Category: Battery News

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Supercapacitor panel-powered EVs a ‘reality’ in 5 years say QUT researchers

A car partly powered by its own body panels could be on our roads within five years following the development of breakthrough nanotechnology by Queensland’s University of Technology.

Researchers at QUT have succeeded in developing lightweight ‘supercapacitors’ that they say can be combined with regular batteries to dramatically boost the power of an electric car.

The supercapacitors – described as a ‘sandwich’ of electrolyte between two all-carbon electrodes - were made by the research team into a thin and extremely strong film with a high power density.

The development means that the film could one day be embedded in a car’s body panels, roof, doors, bonnet and floor - storing enough energy to turbocharge an electric car’s battery in just a few minutes.

The findings, published in the Journal of Power Sources and the Nanotechnology journal, are the result of the work of the team comprising Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Jinzhang Liu, Professor Nunzio Motta and PhD researcher Marco Notarianni from QUT’s Science and Engineering faculty – Institute for Future Environments, and PhD researcher Francesca Mirri and Professor Matteo Pasquali, from Rice University in Houston in the United States.

According to Marco Notarianni, the car partly powered by its own body panels could be a reality in the next five years.

“Vehicles need an extra energy spurt for acceleration, and this is where supercapacitors come in. They hold a limited amount of charge, but they are able to deliver it very quickly, making them the perfect complement to mass-storage batteries.

“Supercapacitors offer a high power output in a short time, meaning a faster acceleration rate of the car and a charging time of just a few minutes, compared to several hours for a standard electric car battery.”

Dr Liu says one of these cars, after one full charge, should be able to run up to 500km – “similar to a petrol-powered car and more than double the current limit of an electric car."

According to Dr Liu, currently the ‘energy density’ of a supercapacitor is lower than a standard lithium ion (Li-Ion) battery, but its ‘high power density’, or ability to release power in a short time, is far beyond a conventional battery.

“Supercapacitors are presently combined with standard Li-Ion batteries to power electric cars, with a substantial weight reduction and increase in performance.

“In the future, it is hoped the supercapacitor will be developed to store more energy than a Li-Ion battery while retaining the ability to release its energy up to 10 times faster – meaning the car could be entirely powered by the supercapacitors in its body panels.”

Dr Liu says the technology would also potentially be used for rapid charges of other battery-powered devices.

“For example, by putting the film on the back of a smart phone to charge it extremely quickly.”

Another member of the research team, Professor Nunzio Motta, says the technology discovery may be a game-changer for the automotive industry, with significant impacts on financial, as well as environmental factors.

“We are using cheap carbon materials to make supercapacitors and the price of industry scale production will be low.

“The price of Li-Ion batteries cannot decrease a lot because the price of Lithium remains high. This technique does not rely on metals and other toxic materials either, so it is environmentally friendly if it needs to be disposed of.”

The QUT researchers who made this discovery are part of the university’s Battery Interest Group, a cross-faculty group that aims to engage industry with battery-related research.

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New battery could be ‘killer app’ for electric cars [VIDEO]

A new battery that promises to solve two of the biggest grumbles about electric cars - high prices and low driving ranges - is headed for shop floors in just over a year.

The lithium battery, which experts say could be a game-changing “killer app” for the global car market, can triple the driving range of an electric vehicle and significantly lower its costs, say the US scientists who developed it.

It can also double the running life of a smartphone or a laptop, said Dr Qichao Hu, who developed the device with his former professor, Donald Sadoway, a prominent battery expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

But its impact on the cost and performance of an electric car could prove transformational, said Prof Sadoway, whose work on other batteries has been backed by Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates.

“We’ve got to get a car on the showroom floor for $30,000, not $130,000 and the big piece is the battery: it’s too expensive and it runs down too fast,” said Prof Sadoway.

Batteries in existing electric cars can account for as much as 30 per cent of the sticker price. They also need temperature control systems to stop them overheating or catching fire.

The new battery does not need the same systems because it operates safely at a wide range of temperatures, which should shave costs, said Dr Hu, and the battery itself will be about 20 per cent cheaper than existing ones.

