A lot of people modify their cars, but the alterations to the hybrid Toyota Prius I was test-driving last week were more than just a fancy paint job or cool rims. In addition to the standard regenerative braking battery, I was packing an A123 Systems Hymotion L5 lithium ion battery that charged by plugging into a wall socket. The Prius had been modified and lent to me for a few days by Bellevue, WA-based Green Car Company.

The mechanics at Green Car Company had installed the Hymotion battery in the trunk of the car, right behind the socket where the power cord to charge the car plugs in. The Green Car Company rents and sells a variety of environmentally friendly cars and bikes, including biodiesel vehicles. It also performs maintenance and modification for those cars, such as the plug-in module for the Hymotion battery.

Hybrid cars are growing more popular all the time, and many companies are competing to develop the best possible battery—long-lasting, easily recharged, and cheap. The L5 battery has a longer life than the standard Prius battery, though it requires a power grid to charge. It also makes the gas engine of the car more efficient, improving the overall energy efficiency of the car compared to standard hybrids. A 2009 modified Prius at Green Car Company costs $41,999, while a standard Prius costs $22,516, according to Kelley Blue Book. Toyota is developing a plug-in version of the Prius, but according to Green Car Company, that version will actually cost more than modifying the current, standard Prius.

The main idea of installing the plug-in battery is that drivers will be able to travel 100 miles or more on every gallon of gasoline, with a range of 30 to 40 miles on just the battery itself. One of the nicer points for me was that even if the battery did deplete all the way, the car would then become a standard Prius hybrid and use its factory-installed battery.

The plug-in battery maker, A123 Systems, based in Watertown, MA, acquired Toronto-based Hymotion and Hymotion’s plug-in hybrid modules in May 2007. A123 developed the nanophosphate lithium ion battery, which has a longer life and charging ability than standard lithium batteries. Hymotion used these A123 batteries in its conversion kits even before being acquired. Last Wednesday, A123 announced it had received $249 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy, part of the $2.4 billion in federal grants given out for companies working on technology for electric vehicles. A123 plans on using the money to expand and improve its lithium ion battery manufacturing capabilities in the U.S.

To give people an opportunity to test-drive a car installed with a Hymotion battery, …Next Page »

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The coming generation of electric and hybrid gas-electric vehicles will need safer, longer-lasting, faster-charging batteries. Boston-Power—the Westborough, MA-based known up to now mainly for its “green” lithium-ion laptop batteries—wants to supply them, and it’s pursuing federal stimulus money to fuel its bid.

At a planned media event today featuring Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, the company will introduce a new “green” lithium-ion battery for electric and hybrid cars called Swing. To build the new product, the company is unveiling plans for a 455,000-square-foot manufacturing facility to be located in Auburn, MA, a Worcester suburb about an hour’s drive from Boston.

Boston-Power says the proposed facility could create 600 new jobs, and both the company and state officials are describing it as a major step toward making Massachusetts into a vehicle battery mecca. “This is the state of innovation,” says Christina Lampe-Onnerud, Boston-Power’s founder and CEO. “It’s a state that is committed to clean technology and has been for a long time. We put Boston-Power’s headquarters here for the same reason. We believe manufacturing should be close to the innovation.” (Below is a complete interview with Lampe-Onnerud, who will also be a featured speaker at the June 24 Xconomy Summit on Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.)

Indeed, Boston-Power’s project, along with similar efforts at Watertown, MA-based A123Systems, could give the state a key foothold in the reborn auto industry if, as expected, federal bailout conditions force American automakers to retool for a new generation of greener vehicles. A123 landed a deal in April to supply Chrysler with lithium-ion batteries based on its MIT-bred nanophosphate technology. (Those batteries, however, will be built in Michigan rather than Massachusetts, thanks to a $100 million tax-credit lure extended by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.)

Boston-Power’s plan to build in Massachusetts hinges on its ability to lasso a big chunk of federal stimulus cash. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, known colloquially as the stimulus bill, provides $2 billion for “facility funding awards” for “manufacturers of advanced battery systems and vehicle batteries that are produced in the United States, including advanced lithium ion batteries.” Boston-Power is applying for $100 million of that money. It also plans to hit up the Department of Defense for funds designated in the proposed 2010 federal budget for the construction of manufacturing facilities that contribute to national security.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has pledged up to $9 million for the Auburn facility—but that money is in the form of matching financing, meaning Boston-Power will have to secure the federal money first. The company says it’s “working closely” with state officials, including Governor Patrick, energy and environmental affairs secretary Ian Bowles, and Representative Jim McGovern (a Democrat who district includes Auburn), to pursue federal and state incentives.

