Germany leads in automotive<br>battery technologies

In Germany alone, hybrid vehicle sales have increased by 44% in 2007. Daimler, BMW, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen and Opel are all collectively scheduled to release new hybrid model series by 2010. When it comes to batteries, Daimler holds 25 patents in lithium-ion battery technologies. Other companies, such as BASF, Bosch, Evonik and Volkswagen, have been cooperating in an innovation alliance called "Lithium Ion Battery LIB 2015". The companies will invest around €360 million in the R&D of lithium-ion batteries. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) also contributes €60 million in this initiative. The federal government on the other hand will provide €1.1 billion over the next ten years to applied research on automotive electronics, lithium-ion batteries, lightweight construction and other automotive applications. The German Association of the Automotive Industry has launched a joint initiative among all the participating branches of industry, research institutes and the BMBF. The initiative is to develop a new industry standard and a common base for future research in alternative energy storage systems. Image Source: Ford - Jupiter Images