◆ JULY 10, 2006 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE 21 ◆ Lighter battery key to success of hybrids Lithium-ion offers weight, cost benefits Partsmakers winning with hybrids over nickel metal Asian, European and North American suppliers are all playing important roles in the development of hybrid powertrains. Below are some of the leading hybrid suppliers by specific part. RICHARD TRUETT AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE HIGH-VOLTAGE WIRING BATTERIES Batteries may be the key to the Lear, Hitachi, Cobasys, Delphi, future of gasoline-electric hybrids. Sumitomo Wiring, Johnson Controls/Saft, If hybrids are ever going to earn Yazaki Panasonic, Sanyo Electric automakers a profit, the cost of the batteries must decrease and the life of the battery pack increase. The number of battery suppliers also must expand so that batteries are INTEGRATED STARTER just another commodity, like wind- GENERATOR shield wipers and headlights. Bosch, Delphi, Lithium ion – the same type of Denso, Valeo powerful, compact battery in your BATTERY COOLING mobile phone and digital camera – Denso, could be the wonder battery that Johnson Controls, delivers all that and more. Visteon Virtually all of today’s hybrids use nickel-metal hydride batteries. Nickel metal has proved to be reli- INVERTERS able, but the battery packs are Bosch, Delphi, heavy, and the materials inside are Denso, Hitachi expensive compared with those in lithium-ion packs. Expensive replacement Also, most experts think that TRANSMISSIONS hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Aisin, Getrag, Prius, will need a replacement bat- GM, Honda, ZF BRAKE REGENERATION ELECTRIC MOTORS tery pack after eight years or ADVICS, Bosch, Continental, Aisin, Bosch, Continental, 100,000 miles. Delphi,Toyota (in-house), TRW Delphi, Hitachi, Siemens If so, that could hurt the resale value of used hybrids because it Source: Automotive News would present subsequent owners with a battery replacement bill of replace nickel-metal hydride packs durability and learn how to manu- power a stop-start system, he said. between E2,400 and E4,000. in hybrids, they will be about the facture lithium-ion batteries more A stop-start system turns off a vehi- Lithium-ion batteries Manufacturers in Europe, the US same size but half the weight. The efficiently,” Hermance says. cle’s gasoline or diesel engine when Advantages and Japan are working to replace implications are numerous. Lithium-ion batteries are the vehicle comes to a stop. The ● Lighter than nickel-metal batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries with A lighter battery pack would extremely sensitive to temperature engine restarts immediately when improving performance and fuel lithium ion. The switch could begin improve performance and increase and must be kept cool and well ven- the driver lifts his or her foot off the economy in the US as early as 2008. fuel economy. Lithium-ion batteries tilated. That means that before they brake pedal. ● Earlier this month, Nissan Motor also could enable plug-in hybrids to can work in a hybrid, engineers Johnson Controls formed its part- Enables plug-in hybrids launched the Atlas 20 medium-duty become a reality, says Al Mumby, gen- must perfect a way to keep the bat- nership with Saft last year and is ● Production costs should fall over time truck in Japan with lithium-ion bat- eral manager of Johnson Controls’ teries cool. If the batteries overheat, gearing up for production of lithium- Challenges teries. Officials at Ford Motor, hybrid-battery business unit. they could burst into flames. ion batteries. Mumby, who leads ● Sensitive to high temperatures Toyota Motor and US supplier Ford’s Watson sees lithium ion as Here’s another obstacle: Not all that effort, says researchers and ● Fragile Johnson Controls say lithium-ion the battery of the future for his com- lithium-ion batteries can be engineers are overcoming temper- ● batteries will begin replacing pany’s fleet of US-only hybrids. recharged quickly. Hybrid vehicles ature, safety and durability issues. Can be slow to recharge nickel-metal hydride batteries in Watson says lithium ion is have regenerative braking systems, Meanwhile, officials at another ● Manufacturing and shipping issues high volume around 2010. Johnson expected to play a large role in Ford which create electricity when the battery supplier – Cobasys – say it’s ● Existing nickel-metal batteries Controls has a joint venture with making a profit selling hybrids. driver applies the brakes. Nickel- too early to anoint lithium ion as the could improve French battery maker Saft Groupe. metal batteries absorb that electric- replacement for nickel-metal hy- “There’s less weight, greater Less weight lowers cost ity quickly. Lithium-ion batteries dride. Cobasys is a joint venture in power density and, eventually, lower “We are not making money on need to