Exploding lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers captured the headlines in 2006, but so far the big splash in 2007 appears to be lithium-ion batteries for electric cars.

You can thank General Motors Corp. for that. Despite the fact that dozens of companies have for years been increasing the power punch, longevity and safety of lithium-ion technology, it wasn't until the world's largest carmaker launched its Volt plug-in hybrid prototype earlier this month that Detroit got high on lithium.

At the same time, GM said it would partner up on two separate lithium-ion battery initiatives. One partnership is with Johnson Controls and Saft Advanced Power Solutions, while the other is with Cobasys and A123Systems. Both groups are specialists in battery and power systems, and both are competing with each other to win GM's affections.

GM has called lithium-ion research a "priority program" if plug-in hybrid vehicles – that is, hybrid-electric cars that can be charged via a standard power outlet and drive 30 kilometres or so on electricity alone – are to become a commercial, mass-market reality.

The fact that GM has embraced the plug-in hybrid concept, when only a year ago it more or less ignored the idea, has energized a new generation of battery innovators and, perhaps prematurely, crowned lithium-ion technology as the winning approach.

A recent story by USA Today referred to these companies as "the new rock stars of the auto industry" that are taking an unsexy product and "revolutionizing the way that vehicles work." According to the article, "many see the holy grail as the lithium-ion battery."

Last Thursday, Massachusetts-based A123Systems announced it had snagged $40 million (U.S.) more in private financing, bringing its total equity haul to $102 million. Not bad for an unsexy start-up.

The excitement around new battery technology is understandable, given that energy storage is one of the biggest bottlenecks of innovation facing the planet. What's not as justified is the fixation on lithium-ion batteries.

Just ask William Tahil, research director with Meridian International Research, a technology consultancy based in France. Tahil recently authored a paper titled, "The Trouble With Lithium," in which he concludes that the rapid embrace of lithium-ion batteries is misguided and bound to backfire.

One big reason: there's simply not enough lithium available in the Earth's crust to stick a lithium-ion battery in the world's 900 million cars, and at the same time expect the auto market to grow. It's just not sustainable.

"Analysis shows that a world dependent on lithium for its vehicles could soon face even tighter resource constraints than we face today with oil," wrote Tahil, pointing out that lithium-rich South America would become the new Middle East. "Concentration of supply would create new geopolitical tensions, not reduce them."

The biggest source of lithium – either as a carbonate or chloride – is the limited number of salt pans and salt lake deposits around the world, mostly in countries such as Chile and Argentina. The last and biggest untapped reserve of lithium salt, according to Tahil, is in the Bolivia salt pans.

"Bolivia is said to contain lithium reserves of 5.4 million tonnes or nearly 50 per cent of the global lithium metal reserve base, and an even higher percentage of the lithium salt reserves," he writes. And while attempts have been made to get at these reserves, "The current political situation in the country is acting as a strong disincentive for western mining companies to operate there."

To put the situation into perspective, consider that to make 60 million plug-in hybrid vehicles a year containing a small lithium-ion battery would require 420,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate – or six times the current global production annually.

But in reality, you'd want a decent-sized battery, so it's more likely you'd have to increase global production 10-fold. And this excludes the demand for lithium in portable electronics.

So the automakers and electric-vehicle enthusiasts have to ask themselves whether the focus on lithium-ion technology is a jump from the frying pan into the fire; from peak oil to peak lithium.

Tahil believes so, and suggests that the industry should focus more on battery technologies based on more common metals, such as nickel or zinc. This would include sodium nickel chloride or "Zebra" batteries and zinc air batteries.

What's interesting is that a business group in Ontario is trying to draw attention to Zebra batteries in North America, and have explored the possibility of licensing the technology and setting up volume manufacturing in Canada.

Zebra batteries are safe to operate, tolerate the extreme cold and heat very well, and have a relatively quick charge rate. The nickel and other materials in the battery are recyclable and inexpensive relative to most competing technologies.

The battery almost had a chance to shine in the United States. It was going to be used in the Mercedes A Class in 1998 for the California market but the plans were scrapped after Daimler-Benz AG merged with Chrysler Corp.

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"The Zebra has been used here in Europe but has never been able to break into the U.S. market," Tahil wrote me in an email.

And even in Europe, supplies are limited. Swiss company MES-DEA SA owns the technology and its manufacturing plant produces only 2,000 Zebra batteries a year – hardly the kind of volume required to bring down the price.

Back in July, I wrote about how Acton-based electric utility Halton Hills Hydro is testing out a Zebra system to store grid electricity during periods of low demand and discharge it during peak times. The idea was to demonstrate and draw attention to the technology.

But its larger vision, through its subsidiary SouthWestern Energy Inc., is to build a Zebra battery manufacturing facility in Ontario within the next five years. The objective would be to produce the batteries in high enough volume to dramatically bring down the cost and make them affordable and available for hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Unfortunately, finding the $117 million to make it happen hasn't worked out so well – at least so far. Tahil says it's simple lack of awareness and the belief among investors that lithium-ion is where to place the biggest bets.

"It seems people do not understand the potential," he says.

And that's a shame. The Zebra battery could be a dark horse in the energy storage race, if the United States could see past the white stripes.

"For manufacturing on the scale of the automobile industry, we need access to an abundant resource, over which there will be no possible supply constraints or price volatility," continues Tahil.

"The world's ecosystems are already overexploited. To cause further damage to unique and irreplaceable habitats for an insufficient resource when nickel and zinc are already available in our industrial infrastructure would be irresponsible."

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