I own an electric car (on my second one now) that I use for around town. It’s fine for short jaunts, which is the majority of driving. However the limiting factor is of course the battery and the range associated with it. While I can get about 40 miles of city driving, I could probably double that with a lighter, more efficient battery. While I know some people pooh-pooh electric cars, I think mine is rather fun. With gas prices headed toward $5 a gallon, I’ll have even more fun.
My electric car, shown above – a bit like a “smart car”, but slightly larger. My first was little more than a glorified golf cart. This one is full featured.
From the American Chemical Society
New high-performance lithium-ion battery ‘top candidate’ for electric cars
Scientists are reporting development of an advanced lithium-ion battery that is ideal for powering the electric vehicles now making their way into dealer showrooms. The new battery can store large amounts of energy in a small space and has a high rate capacity, meaning it can provide current even in extreme temperatures. A report on this innovation appears in ACS’ Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Bruno Scrosati, Yang-Kook Sun, and colleagues point out that consumers have a great desire for electric vehicles, given the shortage and expense of petroleum. But a typical hybrid car can only go short distances on electricity alone, and they hold less charge in very hot or very cold temperatures. With the government push to have one million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015, the pressure to solve these problems is high. To make electric vehicles a more realistic alternative to gas-powered automobiles, the researchers realized that an improved battery was needed.
The scientists developed a high-capacity, nanostructured, tin-carbon anode, or positive electrode, and a high-voltage, lithium-ion cathode, the negative electrode. When the two parts are put together, the result is a high-performance battery with a high energy density and rate capacity. “On the basis of the performance demonstrated here, this battery is a top candidate for powering sustainable vehicles,” the researchers say.
The authors acknowledge funding from WCU (World Class University) program through the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation.
ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “An Advanced Lithium Ion Battery Based on High Performance Electrode Materials”
DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/ja110522x
From two years ago an article regarding the overcoming of lengthy charge rates of lithium batteries: http://web.mit.edu/mitei/research/spotlights/battery-material.html
Well, two years on and I have neither heard anything about further developments of this technology nor when it will come to market. It could have been a game changer for battery powered vehicles, but like the promised high temperature barium-sulfate super conducting materials from the mid ’90s, nothing signfigant came from it. Insurmountable technical issues overcoming applications in real world conditions?
The only thing I disagree with is the subsidy for the purchase of the car. I do not have a problem with helping* to get charging stations in places where the current level of traffic of Evs will be low. For instance, in some states longish interstate segments might need a charging station. There will be lots of introductions, false starts, and so on. But let’s keep it real.
*Some states have, and others will have, fees (taxes) for roads –
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/02/10/am-washington-state-wants-to-tax-electric-vehicles/
Electric cars may reduce air pollution for city dwellers but they make no economic sense for the owner. I have a small petrol car for town use which only costs me around £200 per year for petrol (gasoline) even at the UK’s ghastly inflated prices. If the cost of electricity as fuel were 60% less than that of petrol, the saving of £120 would be absolutely trivial relative to the new price of the car. Also, the electric car would probably cost £3000 more than the petrol car (£6000) making any saving illusory. Added to that, the petrol car will not require the colossal expense of replacement batteries after six to nine years.
I manage project development and feasibility studies for rare-metals mining and ore processing projects. The first modern era lithium carbonate production project from a hard rock source in North America (spodumene {lithium aluminium silicate mineral}-pegmatite deposit), driven by the demand for lithium batteries for cars, utility electricity storage, etc. will be up to capacity in Quebec, Canada late next year. A second one in Quebec should be also be following shortly after, and a lithium-boron salts project in Nevada is looking promising at early stage exploration.
http://bing.search.sympatico.ca/?q=Canada%20Lithium&mkt=en-ca&setLang=en-CA
http://www.nemaskaexploration.com/en/
http://www.americanlithium.com/index.php
These companies have Asian strategic partners. As you can see, lithium-ion batteries are a lot farther along than the article suggests.
I get 29 mpg from my 1997 Chevy Cavalier, which I drive 30 miles, one way, to work every day. It still works even in snow, when the temps are below zero, and when the power is out, none of which is true for an electric car.
Granted, we don’t lose power here in CO often, but they certainly do back east, every time it snows it seems.
I somehow doubt your little car would do well on mountain grades either, I know the Prius has issues with it.
