Lithium Drive: Johnson Controls reveals the ie:3 concept car at 2011 Detroit Auto Show NAIAS tnr.v, lmr.v, rm.v, alk.ax, sqm, fmc, roc, lit, li.v, wlc.v, clq.v, res.v, ree, avl.to, nsany, f, gm, rno.pa, dai, byddf, hev, aone, vlnc

  Here comes the lithium battery technology progress - hopefully now on American soil as well. Jonson Controls unveils its vision for the future: it is small car - the largest growing sector in the world auto market now - and it is EV - Electric Car with Lithium battery. Sandwich architecture for lithium battery placed in the floor of the vehicle provides completely different flat floor design options now to maximise the space. And there is no way to hide from all type of available gadgets.
  Our take here will be that technology - and particular electronics - will be falling further in price and, as Nissan Leaf has shown, more and more gadgets will be coming as standard in Electric Cars. It will justify the higher price in the initial market penetration stage which depends on lithium battery cost now.

"Once we have moved the question of our Energy Security and mere survival into the technological space, we will start to talk about the R&D money spent and technological advance. Target is to bring the cost of the batteries down and its capacity up. Elon Musk was talking about 8-10% advance in battery capacity in a year now. DBM Energy is talking about 300  Wh/kg, without disclosing the cost. Argonne has a target of 400Wh on kg and price of 375 dollars per kWh.

  It will be translated into the price for GM Volt 16 kWh battery of 6,000 dollar a 40% reduction and Nissan Leaf 300 kg battery could be not 24 kWh capacity giving Nissan Leaf 100 miles range, but 120 kWh with 500 miles range! This technological breakthrough will end Range Anxiety and EVs will become truly the new revolution in a way of personal mobility.

  These results are still expectations at best and a few years into the future, but even DBM Energy claims could make this EV revolution reality today in case of its proper verification."

MotorTrend:

2011 Detroit: Johnson Controls ie3 Concept—Interior with Soul

  If you can look past the Kia Soul exterior panels, what’s inside points the way to the hyper-versatile compact interior of the near future. Every technology and concept presented on the ie3 is fully vetted and feasible for 2015 production, including the prismatic lithium-ion battery pack that packages in a six-inch-deep tray beneath the floor.

  To maximize packaging flexibility, the Johnson Controls is proposing a new riff on the “stadium seating” idea. Here, the entire seat (which features JCI’s thin-seat technology) is supported by a pair of stanchions at the backrest so that the cushion can fold upward, exposing the flat floor for carrying bulky items. The manually adjusted seat cushion can also adjust to provide thigh support for longer legs that might otherwise be perched knees-up. This is good, because the front passenger seat’s fore-aft position is fixed. This greatly simplifies the design and allows the front and rear seats on the right side to use all the same parts (the driver-side is a wider 60-percent width, and the driver’s seat is adjustable and obviously doesn’t need the fold-up cushion). The rear seats recline 45 degrees and the front seat can be folded down flat to form an ottoman. Finally, the character lines on the ultra-suede seats are embossed using a new high-frequency “welding” technique.

  Other cool tech: The sound system features no conventional speakers, which frees up storage space in the now lighter and simpler doors. Instead, the entire headliner is used as a speaker. The system, developed with input from NXT (you may recall the Buick Velite show car’s entire dash cover as speaker concept), uses transducers to vibrate the rigid headliner (it can be made of anything headliners are currently made of). The A-pillar trim cover can also be a speaker. Digital signal processing tunes the electronics driving each transducer to produce the desired sound.

  A unique head-up display projects a full-color image of all critical information (speed, nav directions, warning lights, etc.) six feet in front of the driver, using a little glass screen that folds up out of the dash like a motorcycle windscreen. This basic concept is in production now on several Peugeot models, but not in full color. The central display screen is designed to look like a flat-screen TV hanging on the wall. It’s a touch screen that you can alternatively control by an HMI multifunction switch on the console (and this switch slides back and forth on a track to ensure it remains within easy reach of any driver).

  Finally, the dash and door panels employ some cool technologies, like a stretched fabric-over-frame material for the main dash cover and door accents. This material is treated with a nano-protectant to prevent staining, it allows ambient light to filter through, and it’s supposedly been tested for durability and sun-fastness. The lower dash uses a polypropylene material with chopped up wheat stalks in it that comes out of the tool with an interesting color and texture that needs no further painting or covering (unlike most polypropylene applications to date).

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