Last year, PAnasonic announced the production of the 18650 3.1Ah Li cells that will be used for the Tesla model S battery pack. Despite lesser cycle life compared to LiFePO4, this new bat is nearly 3x more energy dense (LiFEPo4 18650 is about 1100mAh and a bit lower in voltage). Panasonic also announced availability of 3.4Ah(4Ah on other articles) 18650 Li battery by 2012 and 4Ah by 2014. Panasonic is projecting 11% annual density increase. (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20100223/180545/)
GM-Argonne lab-Nexia also announced commercial testing of their new battery which has a reported density of "twice the energy density" of the present bat pack that the Volt uses.
Interestingly, both Panasonic and Nexia are working on Silicon anodes instead of graphite, which is found on most Lithium bat. Nexia uses Manganese on the cathode. (http://www.greencarcongress.com/201...r-advanced-li-ion-cathode-materials.html#more)
GM-Argonne lab-Nexia also announced commercial testing of their new battery which has a reported density of "twice the energy density" of the present bat pack that the Volt uses.
Interestingly, both Panasonic and Nexia are working on Silicon anodes instead of graphite, which is found on most Lithium bat. Nexia uses Manganese on the cathode. (http://www.greencarcongress.com/201...r-advanced-li-ion-cathode-materials.html#more)