Ricknplano

Lead Acid Batteries: How Cheap Beat Cool at Google

I listened yesterday to an interview with Jeff DePew, CEO, of Imara Corp., a lithium battery producer ( imaracorp.com). He answered some very specific questions regarding cost. First he said high quality reliable OEM lithium batteries are available in the $1,000 per Kwh range with quantity pricing at no less than $800 per Kwh, the price he believes GM is paying for its Volt battery. He also said he thinks the Volt supplier may lose money at $800 per Kwh. Second, most of the cost of lithium batteries is the materials cost, not fabrication or labor, so Mr. DePew sees no major price reductions without, "a new periodic table of elements". He said that predictions of $500 per Kwh lithium batteries are not reasonable in his opinion because the materials alone cost more than that. He mentioned that besides lithium there is lots of copper used in the production of lithium batteries, the price of which is not likely to go down significantly from current levels .

The comments of Mr. DePew seem to support most of what Mr. Peterson has been saying about the relative cost of technologies. I think the new generation of LAB using carbon anodes (Firefly) and capacitor type hybrids (CSIRO and Axion) will all be huge success for storage where price is key and weight/size are less important. Lithium will rule where weight and size are critical and price is less so. The interview can be heard at www.evcast.com.