Industry News
Continental is Daimler’s lithium-ion battery supplier
4th March 2008
When Daimler announced its lead in integrating a lithium-ion battery for its forthcoming Mercedes S 400 BlueHYBRID car at the end of last week, it did not mention the battery’s supplier, leaving Continental AG to announce its role separately. Continental’s director Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann has now announced, “This marks an important breakthrough for Continental as supplier of battery systems. In the next few years we will be launching production of further lithium-ion energy storage devices for mild- and full-hybrid and electric-powered vehicles.”
Continental also supplies the inverter and the DC/DC converter for the Mercedes S 400 BlueHYBRID. The inverter controls the flow of energy between the electric motor and the hybrid battery. The DC/DC converter is the link between the hybrid battery and the vehicle’s standard electric system and thus makes possible the elimination of the conventional generator.
As “the world’s sole hybrid system supplier not tied to an auto manufacturer”, Continental has, since 2003, been mass pro¬ducing a mild hybrid powertrain system, and Dr. Neumann says, “In the next few years we will be launching production of further lithium-ion energy storage devices for mild and full-hybrid and electric-powered vehicles."
If Mercedes as planned is the first to begin volume production of lithium-ion hybrids, Continental could gain an edge over the Korean battery maker LG Chem, a competitor to supply General Motors with battery packs for its Chevrolet Volt due to be launched in late 2010.
According to a Planet Ark news report today, the battery pack Continental is developing for the Chevy Volt strings together cells using nanophosphate chemistry, while LG Chem is using manganese-based cells.
Both are claimed to be more chemically stable than the cobalt oxide lithium-ion batteries often used in consumer electronics.
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