Lithium News

As the popularity of electric vehicles starts to grow explosively, so does the pile of spent lithium-ion batteries that once powered those cars. Industry analysts predict that by 2020, China alone will generate some 500,000 metric tons of used Li-ion batteries and that by 2030, the worldwide number will hit 2 million metric tons per year.

If current trends for handling these spent batteries hold, most of those batteries may end up in landfills even though Li-ion batteries can be recycled. These popular power packs contain valuable metals and other materials that can be recovered, processed, and reused. But very little recycling goes on today. In Australia, for example, only 2–3% of Li-ion batteries are collected and sent offshore for recycling, according to Naomi J. Boxall, an environmental scientist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The recycling rates in the European Union and the US—less than 5%—aren’t much higher.

“There are many reasons why Li-ion battery recycling is not yet a universally well-established practice,” says Linda L. Gaines of Argonne National Laboratory. A specialist in materials and life-cycle analysis, Gaines says the reasons include technical constraints, economic barriers, logistic issues, and regulatory gaps.

All those issues feed into a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Because the Li-ion battery industry lacks a clear path to large-scale economical recycling, battery researchers and manufacturers have traditionally not focused on improving recyclability. Instead, they have worked to lower costs and increase battery longevity and charge capacity. And because researchers have made only modest progress improving recyclability, relatively few Li-ion batteries end up being recycled.

Most of the batteries that do get recycled undergo a high-temperature melting-and-extraction, or smelting, process similar to ones used in the mining industry. Those operations, which are carried out in large commercial facilities—for example, in Asia, Europe, and Canada—are energy intensive. The plants are also costly to build and operate and require sophisticated equipment to treat harmful emissions generated by the smelting process. And despite the high costs, these plants don’t recover all valuable battery materials.

Until now, most of the effort to improve Li-ion battery recycling has been concentrated in a relatively small number of academic research groups, generally working independently. But things are starting to change. Driven by the enormous quantity of spent Li-ion batteries expected soon from aging electric vehicles and ubiquitous portable electronics, start-up companies are commercializing new battery-recycling technology. And more scientists have started to study the problem, expanding the pool of graduate students and postdocs newly trained in battery recycling. In addition, some battery, manufacturing, and recycling experts have begun forming large, multifaceted collaborations to tackle the impending problem.

In January, for example, US Department of Energy secretary Rick Perry announced the creation of the DOE’s first Li-ion battery recycling R&D center, the ReCell Center. According to Jeffrey S. Spangenberger, the program’s director, ReCell’s key goals include making Li-ion battery recycling competitive and profitable and using recycling to help reduce US dependence on foreign sources of cobalt and other battery materials. Launched with a $15 million investment and headquartered at Argonne National Laboratory, ReCell includes some 50 researchers based at six national laboratories and universities. The program also includes battery and automotive equipment manufacturers, materials suppliers, and other industry partners.

At the same time, the DOE also launched the $5.5 million Battery Recycling Prize. The program’s goal is to encourage entrepreneurs to find innovative solutions for collecting and storing discarded Li-ion batteries and transporting them to recycling centers, which are the first steps in turning old batteries into new ones.

And last year, researchers in the UK formed a large consortium dedicated to improving Li-ion battery recycling, specifically from electric vehicles. Led by the University of Birmingham, the Reuse and Recycling of Lithium Ion Batteries (ReLiB) project brings together some 50 scientists and engineers at eight academic institutions, and it includes 14 industry partners.

RECYCLING’S BENEFITS

Battery specialists and environmentalists give a long list of reasons to recycle Li-ion batteries. The materials recovered could be used to make new batteries, lowering manufacturing costs. Currently, those materials account for more than half of a battery’s cost. The prices of two common cathode metals, cobalt and nickel, the most expensive components, have fluctuated substantially in recent years. Current market prices for cobalt and nickel stand at roughly $27,500 per metric ton and $12,600 per metric ton, respectively. In 2018, cobalt’s price exceeded $90,000 per metric ton.

