AABC Asia 2014 - AABTAM Symposium: Advanced Automotive Battery Technology, Application and Market - Session 4

Session 4: EV Technology, Logistics, and Infrastructure

This session reviewed PHEV and EV-battery technology as well as the logistics and infrastructure aspects of vehicle electrification and assessed the remaining challenges to the market expansion of the EV-PHEV technology.

Mr. Miyamoto joined Nissan Motor Co. in 1981 and started researching advanced batteries for EV at Nissan Research Center. In 1994, he joined Li-Ion battery development projects for EV/HEV. In 2006, Mr. Miyamoto became General Manager of the EV Energy Development Department at Nissan, and in 2007, Engineering Director in the EV Energy Development Department. Mr. Miyamoto headed the Nissan Leaf battery system development project.

Director of General Motor’s Global Battery Systems, Mr. William Wallace is responsible for all GM Li-Ion battery and EVSE product development, validation and integration as well as GM’s global battery labs. He has over 25 years of product development experience in the aerospace and automotive industries in both North America and Europe. He also serves as a board member of the General Motors / University of Michigan Advanced Battery Coalition for Drivetrains, which is a joint research program focused on spanning the gap between battery material synthesis and vehicle controls integration.

1. Current Status and Future Prospects of EV-Battery Development
   Takeshi Miyamoto, Engineering Director, EV Energy Development Department, Nissan Motor Co.
   

   In Dec. 2010, the first of the world’s mass-produced Lithium-Ion battery EV “Nissan LEAF” was introduced to Japan and US market. As of January 2014, more than a hundred thousand Leaf vehicles were sold globally. The Leaf is the best-selling mass-production EV. Nissan got various feedbacks including a great response about battery reliability. This presentation will discuss optimizing trade-off of battery characteristics based on the premise of reliability, effort for expansion, and so on.
2. Battery Targets for Future EVs and PHEVs
   Bill Wallace, Director, Global Battery Systems, General Motors Co.
   

   The global auto industry has completed the launch of the first generation lithium Ion plug-in electric vehicles and is soon to start launch on the next generation. Using first generation field lessons this presentation will look forward to the Gen2 and Gen3 PHEV / EREV / EV vehicles and their market place of the future. Vehicle level targets will be proposed and translated to battery pack and cell targets. Key technologies and enablers for meeting these targets will also be discussed.
3. AESC Cells and Pack Development and Roadmap
   Shigeaki Kato, President, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation
   

   Nissan Leaf sales achieved 100 thousand units globally in Jan. 2014, and AESC provides Lithium-ion battery as a core component of EV.
   The key competitiveness for these customers’ acceptance of the Nissan Leaf and its battery is as follows.

   1. Reliability – not only battery fire reliability, AESC collaborate with vehicle engineer to realize multiple phase reliability.
   2. Quality – Through entire battery production process, AESC have been checking around 800 items for each product. And we can trace back from vehicle level to cell one by one if necessary.

   Through this presentation, AESC show the wide-range capability of xEV pack and future cell roadmap to keep global No.1 EV battery.
4. Why is Everyone Excited about Tesla, except the xEV Industry?
   Menahem Anderman, President, Advanced Automotive Batteries
   

   Tesla, the wonder kid EV producer, became a household name for the general public and in particular for the investment community within a few months of the introduction of its highly acclaimed Model S Luxury EV.

   Tesla has already broken many of the industry’s common convictions, including:

   1. That it is almost impossible for a newcomer to break into the automotive business
   2. That practical EVs must be limited to a range of 100-150 miles
   3. That EVs are more suitable as small urban vehicles
   4. That EVs imply a financial loss to carmakers

   The general excitement over the success of the company to date has driven its stock value through the roof and the company’s plans are generating additional excitement. Automakers can no longer ignore the Silicon Valley wonder kid who entered their territory but their responses vary from a ”no impact on our business” type of attitude at one end of the scale to attempts to develop long-range EVs at the other extreme.

   In this presentation we will:

   1. Analyze the ingredients of Tesla’s success to date
   2. Discuss the pros and cons of Tesla’s battery technology
   3. Analyze the risk/reward elements of Tesla’s approach
   4. Discuss the likely responses form carmakers
   5. Explore Tesla’s potential impact on the xEV battery supply chain
5. Automobile Battery Development in China
   Anthony Wong, Vice President Business Development, ATL Battery
   

   Automobile Electrification in China -- Overcoming Challenges and Seizing Opportunities.
   China's tremendous economic growth in the last decades has lifted millions of people out of poverty and has created a thriving 300 million plus middle class. This astonishing development and urbanization has also ushered in unintended consequence -- environmental and climate impact, among others. Seldom in modern history has a country faced such an urgent and daunting task of reducing pollution in such a magnitude of scale. AUTOMOBILE ELECTRIFICATION, in which automobile battery development plays a critical role, is now a national policy. This presentation will focus on the trajectory of China's automobile battery development.
   Topics will include: (1) an update on China's projected xEV market, (2) China's evolving national policy towards automobile electrification, and (3) an overview of China's xEV battery landscape including key players, essential developmental projects and investment opportunities.