Interesting article on the curent use, problems encountered and technology evolution of “Lithium-ion" batteries and projects by IBM, Toyota Motor, BMW to enhance battery power and longevity.
extract from article; President Obama in 2009 set a goal of 1 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. With fewer than 50,000 sold to date, that figure appears out of reach, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. China’s sales of 13,000 EVs by the end of last year mean the country probably won’t meet a target of 500,000 EVs on the road by 2015.
Storage issues are the main reason EV sales are falling short of optimistic growth forecasts, said Amy Smith, global head of clean technology investment banking at Jefferies & Co. in San Francisco. Early adopters are driving Teslas and other high-end electric cars, while the mass market is waiting on the sideline for the technology to improve
“Higher costs, lack of substantial infrastructure and range anxiety are all issues for consumers,” Smith said. “There’s a belief that new and different materials, beyond lithium ion, could provide a more substantial leap forward.”
The current storage technology will probably be supplanted eventually, said Kevin Landis, co-founder of the San Francisco- based technology fund Firsthand Capital Management Inc.
“Lithium-ion is what we have now but probably not what we’ll have in the future,” he said.
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