South Coast Air Quality Management District

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Execute Contract to Cosponsor Development and Demonstration of Commercial Prototype Advanced Valve Regulated Lead Acid Batteries for Electric Vehicles

SYNOPSIS:

Further commercialization of electric vehicles can be an important factor in reducing emissions from on-road vehicles. Additional advancements in lead acid battery performance would be beneficial to achieve increased power and extend battery life. Trojan Battery Company and Ensci have demonstrated performance improvements with the unique use of patented additives incorporated into the active material of the battery plates at the 2-volt cell level. In this two-phase project, commercial prototype 12-volt modules will be produced, assembled and tested as electric vehicle battery packs, and demonstrated and tested in-vehicle. Staff recommends AQMD’s participation in this contract with a co-funding of $150,000. Trojan’s co-funding will be $241,000.

COMMITTEE:

Technology, July 28, 2000, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with Trojan Battery Company for the development and demonstration of commercial prototype advanced valve regulated lead acid batteries for electric vehicles in an amount not to exceed $150,000 from the Clean Fuels Fund.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

The AQMP calls for the accelerated introduction of both light- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles as an air quality attainment strategy. In support of this, ARB regulations governing new-vehicle major manufacturers require the production and sale of ZEVs in California. These regulations and other ARB-manufacturer agreements resulted in the introduction in recent years of electric vehicles (EVs) by General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler and Nissan, using several different battery materials. Of the battery technologies in current use, lead acid batteries are the least expensive. Continued improvements in lead acid battery performance would be beneficial to fulfilling demand for higher-performance, lower-cost electric vehicles.

Trojan Battery Company and Ensci, with the support of the Advanced Lead Acid Battery consortium (ALABC), have demonstrated performance improvements with the unique use of patented additives incorporated into the active material of the battery plates at the 2-volt cell level. The patented (issued and pending) additives are only available from Ensci through their custom manufacturing relationship with companies under an agreement with Ensci.

The additives from Ensci increase specific energy by increasing the porosity and conductivity of the positive plate and enhancing electrolyte diffusion within the battery. This increases the capacity, range, and power of valve-regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries, at all states of charge, allows faster recharge, and increases battery life.

Trojan Battery Company currently manufactures VRLA batteries for electric and hybrid electric vehicles, and has the capability to bring this new technology to market.

Proposal

In the first phase of this project, commercial prototype 12-volt modules will be built and then tested both as modules and as full battery packs.

The individually sealed 12-volt VRLA modules will be built using Trojan’s existing manufacturing line. Ensci additives will be mixed into a paste in large production batches, incorporated into the battery plates as part of a design matrix consisting of multiple additive formulations, production cured, and assembled into 12-volt battery modules. Trojan will conduct initial battery module and pack testing, and material testing on selected battery modules, post mortem. Material testing includes plate strength, density, and porosity and may include X-ray diffraction, microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and miscellaneous plate analysis as needed.

Using a subcontractor, Trojan will also evaluate battery modules and high performance battery packs for thermal management and battery performance. Battery module testing will be according to USABC EV simulation cycles to determine specific energy and peak power. Test results, including life cycle test results, will be compared to currently available lead acid, EV traction battery modules. Capacity and performance increases of at least 15% versus controls will be used to determine which battery modules to assemble and test as battery packs. Successful module testing will lead to full battery pack (26-28 modules) testing and battery (ADVISOR-type model) vehicle simulation. Based upon a developed battery pack model and vehicle simulation modeling, Trojan will determine optimum battery module and battery pack design for vehicle demonstration. In addition, Trojan will evaluate the business case for commercialization of this technology before proceeding to Phase II.

Phase II of the program includes battery pack in-vehicle demonstration and testing. Southern California Edison is expected to participate in battery pack evaluation in one or more suitable vehicles. Baseline vehicle performance tests will be conducted using the EV America or similar test protocols, which include acceleration, gradeability, deceleration, electrical power consumption and range in different modes, rough-road course, braking, road handling, battery charging, and battery charger performance. Data from the demonstration program will be used to refine and validate the predictive models.

Benefits to AQMD

The proposed project is included in the March 2000 update of the Technology Advancement Plan under Project 2000M5-1, "Development and Demonstration of Advanced Energy Storage Systems." The AQMP relies on the expedited implementation of advanced technologies and clean-burning fuels in southern California to achieve air quality standards. This project will help increase lead acid battery performance, finalize the development of an advanced, full-size EV battery pack, and demonstrate its feasibility in laboratory tests and in the field.

Enhanced performance characteristics, including specifically a battery capacity increase of at least 15% in phase I of this project will lead to battery pack assembly, and in-vehicle testing in phase II. Successful completion of this project may result in increased electric and hybrid electric vehicle design options using higher capacity, longer life batteries at the same weight or volume of existing batteries, or using smaller or lighter batteries with the same capacity as existing batteries. Cost of the additives and changes to the manufacturing process will be partially offset by reduction in lead raw-material costs and is expected to be in proportion to or less than the increase in battery performance over the life of the batteries. Even with these advanced additives, lead acid batteries should remain much lower cost than other advanced batteries, such as NiMH, are currently.

Sole Source Justification

Section VIII.B.2. of the Procurement Policy and Procedure identifies four major provisions under which a sole source award may be justified. This request for a sole source award is made under provision B.2.c.: The desired services are available from only the sole source. Specifically, these circumstances are B.2.c.(1): The unique experience and capabilities of the proposed contractor or contractor team.

Trojan Battery Company currently manufactures VRLA batteries for electric and hybrid electric vehicles at their facility in Santa Fe Springs, CA. Trojan, in collaboration with Ensci, successfully pioneered the use of porosity enhancing and metal control additives for improving the performance of lead-acid battery cells. Trojan is a major lead-acid battery manufacturer and in this project, will rely on unique previous experience with additives to conduct fabrication of optimized cells into modules and battery packs in an assembly line (as opposed to bench-scale or custom) manufacturing setting. Co-funding will be provided by Trojan at better than 1:1 cost sharing.

Ensci holds numerous patents (issued and pending) for additives that increase the specific energy of a lead-acid battery by increasing the porosity and conductivity of the positive plate and enhancing electrolyte diffusion within the battery. The additives increase the capacity, range, and power of the batteries, at all states of charge, allow faster recharge, and increase battery life. However, Ensci has no assembly-line battery manufacturing capability. Through related development efforts described previously, Ensci has developed a working relationship with Trojan and will make these additives available to Trojan for this development and demonstration project.

Resource Impacts

The total cost for this two-phase project is approximately $391,000. The amount of AQMD funding shall not exceed $150,000.

Sufficient funds are available from the Clean Fuels Fund, established as a special revenue fund resulting from the state-mandated Clean Fuels Program. The Clean Fuels Program, under Health and Safety Code Sections 40448.5 and 40512 and Vehicle Code Section 9250.11, establishes mechanisms to collect revenues from mobile sources to support projects to increase the utilization of clean fuels, including the development of the necessary advanced enabling technologies. Funds collected from motor vehicles are restricted, by statute, to be used for projects and program activities related to mobile sources that support the objectives of the Clean Fuels Program.

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