In many types of Li-ion batteries, the concentrations of these metals, along with those of lithium and manganese, exceed the concentrations in natural ores, making spent batteries akin to highly enriched ore. If those metals can be recovered from used batteries at a large scale and more economically than from natural ore, the price of batteries and electric vehicles should drop.

In addition to potential economic benefits, recycling could reduce the quantity of material going into landfills. Cobalt, nickel, manganese, and other metals found in batteries can readily leak from the casing of buried batteries and contaminate soil and groundwater, threatening ecosystems and human health, says Zhi Sun, a specialist in pollution control at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The same is true of the solution of lithium fluoride salts (LiPF6 is common) in organic solvents that are used in a battery’s electrolyte.

Batteries can have negative environmental effects not just at the end of their lives but also long before they are manufactured. As Argonne’s Gaines points out, more recycling means less mining of virgin material and less of the associated environmental harm. For example, mining for some battery metals requires processing metal-sulfide ore, which is energy intensive and emits SOx that can lead to acid rain.

Less reliance on mining for battery materials could also slow the depletion of these raw materials. Gaines and Argonne coworkers studied this issue using computational methods to model how growing battery production could affect the geological reserves of a number of metals through 2050. Acknowledging that these predictions are “complicated and uncertain,” the researchers found that world reserves of lithium and nickel are adequate to sustain rapid growth of battery production. But battery manufacturing could decrease global cobalt reserves by more than 10%.

There are also political costs and downsides that recycling Li-ion batteries could help address. According to a CSIRO report, 50% of the world’s production of cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is tied to armed conflict, illegal mining, human rights abuses, and harmful environmental practices. Recycling batteries and formulating cathodes with a reduced concentration of cobalt could help lower the dependence on such problematic foreign sources and raise the security of the supply chain.

CHALLENGES IN RECYCLING LI-ION BATTERIES

Just as economic factors can make the case for recycling batteries, they also make the case against it. Large fluctuations in the prices of raw battery materials, for example, cast uncertainty on the economics of recycling. In particular, the recent large drop in cobalt’s price raises questions about whether recycling Li-ion batteries or repurposing them is a good business choice compared with manufacturing new batteries with fresh materials. Basically, if the price of cobalt drops, recycled cobalt would struggle to compete with mined cobalt in terms of price, and manufacturers would choose mined material over recycled, forcing recyclers out of business. Another long-term financial concern for companies considering stepping into battery recycling is whether a different type of battery, such as Li air, or a different vehicle propulsion system, like hydrogen-powered fuel cells, will gain a major foothold on the electric-vehicle market in coming years, lowering the demand for recycling Li-ion batteries.

Battery chemistry also complicates recycling. Since the early 1990s when Sony commercialized Li-ion batteries, researchers have repeatedly tailored the cathode’s composition to reduce cost and to enhance charge capacity, longevity, recharge time, and other performance parameters.

Some Li-ion batteries use cathodes made of lithium cobalt oxide (LCO). Others use lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide, lithium iron phosphate, or other materials. And the proportions of the components within one type of cathode—for example, NMC—can vary substantially among manufacturers. The upshot is that Li-ion batteries contain “a wide diversity of ever-evolving materials, which makes recycling challenging,” says Liang An, a battery-recycling specialist at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Recyclers may need to sort and separate batteries by composition to meet the specifications of people buying the recycled materials, making the process more complicated and raising costs.

Battery structure further complicates recycling efforts. Li-ion batteries are compact, complex devices, come in a variety of sizes and shapes, and are not designed to be disassembled. Each cell contains a cathode, anode, separator, and electrolyte.

Cathodes generally consist of an electrochemically active powder (LCO, NMC, etc.) mixed with carbon black and glued to an aluminum-foil current collector with a polymeric compound such as poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). Anodes usually contain graphite, PVDF, and copper foil. Separators, which insulate the electrodes to prevent short circuiting, are thin, porous plastic films, often polyethylene or polypropylene. The electrolyte is typically a solution of LiPF6 dissolved in a mixture of ethylene carbonate and dimethyl carbonate. The components are tightly wound or stacked and packed securely in a plastic or aluminum case.

