Eco Factor: Bicycle light gets powered by electromagnetic induction.
Designed by industrial designer Kai Malte Roever, the PUYL is a bicycle pump that doubles as a permanent illuminating bicycle light that doesn’t need a battery to operate. The patent-pending device consists of a normal bicycle pump, which in this case charges a built-in battery using electromagnetic induction.
Eco Factor: Battery recharger charges dead disposable batteries ten times.
Rechargeable batteries, though expensive are great for the environment because it reduces the amount of batteries that clog the landfill after a single use. Battery Wizard is a unique device that lets you recharge disposable batteries up to 10 times thereby reducing the amount of batteries reaching the landfills by a factor of 10.
After the Nasdaq opening bell rings Thursday morning, keep an eye out on the ticker for the symbol “AONE,” which represents Watertown, Mass-based battery startup A123Systems. The company is expected to set its price on Wednesday and trade Thursday and represents the first spot of relief for a long dry spell for cleantech IPOs.
If it goes well, the debut could symbolize renewed investor appetite for IPOs and public confidence in electric cars and establish energy storage as sexy technology, once and for all. A123 certainly seems confident. The company raised its estimated price range to between and .50 per share Tuesday, up from a previous range of .50 to .50 per share, for an offering worth up to 9.62 million, including shares set aside for underwriters in case of over-allotments.
Eight-year-old A123 expects to raise up to 7.7 million in net proceeds from the offering. It’ll need the money to fund its big manufacturing plans, even with all the help from the Department of Energy. The company also could use some of the money to buy other companies, assets or technologies to expand its business, according to its prospectus.
A123 – as well as its investors and the industry – stands to lose if the offering flops or comes out tepid. Much depends upon larger market factors and the company could be jumping the gun after waiting more than a year for market conditions to improve. As this Reuters story points out, the offering is happening amid eight deals this week, which will test investors’ tolerance for risk, and also will represent the first IPO this year by a company that has never made a profit.
In its prospectus, A123 reported a net loss of .2 million in the first half of this year, compared to .9 million in the same period last year, and also saw higher annual losses in each of the last three years.
Even if the IPO is a resounding success, A123 will still have plenty of hurdles to jump to grow its manufacturing, reach profitability and gain a significant market. As the company discusses in its filing, it is competing against larger companies with more resources – the battery industry has been notoriously difficult to break into – and it relies on a limited number of customers, making it more vulnerable if it loses one.
In addition, the government grants, loans and other incentives it has applied for aren’t sure things, as it needs to negotiate and meet certain conditions to get the money. A123 also depends on the automotive industry – read small margins and heavy price pressure – for most of its business. That means it could be affected by the pain that that industry is suffering. And it’s betting on a small and risky part of the industry, electric vehicles. Also don’t forget the patent litigation for the power-tool-battery technology it sells to Black & Decker, which still hasn’t been resolved.
Still, the company definitely has seen a marked improvement in market conditions over the last year. Batteries are seeing unprecedented government support, and in spite of the recession, venture capital has continued to flow to battery startups, especially to lithium-ion technologies. The U.S. battery industry is seeing what Sara Bradford, a principal consultant for global research firm Frost & Sullivan, has called “a renaissance.”
And A123 specifically has won strong votes of confidence from large names. It has this year raised million in venture-capital funding, scored a 9.1 million DOE grants and signed deals to supply electric-vehicle batteries to Chrysler and a grid battery to Southern California Edison.
PowerGenix, which is developing nickel-zinc batteries for consumer electronics, power tools and hybrid vehicles, is optimistic about A123’s public debut. “From the standpoint of startup companies, this hopefully marks the rebirth of the IPO market after the recession, … and from the standpoint of cleantech and battery startups this is obviously very important,” said Richard Brody, vice president of business development. “It’s signaling the maturation process of cleantech as a sector. We’re entering a new phase in the history of batteries where energy storage is going to become a more critical part of the whole power generation, transportation and energy efficiency sectors.”
