A123, makers of high-end Lithium-Ion batteries, have announced that they are going to build a 2.3 billion dollar facility in SE Michigan.
It should be cranking out enough batteries for 5 million plug-in hybrid cars by 2013, which I always thought of as a "science-fiction year", yet that's only four years from now. The plant is expected to employ 14,000 people.
A123 supplies batteries to Chrystler, Project Better Place, Hymotion (Plug-In Prius conversion kits, now owned by A123), and is the sponsor of the
KillaCycle, the worlds fastest electric vehicle.
A123 was one of the bidders for the Chevy Volt batteries, however, GM went with batteries from LG (Korean company) instead. GM is going to build a plant in Michigan for ASSEMBLING the cells that come from LG, into battery packs in Michigan. No news yet on exactly where that plant will be, but it should be physically fairly close to the plant that will be building the Volt.
This means that Michigan is going to be a world power-house in advanced battery production. (I believe the nickle-metal-hydride battery was invented in Michigan too!)
At the same time, China is really gearing up for advanced battery production. They have battery factories popping up all over, but it's difficult right now to deal with the politics and import/export laws of the country. I talked on the phone last night with a guy who is going to convert a Prius to Plug-In by himself, rather than with a kit such as the Hymotion pack. While the Hymotion is a 5KWh pack, his custom pack is going to be 20KWh. But he said that getting batteries from China "is like pulling teeth!"
Just to give you a better idea of what a KWh is, my battery pack holds about 7 KWh, and can get my little home-built car about 20 miles. But keep in mind that mine are older lead batteries, and you really can't use that full capacity, so you almost need to cut that number in half. Also my vehicle doesn't have regenerative brakes or an alternator to recharge the batteries the way a Prius can. The Prius with that size battery pack could go about 60 miles without gasoline at all!
Very exciting things are going on in the world of electrics.