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Going the extra mile: Commentary: Promising battery technology should excite investors
Marketwatch ^ | May 8, 2009, 5:36 p.m. EST | John C. Dvorak

Posted on 05/22/2009 3:07:26 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Anyone who has followed batteries knows the likelihood of a new technology to come along and save the world from itself is close to nil. All we can hope for are tweaks that incrementally improve battery performance.

But there is a tweak that interests me, and it should interest investors as well. It's a lithium-titanate battery developed by Altair Nanotechnologies /quotes/comstock/15*!alti/quotes/nls/alti (ALTI 1.10, +0.05, +4.76%) , and it's now being experimented with by the U.K.'s Lightning car company, as well as at least one U.S. carmaker.

What makes this battery valuable for automotive use is its recharging speed. It's optimized to recharge in minutes, not hours. That makes the idea of fueling stations for electric vehicles feasible, perhaps even practical.

It also can be recharged more than 5,000 times, or every day for more than a decade. Indeed, the recharging potential of these batteries could outlast a car's lifetime, and so the company needs to figure out ways to recycle.

The key to this battery is its unique nanotechnology anode, which increases the actual surface area of the anode by 30 times. That allows for faster charging and discharging.

But the drawback is price. Costing perhaps three times that of the competition, this battery will remain pricey until mass production techniques are used.

Meanwhile, this is one of the many companies in the lithium-ion business to watch -- and one of the few that is publicly traded.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Science
KEYWORDS: automative; greentechnology
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

...this company has been public for over a decade and is losing 31 cents a share....think I’ll pass on investing in this outfit....reminds me of Ballard(BLDP)the fuel cell guys...remember them during the dot com run up?....at one time trading over $100/share....now you can have all you want for $1.87....they were gonna be the next big thing in energy too.


21 posted on 05/22/2009 3:45:34 PM PDT by STONEWALLS
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To: allmost
Lithium-Oxygen batteries are also interesting. Supposedly 10X the capacity of a Lion.
22 posted on 05/22/2009 3:47:41 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

zero-emission => 52% coal powered


23 posted on 05/22/2009 3:49:43 PM PDT by theBuckwheat
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To: AFreeBird
Anything lithium based is suspect. I don't the ME holding oil as a weapon. I probably wont like S America engaging in the same activity. What lithium reserve calculations are you going by, and what is the source?
24 posted on 05/22/2009 3:50:51 PM PDT by allmost
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To: All
Related thread I started:

Advanced nuclear technology and CO2 mittigation (Thorium as an Energy Resource)

25 posted on 05/22/2009 4:00:18 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: AFreeBird
If they could Richter scale the efficiency up. Find lithium.
26 posted on 05/22/2009 4:00:49 PM PDT by allmost
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To: theBuckwheat

See #20 and #25.


27 posted on 05/22/2009 4:02:21 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: AFreeBird

You never answered my semi legible post #24. Where do you get it?


28 posted on 05/22/2009 4:03:14 PM PDT by allmost
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I don’t, but I’m in the city right next door.


29 posted on 05/22/2009 4:44:22 PM PDT by doug from upland (10 million views of .HILLARY! UNCENSORED - put some ice on it, witch)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Yes however at what MSRP?


30 posted on 05/22/2009 5:19:21 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
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