Lexington, KY - The Spindletop Energy Research Campus in Lexington is the site of the Kentucky-Argonne National Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center, currently under construction and nearing the finish line.
The Argonne National Laboratory conducts leading-edge research in basic and applied science of virtually every discipline. It will pair up with the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and the state to assist the United States in the development of new battery materials, primarily in powering our automobiles.
For years, the United States has had a strong research-and-development flavor in battery development. However, many of those breakthroughs went overseas and were incorporated into batteries there.
"We're trying to provide a service to the industry that would allow it to evaluate new materials in a commercial-type atmosphere so they can tell early on whether or not research in the laboratory, at universities, companies or with venture groups will be suitable for commercialization," explained Ralph Brodd, director of the new Kentucky-Argonne Center.
The United States is playing catch-up with foreign companies that already manufacture batteries. One Japanese company is getting ready to build some of its battery packs in Kentucky. In October, Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas announced it had selected its Harrodsburg plant as the North American production site for lithium-ion battery packs. The $12 million plant expansion will create about 60 new jobs, according to the state.
"They will be making batteries for applications here in the U.S. and will import their cells, the things that go into batteries, from Japan. They will assemble the cells into packs and also provide the electronics to control the packs," said Brodd.
Hitachi already has a very strong research group in Japan. Will it collaborate with the new Kentucky-Argonne R&D Center in Lexington? Not yet, anyway, said Brodd.
"We will have the capability to do evaluations of their cells," Brodd said. "We have talked to them, but so far do not have any concrete agreement."
Brodd, whom some industry insiders say "wrote the book" on advanced battery technologies, added that the U.S. Department of Energy is funding a significant effort to develop new higher-performance materials for use in batteries for vehicle applications.
"There's a lot of money. So far, we don't have any of it, but we are hoping to get some," he stated.
Until now, the American car-buying public has generally not embraced electric cars. There are several on the market, including the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt. There's also the fledgling California carmaker Tesla Motors, founded in 2003 by a group of Silicon Valley engineers intent on proving that electric cars are both smart and fun. Tesla produces the Roadster, a sports car, and the Model S, a sedan, both of which are electric.
So, how long until most of us are driving electric cars?
"It's going to be a while. It's hard to tell how quickly that will happen. It depends on the acceptance of electric vehicles by the public, and so far it has been slow, but there have not been a lot of cars for them to buy," Brodd said.
But the battery challenges are great, and no one seems to know when or if battery technology will ever be mainstreamed into car manufacturing.
"The No. 1 problem to solve is performance, and the second is cost, which is always an issue with all commercial applications," Brodd said.
To that list of problems you can add limited cruising range and lengthy charge-up times, according to Fujio Cho, chairman of the board of Toyota and the first leader of Toyota's Georgetown plant. Visiting Lexington, Cho sat for an interview recently with Business Lexington.
On electric vehicles, Cho seemed optimistic about their future but wasn't sure which way the industry will swing.
"I believe the electric vehicles category will be extremely important, and electric vehicles will establish themselves as very useful, important cars. We are trying to introduce our own electric vehicles very soon. But before we introduce pure-electric vehicles, we plan to introduce plug-in hybrid vehicles (electric and/or gasoline-powered) next year," Cho commented, through an interpreter. "It is more fitting to realistic conditions at this moment."
Cho said that since the automobile industry has several powering options, it's difficult to know which format will win out.
"At this moment, nobody knows what will be that car of the future," he said.
Brodd said that the UK-UofL connection to the Kentucky-Argonne R&D Center will be an equal partnership and that they will "cooperate in all elements."
The center will provide a domestic source of trained engineers, scientists and technicians with expertise and skills in battery manufacturing. That could lead to new avenues for Kentuckians to take.
"We hope that there will be the creation of some new companies, because there will be new opportunities for people," he said.
After the center is operational early in 2012, Brodd expects there will be 20-25 people working there, including students from the two universities.