Ultimately it’s all about the energy/weight_volume ratio. A gallon of petrol (gas over the pond) beats any battery at this game hands down. In the UK an average car with 10 gallons can do 400 miles. The fuel weighs just 80lb and the vehicle gets lighter as you travel. Unlike an electric car, it will keep going at high speed right down to the last drop – no trace of a fall off in power. Refilling is easy and quick – 5 minutes including payment. A spare gallon can be kept in the back should you find yourself carelessly stranded. The electric car needs time to recharge even in the best conditions. The BBC trial recently took the driver four days to go from London to Edinburgh – about three days was recharging – a journey of about 350 miles. A stage coach could do it quicker.
Now consider an electric vehicle on a cold winter’s night on a high moorland road in Scotland in a blizzard. Power is rapidly falling off as the temperature reduces the emf of the battery. Heating is a no no. – it will rapidly drain what’s left in the battery. The windscreen is already iced up inside and out. The car grinds to a halt at the pass. No dwelling within 40 miles but it might as well be 1000 miles. The car is useless, dead on the moors. The driver must abandon it and either hitch a lift or walk the next forty miles. Oh, and his mobile phone can’t get a signal or its battery has also died – no hope from the cigar lighter charger.
Compare that miserable scenario with a petrol vehicle. The car is warm as waste heat from the engine is used to excellent effect, warming the driver and keeping the windscreen free of ice and snow. However the driver braces himself for a trip to the rear, pulls out the spare can and in one minute has filled his tank with enough petrol to get him to the nearest habitation. If need be he might phone for assistance – as the battery has power to spare.
Electric cars maybe OK for city run abouts, but that remains it. Beyond that they are useless.
I think it is really great looking and my wife and I only commute about 3 miles or so each way, most things are within 20 miles. The problem is, the temperature is rarely above freezing from November through March, so it would have to be useable in cold temperatures.
If I am not mistaken your saying I could use it, but not year round so it would have to be an extra car, I’d have to keep two others?
There would be a queue for anyone selling petrol as cheaply as $5 a gallon in Australia.
Batteries would have to be made to be interchangable, with maybe 2 or 3 max size configurations. You think you can get umpteen car companies to agree on a single conncetivity, power, weight and configuration design? I have heard the Leaf charging recepticles do not work with the older EV type stations that are already in California.
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If this was done, then it seems to me something similar to a filling station would be possible, but for electric vehicles they swap out your battery and charge you for the difference in measured charge. The station could also send bad batteries to the leasing agent they belong to for replacement.
The last big thing in batteries was the Lithium-Metal-polymer battery widely deployed in the Telecom industry in the early 2000s. 20,000 of them were in Telephone company networks here in North Americaby August of 2007. Prior to that there had been battery failures but they were rare and unpredictable and not catastrophic. At some point in 2007 several fires happened and at least 1 of them sparked an explosion which damaged a house near the cabinet. As a result I don’t get too excited about a new battery technology until I have seen it working in the real world for at least 10 years. The history of advanced battery technology over the last 40 years is not promising.
Can’t you just put one of these super efficient wind mills on the roof of your EV?…….
I’ll get my coat………
Hey Anthony, 2 miles drive with it must be fun, enjoy!
I think these el-cars are great for up to 10 miles, but everything above it might not be so optimal as you might need to charge in-between etc.
SandyIn Derby writes:
“When we (in Europe) are all driving electric powered cars”
Brr, I wouldn’t try one yet, my ride is 20 miles to the office or 50 to the other one. How does one heat an el-car at (-) degrees? I cannot imagine an el-car in snow or caught in a blizzard on a 20-30 miles ride, but maybe there is an emergency coal heating stove inside?
Get real, get a 124 mpg real car instead:
http://www.gizmag.com/volvo-v60-plug-in-hybrid-diesel-geneva/17712/picture/129057/
I have an ’01 Toyota Echo. Gets 43 Mpg and cost about $12,000 out the door. Has 4 doors and AC. Its basically a Prius without the batteries. The Prius only does a few miles per gallon better. Not realy worth the differance in price
I’m the delighted driver of a new BMW 335d. I’m looking for a bumpsticker that says, “My Diesel is cleaner than your Hybrid”. After 6000 miles my exhausts are still relatively clean inside – splashes of dirty water are pretty much all the nasties in them.
It’s as close to driving an electric motor as I can imagine. Monster torque at the low end, 5,000 rpm red line, and you don’t feel the shifts. Mileage? 32.2 commuting on a combo of streets, tollways, and freeways.
When LENR gets practical I’ll move to electrics.
There is this great site on batteries by a battery expert. It says it all in clear, technically correct terms.
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/
I like this one:
What is the ultimate miracle battery?