Cost, safety and “range anxiety” are not the only problems for plug-in electric cars, which make up less than 1 per cent of new passenger car sales in most countries. Recharging times and access to charging stations are also a concern.

Still, analysts say a battery that can sharply improve price and range could be highly significant.

“That’s game-changing,” said Arndt Ellinghorst, head of global automotive research at ISI Group, an investment research group. “There are a lot of experienced battery makers trying to do exactly that because it’s the killer application.”

Independent experts in the US recently confirmed prototype cells in the battery developed by Dr Hu and Prof Sadoway can store more than twice as much energy as conventional cells.

The main difference between their battery and existing ones is that it has an ultra-thin metal anode with higher energy density than the graphite and silicon anodes in current batteries, and uses safer electrolyte material.

Dr Hu founded a company called SolidEnergy in 2012, just outside Boston, to commercialise the technology and hopes the battery will be in production for consumer electronics in the first half of 2016 and in electric cars by the second half of that year.

The project has backing from Vertex, the venture capital arm of Temasek, Singapore’s state investment group, and Dr Hu said he had preliminary discussions with Apple and Tesla, the electric carmaker, as well as most major Asian battery manufacturers.

Apple declined to comment and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. To speed up the process of getting the device to market, SolidEnergy only plans to make the core battery materials for larger manufacturers.

Tesla is hoping to bring down battery costs at the “gigafactory” battery plant it is building in Nevada. But most of the cost reductions are expected to come from economies of scale rather than the technological advances promised by batteries such as the one Dr Hu and Prof Sadoway are developing.

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Alveo emerge from Stealth mode with LiFePO4 battery that charges in 30 mins over 40,000 cycles

Norwegian entrepreneur Jostein Eikeland is hoping to jolt the world of energy storage.

On Tuesday, Eikeland's latest venture, Alevo, unveiled a battery that he says will last longer and ultimately cost far less than rival technologies.

The technology, which is meant to store excess electricity generated by power plants, has been developed by Eikeland in secret for a decade.

"We've been very stealth," Eikeland said in a telephone interview. "We didn't know if we were going to succeed."

Martigny, Switzerland-based Alevo Group is gearing up to start manufacturing batteries next year at a massive former cigarette plant near Charlotte, North Carolina, that it says will employ 2,500 people within three years.

Eikeland, 46, said Alevo, named for the inventor of the battery, Alessandro Volta, has $1 billion from anonymous Swiss investors and has taken no state funding or incentives.

Alternately brash and self-deprecating, Eikeland did not shy away from discussing his up-and-down past. He founded software company TeleComputing Inc during the dot-com boom, helped take it public on the Oslo stock exchange, then left in 2002 after the tech bubble burst.

He later invested heavily in and took the helm of Sweden-based auto parts manufacturer, TMG International, which went bankrupt in 2008. Broke, he was forced to sell his lavish homes to pay his taxes, according to media reports that were confirmed by representatives for Alevo.

After TMG, Eikeland spent a few years investing in software and battery technologies, many of which he admits failed.

"I know how hard it is to lose eight of your 10 fingers," he said. "I wish I had somebody else to blame."

EASIER SAID THAN DONE

Claims of technological breakthroughs from unfamiliar companies are common in the world of green technology. Many startups fizzle out before they achieve mass production. Among the recent high-profile flameouts: battery maker A123 and solar panel maker Solyndra.

"One billion dollars is a colossal amount of capital raised for any clean-tech company," said Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov, who said he is not familiar with Alevo. "It doesn't mean it's going to be a smashing success."

Typically in high-tech manufacturing, companies use pilot projects to prove their technology to investors and potential customers before ramping up. That's not how Eikeland is proceeding.

"Building as big as we did, it might seem a little bit risky," said Eikeland, who described himself as "a controversial guy."

Producing on a mass scale will make Alevo's technology cost- effective from the start, Eikeland said. The high cost of grid storage has prevented it from being deployed more widely.

Eikeland plans to deliver 200 megawatts of batteries - roughly enough to power 100,000 homes - into the U.S. market next year and is in talks with big utilities, which he hopes will become customers.

