Last week, John Doerr (pictured right) was giving a briefing to a Senate committee discussing the current economic, climate and energy security crises and possible solutions. Doerr is a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and as such has the inside scoop on a lot of the cool new green tech innovation going on beneath the public radar. During his speech, he dropped some news of interest to those hoping for a better battery breakthrough for plug-in cars.
According to Doerr, there is a company somewhere in the Midwest, currently in "stealth" mode, building manufacturing capacity with plans to start shipping product by the end of the year. They have a lithium ion battery that is stable, durable and with "higher effective storage capacity." He says, "The result is electric vehicles will be able to travel twice as far, and eventually three times as far, to over 100 miles before recharging." Of course, those familiar with Apteras's 100+ mile and Tesla's 200+ mile range won't find that figure especially attractive and wish he had spoken in terms of watt hours per kilogram. If they really plan to ship so soon, we suspect further details should be forthcoming before too long. We'll keep you posted.
[Source: New York Times]
According to Doerr, there is a company somewhere in the Midwest, currently in "stealth" mode, building manufacturing capacity with plans to start shipping product by the end of the year. They have a lithium ion battery that is stable, durable and with "higher effective storage capacity." He says, "The result is electric vehicles will be able to travel twice as far, and eventually three times as far, to over 100 miles before recharging." Of course, those familiar with Apteras's 100+ mile and Tesla's 200+ mile range won't find that figure especially attractive and wish he had spoken in terms of watt hours per kilogram. If they really plan to ship so soon, we suspect further details should be forthcoming before too long. We'll keep you posted.
[Source: New York Times]
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