New Liquid 'Refill' could change how fast batteries charge in EV's

By Yang-Yi Goh,
TechNews
Daily Contributor 08 June 2011 10:46 PM ET

A new breed of quick-charge “liquid” batteries could help make recharging electric cars as easy as filling up at the gas pump.

Electric cars may be driving the auto industry toward a greener future, but a great number of issues still need to be resolved for them to catch up with their petroleum-guzzling forebears with regard to performance and desirability.

Perhaps the biggest problem facing electric auto designers lies in the battery: large and inefficient, today’s standard rechargeable lithium-ion batteries take hours to replenish and are suitable only for short distances. Chevy’s Volt model, for instance, takes nearly 10 hours to fully charge using an ordinary 120 volt outlet, and is able to travel only 25-50 miles before resorting to its backup gas engine.

Thanks to a group of MIT researchers, however, a new generation of leaner, more powerful, and easy-to-refuel batteries may be just around the corner. In a paper published in the May 20 edition of the journal Advanced Energy Materials, the group — led by MIT professors of material science Yet-Ming Chiang and W. Craig Carter — describe a novel approach to battery architecture that revolves around what they call a “semi-solid flow cell.”

[Read also “History Repeats Itself: Carmakers Again Put Electric Vehicles in Fast Lane”]

Essentially, the new design houses the battery’s active components — the positive and negative electrodes, or cathodes and anodes — as solid particles suspended in a liquid electrolyte. This thick, quicksand-like liquid is pumped through the system during the process of charging or discharging the battery.

According to MIT, the architecture should make it possible to reduce the size and cost of a complete battery system to about “half the current levels,” while providing a “10-fold improvement in energy density over present liquid flow batteries.”

“For two decades, advances in batteries have relied on development of improved components to be used in the same basic, inefficient architecture,” Chiang told TechNewsDaily. “Our work represents the inception of ‘Batteries 2.0.’”

The batteries will hopefully bring the performance levels of electric vehicles up to par with their gas engine counterparts. Using the semi-solid flow architecture, Chiang estimates a car will be able to travel 200-300 miles on a single charge.

“Our objective is to replace ‘range anxiety’ with ‘range euphoria,’” he says. Additionally, the new design will make refueling a snap.

Drivers will have the option of either simply pumping out the liquid slurry and replacing it with a fresh batch, swapping out the tanks like you would a spare tire, or recharging the existing material when time permits.

The technology is still at an early stage of development—Chiang expects the first commercial prototypes to be ready in about two years, but foresees the semi-solid flow system challenging the current cell-module-pack approach by the end of the decade.

Source;

http://www.technewsdaily.com/future-cars-2794/

Honda ’Lacks Confidence’ in Electric-Car Demand

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. remains skeptical about demand for electric cars 10 years after it stopped selling its EV Plus battery-powered model, the head of research at Japan’s second-largest carmaker said.

“We lack confidence” in the electric-vehicle business, Tomohiko Kawanabe, president of Honda’s research and development unit, said in an interview in Wako City, northwest of Tokyo. “It’s questionable whether consumers will accept the annoyances of limited driving range and having to spend time charging them.”

The skepticism contrasts with an estimate by Nissan Motor Co.’s Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn that the vehicles will make up 10 percent of the global car market by 2020. While Honda plans to sell electric cars in the U.S. to help meet California emission rules, its priority is to improve the fuel efficiency of new and upgraded models, Kawanabe said.

“We are definitely conducting research on electric cars, but I can’t say I can wholeheartedly recommend them,” said Kawanabe, 58, an engine specialist who replaced Chief Executive Officer Takanobu Ito as head of Honda R&D Co. on April 1.

Nissan’s Leaf electric car, which will go on sale this year in Japan and the U.S., and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.’s i-MiEV have maximum driving distances of about 100 miles (161 kilometers) on a fully-charged battery. Running the air conditioner or accelerating for long periods of time reduces the range.

California Rules
Honda rose 0.7 percent to close at 3,010 yen in Tokyo trading today. The shares have declined 3.2 percent this year.

