Google's Brin invests in car maker here

Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin is fund velopment of a lithium-ion battery pack for an electric commuter car developed several years by Commuter Cars Corp., of Spokane, and has ordered three of the vehicles that will use that battery system, says Bryan Woodbury, Commuter Cars' vice president.

Woodbury declines to say how much money Brin is investing in the project, but just the three Tango T600 cars that Brin has ordered have a current asking price of $148,000 each. Woodbury says the company also is working with a battery manufacturer to develop a nickel metal-hydride battery system for the car, which currently uses conventional leadacid batteries.

"Instead of 19 lead-acid batteries, there are 100 nickel metalhydride batteries, and they have a battery-management system, and liquid cooling;' Woodbury says. "It's not normal lithium ion (like the type used in digital cameras and notebook computers). It's lithium ion iron phosphate polymer. They don't have the safety issues of regular lithium-ion batteries."