Alevo's approach stands in stark contrast to the public announcement last month of Tesla Motors Inc's planned $5 billion factory in Nevada, which will make batteries for electric cars. Tesla says its plant will employ 6,500 people by 2020. It will receive more than $1 billion of state incentives.

"Building a $1 billion facility in stealth mode is definitely unusual," said Dan Reicher, executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University. Reicher, a former green technology investor, said he was not familiar with Alevo or its technology.

State and county officials in North Carolina confirmed that Alevo has not sought any business incentives.

PACKING A LOT OF POWER

The company has created what it calls GridBanks, which are shipping containers full of thousands of battery cells. Each container can deliver 2 megawatts of power, enough to power up to 1,300 homes for an hour.

The batteries use lithium iron phosphate and graphite as active materials and an inorganic electrolyte - what Eikeland called the company's "secret sauce" - that extends longevity and reduces the risk of burning. They can be charged in 30 mins and discharged over 40,000 times, the company said.

That is about four times as much as rival batteries, said Sam Wilkinson, who follows energy storage for IHS Technology. Wilkinson, who said he was briefed by Alevo on its plans, said that if the batteries work as promised they will constitute a technological leap.

Grid storage has become critical as more renewables are introduced into the world's power supply. For instance, batteries can store power generated during windy nights to use during the day when the wind may not be blowing, or can extend solar power into the hours after the sun goes down.

The industry is expected to grow to $19 billion by 2017 from just $200 million in 2012, according to research firm IHS CERA.

Eikeland holds several patents in the United States related to battery technology. The company will compete with established manufacturers like Samsung and France's Saft as well as a handful of privately held startups like Enervault and Primus Power.

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Ultra-Fast Charging battery can reach 70% in only 2 minutes

Scientists at Nanyang Technology University (NTU) have developed ultra-fast charging batteries that can be recharged up to 70 per cent in only two minutes.

The new generation batteries also have a long lifespan of over 20 years, more than 10 times compared to existing lithium-ion batteries.

This breakthrough has a wide-ranging impact on all industries, especially for electric vehicles, where consumers are put off by the long recharge times and its limited battery life.

With this new technology by NTU, drivers of electric vehicles could save tens of thousands on battery replacement costs and can recharge their cars in just a matter of minutes.

Commonly used in mobile phones, tablets, and in electric vehicles, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries usually last about 500 recharge cycles. This is equivalent to two to three years of typical use, with each cycle taking about two hours for the battery to be fully charged.

In the new NTU-developed battery, the traditional graphite used for the anode (negative pole) in lithium-ion batteries is replaced with a new gel material made from titanium dioxide.

Titanium dioxide is an abundant, cheap and safe material found in soil. It is commonly used as a food additive or in sunscreen lotions to absorb harmful ultraviolet rays.

Naturally found in spherical shape, the NTU team has found a way to transform the titanium dioxide into tiny nanotubes, which is a thousand times thinner than the diameter of a human hair. This speeds up the chemical reactions taking place in the new battery, allowing for superfast charging.

Invented by Associate Professor Chen Xiaodong from NTU’s School of Materials Science and Engineering, the science behind the formation of the new titanium dioxide gel was published in the latest issue of Advanced Materials, a leading international scientific journal in materials science.

Prof Chen and his team will be applying for a Proof-of-Concept grant to build a large-scale battery prototype. With the help of NTUitive, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTU set up to support NTU start-ups, the patented technology has already attracted interest from the industry.

The technology is currently being licensed by a company for eventual production. Prof Chen expects that the new generation of fast-charging batteries will hit the market in the next two years. It also has the potential to be a key solution in overcoming longstanding power issues related to electro-mobility.

“Electric cars will be able to increase their range dramatically, with just five minutes of charging, which is on par with the time needed to pump petrol for current cars,” added Prof Chen.

“Equally important, we can now drastically cut down the toxic waste generated by disposed batteries, since our batteries last ten times longer than the current generation of lithium-ion batteries.”

The 10,000-cycle life of the new battery also mean that drivers of electric vehicles would save on the cost of battery replacements, which could cost over US$5,000 each.

