Rich, you raise four interesting questions; here are my brief replies:
1. Dr. Abraham is a well-known figure in the field. He'd worked for something like 25 years on Li battery-related problems at EIC Labs, a small contract research outfit near Boston, then briefly headed Covalent Associates, another similar place, and now is a consultant. That explains why he seems to only have read the report instead of testing the material by himself. He certainly is very knowledgeable about materials issues, but in this area there's nothing like seeing for yourself. What I find a bit curious is the fact that they had to go all the way to Switzerland and Czech Republic to have the stuff tested.
2. Agree with you on the second point, but would note that smart money has a way of finding good opportunities to multiply.
3. No news worth broadcasting, yet.
4. I also agree that HEVs are an attractive application, but the battery cost is a huge problem. The Li-ion system is simply too expensive, whatever the chemistry, to compete with Ni-MH to get the capacity required for this app. If the battery is going to costs more than $1,000 in volume, foggitaboutit--and I don't see how it can ever get there... And it's not due to the cost of cobalt or phosphate, it's most of the components. Let's assume that the cost of materials in a small cell phone battery weighing 15-20 g is 50 cents, an optimistic figure. Now, an HEV battery may weigh a few hundred pounds... see my point?
Regards,
M_e |
