General Motors is serious about its green car initiatives – and it’s willing to back that up with some sizeable investments.
GM Ventures LLC has poured $7million into Envia Systems, based in Newark, California, to provide its battery engineering team with access to lithium-ion cathode technology that can bring higher cell density while lowering costs. It has also secured the rights to use Envia’s advanced cathode material for future GM electric vehicles.
According to Jon Lauckner, the president of GM Ventures, the investment indicates that major improvements in lithium-ion batteries are already on the horizon and that they could help to significantly lower costs while providing higher capabilities.
His words are backed by Micky Bly, the GM executive director for electrical and battery systems, who states that test results show Envia’s high capacity composite cathode material can increase the energy density of lithium-ion cells by up to one third.
Back in March last year, Envia was awarded a $4million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and $1million from the California Energy Commission to support the development of high density lithium-ion storage technology. It uses a number of processing techniques to tailor the electrode materials and believes it can produce batteries with longer life and triple the power capabilities of existing electric vehicle batteries.