Large battery packs that power electric vehicles may contain several thousand cells grouped in modules. The packs also include sensors, safety devices, and circuitry that controls battery operation, all of which add yet another layer of complexity and additional costs to dismantling and recycling.

All these battery components and materials need to be dealt with by a recycler to get at the valuable metals and other materials. In stark contrast, lead-acid car batteries are easily disassembled, and the lead, which accounts for about 60% of a battery’s weight, can be separated quickly from the other components. As a result, nearly 100% of the lead in these batteries is recycled in the US, far surpassing recycling rates for glass, paper, and other materials.

Robert Mintak’s pipe dream is now in the pipeline.

The Canadian’s company, Standard Lithium Ltd., broke ground last week on a pilot plant in El Dorado, a key step toward a unique vision of pulling battery-grade lithium from a saltwater sea beneath south Arkansas.

The plant will test a proprietary extraction technique bolting onto the region’s existing brine industry infrastructure, isolating lithium carbonate for use in electric cars, cellphones and renewable-energy storage systems.

“The buildout schedule, if we can maintain it, is a fast track to production,” the Vancouver-based CEO told Arkansas Business last week. “We’ve 90% completed the pilot plant, demonstrated the resource and met our economic threshold, so the key is to demonstrate that the process recovers lithium and that the operating costs are in line based on the results of real-world testing.”

The company expects to ship its Canadian-built demonstration plant to Arkansas in segments sometime in July. The modules will be attached to pipes carrying byproduct water from a bromine facility owned by Lanxess, Standard’s partner in the lithium project. Lanxess, the global chemical giant based in Cologne, Germany, extracts bromine — an ingredient in fire retardants — from the brine.

Zeton Inc. of Burlington, Ontario, which makes pilot plants for petroleum and chemical companies, built Standard Lithium’s demonstration facility. “It’s right in their wheelhouse,” Mintak said. The plant “uses a solid sorbent material” to selectively extract lithium from brine that Lanxess has already stripped of salt and bromine.

The groundbreaking followed a positive late-June report on lithium concentration in the Smackover brine stream, an underground ocean that provides 40 million cubic meters of mineral-rich water a year for bromine operations, which inject used water back underground, according to the Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission.

“The size of the resource increased for the Lanxess project,” Mintak recently said before boarding a plane to Germany.

“We’re one level of confidence higher on the resource numbers, and our operating costs were attractive. As for the demonstration plant, it should be completed in three weeks.”

Mintak planned a trip to Zeton’s headquarters near Toronto in mid-July to see final progress before the 80-foot-by-80-foot, 33-foot-tall plant is disassembled. “We’ll be starting to ship it to Arkansas in the third or fourth week of July,” he said. “It will be assembled, tested and commissioned on an October-November timeline.”

Mintak said South Arkansas was the only place in the world fit for testing Standard’s process, the domain of Standard Lithium President and COO Andy Robinson.

He said in a company statement that Standard’s “disciplined development strategy” is paying off. “We are separating ourselves from our peers by partnering with a global chemical company with real operational experience, deploying demonstration-scale proof-of-concept technology at an operating brine-processing plant, and removing financing and off-take risks through our joint venture strategy. Groundbreaking at the site is a key step in realizing our rapid development timelines.”

Milam Construction of El Dorado is general contractor for the one-acre plant site, said Ross Lewis, Standard Lithium’s senior site manager. “The main pilot plant will be 80 feet by 80 feet, and there will be paving around it and an office control room, basically a double-wide, 24 by 28 feet.” An onsite lab trailer is also in the mix.

The site is being leveled and graded for foundations and concrete slabs that will house the industrial-scale demonstration plant. Hunt Guillot & Associates LLC of Ruston, Louisiana, which handled all the civil engineering and utility connection work, is overseeing the on-site project. HGA will also supervise installing and connecting the modular demonstration plant.