If A123’s IPO is successful, we’d expect to see other companies rush to raise money before investor interest wanes. But Brody said he believes there’s still plenty of room for higher valuations in energy storage as the cleantech industry grows, and also expects investors will have plenty of appetite for energy-storage companies that target different applications.
The initial public offering of battery maker A123Systems has been in the works for more than a year, and now that the company has finally set the terms for its offering, it’s carrying the hopes of a lot of startups and investors that it will jumpstart the IPO markets, especially for cleantech companies.
A123 isn’t the only battery firm gearing up for a public offering, however. A lithium battery company called EVE Energy, which holds 39 percent of the market in China, has just gotten the green light from regulators to make an initial public offering next month on the country’s new Growth Enterprise Market, or GEM.
The GEM is meant to fund technology-driven startups with high-growth potential, including companies working in the renewable energy and “environmental protection” sectors. But as the Wall Street Journal noted this week, the initial application approvals have been going to more established companies (such as EVE), likely in an effort to get the exchange off to a stable start when it launches in mid-October.
China’s securities regulator approved EVE’s application along with 13 other companies this week for the GEM. At least 155 firms have applied to go public on the GEM since the gates opened in late July, according to the official Xinhua news agency (hat tip Reuters).
Within a decade, China’s potentially 0 billion vehicle market will be dominated by electric cars, research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan anticipates. In the U.S., A123 will likely serve to test the waters for future energy storage and EV tech IPOs. If China’s GEM ever develops into the market it’s envisioned as for less-established companies (a mighty if), then EVE may be one to watch for EV battery startups, as the Chinese lithium battery market that the company now dominates comes to encompass more and more vehicle applications.
Lithium-ion battery technology hit a major milestone this year when hybrid leader Toyota announced plans to test it in road trials of 500 plug-in hybrids — marking the first time this type of battery would be used for propulsion in a Toyota vehicle. While the automaker is going ahead with that plan for plug-ins, Toyota said today that after three years of testing, it’s decided lithium-ion battery technology still isn’t ready for prime time in the regular hybrid (without a plug) Prius.
Compared with nickel-metal hydride batteries, used roughly in 2 million Toyota hybrids sold since 1997, Kazuo Tojima, senior staff engineer for batteries at the company, told Bloomberg that the benefits of lithium-ion batteries — higher efficiency and less weight — just don’t outweigh the relatively high cost.
Toyota’s verdict on hybrid battery tech highlights two key points: the growing demand for lower-cost lithium-ion batteries (which many startups are targeting), as well as the need and opportunity for other battery technologies, which startups like PowerGenix are hoping to offer in coming years.
Hybrid vehicles are somewhat of an interim solution, with much of the auto industry, and the policies that influence it, moving toward plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles. According to Global Insight, hybrids are on track to snag some 5-11 percent of the U.S. market by 2015, up from 2.2 percent in just two years ago. So while lithium-ion is increasingly the tech of choice for upcoming electric vehicles, it’s hardly the only game in town.
A cooperation deal between battery company Saft and energy management specialist Schneider Electric is to deliver a off-grid solar photovoltaic installation in rural Madagascar.
A cooperation deal between battery company Saft and energy management specialist Schneider Electric is to deliver a off-grid solar photovoltaic installation in rural Madagascar.
We’ve written before about California start-up Better Place’s plan to build a network of battery swapping stations and standardized EVs, including its scheduled billion project in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of January 2010, Better Place is taking on the Tokyo taxicab. Partnering with the cities’ largest taxi company, Niho Kotsu, they will create the first all-electric fleet in the world, complete with a battery swapping station in the Roppongi Hills.
Founder Shai Agassi’s plan is to supply cheaper EVs and generate profit by selling power-up time much like cell-phone companies sell minutes (you can even pick your plan; unlimited mileage, monthly allowances, or pay-as-you-go). Battery stations will then allow drivers to swap out their standardized, used batteries for fully-charged ones in under 5 minutes. It’s like going to the gas station without the guilt — especially if Better Place employs renewable energy and becomes part of a smart-grid system.
