[All] LRT & the UltraBattery (Environmental Conservation Product)

Sat Aug 28 02:12:29 EDT 2010

FYI -- sent recently to an LRT Consultant.
R

"The field trial (in England) of UltraBatteries in the Honda Insight  
HEV shows that the vehicle has surpassed 170,000 km and the batteries  
are still in a healthy condition." Aug 2009 (See in Additional ...  
References below, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ )

Thank you for again being generous with you thoughts and time . Here  
is Furukama's UltraBattery with partial specs of 12v., 8.5 Ah. at 5H  
(12v. x 63 = 756v.) & test facilities info:
http://www.furukawadenchi.co.jp/english/rd/nt_ultra.htm
http://www.furukawadenchi.co.jp/english/rd/area.htm

I particularly like the IDEA of having an energy storage platform  
which can adapt to better energy storage devices as they become  
available. Building on that IDEA, one could propose having a more  
expansive adaptability potential for LRT vehicle design so that other  
types of new innovations beyond energy storage, such as new materials,  
could more easily be integrated into in-use LRT vehicles when  
sufficiently cost-effective.

A continuously evolving prototype could provide the exemplry  
leadership here.  And it could help minimize the extreme conservatism  
of most LRT-using municipalities. This malady might  be attributed to  
oversight engineers who (often irrationally) can fear job loss from  
transit project failure more than they aspire to great innovative  
accomplishment that could help advance their cities or Region.  
(Perhaps municipalities require more sophisticated ways to handle  
project risk?)

A good example of potential (longer-term) new LRT innovations involves  
Volvo where both energy and new materials come together:

Volvo gets in on shapeable ultracapacitors Thursday, February 25th, 2010
http://www.ernmag.com/blog/?p=77
Looks like shapeable ultracapacitors have caught the attention of at  
least one car maker.

Volvo is looking to build energy storage into the bodies of its cars.  
In particular, the company is working with researchers at Imperial  
College London on carbon-fiber panels that are both structural and  
ultracapacitors.

 From a New York Times Wheels blog post:

According to Emile Greenhalgh, the Imperial College aeronautics  
engineer who is coordinating the three-year project, “Our lightweight  
carbon-fiber panels can carry a mechanical load and store energy  
simultaneously, and we’re working toward achieving a 15 percent weight  
savings in a Volvo hybrid test car.” The ultracapacitors won’t replace  
the battery pack in hybrid cars — that’s still down the road — but  
their presence can make it smaller, lighter and cheaper.
The ICL project is along the lines of work being done by startup Paper  
Battery Co. and Stanford researcher Yi Cui. The ICL work is focused on  
multifunctional composite materials that can be used as structural  
components. The Paper Battery Co. and Stanford research is focused on  
producing shapeable, high-performance ultracapacitors that can be  
added to structural components.

Further in that direction, you may want to keep your eye on another  
Japanese battery manufacturer,, who have a similar in concept  
"UltraBattery" based on lithium instead of lead. They appear to be at  
a much earlier stage in the product cycle than Furukama's -- although  
currently their current prototype is low on cycles according to some  
evaluators.
(http://www.futurecars.com/news/electric-cars/mitsubishi-prototypes-new-ultracapacitor-battery-hybrid-device 
)

Perhaps that is why this radical new lithium "battery" development  
seems to have been overlooked in this June 2010 article, "The Future  
of Lithium, http://enterpriseresilienceblog.typepad.com/enterprise_resilience_man/2010/06/the-future-of-lithium.html 
.

MIT's energy storage breakthroughs bear watching also:

1. Ultra Battery (a new type of ultracapacitor) based on carbon nano- 
tubes that has "the potential to provide an energy storage device ten  
times more powerful than even the latest batteries in hybrid cars --  
while outliving the vehicle itself"
http://www.technologyreview.com/NanoTech/wtr_16326,303,p1.html  &
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/25634/
2. Lithium-ion battery based on new nanostructured lithium-nickel- 
manganese oxides "could lead to super-efficient hybrid cars and  
electric vehicles ... with speedier charging ... and 1/4 to 1/5 the  
weight." http://www.technologyreview.com/business/16384/ & http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JESOAN00015700000400A447000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes&ref=no

With technological change occurring so rapidly in area of energy  
storage, I noticed that East Penn Manufacturing has hedged their bets  
in their sub-licensing agreement with Furukawa according to this web  
document based on a presentation by 2 East Penn Mfg.
employees, "Advanced Battery Manufacturing , Facilities and Equipment  
Program" http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/merit_review_2010/electrochemical_storage/esarravt002_flicker_2010_p.pdf 
.

Since East Penn's program for UltraBattery production will not be  
complete until 9/6/12, they are saying, "If market conditions change  
during the duration of the (Federal) grant period, then East Penn will  
execute their documented contingency plans for shifting  production  
into other battery models ... ,"

Leapfrogging (from your Li-ion battery with its 5 km potential and 6  
min. charging via extended catenary  before and after stations) to the  
UltraBattery could give you a significant advantage over your  
competition -- especially because your test vehicle is already set up  
and various real-world site-testing planned -- who I also am  
encouraging to test the UltraBattery.  What if you were officially  
asked to test the UltraBattery now on your prototype vehicle (an  
adapted standard catenery LRT) by a prospective LRT customer?