The ultimate miracle battery is nowhere in sight and the battery remains the ‘weak link’ for the foreseeable future. As long as the battery is based on an electro-chemical process, limitations of power density and short life expectancy must be taken into account. We must adapt to this constraint and design the equipment around it.
People want an inexhaustible pool of energy in a small package that is cheap, safe and clean. A radical turn will be needed to satisfy the unquenchable thirst for portable and mobile power. It is anyone’s guess whether a superior electro-chemical battery, an improved fuel cell, a futuristic atomic fusion battery or some other groundbreaking energy storage device will fulfill this dream. For many, this break will not come in ones lifetime.
Anthony, please keep us informed about your car, and enjoy it ! My wife wants a Smart Car because they’re so cute and easy to park. We are fortunate to have so many choices for transportation.
Meanwhile, I love my 4WD Expedition for its safety and utility. Gasoline is a bargain at twice the price compared to walking. And my 27 1/2 gallon tank holds the energy equivalent if 15,000 pounds of Li batteries.
I hope to live long enough to see practical electrics that are faster, safer, and cheaper than IC. I’m not really concerned about envirnmental impacts one way or the other, everything’s a trade-off. Meanwhile , enjoy your ride!
BYD ( Build Your Dream ) is currently selling an electric car in China called the e6. It will be featured at the NAIA in Detroit in 2011 and at the Geneva auto show. The car is fully electric, uses 600 kg of ferrous-iron batteries and has a range of 300 km. The battery components can all be disposed at local landfill sites. They claim that the batteries can be recharged over 2000 times, is cheaper the lithium ion batteries and maintains 80% of its charging capacity.
http://www.byd.com/highlight.php?index=2
For most drivers the battery would outlive the car.
Yes this sounds too good to be true. However bear in mind that a subsidiary of Warren Buffet’s empire has purchased 10% of the company. If what the company claims is true then it would change most peoples opinion on electric cars from toys to being practical options. Although I would be interested in knowing how these batteries do in cold weather before forming an opinion since I live in Canada.
Thanks for the link to ACS at the beginning. This new battery from the folks at MIT blows away the Moore’s law for battery technology. “up to tenfold energy density” (giving Anthony’s ride a 400 mi. range) without the high/low temp. problems.
Still we desperately need an equivalent leap in superconductor technology given the 50% or more loss in transmission of electricity from the source to charging station. This is indeed great news but diesel is still king for overall energy density and cost per mile in the transportation industry.
Is anyone thinking of getting an electric car? Here is your electric-vehicle community: http://www.energyinyourlife.com/article.php?t=100000210
I think that the approach that the electric version of the Ford Focus was very effective. It utilizes a battery temperature control system. This system both can heat and cool the batteries extending the overall lifetime of the battery. Removal of heat during the charging phase reduces the charging time by almost 50-75% according to the ambient temps. It is also on a standard car platform, reducing special tooling costs for production purposes. It would not work for me as a vehicle, but it is a step in the right direction.
fwiw, here is the Detroit News Op Ed on Electrics: <a href="http://www.detnews.com/article/20110223/OPINION03/102230301/1148/auto01/Battery-electric-cars-will-struggle-after-normal-buyers-replace-early-adopters"?All Battery Cars Will Struggle After Early Adopters End Buying
As I have said, I enjoy mine for around town. But the one way to MIT is 8 miles from where I live. If I take my wife in to her job, drop her off, go home, pick her up and then go home, I am close to flat on my battery. Heaven help me if I have to use my headlights and of course, there is no air conditioner. It’s a NEV, no more, no less.
Do you make sure that it’s only re-charged on windy days? If not then you are just using the viable coal/gas/nuclear energy and reducing it’s efficiency by 20%. You can extend the range of these things massively by adding a small trailer with a 50Kw diesel generator on board. Or the simpler solution of course is to just have a 50Kw diesel engine and save 20-40% in efficiency.
Sorry Anthony, this is all feelgood factor with no savings and no science involved.
REPLY: I’m fully aware. Hey, do I tell you what sort of car you should drive? No. This is my choice because it is fun and I’m interested in the technology. There’s no “feel good save the planet stuff” involved. You really shouldn’t knock what you haven’t tried. As for the rest of your suggestion, it is idiotic. You sound like a person from the 19th century knocking the original automobile, espousing on the merits of a horse. – Anthony
@ur momisugly Dave: “I smell a (public relations) rat. I’m a materials engineer and every week I see PR pieces come out advertising the latest technology since sliced bread. If even 1% of them came true, the world would be a very different place.”
And I’m still waiting for this one:
http://www.blacklightpower.com/pdf/MotivePower.pdf