Autoline After Hours April 23, 2020

LIVE April 23@ 3:00 PM EST, Autoline After Hours

Bob Galyen, Galyen Energy LLC; Anton Wahlman, SeekingAlpha.com;
Gary Vasilash, AD&P; John McElroy, Autoline.tv

• Bob Galyen was a former executive for CATL, a huge Chinese battery maker. He also holds patents for filling lead acid batteries and an active battery network.
• Anton Whalman is a notorious, Tesla, SHORT advocate.

Bob Galyen sounds interesting but I really have no interest in Whalman.

Bob Wilson

 

LIVE April 23@ 3:00 PM EST, Autoline After Hours

Bob Galyen, Galyen Energy LLC; Anton Wahlman, SeekingAlpha.com;
Gary Vasilash, AD&P; John McElroy, Autoline.tv

• Bob Galyen was a former executive for CATL, a huge Chinese battery maker. He also holds patents for filling lead acid batteries and an active battery network.
• Anton Whalman is a notorious, Tesla, SHORT advocate.

UPDATE:

• 3-5 years expected cost equity with ICE vehicles - Bob G.
• $/kWh is 'rubber' due to a lot of externals including currency rates - Bob G.
• energy density is the key to range - Bob G.
• LiFePO{4} compared to NMC - Bob G.
• historical 68-72% packing density now over 90% - Bob G.
• cylindrical, prismatic, pouch are design philosophy - Bob G.
• Five golden rules chart:
  1. Safety (Anton W. loves to send flaming Tesla images)
  2. Performance (packing density)
  3. Life
  4. Cost
  5. Environment
• Only one known battery electrocution, guy plugged in fuse block and touched terminals ... in China - Bob G.
• Performance to merge in traffic and energy to get to hospital with wife in labor - Bob G.
• Scale of battery manufacturing and effects on efficiency:
  • automation is > 99%, human hands don't touch ordinary cells - Bob G.
  • quality requires human inspection, a much smaller sampling - Bob G.
• Centralize or multiple plants? - Anton W.
  • China requires fire egress every 60 m, the USA allows longer distances. - Bob G.
  • Too big, humans can not evacuate fast enough. - Bob G.
  • Physical separation between buildings. - Bob G.
• Single site vs distributed across country:
  • One site delivery of raw materials to multiple buildings. - Bob G.
  • Minimize explosion as well as fire risks by a complex of buildings. - Bob G.
  • Localization plan: 45% comes local city; 65% from provence; 95% from country, and; 5% imported. - Bob G.
• Advantages of Gigawatt sized plants versus distributed plants? - Anton W.
• GM had 7 battery plants in N. America to support local plants. - Bob G.
  • Centralization is important to allocate efficient engineering support teams. - Bob G.
  • Colocate the module/pack assembly with the vehicle manufacture but decentralize the cells. - Bob G.
• Module specs: light enough for human to carry, ~50 lbs, yet not electrocute himself, ~60 VDC. - Bob G.
• Dr. Data Quiz @32:00 ... (I won't spoil it, watch the video.) - Gary V.
• How did American wind up at CATL. Ran into Dr. Robin Zong(sp?) of ATL and had dinner. Next day took a cell apart in front of 20 engineers. Robin asked him to come to China ... 7 1/2 years. The government supported CATL 100%, not with money but policy. Premier Lee(sp?) said, "Bob, we lose 1.7 million people per year due to respiratory failure. We don't want to lose any more. ..." - Bob G.
• Worked with Paul MacCready of human powered flight fame, on the predecessor to the EV1. On the 30 mph loop, drove 183 mi in 6 hours, lead-acid batteries. - Bob G.
• Built a truck, 11 years old, 27 plates per cell. The density of the current controlled the life. - Bob G.
• 2011 year Volt, no detected battery degradation with 20-50 miles range. - Anton W.
• Depth of discharge is key to battery life. - Bob G.
• People take better care of the EVs than Toyota expected with 1.6x plug-in. - Bob G.
• Bolt had ~65% operational, SOC range (Anton W.) But it still had the gasoline engine backup (Bob G.)
• Discussion of four electric airplanes and practical use for regional flying. - Bob G.
• Also discussed electric ships. - Bob G.
• China electric construction equipment needed for Himalayan tunnel. Petroleum fueled vehicles are a hazard. - Bob G.
• (NaatBatt.org, a for fee, $1,000/yr, professional society. - Bob W.) - Bob G.
• What about the long time it takes to go from idea to actual battery? - Anton W.
  • It took 42 years from the bench top to production batteries. (58:17 in video) - Bob G.
  • Solid-state batteries, are still in the early phase, decades to go. - Bob G
• There are 24 SAE committees writing papers/standards. - Bob G.
• Battery recycling in China has enough volume for recycling. The USA does not have enough volume. - Bob G.
• In China the early EV busses are the feedstock for recycling. - Bob G.
• Multiple layers of management in the battery pack and vehicle ... it is a system beyond just parts. - Bob G.
• China had a social problem of people dying from pollution. We really need public policy. - Bob G.
• The "NaatBatt.org" team is key to a successful policy. - Bob G.
• What unique EV feature sells them? Gary V.
  • Service. - Bob G.
  • Much lower cost of ownership in the USA. - Bob G.
• Torque, railroads are getting back into the game after "Green Goats" ... then six different reasons for fires. - Bob G.
• It is subsidizes, incentives that drive EV sales. - Anton W.
• TIGRESS, hydronium chemistry, H{3}O+ for sanitation without injury to skin. - Bob G.

Please understand this is a first pass, a draft of what I saw in the video. I liked it but you may want to speed it up in YouTube playback.

Bob Wilson