Lampe-Onnerud says building the Auburn facility will cost far more than the $100 million the company is seeking from the U.S. government, but that “it’s enough to get private investors to believe that you can do battery manufacturing in the United States.” Without some pump-priming in the form of federal stimulus spending, she says, the financial markets might not back risky technologies in areas like energy and clean technology. “What I think the Obama Administration has realized, to its credit, is that if we want to be a player, the government has to help,” Lampe-Onnerud says. “It will not happen on its own.”

Boston-Power isn’t saying much yet about the Swing product itself, except that it will set new standards in the vehicle battery business for safety, lifetime, weight, cost, environmental sustainability, and energy density. (Lithium-ion batteries have a higher energy density, or energy output per weight, than most other battery technologies, and both A123 and Boston-Power have come up with engineering tricks that make it even higher.) But Lampe-Onnerud says the Swing builds on the same basic technology platform as the Sonata, which is marketed by Hewlett-Packard under the Enviro brand name. She adds that the manufacturing blueprints and procedures the company has already developed for its Sonata factories in Asia can be adapted relatively easily to make larger-format batteries for cars here in the United States.

And using an existing building—a warehouse off I-90 once used by the rapidly downsizing Filene’s Basement bargain clothing chain—will hasten the project, Lampe-Onnerud says. “This factory will be up and running full speed within three years, which is very fast in the battery industry,” she says. “We have experience with this type of manufacturing in Asia, so I think it’s a low-risk investment for the government.”

Boston-Power and other applicants for the battery-manufacturing grants have already submitted proposals to the government, and the Department of Energy plans to announce a list of grant recipients as early as July. Governor Patrick, Secretary Bowles, Rep. McGovern, Lampe-Onnerud, and other officials plan to promote the Boston-Power proposal at a noon ceremony today at the Auburn site.

Xconomy spoke with Lampe-Onnerud about the project Friday evening; a transcript follows.

Xconomy: How much of the actual cost of the proposed Auburn plant would be covered by the $100 million stimulus grant you’re seeking?

Christina Lampe-Onnerud: It’s not the whole amount, by far, but it’s enough to get private investors to believe that you can do battery manufacturing in the United States. For a company like ours, cash flow is everything. I believe that Boston-Power, 10 years out, will be a smashing success. But it’s tough in the early years because you’re growing the company at the same time you’re growing the top line. Revenue needs to grow and you need to establish market share at the same time as you’re innovating. This will allow us to …Next Page »

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The idea of electric vehicles is in the crisp Northwest air these days—and the vehicles are on the road. Earlier this week, we reported that Seattle-based V2Green, which makes software to manage the charging of plug-in electric vehicles, was acquired by Virginia-based GridPoint. V2Green is part of a pilot study being run by Seattle City Light to measure the behaviors of plug-in hybrid drivers, and help utility companies plan for the emergence of electric vehicles, as described by Alan Boyle at MSNBC. And with this week’s news that electric sportscar maker Tesla Motors, based in Silicon Valley, was bringing its prototype up to Seattle for a demonstration (as reported by Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times), well, I had to get in on the action.

So this morning I beat the rush hour over the I-90 bridge to Bellevue, WA, to an empty parking lot that used to serve a Kmart. There, I met Rachel Konrad and Zak Edson from Tesla, who set up a carefully controlled test drive for several journalists, including me and my “photographer” David Caffey, Xconomy’s VP and managing director of business development. (All photos courtesy of David.)

A “thunder gray” Tesla Roadster sat on the pavement waiting for us. It’s 100 percent electric, weighs 2700 pounds (900 of that is the battery), burns no oil, and is supposed to go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and go 244 miles per full charge. Its top speed is 125 mph. Konrad, Tesla’s senior communications manager, said it’s the first “highway-capable,” purely electric vehicle in production. The car is already on order for a bunch of celebrities, including Paul Allen, the Google guys (who bought three), Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matt Damon, George Clooney, and Leonardo DiCaprio. So I’m in pretty good driving company. Besides, who can resist saving the environment for only $109,000?

