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Filed under: Emerging Technologies , EV/Plug-in , South/Latin America Asia and Michigan, watch out. It's a long-term goal, but Bolivia is looking to capitalize on its large in-ground lithium supply by producing li-ion batteries by 2018. While lithium might not ever be in short supply , Bolivia certainly has the advantage of not needing to import the valuable material. The country's deputy minister of Science and Technology, Roger Carvajal, said this week that the basic outline of the government strategy to commercialize the lithium deposits (estimated to be about half of the world's supply) have been decided on. They include making lithium carbonate on a commercial scale in 2013 and possibly an electric car factory after that. [Source: Latin American Herald Tribune ] REPORT: Bolivia will make its own lithium-ion batteries by 2018 originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds ... details >>>

GreenVehicles asked: Green Vehicles - Triac is a pure electric vehicle. 144V lithium-ion batteries with a very powerful AC motor.Content details >>>

Filed under: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid SB Li Motive, the Bosch Samsung lithium ion battery joint venture, has announced that it will put $409 million into its manufacturing facilities over the next five years. The company has big plans, hoping to grab nearly a third of the automotive battery market by mid-decade. Bosch is the biggest automotive supplier in the world and produces parts for almost every automaker. However, SB LiMotive is competing with quite a few companies in the lithium battery space, many of which are partnered with automakers such as Panasonic EV Energy (Toyota), Automotive Energy Supply Corp (Nissan), GS Yuasa (Mitsubishi, Honda) and LG Chem (General Motors). The new SB LiMotive plant is being built in Ulsan South Korea and production is expected to start in 2011. The first automaker to publicly announce a deal with SB LiMotive is BMW which will use its batteries in an upcoming electric vehicle. View post: Samsung... details >>>

Filed under: Emerging Technologies , EV/Plug-in , Toyota , Japan 2009 Toyota FT-EV Concept - Click above for high-res image gallery Toyota and the University of Tohoku have announced the development of a new technology that is able to boost the capacity of lithium-ion batteries. What's this new improvement all about? Current lithium-ion batteries are usually made from a polycrystalline form of lithium cobalt oxide that are connected with grains of graphite. The newly-developed batteries use a less graphite, just a single crystal. This frees more room for the storage of the ions that create the electrical charge. According to Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco, the improvement in storage is so large, that it can store up to 10 times more ions than current batteries which could result in a 10x increase in range. However, don't expect this breakthrough to result in amazing numbers form the plug-in Prius right away: Toyota says the technology needs at least a decade... details >>>

Filed under: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Toyota For the first time, Toyota may be looking beyond Panasonic EV Energy Company for batteries for its hybrid vehicles. The automaker is reportedly planning to buy lithium ion batteries from Sanyo for upcoming hybrids beginning in 2011. High demand in Japan and elsewhere for its hybrid models is pushing Toyota to look beyond its joint venture that has supplied nickel metal hydride batteries for a decade. Panasonic is currently in the midst of taking over Sanyo and is awaiting regulatory approval. Sanyo already has deals to supply lithium batteries to Volkswagen Group in the coming years. Panasonic EV Energy, meanwhile, is believed to be trailing many of its competitors in the race to develop automotive-grade lithium ion batteries. It's not known if Toyota would use the Sanyo batteries in upcoming non-plug hybrid models or in the plug-in version of the Prius. View post: Report: Toyota could go to Sanyo for ... details >>>

Filed under: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Manufacturing/Plants With lithium ion batteries expected to play an ever increasing role in future transportation, the problem of dealing with the batteries at end of life is now starting to come to the fore. Multiple battery companies are planning on building manufacturing facilities in the U.S. in the next few years, and some of these will also be able to recycle the packs at the end of their useful automotive life. The batteries' bulk means it won't make sense to ship them overseas for recycling. California-based Toxco is already in the business of recovering materials from lead acid and nickel metal hydride batteries at a plant in Lancaster, Ohio. Toxco also has the only lithium battery recycling facility in North America in Trail, British Columbia. Toxco was the recipient of a $9.5 million grant from the Department of Energy as part of the recent announcements of grants for battery manufacturing More here: Toxco... details >>>

Automotive Energy Supply Corporation has kicked off pilot production of lithium ion batteries. For those who have not been paying enough attention, AESC is the joint venture between Nissan and NEC that is developing batteries for electric and hybrid batteries. The first AESC production line is located adjacent to Nissan's Zama Operations Center in Japan. The initial capacity is 13,000 battery packs per year and that will go to 65,000 over the next year. AESC lithium batteries will initially be used in Nissan's upcoming 5-passenger EV and also with the new in-house developed hybrid system that will debut next year, likely in the new Infiniti M. Nissan is claiming its batteries have completed durability tests running over 60,000 miles. More: Automotive Energy Supply Corp starts pilot production of batteries ... details >>>

Nissan EV-02 prototype - click above for high res image gallery Nissan was one of the three recipients in the first round of low interest loans through the U.S. Department of Energy's ATVM program along with Ford and Tesla . Nissan will be getting $1.6 billion from the program that will be used to re-tool part of its Smyrna, Tennessee factory to build electric cars and lithium ion batteries. Out of that amount, apparently over $1 billion will be needed just for the battery production capacity. The battery plant will consist of three production modules each of which is capable of producing 54,000 batteries. The U.S. battery plant joins a Japanese facility that is starting up in 2010. Read more: Nissan to spend $1 billion on U.S. battery plant, 4 more plants in Europe ... details >>>

By fall 2010, Hitachi plans increase its production capacity for lithium ion batteries by 600 percent in the first phase of a major expansion. Hitachi will be supplying the batteries for General Motor's second-generation mild hybrid system that debuts late next year for 2011 model year vehicles. GM has placed an order for enough cells to support 100,000 hybrid vehicles a year. Beyond that, Hitachi is planning to ramp up to build cells for 700,000 hybrids a year by 2015, a 70-fold increase from current levels. The expansion and new production will occur at Hitachi Vehicle Energy Ltd's Tokai factory in Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan More: Hitachi to multiply lithium battery production by a factor of 70! ... details >>>

Top501 IT: Better Place electric cars head to Hawaii posted at Articles.Top501.nu. More or Videos Better Place said Tuesday that it hopes to begin permitting for a network in the Aloha State within the next year, in anticipation of electric vehic... details >>>