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Frank you took the bait and ran with it. I've been trying to see what are groups interest was in Li-ion batteries. Your idea is the first I've heard of a practical option for us to get started with Li-ion batteries. Tesla talks allot about there Energy Storage System (ESS) and how it stops thermal runaway. I've had some ideas I worked out with an electrical tech friend of mine, for sensing the then turning off individual Li-ion batteries in a given system if they start to over heat or at least try to isolate that battery. There are also as you say safer Li-ion battery designs coming avaliable as well. It would be interesting to see how much more endurance the R300 would have using a Li-ion system. Your right Frank, it's the phoshate base Li-ions that are claimed to be allot safer. The company I have been watching is the Valence company and there Saphion Technology Li-ions. Here is some data I saved in the past as well as there link. http://www.valence.com/
"U.S. Manufacturing of Li-ion BatteriesThere are many other examples of work by U.S. researchers that directly affected advanced battery systems. However, the United States has no large volume manufacturers, with only a few firms producing small volumes for specialty and military applications. U.S. companies, although global leaders in primary battery production and technology, were unable to take advantage of this early technological success. Their Southeast Asian counterparts have captured a dominant position in Li-ion battery manufacturing. Huge investments have been made in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, and other countries in Southeast Asia by both companies and government friendly policies for investment in competitive efforts to capture glob-al market share for rechargeable batteries for telecommunications, wireless, and computer products.The two major U.S. battery manufacturers, Duracell and Eveready (now Energizer Holdings), began R&D efforts in Li-ion technologies around 1992, with the intent of ultimately manufacturing Li-ion batteries. According to several senior staff interviewees, Duracell and Energizer both initiated programs for production of Li-ion batteries. In 1997, Energizer built a manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Florida outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment to produce Li-ion batteries, with production slated to start in 1999-2000. They licensed a Goodenough patent from Sony and built on their own advantaged IP positions in several areas. They had several years of experience with manufacturing Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) and Ni-MH cells in Gainesville for several cellular phone and notebook computer companies. They prepared to establish a sales and marketing group in Japan to have access to the market, knowing it would take 5 years to be accepted. When the Gainesville Li-ion plant was in the "prove-in" stage, nearly ready for production, the world market price for Li-ion cells abruptly declined. The company reassessed the profitability of their investment and found it was marginal at the low cell prices. They could buy cells from Japan at a lower price than their manufacturing costs. The decision to exit Li-ion manufacture followed swiftly. The news of the low return to manufacture of Li-ion cells spread to Duracell, and they stopped their project. (Energizer sold its Gainesville facility to Moltech Corporation in 1999 after it sat idle for two years. In 2002, Moltech sold the plant to U.S. Lithium Energetics, which is seeking capital to enter production.) Small U.S. companies and start-ups have continued to pursue innovative R&D with early-stage R&D funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Advanced Technology Program, the Small Business Innovation Research program, and other federal programs. Novel Li-ion chemistries have helped carry them forward toward commercial targets. These new ventures have been most successful in niche markets (military and medical applications). New ventures have had little success in the development of significant, sizable new markets for their products. Without economies of scale, their costs of production remain high. Venture capital-funded companies tend to look off-shore for their production to mitigate the high cost of automated production equipment. Some U.S. companies with larger-scale applications have also moved offshore. Several ATP-funded companies illustrate a spectrum of successes and failures. While large battery companies have been reluctant to enter medical markets due to liability concerns, Quallion and its joint venture partner Valtronic are develop-ing Li-ion technology to power implantable medical devices. The company is on a steep growth path. "
Regards, Brent Hartwig
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