Notice the cost/performance differential here make it very attractive:
"UltraBattery is set to have a global impact on greenhouse gas  
emissions after Furukawa Battery Co. Ltd. which has already begun  
production of the UltraBattery, and East Penn Manufacturing Company  
Inc., signed an international commercialisation and distribution  
agreement for the technology. The exclusive sub-license agreement will  
see the UltraBattery distributed by East Penn to the automotive and  
motive power sector throughout North America, Mexico and Canada while  
Furukawa Battery Company will release the technology in Japan and  
Thailand. Previous tests show the UltraBattery has a life cycle that  
is at least four times longer and produces 50% more power than  
conventional energy storage systems. The technology is approximately  
70% cheaper than the batteries currently used in hybrid electric  
vehicles (HEVs)."
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=6937:JP

Development of UltraBattery

3rd report (English translation Nov. 2008)
http://www.furukawadenchi.co.jp/english/rd/ultra_03.pdf

2nd report (English translation Oct. 2007)
http://www.furukawadenchi.co.jp/english/rd/ultra_02.pdf

Additional UitraBattery References:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-4X4RWR6-3&_user=10&_coverDate=02%2F15%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1420559365&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f418c120fd2074f97857ce729e06d2e6

http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/advanced-cars/a-batterycapacitor-hybridfor-hybrids

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TH1-4JVT1R3-2&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F25%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1420547087&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=4c0c279b280bbb75caddbdc69c03432f

http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=3280

http://www.itwire.com/science-news/energy/16141-csiros-ultrabattery-to-power-hybrid-cars?start=1
http://www.csiro.au/science/Ultra-Battery.html
http://www.csiro.au/people/Lan.Lam.html

http://www.furukawadenchi.co.jp/finan/pdf/zaimu/annual_2009.pdf
http://www.furukawa.co.jp/english/

http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/East-Penn-Brings-UltraBattery-Technology-to-North-America-820994
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1492331
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3483700042.html
http://www.lead411.com/company_EastPennManufacturingCompanyInc_38005.html

More about CSIRO's UltraBattery (Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008)
http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2913

"The advantage of the Ultrabattery battery is that it’s the cheapest  
technology that can operate under hybrid car conditions. It’s a big  
improvement over the conventional car battery, with better capacity to  
absorb energy quicker and more often and with a much longer life.

The Ultrabattery combines an asymmetric capacitor and a lead-acid  
battery in one unit cell, without extra electronic control.

We have discovered that the supercapacitor function allows the battery  
to accept and deliver charge more rapidly, but it also protects the  
lead-acid function and this in turn leads to substantial increase in  
durability and operation over a wider range of SOC.

The Ultrabattery pack can be accommodated in the space for a Ni-MH pack.

The Ultrabattery meets the US Freedom Car benchmark, exceeding the  
targets of power, available energy, cold cranking and self discharge  
parameters. Cycling performance is better than the best regular lead- 
acid batteries and has proved to be better than the Ni-MH battery used  
in the Honda Insight in a durability trial over 100,000 miles. At the  
end oi the trial the Ultrabattery pack is still in excellent condition.

Our Japanese partner, Furukawa Battery Company, is now in production  
and a sub-license with a US battery maker will be signed in April.

Japanese carmakers have been testing the UB for more than a year now.  
Initially, the UB will probably appear in micro and mild hybrid cars,  
but after latest testing, carmakers will probably be trialling full  
and even plug-in applications. Here in Australia a local carmaker is  
trialling the UB in a conventional application because of its better  
performance and we also are engaged in an EV trial.

The UB car suffered a fuel economy penalty of 2.7% and emissions were  
worse by 2.9% because of the added weight penalty over Ni-MH (17kg  
heavier).
The value proposition to carmakers is to accept the fuel economy  
penalty and save at least $1,000 or possible much more.

Toyota has now sold over a million Prius (one of them to the FS  
Director!) and in 2010 will make a million hybrids in one year alone.  
In the US, the plug-in Prius is all the rage because using electricity  
gives a running cost much lower than gasoline. Toyota will sell plug- 
in hybrids – we guess 2010 or 2011, but the Lithium battery is the  
unknown. We haven’t tested the Ultrabattery in a plug-in, but we want  
to.

Application of the UB in cars is very similar to wind-power  
applications .

Our testing on a 1000 kW battery is now well advanced and we have  
formed a joint venture called Cleantech Ventures to introduce the  
technology to the stationary energy market.

The batteries can be ‘banked’ (picture not available).

Features and benefits of the Ultrabattery.
Greater power
Significant improvement in service-life
Able to produce in smaller sizes, with sufficient power to drive the  
bigger engine capacity in conventional automobiles
Applicable to a wide range of HEVs with greatly reduced cost compared  
with existing nickel/nickel-metal hydride technology
Reconfigurable for a variety of applications (i.e., power tool, high- 
power UPS and renewable energy)
Low cost

We expect to improve the technology further and move from the upper  
middle region, into the upper-right quarter in the long-term."

Advancing the Ultra-Battery: Could use of the "light graphite foam"  
electron collector (anode) from Firefly Energy's new type of lead  
battery (1/3 to 1/4 the weight, perform like nickel-metal hydride  
batteries but long lasting at 1/5 the price) in the UltraBattery help  
improve it further? See http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/16278/
And their "3D2 battery (both plates = foam) is supposed to be even  
better". (http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/what-ever-happened-firefly-energy-batteries-11528.html 
) As Firefly is now ceased operations, perhaps their lead battery  
innovations could be purchased by Furakawa and East Penn (with CSIRO's  
advice) to advantage? (http://gigaom.com/cleantech/latest-battery-startup-shutdown-firefly-energy/ 
)

I look forward to our next exploratory conversation.

Best wishes,
Robert

Robert Milligan is a member of Transport Action Ontario (formerly  
Transport 2000). He has a BSc in math-physics. a Graduate Diploma in  
Education and has completed many other courses including ones in  
industrial engineering, operations research and environmental health.  
He was a high school teacher, business systems analyst and  
environmental health analyst. Much of his time in retirement is now  
given freely to public projects, especially those with significant  
environmental and health features.

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