- Title: Lithium-ion batteries can help economy, environment - Nobel prize winner
- Date: 9th October 2019
- Summary: ULM, GERMANY (OCTOBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 2019 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY WINNER, STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, ON THE PHONE MEDIA FILMING WHITTINGHAM (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINNER OF 2019 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY, STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, SAYING: (JOURNALIST ASKING: "HOW DO YOU FEEL BEING THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE?") "Great. Yes. It still hasn't sunk into me as to what it really means. Great." VARIOUS OF WHITTINGHAM DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINNER OF 2019 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY, STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, SAYING: "I wasn't expecting it now. We got a phone call this morning right here, so the organizer of the meeting, she got a phone call from Sweden. She put me on her phone and then the committee talked to me and said we're going to announce this in 30 minutes." (JOURNALIST ASKING: "HOW DID YOU REACT?") "Shocked. No, surprised. You don't expect that." WHITTINGHAM SPEAKING DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINNER OF 2019 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY, STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, SAYING: "We're still working on lithium ion batteries. We're trying to make them much better. They were very primitive in those days so they're much better now, hold much more energy, but we can still go much better than where we are now. Our goal is to double the energy density and cut the price in half, so you can all have electric vehicles you all use sun and wind, and clean up the environment for everybody." WHITTINGHAM SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINNER OF 2019 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY, STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, SAYING: "I think it is very important, this official recognition that the field is important. Nothing will bring more money in and maybe help us to electrify the economy quicker than that. And clearly here in Ulm in Germany there's a lot of activity in batteries. So it's got to help the local economy here." WHITTINGHAM (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINNER OF 2019 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY, STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, SAYING: "By using batteries to store energy from the sun and wind power, we can eliminate coal power plants. Coal is very dirty, it's expensive, and I think most utilities would prefer to go to solar and wind than store it in batteries either at the grid or in your local neighbourhoods." VARIOUS OF WHITTINGHAM POSING FOR PICTURES
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2019 16:03
- Keywords: 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry Stanley Whittingham lithium-ion batteries
- Location: ULM, GERMANY
- City: ULM, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0DNCJR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Stanley Whittingham, one of the three scientists awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday (October 9) for developing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that made mobile revolutions possible, said he was "shocked" by the win and that he hoped the prize would bring official recognition and "electrify the economy".
Whittingham developed the first functional lithium battery in the early 1970s. American John Goodenough doubled the battery's potential in the following decade, and Akira Yoshino of Japan eliminated pure lithium from the battery, making it much safer to use.
With further development of lithium-ion batteries, it's possible for the world to move away from fossil fuels, Whittingham said.
"By using batteries to store energy from the sun and wind power, we can eliminate coal power plants. Coal is very dirty, it's expensive, and I think most utilities would prefer to go to solar and wind than store it in batteries either at the grid or in your local neighbourhoods," Whittingham told Reuters during an interview in the German city of Ulm.
Whittingham, Goodenough and Yoshino will share the 9 million Swedish crown ($906,000) award equally.
(Production: Ayhan Uyanik, Ute Swart) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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