Extra long life, very deep & very quick discharge/recharge capabilities, all weather operation etc etc could make this battery a real work horse for electrified vehicles.

The average energy density and high cost will be improved with better assembly/materials and mass production.

Yes DM...so far, only Harold H. Kung (from Northwestern U.) and Dr Fichtner & Reddy (from KIT) have designed much superior batteries, but they are 3 to 5 years from commercialization while the Toshiba unit could be installed in 2012 EVs.

It seems that 2015-2017 could be the year of commercialization of breakthrough EV batteries with 10x the energy density capacity, quicker charge/discharge and longer life under adverse conditions.

Meanwhile, this Toshiba unit is an excellent interim solution.

"full charge-discharge cycle for SCiB is 4,000 times"

Am I correct in thinking that if you had a 100 mile range EV using these batteries and did ~full discharge each use you should expect a 400,000 mile lifespan for the batteries?

400,000miles to 80% at which point the batteries are still quite useful.

TOC (ex chasis, motor, and a few others)

SCiB BEV
20kw/h battery at $500/kw/h=$10,000
20kw/h per 123 miles (per Honda press release)=6.15miles per kw/h
400,000miles/6.15= 65,040kw/h @ $0.10/kw/h=$6,504
$6,504/0.90 (charging losses)= $7,226
TOC $17,226

Internal Combustion Engine
30mpg (combined rating) 400,000/miles/30mpg=13,333gallons
13,333x$3.50/gallon (conservative)= $46,666

The SCiB Fit comes out WAY ahead. Even if you price the batteries at $1/w it still comes out way ahead and I'm not even counting the savings from reduced service costs (oil changes, filter changes, tune ups, etc).

Actually for a 4,000 cycle battery down to 80% with 100 mile range you should take 90 miles as the average range over time, so you get 360,000 miles in total.
From the specs I have seen I think that Toshiba is just being conservative in their claims though as they claim 6,000 fast charge cycles for the chemically similar 4.2 Ah battery.
To be able to get maximum range they have likely allowed an SOC of 95%, and so chopped the cycle life accordingly.
In practise though most will only do around 12,000 miles a year, or 33 miles/day, and so will rarely drain the battery and shorten cycle life.
I reckon most people will get around 500,000 miles out of these, which is not 'too bad!' ;-)

Our Big-3 will sell us what we purchase. There's far too much competition world-wide for even a group of manufacturers to control production.

The entry level for producing EVs is much lower than producing ICEVs. Electric motors and batteries can be purchased from a variety of manufacturers. "Windshields and seats" are made by lots of manufacturers. Car companies are becoming designers and assemblers.

Imagine one or more companies marketing the frames and running gear for body-on-frame EVs. Other companies designing bolt-on bodies. Putting that together with the best battery pack and motors to fit the design.

We could have incredible choice in body style and features.

A stainless steel or aluminum frame could mean multiple bodies using the same frame/batteries/motor.

--

Perhaps a 40 hour week with a 20 year work career might be a better route. Keep the younger ones busy until they've outgrown their "youthful ways"..... ;o)

You guys are dreaming. We will have 10% of the people working 60-80 hours a week and making all the money there is, while the remainder are unemployed and starving -- it is the free enterprise model.

If our society could redefine "quality of life" as something other than GDP, things might change. Come to think of it, when 90% are unemployed, things will change. Oh yes think 3D printing for the bodies.

LED lights last ages. There is no gearbox to go wrong, no oil to leak.
It would seem that the present 15 years for cars should stretch to over 20 at the least, and Toshiba rate their batteries as 20 year plus batteries, as we don't know fully the effects of calender age, as opposed to cycle life.

I think that a PHEV with 30-mi AER and a small ICE, sized to provide "base-load" at its peak efficiency point, would be a better option than a pure BEV. This PHEV can travel for 400-500 miles between fill up instead of 100-mile range as a pure BEV. 15-minute charge every 90 miles is still too disruptive for those who must drive long trips every once in a while.

PHEV's are extremely valuable in winters when a lot of waste heat will be needed for cabin heating and windshield defrosting, as well as on very hot summer days when AC consumes a lot of energy that would significantly degrade the range of the BEV's.

When the ICE is smartly coupled with a PHEV drive train, one will get unbeatable efficiency, far more efficient than conventional ICEV or even more efficient than BEV's. This is because one large-size electric motor in a BEV cannot run at its peak efficiency until running at or above 30% load, while a PHEV with a smaller e-motor can run at its peak efficiency much more often. The ICE in the PHEV can be kept warm and used for power-boosting when the driver pushes the "power mode" button. When the "Economy mode" button is pushed, only the electric motor is used. Very little maintenance will be needed for the ICE when it is run only once in a while and not all the time. Oil change every one or two years, and other maintenance schedule may not even be required. Probably no brake nor transmission service will be needed in a HEV or PHEV like the Prius.

On a logistic issue, it is very important to have enough batteries for as many HEV's and PHEV's, to save as much petrol as possible, before building BEV's in large numbers. Five PHEV's each with a 6 kWh pack can save 4 times as much petrol as one BEV with a 30 kWh pack. Likewise, 4 HEV's each with a 1.5 kWh pack can save twice as much petrol as one PHEV with a 6 kWh pack!

My... Haven't seen this much enthusiasm on GCC since Stan and EP considered a mud wrestling contest(/sarc.) Lithium titanate is the key to this chemistry - same as AltairNano pioneered years ago. Toshiba's vast scale has brought the cost to mass market level and it is welcome.

Harvey you don't quite grok how human beings work yet. Just because you can make cars all the same (basically) doesn't mean people will want them. Yes there is a vast market for low cost entry level EVs with limited obsolescence. But look at the consumer electronics industry for a clue. The product cycle for new cell phones is 6 months. People want DIFFERENT (aka DIVERSITY.) That's why the Chinese no longer all wear Mao jackets. Who wants to drive the same ole car all the time??

Low cost composites coming out of 3D printers will open a whole new field of innovative design. And with billions of new car buyers - many more automakers will establish brands without the giant overheads needed for ICE. Low cost energy production and storage will put MANY MORE people to work doing stuff they're more likely to want to do. Sounds like a breakthrough. Nice to see positive comments.

RP...in the not too distant future, batteries will be 10 times smaller, cost ten times less per Kwh and will last 5,000+ recharges or about 500,000 miles. Future BEVs will have 2 or 4 high efficiency e-motors electronically controlled to operate at the most efficient point. Those improved e-motors will also last up to 500,000 miles.

Somebody will have to find ways to downgrade batteries and e-motors quality to force owners to buy a new BEV every 10 years or so.

Since we're getting all futuristic about electrical storage, let's look at what an MIT PhD in material sciences has to say about near limitless alternative energy:

http://citi5.org/launch/?p=1826

"Any suitably advanced technology is indistinguishable from a Magic [Kingdom]." Arthur C. Clarke