Nissan's
lithium battery partnership points to 2010 hybrid vehicle
wars?
Monday,
April 16, 2007
Lithium-powered
in 2009?
On Friday Nissan and NEC Group announced that they had
finalized a partnership to produce lithium-ion batteries
starting in 2009.
According to CNN,
Nissan Senior Vice President Minoru Shinohara told a news
conference, "the technology behind the partners'
latest lithium-ion battery, which has twice the power of
conventional batteries at half the size, was ready, and
preparations were now underway for mass production and
commercialisation."
While Nissan has been bearish regarding hybrid
cars - only recently offering the Altima
hybrid and only in a handful of states - Nissan's
leader, Carlos Ghosn, has repeatedly reminded reporters
that he is not opposed to hybrids. Instead, Ghosn believes
the technology for cost-effective hybrids is not yet
ready.
Lithium batteries, it appears, will be the difference
maker and this next generation of hybrid batteries should
make the competition in the hybrid segment quite
interesting. Also, in 2009 Toyota has announced that the third
generation Prius and all Toyota hybrids will utilize
lithium-ion batteries - another nail in the NiMH battery
coffin.
Back in December, before Toyota made official the use of
lithium in the next generation Prius and months before
Nissan's announcement, I predicted that 2010 would "be
the end of the hybrid vehicle hoax" - precisely
because of lithium.
My forecast is now shaping up perfectly.
Comments
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Li-Ions do get really hot although they are great in terms of power and size ratio. But i guess nissan and NEC will be working on this small problem.
I'll be glad if nissan will be working on nissan frontier parts too.