We are monitoring here the story with DBM Energy - this German start up is talking about its wonder Lithium battery: Kolibri, which can make this announcement the very low bar to beat. Question is still whether this technology will be commercially proven and on the market in the nearest future. Recently we have found some more confirmations about its potential break through in Lithium batteries performance and cost. As with all technology once the proper funding will be put in place we can expect the rapid technological advance even without the miracles promised by companies like DBM Energy.
"Lithium Jolt: DBM Energy: This Breakthrough Will Soon Slash EV Prices Drastically. Electric Cars' roll out in a mass market fashion used to be at the mercy of Oil prices, government incentives and consumer devotion to pay the top buck for being Green. This situation can be changing right now by start up from Germany and its wonder Lithium battery.
News about DBM Energy and its technological break through in Lithium batteries technology made its way, finally, into the sale pitches of stock promoters. We do not endorse the company mentioned in that report in any way - you know what we like here on this blog already - but this article is an important indication that this technology news are filtering through.
DBM Energy is not in a hurry to tell its story to the English speaking world and was surrounded by a lot of rumors from the very beginning. We are still awaiting for more clear confirmation on cost and pricing for the battery, but it is already evident that this technology is nothing less than the potential game changer in the electric space.
Recently it was reported that auto industry heavy hitters have joined the DBM Energy board and we are awaiting the further developments with this company. Evuk.co.uk has reported that former execs from BMW and Daimler Benz have joined the board of DBM Energy and its founder "Mirko Hannemann has such confidence in his idea that he turned down an offer of over 600 million Euros from Samsung":
Fast Company:
BY MICHAEL J. COREN
Chevy Volts currently cost upwards of $30,000, but to make EVs truly mainstream, that price has to come down. A team of German engineers is looking at every step of EV manufacturing to do just that.
German engineers are a pretty confident bunch, but then they have a right to be. Europe's manufacturing giant weathered the recession with minimal layoffs and its economy is set to grow about 3% this year. German firms are staring at an enviable backlog of orders for cars, machinery, and other precision goods. Here in the U.S., well, it's a different story.
So when a group at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology says the costs of building electric vehicle (EV) power trains and batteries could be halved by 2018, perhaps we should listen. Self-promoting as it sounds for German industry, the country is throwing big money behind the boast. The country's $273 million Competence E project will bring together 250 scientists from 25 institutes to commercialize innovations from research, delivering the missing link between government, academia, and industry for commercialization of EV technology. The project (slated to run at least through 2018) is a publicly funded research effort similar to particle accelerators and clean-room laboratories, only dedicated to building the manufacturing foundation for EVs.
“We are no longer focused on studying individual molecules or components, but on developing solutions on the system level, which meet industrial requirements,” says project head Andreas Gutsch in an interview with ScienceBusiness."We are actively approaching industry and will even intensify these efforts…We are conducting excellent research for application, not for the drawer."
KIT will develop a "research factory" that will construct and demonstrate fabrication lines for novel batteries and electric technologies. As gaps in the innovation chain narrow, researchers believe the time and money required to move innovations from lab to market will drop sharply. It bares some resemblance to the (not-yet-funded) $100 million effort to launch a Material Genome Initiative here in the U.S. that we reported on in August.
In the U.S., the Department of Energy is offering at least $175 million in grant-based funding for multiple projects, as well as other initiatives, but a coordinated cross-sector effort does not seem to be on the table.
We'll see which approach crosses the finish line first."
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