US Tech Firms Team to Juice Up Electric Car Batteries

By Chris Maxcer
TechNewsWorld
12/19/08 11:10 AM PT

Fourteen tech firms have banded together to form a new industry alliance and cooperatively seek US$1 billion to $2 billion in federal funding to create a center for the development and manufacture of domestic lithium ion batteries for transportation applications in the United States.

The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture is currently being advised by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, a national research lab and a leading developer of new battery technologies, which will continue to serve in an advisory role as the Alliance begins operations.

Central to the Alliance's mission is the belief that lithium ion batteries will replace gasoline as the principal source of energy in future cars and military vehicles. Today, U.S. automobile manufacturers and defense contractors depend on foreign suppliers -- increasingly concentrated in Asia -- for lithium ion battery cells, the Alliance says.

Overseas Manufacturing

The key problem right now is that there is very little battery manufacturing in the U.S., which is both a potential national energy security risk -- similar to a reliance on international petroleum -- as well as a competitive domestic automobile manufacturing risk. Lithium ion battery cell manufacture is heavily subsidized in many countries, and the Alliance hopes to level the playing field.

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