Comments on: Andy Grove urges Intel to build car batteries

Former Intel CEO--now a plug-in vehicle advocate--says the chip giant should make electric car batteries to diversify and jump-start the alternative-energy field.

[cnet_user_0]

Yeah, and once the natural lithium mineral reserves run out, what then?

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.

[forever4now]

People should research their thoughts before posting them. Just Google it. There is plenty of lithium available.

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.

[mlamonica]

On the lithium supply questions, you'll get a wide range of opinions. But it's a question that people have been asking for a long while, and continue to. See this article http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10077965-54.html?tag=mncol .

I'll try to create a <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10077965-54.html?tag=mncol">link</a>, too.

[randy1952]

the nay-sayers are out in force.. why don't you just go live in a cave and wait for an early death...

[sbwinn]

A few thoughts. . .

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?

[PBarila]

I'm pretty sure we do *not* currently have enough generating capacity. I doubt we will bring enough online for a long time.

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.

[forever4now]

Regarding power generation, the utilities estimate that in excess of 70% of the vehicles in the US could be electric, with today's capacity, if they recharged at night. And the utilities are continuously adding capacity, so this is a non-issue. It will take years (decades?), to have that many electric cars on the road.

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.

[jameslemay_dotmac]

GM had the Impact figured out years ago. Ford bought THINK to build its EVs. Thank you California Air Resources Board for forcing them into the future; I'm sorry you got corrupted and gave up. Now that GM has destroyed the Impact, and Ford spun off THINK to Oslo, they seem to want our money. Well, let's solve all these problems at a stroke. Stop funding terrorists from the gas pump. Stop choking our grandkid's planet. Stop paying zillions to occupy and defend oil-rich countries.

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.

[Manhattan2]

Andy Grove or Intel should contact us at Solar Transfer Car. He is actually on the right track. Solar Power will prove to be the solution that is left after all the others shake out. The mobile fuel carrier? Battery, H2, or compressed air? is still up for debate. Email us at [e-mail] if you want to know our solution.

[Joe Real]

There's more than enough lithium to convert all vehicles in this planet over into PHEV.
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.

[Joe Real]

It is people who don't have a clue nor do their research well that fuels speculations in their fear of the lack of electric energy supplies, and lack of lithium supplies that will jack up the prices of electricity, batteries and the EV. There is no need to play chicken little.

[mitalibanerjee]

Interesting extension for the brand - will consumers/manufacturers accept the Intel inside concept as it extends to batteries within cars?

[TheEnergyRoadMapJoel]

Intel and others should be thinking about electricity storage in general and not limit themselves to thinking batteries as the only solution. Super capacitors are potentially another solution. Solid storage of hydrogen for use in fuel cells is potentially another way to store electricity.

[173xb7]

This is good news. This, as well as the fact that chemist Daniel Nocera, head of MIT"s Solar Revolution Project, with the help of post doctoral fellow Matthew Kanan, discovered the perfect catalyzer to crack water to its constituent building blocks. That catalyzer is a thin film of cobalt and phosphate and works at room temperature and with no additional chemicals added to the water. This could allow the generation of hydrogen in the vehicle to be put through a power cell to generate electricity to power the car. See the Scientific American article by Cynthia Graber fron July 31, 2008. Could we at some point in the not too distant future see a car powered by water? The cracked water's hydrogen could be run through the power cell or used directly for combustion.

[wneb]

Would put whole new meaning to "Powered by Intel"

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.

[openmindedskeptic]

Great idea,
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....

[tomwitkin]

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.

http://tomwitkin.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/intel-inside-your-car/