From model years 2012 through 2014, the largest carmakers by volume in California must sell about 60,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric cars combined, according to the state Air Resources Board. Nissan’s Ghosn said last week he aims to have capacity to build 500,000 electric cars a year by 2012, even as other demand estimates are lower than his.

Electric vehicles will amount to no more than 1 percent of the global market by 2020, according to Menahem Anderman, president of Advanced Automotive Batteries, a consulting firm based in Oregon House, California.

Honda, based in Tokyo, started researching battery cars in 1988 and leased about 320 EV Plus models in the U.S. and Japan between 1997 and 2000. The model used a nickel-metal hydride battery pack and ran 210 kilometers on a single charge.

While the carmaker displayed a concept version of an electric car named EV-N at the Tokyo Motor Show in October, it is focusing on expanding its lineup of gasoline-electric hybrid models and improving its gasoline engines, according to Kawanabe.

The company views hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles as the ultimate zero-emission vehicle, although inadequate charging infrastructure still hampers the technology’s mass-market potential, he said.

While Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, has also tried selling electric cars, it only delivered about 1,900 electric RAV4 sport-utility vehicles between 1997 and 2003 in the U.S. and Japan.

Honda, which sells the Civic and Insight hybrid models in the U.S., is considering U.S. production of hybrids to avoid the negative impact of a stronger yen against the dollar, Kawanabe said, without elaborating on timing. Core parts like batteries, invertors and motors would still be shipped from Japan, he said.

Source;
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-18/honda-lacks-confidence-in-electric-car-demand-update1-.html

Do YOU Know All About Electric Vehicles OR Do YOU Just Know The Myths?

Here's a good read....
Soon enough it seems that all that will be available to drive will be electric vehicles. With governments across the globe embracing electric vehicles, and pushing for innovation and product development, the days of the gasoline-powered automobile look numbered.

But, are EVs so bad?

According to Plug In America, they are not. Granted, they may be slightly biased.Take a look below and scan through the top 12 myths about EVs. Do YOU think these myths are fact or fiction?

Let us know, SPIES!

Press release follows:

Plug In America, a nonprofit group leading the clean-vehicle movement, is issuing the following list of common misconceptions or “myths” about all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars. Media and others continue to misunderstand and mischaracterize this new technology. Thousands of these clean vehicles—many of them zero-emission—are expected to start coming to auto dealerships in late 2010. See Plug In America’s Tracker for a comprehensive list of such vehicles on the road today and expected for delivery in 2010 and beyond.

Acronyms and definitions:
· EV: Electric Vehicle, meaning all-electric (no gas)
· BEV: Battery Electric Vehicle or all-electric vehicle
· PHEV: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
· Plug-in or Plug-in electric vehicle: Either a BEV or a PHEV

Number of EVs Driven Today:

Plug In America estimates that there are 3,000 highway-capable EVs from major automakers on U.S. roads today:

· 800 Toyota RAV4-EVs
· 1,000 Teslas
· 150 Ford Ranger trucks
· 50 Chevy S-10 trucks
· 500 test-only BMW Mini Es
· 500 others including Solectrias and EPIC Mini-Vans

MYTH: EVs don't have enough range. You'll be stranded when you run out of electricity
FACT: Americans drive an average of 40 miles per day, according to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. Most new BEVs have a range of at least double that and can be charged at any ordinary electrical outlet (120V) or publicly accessible station with a faster charger. The latter, already in use, will proliferate as the plug-in infrastructure is built out. At present, all it takes is planning for EV owners, who can travel up to 120 miles on a single charge, to use their cars on heavy travel days. Alternatively, a PHEV goes at least 300 miles on a combination of electricity and gasoline.

Myth: EVs are good for short city trips only
FACT: Consumers have owned and driven EVs for seven years or more and regularly use them for trips of up to 120 miles.

