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Military Orders The new series of novels from Martin Roth In the Middle Ages, military orders like the Templars defended Christians and fought for justice. Now, in Martin Roth's latest series of novels, a church has established a clandestine new military order, to fight for today's persecuted Christians.... |
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Plug-In Cars and Lithium Ion Batteries
A new range of hybrid cars, using lithium ion batteries, could hit the market as early as 2010.
Forbes carries a feature on "plug-in" electric cars - that is hybrid cars with an extra set of lithium ion batteries that extend the range of the electric motor.
The article puts the spotlight on Felix Kramer of the non-profit California Cars Initiative:
On an average 30-mile commute to work, for instance, the electric engine can handle the drive by itself; no gas is used. For the commute back home after work, the car can be plugged into a 110-volt outlet and charged up again.
Kramer's initiative...has converted about 12 hybrids, mostly Toyota Priuses, into plug-ins. There are approximately 200 hybrids converted to plug-ins across the world, Kramer says. The Electric Power Research Institute says the battery technology necessary to power plug-ins has been available for several years and estimates that these hybrids could be mass-produced by 2010.
"I realized that cars really are the fulcrum of the economy," Kramer told Forbes.com at the Plug-In 2008 Conference in San Jose, Calif., last week. "If you can change cars, you can change many things. … It is the end of business as usual, and the car industry needs to figure out ways to build cars that are not using fossil fuels."
Some of the major auto makers - especially the Japanese - are intensively engaged in research into the development of efficient lithium ion batteries that can be manufactured at reasonable cost.
One of the American leaders is Johnson Controls, which - together with Saft Advanced Power Solutions of France - has launched what is apparently the world's first factory dedicated to producing lithium ion batteries for vehicles. Its first customer is likely to be Daimler AG, which will use the batteries in a new S400 luxury hybrid which is planned from 2010.
Valence Technology has developed a lithium phosphate battery that is used in the Segway personal transporter and has been used, in a trial, in a Toyota Prius. The company is developing lithium ion technology.
August 3rd, 2008