Company says its battery will change future of cars

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/BUSINESS01/803070313

Company says its battery will change future of cars

BY JUSTIN HYDE • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • March 7, 2008

WATERTOWN, Mass. -- In a brick hall by the Charles River, where blacksmiths made cannons for the Union Army, a new breed of metalworker forges what may be the best weapon automakers will have for surviving the 21st Century.
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At the labs of A123 Systems, technicians assemble an electric heart for the Chevrolet Volt, a battery pack that will be shipped to General Motors Corp. for testing as the company races to build an electric vehicle by 2010.

And for all the doubts about whether a tiny 7-year-old company can essentially rewire the domestic auto industry, A123's executives express abundant confidence in their invention.

"Today, we are providing enough batteries to power the equivalent of 100,000 vehicles," said Ric Fulop, one of A123's founders and its chief evangelist. "If you look at other technologies, they're still in the lab. It's years before they get into mass production."

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[skids]

1. These are what's inside some new power tools...

The toolkit/hobbyist Black and Decker VPX line and the serious carpenter/contractor DeWalt 36V line.

[kestrel91316]

2. But, but, everyone keeps telling me "energy can't be stored"!!!!

And that includes some supposedly intelligent folks right here on DU.

[NNadir]

3. Just a few years ago, Amory Lovins was embezzling money by saying hydrogen will change the future

of cars.

He was so certain that he built himself a big office in a suburban parking lot that was unaccessible to pedestrians.

If any of these schemes worked, they would have put up or shut up years ago.

[madokie]

4. This is good news

My friend and neighbor has a geo metro he converted to electric a couple years ago and he has been staying in touch with the company to hopefully buy some of their batteries. right now with his setup using lead acid batteries his range is in the neighborhood of 40 miles during the cooler months with 50 miles during the summer. The last time we were talking about it it was costing him a little over 80 cents to recharge them. 40 to 50 miles on a dollar or less sounds good to me.

[suziedemocrat]

5. Great news!!! Too bad I just bought a Suzuki -- had to replace my 1996 car.