MYTH: EVs just replace the tailpipe with a smokestack
FACT: Even today, with 52% of U.S. electricity generated by coal-fired power plants, plug-in cars reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and most other pollutants compared with conventional gas or hybrid vehicles. Plug-ins can run on renewable electricity from sources such as the sun or wind. PHEVs will reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions, even if the source of electricity is mostly coal, a 2007 study by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and NRDC showed. Read the summary of some 30 studies, analyses and presentations on this topic.

MYTH: The charging infrastructure must be built before people will adopt EVs
FACT: Most charging will be done at home, so a public charging infrastructure isn’t a prerequisite. Still, a robust infrastructure will help, especially for apartment dwellers and those regularly driving long distances. But at least seven companies are competing to dominate the public-charging-station market and a trade group representing the nation's electric utilities has pledged to “aggressively” create the infrastructure to support “full-scale commercialization and deployment” of plug-ins.

MYTH: The grid will crash if millions of plug-ins charge at once
FACT: Off-peak electricity production and transmission capacity could fuel the daily commutes of 73% percent of all cars, light trucks, SUVs and vans on the road today if they were PHEVs, a 2007 study by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found. Also, utilities are upgrading some local distribution systems to accommodate plug-ins, just as they do when residents add more air conditioners and TVs. Plug-ins, which can be seen as energy storage devices on wheels, can actually benefit the grid, making green energies like solar and wind power even more viable.

MYTH: Battery chemicals are bad for the environment and can't be recycled
FACT: Ninety-nine percent of batteries in conventional cars are recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The metals in newer batteries are more valuable and recycling programs are already being developed for them. Utilities plan to use batteries for energy storage once they are no longer viable in a vehicle.

MYTH: EVs take too long to charge
FACT: The most convenient place and time to charge is at home while you sleep. Even using the slowest 120-volt outlet, the car can be left to charge overnight, producing about 40 miles of range. Most new BEVs and PHEVs will charge from 240-volt outlets providing double or triple the charge in the same amount of time. Charging stations that reduce charging time even more are beginning to appear.

MYTH: Plug-ins are too expensive for market penetration
FACT: New technologies are typically costly. Remember when cell phones and DVDs were introduced? Also, the government stimulus package includes a $2,500 to $7,500 tax credit for EVs and PHEVs. Some states are considering additional incentives ($5,000 in California and Texas). And, the purchase and lifetime operating cost of an EV is on par with or less than its gas-powered equivalent because EVs require almost no maintenance or repair: no oil or filter changes, no tune ups, no smog checks.

MYTH: Batteries will cost $15,000 to replace after only a few years
FACT: The battery is the priciest part of a plug-in, but costs will drop as production increases and the auto industry is expected to be purchasing up to $25 billion in advanced batteries annually by 2015. Some car makers plan to lease their batteries, so replacement won’t be an issue. The Chevy Volt PHEV will have a 10-year battery warranty that would cover battery replacement.

MYTH: There isn't enough lithium in the world to make all the new batteries
FACT: Even in a worst-case scenario of zero battery recycling, aggressive EV sales, no new mining methods or sites, existing lithium stores will be sufficient for projected EV production for the next 75 years. See an analysis at PlugInAmerica.org. Also, lithium comes from many countries (24% is found in the United States), so we won’t be dependent on any one global region.

MYTH: Lithium batteries are dangerous and can explode
FACT: Among the many kinds of lithium-ion batteries, lithium-cobalt batteries found in consumer electronics can pose a fire risk in certain circumstances. These risks can be mitigated by the use of advanced-battery management systems and careful design that prevents “thermal runaway.” Most plug-in vehicle makers are working with other battery types (such as lithium-iron-phosphate and lithium-manganese) which have inherent safety advantages and provide more years of service.

MYTH: Most of us will still be driving gas cars through 2050
FACT: Several irrefutable factors are driving the shift from gasoline to plug-in vehicles: ever-toughening federal fuel economy standards and state caps on greenhouse gas emissions; projected price hikes for petroleum products as demand increases and supply flattens or drops; broad agreement over the need for America to reduce its reliance on petroleum for economic and national security reasons; and climate change, which is occurring faster than previously thought, according to the journal Science and many other sources.

