14 US companies and US govt lab team up on future lithium batteries

12.18.08, 09:56 AM EST By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Aiming to mass-produce a lithium battery for vehicles, 14 U.S. companies with expertise in batteries and advanced materials have formed an alliance with a government laboratory, the lab said on Thursday.

The alliance, which includes battery industry giants such as 3M (nyse: MMM - news - people ) Co and Johnson Controls (nyse: JCI - news - people )-Saft, intends to secure $1 billion to $2 billion in U.S. government funding over the next five years to build a manufacturing facility with an 'open foundry' for the participants to pursue the goal of perfecting lithium-ion batteries for cars.

'It's a huge deal for the nation, and for the lab,' said Mark Peters, who is in charge of transportation and battery research at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, which will advise the group.

China, Japan and South Korea are the current leaders in lithium battery research, he said in a telephone interview.

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