Leading U.S. battery companies, with support from one of the country’s largest national laboratories, have formed an alliance that aims to mass produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles.
Founding members of the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture include industry giant 3M and up-and-comers Altair Nanotechnologies and ActaCell, with research assistance from the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago.
The Alliance hopes to acquire of $1 to 2 billion in government funding over five years to develop one or more manufacturing and
prototype development centers in the United States, which will be
shared by Alliance members.
The
Alliance said it will permit the most efficient use of available government
support by having members share in the use of a large
ultra-modern manufacturing facility rather than having to compete for
smaller, less ambitious forms of government support.
Lithium ion batteries are anticipated to replace gasoline as the principal source of energy in future cars and military vehicles. Today, United States automobile manufacturers and defense contractors depend upon foreign suppliers – increasingly concentrated in Asia–for lithium ion battery cells.
"A small, fragmented battery industry will not long survive in the
face of determined Asian competition," says Ralph Brodd, a long time
consultant to battery manufacturers. "Other countries are investing
heavily in the manufacture of lithium ion cells. Those countries
understand that whoever makes the batteries will one day make the cars."
The Alliance seeks to replicate the success of Sematech, a government supported collaboration of U.S. semiconductor manufacturers formed in the 1980’s to address the increasing migration of semiconductor manufacturing from the United States to Asia. Between 1988 and 1993, Sematech raised $990 million in government grants and private investment to help U.S. manufacturers recapture their lead in semiconductor technology.
U.S. auto makers are expected to play an important role in the Alliance. "U.S. truck and auto makers and representatives of the Department of Defense will be invited to serve on the Alliance’s advisory board," says Alliance attorney James J. Greenberger of Reed Smith LLP. The advisory board will help the cell makers move towards standardized cell formats that will simplify manufacture and ultimately lower the costs of cells.
Other founding members of the Alliance include All Cell
Technologies, Altair Nanotechnologies, Dontech Global, EaglePicher
Corporation, EnerSys, Envia Systems, FMC, MicroSun Technologies, Mobius
Power, SiLyte, Superior Graphite, and Townsend Advanced Energy.
Additional battery developers and materials suppliers are anticipated
to join the Alliance. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National
Laboratory, a national research laboratory and leading developer of new
battery technologies, has been active in encouraging the Alliance and
will continue to serve in an advisory role as the Alliance begins
operations.
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