IBM has made a lot of noiseabout its lithium air battery, which it says can hold as much energy in a given volume as gasoline can. But General Motors isn’t all that convinced that lithium air battery technology is worth the investment.
“From General Motors’ perspective, we are not investing in this technology because it’s not providing a substantial benefit,” said Thomas Greszler, manager of the cell design group at GM’s electrochemical energy research lab, during a presentation at battery symposium hosted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Tuesday. Essentially making the lithium air technology work will require some big improvements and the end results may not turn out to be worth the trouble and costs, says Greszler.