US-based automobile maker GM has been conducting R&D with professionals in different industries on the possibility of storing energy on used automobile lithium batteries.
Digitimes Research believes if the R&D is successful, it will lower the production cost and increase the commercialization of electric automobiles. The success of the experiment would means lithium batteries could be used by the renewable energy industry and also create a new market.
The electric automobile market development has been less healthy than expected due to high product prices, despite that the price of crude oil continues to be high. The lack of development of the market caused one of the largest US-based electric automobile lithium battery makers, A123 Systems, to file for bankruptcy in October 2012.