Standard Lithium has hired Bruce Seitz as plant manager, and a news release from the company said he would oversee “all enabling and installation work.” The company expects the pilot plant to be commissioned in October or November.

Demand for lithium is growing with the electric car market, and the U.S. government has listed the element as a mineral critical to national security, Mintak said.

“Breaking ground at our El Dorado site represents a major achievement,” Mintak said, mentioning lithium’s rising profile in national security circles. “We anticipate our project and progress will be keenly watched as lithium has taken on significant political interest with the White House 2017 executive order and subsequent pending legislation aimed to boost domestic supplies of critical minerals.”

Lanxess CEO Matthias Zachert discussed the lithium project in a conference call after his company’s quarterly statement in May, as well as in a keynote speech to investors. “The project is doing well,” he told listeners to the conference call. “Everything that we are seeing right now is running according to plan. It’s important to look at the extraction results, and so far as the pilot plant is concerned we think this will be up and running, but then of course the purification grades of lithium are important. They determine eventually the price you can get in the market.”

He said Lanxess will continue to update shareholders on the project’s progress.

Local officials also cheered.

“Southwest Arkansas has a brine reservoir, we’ve got low-cost power, a workforce already in place,” said Bill Luther, president and CEO of the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce. “That’s what attracted them here.”

Arkansas House Speaker Matthew Shepherd of El Dorado and state Land Commissioner Tommy Land pledged support for the project in a conference call with Standard Lithium’s principals a month ago, Luther said, noting that beyond batteries and pharmaceuticals, lithium carbonate is used in making glass and ceramics.

“When commercial production begins, I envision downstream users of lithium carbonate being recruited to our state and locating in our area,” Luther continued. “Standard Lithium is going all around the world communicating what they’re doing, and Silicon Valley is very much aware of this project and its location in Arkansas.”

For years after oil was discovered in the Smackover Formation a century ago, brine was a bothersome byproduct. Then chemists discovered bromine in the brine, and the industry now employs close to 1,000 Arkansans. For decades, the state produced all bromine in the U.S., an industry now worth some $800 million a year. Bromine is “the leading mineral commodity, in terms of value, produced in Arkansas,” the Arkansas Geological Survey said.

“Arkansas has cheap electricity,” Mintak said in an interview last year, “much cheaper than in alternative sites like Chile or the high Andes of Argentina. There are also minimal permitting risks in Arkansas, which we see as a great state for doing business, and the only place that we could make this project work.”

In last week’s conversation, Mintak said Standard Lithium is striking while lithium is hot. “This wasn’t a decade from start to groundbreaking,” he said. “We’ve done all of this in under two years.”

McKinsey & Co., a New York consultancy, expects more carmakers to put lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, a prospect that could increase the lithium market fivefold by 2030. Projects like the El Dorado plant will be needed to meet that demand, the report said.

“The critical minerals deficit in the United States is being addressed by legislation proposed now,” Mintak said, predicting long-term strength in lithium demand. “This is likely the most environmentally friendly lithium production plant you could have, in essence bolting on to existing infrastructure. It’s a good fit for the renewable space, and for Lanxess it’s another value added to an existing industry.”

A mix of teams from Lanxess and Standard Lithium will optimize the pilot plant, Mintak said. “Arkansas is absolutely the best place to work,” he said. “We’ve been blown away at every step by the area, the state’s business approach and its excellent supply of highly skilled people.”

Energy-Storage.news received information last week on a handful of successful battery installations at commercial customer sites, from NantEnergy in the US and from Alfen in Europe.

The Netherlands-headquartered system integrator and technology provider Alfen has supplied a 2.5MWh battery energy storage system to the headquarters of Smappee, the energy management technology company which recently struck a deal to roll out its EV smart charging solutions globally.