Easy to manufacture

According to Frost & Sullivan, a leading growth-consulting firm, the global market of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries is projected to be worth US$23.4 billion in 2016.

Lithium-ion batteries usually use additives to bind the electrodes to the anode, which affects the speed in which electrons and ions can transfer in and out of the batteries.

However, Prof Chen’s new cross-linked titanium dioxide nanotube-based electrodes eliminates the need for these additives and can pack more energy into the same amount of space.

Manufacturing this new nanotube gel is very easy. Titanium dioxide and sodium hydroxide are mixed together and stirred under a certain temperature so battery manufacturers will find it easy to integrate the new gel into their current production processes.

Recognised as the next big thing by co-inventor of today’s lithium-ion batteries

NTU professor Rachid Yazami, the co-inventor of the lithium-graphite anode 30 years ago that is used in today’s lithium-ion batteries, said Prof Chen’s invention is the next big leap in battery technology.

“While the cost of lithium-ion batteries has been significantly reduced and its performance improved since Sony commercialised it in 1991, the market is fast expanding towards new applications in electric mobility and energy storage,” said Prof Yazami, who is not involved in Prof Chen’s research project.

Last year, Prof Yazami was awarded the prestigious Draper Prize by The National Academy of Engineering for his ground-breaking work in developing the lithium-ion battery with three other scientists.

“However, there is still room for improvement and one such key area is the power density – how much power can be stored in a certain amount of space – which directly relates to the fast charge ability. Ideally, the charge time for batteries in electric vehicles should be less than 15 minutes, which Prof Chen’s nanostructured anode has proven to do so.”

Prof Yazami is now developing new types of batteries for electric vehicle applications at the Energy Research Institute at NTU (ERI@N).

This battery research project took the team of four scientists three years to complete. It is funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister's Office, Singapore, under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) Programme of Nanomaterials for Energy and Water Management.

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Carnegie Mellon To Develop Electrolyte Genome Search Engine for Battery Development [VIDEO]

Venkat Viswanathan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, is developing a search engine that will help researchers and industry experts discover and develop electrolytes for batteries more quickly and efficiently than currently possible.

Viswanathan, who is researching new types of lithium batteries for electric vehicles, realized how slow and inefficient it is to search for specific information on the different components. "You have to go read through multiple charts or go through handbooks to get to that information, and then try to discover something that will actually work," Viswanathan says.

Viswanathan was inspired to find a solution to this problem by President Barack Obama's first announcement of the Materials Genome Initiative. Making the announcement at Carnegie Mellon in 2011, he called upon scientists and engineers to help discover and produce new materials faster and in more cost-effective ways by creating and using a massive database of information on industry materials.

While the Materials Genome Initiative is intended for a broad spectrum of industry applications, Viswanathan is currently focused on developing a data genome for electrolytes. Electrolytes consist of salt and a solvent, and are essential in lithium ion batteries because they serve as the channel that moves the lithium ions, which store the energy. Charged ions must be moved from one side of the battery, and when they are charged, back to the other side, where they can be consumed. Finding electrolytes that work is currently one of the major barriers to developing more energy-dense storage solutions for consumer use.

Using a search engine similar to social networking sites Facebook and Yelp, scientists and researchers can use the electrolyte genome to enter the beginning of queries and receive suggestions about what they might mean, similarly to how when you type "Sara" into your Facebook search, the people named Sara who are your friends are the top suggestions. It also can handle queries with "and," such as if you type in "Sara" AND "Boston" to discover Saras who live in Boston. While this sounds common for everyday users, it is novel for very technical organic chemistry searches.

The search engine is robust enough to help users come up with ideas, such as if a researcher is trying to think of a certain set of desired attributes for a solvent but cannot quite precisely state it — like how you might be trying to think of a word on the tip of your tongue, but can only remember it starts with a certain letter and means something similar to another word.

In the future, users will be able to seamlessly merge data graphically to get more complex information such as correlations between various properties of solvents or between different solvents. This is similar to the search engine Wolfram Alpha, which, should a user type in "GDP of China and India," will provide the users not only with the countries' current GDPs but also with a graph detailing how their GDPs have increased over time, among other relevant facts.

