The EnerDel/Argonne lithium-ion battery is a highly reliable and extremely safe device that is lighter in weight, more compact, more powerful and longer-lasting than the nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries in today's hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

The battery is expected to meet the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium's $500 manufacturing price criterion for a 25-kilowatt battery, which is almost a sixth of the cost to make comparable Ni-MH batteries intended for use in HEVs. It is also less expensive to make than comparable Li-ion batteries. That cost reduction is expected to help make HEVs more competitive in the marketplace and enable consumers to receive an immediate payback in gas-cost savings rather than having to wait seven years for the savings to surpass the premium placed on HEVs.

Additionally, the EnerDel/Argonne battery does not use graphite as the anode material, which been the cause for concerns about the safety other Li-ion battery brands. Instead, Argonne developed an innovative, more stable new form of nano-phase lithium titanate (LTO) to replace the graphite. It also developed a new way of making nano-phased LTO that will allow for easier industrial processing, as well as provide a high packing density that can increase the battery's energy density and provide the power needed for vehicle acceleration and regenerative charging of HEVs.

The battery's principal developers are Khalil Amine, senior scientist and group leader; materials scientist Illias Belharouak; Zonghai Chen, assistant chemist; Taison Tan, EnerDel's research and development manager; Hiroyuki Yumoto, EnerDel's director of research and development; and Naoki Ota, EnerDel president and chief operating officer.

The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies program provides funding for Argonne battery research.

August 2008