CCID Consulting released a white paper on China’s lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery industry, as the country seeks to promote new energy technologies for automobiles (electric vehicles) and other needs.

In 2010, China’s lithium ion battery market hit RMB 27.61 billion, an increase of 37.9% compared with 2009. China produced 3.67 billion lithium ion batteries in 2010, an increase of 33.9% compared with 2009. China determined in October 2010 to cultivate new energy technologies to lead the national economy. China’s lithium-ion battery industry will grow rapidly in the country’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan, CCID Consulting reports.

The country will spend RMB100 billion on new-energy vehicles between 2011 and 2020, with lithium-ion batteries at the heart of the sector. Shanghai’s strong automotive industry will capitalize on this focus.

Regional competition will push local governments to develop high-end technologies. The industry is concentrated on the Pearl River Delta, with a production base for raw materials and low-cost labor for assembly of lithium ion batteries. In 2010, the output value of lithium ion battery in this region is RMB 7.48 billion, accounting for about 27% of the nation. However, as the inland increasingly lowers the labor costs, the labor-intensive links such as battery core assembly and PACK will gradually move from coastal areas to inland areas.

[Read More From Source: Electro IQ ]

The Renault Nissan Alliance, PSA Peugeot Citroën and Mitsubishi Motors have announced that they have decided to develop and promote the technical reference for compliance of public recharge equipment for electric vehicles in Europe, based on the existing conformity brand EV Ready, originally launched by Renault and Schneider Electric.

EV Ready aims at guaranteeing interoperability between the charging infrastructure and electric and rechargeable hybrid vehicles in the market across Europe by means of a uniform scheme which is intended to cover the requirements that have to be considered in addition to the existing standards.

While keeping an eye on further development of IEC61851-1 ed2.1, which is currently in progress, the OEMs will aim to complete the development and the formalisation of the certification requirements. The validation scheme will be detailed in the coming months.

EV Ready, first launched in June 2010, is intended from the beginning to be open to a larger audience and to become a recognised benchmark in the field of charging systems for electric vehicles. The technical coverage of EV Ready goes from the low voltage transformer to the electric vehicle.

At the same time the concept keeps a strong focus on economic performance and aims to maintain openness to innovations and any future developments.

Today over sixty European companies ranging from energy providers, network operators, suppliers and installers of charging stations are already working to develop and adopt EV Ready.

[Read More From Source: Fleet News]

WiTricity Corporation, IHI Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation are collaborating in research to develop electric vehicle (EV) wireless charging systems compatible with electric grids. The partnership structure of three major players in the wireless charging, electric infrastructure, and EV areas coming together will accelerate the popularization of wireless charging systems for EVs by developing systems that are usable “right out of the box” for individuals, governments, and other entities including power companies in order to make it easier and quicker for them to roll out such systems.

The aim of the collaboration is to make EVs remarkably more convenient for owners by accelerating the popularisation (and thus availability) of wireless charging at homes and shopping centre parking lots, etc.

Wireless charging systems allow transfer of energy from a source placed on or under the ground, to a vehicle equipped with an energy capture device, with no physical contact between the vehicle and the charging source. WiTricity has already developed and brought to market its patented magnetic resonance wireless charging system.1 The system that WiTricity has developed can transfer energy further and more efficiently in comparison to conventional systems such as electromagnetic induction and microwave transmission, able to deliver up to 3.3 kW of charging power over distance of 20cm (almost 8 inches) at more than 90% efficiency. Systems based on WiTricity technology offer smaller size and lighter weight as compared to conventional systems, and operate with no moving parts.

WiTricity CEO, Eric Giler noted about the new collaboration: “Electric vehicles offer great potential for reducing CO2 emissions and reliance on fossil fuels. However, they must be user friendly, and wireless charging is an important feature that greatly improves the user experience. We are excited to work with industry leaders MMC and IHI on this important program.”

Mr. Kazuaki Kama, IHI’s President and Chief Executive Officer, stated “Wireless charging is strategic to IHI. As a supplier of public infrastructure, IHI is deeply motivated to develop systems that are environmentally sound. We believe that user friendly wireless charging will contribute to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles – an important step forward for 21st century society. Working together with Mitsubishi Motors and WiTricity, leaders in electric vehicles and wireless technology, we aim to become a leading world-wide supplier of wireless charging stations for public, commercial, and residential parking environments.”

Mr. Osamu Masuko, President of MMC added: “Like we have done with promotion and education of electric vehicle infrastructure such as quick-chargers and being involved with “smart grid” technology, we are happy to enter into a new phase of electric vehicle infrastructure development. I am confident we can be a major contributor along with WiTricity and IHI to quickly make widespread wireless charging for electric vehicles a reality.

[Read More From Source: EV World]

A new process is in operation to extract lithium from the spent brines of a geothermal power plant near the Salton Sea​ in California by Simbol Materials, at a demonstration facility in Brawley, Calif.

“We developed the technology and the process to take the brines coming out of geothermal power plants‘ post–power production and harvest lithium, manganese, zinc and, maybe in the future, some other materials, and we convert those into usable compounds,” says Simbol CEO Luka Erceg. “We’re essentially leveraging the best renewable resource and co-producing strategic materials.”

Geothermal power plant produce electricity using the underground heat to produce steam for the generator turbines. Simbol would borrow the spent warm brine from the power plant. The 90 minutes process will run the fluid through a pipeline and a series of purification steps consisting of membranes, filters and adsorption materials to extract valuable elements like lithium. After adding water the brine will go back to the power plant for re-injection to underground. The extraction method was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, under the U.S. Department of Energy funding.

The company plans to expand its initial lithium purification facility in 2012 as well as begin construction on the geothermal-tied version as an addition to such power plants being built in the region by EnergySource. The location is  a huge opportunity since it’s already crowded by 10 geothermal power plants. “You can produce 16,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate for every 50-megawatt geothermal power plant,” Erceg notes.

Unfortunately the 500 metric tons per year production of lithium will be marketed by the ITOCHU Corp., a Japanese partner of Simbol, to battery-makers in Asia,” Erceg notes. “The reality is, today, for lithium ion batteries, manufacturing still means Asia.”

[Read More From Source: Scientific Amercian]