The ability to access this in-depth level of information would result in faster and more successful testing of new materials, ultimately allowing researchers and businesses to get products from concept to marketplace more quickly.

Viswanathan's electrolyte genome project is tailored for expert users who are looking for complex information, such as electrochemical and chemical properties, and highest occupied molecule orbital (HOMO) level of solvents, but he hopes to eventually expand the project to be accessible to the general public and to other kind of solvents beyond organic solvents. The data genome search engine would support a wide range of querying options, from complicated searches by experts to simple searches by general users who are looking for information unavailable outside of print materials or who just want to see the capability of the data genome.

To test Viswanathan's electrolyte genome project, visit: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/venkatv/SEED.html.

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Next-Gen Battery Capacity Expected to Increase 1,000x by 2023

A recent report from Navigant Research analyzes the global market for next-generation advanced batteries, with a focus on the current leading battery chemistry, lithium ion, and the energy storage device types that might eventually replace it.

While lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries offer many advantages over traditional battery technologies, research and development of new battery chemistries that, in many ways, surpass Li-ion is advancing rapidly and is expected to have a major impact on the battery industry in the coming years. These new chemistries are anticipated to enable even more applications for batteries, thus increasing the overall size of the battery market. Click to tweet: According to a recent report from Navigant Research, the total worldwide capacity of advanced batteries is expected to grow from 30.4 megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2014 to more than 28,000 MWh in 2023.

“The limitations to Li-ion, including input costs, safety issues, and materials scarcity, could leave it vulnerable to new chemistries that solve some or all of those problems,” says Sam Jaffe, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. “Although most of the chemistries explored in this report are only at laboratory-scale production levels today, they could reshape the market for advanced batteries in the next 10 years.”

Important emerging battery chemistries include ultracapacitors, lithium sulfur, magnesium ion, solid electrolyte, next-generation flow, and metal-air. Their advent is occurring in the context of an enormous increase in the world’s appetite for advanced energy storage devices, according to the report: Navigant Research expects that overall battery demand is expected to increase from approximately 66.2 GWh in 2014 to greater than 225.3 GWh in 2023.

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Betavoltaic Nuclear Battery Developed for Automotive applications

Scientists and technology companies are constantly seeking ways to improve battery life and efficiency. Now, for the first time using a water-based solution, researchers at the University of Missouri have created a long-lasting and more efficient nuclear battery that could be used for many applications such as a reliable energy source in automobiles and also in complicated applications such as space flight.

“Betavoltaics, a battery technology that generates power from radiation, has been studied as an energy source since the 1950s,” said Jae W. Kwon, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and nuclear engineering in the College of Engineering at MU. “Controlled nuclear technologies are not inherently dangerous. We already have many commercial uses of nuclear technologies in our lives including fire detectors in bedrooms and emergency exit signs in buildings.”

The battery uses a radioactive isotope called strontium-90 that boosts electrochemcial energy in a water-based solution. A nanostructured titanium dioxide electrode (the common element found in sunscreens and UV blockers) with a platinum coating collects and effectively converts energy into electrons.

“Water acts as a buffer and surface plasmons created in the device turned out to be very useful in increasing its efficiency,” Kwon said. “The ionic solution is not easily frozen at very low temperatures and could work in a wide variety of applications including car batteries and, if packaged properly, perhaps spacecraft.”

The research, “Plasmon-assisted radiolytic energy conversion in aqueous solutions,” was conducted by Kwon’s research group at MU, and was published in Nature.

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Nissan may source cheaper batteries from LG Chem

Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn is preparing to cut battery manufacturing, people familiar with the matter said, in a new reversal on electric cars that has reopened deep divisions with alliance partner Renault.

The plan, which faces stiff resistance within the Japanese carmaker, would see U.S. and British production phased out and a reduced output of next-generation batteries concentrated at its domestic plant, two alliance sources told Reuters.

In what may also prove a politically sensitive blow to Japan Inc., Nissan would follow Renault by taking cheaper batteries from South Korea's LG Chem for some future vehicles, including models made in China.