Smappee, which claims to have already deployed over 70,000 EV charge units, is building a cleantech hub at its headquarters in Harelbeke, Belgium, dubbed ‘Snowball’. It includes an energy laboratory, housing a cleantech accelerator programme and flexible office space for cleantech companies including startups. The offices and facilities will be powered by a combination of different renewable and energy-efficient solutions.

Alfen’s energy storage system will enable Snowball to effectively self-consume solar energy generated onsite and to balance the load – including electric vehicle charging and grid-balancing services. At a future date, off-grid or islanding capabilities could be added, Smappee CEO Stefan Grosjean said. Alfen also created a new 5MVA grid connection at the Smappee site to connect with the local distribution grid, as well as delivering complete, integrated storage solution.

Energy costs savings, backup capabilities drive value for US customers

From the US meanwhile, NantEnergy, which towards the end of 2018 acquired the energy systems and services business of Japanese technology provider Sharp, has touted a recent track record of successfully executed projects for C&I customers in the US states of California and New Mexico.

Sharp’s SmartStorage platform, which NantEnergy acquired, has been used in a few high profile commercial projects in the US, with Jigar Shah’s Generate Capital among the developers and financiers to use them to deliver energy costs savings – and sometimes backup power – to customers.

NantEnergy claims around 25% savings on demand charges can be made on average. Demand charges in the US are levied on commercial and industrial energy users and ensure that they pay a premium for energy drawn from the electrical grid at peak times each month. Overall, these charges can amount to as much 50% of a business’ total energy costs. In California alone, demand charges have gone up as much as 64% in the past five years.

Typically paired with solar panels, NantEnergy said that in addition to giving customers a “reliable, independent source of clean energy”, often a reduction in peak demand over time will mean that C&I customers can become eligible for paying lower rates from the utility directly, increasing the value of savings from the “storage systems and advanced battery technology” the company said it offers.

Claiming to have executed more than 12 projects in California and New Mexico, which could save those businesses a combined US$3.6 million on their energy bills over 10 years, the company provided quick case study details on three such projects:

New Mexico: A herbal supplement supplier in Albuquerque will save US$50,000 in the first year of operation of a 120kW / 162kWh SmartStorage system, combined with 264kW of solar PV. The customer’s overall utility bill reduction will be about 27%, NantEnergy claims.

California: A speciality mushroom grower installed a 1.04MW rooftop PV system through developer Revel Energy, paired with NantEnergy’s SmartStorage (300kW / 405kWh) at a facility in San Marcos, California. The mushroom processing plant could save more than US$200,000 a year on energy bills as a result.

California: Providing a different kind value, a municipal installation for the Californian City of Del Mar of a 30kW / 121.5kWh energy storage system will be a source of backup power and provide resiliency to the local community in case of grid outages. Also coupled with a solar PV installation, the project will also serve the purpose of reducing demand charges at the site.

Interest in energy storage for the C&I sector begins to grow, with the likes of Aggreko offering rented energy storage systems as a service, and developer Convergent Energy + Power bought up last week by Energy Capital Partners.

So much for VW keeping a tight lid on the ID.3’s finished design. Auto Conspiracy and others have obtained a promo video for the electric hatchback’s interior, showing an appropriately very connected machine. The early look suggests the ID.3 will use a slightly more Teutonic variant of the cabin from Seat’s el-Born concept, with an all-screen instrument cluster, a likely 10-inch center touchscreen and a twistable shifter placed on the dash. However, the biggest addition may be what you can’t see: modern voice control.

Much like Mercedes’ newer cars, the ID.3 will apparently have natural-language voice commands to handle common tasks. You can say “hello ID,” mention that you’re feeling cold and expect your car to turn up the heat. There isn’t an extensive demo of the functionality, but it’s promising if you hate reaching over to tweak the AC or make a phone call.

VW quickly pulled the clip from its own channels, but we wouldn’t rule out a swift return. The promo video still shows the ID.3’s exterior wrapped in the neon-hued camouflage used to pitch the car in recent months. It wouldn’t be surprising if the video was meant to build up hype in the last weeks before the ID.3’s official reveal at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. If nothing else, it suggests that VW’s first from-scratch EV will feel fresh for the brand, if not out of line with what you get from rivals.

