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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (851)	7/23/2008 1:13:49 PM
From: RetiredNow	Respond to of 86355

Another great example of the government funding university research, which then gets commercialized for a private industry venture. It's the secret sauce behind America's technology lead economy: government, university, and industry collaboration. engr.utexas.edu UT invents high-performing, environmentally friendly lithium battery electrode...The National Science Foundation funded the work, which took about a year. The material and process is being patented. New Li-ion Spin-Off from U Texas Closes $5.8M Series A Financing; Google.org an Investor greencarcongress.com 23 July 2008 ActaCell, Inc., a spin-off from the University of Texas at Austin, has secured $5.8 million in Series A financing. DFJ Mercury led the round with syndicate investment from Google.org’s RechargeIT program, Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc. and Good Energies, a global investor in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry. ActaCell, Inc. is commercializing lithium-ion battery technology developed in Professor Arumugam Manthiram’s Material Science and Engineering lab at The University of Texas at Austin. This new technology is focused on delivering substantially longer cycle life at low cost while maintaining safety as the number one priority. We were highly impressed with ActaCell’s pedigree. We believe their technology will significantly impact industries that rely on rechargeable batteries, particularly those that require high power and long cycle life such as Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Low cost, long life and safety are key attributes of ActaCell’s battery roadmap, the holy grail of battery technologies on the market today. —Ned Hill, managing director at DFJ Mercury Still in the development phase, ActaCell’s technology has not been publicly disclosed. Full product and technology announcements will follow in early 2009. Professor Manthiram’s lab at UT is developing low-cost, high-power cathode materials for HEVs and PHEVs, and nanostructured anode materials for portable and transportation applications. The group is pursuing stabilized spinel, nano olivines, and complex layered oxide cathodes as well as nanocomposite alloy anodes to enable next-generation lithium-ion battery technology. Among the recent work reported is the synthesis of olivine LiFePO4 nanorods by a rapid microwave-solvothermal approach. The resulting LiFePO4 nanorods were subsequently encapsulated within a mixed electronically and ionically conducting p-toluene sulfonic acid (p-TSA) doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) at ambient-temperatures to obtain an organic–inorganic nanohybrid. The LiFePO4–PEDOT nanohybrid offers discharge capacity (166 mAh/g)—close to the theoretical value (170 mAh/g)—with excellent capacity retention and rate capability, reducing significantly the manufacturing cost, according to the researchers. The company says the proceeds from the Series A financing will be used to hire key technical talent and to further develop its lithium-ion battery technology for commercial purposes.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (851)	7/23/2008 1:27:56 PM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 86355

That's a cost of 2 cents per mile compared to the average cost per mile of 16 cents for gasoline vehicles getting 25 mpg at $4 per gallon of gas. So if the owner drives their VOLT car 100,000 miles, then they will save $14,000 over the life of the car over a gasoline version. If the car ends up being $35k, then the equivalent is $22K, not accounting for the time value of money. Not bad at all. The other variable is maintenance. Supposedly electric vehicles have little or no regular maintenance. Of course we'll have to see that to believe it. The one added cost is battery replacement... but I think we are talking 100K miles.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (851)	7/23/2008 1:37:11 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 86355

The Volt would be more likely to replace Priuses or other high mileage cars than it would be to replace the average car or a low mileage car. Also when considering spending now to save money over time the time value of money is important, and isn't something that you should not account for. Also many people don't keep their cars for 100,000 miles. Then with economies of scale, they will get that price down from $35K to something closer to $25K. Closer to $25? Yes (at least in real terms, in nominal terms you have to consider that inflation is happening at the same time that economies of scale are improving), one cent less is closer, and economies of scale could improve things a lot more than that. Close? Maybe, but it isn't exactly something you can count on.