"We set out to be a leader in battery manufacturing but it turned out to be less competitive than we'd wanted," said one executive on condition of anonymity. "We're still between six months and a year behind LG in price-performance terms."

A decision on the Nissan battery plants in Sunderland, England, and Smyrna, Tennessee, is due next month, the sources said, following a tense procurement review with 43.4 percent shareholder Renault, the smaller but senior partner in their 15-year-old alliance.

"Renault would clearly prefer to go further down the LG sourcing route, and the Nissan engineers would obviously prefer to stay in-house," another insider said. "The write-off costs are potentially huge."

Renault-Nissan "remains 100-percent committed to its industry-leading electric vehicle programme" and has no plans to write down battery investments, spokeswoman Rachel Konrad said.

"We have not taken any decision whatsoever to modify battery sourcing allocation," Konrad said, adding that the alliance "does not confirm or deny procurement reviews."

But Nissan is already negotiating with manufacturing partner NEC Corp. on the shift to dual sourcing, with Chief Executive Ghosn's backing, the sources said. Nissan currently makes all its own electric car batteries.

One option being explored would see LG, which supplies some Renault models, invest in its own battery production at one of the overseas Nissan plants as the carmaker halts operations at the sites.

The alliance is also in talks with LG on a deal to supply batteries for future Renault and Nissan electric models in China, one of the sources added.

NEC and LG declined to comment.

Under Ghosn, who heads both companies, Renault-Nissan bet more on electric cars than any mainstream competitor, pledging in 2009 to invest 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) to build models including the Nissan Leaf compact and as many as 500,000 batteries per year to power them.

Nissan and NEC invested 23 billion yen ($215 million) in their Zama, Japan battery plant and electrode manufacturing, backed by government aid. U.S. and British taxpayers also helped with the $1 billion invested in Tennessee and 210 million pounds ($341 million) in Sunderland.

The alliance has begun a belated push into faster-selling hybrids, combining electric and combustion-engine propulsion. Upscale electric rivals such as Tesla's Model S meanwhile hog the limelight, backed by big investments in newer, cheaper battery technologies.

INTERNAL RIVALRIES

Ghosn dropped extra battery sites planned for both alliance carmakers, leaving Nissan with the entire production capacity of 220,000 power packs through the NEC joint venture, AESC.

But that still far exceeds the 67,000 electric cars Renault-Nissan sold last year, and even the 176,000 registered to date. A pledge to reach 1.5 million by 2016 has been scrapped.

The coming hybrids will fill some of the excess plant capacity, although they use fewer power cells per vehicle. An all-electric Tesla rival is still planned for Nissan's premium Infiniti brand in 2018 with batteries as big as 60 kilowatt-hours (kWh), more than twice the energy capacity of the Leaf, which is due for replacement the previous year.

Nissan is seeking to unwind a ruinous NEC contract that requires it to purchase electrodes for the full capacity of 220,000 Leaf-sized 24 kWh batteries regardless of actual sales, sources said. The joint venture partner's consent is also needed to bring LG production or other activities onto the Tennessee or Sunderland sites, which together employ 500 workers.

The financial hit for Nissan "will depend on what else we can do with the plants", with heavy charges likely if both are closed, one manager added.

The Nissan procurement shift could still be thwarted by capacity-cutting costs including repayment of U.S. and British government support. Next-generation battery manufacturing at Zama would also likely need fresh Japanese aid to compete with LG and its subsidies from Seoul, sources said.

Navigating the battery backtrack is a key test for CEO Ghosn as he demands closer Renault-Nissan integration from executives mandated to pursue savings across the alliance.

For Nissan, the plant cuts would be a partial retreat from the automotive battery market - expected to top $20 billion by 2020 - just as California-based Tesla builds its $5 billion "Gigafactory" with Panasonic in Nevada.

Japanese engineers are still smarting from Renault's 2010 move to drop Nissan batteries and purchase LG for its flagship Zoe model, worsening the overcapacity problem.

"It was a 15-20 percent cost gap," said one of the people involved in the Renault decision. "In purchasing, 3-4 percent is usually enough to choose a partner for."