Testing out this system in the high volume Tokyo taxi market is an important step in Better Place’s long-term vision, as Earth2Tech’s Katie Fehrenbacher explains:
First off, Tokyo is often the purveyor of “cool” and advanced technology, and services and products that gain acceptance in Toyko often find their way to other parts of the world. The city has become a good test bed for technology because it’s filled with a lot of people, not much space, a lot of disposable income, and an unusually high level of attention to electronics and gadgets. While the Better Place Tokyo taxi deal will have to impress the taxi owners first, if it’s successful, it could mean a more consumer-targeted push in Tokyo in the future.
The other benefit of this deal is that Better Place gets to test out its system in a fleet. Tokyo taxis will give the Better Place cars, batteries and battery swap stations a run for their money — far more than the average car user would. That will enable Better Place to test the battery range, the IT networks and the location of the battery swap station in a much faster manner.”
As they continue to develop simultaneous projects in the U.S., Australia, Israel, Ontario and Denmark, we look forward to seeing how Better Place’s strategy catches on.
CC photo credit
Related posts:
Plug In and Drive
Electric Car Charge Stations: B in the Bay Area
Plug-In Hybrid Prototype
Op-Ed: Plug-In Cars on the Way
Project Get Ready Aims to Create Electric Vehicle Revolution
Help us change the world – DONATE NOW!
(Posted by Christa Morris in Emerging Technologies at 1:30 PM)
I’ve come across some interesting info I thought you would like to hear. It’s been suggested by some that it’s our environmental duty to buy and drive hybrid and or electrical vehicles. The costs and maintenance needs for hybrids are very rarely spoken of.
Does the average person who is considering purchasing a new hybrid or electric vehicle in the next year or two really understand the costs involved. Or that each vehicle has it’s idiosyncrasies that a new buyer should be aware of? There’s an up and down side to everything. These “alternative” vehicles are competing with the latest traditional cars that get around the same gas mileage according to recent reports.
Below is an article by ara content about some of the costs involved in running alternative vehicles. They’re linking to a site called “Rock Auto” which I know nothing about and am not promoting. I just thought the info was relevant.
Below the article are two links to two good recent sources of info regarding hybrids, electrical and traditional gas fueled cars.
(ARA) – The government backed “Cash for Clunkers” rebate program helped dealers sell off 2009 models, and a wave of new vehicles is coming in anticipation of the federal mandate that cars average 35.5 mpg by 2016. If you haven’t updated your vehicle in years, it will be more important than ever to analyze your needs and wants before you buy.
The choice is much more complicated than simply picking a small, mid-size, or large vehicle. If you’re considering a hybrid, you might be happy to hear the reality behind some common myths about the dependability of dual-powered vehicles.
Fleets of Toyota Prius and Ford Escape hybrid taxis in Vancouver, San Francisco, and New York City have reliably been in service for more than 200,000 miles. The first generation Toyota and Honda hybrids were introduced more than a decade ago and there are definitely thousands of satisfied hybrid owners.
Another misconception of gas-electric hybrid vehicles is that they are expensive to maintain. With the exception of the hybrid’s battery system, there is some crossover in parts between hybrids and gas-powered vehicles.
The batteries in a hybrid or electric vehicle don’t get better with age. No one expects the batteries in a 15-year-old electric razor to still hold a charge, and the same will probably be true for a 15-year-old hybrid vehicle. Hybrid batteries are typically covered by at least an eight-year warranty. The replacement cost for new nickel-metal hydride Prius batteries keeps dropping, but a new battery pack still costs around ,000.
