Coming Soon: The Car Battery War

Filed in archive Automobiles on February 16, 2009

As the internal combustion engine is slowly replaced in by electric car engines, the economic balance of power in the world will shift. OPEC will be replaced (eventually) by economic powerhouses that make... car batteries.

Last week BusinessWeek had a good rundown on the world of lithium ion batteries. While there are some U.S. companies preparing to compete in the lithium ion battery market, a number of Asian countries are well ahead of of the U.S. in experience and technology.

Of course, a lot also depends on how fast the switch happens.

Skeptics counsel caution. Menahem Anderman, president of Total Battery Consulting in Oregon House, Calif., doubts there will be a mass market for electric cars within a decade. When gas cost $4 a gallon last summer, he notes, consumers who shelled out the extra $3,000 for a hybrid like the Prius, with nickel-metal hydride batteries, were close to breaking even. But next-generation lithium-ion batteries will add at least $8,000 to the price of a plug-in when all the electronics are included. For drivers to save money on the Volt, Anderman calculates production will have to reach 1 million cars a year, and gas will have to pass $5 a gallon.

When the does finally start to build momentum, who will be positioned to take advantage of the change? The BusinessWeek article is insightful.


© frankh