Been caught up wasting time elsewhere but I'm back to my sweetheart. Read a few articles over the weekend getting my head around lithium battery development and some exciting stuff happening.
For example, one breakthrough using silicon nanowire for the battery anode, replacing carbon, enormously improves energy density while silicon also being used in LG Chem new battery I believe. Silicon has long been known as far superior anode but it always cracked with swelling but where there is a will there a way:) Another possibly tremendous discovery was production of Lithium-iron-phosphate (LIPO) nano particles by simply microwaving a mixture of the raw ingredients for 5 minutes. Cost of production is a major impediment to mass HEV battery take-up and this could massively reduce costs. The above 2 breakthroughs could simply be added to the current range of LIPO batteries such as A123Systems already manufacture for instant improvements (pending commercial dealings with inventors of course). Below article showing likely next US president getting behind the cause BIG TIME.
cheers
Obama: 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015 Posted Aug 4th 2008 at 3:24PM by Jeremy Korzeniewski
Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has proposed a new ten-year $150 billion energy plan today in Michigan. A large part of the plan centers around transportation -- both the use of petroleum and the types of cars we are to drive in the future. For automakers, $4 billion in loans and loan guarantees would be made available for PHEV development, with one-million of the vehicles to be ready for sale by 2015. For consumers, a $7,000 tax credit would be offered for their purchase of said vehicle. Also, in a more short-term effort, Obama proposes that the U.S. sells some seventy-million barrels of oil from America's strategic petroleum reserve.
While those PHEVs are being developed, Obama's plan would increase fuel economy standards 4-percent per year. What's more, Obama would mandate at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2030 while requiring that fuel producers reduce their fuel's carbon emissions by 5 percent within 5 years and 10 percent within 10 years. To make those biofuels have as large an impact as possible, all new vehicles would be required to have flex-fuel capability within four years.
Lastly, the entire White House fleet will be converted to plug�]ins within one year (does this include the new presidential limo that will debut in January?) and half of all cars purchased by the federal government will be plug�]in hybrids or all�]electric by 2012. See the entire plan in .pdf form at this link.
[Source: Barack Obama - .pdf]
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