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Taxpayers footing the bill for next generation of electric car batteries
Fox News ^ | December 5, 2012 | John Brandon

Posted on 12/05/2012 9:09:59 AM PST by jazusamo

Whether you like it or not, you are an investor in the electric vehicle (EV) battery of tomorrow.

Late last week, the Department of Energy announced plans to spend $120 million to establish a major battery research center at the Argonne National Lab outside of Chicago. The stated goal: to create a new “Manhattan Project” that will develop an EV battery in the next five years that lasts five times as long and costs one-fifth as much as current EV batteries.

And they say it’s all in the interest of national security.

The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) will become a think tank for multiple government entities like the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, in addition to private companies like Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls. Even General Motors is an affiliate – and likely future licensee of the technology.

“The taxpayer is an investor, so what can we do that pays the investor back? The answer is security – to do our best to use energy inside the boundaries on our soil,” says Jeff Chamberlain, the deputy for development and demonstration at JCESR. Chamberlain says the U.S. imports a billion gallons of oil per day. But if even 5 percent of drivers switched to EVs, that could mean $100 billion in battery purchases that would be powered largely by domestically produced energy.

~snip~

“This is the definition of a money hole,” says Rob Enderle, an analyst who has studied battery innovations. “They aren't going to the Moon, they are just making something that exists better and setting goals that can't be achieved in a reasonable time.”

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: batteries; doe; electricvehicles; taxpayers
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Must be a coincidence that Obama's DOE is setting up this research center outside of Chicago.
1 posted on 12/05/2012 9:10:05 AM PST by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo

Repeal the laws of physics. Who believed G-d set those up anyway?

Workers of the World, Unite! Defeat the Capitalist, Imperialist and Racist Laws of Thermodynamics!


2 posted on 12/05/2012 9:34:08 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (Working is for suckers.)
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To: jazusamo

If any intelligent company thought this was possible, they would have done it already.

$120M is nothing compared to the possible payback if it could work.

The fact that no company has tried effectively proves that it can’t be done for the price.


3 posted on 12/05/2012 9:36:02 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (Working is for suckers.)
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To: jazusamo

4 posted on 12/05/2012 9:37:28 AM PST by smoothsailing
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To: jazusamo

” Late last week,the Department of Energy announced plans to spend $120 million to establish a major battery research center at the Argonne National Lab outside of Chicago. The stated goal: to create a new “Manhattan Project” that will develop an EV battery in the next five years that lasts five times as long and costs one-fifth as much as current EV batteries.”

No batteries will be produced and the 120 million dollars will vanish into the pockets of obamas friends.


5 posted on 12/05/2012 9:40:45 AM PST by lowbridge (Joe Biden: "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy.")
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To: Uncle Miltie
Exactly right...And I have a hunch this $120M is only the start of taxpayer money going down this money hole, plus all that money will not change the laws of physics.
6 posted on 12/05/2012 9:40:53 AM PST by jazusamo ("Intellect is not wisdom" -- Thomas Sowell)
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To: Nachum; Red Badger

Ping, for your lists.


7 posted on 12/05/2012 9:41:28 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: jazusamo

” Late last week,the Department of Energy announced plans to spend $120 million to establish a major battery research center at the Argonne National Lab outside of Chicago. The stated goal: to create a new “Manhattan Project” that will develop an EV battery in the next five years that lasts five times as long and costs one-fifth as much as current EV batteries.”

No batteries will be produced and the 120 million dollars will vanish into the pockets of obamas friends.


8 posted on 12/05/2012 9:41:45 AM PST by lowbridge (Joe Biden: "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy.")
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To: jazusamo

” Late last week,the Department of Energy announced plans to spend $120 million to establish a major battery research center at the Argonne National Lab outside of Chicago. The stated goal: to create a new “Manhattan Project” that will develop an EV battery in the next five years that lasts five times as long and costs one-fifth as much as current EV batteries.”

No batteries will be produced and the 120 million dollars will vanish into the pockets of obamas friends.


9 posted on 12/05/2012 9:41:55 AM PST by lowbridge (Joe Biden: "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy.")
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To: smoothsailing

LOL!

I remember those Desoto’s when I was young, they were real boats.


10 posted on 12/05/2012 9:43:16 AM PST by jazusamo ("Intellect is not wisdom" -- Thomas Sowell)
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To: lowbridge

You’re dead on the mark.


11 posted on 12/05/2012 9:44:42 AM PST by jazusamo ("Intellect is not wisdom" -- Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Even if they manage to build a better battery (which I doubt), it won’t take more than a nanosecond to transfer the tech to the People’s Liberation Army. Heck, I’m sure the research will be transferred as they go, since half the people they hire for the project will likely be Chinese nationals.


12 posted on 12/05/2012 9:49:11 AM PST by Orbiting_Rosie's_Head (argh)
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To: Orbiting_Rosie's_Head
Being that Government Motors will be an affiliate you can bet the farm on it, they're becoming very cozy with their Chinese partners.
13 posted on 12/05/2012 9:53:12 AM PST by jazusamo ("Intellect is not wisdom" -- Thomas Sowell)
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To: Orbiting_Rosie's_Head; All
I just ran across this article regarding GM in Chins:

GM Opens Phase Two of Design Center in China

14 posted on 12/05/2012 10:02:31 AM PST by jazusamo ("Intellect is not wisdom" -- Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

I’d like to learn about ways that might lead to more efficient yet safe batteries. What chemistry still has potential?

A great thing about gasoline is that it has very high energy per pound than batteries but by itself it is not dangerous — that is, it needs oxygen to release its energy.

Batteries on the other hand need nothing but a short circuit to release their energy in a rapid, dangerous manner. Today’s batteries have sufficiently low storage capacity that shorting one out isn’t like setting off a bomb. However, a battery with the energy density of gasoline would be like an undetonated bomb.

A friend of my parents was once in a meeting that included politicians to discuss ways of improving the effencicy of jet engines. A major limitation, it was said, was that the the best known material for turbine blades, inconel, had been pushed to its temperature limit. A politician suggesting making a law to raise the inconel melting point.


15 posted on 12/05/2012 10:30:39 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; EricTheRed_VocalMinority; ...

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/


16 posted on 12/05/2012 10:32:05 AM PST by Nachum (The List is off the Google blacklist- www.nachumlist.com)
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To: rambo316; darroy; Hoodat; Jukeman; gortklattu; fujimoh; rickyc; RushIsMyTeddyBear; JakeS; ...

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/


17 posted on 12/05/2012 10:33:28 AM PST by Nachum (The List is off the Google blacklist- www.nachumlist.com)
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To: cymbeline
Yep, that's like many politicians, just pass another law...It'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
18 posted on 12/05/2012 10:38:24 AM PST by jazusamo ("Intellect is not wisdom" -- Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Whenever I see the cost of an electric car, I add the taxpayer subsidies, which we are all paying.


19 posted on 12/05/2012 10:55:27 AM PST by I want the USA back
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To: Nachum

If the government is involved; I don’t want one.


20 posted on 12/05/2012 12:34:46 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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