Mygreenwheels

From January 1 2008 the US Transportation and Security Administration [TSA] has introduced a ban on travellers carrying loose Lithium batteries in baggage destined for the hold of an aircraft. You are still allowed to carry two spare batteries within carry-on luggage but they will be treated like liquids and must be carried in see-through plastic bags. If your laptop, PDA or phone has the battery installed then that is permitted on board in either hold or hand luggage.

The TSA is responding to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board that a fire which started in an aircraft at Philadelphia National Airport in 2007 was possibly started by igniting lithium batteries.

Well, this is a lesson for the BEV product planners and engineers, as this ruling creates a widespread public awareness of the dangers of lithium ion battery packs in cars, trucks and buses, be they HEVs or BEVs. The commercial need to crack the control algorithms and battery temperature control systems is world-wide and until this is safely achieved the widely anticipated move to mass production of BEVs will be contained within niche products.

The Hindenburg Airship disaster is still a vivid memory despite the fact that this took place 70 years ago in 1937. That event has colourised the word “hydrogen” for the general public, but millions of motorists have no concerns about driving at hi-speed with a full tank of hi-octane explosive gas tucked under the floor of their car. It’s all in the mind, perception is everything and the work of the FMVSS in the 1970s to ensure fuel tank integrity in crash situations has made the public relaxed even though auto-fuel is as potentially dangerous the gas that filled the Hindenburg airship.

If, however, just one cute BEV City car is seen with its pretty composite skin on fire on CNN, especially on a US Highway … well, you know what I am saying.  Buyers are fickle, but their memories are long. Ask Vauxhall, Lancia or Alfa Romeo about their body corrosion problems of the 1960s or 70s and you will find it takes a generation or more to forgive the brand for such a failing. And nobody ever died of a rusty sill!

The cry here to all designers, engineers and product planners intending to use exotic battery chemistry is that you must get it right first time. Failure to do so will hang a raptor, not an albatross, around the neck of your brand.

In the world of software it is common practice for technical performance data to be shared as it is in the world of modern telco or DVD hardware design. I see the need for the traditionally security paranoid world of auto product development to hold hands and work in harness so that the new generation of vehicles can take safely to the roads. I learn that Toyota spends $1 million an hour every hour of the day on research. If and when they crack the battery issue, they do not plan to share this break-thru with the industry at large. That’s fair. But let’s say it becomes standard practice to have an open exchange of technology, but with proper IP protection for innovators, then those who do not conform can be shamed and passed over by an ethical market.

Our commercial world is changing as fast as global warming. The unbreakable behemoths, the world’s largest banks, are now beginning to show cracks as they are touched by the wandering hand of Credit Crunch ... the rules of market engagement in the auto world might change just as they do in Eastern European politics if market forces swing their focus to the demand for quiet, clean, safe, attractive cars, trucks and buses. The auto giants have a vested interest in the status quo, so it will be Think Global AS, Tesla or Pininfarina’s new JV who will disrupt the market. Once the genie is out, the market is changed for ever. Hold tight!