Hybrids to Get More Powerful Batteries

According to Argonne, which is part of the Department of Energy, the patented lithium/manganese mixed metal oxide cathode materials allow greater levels of lithium to be utilized in the batteries.

Per Argonne:

The enhanced stability of these materials allows the system to be charged to higher voltages, leading to a significantly higher energy storage capacity than currently available materials through both the higher voltage and higher capacity per unit weight of active material.

Toda Kogya, which has a U.S. subsidiary and manufacturing plant, will create batteries for the hybrid vehicle market as well as for computers and mobile phones.

Many companies are addressing the cathode materials as the weakest link in battery technology, so if not this technology, one of the other efforts will likely yield a significant breakthrough in energy density.

I find it somewhat odd that this Argonne research exists outside of the DOE's US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) which works with Chrysler, Ford, GM and battery companies including A123 Systems, Cobasys and EnerDel. I would have thought that all battery research would be coordinated through this partnership, but I guess Argonne has its own funding, agenda, and licensing agreements.

One of the first things the next president should do is create a clean technology and energy efficiency director who oversees and coordinates all of the research in our national labs and various DOE groups. Taxpayers fund many efforts to attack the same technical challenges from different angles, and it seems a waste to have often redundant research. One office needs to coordinate all of this vital research.