The Government of India has shifted its focus towards electric vehicles which has already prompted quite a few automakers to ramp-up development of EVs. However, the recent budget announcement to incentivise EVs has also interested other companies to explore new business opportunities. According to the latest news reports, Tata Chemicals is planning to come-up with a new lithium-ion battery plant in Dhalora Special Investment Region (DSIR) in Gujarat and will be investing ₹ 4000 crore for the purpose.

According to Jaiprakash Shivhare, Managing Director- Dholera Industrial City Development Limited (DICDL), Tata Chemicals has acquired 126 acres of land in Gujarat in the first phase with an investment of ₹ 1000 crore. However the company has termed the reports of any investment as speculative and said that it is exploring the sector. We reached out to the company for a statement and received a reply via mail which said, “While this is a sector that we are exploring very actively – as a principle we will not comment on speculative news reports – we would provide an update once we have something to share and not at the moment,”

In the latest budget session, the government had proposed several benefits to the EV segment in a bid to promote sales. The GST rates on EVs have been reduced form 12 per cent to 5 per cent along with giving income tax deduction of ₹ 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles. The government also proposed custom duty exemption on import of specific components. The new proposals is in addition to ₹ 10,000 crore allocated for EVs under the FAME II scheme and includes solar storage batteries and charging infrastructure among others.

Once upon a time — a long, long time ago — an amazing little unknown Californian company filled with electrical geniuses and two men heading the team, President Tom Gage and Founder Alan Cocconi, revolutionized the automotive world.

The problem is that little to no mainstream news covered their incredible work, nor highlighted the importance their research would yield on the future of transportation. This love of electricity and controllers led them to design a radical two-seat electric bomb called the tzero.

The AC Propulsion tzero was so intense that it drew the attention of Californian entrepreneur Martin Eberhard. And, thus, the history of the rebirth of the electric vehicle (EV) was rekindled again when he created Tesla Motors. Don’t gasp. Take deep breaths … that’s just one of the stories behind the company, which has 5 founders — Elon Musk, JB Straubel, Ian Wright, Martin Eberhard, and Marc Tarpenning.

AC Propulsion tzero, The Godfather of Modern EVs

If you had to write a book on the history of the rebirth of the modern EV, the AC Propulsion tzero would stand prominently in the pantheon as the EV that restarted it all. It came from AC Propulsion, a unique company with incredible folks hard at work making EVs better all the time — doing what they loved to do best.

Martin Eberhard wondered why there weren’t cool modern cars with more efficient energy systems than the pushy, but ultimately highly inefficient internal combustion engine (ICE). Thankfully, someone mentioned to check out a company called AC Propulsion, located near Los Angeles. There he found engineers doing incredible work on controllers and electric motors. What he saw that would truly change the landscape of the automotive industry — three units of the little yellow electric rocket called the tzero.

AC Propulsion was really not interested in building electric cars, to Martin’s dismay. In fact, the company produces drive systems, battery management systems, vehicle management systems, and vehicle-to-grid systems for OEMs. Back then, the company was content tweaking electric systems, designing better controllers, and grooved on oscilloscopes and sine waves. So, Martin rightfully thought, why not make his own EV and use AC Propulsion components.

AC Propulsion tzero Leads To The Tesla Roadster

The wild tzero (which, by the way, stands for t = time, zero = beginning of a new sequence) eventually led to the creation of the Tesla Motors Roadster. But there was one problem. Martin didn’t have enough funds and needed a donor car to start with. This is where that other famous guy steps in who had just sold PayPal. With money in his pocket, Elon Musk became an early investor in Tesla Motors. Skip the very public and widely embarrassing breakup when Musk removed Eberhard. Instead, let’s focus on one of the three original AC Propulsion tzeros.