A check of the RockAuto.com online auto parts catalog shows hybrids often share fuel injectors, oxygen sensors, water pumps, brake pads, shock absorbers, air conditioners and other commonly replaced parts with conventional, gasoline-powered models. Hybrids do have unique and expensive parts like the Prius’ ,700 power inverter, but RockAuto.com shows routine repairs and maintenance for a hybrid do not always have to cost more.
The RockAuto.com Repair Index automatically pulls prices from the company’s vast auto parts catalog based on year, make, model and type of part. It’s a quick, easy way to compare parts costs for different models and the results can be surprising.
While some cars may be appealing because they are better for the environment or great on gas savings, for the average driver some fully electric cars may not be worth the cost to purchase or maintain.
A new lithium ion battery pack for the fully-electric Tesla Roadster – with a sticker price of 1,500 – costs around ,000. New 100 percent electric vehicles by Chevrolet, Chrysler, Nissan and Mini will have lithium battery packs that cost more than ,000. A battery pack’s limited shelf life means a fully electric or even a gas-electric hybrid might not be the best choice for a retiree planning to drive 3,000 miles a year for 20 years and then pass the vehicle down to a favorite grandchild.
For more information on the availability of parts without the expense of getting repairs done only at the dealership, go to www.rockauto.com.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
————————-
A good source of practical and relevant info on current hybrids is a blog called conveniently enough, “Hybrid Car Blog.“
This article describes the newest cheaper gas powered cars that are available that often meet or exceed the fuel efficiency of hybrids. Most if not all are foreign. Everyone should carefully and realistically assess their needs, lifestyle and financial status before getting all excited about buying a hip and cool hybrid or electrical vehicle.
Article at MSN.com-Forbes.com.
Battery makers are raking it this summer — and not just from the government. With the first major round of stimulus awards for plug-in vehicle batteries less than a month behind us, startup CFX Battery has secured the first million of a planned .9 million round of financing, according to regulatory filings reported by Dow Jones.
CFX (included on our list of 13 battery startups to watch) has now raised a total of some million since its founding just over two years ago. Like fellow battery startup Seeo, which has also raised a new round of funding this week, CFX emerged from research in a university lab. According to Volkswagen electrochemistry chief Joerg Huslage, that’s where we’ll see most of the groundbreaking innovations for batteries in coming years.
Caltech professor Robert Grubbs, along with the Nobel Prize-winning director Rachid Yazami (who was leading France’s National Center for Scientific Research but had been a visiting associate at Caltech) spun CFX out of the Southern California university in 2007, getting help from the university’s tech transfer office to raise its first million.
Huslage noted yesterday at IBM’s Almaden Institute in San Jose, Calif., that U.S. and Europe have some catching up to do when it comes to supporting cutting edge battery research and recruiting top talent to conduct it in university programs. Pasadena, Calif.-based CFX is a good example of a startup using intercontinental collaboration and university resources in a way that could help the U.S. play catchup.
According to the Los Angeles Business Times, CFX plans to initially focus on building “primary” lithium batteries, which can’t be recharged. By the end of this year, CFX aims to have three manufacturers buying those batteries for use in military devices, defibrillators and other products. The idea is to build a business in those established markets, and then reinvest the revenue into the company’s rechargeable battery work for applications including electric cars, as well as mobile phones and laptops.
CFX is currently growing its team and seeking alliances with major equipment manufacturers. Already, however, the startup is looking beyond lithium. Anticipating a lithium squeeze down the road and eying lower-cost alternatives, Yazami tells the New York Times that he is also “trying to develop a battery powered by nano particles of sodium and water.”
Vinod Khosla, one of Silicon Valley’s biggest cleantech backers and the founder of Sun Microsystems, may be keeping an eye on the hype about lithium-ion batteries, but the venture capitalist is still excited about one of his earlier lithium battery plays: Seeo. The stealthy startup, which is developing a nano-structured lithium-polymer battery, has raised more than .6 million in new funding, according to regulatory filings picked up by peHUB this morning, and investors in the round include Khosla’s firm, Khosla Ventures.