be improved. suburban Detroit between Chevron cle,” Mumby says. “That includes cost” with lithium ion, says Tom hybrids today,” he says. “Our goal But Toshiba said last year that it and Energy Conversion Devices. cell manufacturing all the way up Watson, Ford’s manager of hybrid would be to design an equivalent had developed a lithium-ion battery Scott Lindholm, Cobasys’ vice through electronics and controls on propulsion systems. “We think that power level in the lithium-ion battery that can be 80 percent recharged in president of systems engineering, the battery. We would deliver a sys- in the long term when you look at pack to provide an equivalent level of less than a minute. says cost and weight reductions and tem ready to be installed.” the cost-efficiency curve, lithium performance to the nickel-metal Hermance says lithium-ion bat- power increases are still possible Ford signed a contract with ion has much better potential than hydride. That way we could take tery technology is developing with nickel metal, as are improve- Delphi to provide battery packs for nickel metal. The benefits that it advantage of the weight and cost effi- quickly. “A year ago, battery experts ments to performance and long- the next generation of hybrids due provides are just too overwhelm- ciencies that come with lithium ion.” said lithium-ion batteries were term durability. about 2008. The batteries will come ingly positive to pass up.” Before lithium-ion batteries 10 years away,” he says. “Now they Cobasys could switch to lithium from Sanyo Electric in Japan. replace nickel-metal hydride batter- are saying two to four years from ion or make both batteries. General Motors plans to use Inside lithium ion ies in hybrids, battery manufacturers today for high-volume applications.” Johnson Controls is drawing up Japan-made batteries from Pana- Nickel-metal hydride batteries have a few hurdles to clear, says Dave Hermance would not say when a plans for a lithium-ion plant to sup- sonic EV for its upcoming Two-Mode are hydrogen-based and require Hermance, Toyota’s executive engi- Toyota hybrid would have lithium- ply hybrids sold in North America. hybrid powertrain. Toyota and more expensive metals than lithium neer for environmental engineering. ion batteries. Toyota does offer a car “Our intent is to supply full battery Honda also use batteries made in ion. When lithium-ion battery packs “The challenge is to increase in Japan that uses the batteries to systems ready to install in the vehi- Japan by Sanyo or Panasonic. ANE No one made hybrid parts, so Toyota designed its own JAMES B. TREECE Toyota and consumer electronics demand far outstripped its ability to giant Matsushita Electric Industrial keep up, did the carmaker turn to AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE had set up Panasonic EV in outside suppliers for help. It began December 1996. Matsushita owned asking supplier Denso and other TOKYO – When Toyota Motor set out 60 percent and Toyota held 40 per- members of the Toyota group to join to develop and build the lower- cent of the battery maker. Mat- it in making certain components for medium Prius hybrid car, there was sushita makes products bearing the hybrid vehicles. Their output would no supplier base of hybrid-component Panasonic and National brands. be in addition to, not instead of, manufacturers to support the effort. Panasonic EV’s mission then Toyota’s own. So the carmaker developed and was to make batteries for electric Even now, Toyota makes the made the components in-house. cars, which at the time seemed to motor-generator power-split device, Toyota doesn’t still do 100 percent be the only way to meet California’s power module, inverter and brake of the work in-house, says Kazuo severe zero-emissions rules. regeneration controller for the Okamoto, Toyota’s executive vice Prius in-house. Toyota is now on the president in charge of research and One failure, one success second-generation of its hybrid development. But it comes close. Electric cars never took off, but powerplant. A third-generation ver- “To say 100 percent would be too the hybrid Prius did. With Panasonic sion appears imminent. much. Aisin AW, other Aisin Group EV’s batteries proving crucial to But the self-reliant approach also companies, and other partsmakers Toyota’s hybrid vehicle plans, means Toyota is bearing almost all are contributing. But the main Toyota decided to exert more con- the costs alone. source is Toyota,” he says. trol over the supplier. Last October, “Making inexpensive products is One area where Toyota turned to Toyota said it would boost its stake hard,” Okamoto says. “With a new a supplier was for the batteries. in Panasonic EV to 60 percent. technology, you’re constantly work- Panasonic EV got the order. Only last year, when Toyota found ing on reducing costs.” ANE The second-generation Prius hybrid system soon will be replaced..