Source;
http://www.autospies.com/news/Do-YOU-Know-All-About-Electric-Vehicles-OR-Do-YOU-Just-Know-The-Myths-50647/

Eco Cars: Honda Native all-electric concept vehicle can change its color

Eco Factor: Zero-emission concept vehicle designed to run on electricity.

With the world in need of cars that are smarter, efficient and powered by clean fuels, industrial designers are working hard on next-gen vehicles that are light in weight, boast unique features and are powered by electric batteries. Auto designer Tudoran Liviu has come up with a concept electric vehicle dubbed the Honda Native, which packs all these requirements in a stunning package.

The concept vehicle is made of lightweight materials and uses, in some regions, a photochromatic material that allows the car to change its color when temperature, light or other environmental changes occur. The Honda Native is designed to be powered by an electric engine that is fueled by a high voltage lithium-ion battery pack.

The interiors are also designed from lightweight materials such as aluminum and offer an OLED display to provide information regarding the performance of the car and a touchscreen control panel for easy access to all other functions. No word on how long can this car run on its batteries, but considering the use of lightweight materials and the minimalist design, we are expecting some decent figures.

Source;
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-cars-honda-native-all-electric-concept-vehicle-can-change-its-color/

Honda considering electric car launch in major markets, CEO says

Hybrids and fuel cells. That's where Honda seems to have put the vast majority of its engineering resources over the last decade or so, first with the two-seat Insight – the first hybrid sold here in the States, beating the much more successful Toyota Prius to market by a few months – and later the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle. According to company CEO Takanobu Ito, though, a new wind may be blowing into a town near you, and it's electric.

While the Japanese automaker sees hydrogen as the real solution to our dependence on petroleum, the fact that it's taking so long for a real hydrogen infrastructure to be built up around the world means that Honda is considering launching a fully electric automobile in major markets in Europe, Japan and the United States. Whether or not it will look anything like the EV-N concept from the Tokyo Motor Show remains to be seen... but we're hoping.

Source;
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/20/report-honda-considering-electric-car-launch-in-major-markets/#

Nissan planning to offer wireless charging for its upcoming EVs

Now, this sounds cool....
Not only is Nissan developing a wireless charging bay, it also hopes to one day let electric cars charge as they are driven over a series of plates installed into the surface of designated lanes on the roads and highways, The Guardian reports.

The wireless charging system borrows from the concept of inductive charging, similar to the electromagnetic field technology used to charge an electric toothbrush. Nissan’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) electric car is able to charge in a compatible parking bay without the use of wires. Referring to its plan to put plates on the road, Nissan says that it still doesn’t know the costs, the length of the designated lane, nor how long the car has to be on the lane for the battery to be recharged. David Bott, director of innovation programs at the Technology Strategy Board, said that what’s likely to happen is that at night the electric cars will be plugged while during the day, the cars will be using inductive recharging. Nissan’s ZEV is a five-seater family-sized car with a top speed of 90mph and a battery range of around 100 miles. It is set to go on sale in the US and Japan next year, before arriving in the UK and the rest of Europe by 2012. Pricing has not been announced yet.

Source;
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/nissan-planning-to-offer-wireless-charging-for-its-upcoming-evs/

Honda president downplays BYD electric car

Photo taken from Autoblog.com, I love it, "MEH"

Shanghai, November 25 (Gasgoo.com) In a recent interview by auto163.com, Honda President Takeo Fukui said he didn’t think highly of BYD’s research and development of electric cars.

Speaking of the electric vehicle (EV) development, Fukui said as the EV technology is still not mature, it is impossible to push out the electric cars now. The key point is it is hard to solve the problems of battery, especially for the extension of battery life. The existing electric cars now can only reach as far as 100 km, reflecting a difficult situation for mass production and commercialization.

Fukui said he didn’t expect BYD’s research and development of electric cars to be good. Apart from that, Fukui showed his confidence in the Chinese auto market in 2009. He noted that despite the global financial crisis, Chinese auto market will maintain a 5% growth next year as a direct result of the overall economic growth in China.

