Japan to send US$220 million on battery R&D

The Japanese government revealed plans to spend ¥21 billion (US$220.58 million) through fiscal 2015 to help develop new rechargeable batteries for electric cars, with the aim of cutting production costs to a sixth of the current level and boosting driving range by 50%. The government and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) unveiled a road map detailing the research and development (R&D) stages in May. NEDO has already started accepting applications from universities and companies wishing to participate in the joint project. The government-sponsored research is expected to focus on expanding the capacity of lithium ion batteries, as well as making them lighter and developing safety test procedures. According to NEDO, such batteries currently account for half the price of an electric prototype. Thus, cheaper and more powerful batteries will be indispensable to the successful commercialization of electric vehicles. In addition, the government hopes that by around fiscal 2030, a next-generation metal-air battery will be developed that will enable electric vehicles to travel 400 to 600 kilometers on a single charge. (April 16, 2009)