After last week's "Bricking Out" outcry about Tesla Roadster batteries, Electric Cars developers strike back with the new lithium batteries technology breakthrough! Envia Systems claims the new lithium battery technology with Energy Density of 400 Wh/kg and cost of $125 per 1 kWh. Envia Systems joins German DBM Energy, which has been lost in translation recently with its wonder Kolibri Lithium Battery and confirms Elon Musk with his call on cost of Lithium Batteries dropping below $200 per 1 kWh soon. Now, even rumors about all electric Renault Zoe 2014 with 220 miles range could be more credible.
Our Lithium developers are waiting for this technology confirmation to break out from the consolidation stage now.
It looks like Warren Buffet will be right on the money again with his call on Electric Cars!
It looks like Warren Buffet will be right on the money again with his call on Electric Cars!
Lithium Drive: Warren Buffett: "In not many years, you are going to see a clear change towards Electric Cars"
Oil Empire Strikes Back: Wired: Tesla Dismisses Report of ‘Bricked’ Roadsters
"Oil Empire strikes back again? Every time when we have the potential breakthrough in Lithium Batteries technology and Oil prices are driving Gas prices up - we have a "news" about polluting Electric Cars or devastating battery technology flaws. For us, all these signs are very encouraging. Who would fight so hard the Electric Cars nobody wants? We are at the tipping point now for the mass adoption of electric cars."
GigaOm:
A battery breakthrough that could bring electric cars to the masses
By Katie Fehrenbacher
A startup working on battery technology says it’s developed a key breakthrough that could one day lead to an electric car that has a 300-mile range and could cost around $25,000 to $30,000. Envia Systems, backed by venture capitalists, General Motors, and the Department of Energy, plans to announce on Monday at the ARPA-E conference that the company has created a lithium ion battery that has an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram, which Envia CEO Atul Kapadia told me in an interview could be the tipping point for bringing electric cars to mainstream car owner.
The secret sauce
Energy density is how much energy a battery can store and provide for the car with a given battery size — the more energy dense the battery, the less volume and weight is needed. For electric cars it is particularly important to have a high energy dense battery because electric cars need to be as light weight as possible (any extra weight just drains the battery faster), and batteries that are smaller and use less materials can also be lower in cost.
Kapadia tells me that current lithium ion batteries deliver an energy density of around 100 to 150 watt-hours per kilogram, while Envia’s 
battery can deliver 2.5 times that energy with about the same weight as the current electric cars that have hit the market. To build a 300-mile range electric car with standard lithium ion batteries, it would cost around $40,000 just for the batteries alone, says Kapadia.
battery can deliver 2.5 times that energy with about the same weight as the current electric cars that have hit the market. To build a 300-mile range electric car with standard lithium ion batteries, it would cost around $40,000 just for the batteries alone, says Kapadia.Envia says with an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram, its battery cell costs could be at $125 per kWh. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said recently that he sees battery cells dropping in price to below $200 per kWh in the coming years. Current electric cars like the Volt have been reported to be closer to $500 to $600 per kWh, and the Nissan LEAF at $375 per kWh.
Envia, founded in 2007 in the Palo Alto public library, began its business by developing technology for a low-cost cathode. A battery is made up of an anode on one side and a cathode on the other, with an electrolyte in between. For a lithium ion battery, lithium ions travel from the anode to the cathode through the electrolyte, creating a chemical 
reaction that allows electrons to be harvested along the way. After Envia developed its cathode technology, it started working on a silicon carbon anode, and then paired these two innovations together, with a high-voltage electroloyte.
reaction that allows electrons to be harvested along the way. After Envia developed its cathode technology, it started working on a silicon carbon anode, and then paired these two innovations together, with a high-voltage electroloyte.Kapadia says the innovation is also important because many scientists have thought that the lithium ion battery had certain limits on how efficient and cheap it could get: “The rumors of the demise of lithium ion batteries are greatly exaggerated.”
Kapadia also says: “Gone are the days of relying on ancient consumer batteries for automobiles and stifling this revolution by making expensive electric cars.” And in case you didn’t get this reference, Tesla Motors uses small format standard lithium ion batteries like the ones found in laptops for its cars.