Today's Nissan batteries come in at $270 per kWh, based on replacement prices thought to be below cost, according to consulting firm AlixPartners. The true manufacturing cost is believed to be over $300, inflated by the amortisation of unused plant capacity and the burdensome electrodes deal.

The next generation will have lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes, as used by LG, rather than the current lithium manganese oxide (LMO) chemistry. The alliance cost target is $200/kWh, whether made or bought, sources said.

With a clean slate and sufficient volume, Nissan engineers insist, their next generation of batteries could be competitive on price as well as keeping crucial know-how at the company.

"When you're developing cutting-edge technology, the best way to know about that technology is to build it in-house," said one. "That's what Tesla is doing."

Many of the past missteps can be traced to internal rivalries of the kind Ghosn is only now moving to stamp out.

Former Nissan second-in-command Carlos Tavares, racing to beat the Renault Zoe to market, cut Leaf development by a year and skipped a critical battery redesign, according to alliance veterans. Nissan later cut prices, settled a class action and offered retroactive warranties to answer customer concerns about battery deterioration. Tavares now heads PSA Peugeot Citroen.

His Renault archrival at the time, Patrick Pelata, signed a confidentiality deal with LG that meant Nissan battery engineers never even knew what they were up against.

Against that backdrop, the atmosphere may be charged when Nissan engineering boss Hideyuki Sakamoto puts final arguments against the outsourcing plan in a presentation to Ghosn as soon as this week.

But the CEO's mind may be all but made up.

"We're in the process of opening up battery sourcing to a range of suppliers," Ghosn said last week when asked whether Renault could buy batteries from France's Bolloré.

In future some batteries will likely be outsourced "within the framework of alliance procurement", he added. "What's important to us is that electric car performance fully meets customer expectations."

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Kia pushes energy-density frontier with Soul EV battery [VIDEO]

Kia Motors is using a 360-V lithium-ion battery pack of “class-leading” energy density (200 W·h/kg) in the 2015 Soul EV to give it range of about 200 km (125 mi) on the European Driving Cycle, and “real-world” range of 80-100 mi (129-161 km) in the U.S. The cells and the battery are the same in all regions.

The battery in the 2015 Kia Soul EV is the result of a three-year development program with lithium-ion cell maker SK Innovation. The 192 cells are packaged into eight modules and deliver a total battery capacity of 27 kW·h. The cell cathode is of nickel-rich NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) chemistry, with the raw materials for that and other components optimized for energy density, durability, and safety.

Kia says high-performance anode and gel electrolyte additive materials were developed. The new electrolyte additive allows for better range by more effectively dealing with low and high temperatures. A “special” ceramic separator with improved thermal resistance properties is used.

The cell casings are of polymer pouch type (as opposed to metal), and the battery pack is air-cooled. Standard equipment on the Soul EV includes receptacles for SAE J1772 Level 1 and Level 2 ac charging, as well as CHAdeMO dc fast charging (480 V).

The car goes on sale in the U.S. in third quarter 2014.

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Tesla to Roll Out “Destination Charging” Program At Hotels, Restaurants And Resorts

Tesla has begun installing high-power wall chargers at restaurants, hotels, beach parking and other locations that can send 80 amps of electricity into the Model S and add 58 miles of range in an hour. While that’s not nearly as fast as a Supercharger, which can recharge the 85 kWh pack in around 30 minutes, it’s twice as fast as the standard 240-volt chargers that can be more commonly be found around in parking lots and garages.

Tesla has been rolling these out quickly across the US as a convenience to customers. The company says 106 of them have been installed since the program began this spring, with more coming online daily. Like the Superchargers, they are free to use for Tesla owners.

Unlike Superchargers, which function more like a petrol station, these wall chargers are designed for destinations. Teslas can also use standard charging stations with the use of an adapter that comes with the car but due to the out-sized capacity of the battery in a Model S (up to 85 kWh), a full charge from a standard 240v 10 amp outlet might take as long as 30 hours. To make utilizing the full range of a Model S practical, for example for weekend trips, higher powered 'destination' charging is required to provide up to 500 km worth of charge in approx 4-5 hours.