Compared to Europe and some other neighboring countries, China was relatively less affected by the financial crisis. Fukui predicted that the Chinese auto market will see sales volume at around 9.4 million units for this year.

Honda will continue to put emphasis on the Chinese market and also increase investment in China in the coming years, Fukui said.

Source;

http://www.gasgoo.com/auto-news/1008507/Honda-president-downplays-BYD-electric-car.html

via Autoblog article;

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/11/25/honda-president-pooh-poohs-byd-electric-cars-in-general/

Technical details for Mini ‘E’ electric vehicle

Here's a look at what BMW and Mini are doing in there search for a viable alternative fuel.
Mini has released the full technical details for the all-electric version of its two-door Cooper hatch, which is set to be delivered in an initial batch of 500 examples to customers in the United States later this year. BMW is using its Mini brand to test the waters with its electric powertrain technology but the vehicle was also developed in order to meet new California regulations that require carmakers to offer zero emission vehicles.

Power comes from an electric motor that is mounted in the former engine bay and is rated at 204hp (150kW) and 162lb-ft (220Nm) of torque. Drive is sent to the front wheels via a single-stage helical gearbox nearly without a sound and entirely free of emissions. The Mini factory located in Oxford, England, supply cars without powertrains to a team located in Munich, Germany, which then adds the electric running gear.

The car has also gone through the major phases of product development for mass-produced vehicles and passed numerous crash tests on the way. Aspects investigated besides passenger protection were the impact of collision forces on the lithium-ion battery and finding a non-hazardous location for it in the car.

BMW has gone with a lithium-ion battery pack with an overall capacity of a 35kW/H. This sits in the rear of the car and leaves only 60L of trunk space. Acceleration from 0-100km/h takes 8.5 seconds for the 1,465kg electric vehicle and top speed is electronically limited to 152km/h. The car’s range is about 250km on a single charge, which takes about 2.5 hours. To help improve this range it is also fitted with a brake-energy-recovery system.

All will be painted silver but are easily distinguished by their absent exhaust pipes and yellow electric-plug decals. The cars will be offered on a one year lease with full maintenance and servicing by specially trained technicians. The electric drive's high-voltage technology requires that maintenance work be done by qualified personnel using special tools not found in your standard service station. In light of this, a service base will be set up on both coasts, with regular service scheduled to take place every 5,000km.

The Mini E will be on show at this week’s Los Angeles Auto Show and the company is hoping to eventually expand the project to Europe sometime next year.

If you find the idea of an all-electric Mini appealing but couldn't get on the 500 car shortlist, a company in Nevada can build you one complete with a 105hp (78kW) brushless AC motor and lithium-ion batteries. Nevada’s Hybrid Technologies has in fact been producing the electric Minis for the past year and claims that charging up the car’s batteries takes about 8-10 hours from a regular household power outlet. Top speed is only around 130km/h but driving at a slower speed preserves battery-life and means owners will be able to travel up to 200km on a single charge.

Source with more pic's;
http://www.motorauthority.com/mini-e-electric-vehicle-revealed-ahead-of-la-debut.html

60 Minutes: The Race for the Electric Car

Here's a nice read with a lot of good information on the electric car race.
(CBS) The price of oil is up, gas guzzling cars are out, and a race for a fuel-free, practical electric car is on.

It includes the usual suspects: Detroit, Japan, and Germany. But as correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, a surprising newcomer with no experience at building cars has entered the race: Silicon Valley.

The jury is still out on whether electric cars can ever be really practical, but the computer geeks in California are betting that their inventiveness can beat out Detroit's cumbersome bureaucracy in producing a viable e-car.

One of the reasons electric cars have never taken off has been battery technology. A few years ago, someone wondered: why not use the batteries they put in laptop computers called lithium-ion batteries? That's when the environmentally-conscious hi-tech industry in California jumped in.

The first all-electric sports car is called the "Roadster" and is made by Tesla Motors, a small start-up in Northern California.

