NANOTECH INNOVATIONS

Electric and hybrid cars are becoming more popular given the cost of a tank of gas. Work by nanotech companies such as Altair Nanotechnologies and Systems to improve the performance of lithium ion batteries may make electric cars even more appealing. Lithium ion batteries have a higher power density than the nickel metal hydride batteries currently used in electric and hybrid cars. Using lithium ion batteries you can store the same amount of power in a lighter weight, smaller, package. Also lithium ion manufacturers project that their batteries will last about ten years, about four years longer than nickel metal hydride batteries.However previous generations of lithium ion batteries were slower to charge and had safety issues, much publicized when batteries in laptop computers caught fire. Nanotechnology companies have changed the material used in the lithium ion battery electrodes. Each has used its own proprietary material composition both to reduce the risk of the battery catching fire and to incorporate the ability of a nanostructured surface to provide faster charge transfer between the chemicals in the battery and the electrodes. It appears that the efforts of these companies will result in improved hybrid and electric cars, with some becoming available in 2008. Batteries from Altair are being used in electric vehicles made by Phoenix Motorcars. Currently these are only being sold for use in corporate fleets but should be available to consumers in 2008. Batteries from Systems, as well as other lithium ion battery manufacturers, are being evaluated by GM for use in Saturn hybrids.Once these nano-enhanced lithium ion batteries pass evaluations by GM and other car manufacturers, electric or hybrid cars can be produced that will have higher performance than cars using nickel metal hydride batteries or the same performance while using smaller/lighter batteries. Of course for hybrid or electric cars that use nano-enhanced lithium ion batteries to gain a foothold the batteries will also have to come down in price and be manufactured in large numbers. It will be interesting to see how battery manufacturers manage the manufacturing ramp up if the demand for these batteries increases both for electronic devices, such as laptop computers, and cars.