A123 files for Chapter 11
In case you haven't heard yet, A123 filed for Chapter 11 today.
Battery maker A123 Systems files for bankruptcy - Yahoo! News |
That's not very good news at all..
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Johnson Controls is a technically competent company, so maybe all's not lost (yet).
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I knew giving those solar panel makes 100s of millions of dollars was going to be a waste but I figured A123 would do something a lot more productive than go into bankruptcy.
I guess I better by some 20ah cells incase they close up shop. |
I see this as a good thing. Johnson Controls is a competent company that has been around for well over 100 years, and has been into battery technology for quite a long time. They'll be able to invest the money required and move the product forward instead of struggling at every step. A123 has a great product, but sadly they can't seem to handle money better than a 4 year old.
IMO its also great to see the company and technology stay in the US instead of heading to China as it seemed would happen. |
This is too bad - didn't A123 just get a big chunk of cash from a Chinese company, about 2-3 weeks ago?
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Hope this goes well, since I work for the outfit that just bought A123. We already make half the worlds car batteries under a host of different names. One more won't make much difference.
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Over the last week and a half I have been emailing a123 and a123 "authorized dealers" and have not gotten any replys. I at least wanted to price authentic a123 AMP20 cells and see how much they cost before going straight for the a123 rejects. Maybe I should try emailing johnson controls. |
This has been a frustration for many of us in the DIY EV community. A123 cells are outstanding, technically speaking, but the company refuses to deal with individuals.
There are two places where A123 AMP20 cells can be purchased, Maziven in the UK, and High Tech Systems in the US. Both offer cells in the $60-70 range. The gray market cells are far less expensive, I purchased them for around $25 each (including shipping). Yes, these are probably rejects, as they test below the rated Ah capacity of 19.6, but my average is just below that rating, at around 19.3-19.4 Ah. Other than slightly lower capacity, the cells I have appear new and have also tested well at high current, sagging about 23% at 372 amps with a resistive load. I have seen no failures yet after testing more than 300 cells. Quote:
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I wasn't aware high tech systems in the US was selling the AMP20 cells. Thanks!
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Daox,
I had asked Derek at HTS for a quote a few years ago and mentioned the AMP20 cells. He was just starting to test them for pack building so was not ready to recommend at that time. Not sure where it stands now, but 18 months ago it was a possibility. I would really rather have purchased a complete pack from him (using cylindrical cells), but to get the kWh size I wanted, the price was out of my reach :( He makes some of the best high performance packs that can be purchased. Wayne Quote:
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Hopefully Johnson Controls can straighten out the mess there at "a123". Sounds like the best corse of action is buy more a123 excrement for far cheaper and make bigger batteries. I got a very fast reply from Johnson Controls (my offical email always gets results), they do not own a123 yet but the person that replied to the email said: "I'm in the process of purchase" and that they couldn't help at this point. |
Custom bike shops tend to stock round A123 cells... Heads up.
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Battery repair shops might stock the rounds also.
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"Chinese Firm Wins Bid for Auto Battery Maker"
Pending a review by a bankruptcy judge, Wanxiang will be the new owner of A123. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/bu...-of-china.html |
Sigh - this makes me a little sad. A123 is local to me, and my brother often delivers to them on his UPS route. They have a strong connection with MIT (obviously) - and I just hope they can gain success with their batteries. Who knows - maybe I'll be able to use A123 cells in CarBEN EV5? But if everything gets spirited off to China, then...
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They get $250M of US tax payer dollars and they go into bankruptcy and china buys them for roughly that same quarter billion dollar amount.
That deal doesn't smell fishy at all. |
Dont forget that $250m was largely borrowed from the Chinese in the first place. :mad:
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The buyout isn't approved yet. It also looks like if it does, Wanxing isn't gonna get the remainder of the DOE grant.
U.S. says will not give battery maker A123 rest of grant | Reuters Also an interesting and hopeful tidbit: Quote:
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