Quality control is critical when assembling Lithium Ion cells and battery packs. The processes involved are well known and widely used.
A123, the battery maker bought by Chinese Wanxiang Group after was bankrupt in 2012, has purchased technology from Leyden that the Chinese parent can use to make electric cars. The developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries and systems today announced its completion of a transaction to acquire intellectual property and technical staff of Leyden Energy.
Leyden’s intellectual property in battery materials covering lithium titanate, LTO, and non-flammable electrolyte developments were bought for an undisclosed amount. As a part of the deal, some technical staff of Leyden Energy have also agreed to join A123 Systems’ R&D organization.
A123, of course, was and is part of a contentious debate about Democratic Party subsidies to advanced technology companies, including solar panel maker Solyndra whose bankruptcy cost U.S. taxpayers half a billion dollars. The Republican generally speaking prefers to squander taxpayer money on large corporations, who lavishly fund and mostly own it.
Leaving aside the lack of cooperation in a dysfunctional ‘do-nothing U.S. Congress,’ what is clear is that President Obama’s forecast of 1,000,000 EVs on the road by 2015 is wrong. Dead Wrong. Thus far, sales of EVs in the U.S., which are calculated in thousands of units, have been disappointing to boosters of what are claimed to be advanced, clean running vehicles that remain a miniscule part in a market that is now running at a 16,000,000 unit annual rate.
A123 received a $249.1 million grant from the Department of Energy to reopen old auto plants in Livonia and Romulus, Mich., as well as money and tax credits from Michigan worth more than $100 million. In the background here are Democratic subsidies to advanced technology companies, including solar panel maker Solyndra whose bankruptcy cost taxpayers half a billion dollars. The Solyndra bankruptcy was aided and abetted by the Chinese solar panel industry when companies drastically cut prices to drive competitors out of the market. When Germany objected, it had a growing solar industry in the green EU, the Chinese threatened to retaliate against German luxury car makers in China, the world’s largest auto market. The Germans quickly folded.
Leyden is the recipient of significant development funding from United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), an organization whose members include Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors. However, the award is co-funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), another example of a deficit ridden U.S. government favoring certain firms at the expense of other U.S. firms that do not benefit from such subsides – because of political correctness or politics or the lack of the ability to write checks in lobbyist-diseased Washington DC.
Under the DOE program, Leyden claims to have made “outstanding progress on development of its technology for micro-hybrid applications in the automotive market.” It is said, with AutoInformed not knowing the credibility of the claim, if it has any, “In particular, the inherent LTO properties of long cycle life and exceptional power capability were extended to operate over a substantially wider temperature range.”
The acquisition of Leyden’s technology in this field potentially means that the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) materials portfolio that A123 commercialized nearly a decade is about to become obsolete. A123 also claims it has also extended the high power capability of its LFP-based materials. “Taken together, these developments and the acquisition of Leyden’s intellectual property demonstrate A123’s strong commitment to meeting and exceeding the technical requirements,” said a spokesperson.
Search AutoInformed.com for: A123 Recalls Lithium Ion Batteries Shipped to Fisker, Taxpayer Funded A123 Systems Claims Breakthrough Battery and A123 Files Bankruptcy. Johnson Controls to Purchase its Auto Assets