Seeo, based in Berkeley, Calif., has now raised a total of more than .6 million for its solid-state battery, which is based on a solid polymer electrolyte that the founders developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. The material, which Seeo began licensing from the lab in 2007, allows for a more stable battery with higher energy density and none of the flammable liquid electrolytes that present a safety risk in conventional lithium-ion batteries.
According to founder and technology director Mohit Singh, the company’s batteries can operate at a much higher temperature than competing devices, which means it can be used in rugged, outdoor applications — attached to a solar system, for example. The Berkeley Lab also anticipates applications for technology like Seeo’s in electric vehicles, and says the startup’s batteries are on track to achieve the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium’s 5,000-cycle goal for plug-in vehicle batteries.
Seeo remains very tight-lipped about its technology, strategy and commercialization plans. But when I spoke with some of the startup’s team this week at IBM’s Almaden Institute, they shared Khosla’s take that lithium-ion batteries don’t represent a silver bullet for all energy storage challenges. And materials development director Hany Eitouni said he agreed with Ford’s Ted Miller, who spoke at the event and showed a slide depicting “evolution” of lithium-ion batteries through around 2017 — and then a “revolutionary technology change” after that. Will we really see such a shift in that time frame? We’ll have to, Eitouni said.
In the meantime, the company (and Khosla, through his investments) is jockeying to snag a piece of an increasingly competitive and growing market. Despite the hype, Khosla has said, “Lithium-ion markets are here today. We’re investing because there are good markets.”
Usually when IBM catches our eye with a cleantech play these days, it’s related to the smart grid: Big Blue has developed a variety of software to give utilities more intelligence on the power grid, and the computing giant’s Energy & Utilities chief, Guido Bartels, ranks among our top 15 smart grid influencers.
But in June IBM launched an ambitious battery project with several partners (including national labs), with a goal to commercialize an experimental battery technology — lithium metal-air — and to achieve at least 10 times the energy density of today’s batteries. And this week, the company is hosting a gathering of some of the world’s top battery researchers, auto companies and others involved with batteries for electric cars, to talk about moving beyond lithium-ion, the battery technology of choice for mass market electric cars now in the pipeline at companies including Nissan, General Motors and Tesla Motors.
So what’s IBM doing with lithium air — a risky technology that uses “highly flammable lithium metal to react with oxygen in the air,” as Technology Review explained recently. According to Winfried Wilcke, Senior Manager of Nanoscale Science & Technology, and Program Director of Silicon Valley Projects for IBM’s Almaden Research Center, the project plugs into IBM’s expertise in two main areas: nanotechnology and supercomputers.
Lithium-air batteries will require “really sophisticated nanostructures” in order to keep water out and let oxygen in, says Wilcke. IBM has been working on its nanotech research for years, particularly in micro electronic mechanical systems. One of the keys to cracking the lithium-air battery code could also be supercomputers said Wilcke (they’ll be used to model potential catalysts) — also one of IBM’s specialties.
Even with IBM’s work, the battery technology is still a long shot. According to Dalhousie University’s Jeff Dahn, who spoke today at Almaden, “rechargeable lithium air…will be very very challenging. I wouldn’t bet the farm on this, but it has to be explored.”
IBM now has a team of 6-10 people working on the project, and it’s growing. Wicke said he expects the basic science questions to be answered within three years, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars (for all the partners combined — IBM’s own financial contribution remains “in flux”).
Why lithium air? “It’s the only system that has a chance to be as good as gasoline” and make a significant dent in transportation fuel, according to Wilcke. But it’s far from proven, and “lithium ion is not going to go away anytime soon,” he said. “There could be big boulders and pebbles flying in our face, but we see a path.”