The chairman of Tesla, Elon Musk, says the Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 in four seconds. It is propelled by over 6,000 finger-sized lap top batteries, and not a single drop of oil.

Musk made his fortune by inventing PayPal, the online banking service. He launched Tesla five years ago, with no experience at all in the car business. Now he has over 1,000 orders for the Roadster from people like George Clooney and Gov. Schwarzenegger. They can afford it.

Musk says the Roadster sells for $109,000, and tells Stahl, with a smile, that the car is "a deal." "And our car's twice the efficiency of a Prius. So a Prius is a gas-guzzling hog by comparison with our cars," he says.

Musk says the Roadster can go over 200 miles before you have to plug it in to any ordinary wall outlet. It can take anywhere from four to 30 hours for a full charge.

"It’s very easy. It’s like plugging in a hairdryer. It’s so simple," Musk explains.

From the beginning, Musk wanted to prove that innovative and nimble Silicon Valley could build a better green car than lumbering, bureaucratic Detroit.

"Out of Detroit everybody thinks that Detroit is dumb," comments Bob Lutz, the vice chairman of General Motors.

"Or they think you’re hide-bound," Stahl remarks.

"Yeah. Same thing," Lutz says.

Lutz is the man in charge of developing GM's new products, and he says he owes Tesla and its Roadster a debt of gratitude. "If a small Silicon Valley start up believes that they can do a commercially viable electric car, are we going to sit here at General Motors and say, 'Well, a guy in California can do it, but we can't?' Well, that didn't sound very good."

Lutz admits that's embarrassing.

And so, the race was on, with Lutz overseeing the research and development of the Chevy Volt, which is a four-door family electric car.

The Volt is not purely electric - it's called a "plug-in hybrid." It'll drive on battery power alone for 40 miles; go beyond that, and a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the battery while you keep driving.

"Seventy eight percent of trips in the United States are under 40 miles a day," Lutz tells Stahl. "If all those people had Volts, you would have 78 percent of Americans basically never using another drop of gasoline."

Everything about the Volt, he says, works like a conventional car, except there's no noise. "There's one thing we can do, for people who miss the sound of the engines, we sell them a CD…with various engine sounds. So you'll be able to pick a Ferrari V12 or, you know, Le Mans Corvette," Lutz explains.

GM is already touting the car in TV ads, even though they don't yet have a working prototype. "The real trick on the car is software. The car needs to know where home plate is. So if you, for some reason, have gone from work instead of directly home, you've gone shopping, and you're starting to run out of battery on the way home, the computer will tell the gas engine, 'Look, he's five miles from home, only run for three minutes, because he only needs enough to get home,'" Lutz explains.

What about safety? In 2006, Dell was forced to issue the biggest recall in electronics history when its lithium-ion batteries burst into flames. Lutz says GM has solved that problem with its batteries, but they need a lot more testing to check how durable and reliable they are in extreme weather and real-road conditions. Still, Lutz insists the Volts will be in dealerships by 2010.

"We've spoken to people who say, 'Lutz is crazy.' … they cannot do this by then. It's just not going to happen," Stahl says.

"Right. We'll see. Somebody's going to have egg on their face," Lutz replies.

The rest of the article continues onto page 2, here's the link;
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/05/60minutes/main4502448_page2.shtml

Honda could care less to go electric… for now

Besides Tesla Motors some automakers you think of when you think of an electric-car is GM’s Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan - but no one thinks Honda (well some of you probably do). That’s because Honda is staying away from electric-cars and according to its r&d chief Masaaki Kato, Honda has no plans to produce electric-vehicles.

“Nowadays, the most advanced batteries are lithium ion batteries. But even though the size is getting smaller, the density of the energy is still too poor for cars,” Kato said.

Kato said that since right now electric-cars offer limited mileage, by 2015 they will account for less than 1 percent of the market in developed countries - a percentage that Honda is not satisfied with.

Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi all plan on introducing an electric-vehicle within the next 50 years with a range of 60 miles on full-charge.

Source;
www.automotivenews.com (sub. req'd)