The next five years will clearly be a transition period from the petro-car to the electric car.  But this transition will feature an interesting horse race between two different battery technologies, a lithium-ion (Li-on)  or an upgraded Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) powered battery. 

Apparently Toyota and Honda, the two currently leading makers of transition hybrid cars, do not think the Li-on is ready for prime time yet.  They reportedly are going with an upgraded NiMH battery.   Carlos Ghosn, on the other hand, is taking Nissan directly into what he thinks will be the ultimate answer, a Li-on powered electric car with a short stop in hybrid-land, but still powered with Li-on.

The report shown below offers a preview of Ghosn’s all-electric Li-on powered dream car.  It also confirms that Ghosn is a realist who understands that the all-electric vision that he has embraced so fully along with Project Better Place needs a hybrid transition period.  To solve that problem he has purchased a power plant from Toyota.  But apparently deciding that the transition will last for quite a while, he is also now building his own hybrid, but still one with a Li-on battery.

On “the outside” as they say in horse racing is an untested potential game changer, the ultracapacitor powered car by EEStor/Zenn.  That has to be considered a very long shot at this point since so little is really known about it.  But this will be a long race and there is certainly time for a twist that is not currently anticipated. 

The largest stakes in this horse race are not so much which battery is best or whether the electric vehicle (EV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is ultimately proved better (it might be both).  Rather it is whether the global fleet can be taken off petroleum faster than the decline of old oil fields causes the amount of crude available to the market to become truly scarce as predicted by megaprojects analysis. 

Honing in on just the battery issue  though, this horse race bears on the fortunes of companies that produce lithium (SQM) and Rare Earth Elements that are used in the NiMH battery.  It is entirely possible that both will be winners.  I have re-established a position in SQM now that it has fallen to my target of the mid-30’s.

Here is the Nissan story:

Nissan shows test models of electric car, hybrid

A battery developed that delivers more power than type common today

Nissan showed its EV-01 electric car, foreground, at its test course in Yokosuka near Tokyo.

Shizuo Kambayashi / AP

updated 9:23 a.m. MT, Wed., Aug. 6, 2008

YOKOSUKA, Japan - Nissan showed on Wednesday a spiffy electric car packed with a battery developed by the Japanese automaker to deliver more power than the type common in today’s hybrids.

The electric vehicle, set for sale in 2010, carried a 300 kilogram (660 pounds) lithium-ion battery and still zipped around a Nissan Motor Co. test course, accelerating more quickly than comparable gas-engine cars.

It was extremely quiet, absent of engine noise — a trademark of electric vehicles. Details such as cruising range are yet to be determined, Nissan officials said.

Having fallen behind Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. in hybrids, Nissan has made the electric vehicle the pillar of its green strategy.

Automakers around the world are trying to develop ecological products amid growing concerns about soaring gas prices and global warming. Electric vehicles are zero-emission.

Last month, Tokyo-based Nissan, with French partner Renault SA, announced a partnership with the Portuguese government to sell electric vehicles there in 2011. Separately, Nissan has announced deals with Project Better Place, based in Palo Alto, California, to mass market electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark in 2011.

Nissan’s electric vehicle, shown Wednesday, is being promised to go on sale in Japan and the U.S. in 2010 and globally by 2012.

But Nissan faces competition from other automakers, including General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. of the U.S., which have developed electric vehicles.

Also Wednesday, Japanese rival Mitsubishi Motors Corp., working with Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa Corp., said it was building a plant in Japan to mass-produce lithium-ion batteries for its electric vehicle, planned for rental next year and sale the following year.

Nissan also offered test-drives of its hybrid. Hybrids deliver better mileage than comparable gas-engine vehicles by switching between an engine and an electric motor.

Nissan now purchases its hybrid system from Toyota for the Altima hybrid sold in the U.S. but is promising vehicles with its own system by 2010.

Nissan’s hybrid system still has some bugs to work out. Shown on an Infiniti luxury model, it seemed to lurch a little when the gas engine kicked in as speed picked up.

Nissan engineer Mikio Nozaki said the system delivers the mileage of a compact car, although he refused to give numbers.

The hybrid comes with Nissan’s lithium-ion battery, although they are much smaller than the version in the electric car.

Hybrids such as the popular Toyota Prius has a nickel metal hydride battery, which is less powerful than lithium-ion. Automakers are competing to develop lithium-ion batteries for green cars.

Nissan also showed a side-collision prevention feature that uses sensors to recognize approaching vehicles, even in blind spots, and warns drivers when they are switching lanes.

The warning feels like a tug, delivered through very slight braking, either on the left wheels or the right, Nissan Senior Manager Junichi Kobayashi said. When that will become available on commercial models is still undecided.

Safety features that maintain a safe distance with the car in front and prevent dangerous lane departures are already available.

Tags: peak oil energy investments

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Rare Earth Element Miners, Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, SA (SQM)., batteries, electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.