Envia most definitely is using NMC. They previously called it something like "lithium rich layered-layered composite cathode chemistry" but it's basically Argonne's NMC. http://energy.gov/articles/argonne-lab-s-breakthrough-cathode-technology-powers-electric-vehicles-today" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (that's just the first one that popped up on a search you can find many others).evnow said:This is not NMC. They are using Si-C anode and High Density Manganese Rich cathod. They get good price by not using Cobalt which is expensive.
FYI NMC uses cobalt so sparingly that it has little or no affect on the cost of the cell. The big advantage for NMC is that for a given amount of material it can store more energy. Doubling the energy stored by the same amount of material halves the cost. Envia apparently has also tweaked the anode to complement the cathode, which isn't altogether surprising since the cathode sets the tone of the battery. Using silicon at the anode is not really a breakthrough -- LG Chem currently uses silicon on the anode for the Volt battery.
The interesting aspect of all this for Nissan is that it's not clear how it will get around the Argonne patents on its NMC technology. Time will tell, but if you listen to the press conference where Envia and Argonne discussed the issue it's apparent that Argonne is advancing very broad patent claims.
Just as a FYI I believe that GM started testing the Envia cell material about a year ago. By now it must have reached some conclusions about how viable the chemistry is, which may or may not explain the "news" we're seeing now. No idea if this would be good or bad.