Ford, DOE help fund new $8M EV battery lab at University of Michigan

[Haltech]

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Ford



Everything's coming up batteries. Over in Ann Arbor, MI, the University of Michigan is announcing a new lab to test out new battery chemistries and concepts, all with an eye towards building better electric cars. The basic idea is to see if these "experimental battery chemistries" will work on a small scale before automakers and suppliers build a whole bunch of them. The lab is scheduled to open next fall and will be available to "any automotive or non-automotive firm," according to The Detroit News.

Ford is investing $2.1 million in the $8-million facility, the only automaker to contribute money. The rest of the money comes from the University of Michigan, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the US Department of Energy. Ford says it wants to use the lab to "develop batteries that are smaller, lighter and less expensive to produce." We assume that means any future Focus Electric models - which start at $35,200 - will carry something less than the $18,000 price premium over the lowest-cost standard gas Focus, which can be had for $16,605. In the press release, available below, Ford's battery research manager, Ted Miller, basically admits the company's battery development process to this point hasn't been up to snuff. "We have battery labs that test and validate production-ready batteries, but that is too late in the development process for us to get our first look," he said.

The University of Michigan also has a connection to one of Ford's main rivals, General Motors. GM Ventures (along with the MEDC) invested an undisclosed amount of money in solid-state li-ion battery technology developer Sakti3, which was founded by former U of M professor Ann Marie Sastry. Sastry left U of M in 2012, the year Sakti3 was named one of the "Top 50 Most Innovative Companies" by MIT's Technology Review Magazine.Continue reading Ford, DOE help fund new $8M EV battery lab at University of Michigan

Ford, DOE help fund new $8M EV battery lab at University of Michigan originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 14 Oct 2013 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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