One, Two, Three — Only One AC Propulsion tzero Remains

A few years ago, collectors seeing how EVs were picking up thought it would be a good time to start collecting them. Sadly, only one out of the three original AC Propulsion tzero remains today — looking for a battery pack, or so I hear. One tzero went up in smoke a while back. This is the story of T-Zero #2.

The tzero #2 was Tom Gage’s daily drive for Tom Gage. It is now, sadly, gone as a pile of dust and rubble. The original batteries were replaced with Optima Spiral Wound ones in 2012, and the tzero was getting ready for 28 new batteries later that year. What Pete told me was that it was fully functional, filled with analog ’90s technology. In fact, it was so ahead of its time, it included vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability. Keep in mind, this is back in the late ’90s.

The original tzero came with a rear-mounted trailer that hauled an extended-range gasoline system, which gave it the capability of long-distance travel. (I believe it was a motorcycle engine, but am not 100% positive.)

What Was The AC Propulsion tzero?

But please, Pete, tell us how it felt to drive the tzero?

A gentleman named Pete Gruber bought one of the three tzero gems. Unfortunately, it recently burned to the ground. We’ll get to that in a minute.

When Pete drove the tzero, he told me that he could see where the Roadster DNA came from. The tzero was nimble, responsive, no under- or over-steer, great visibility, and like the Roadster, it pins you into the Recaro racing seats. Pete enjoyed the tzero variable regenerative braking capability, choosing the max setting.

Due to its rarity and a California title issue, it prevented Pete from an easy title transfer to Arizona.

I automatically liked Pete, because he remembered the original Tesla story that, although not that old, tells a different story than the one we know of today. Pete wrote in a Tesla forum entry from last summer: “This is the car, built by a tiny company called AC Propulsion Systems in CA, that inspired Martin Eberhard, the real founder of Tesla Motors (you thought it was Elon), to commit to building electric sports cars, and the rest is history. Elon also found AC Propulsion sometime later, test drove the tzero, and became convinced there is a market. He then joined Martin’s Tesla Motors as an investor, and eventually took over the company and Tesla Motors.

“These three tzero’s, built in 1997, rivaled the performance of exotic cars of that era. It is the proof of concept vehicle that the first production Teslas, the Roadster, was patterned after. In fact, for a time, Tesla paid royalties to AC Propulsion for using their design.

“Performance in 0–60 is 4.2 seconds with a range around 70-80 miles with lead-acid Optima batteries in the doors. Handling is surprisingly nimble and responsive. In fact, it handles better than my Tesla Roadster.”

Pete also rightfully points out that this tzero “… is also the most influential electric vehicle in this century since it inspired and started the clean energy electric car movement.”

And as to what the tzero rode on, it was a Piontek Sports Car chassis.  Those chassis and bodies are still being made by Dave Piontek. Yet another enticing project to contemplate … building another tzero … but, back to reality.

The AC Propulsion tzero Is The Company On The EV Altar

I’ve been a great fan of AC Propulsion for well over a decade. First, they were the most approachable and friendliest EV people at local shows 10 years ago. Second, the AC Propulsion eBox was the first EV I drove and it blew my socks off. This $70,000 converted Toyota Scion xBs from 2007 managed a 140-mile range. You could inspect individual cells from a small black and white display on the steering wheel!

Tesla’s choice of the Lotus Elise as a glider for its Roadster was a smart solution. It was the second EV I drove and that too blew my socks off. What we rarely talk about anymore is that the first Roadster had an AC Propulsion controller system on board. But due to poorly written contracts, the next Roadster (1.5 … if I can say it …) reversed engineered the AC Propulsion controller and slapped on a Tesla Motors logo.

I like Tesla a lot and I still want a first-generation Roadster with the upgraded battery pack. But you must give Cesar his due, and the AC Propulsion tzero was the Alpha of the EV rebirth.

A special thank you to Pete Gruber for preserving this icon of modern-day EVs, and another thank you to the person who originally got me interested in AC Propulsion, Gerry Gaydos.