Lithium-air batteries to be further researched

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - The real estate market shows signs of life, unemployment dipped and personal income in the United States increased $44.5 billion in December.

Good signs all, but the most intriguing business story so far this year is a plan to increase research into lithium-air batteries.

The Department of Energy said recently it would devote 24 million hours of processing time on supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois to develop more powerful lithium-air batteries.

Lithium batteries have a variety of applications, including long-range battery packs for automobiles.

All-electric cars have been around for more than a century, but have never really caught on, even though maintenance and operating costs are cheaper than gasoline- or diesel-powered cars.

The reasons for this are many - conspiracy theorists blame Big Oil and the formerly great Detroit carmakers - but one of the biggest barriers to mainstream acceptance has been battery technology.

Cars that drive 100 miles or less on a battery charge and the lack of a public recharging infrastructure aren't very appealing to consumers used to seeing gas stations on every corner and being able to drive 400 miles on a tank of gasoline.

However, the appeal of battery-power would get a serious boost if researchers could up the range of lithium batteries to, say, 500 miles.

Atlanta; Memphis; Charleston, S.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., are within a 500-mile drive of Knoxville.

I test drove an EV1 - an electric car produced by General Motors in the late 1990s - and greatly enjoyed the sensory experience. It was surprisingly powerful and so very quiet. Other than the chatter of the salesman, all I could hear was the sound of the tires rolling over the pavement as I merged onto the freeway.

But no way did I want one. The range was too limited.

Many consumers are still concerned about range, said Leslie Grossman, founder and president of the Knoxville Electric Vehicle Association.

"What's always held us back is the battery," Grossman said.

Although most people typically drive 50 miles or less at a time, they don't like the idea of being constrained by battery range, Grossman said.

"It's the what-if-I-need-it scenario. I want to make sure I can get there," she said.

Development of a reliable 500-mile battery certainly would ease consumer concern about running out of juice in the middle of nowhere.

With fuel costs rising and consumers looking to cut expenses, interest in electric vehicles has grown, said Grossman, vice president, investment adviser representative with TrustFirst Inc. in Knoxville.

KEVA membership has increased steadily since the group was founded a year ago and it has a compiled a 300-name mailing list of people interested in learning how to convert their cars to electric-power.