I must be the only person in the world not on the Lithium bandwagon. It's not that I don't like lithium, it is a very good battery, but it seems to have been the flavor of the month akin to the hydrogen car as the savior of the electric vehicles. I just have a problem with not looking at other batteries that have been around and have shown some good also. I have written about zinc batteries before, and it still amazes me that there is not more development for electric vehicle of these proven technologies.
According to a December 1993 Zinc Air Technology Report by Sandia National Laboratories “Two zinc/air technologies now exist - mechanically fueled/recharged and electrically recharged. Compared with some similar battery technologies, both zinc/air technologies share the advantages of low cost, environmentally friendly materials, and room temperature operation.” Of course the the main problem is a refueling infrastructure, but it could be hooked into existing gas stations if the oil companies had a mind to make money on electric cars.
Here is one example of a mini van with a zinc air battery:
“Mini Van Example
Vehicle Weight - 1727 kg
Battery Weight - 425 kg (included in vehicle weight)
Battery Rating - 34 kWh (80 Wh/kg)
Performance Power Requirements
Parameter Power Power w/kg
0-60 mph in 12 sec 82.0 kW 193
55 mph on 7% grade 43.5 kW 102
Maximum Power on FUDS 46.7 kW 109
Average Power on FUDS 5.6 kW 13
Power for 65 mph 21.1 kW 50
Continuous power
Summary
Continuous Power 50- 100 W/kg
Peak Power 193 W/kg
Average Power on FUDS 13 W/kg
C/3 rate for 80 Wh/kg 26.7 W/kg
Although the continuous and peak power demands are significantly higher than the C/3 rate, except in the case of continuous running at high speed, these demands are more the exception than the rule. As an example, the maximum power for FUDS is 46.7 kW, while the average power is only 5.6 kW. At low speeds and FUDS-type driving, lower average rates of discharge occur when a zinc/air battery can potentially provide more energy than some other technologies. In the case of a hybrid battery system, the discharge rate would be C/6 for the FUDS cycle (peak/average power ratio). At this rate, the specific energy of zinc/air would be on the order of 230 Wh/kg for the mechanically recharged system and 110 Wh/kg for the electrically recharged system (roughly a 25% increase in energy and range for both configurations). On the other hand, for missions having frequent high power demands and/or significant high-speed interstate highway driving, the zinc/air battery system would be at a distinct disadvantage. A hybrid system (zinc/air plus power source) may be the best approach where
high power is needed.”(Ibid) Advanced Power and Energy Sources Transportation (APET) in Hong Kong is banking on this technology.
Nickel zinc is another old idea that is making a come back. In 1901 Edison patented the first rechargeable version of a nickel-zinc battery, but could only stand about a couple of hundred cycling charges. New Zealand's Massey University has signed a large commercialization deal with U.S.-based Anzode Inc. for its revolutionary rechargeable nickel zinc battery technology. They claim their technique should be able to yield batteries that can go 1,200 cycles at 100 percent depth of discharge, but if the batteries were only allowed to be discharged down to 60 percent and back up to 80 percent (the same limits Toyota places on the nickel metal hydride batteries in its Toyota Prius hybrid) that could extend Anzode's battery lifespan to about 20,000 cycles. Now that sounds like a great battery to me.
Now if those aren't your cup of tea how about zinc bromine flow cells? In the report Integrating Energy Storage with Renewable Energy Systems (Adel Nasiri) the “Features of Zinc Bromide Battery: Can exceed 2,000 full charge and discharge cycles during its operating lifetime compared with 750 cycles for conventional lead acid batteries. Capable of full discharge (100% of stored energy) without any damage to the battery Energy density in the range of 65 84 Wh/kg. Operates at a wide range of operating temperature without degradation. Materials of the components can be made entirely with plastic to reduce costs and provide readily for recycling or disposal. Uses a low toxicity electrolyte and recyclable plastic battery stacks compared with more toxic lead and sulfuric acid.”
Again the Sandia National Laboratories stated this about zinc/bromine batteries “The potential advantages of the zinc/bromine technology include high specific energy (70 to 80 Wh/l@. rapid recharge (two to four hours), deep-discharge capability (100%), a finite self-discharge, and a built-in thermal management system. Inexpensive raw materials and mass-production manufacturing techniques give this battery system a potentially low initial cost (about $150/kWh) and a stack replacement cost of about $50/kwh.” Now granted this report is for stationary load leveling applications, but they have been used in vehicles such as David H. Swan and J. T. Guerin's US Electricar S10 light-duty truck, Toyota's zinc-bromine powered EV-30, UCS Davis built a research project that resulted in the construction of the "California 1" battery, the highest voltage zinc bromine battery ever to be constructed for use in an electric vehicle in 1995, Solectra's Zinc/Bromine Vehicle (Solectra electric vehicle race team and Johnson Controls Inc., a core team member, demonstrated a zinc-bromine battery powered car capable of a top speed of 95 mph). in 1992 , and a Fiat Panda with a zinc bromine battery entered by SEA from Austria for The 12 hours of Namur.
Now someone is going to mention the problem that happened to the Solectra in the Phoenix 500 race in 1992. In lap 91 after lapping all the other entrants a recirculating hose came loose leaking bromine onto the track and into the car. Under normal conditions this should have been picked up by the computer and then a it would have initiated a complete shut down, but unfortunately it failed. Now liquid bromine is harmless and can be diluted and washed away relatively harmlessly, but in high temperatures it does vaporize and in the gaseous state it is similar to chlorine (both are used in cleaning swimming pools) and is toxic. James Worden was hospitalized for three days but mostly for observation, he made a full recover and went back to work. Johnson Controls went back to the drawing board to correct the problems.
The answer we seek might just be some sort of combination of batteries a true Hybrid where we take the best attributes of each kind of battery or super-cap and combine them together to get the ultimate EV. I don't have all the answers, but I don't believe that one kind of battery is it either.
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