New Battery Technology for Hybrid Vehicles
Posted in Battery Technology | Energy Industry | Energy Inventions | Future Technology | Hybrid Cars | Transportation
A battery developer is claiming its technology can extend the range of hybrid electric vehicles. Technology Research Laboratories Inc. (TRL, Research Triangle Park, N.C.) claims its battery technology can extend the range of hybrid electric vehicles to 75 miles or better per charge. The company claims its battery operates on physical chemistry principles different from conventional lead-acid batteries, and is made almost entirely of carbon and plastic materials. Problems with battery technology have hindered large-scale development. Technology advances are needed to improve consumer confidence in hybrid vehicles.
The company said it is initially targeting the “plug-in” hybrid-electric car market which has so far failed to mesh gears due to unreliable and expensive power sources. Battery disposal also remains an issue. TRL claims its testing showed that a four-passenger electric car be powered by less than 1,000 pounds of its batteries and could travel up to 100 miles on a single charge “depending on speed and road conditions.”
A new and entirely different battery energy source developed by TRL provides a means to achieve hybrid electric vehicles with a range of 75 or more miles per charge. These would suffer no degradation in performance as a result of cycling or standing idle, or age.
Total usable energy is 25 kW/hour, TRL said.
Battery life, weight and cost have combined with a lack of battery charging capacity to slow consumer acceptance of electric cars. TRL is claiming a weight power density for its battery technology of up to 80 W per pound with continuous use and up to 200 W per pound at peak use. Volumetric energy density was about 2 kilowatt hours/feet3.
A typical four passenger electric car powered by less than 1000 pounds of TRL batteries would have a range of between 75 and 100 mile depending upon speed and road conditions. Total useable energy of 25+ kwh.
- Life: Indefinitely long in any state of charge
- Behavior: batteries can be totally discharged, left in the charged or discharged state, or rapidly cycled with no damage.
The most suitable vehicle application for these batteries is in hybrid types where the vehicle range is not limited by the battery energy storage. However, for a truly practical ‘hybrid plug-in’ design the batteries should be cheap, long life no maintenance, and have capacity to provide driving distances on a single charge of between 50 and 100 miles. Then, much if not most of our driving would be making use of energy sources other than petroleum, such as nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, etc.
» Source: EETimes