Getting the battery into cars
Charging up the Volt
Envia is announcing at the ARPA-E conference that it has reached this 400 watt-hours per kilogram milestone in tests, but the company is still in the prototype stage, and an Envia battery will probably take about three years to move into the commercial auto market. Envia plans to work with battery and auto partners, potentially licensing or creating joint ventures to get the batteries manufactured. Kapadia tells me that Envia plans to avoid the capital intensive model of trying to be a startup that does all its own manufacturing.
General Motors is one of Envia’s high profile investors, and invested $7 million into Enviaabout a year ago. GM has said that Envia will provide battery technology for future generations of GM’s Volt electric car. Other investors in Envia include Japanese giant Asahi Kasei, Pangaea Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures.
Envia received a $4 million grant from the DOE’s ARPA-E program to attempt to hit the 400 watt-hour per kilogram milestone. Expect Envia to be touted throughout the ARPA-E event, as proof that its program is working to develop green innovation in the U.S.
Images courtesy of Envia Systems."
MarketWatch:
Envia Systems Achieves World Record Energy Density for Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries
Breakthrough 400 Watt-hour/kilogram Lithium-ion Battery Poised to Revolutionize Cost, Range and Safety in Electric Vehicles
PRESS RELEASE
Feb. 27, 2012, 7:00 a.m. EST
Envia Systems Achieves World Record Energy Density for Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries
Breakthrough 400 Watt-hour/kilogram Lithium-ion Battery Poised to Revolutionize Cost, Range and Safety in Electric Vehicles
NEWARK, Calif., Feb 27, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Envia Systems, a technology leader in high-performance, low-cost lithium-ion energy storage solutions today announced test results that verify the company's next-generation rechargeable battery has achieved the highest recorded energy density of 400 Watt-hours/kilogram (Wh/kg) for a rechargeable lithium-ion cell. When commercialized, this 400 Wh/kg battery is expected to slash the price of a 300-mile range electric vehicle by cutting the cost of the battery pack by more than 50 percent.
The testing of Envia's next-generation lithium-ion battery was performed by the Electrochemical Power Systems Department at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Crane, Ind., under the sponsorship of ARPA-E. Tests at various cycling rates at NSWC confirmed that Envia's automotive battery cell demonstrated energy density between 378-418 Wh/kg for rates between C/3 to C/10 for a 45 Amp-hour (C/3) cell. Similar cells have been cycling in Envia's test labs for over 300 cycles. NSWC Crane will also test these cells to validate cycling performance. [See excerpts of the test results here: http://enviasystems.com/announcement .]
"Since the inception of Envia, our product team has worked tirelessly and logged over 25 million test channel hours to optimally develop each of the active components of the battery: Envia's proprietary Si-C anode, HCMR cathode and EHV electrolyte," said Dr. Sujeet Kumar, Envia Systems co-founder, president & CTO. "Rather than just a proof-of-concept of energy density, I am pleased that our team was successful in actually delivering 400 Wh/kg automotive grade 45 Ah lithium-ion rechargeable cells."
"Envia's new battery technology represents exactly the kind of innovation and breakthroughs that ARPA-E is looking for from the American research and development community," said ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar. "We hope that this low cost and high density battery technology enables wide spread adoption of electric vehicles across the country and around the world."
"In an industry where energy density tends to increase five percent a year, our achievement of more than doubling state-of-art energy density and lowering cost by half is a giant step towards realizing Envia's mission of mass market affordability of a 300-mile electric vehicle," said Envia Systems Chairman and CEO Atul Kapadia.
About Envia Systems
Envia Systems is the industry leader in high performance, low cost lithium-ion energy storage solutions. Based in Newark, Calif., Envia's patented cathode, anode and electrolyte materials enables its batteries to deliver high energy density, safety and calendar life. These systems are used by manufacturers developing Electric Vehicles and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles. For more information, please visit www.enviasystems.com .
Envia was awarded grants by both the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the California Energy Commission in 2010 to develop high energy density batteries for electric vehicles. General Motors Ventures LLC participated in an equity investment round of $17 million in 2011. For more information, please visit www.enviasystems.com .
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50182412&lang=en
SOURCE: Envia Systems"
Could this be the breakthrough that electric travel has been waiting for?
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