Battery startup Farasis Energy is betting that a combo of low manufacturing costs in China and advanced tech expertise in the U.S. will lead to lithium-ion cells that can compete on a global mass market. CEO Yu Wang said in an interview today at IBM’s Almaden Institute in San Jose, Calif., that the six-year-old, Hayward, Calif.-based startup is close to having a factory ready in China for pilot-scale production of its lithium-ion cells.
The strategy is similar to the bet that electric car startup Coda Automotive is making and A123Systems also said it would base much of its manufacturing in China if it didn’t get funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition to the cost-cutting benefits of keeping production in China, the strategy puts these companies at the forefront of what’s shaping up to be a powerhouse EV market. China has growing demand for autos in general, but also new government support for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, as well as its own auto and battery makers eager to beat out Europe, Japan and the U.S. on plug-in vehicle technology.
Founded in 2003 by Wang and Keith Kepler, President and CTO (both directed research at now-defunct battery maker Polystor), Farasis Energy got its start before the field of lithium-ion battery startups really became crowded, or acquired the hype observed last month by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. Wang said he’s banking on that head start and his team’s industrial experience, in addition to the technology itself and low costs, to give Farasis a competitive edge.
So far the company has raised a first round of venture capital from Chinese investors as well as at least 0,000 under the DOE’s small business innovation research program. But unlike Coda, A123Systems, and more than a hundred other battery and vehicle developers, Farasis has opted out of requesting stimulus funds. For its second round of financing, sometime in the next two years, Wang tells us that Farasis may be courting investors stateside.
Governments and many companies in the U.S. and Europe all but forgot about battery innovation over the last 10-15 years, according to Joerg Huslage, the group leader for electrochemistry at Volkswagen. But with a growing number of automakers now jumping headlong into plug-in vehicle development, and already approaching the limits of lithium-ion (the battery technology of choice for the upcoming generation of electric cars) researchers are now in a high-stakes race to produce the next generation of plug-in vehicle energy storage technology that will have higher energy density, cost less, and last longer than today’s batteries.
Demand for energy storage technology that will replace lithium ion is “tremendous,” Huslage said this morning at IBM’s Almaden Institute — an event that focused on the topic of going beyond lithium-ion batteries. Investors have certainly been concentrating on what will come next, and Vinod Khosla recently went so far as to call lithium-ion a tech that has been “overhyped,” and will “possibly be replaced.”
Now that leaves a lot of questions about where the innovation will come from, who will be developing the breakthroughs and what type of technology will emerge. Will it come out of China, Japan or the underdogs in this race: Europe and the U.S.? Volkswagen, for one, has taken steps to utilize battery tech out of Asia. The German automaker has a partnership with Sanyo Electric to develop batteries for plug-in vehicles, another arrangement with Toshiba for an upcoming electric concept, and in May, announced a deal with China-based BYD Auto to test the Warren Buffett-backed company’s lithium-ion battery technology for upcoming VW cars.
As for who will produce key innovations, Huslage says his money’s on PhD students. That presents somewhat of a handicap for the U.S., he said, noting the declining interest from foreign students in doing graduate and post-graduate work here. As BusinessWeek reported last week, international admissions to U.S. grad schools fell sharply this year — the first decline since 2004, largely because of “the deteriorating job market and problems with visas and financing.”
Startups on the other hand, he said, are swimming upstream — more so in the battery sector than in most others. “It’s easier to build a car” than a battery with 10 times the energy density of today’s devices. As a rule, Huslage said, “Small startups cannot do this.”
One area of battery development that could offer better fodder for entrepreneurs, however, is new materials, said Huslage. And he expects at least some startups, spun out of university labs, to come up with “small solutions” (a groundbreaking electrolyte, for example) that end up making a big difference in battery capacity and performance.
What types of energy storage will emerge after lihtium-ion? Butron Richter, Nobel laureate and director emeritus of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, said yesterday, “Some of the experts here say lithium air is the best possible battery,” referring to the battery technology that the summit’s host, IBM plans to develop over the next five years. But “there’s a lot of the periodic table that’s unexplored.”
