Hybrid Vehicle Battery Development Partnership

[ty]

I did little research on some partnerships around hybrid vehicle battery development.

As you know Insight's (& Civic hybrid) battery is made by Panasonic (Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.).

Panasonic EV Energy is owned by Matsushita and Toyota. Toyota had 40% share, but they recently put more capital (1 billion yen) in thier venture and now got 60% share.
http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/offici ... 005-1.html
(sorry, in Japanese)

Following data from panasonic site (as of 10/29/05) says thier capital is 2 billion yen. However now it should be 3 billion yen now as a result of Toyota's additional investment. (as of 2005 10 05 press release date)

http://www.peve.panasonic.co.jp/e_profile.html
(in English)

Company Name Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
Head Office 555 Sakaijuku, Kosai, Shizuoka, 431-0452 Japan
Established December 11, 1996
Capital 2 billion yen
Employees Approx. 850
Description of Business Product Development, Manufacturing and Sales of Nickel metal-hydride rechargeable batteries and Battery management systems for
HEVs and PEVs.


List of Hybrid cars use panasonic batteries.
http://www.peve.panasonic.co.jp/e_catalog2.html

As you can see, this list is missing US Accord hybrid. Guess what, Accord hybrid use Sanyo battery.
I am not sure 2nd generation Civic Hybrid gets Panasonic or Sanyo's? Does anyone know?? The article excerpt at Japanese forum says it's Panasonic made.

Sanyo and Honda is working togather to develop battery for hybrid car (since 2002).
Sanyo also agree to develop battery with DaimlerChrysler. They use Sanyo battery for A class fuel cell car. Ford get Sanyo's battery for Escape Hybrid.

- - - - - - -

I got most of these info from Japanese sources, but I put links just in case. (I am Japanese, so I can dig little more on Japanse sources. I assume you all can do google to find out more from non-Japanese sites.)

Related airticles (sorry, all in Japanese)
http://www.honda.co.jp/factbook/auto/CI ... 09/12.html
(This honda page explain new CivicIMA and battery.)
http://finance.nifty.com/as/column/fina ... 0149_1.htm
http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4/ ... 018-2.html
http://eri.netty.ne.jp/honmanote/comp_eco/2004/0401.htm

Business Week's Sanyo aritcle (mention little about hybrid)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 806151.htm
(by the way, Sanyo is in bad shape lately.)

[b1shmu63]

I believe the batteries in the new Civic are different (smaller) so they probably are Sanyo batteries.

[Insightful Trekker]

Are you saying in the 06 Civic Kip

[clett]

Sanyo are in trouble with Ford etc because they can't supply enough batteries, so have recently come to an agreeement where Ford will be allowed to manufacture the batteries themselves to make up the shortfall.

Other companies soon to be big players in the hybrid battery market are: LG-Chem, BYD (of China) and Toshiba.

(Maybe also of interest, battery company-wise, BYD are already one of the largest LiIon manufacturers in the world and are determined to bring a LiIon EV to market soon. They already manufacture a car in China that retails for about $1,500 so they are confident they can make an EV cheaper than foreign ICE competition.)

[b1shmu63]

Yes John. From the Green Car Congress site, this information is about the new battery pack for the 2006 Civic hybrid.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/09 ... for_t.html

“The battery pack stores electricity in a bank of Nickel Metal-Hydride cells. This bank of 132 1.2-volt units stores up to 158 volts of electrical energy for the IMA motor compared to 144 in previous versions. A new Panasonic dual module casing reduces weight from previous hybrid battery packs and also allows it to increase efficiency of the electrical flow. The battery pack is also 12% smaller in volume than the prior.”

Although I could not find the reference, I believe I read that the cells were a different size, and mechanically more rugged than the previous design.

[ty]

Japanese Honda site explan little details that a new battery cell arrangement contribute 12% voulme reduction while 10% increse in # of cells. This new arrengement is showed in an illustration in the middle of following page the purple color 9 cells (and while color cells on the right is old ones).

http://www.honda.co.jp/factbook/auto/CI ... 09/12.html
or battery illutration (only) is here
http://www.honda.co.jp/factbook/auto/CI ... /12_06.jpg

Also, the new case for batteryis compact, improved shock & vibration resistance and cooling, so it will help a battery life.

By the way, all illustrations in this page are compaing the new (on the left) and old components (one the right).

Some other improvement compared to the old system:

Rotor
Max output: +50%
Max torque: +110 %
http://www.honda.co.jp/factbook/auto/CI ... /12_02.jpg

IPU size: -13%
IPU length: 300mm (new), 375mm (old)
http://www.honda.co.jp/factbook/auto/CI ... /12_04.gif

DC-DC Convertor
12v out put: +25%
Volume: -50%
Weight: - 50%
Invertor
Volume: -50%
Weight: - 25%
http://www.honda.co.jp/factbook/auto/CI ... /12_05.jpg

I hope there is no mistake on my translation. (I have no technical knowledge)

Thank you for the link b1shmu63!!

Originally Posted by b1shmu63

Yes John. From the Green Car Congress site, this information is about the new battery pack for the 2006 Civic hybrid.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/09 ... for_t.html

“The battery pack stores electricity in a bank of Nickel Metal-Hydride cells. This bank of 132 1.2-volt units stores up to 158 volts of electrical energy for the IMA motor compared to 144 in previous versions. A new Panasonic dual module casing reduces weight from previous hybrid battery packs and also allows it to increase efficiency of the electrical flow. The battery pack is also 12% smaller in volume than the prior.”

Although I could not find the reference, I believe I read that the cells were a different size, and mechanically more rugged than the previous design.

[clett]

More hybrid battery news:

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=103453