Lithium ion batteries for i-MiEV

http://www.electric-vehiclenews.com/2012/02/gs-yuasa-to-start-auto-lithium-battery.html
GS Yuasa Corp intends to sharply cut production costs for automotive lithium ion batteries by bringing a new factory onstream next month. The company unveiled the new plant in Ritto, Shiga Prefecture, to the press on Thursday.

"Through mass production, we will soon lower production costs to a quarter" of what they were when the company first started making such batteries in 2009, said President Makoto Yoda.

Being built with Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi Motors at a cost of 37.5 billion yen (USD$470M) the factory is slated to begin operations a month ahead of schedule. The annual output capacity will be enough to equip 50,000 Mitsubishi Motors i-MiEV electric vehicles.

The facility is to make batteries for the i-MiEV and Minicab-MiEV, a commercial model by the same automaker, and for EVs of France's PSA Peugeot Citroen Group. A plug-in hybrid to be released in fiscal 2012 will also use batteries manufactured at the plant,

FiddlerJohn said:

... lower production costs to a quarter what they were ... in 2009, said President Makoto Yoda.

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I assume that is cheaper than today's cost, but it might not be a lot cheaper. I expect their production costs have already dropped substantially in the last 2 or 3 years. Anyway, it has to be good news for electric vehicles that they are investing in a factory for the batteries.

FiddlerJohn said:

GS Yuasa Corp intends to sharply cut production costs for automotive lithium ion batteries

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TOP TEN Battery Companies. Notice that (New York City-based) Ener1 (that filed bankruptcy) is not listed:

LG Chem, South Korea (leader)
Johnson Controls, U.S. (contender)
GS Yuasa, Japan (contender)
Automotive Energy Supply Corp. (AESC), Japan (contender)
A123 Systems, U.S. (contender)
Panasonic, Japan (contender)
SB LiMotive, South Korean/German JV (Samsung/Bosch), HQ in South Korea (contender)
Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Japan (challenger)
Build Your Dreams (BYD), China, 10% owned by Warren Buffet’s Berskhire Hathaway (challenger)
Electrovaya, Canada (challenger)

From: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/int...-electric-car-and-hybrid-battery-market/13156

Pike Research said:

...LG Chem as the “leader, has a diversified customer base ... to be among the most successful.” "... Johnson Controls, GS Yuasa, AESC, A123 Systems, Panasonic and SB LiMotive [are] “contenders ..."

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Great info, thanks for posting!

Jenn

AMELIE, acronym of Advanced Fluorinated Materials for high safety, Energy and Calendar Life Lithium Ion Batteries.
http://amelie-green-car-project.fr/?slider=about

Thanks for good digging, Fiddler John! Have you seen any details on the Battery Management System?