compact power sees battery prices tumbling - 3.7 volt lithium ion battery

DETROIT (Reuters)-
Prices for special batteries at the core of the new generation of electric and hybrid vehicles will fall over the next decade to reach levels that make alternative power systems as cheap as internal combustion engines, a top battery maker said on Wednesday.
Prabhakar Patil, executive director of LG Chem, spoke at the Reuters Global Automotive Summit (Reuters (051910. KS)
Said that since the technology was first commercially available in early 1990, the price of lithium-ion batteries has dropped 14 times.
As the automotive industry begins to compete with the consumer electronics industry, this trend will continue
Patil says users of the technology.
"The cost curve is very steep now, and I think we will continue to see the cost drop, in fact, my internal goal is to reduce it by 2 to 4 times in the next five to ten years, "said Patil.
"Because of the size of the package, the vehicle has a huge leverage, so we predict that by 2020, vehicle usage will account for at least half of lithium ion usage --
This means that it will have a significant impact on reducing costs.
"Compact Power is a unit of South Korea's LG Chem that provides batteries for the Chevrolet Volt, an electric car with no batteries1 U. S.
GM plans to go public later this year.
LG Chem said earlier this month that more lithium is expected
Ion battery orders for 2011 due to higher voltagethan-
Expected demand for cars.
The release of Volt this month comes in the United States. S.
The automaker marked its return as a public offering of listed companies after the 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.
Designed to power 40 miles from the battery in most driving conditions, Volt is a halo vehicle for GM's efforts to reshape its product lineup.
Mr. Patil said he expects electric vehicles to account for about 5% of the U. S. total. S.
Car sales in 2020-
After that, with the rise of automakers such as Ford Motor Corp. F. N)
Increase the percentage of electric vehicles or some electric vehicles they sell.
Government subsidies in the United States and elsewhere to encourage battery development and purchase
Patil said electric vehicles had created potential overcapacity problems at the beginning of the industry.
However, he said that in the long run, the problem will be solved to a large extent, because automakers are scrambling to meet the growing appetite for increasingly stringent fuel efficiency rules,
"At 2015 and beyond, we will have enough demand for capacity," he said . ".
"In the next three to four years, we will be challenged because we have acquired all the capabilities, especially in the communities that are put into use due to government incentives.