Building a better battery

In an industrial building in Palmer Lake, a small company is making a mighty effort to advance what its founders see as the silver bullet for the automotive industry — pure electric power.

“Every technology has its time — more exotic battery technology will be developed, costs will decrease, and we’ll see the vast proliferation of electric cars,” said Daniel Rivers, president and chief operating officer of American Electric Vehicles Inc.

Formed in 2004 as an electric-vehicle research, development and design firm, the seven-employee company has created electric battery packs, drive trains and off-road vehicles for the Air Force, converted commercial and personal vehicles to electric power, developed mega-battery packs that store electricity and act as a generator, and designed battery packs to make Neighborhood Electric Vehicles go faster.

“It’s been very challenging. We’ll continue to find niche markets,” said Rivers, who holds a doctorate in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. His partner, Bruce Johnson, holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rivers was also the brains behind the race car that holds the electric-vehicle class record in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, set in 2003. Competitors included Honda Motor Co., and winning is something Rivers takes pride in.

Deficient battery technology has slowed electric cars from charging around streets, said Rivers, who in the 1990s managed the creation of General Motors Corp.’s first all-electric car, the EV1.

But key signs, such as high crude oil and gasoline prices and growing concern over greenhouse gas emissions, are telling him that fundamental industry change is coming.

“Electric cars can free us from our dependence on oil,” he said. “The cost of energy for electric cars versus gasoline-powered cars is equal to buying gas at 60 cents a gallon.”

At the same time, companies such as his are cracking technological hurdles that have made electric cars impractical — namely battery cost, power, lifespan and safety.

Rivers’ company specializes in developing vehicles and systems powered by lithium-ion batteries, which he said produce twice the power and are half the size of traditional acid-lead batteries. But lithium-ion battery packs for fully electric cars are costly, about $15,000 to $20,000, he said.

The packs can be recharged in two to three hours, though, and have the capability of driving highway speeds.

And as demand increases, Rivers believes, the price of battery technology will decrease.

Customer S.T. Tripathi, owner of Colorado Auto Connection in Parker, which sells the compact Smart car and electric cars, sees great potential in the company.

“The best battery technology is right here in Colorado,” he said. “They have the knowledge to develop a battery system that increases highway speeds, taking an electric car to 150 mph and going 150 miles before needing charging,” he said.