RE: 600 MILLION CELL PHONE BATTERIES IN 2005!!!!!See below for how its supposed to be done. The problem with EFL's battery has to be either the product or the pricing, more likely the product. I agree that someone at EFL should expain why A123 is on the move with this technology and EFL isn't. Looks like its too late for EFL now. EFL has no partnerships, no distributors, no sales - soon all the Das Gupta's are going to have to find real jobs - what an eye opener that will be.
November 2, 2005 Dow Jones WebReprint Service®
New Type of Battery Offers
Voltage Aplenty—at a Premium
By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A new generation of rechargeable batteries—delivering far more power than their predecessors—is energizing the power-tool industry and generating widespread interest in applications in everything from vacuum cleaners to ride-on lawn mowers to hybrid cars.
The new lithium-ion batteries—powering a host of products already on the market and envisioned for others on the drawing board—are made possible by technical breakthroughs in lightweight lithium-ion cells, introduced in rechargeables in the 1990s but until recently deemed too volatile for safe high-power use.
Black & Decker Corp. says that early next year it plans to introduce a family of 36-volt power tools in its professional DeWalt line, including circular saws, reciprocating saws, a rotary hammer for drilling into concrete and an impact wrench powerful enough to unscrew lug nuts on truck tires. They will have double the power of 18-volt tools, now the most common cordless devices carried by carpenters and contractors.
DeWalt's lithium-ion batteries come from A123 Systems Inc., a Watertown, Mass., start-up that has licensed patents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Germany's Robert Bosch GmbH also plans new high-powered cordless tools next year, and says it is working with two lithium-ion battery suppliers. Earlier this year, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp., a unit of Hong Kong's TechTronics Ltd., introduced slightly less powerful 28-volt cordless tools powered by lithium-ion batteries made by a Canadian unit of Taiwan's E-One Moli Energy Corp.
When A123 showed DeWalt its technology two years ago, "it was the first thing we saw that could meet all our needs, particularly on durability and run time," says Christine Potter, DeWalt's cordless-product manager. In DeWalt tests, drills with the new batteries bored 200 to 300 holes through a two-by-four on a single charge versus 100 holes with the 18-volt model.
The technology driving A123 is based on discoveries by MIT professor Yet-Ming Chiang, a materials scientist. Dr. Chiang, who co-founded A123, says "research in batteries is very seductive," because it initially looks easy to boost power, but many variations turn out to shorten battery life or make batteries so unstable that runaway oxidation explosions occur. "They are chemically complex, electrically complex and mechanically complex," he says.
A123 says it coats an aluminum electrode inside the battery with nano-scale particles, a few hundred atoms in size, of lithium metal phosphate. It declines to disclose more detail, but Dr. Chiang says the phosphate is safer than the oxide-based chemistry used in lithium-ion batteries today. He says that when compared with the same weight of larger particles, the nano-scale particles release more ions, thereby freeing electrons to create an electric current.
Dr. Chiang's company has raised $32 million from investors including cellphone maker Motorola Inc. and Silicon Valley's Sequoia Capital, which helped back Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. Until now, the company "has operated in stealth mode," says its president, David Vieau, who was previously vice president of American Power Conversion Corp., the leading maker of backup power supplies for personal computers.
Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, now common in cellphones, laptops and cameras, are much more expensive than other rechargeable alternatives or nonrechargeable alkaline batteries. For example, online merchants sell some replacement lithium-ion camera batteries for about $20, while some replacement camera batteries made of nickel metal hydride (used in other types of camera) cost around $12. Rechargeable AA nickel metal hydride batteries come in a two-pack usually priced around $4, and a 24-pack of nonrechargeable alkaline AA batteries can cost as little as 36 cents apiece online.
Notwithstanding the price disparity, lithium-ion batteries account for 75% of the rechargeable-battery business. World-wide rechargeable sales this year are expected to rise 5% to $6.8 billion, according to market researcher Frost & Sullivan, exceeding the $6 billion in sales of alkaline batteries commonly used in flashlights and made by the likes of Procter & Gamble Co.'s Duracell and Energizer Holdings Inc.'s Energizer.
Cheaper nickel metal-hydride and nickel-cadmium batteries are used in cordless phones, bar-code scanners and other products where weight isn't as important. For high-power applications, such as backup power supplies, wheelchairs and conventional cars, lead-acid batteries remain the standard.
For hybrid electric/gasoline cars, manufacturers have adopted nickel-metal-hydride batteries because they weigh less than lead batteries. A123 believes its lithium-ion batteries could pack the same punch as nickel-metal-hydride at 20% of the weight.
The Department of Energy is working with A123 to develop and test a battery "package for vehicular use," says Jim Barnes, technology coordinator for the agency's vehicle program, which provided $850,000 in early funding for A123. Specifically, the department is studying whether it can replace the 100-pound batteries in hybrid vehicles with lithium-ion batteries lighter than 20 pounds.
A123—whose "appropriately geeky" name, says Dr. Chiang, comes from a mathematical formula describing the interaction between nano-scale materials—conducts research and marketing in Massachusetts. It also has built two factories in China to make proprietary components for its batteries, which are being assembled by manufacturers there. People familiar with the company say that cellphones with longer lives will feature its batteries as soon as next year.
A123 is moving into a hot market judging by reception of Milwaukee Electric's 28-volt line, which includes a cordless version of one of its most famous products—the Sawzall reciprocating saw. Demand for the new tools has far outstripped forecasts, despite retail prices that are as much as 75% higher than the previous 18-volt generation. The tools are back-ordered even though the company's battery maker has tripled its manufacturing capacity.
Blair Tweten, marketing manager for E-One, says the company already sells more batteries for the tools than it does to its previous major customer, the U.S. military. And customers are paying higher prices. Milwaukee Electric's 28-volt cordless Sawzall costs $419 at CoastalTool.com, of West Hartford, Conn., compared with $239 for the earlier 18-volt version.