Re: More on Dongfeng
posted on
Feb 17, 2013 06:26PM
(Edit this message through the "fast facts" section)
Yes I think anyone who knows about the different chemistries for Lithium batteries was shocked to find they chose a lithium colbalt battery for that application on the 787. By the way electrovaya does have a lithium colbalt chemistry battery in their stable of batteries but has been phasing it out. As far as Dongfeng you can be quite certain they have done their due dilligence in investigating electrovaya, I believe the Chrysler program helps them to prove their battery's reliability and performance. Remember the battery performed well during testing, including the heat of Arizona and did not overheat (only three) until they were testing the grid portion of the program. They have also been working on the thermal management of the battery as well as the BMS. I am sure they had to prove to Dongfeng that the problem is resolved. As far as the APS incident we still do not know what the cause was, it could have been an issue not involving electrovaya eg; overload or failure in a subsystem but whatever it was it appears to have resulted in thermal runaway and propogation throughout the unit. We will have to wait to find out the cause but it would appear that whatever the cause the thermal runaway would not happen now. Another interesting twist is that recent reports are indicating that Dongfeng may be buying a large position in Fisker. Fisker is still in talks with A123's new owner in China wanxiang for batteries so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.