2014 Chevy Malibu using Johnson Controls AGM battery in Start Stop system
07 August 2013
Johnson Controls is providing its advanced Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) battery technology to power Chevrolet’s 2014 Malibu featuring Start Stop technology. (Earlier post.) The technology will increase the 2014 Malibu’s fuel economy by an estimated 5%.
We offer Start Stop technology in some of our European products, but the new Malibu’s Start Stop system is the first standard in an automatic car for GM overall.
—Chevrolet spokesman Chad Lyons
In a Start Stop system, the car’s engine will shut off when the driver comes to a stop or idles. Johnson Controls’ AGM battery will power devices during the stop mode and quickly restart the engine when the driver’s foot releases the brake pedal.
AGM batteries are a common energy storage solution for Start Stop vehicles in Europe, where Johnson Controls has sold more than 21 million AGM batteries since 2001 and now produces more than 4.5 million annually.
The company estimates that more than 80% of the new cars built in Europe are expected to include Start Stop technology by 2018. Start Stop vehicles are estimated to grow to 40% globally and 35% in the US.
The batteries that will power the Malibu will be manufactured in St. Joseph, Mo., and Toledo, Ohio.
It would benice to see them do this with Li-ion rather than AGM. I suppose the Li ion struggles at cold temperatiures, but that seems more an electrode coating issue rather than an intrinsic technology limitation.
Posted by: Brotherkenny4 | 07 August 2013 at 11:25 AM
Lithium titanate would be the most suitable chemistry for starter motors due to its high cycle life.
It has excellent cold weather capabilities down to -30C.
Posted by: Davemart | 07 August 2013 at 01:13 PM
Li-Ion will not be able to start the vehicle in cold conditions with a high compression engine. A Li-Ion battery pack optimized for high amperage in cold weather would struggle at high temperatures commonly seen under the hood of a car especially in stop and go traffic on a summer day powering all A/C loads.
Deep Cycle 12VDC Advanced Glass Mat lead acid batteries are proven and durable (won't start a fire) not to mention highly recyclable and cost effective. The potential weight savings by going to a Li-Ion battery may not be cost-effective for this product when all other factors are also considered.
There is no need for a high voltage Li-ion battery pack in this application. If you were to use one, additional modules would be required to change the voltage back down to 12 Volts for all accessory loads. Total system weight in either case may end up being nearly the same. The added complexity would add cost to engineering, assembly and service not to mention increased warranty risks.
Posted by: Trevor Carlson | 07 August 2013 at 01:59 PM
' Energy Innovation Group Ltd. (EIG), a South Korean manufacturer of large format lithium-ion polymer battery cell technology, has developed a high performance lithium titanate oxide (LTO) anode cell targeting and enabling applications requiring high charge/discharge rates, long cycle life, and broad operating temperature range.
The 5Ah LTO prismatic pouch cell, EIG Model T005, is the first of a family of LTO cells designed specifically for markets ranging from the growing 12V and 48V stop-start micro-hybrid vehicle market to specialized telecom and military markets. The T005 cell is expected to begin shipping in pilot quantities in the second half of 2013.'
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/03/eig-20130312.html
Since full details are not yet available on this, Toshiba's SCiB lithium titanate should give adequate guidance on temperature performance, hot and cold:
'Superb Temperature Performance
– The battery excels at temperatures as low as −30°C and
up to 55°C. This provides excellent application performance in extreme environmental conditions'
http://www.toshiba.com/ind/data/tag_files/SCiB_Brochure_5383.pdf
Posted by: Davemart | 07 August 2013 at 02:58 PM
Another possible solution for use in the future is NiZn; there is a Chinese company associated with PowerGenix working on this alternative and if they can bring it to market, it is a better solution than Lead Acid, with better efficiency, less-weight and better power density.
http://www.powergenix.com/?q=node/78
Posted by: Lad | 07 August 2013 at 03:55 PM
A123's new nanophosphate ext battery technology should also be well up the job:
http://www.a123systems.com/lithium-ion-battery-technology.htm
Posted by: Davemart | 08 August 2013 at 05:44 AM
@Davemart,
Any idea of self discharge rate of the mentioned lithium based batteries?
Nobody would like to find their car battery empty on return from a 2-4 week long vacation.
Probably Toshiba's SCiB would be suitable, but knowing they contain cobalt, they could be too expensive for ordinary ICE cars with a stop-start system. I think that many of those high power batteries have also high self discharge rates.
Perhaps the way to go is to use supercaps (for stop-start), as PSA Peugeot and new Mazda6 do/did. Not sure about prices of storage components, and how they will change in the next few years, supercap prices may fall faster than batteries'.
Posted by: Alex_C | 08 August 2013 at 07:32 PM
There are lots of alternative sources for energy these days some of the popular ones and believed to be very functional are the AGM batteries (as mentioned in this post) and deep cycle batteries. Both have its disadvantages and advantages but as the time goes by manufacturers of these batteries was able to improve its functionality.
Posted by: Aiyarogers23 | 08 August 2013 at 07:35 PM
For Altairnano:
'Low self-discharge rates of 1 percent to 3 percent per year (compared to 1 percent to 3 percent per month for traditional lead-acid batteries)'
http://www.altairnano.com/solutions/electric-grid/remote-ups/
Costs:
'Altair Nano also has some type of battery that charges very fast and has a large power density, and has incorporated them into the recently-unveiled Lightning GT electric vehicle. In fact, there are several similarities between the Toshiba SCiB battery and Altair Nano’s: they both use a titanate anode with a cobalt cathode.
The interesting thing is that the price for the new Toshiba SCiB battery is expected to be much lower than Altair’s, who puts about $2/Wh, while Toshiba, having much more capital and much more manufacturing capacity, isn’t expected to ask more than $0.30-$0.40/Wh on their SCiB battery. Even the projected Volt battery is more expensive: $0.63/Wh.'
http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2008/10/06/toshiba-scib-battery/
I don't know how well the costs have panned out in practise, but Toshiba last I heard still seem confident that they are competitive.
Don't leave your car at the airport for more than a couple of years though! ;-)
Posted by: Davemart | 10 August 2013 at 01:36 PM
Lithium Iron Phosphate should be fine for self discharge too:
http://bekar-europe.jimdo.com/english/products/lifepo4-battery/
Their 'less than 3%/month' seems to be very, very conservative.
Here they found 94% capacity after 9 months:
http://hangtimes.com/a123_batteries_for_giants_faq.html
Posted by: Davemart | 10 August 2013 at 01:53 PM