Forty miles ... 100 miles ... 200 miles ...
A new generation of fully electric vehicles claims to have the ability to cover that much ground on a single charge, which would easily get most Americans to work and back without having to plug in.
But so far, the batteries powering electric vehicles, or EVs, haven't gone the distance at a cost that most U.S. drivers can afford. That's why research at FMC Lithium's Center for Lithium Energy and Advanced Research, or CLEAR, has put Bessemer City in western Gaston County on the transportation-technology map.
Manufacturers of rechargeable lithium ion batteries from all over the world have visited the CLEAR complex. Growth in the market for lithium ion batteries will soon be driven by demand for large-format batteries that are safe, compact, light-weight, long-lasting and priced reasonably enough to attract car buyers, FMC officials say.
"It's exciting when you have people coming from all over the world to Bessemer City to visit this facility," said Brian Fitch, a Cherryville native and Appalachian State University-trained chemist working at CLEAR. FMC Lithium opened CLEAR in September 2008.
FMC Lithium's Bessemer City plant on N.C. 161 employs about 240 people making lithium products for numerous applications, including grease and lubricants, polymers and pharmaceuticals. Kings Mountain has large deposits of lithium, but FMC hasn't mined in this area since the 1990s. Today, the lithium is found in dry lake beds in the northern Andes Mountains in Argentina.
A quarter of sales at FMC Lithium end up in rechargeable lithium ion batteries. But nearly all of those batteries power portable consumer electronics. Less than one percent of its sales are for EV prototypes, said Eric Norris, FMC's director of global commerce.
However, in another 10 years, lithium ion batteries could account for more than half of sales with much of that growth generated by consumer demand for electric cars, Norris said.
"That market hasn't developed yet," Norris said, "but the consumer interest is there."
The near collapse of domestic automakers last year along with a renewed focus on curbing climate-changing greenhouse gases has fueled an interest in electric vehicles stateside. The federal government is offering tax breaks to consumers who buy alternative-fuel vehicles, and is pouring billions of dollars into research to develop new energy platforms.
In November, Chevrolet is planning to launch the Volt, which can travel up to 40 miles on an electric battery before a backup combustion engine takes over. Nissan is touring the U.S. with prototypes of the Leaf, an EV it says can travel 100 miles on a single charge. Both of those vehicles run on lithium ion batteries, but neither manufacturer has suggested a price.
Right now, the only vehicle using lithium ion batteries is the Tesla Roadster, which can travel more than 200 miles on one charge, but starts at $101,500. The popular hybrid electric Toyota Prius has a nickel-metal hydride battery pack, but that technology isn't practical for a fully electric vehicle. Lithium, which is the lightest metal on Earth, has a higher energy density, making it ideal for compact batteries in handheld electronics, Norris said.
Lithium is potentially dangerous, however, and some batteries have caught fire in older model cell phones and laptops. Although the technology in today's consumer electronics has proven to be safe, similar safeguards must be engineered into the larger-format batteries as well. Finding the right balance of power and safety in the larger automotive batteries is the key to future innovation.
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