MEETING REPORT

Advanced Battery Technology,  Jul 2006  by Spotnitz, Robert

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Advanced Automotive Battery Conference

Baltimore, Maryland May 15-19, 2006

The rising worldwide interests in hybrid electric vehicles were well represented at the 6th Annual Advanced Automotive Battery and Ultracapacitor Conference (AABC). More than 500 representatives from automakers, systems developers, battery developers, materials suppliers, governments, academics, investors and general observers from around the world converged in Baltimore, Maryland, in mid-May to see the latest advances in batteries and ultracapacitors and the implications for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV).

The AABC and Symposium Programs

The conference started on Monday with three informative tutorials on large Li-ion battery design, material choices and applications. It continued on Tuesday with two parallel symposia: large lithium-ion battery technology and application (LLIBTA) and large ultracapacitor technology and application (UCAP).

The AABC main conference consisted of five sessions: Markets (four talks chaired by Dave Hermance of Toyota), Micro Hybrids (five talks chaired by Thomas Keim of MlT), Mild Hybrids (six talks chaired by Matthias Ullrich of Volkswagen), Full Hybrids (five talks chaired by Ted Miller of Ford), and Specialty Vehicles/Plug-In Hybrids (six talks chaired by Tien Duong of the U.S. Department of Energy). Each session was followed by a panel discussion.

The LLIBTA Symposium

With three sessions covering Li-ion battery life, new materials and application development, the LLIBTA Symposium was particularly lively this year. There was continued reinforcement of the idea that Li-ion batteries are getting very close to breaking into automotive and related large battery applications. Debates relative to life limitations, abuse tolerance and material selection for maximum performance and cost followed the presentations by key cell and material developers. In session 2, keynote presentations on cathode, anode and electrolytes by Professors Wittingham and Winter set off the background to numerous short presentations by material developers. During session 3, Li-ion migration into power tools was discussed and was seen as a bridge toward implementation of Li-ion in automotive areas.

The UCAP Symposium

In spite of the competition with the LLIBTA session in the adjoining room, over 130 delegates participated in the UCAP symposium. The three sessions reviewed material and cell design; pack design and application development; and progress with asymmetric high-energy ultracapacitors

Of note was the presentation by Dr. Cyrus Ashtiani from DaimlerChrysler, stressing the importance of the high/low temperature power of UCAP compared to batteries and the need to sustain that advantage or else Li-ion batteries will win over UCAP in the marketplace.

Sixth Annual Advanced Automotive Battery and Ultracapacitor Conference (AABC)

The Market Session:

There was a consensus among speakers in the first session that the market for hybrid vehicles will grow steadily, exceeding one million vehicles per year around 2010. Scott Miller of Snovate Motoresearch provided some fascinating insights into the HEV market. Hc reported that consumers expect hybrids to provide better fuel economy with no trade-offs in performance. Later, under questioning, Miller expressed his opinion that Toyota's HEV offerings have boosted their overall vehicle sales because HEV interest has increased traffic in showrooms. Menahem Anderman of Advanced Automotive Batteries argued that the next few years belonged to full hybrids with nickel metal hydride batteries supplied mainly by PEVE and Sanyo, but that the supplier base and battery chemistry will expand past 2009. However, there are opportunities for VRLA and ultracapacitors in micro-hybrids. Hideo Takeshita of the Institute of Information Technology, Ltd. predicted that Li-ion batteries would be introduced in the next few years and reach parity with NiMH batteries by 2015.

Micro Hybrids:

The second session contained a mix of talks. Helmut Ollhauser of Alcoa Fujikura argued that micro hybrids (cars that provide start/stop functionality and regenerative braking) could be produced at relatively low cost, and if widely adopted would significantly reduce oil consumption. Peter Miller of Ricardo agreed that low cost micro hybrids were possible and argued that two energy systems might be necessary for safety to provide back-up power for brakes and steering. Toyota, in fact, does use an ultracapacitor to provide power for braking and Yoshitaka Kambe of Toyota described the ultracapacitor in detail. Thomas Keim of MIT presented a reasoned but radical argument that the current strategy for HEV of using the energy from regenerative braking to assist in accelerating the vehicle is not as efficient as using that energy for cruising with the gasoline engine turned off. Mark Verbrugge of General Motors ended the session with an extremely lucid presentation on a novel experimental system for robust verification and validation of energy management schemes at the cell level.