Lead-acid was the least expensive choice for electric vehicles.
Lead-acid batteries are no longer the best choice for electric
propulsion. Battery technology continues to improve. Although
electric vehicles generally are thought of as much more energy efficient
than gasoline powered vehicles, batteries have been a barrier to high energy efficiency. In the past, batteries
only stored 25% of their theoretical value. Now, they have improved
to 75% and more. The rest of an electric drive train is highly efficient. Both
motors and controllers are in the 90-95% efficient range. By contrast,
a gasoline fueled internal combustion engine is only 20-30% efficient,
and a diesel engine is 30-40%.
A gel cell battery is filled
with a gel rather than a liquid, and it is not meant to be serviced
by the user. Similarly, a "sealed" battery is filled with water and then
closed so no water escapes during recharging and no water is added at
any time. (It isn't really sealed, however. Valves on the cells allow
gas to escape if the battery is overcharged. The gas cannot be replaced,
and that cell remains weak for the rest of its life.) Both of these types of batteries have a tendency to dry up. Gas produced inside the battery during charging can shear the material, causing higher internal resistance.
The flooded lead-acid batteries are
truly "deep cycle". Unlike the high peak discharge of the sealed
starting batteries and gel cell lead acid batteries. The flooded
deep cycle batteries have a long flat discharge curve and are designed
to discharge to lower volts without permanent long term damage and
shortening cycle life.
Making Batteries Last
A battery's long term durability depends equally on two attributes: How it is built and how it is treated. The physical design
chemical materials will have a great deal of effect on the product's long-term performance.
Equally important, however,
is how the battery is used and maintained during its useful life.
All batteries will last longer if it is not discharged
fully between charges. Careful recharging and the using a charging
system design for the battery chemistry used will also extend battery life.
Electric vehicle batteries now come in many chemical and cell volt packages.
Cell voltage and chemistry should be the same when creating high volt
battery packs.
New Battery Designs
It has been over ten years since Chevron Texaco bought the patents
for the large format Nickel Hydride batteries and sued Panasonic and
stopped Toyota from producing electric powered cars. The cars Toyota
did produce are still running with over 100,000 miles on those
batteries. Lithium technology has arrived and the patent wars with
the American oil and car companies trying to stop it. China is doing
a great job manufacturing and improving the technology.
The additional weight of lead acid batteries has always been the
disadvantage to bringing additional range to electric vehicle concepts.
Lithium batteries with the same energy density weigh less than 20% that
of the lead acid battery. With the life cycles of lead batteries under
500 and the life cycles of lithium over 2000. The lithium batteries do
not expel explosive hydrogen gasses and they are not filled with
corrosive acid in unsealed cases as it true with lead batteries. These
are the reasons E-V Concepts has stopped using lead acid batteries in
all its battery propulsion conversions and new custom built vehicles.
Battery Technology 2008
E-V Concepts
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Design Engineers Fiberglass Designs Geodesic
Structures Dome Kits
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Resources: Steel Structures
Prefab Structures
Design Engineers Fiberglass Designs Geodesic Structures Dome Kits
