January 2009
Cutting the ribbon to open CFX Battery's new facility are (from left) CEO T. Joseph Fisher, director and co-founder Dr. Rachid Yazami and chairman of the board Maurice Gunderson. Story
around the industry
CFX Battery Inaugurates State-of-the-Art Facility
CFX Battery Inc. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new 16,000 square-foot facility in Azusa, California, on December 9. The recently completed building includes laboratories, offices, and a 1,350 square-foot dry room, which will allow safe and efficient research and assembly of advanced lithium primary and rechargeable batteries.
The company was founded in June 2007 by Dr. Robert Grubbs, a Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 2005) and chemistry professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech); Dr. Rachid Yazami, world-renowned battery researcher, visiting associate at Caltech and research director of CNRS-Grenoble, France; and Dr. Andre Hamwi, professor at the University Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, France, also affiliated with CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and a distinguished fluorine chemist and researcher. Over 125 people attended the event.
CFX Battery will take technologies developed in laboratories at Caltech and CNRS, optimize them, produce prototypes and commence the qualification process with OEMs in various end-user markets.
Pyszczek to Lead Balan's Consulting Group
Michael Pyszczek, Balan Biomedical Inc.'s vice president of technology, will lead the newly formed Biomedical Battery Consulting Group. Dr. Chris R. Feger (Biomedical Systems and Materials) and Dr. Kenneth C. Syracuse (Statistical Analytics and Mathematical Modeling) will join Pyszczek. The group will operate out of Balan's U.S. headquarters in Rochester, New York, and report to its engineering division.
This Balan team has a combined 65 years of experience in the battery industry.
New Battery Factory for Toshiba
Toshiba Corp. plans to build a new factory in northwest Japan to boost production of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles.
The company says its new lithium-ion batteries are safer than existing batteries, can be quickly recharged, and offer 10 years of continual use with a daily recharge. It calls the new type of battery "Super Charge ion Battery," or SCiB, and began shipping units in April.
The plant will begin production in late 2010 and will increase the company's manufacturing capacity to several million cells per month from its current 150,000 cells, according to spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida. The company plans to invest "several tens of billions of yen" in the plant, she says. The Nikkei business newspaper reported the cost would be between 20 billion yen and 30 billion yen.
GS Yuasa and Honda Reach Basic Agreement
GS Yuasa Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. have reached a basic agreement to establish a joint venture company to manufacture, sell and conduct R&D for high-performance lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles. The companies will begin concrete discussions to establish the new company in the spring of 2009.
The planned ratio of capital investment will be 51% by GS Yuasa and 49% by Honda. The headquarters of the new company will be located in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan, and the factory will be established on the property of GS Yuasa's Osadano operation in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto.
The new company will manufacture batteries based on EH6, the lithium-ion battery developed by GS Yuasa. The performance most suitable for next-generation hybrid vehicles will be achieved through a review of certain elements such as the structure and electrode materials. TOP
Firefly's Oasis Prototypes Hit the Road
Firefly Energy of Peoria, Illinois, has begun deploying the first prototypes of its Oasis™ deep discharge advanced battery to some of the nation's top trucking fleets. In December, the first four Oasis batteries were installed on a Freightliner truck operated by G&D Integrated of Morton, Illinois. Deployments of Oasis prototypes to other industries have also commenced.
In addition to improving the comfort and functionality of sleeper cab trucks, the Oasis battery could save millions of dollars by reducing the diesel fuel used during idling. The Oasis offers longer run times, faster recharge, better high and low temperature performance, and significantly longer calendar and cycle life than conventional batteries.
Firefly replaced portions of the lead metal in traditional lead acid batteries with a microcell composite material that enhances the chemical performance in the battery while resisting degradation. Unlike advanced chemistry batteries based on nickel and lithium, Firefly's batteries are recyclable through the existing infrastructure.
INL Building Second Space Battery for Mars Trip
A team of up to 50 Idaho National Laboratory scientists is completing a new space battery that's due to power an unmanned mission to Mars in 2011. Previous Martian rovers have been powered by the sun. But by using batteries powered by plutonium-238, a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 88 years, scientists say the Mars Science Laboratory will be able to operate efficiently even during Martian dust storms.
The battery will extend the mission's reach into places on Mars previously off-limits to solar-powered rovers, including dark interiors of craters obscured from the sun.
The INL sent a similar battery into space in 2006 aboard the New Horizons craft. That device, containing 24 pounds of plutonium, is on its way to explore Pluto.
The Mars Science Laboratory is a robotic rover that will land on Mars and carry an advanced collection of scientific instruments to study whether the planet was ‚ or is ‚ able to support microbial life.
EDTA Adds Members, Names New Co-Chair
The Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), the trade association accelerating battery, hybrid, plug-in, and fuel cell electric drive technologies and infrastructure, added three new members during the fourth quarter of 2008: Compact Power Inc., Mitsubishi Motors R&D of America Inc., and Remy International.
Also in the fourth quarter, John E. Bryson, retired chairman and CEO of Southern California Edison and senior advisor for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., was named co-chairman of the EDTA board of directors. He replaces Thomas Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute. Kuhn remains on the EDTA board of directors.
