Battery Power

A government lab has teamed up with corporations to create a new generation of lithium ion batteries. It just goes to show you how inefficient corporations are. They can not get get anything accomplished without the government holding their little hands.

HICAGO (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 Co and Johnson Controls-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.

OK, I exaggerate about the companies but just wait in the looming health care battle. The health insurance companies will demand their be no government not for profit insurance. The for profit corporations are inefficient and do not really have an incentive to bring all prices down. Would you rather add profit to a drug that costs $100 or $1,000. The VA has administration costs of 7%. The average health insurance company has administration costs of 30 plus percent and of course profit. Which would you rather pay for?