I got behind the wheel of the engineering prototype. Just one gear, no stick shift. Driving around the parking lot, the steering felt pretty good and tight to me (”Watch the bump,” said Edson). On the straightaway, I floored it and got up to 50 mph quickly before hitting the anti-lock brakes. The pickup was impressive. Not quite “back to the future” (88 mph), but enough to knock off my trusty New England Patriots cap.

Now, my driving experience is limited mostly to Saturns, Hondas, and the occasional Audi, so for more of a performance comparison, I had to defer to the expert. David, whose tastes run more towards Benzes, Porsches, and Ferraris, took a spin and noted a few things (if we must be critical): the handling actually felt a bit loose to him, the stability somewhat limited by the car’s tire width or light weight, and it was eerily quiet during acceleration—no satisfying roar of an internal combustion engine.

For Tesla, that’s the whole point, of course—to own the eco-friendly, electric-sportscar niche. The prototype is “pretty close to the finished product,” which will be available to local owners in June, said Konrad. “We’ve been doing a lot of intensive high-mileage validation…to see what happens when you drive for a long time…and when does the battery power start eroding.”

Tesla is privately financed and is currently in the middle of a Series E funding round, says Konrad. (Its investors include Elon Musk, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Jeff Skoll, Nick Pritzker, and the Google guys.) It is looking to open a showroom and service facility in the Seattle area by June. Meanwhile, the Tesla team is doing private demonstrations at Microsoft today, where there have been many early orders. Interestingly, it sounds like Bill Gates isn’t one of them. His recent backing of San Diego-based Sapphire Energy would suggest he’s betting on biofuels rather than electric vehicles.

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ISPs Should Not Control Net Traffic, FCC Hears

Internet users don’t want broadband providers to slow down peer-to-peer traffic or track what users are doing online, people speaking at a public hearing in Pittsburgh told the Federal Communications Commission. PC World reports that speakers at the hearing want the FCC to take action against providers who block access to legal online applications, especially if they don’t notify their customers. And they don’t want providers doing deep packet inspection of their data to target advertising.

Project Aims to Diagnose Genetic Role in Disease

It’s easy to find out if you have genetic risk factors for certain diseases, but hard to know what to do with that information. To help clarify the situation, the National Human Genome Research Institute is sponsoring a $31 million project to study just how much certain genes increase the risk of a disease. Technology Review reports that doctors with such information could make better recommendations about who should have follow-up tests for cancer, for example.

UN Soil Map Tracks Food and Carbon

A new database of soils around the world, created by the United Nations, can help track both agricultural output and carbon storage, the UN claims. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization is also producing a Global Carbon Gap Map, according to Reuters. The map will show degraded soils where billions of tons of carbon dioxide could be stored.

Company Plans Stations to Recharge Plug-in Autos

If drivers plan to be zipping around the nation in plug-in hybrid automobiles, they’re going to need someplace to actually plug them in. Coulomb Technologies, of Campbell, CA, will test its charging stations in San Jose, CA, according to CNET News. The stations will consist of 110-volt outlets that can be mounted on streetlight poles.

Utilities Get Ready to Handle Plug-ins

With all those plug-in hybrids expected to be recharging their batteries in the coming years, the power grid will need to be able to handle it. So the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is working with a company to test a fast charger for cars and see how compatible it is with the grid, says Greentech Media. Meanwhile, San Francisco is soliciting bids for projects to make the city ready for plug-ins.

Wind Power May be Too Much for Northwest

Utilities are getting ready to more than quadruple the amount of power they produce from wind in the Northwest part of the country, according to the Oregonian. The paper warns that the power transmission network in the area isn’t ready for that much input. Right now, it says, the grid can handle only about a third of the 4,716 megawatts expected to be produced by wind turbines.

Gore Wants Bloggers to Promote Energy Challenge

Al Gore may not have invented the Internet, but he intends to use it to promote his fight against global warming. Speaking at the Netroots Nation conference in Texas, Gore urged bloggers to help promote his recently announced goal of switching electricity in the U.S. to 100 percent renewable energy within the next 10 years, the New York Times reports.

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