Ticker, those are some big projections, hope they can provide some data to support those numbers, at least thru 2005.
Also, labor cost is a big...big factor, even with liquid lLi-ion cells. Here is an excerpt from the BD article, <Liquid Lithium-ion continues its relentless pursuit of technical advancements and price improvements. Valence Technology reports that the current Japanese price per Wh includes 28% for the cost of materials. Conversely, the Chinese model reserves 48% for the material cost, bringing the price per Wh to a third of the Japanese cell.>
Just speculating, perhaps wildly, but might some of Valence's automated processes be adopted to *new* Li-ion cell production. Another except from BD, <Soft case liquid Lithium-ion cells, with either wound or stacked
electrodes, are being introduced by Samsung. These cells have reduced swelling with additives to the electrolyte and surface modification of the anode materials. Thicknesses down to 2 mm are showing no adverse response to abnormal charging. In some ways, this approach might suggest a convergence between liquid and polymer cells.> The following except is taken from the Valence news archive dated May 8, 2001...<<"Our agreement with Valence strengthens the competitiveness of our portfolio of lithium-ion battery solutions,2 said Ky Hoon Ahn, Vice President of Samsung SDI. "Samsung SDI will add Valence1s manufacturing know-how to Samsung1s internally developed process technologies to rapidly commercialize this segment of its lithium-ion product offering..."> I hardly doubt this means Samsung will be importing Irish battery assemblers their "know-how" <G>.
Looking forward to summer and a fully automated facility cranking out lots of phosphate batteries.
goe |
