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             Chicago's Argonne Lab Developing Battery of the Future

   by Kane Farabaugh

   In 2012, the Department of Energy's Office of Science awarded a $120
   million grant to a new technology center focused on battery development
   - headquartered at Argonne National Laboratory in suburban Chicago,
   Illinois. The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research brings together
   scientists and engineers from government, national laboratories, and
   industry to provide them with the tools, funding, and space to make the
   next technological breakthrough in energy storage.

   Smaller. Lighter. Longer Lasting. That's what consumers want in the
   batteries they use to power personal electronics.

   At the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, or J-CESR, researchers
   hope to meet the demand.

   This is the birthplace of the lithium ion battery technology, but
   J-CESR scientists and engineers have bigger - and smaller - goals in
   mind.

   "Five times the energy density at one fifth the cost." And all this is
   five years, accrdoing to deputy director Jeffrey Chamberlain.  Cell
   phones, he says, are the devices where consumers will first notice a
   change.

   "So instead of charging it every day, they might be able to charge it
   every few days or every week.  Or instead of having certain power and
   capability, they might be able to get to a kind of power that might be
   unimagined," says he.

   Chamberlain says the ultimate goal is to change the worldwide
   automotive market.

   "The bigger mission we are on is trying to store energy in a way that
   is cost-effective and safe so that we can compete directly with the
   internal combustion engine using electricity or electric transport,"
   says Chamberlain.

   Argonne's Energy Systems Division Director Don Hillebrand says more
   power for personal electronics is an easy sell - but consumers demand
   change when it comes to cars.

   "Some consumers want an all-electric vehicle.  The big debate right now
   is how many of them are there?  That number changes based on how much
   gasoline costs.  Really at what point does gasoline get expensive
   enough that it drives more people into wanting all-electrics?" - asks
   Hillebrand.

   Hillebrand says the sales figures this year - about ten thousand
   electric vehicles sold per month in the United States - is below
   industry expectations, but the battery the center is developing could
   change the picture.

   "It's showing steady growth as we go forward.  That number needs to be
   ten times bigger for us to really say that this program has been a
   success, and getting to that ten times is really tied to getting the
   battery to what we need it to be," says Hillebrand.

   But if that battery development is successful, and sales of electric
   powered vehicles take off, there will be increased demand on the
   existing power grid to recharge those batteries - a problem the
   scientists and researchers at J-CESR are also tackling by developing a
   large scale battery for the grid.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/chicago-argonne-lab-developing-batter
   y-of-the-future/1961622.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/chicago-argonne-lab-developing-battery-of-the-future/1961622.html