freedom of mobility and energy security while lowering costs and reducing impacts on the environment.

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

Key elements of the new regulations include:

Requiring any persons placing batteries on the market to register as a producer of batteries, and report on waste batteries collected and sent for recycling;

Requirements for the treatment and recycling of waste batteries

The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 complement the existing Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) regulations 2008, which set out the requirements for introducing new batteries onto the market from 26 September last year.

These regulations also introduce a ban on the landfill disposal or incineration of waste industrial and automotive batteries.

Ian Lucas, Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform, said:

“These regulations are designed to complement the excellent recycling rates traditionally achieved for industrial and automotive batteries. In simple terms, business users of industrial batteries, and final holders of automotive batteries, such as garages, End-of-Life Vehicle authorised treatment facilities, and Civic Amenity site operators, will no longer be faced with the costs that may be incurred through recycling scrap batteries. These costs will now be met by the producers.”

David Vieau, chief executive officer of A123 Systems said;

“We are excited to be partnering with an industry leader such as SAIC Motor to pursue the expanding Chinese market for advanced lithium ion battery technology. As part of this partnership we look forward to building a team of outstanding employees to develop innovative battery technologies that we expect will be included in some of the highest quality hybrid and electric vehicles anywhere in the world.”

The new venture, called Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery Systems Co. (ATBS), will seek to develop business throughout the entire Chinese transportation market and position A123 to strategically gain market share. ATBS will also be the preferential supplier of complete energy storage systems for all hybrid electric and pure electric vehicles manufactured by SAIC Motor and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. A123 Systems will supply the advanced automotive battery cells and work with SAIC Motor to design and develop the integrated battery systems for ATBS.

The venture’s ownership will be held 51 percent by SAIC Motor and 49 percent by A123 Systems, with the management duties of the venture being shared equally between the parties.

In concert with this agreement, ATBS has been awarded a contract to supply battery systems for SAIC Motor’s plug-in hybrid vehicle program. This program seeks to develop a plug-in hybrid vehicle that meets the growing demand for alternative-energy transportation in China.

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In July of this year, Nissan confirmed its intention to invest into a production plant to supply batteries for electric vehicles to be produced by the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Construction of the plant will start in 2010 with production commencing in 2012. Projected annual capacity is 50,000 units.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates said:

 “After becoming a leading country in renewables, Portugal aims being a pioneer in electrical mobility as it is developing a nationwide charging network for EVs. The battery factory of the Renault-Nissan Alliance reinforces Portugal’s role as a place to research, produce and test components and solutions for EVs.”

Carlos Ghosn chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance said:

“We have been consistently impressed with the forwardlooking and proactive attitude of the Portuguese government towards the introduction of mass-marketed zero-emission vehicles. Our ability to make this investment utilizing the Renault CACIA facility makes this a win-win for Portugal and for the Alliance.”

Under the agreement with the Government of Portugal, Nissan will invest over €160 Million in the new facility and directly create 200 new jobs at the plant.

This investment follows the announcement in November 2008 that Portugal will work with the Renault-Nissan Alliance to implement a zero emission mobility program from 2010. Within this plan, the Alliance will supply its electric vehicles from January 2011, and the Portuguese government will leverage an extensive network of 1,300 planned recharging stations that will be installed across the country over the coming two years.

Hideaki Watanabe, Alliance Managing Director of the Renault-Nissan zero emission business had this to say;

“Among the world’s automakers, Renault and Nissan are unique in our strategy to create a network of battery production facilities,”  “Portugal joins a growing list of countries making significant commitments to the reality of zero-emission mobility.”

The Alliances Electric Car Programs The Renault-Nissan Alliance – the world’s third largest automotive group by volume – is committed to being a leader in zero-emission mobility. Starting with the Nissan LEAF in late 2010, the Alliance has already announced plans for seven electric vehicles to be mass marketed under the Renault, Nissan and Infiniti brands. In addition to Portugal, the Alliance has also confirmed battery production locations in France, Japan, the US and the UK.

Today’s high-tech military vehicles increasingly depend upon sophisticated electronic devices to accomplish their missions. These devices have incremental energy requirements that severely draw down traditional lead acid batteries. This requirement — along with extreme vibration, varying temperatures and other stress factors inherent to these applications – causes these vehicle batteries to fail prematurely.

Firefly’s breakthrough microcell battery technology enables an extraordinary battery performance in these advanced energy applications by delivering 4-6 times the lifetime energy compared with traditional Valve Regulated Lead Acid (“VRLA”) batteries. Building on Firefly Energy’s current technology design that enables military equipment to utilize batteries for extensive cycling and energy discharges, Firefly Energy will now significantly increase the power and further enhance the available energy in the military “6T” battery case; the 6T is the vehicular battery used across the U.S. and NATO militaries.

This Army contract extension continues development support of Firefly’s “3D” and “3D2″technologies. The 3D technology replaces traditional lead acid battery negative lead metal electrodes with a three dimensional high surface area microcell foam negative electrode, that unleashes the historically unrealized high power potential of lead acid chemistry. Firefly’s second generation 3D2battery technology replaces both negative and positive lead metal electrodes with the microcell foam material, providing the potential to match energy density numbers (energy per unit weight) at a delivered pack level that are currently only realized in less environmentally-friendly (and much more expensive) lithium and nickel chemistries.

“This government funding will allow Firefly to continue optimization of its technologies and respond to critical and evolving military combat vehicle operational requirements, assuring their suitability and exceptional performance for military applications,” said Firefly Energy CEO Edward Williams.

About Firefly Energy ( www.fireflyenergy.com ):

Firefly Energy Inc. (“Firefly”) is a Peoria, Illinois-based battery technology company developing a portfolio of lead-acid battery technologies and products to enhance performance within major portions of the $30 billion worldwide battery marketplace. The company’s first applied technology is a microcell foam-based battery technology, which can deliver a unique combination of high performance, low weight and low cost, all within a battery that unleashes the full power potential of lead acid chemistry while overcoming its performance drawbacks.

Firefly’s battery products and their patented microcell technology deliver to battery markets a level of performance achieved with advanced battery chemistries (Nickel Metal Hydride and Lithium) but at one-fifth the cost. Firefly’s microcell battery products can be manufactured as well as recycled within the existing lead acid battery industry’s vast infrastructure.

Firefly is backed by multibillion dollar product companies such as Caterpillar ( www.cat.com , NYSE: CAT), BAE Systems ( www.baesystems.com ) (London Stock Exchange over the counter symbol: BAESY), and Husqvarna ( www.husqvarna.com , other OTC: HSQVY.PK ). Additional investors include Chicago-area Venture Capital firm KB Partners ( www.kbpartners.com ), Quercus Trust, Khosla Ventures ( www.khoslaventures.com ), Infield Capital, and the Illinois Finance Authority.