Japan leads the lithium-air charge, leaving US behind

As the hybrid car craze accelerates, both by consumer demand and government backing, more companies and researchers are being advantageous of the primed hybrid car market by trying to gain battery supremacy. The latest improvement by a Japanese company, AIST, may push the envelope further with a viable lithium-air battery that cruises by the snags that others have been unable to surpass.

Lithium-air is a seductive battery that has no shortage of enthusiasts (including computer powerhouse IBM) who see the potential of a super-battery that generates energy by combining an abundant atmospheric gas, oxygen, with lithium metal. In turn, the battery produces an unmatched energy density and capacity--nearly ten times that of a lithium-ion battery. 

The attraction of lithium-air has been there from the start, but getting the battery on the market has been another challenge. The issue has been that the lithium-air battery gets clogged and can't take in oxygen, essentially cutting offs its energy source. 

Japanese scientists from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology came up with a solution to the clogging battery problem by separating the two electrolytes (one on the air side and one on the metal side) by a glass film. The film, then, prevents a byproduct from clogging the air intake.

All a driver needs to do is replace a cassette that has the refill of a metallic lithium and air electrode in it and continue driving. The battery has no need to be plugged in.

Of course the unclugged lithium-air battery creates huge advantages over lithium-ion, which needs to be plugged in and ages over time, and even zinc-air batteries. Zinc-air batteries sacrifice energy density with the hope that people will want the cheaper zinc alternative. Rumor is the zinc-air battery could hit the commercialized market under the Revolt Technology and BASF label.

Innovations continue in this market, but the United States and the Obama Administration continue to fall short of their goal of reducing foreign trade dependencies on oil and foreign-made batteries.

The United States Energy Department is planning on handing out $2 billion in grants to help fund electric car battery projects. The problem is that most of that money will go towards the development of lithium-ion batteries. When the tide is turning towards something bigger and better, such as lithium-air, wouldn't it be smart to invest in that technology?

All the money is going to do is help create an abundance of lithium-ion batteries in the United States that don't pack the punch of what the Japanese can create with a lithium-air battery.

The Obama Administration should hope that other US companies like IBM that aren't receiving huge grant checks can continue in the R & D of their lithium-air batteries before the auto industry falls even further in the hands of Japanese automakers who already control the market with the 2010 Toyota Prius.

Reducing foreign dependencies requires the US to be a leader in the hybrid battery market, an unchartered territory thus far.