Tuesday May 27, 2008

Toyota, Matsushita to build Ni-MH and lithium-ion battery plants for hybrid-electric cars

greencarcongress.com :

The Nikkei reports that Toyota and Matsushita intend to build two plants for automotive batteries: one for NiMH cells, the other for Li-ion cells. The Li-ion cells reportedly are targeted for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The companies seek to lift annual production of such batteries to around 1 million units by 2011. Panasonic EV Energy Co., a joint venture between Toyota and Matsushita, will build the plants. Total spending on the boost to production will be about 70 billion yen [US$673 million].

news.wired.com :

The world's other major automakers are also working on environmentally-friendly cars, and the race is on to produce the best batteries to power them. Earlier this week, Honda, Japan's second-biggest automaker, said it will boost hybrid sales to 500,000 a year by sometime after 2010. Nissan is focusing more on electric vehicles, promising them for the U.S. and Japanese markets by 2010. Nissan said this week its joint venture with electronics maker NEC will start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries in 2009 at a plant in Japan.

- Yes, the race is on for the next generation of hyrid cars and electric vehicles. This latest announcement comes hot on the heels of the previous ones by Nissan and NEC, and Volkswagen and Sanyo. So here are the figures we have so far for planned expenditures on building next-gen battery plants :

1. Volkswagen and Sanyo : $973 million
2. Toyota and Matsushita : $673 million
3. Nissan and NEC : $194 million

With these three industry groupings, the cumulative budget is already well over $1.8 billion dollars. We don't have Bosch's figures as yet, but to give you an idea, they plan to spend 40% of their R&D budget which came up to 3.6 billion euros in 2007, on green technology, which works out to well over 1.44 billion euros. If they were to allocate say a couple hundred million to their automotive battery department, that should bump the industry total to over $2 billion dollars being thrown at next-generation batteries for hybrids and electric vehicles. That is serious, big-time money. Like I said earlier : in time, the Li-Ion industry might even give the LCD industry a run for its money, in terms of potential size and economic impact.

See also :

1. 2009 Honda Global Small Hybrid details released : bigger than Jazz/Fit, smaller than Civic
2. Nissan, NEC to mass produce lithium-ion batteries for cars
3. VW and Sanyo Electric to partner on lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric cars
4. Hybrid vehicle battery market to reach $2.3 billion by 2015
5. Bosch sets up lithium-ion project unit in automotive group

(2008-05-27 23:50:17 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

British Airways to ground part of its fleet over rising fuel cost

business.timesonline.co.uk :

British Airways plans to ground part of its fleet from October [2008] to cut costs and stem potential losses caused by the crippling price of fuel. Confirmation of the move from CEO Willie Walsh comes as analysts warn BA may only break even or worse for the next two years. The sudden reversal has been caused by rapidly rising fuel prices - jet fuel went through the $1,300-a-tonne [$177 per barrel] mark last week - and sluggish demand. "It is a bloodbath," said one industry executive. Airlines rarely ground aircraft, preferring to keep their expensive fleets in the air. The airline would park its oldest, least fuel-efficient aircraft. Walsh said this would be likely to include its older Boeing 747, 767 and 737 airliners. If oil continues at $120 a barrel, BA's profits could be wiped out this year.

- An airline voluntarily parking its airliners over fuel costs instead of keeping them flying to earn some revenue? Now this is something new - they are doing this despite asset depreciation, possibly financing costs, and most definitely opportunity costs. This looks like a desperate, last-ditch measure. And if you thought crude oil prices were high at $130 per barrel or over, check out the jet fuel prices above - the refined product is reportedly going for over $177 per barrel.

Updated :

1. Two major Chinese airlines including China Southern Airlines to cut flights over jet fuel costs
2. Peak Oil, Peak Airlines - as oil prices go up, airlines cut flights and jobs

(2008-05-27 23:02:55 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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