Transatlantic cable
November 2014
33
solar cells comparable in e ciency to many commercial
silicon cells. Because the compounds of the perovskite class of
materials are comparatively cheap and easy to manufacture,
they are of growing interest to solar photovoltaic researchers.
In 2011 this column took note of a
New York Times
report that
an increasing number of old car batteries are exported from
the USA to Mexico for recycling, but that the work is done with
crude methods that expose people to lead poisoning.
In a research paper published in the journal
Energy and
Environmental Science
, the MIT team spells out its multi-step
process for giving the lead from all those batteries a second life
– by synthesising perovskite solar material using the electrodes
straight out of a used lead-acid battery.
As briefed down by Mr LaMonica, lead from the anode is mixed
with nitric acid and the lead oxide (made from the lead dioxide
cathode) is mixed with acetic acid.
Each compound is then mixed with potassium iodide and
the solutions puri ed and deposited on a thin exible lm
which acts as a substrate for the solar cell. Because each of the
perovskite cells is just a half-micrometre thick, the researchers
estimate that a single car battery could produce enough solar
panels to provide electric power for 30 households.
MIT materials scientist Angela Belcher and Po-Yen Chen, the
paper’s lead author, say they do not intend to exploit their
technology. But the commercial potential of perovskite
compounds has not escaped notice. Oxford Photovoltaics
Ltd – a spin-out from Oxford University – is seeking to make
and sell solar perovskite cells that can be applied as coatings
on windows and other outdoor building surfaces.
“The beauty is that this new process is pretty
interchangeable with the current production method,”
Dr Belcher told Mr LaMonica of
IEEE
.
Automotive
Electric car maker Tesla, of the USA, is
commended to Chinese rivals for its
marketing creativity, infrastructure initiatives
“As China struggles to meet its target to put hundreds of
thousands of new-energy vehicles on the road by next year,
American electric car maker Tesla has made remarkable progress
selling its electric vehicles, despite arriving late to the market.”
Writing in the Beijing-based daily
Global Times
, Doug Young
asserted that Tesla Motors Inc (Palo Alto, California) has
succeeded in the Chinese market through a combination of
savvy marketing and clever initiatives to build the infrastructure
to support its customers. (“Tesla Shows How Innovative
Partnerships Pay O ,” 2
nd
September)
In its most recent initiative, in late August, Tesla announced
a partnership with China Unicom to install charging stations
at hundreds of the second-largest mobile carrier’s stores
nationwide.
As a result of this and similar e orts, the blogger about Chinese
companies observed, Tesla has been the lone electric car maker
to succeed in China’s consumer market, an area that will be
critical to achieving goals the country’s government has set
for itself.
As described by Mr Young, Tesla’s success derives from its
conviction that special marketing would be needed to get
consumers to accept electric vehicles, given that they are seen
as experimental technology and associated with problems.
Prospective buyers could be expected to worry about charging
stations and maintenance facilities.
The company tackled the problem by targeting the high end
of the market, selling cars with a starting price of $70,000.
The focus on wealthy consumers enabled Tesla to market itself
as an elite brand and also to employ the most advanced and
reliable technology.
That strategy, wrote Mr Young, “has worked well in
status-conscious China, where Tesla began taking orders only
last year and made its rst high-pro le delivery in April at an
event that coincided with the nation’s largest auto show.”
The company then embarked on a slick campaign highlighting
its state-of-the-art technology, deftly combined with an appeal
to people wanting to be rst to own the latest and the best.
As a result, a number of China’s high-pro le elite were among
the rst to sign up as buyers, including the owner of the Lifan
soccer team and the founder of Autohome, China’s largest auto
website.
Since then Tesla has worked hard to maintain that momentum
and build up its order book, with the aim of selling thousands of
cars in its rst year.
As part of a broader commitment to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars on charging stations in China, Tesla and
China Unicom will build such posts at 400 China Unicom
stores in 120 cities. In Mr Young’s view, Chinese electric-car
aspirants like BYD, SAIC and Geely would be wise to follow
this example by allocating big money to forge partnerships
and create Tesla-style marketing campaigns.
Of related interest . . .
The 3
rd
September announcement by Tesla Motors of its
choice of Nevada as the site of its $5 billion lithium-ion
battery factory occasioned a bitter outburst by California
State Senator Ted Gaines, who emailed
Bloomberg News
: “I’m
devastated for the 6,500 families who won’t have the chance
at these jobs unless they move to Nevada.”
In addition to California and Nevada, Tesla had been
considering Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as potential
sites, triggering an incentive ght among the Southwestern
states. The projected factory is one of the largest new USA
industrial projects.
Tesla has a goal of eventually selling at least 500,000 electric
cars a year, all powered by batteries of its own manufacture.
It also plans to supply stationary battery packs to store
power from solar panels for homes and businesses.
The company will eventually need more than one battery
“Gigafactory,” Tesla founder Elon Musk said in April – but this
was scant consolation to California’s Mr Gaines in September.
“Tesla is a California-born company that the state has
invested heavily in and we want it to succeed,” he wrote to
Bloomberg
. “It makes complete sense for it to expand right
here, close to its headquarters, yet they are headed out of
state.”
Dorothy Fabian – USA Editor
