US launches new project to develop cheaper batteries for electric vehicles

The US Energy Department on Friday announced a $120 million research project and a new partnership to develop cheaper batteries to power electric vehicles, thereby helping auto firms shift to environment-friendly technology.

A multi-partner team led by Argonne National Laboratory has been selected for an award of up to $120 million over five years to establish a new batteries and energy storage hub. The hub, to be known as the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), will combine the R&D firepower of five DOE national laboratories, five universities, and four private firms in an effort aimed at achieving revolutionary advances in battery performance, a DoE release said.

The money will be spent over a five-year period to establish a research hub for batteries and energy storage.

Dow Chemical Co, Applied Materials Inc, Johnson Controls Inc and Clean Energy Trust have joined the consortium.

''This is a partnership between world leading scientists and world leading companies, committed to ensuring that the advanced battery technologies the world needs will be invented and built right here in America,'' said secretary Chu. ''Based on the tremendous advances that have been made in the past few years, there are very good reasons to believe that advanced battery technologies can and will play an increasingly valuable role in strengthening America's energy and economic security by reducing our oil dependence, upgrading our aging power grid, and allowing us to take greater advantage of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.''

''This new hub brings together, under a single organisational roof, the world's leading scientists, engineers and manufacturers in energy storage and provides them with the tools, resources and market reach necessary to produce major breakthroughs,'' said US senator Dick Durbin. ''The large-scale, innovative research and transformational new battery systems that will result from this venture will mean more effective, lower cost and longer life energy storage technologies with real world applications for anything that can use a rechargeable battery.