Controversial EV Burns, Mystery Deepens

Back in October, a firm called DBM Energy announced that an Audi A2 fitted with one of its “alpha-polymer” (lithium-metal-polymer) batteries would drive 600km without stopping to recharge or swap batteries, a claim that caused TTAC’s Martin Schwoerer (and others) to sit up and take notice. Schowerer noted

There is nothing new under the sun. You can expect battery capacity-per-weight-unit to expand by around 10% per decade, by incremental improvement. Maybe more. Don’t put your money or stake your rep on anything supposedly revolutionary. There is no way a small four-seater electric can do 600 KM non-stop with one set of batteries (with a $500k fuel cell system: yes, but that’s something else).

Then, days later, the trip was made, and DBM’s battery was hailed as having powered the “Miracle of Berlin.” Of course, Schwoerer pointed out that there were a number of unresolved issues with the stunt, including

DBM Energy GmbH is a mailbox company.

DBM’s website states as contact a non-registered entity named DBM Headquarters, which is located in a smallish office building. In that office building, there are several small-sounding firms such as a long-term storage company, a fire-extinguisher company, and a “battery-service” company.

When companies with no reputation defy the expectations of everyone in the EV business, skepticism is going to take hold. Especially when the car in question burns to a crisp shortly after its record breaking trip.

The UPI reports that German OEMs had been highly skeptical of DBM’s achievement, which “proved” that a 770 pound battery could power a car for 375 miles at an average speed of 55 MPH.

Observers say the German automobile giants weren’t amused. The likes of Volkswagen and Daimler have invested billions of dollars in lithium-ion-based battery systems but are behind French and Asian competitors in rolling out an electric car. And then a small start-up shows them all up.

Soon after the trip, however, accusations surfaced that DBM Energy might have cheated. Why didn’t DBM Energy agree to have its battery checked out? Also, for a few minutes toward the end of the drive, the car had been out of sight, so maybe there was an illicit battery recharge? Was the trip just a big scam to lure investors?

The response?

On its Web site, the company reacted to allegations of fraud when setting the record. It provides what it says is a Global Positioning System protocol of the trip and notes that “manipulation on the car or the battery, for example an unobserved recharge, can be absolutely ruled out with this protocol.” Moreover, more than 30 witnesses joined the trip.

The German government, in a reply to questions submitted by the opposition Green Party, backs DBM Energy’s account, saying it had no reason to believe that the vehicle’s record wasn’t valid.

Then, around Christmas is happened:

the record-setting car, parked in a warehouse rented by local utility Gasag, burned. Authorities have been investigating on suspicion of arson.

DBM’s founder Mirko Hannemann claims

“We are allowed to say only this: Neither the car nor DBM Energy is responsible for this fire”… The record-setting car is now junk but the battery pack had apparently been taken out the vehicle before the fire. A non-inflammable battery was in the car, Hannemann said, countering speculation that the battery might have caused the fire. Either way, the KOLIBRI battery can be reproduced and is currently built into a new car

And though Hanneman says accusations that angry competitors burnt the vehicle are “without basis,” he mentions them in saying that the investigation is the responsibility of the prosecutor, which is a handy way of keeping the speculation alive. Of course, the real question is whether DBM’s battery was in the car that burnt or not… after all, the firm’s forklift batteries have started fires before.

So what we have on our hands is quite a mystery. German automakers have long avoided taking EVs seriously, having been more heavily invested in diesels in the short term and hydrogen fuel cells in the long term… and now a 27 year-old inventor has received government support to prove his new battery which blows away the global competition. According to the NYT

The firm expects its pack to operate for 10 years, or 2,000 charge cycles… [and] estimates that the mass-production cost of a 98.8 kWh version of the pack would range from 800 to 1,000 euros, or from about $1,100 to $1,400, which is thousands below current costs.