Auto battery research lands in Kentucky

RONNIE ELLIS
CNHI News Service

FRANKFORT April 08, 2009 03:47 pm

— Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo calls it the “second most significant economic development announcement” in the state’s history – a partnership between Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.
Gov. Steve Beshear and Robert Rosner, an astrophysicist who is director of the University of Chicago based federal research laboratory, announced Wednesday that the partnership will conduct applied research on lithium-ion batteries which could power automobiles.
“The goal is to develop a battery to power cars to up to 300 to 400 miles,” Rosner said. “It’s a huge challenge.” He said such batteries may be commercially feasible in five to 10 years to power cars for those distances – but plug-in batteries which carry charges sufficient to travel shorter distances may be available even sooner. Rosner said the research will focus not just on plug-in type batteries for hybrid, electrical and gasoline engines, but also on fully electric power systems.
The “marriage” between Argonne – the federal research lab which was begun as part of the Manhattan Project and designed the world’s first nuclear reactor, according to Rosner – brings a federal research laboratory operation to Kentucky, one of 16 states without one, Beshear said. The Chicago lab is already conducting basic science research on lithium-ion batteries, but the Kentucky site will focus on practical – applied science – research.
Beshear’s Cabinet Secretary and acting Economic Development Secretary, Larry Hayes, said the opportunity was so significant that, “We can’t afford not to do it.” Stumbo said it’s the biggest announcement in Kentucky since Toyota came to Georgetown in the late 1980s. The state will devote between $5 million and $7 million of its federal stimulus money to the project, said Len Peters, Beshear’s Energy Cabinet Secretary.
“I feel confident the federal government will take a very positive interest in this development,” Beshear said as he indicated the state is likely to seek more federal funding support for the Battery Manufacturing Research Development Center, which will be located at the Spindletop Office Complex in Lexington in space owned by the state.
Beshear and Peters said UK and U of L will also devote faculty to the project, another form of state investment. Rosner said some work and discussion on the research has already begun. He said similar research is underway elsewhere in the U.S. “but not on this scale.”
Lithium-ion batteries are already in use in such devices as cell phones, but a international race is on to develop batteries which can store enough energy to power cars over long distances; in small enough size they can be utilized on automobiles; and produced at commercially feasible prices. Rosner said while the United States dominated the battery industry for decades, current research and development on lithium batteries is predominantly occurring in Japan, Korea and China. He said the goal of the project in Kentucky is to develop “the next generation” of lithium-ion batteries.
Beshear said he has spoken with automakers about the project – Toyota, Ford and General Motors all have manufacturing facilities in the state and along with their suppliers employ about 80,000 Kentuckians.
“We’re going to place Kentucky out in front of this process,” Beshear said. “We have raised Kentucky’s stature worldwide. This makes us so much more attractive to private enterprise.”
Rosner said the fact that Kentucky already has a strategic energy plan and is known for energy research through the UK Center for Applied Energy Research and the U of L Center for Renewable Energy made Kentucky attractive to Argonne.
State Sen. Charlie Borders, R-Grayson, echoed Stumbo’s comments about the significance of the announcement, saying the recruitment to Kentucky of Toyota during Martha Layne Collins’ administration sewed seeds for this latest announcement which in turn will produce future benefits.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com.

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