QinetiQ, Ricardo Announce Cost Breakthrough Lithium Battery

Published: 11-Dec-2009

Electric and hybrid vehicles could soon see their range significantly increased thanks to a successful UK research project to identify new lower cost lithium-ion batteries.

Engineering firm QinetiQ, transport technology company Ricardo and the government-backed Energy Saving Trust, today announced that after two years of collaboration they have demonstrated a new type of lithium-ion cell chemistry and battery management system that promises to cut the cost of electric vehicle batteries by about a third.

The cost of battery technology is one of the main reasons that hybrid and electric cars boast a price premium compared with conventional vehicles, and as a result the aim of the reduced cost Li-Ion (RED-LION) project was to help bolster the commercial viability of electric cars by identifying alternative battery systems that can be manufactured at lower cost.

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