Andy Grove urges Intel to build car batteries
Former Intel CEO Andy Grove has joined other Silicon Valley elites who are advocating for an industry shift into energy technology.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday, Grove said he is urging Intel to invest in battery manufacturing as a way to diversify from its core chip business.
Andy Grove, former Intel CEO and now plug-in vehicle advocate.
(Credit: Intel)Grove told the Journal that Intel's "strategic objective is tackling big problems and turning them into big businesses." He said Intel, with its cash resources, can invest in battery technology and manufacturing to bring down the cost of car batteries, which would drive adoption of plug-in electric cars.
Batteries are the most expensive component in plug-in electric vehicles, a market being pursued by a few U.S. companies.
General Motor's 2011 Volt is testing batteries from lithium-ion maker A123 Systems. Other U.S. companies include Ener1 and Valence Technology. Notebook battery maker Boston Power also intends to enter the auto market.
But battery makers and analysts say that U.S. manufacturers lack the financial means to meet the anticipated demand of electric cars.
"The technology exists today to put (electric drives) into an automobile," said Ener1 CEO Charles Gassenheimer at last week's Electric Drive Transportation Association's Conference & Exposition. "But it is not doable without the ability to drive down the cost of manufacturing."
Intel has invested in battery technology through its venture capital arm and other energy-related firms. Earlier this year, Intel also spun out SpectraWatt, which intends to lower the cost of manufacturing solar cells.
Grove has become an advocate for government policies that promote plug-in hybrid cars. This summer, he published a manifesto, called "Our Electric Future," in The American magazine, where he called for transitioning the American auto fleet to electricity for national security reasons.
"Because electricity is the stickiest form of energy, and because it is multi-sourced, it will give us the greatest degree of energy resilience. Our nation will be best served if we dedicate ourselves to increasing the amount of our energy that we use in the form of electricity," he wrote.
In a speech at the Plug-in 2008 conference in August, he called for a goal of putting 10 million plug-in vehicles on the road in 10 years.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
Electric cars don't reduce dependency on natural resources. If batteries become cheaper, then very soon, most people will be able to afford electric cars, leading to another crisis in depletion of natural resources.
The key is to get all vehicles using an electric drivetrain. The "power module" may be batteries now, but in the future, it could be ultracapacitors or fuel cells or something else that has not been invented yet.
Ultimately, if the "power module" form factor and power requirements could be standardized (think AA/AAA), then you would be able to simply replace an old power module with a newer generation power module if/when it is necessary.
I'll try to create a <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10077965-54.html?tag=mncol">link</a>, too.
First, do we have the capacity to generate enough electricity (even during off peak time) for millions of people to be charging up their cars?
Second, are we going to hear about electric car batteries exploding like laptops and cell phones? Lots of densely packed energy coupled with a minor manufacturing defect could be problematic.
And just for fun. . . what if everyone in Los Angeles drove hydrogen powered cars. They only emit water vapor. Well, how much? What does that do to the level of humidity in major metropolitan areas?
There may be a few odd substances that might work for oxygen based combustion that don't have any hydrogen, but (almost) everything in the gasoline in your tank has some hydrogen in addition to the carbon. So internal combustion engines have been emitting water vapor from day 1.
High temperature combustion of hydrogen & carbon compounds in the presence of nitrogen produce additional nasty oxides of nitrogen and other yuckyness that promote low-altitude ozone. Ozone up high - good. Down where we breathe it - not so good.
So reducing the amount of hydrocarbon combustion is generally beneficial, the challenge is to find a replacement that results in a net reduction in environmental costs.
Re. batteries exploding, that is also a non-issue, with the technology they are using.
People really need to Google more to learn what is going on in the industry, before making the same old comments over and over.
Andy Grove has the right idea. Ramp up battery production now, version 1.0, and let's beat our oil addiction while we still can. Good idea, Andy.
If you install solar hand in hand with use of EV, there is absolutely no need for additional fossil-based or nuclear power plants.
There are many batteries out there that are super-safe, have incredibly long life cycles, and more energy dense.
Intel should help in bringing the costs of production down for these advanced batteries, or even develop much better batteries and ultracapacitors.
On a side note to the author of this post, pretty sure GM has already announced that it would use LG Chem to supply the batteries. Only reason I am pretty sure that my memory is right is because I was disappointed that they did not decide to use an American manufacture.
The high cost to store 50kwh of electricity (enough for a 400 mile range in a small all battery powered vehicle) will keep the cost too high for many people. The volt (a serial hybrid) only has a 15kwh battery and this costs I believe around $10,000.
A breakthough may have occured in lead acid battery technology.....check out The CNT battery @ Micro bubble technology supposedly an 800 percent increase in capacity (using carbon nanotubes and a new electrolyte) and recharges in 10 minutes with the no. of discharge recharge cycles increased by 400 percent. A battery pack would cost $3,000. . This battery will be used in THE CURRENT a new electric vehicle being manufactured by Electric City Motors in Parker Colorado. With this battery the Current will get 400 miles on a charge with a fast 10 min recharge.......I hope they can deliver....
If not we may get lucky with EEStor and their supercapacitor.....We really need to decrease our dependence on imported oil asap....
- by tomwitkin December 21, 2008 8:41 AM PST
- It?s not clear that science and technology analogous to what drives Moore?s law could enable the same success in the chemistry and manufacturing of car batteries. And, the business process behind getting semiconductors designed into a car, then producing and delivering them, strikes me as quite different from what it takes to establish the relationship between a car company and a firm making batteries that provide the fundamental umph behind the vehicles.
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