This post appeared in AutoBlogGreen on December 20, 2008:

A Voltron for lithium batteries? 14 companies, Argonne National Lab join forces

Posted Dec 20th 2008 at 3:03PM by Sebastian Blanco
Perhaps a flock-like approach to building lithium batteries for vehicles is what it’ll take. A new alliance has been formed between the Argonne National Laboratory and 14 US companies to try and “perfect” li-ion batteries for cars, the lab announced this week. The alliance, called The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture, will ask for between $1 and $2 billion from the US government over five years to help with the task. Much has been made of the way that America is losing the advanced battery race to Asian countries, and an Argonne spokesman said that, “A small, fragmented (U.S.) battery industry will not long survive in the face of determined Asian competition.”

The companies involved in the alliance include:

• Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions
• 3M Co
• ActaCell
• All Cell Technologies
• Altair Nanotechnologies Inc
• Eagle Picher Industries Inc
• EnerSys
• Envia Systems
• FMC Corp
• MicroSun Technologies
• Mobius Power
• SiLyte
• Superior Graphite
• Townsend Advanced Energy