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Li Battery Patent Battle Brewing

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by wjtracy, Apr 15, 2015.

  1. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    I don't totally grasp this yet, but apparently the best Li batteries are those with NCM (Nickel Cobalt Manganese) cathodes. They say Volt uses this, and I presume this is the new material that Bolt, Tesla, etc. are moving to. Argonne Labs got the first NCM patent back in 2000 but they decided only to cover USA for patent coverage. Argonne affiliated/sold the technology to BASF and I believe LG uses this material. Later 3M got some NCM patents and took a more aggressive patent strategy (worldwide). 3M affiliated with Umicore. Apparently 3M/Umicore are claiming they have most of the rights to NCM with possible exception of US market.

    Two industrial titans are duking it out over a technology that could make electric cars mainstream – Quartz

    I've been asking why Bolt can get 200 miles range? so presumably this NCM technology is part of the answer. But if Volt always used NCM anyways, I still don't get why we have to wait to 2017 to get a 200-mile Bolt.
     
    #1 wjtracy, Apr 15, 2015
  2. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    We don't know the chemistry lg is using on the cells of the bolt. GM did have them license some interesting technology from the US government. LG also said that materials will be cheaper when the gigafactory gets going (suppliers will be able to sell to tesla and lg/gm at a lower price with higher volume.

    Breaking: 2017 Chevrolet Bolt 200-Mile Electric Car To Start Production In Oct 2016

    The bolt, I really hope they rename it, could be out in 18 months. They need to test the batteries for at least a year before they sell them in a production car. You saw how badly fisker burned themselves by rushing the cars out without adequate testing.
     
    #2 austingreen, Apr 15, 2015
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