Steve Funk

Li-ion Battery Manufacturers: The Bleeding Edge of Energy Storage Technology

Kudos John. You have laid out what I believe is an accurate picture of the issues with battery operated vehicles and the investment consequences. To your naysayers, has anyone wondered why GM produced and sold a commercial electric car in the 1990's but are now slow to produce a more broad based product? These vehicles will not work in Chicago, Minneapolis or Bangor in the winter. Everyone keeps thinking a breaktrough will solve the problem in the nick of time but as John points out that is not the history of battery development. Most of the chemical combinations that produce electricity have been known for a century (that includes fuel cells). Many of the same engineering problems that we knew about then are still with us. A lot of money has been lost in battery development. One of the first companies to start development (at least 15 years ago) was Ovonics Batteries and now they are making money by selling solar panels. I think short-term trading will be the only investment opportunity in batteries for quite a while.

Lithium-Ion Batteries and Centerfolds: The Final Chapter

Great article. As an engineer who has worked with battery storage I can tell you that engineers have talked about this very issue for years. Engineeers just aren't very good at predicting when. The fact is batteries in mobile gear are expensive and it doesn't look like they will come down fast without completely new technology. The problem is one of chemistry facts that are too easily overlooked by our Senators. Electric cars were tried 100 years ago, again by GM in the 1990's, and all were abandoned for engineering/ marketing reasons that have not changed and won't change with even 10-20% improvements in current technology. BTW, don't overlook pumped water storage where water is plentiful. Detroit Edison has been doing that on the shores of Lake Michigan for 20+ years.