EVS 23: New Battery Film Can Reduce Lithium-Ion Heat Woes
By John O'Dell December 3, 2007 Fuel giant Exxon Mobil's chemicals arm said Sunday that it has developed a new heat-resistant separator film for the next generation of lightweight lithium-ion batteries .It's not the ultimate solution, but it shows that General Motors Corp. wasn't sticking its neck out too far by voicing confidence that heating problems with lithium-ion batteries could be resolved in time to make the Volt extended range electric vehicle concept a reality by 2010. The batteries, widely used in cell phones, laptop computers and cordless electric tools, are seen as the best bet for so-called plug-in hybrids and for battery-electric vehicles because they hold more power and are far lighter than the nickel metal hydride batteries now used in most automotive applications.
But lithium ion batteries can overheat and, in several well-publicized cases involving laptops, can cause fires – a trait that makes automakers nervous.
Announcing his company's new product at the EVS 23 electric vehicle conference in Anaheim, Jim Harris, senior vice president of Houston-based Exxon Mobile Chemical, said the film, which separates the cathode from the anode in a battery, has greatly "improved thermal safety."
Exxon Mobile already is manufacturing the stuff at a plant in Japan and said Sunday it has launched a feasibility study for a second plant, this time in South Korea.
The company believes battery makers, anticipating growing demand for the world's automakers as they launch new hybrid and all-electric vehicles, will be scaling up lithium-ion production over the next three to four years.
Harris wouldn't disclose revenue or sales projections for Exxon Mobile's film, but said that the business has been "growing an average of 15 percent a year" for the past several years and is "working with many" battery makers to quickly bring the new film to market.
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