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| Dec 08, 2007 10:33 am |
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re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Breakthrough Li-Ion battery - Hybrid to Full Electric conversion |
Ron Sam
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Um, Carbon Footprint refers to greenhouse gases produces, like CO2.
Google: 'DOE Clean Coal power plant'.
In the UK a test done by a Finland company showed test results of capturing of 95% of Carbon (co2).
The US is building 153 new coal powered plants if I recall correctly by 2012. On the other hand China is building not so clean coal fired plants in the nest 5 years. The regulation are different there. (hey they pirate everything and sell lead toys & bad wheat products)
The pertinent questions to ask about EVs is how long the Li-ION batteries will last or number of cycles and what is the cost or replacement and disposal of expired batteries.
One quote I heard for new batteries was $20,000 and I believe it was on a ~40,000 EV.
So far no battery beats Altair Nano for number of full cycles, they're near indestructible. Also the mechanical design allows for replacement of dead cells, which would be rare.
The only problem I see with ALTI or any brand Li-ION battery is power density v. weight. ALTI's 135kw/hr battery weighs approx 900 pounds making its power density ~ 85w/kg. It would be desirable to attain a ~0.5kw/kg goal for efficiency sake.
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I went to the ALTcar Expo in Santa Monica.
See Ryze link:
http://tinyurl.com/2arnk3
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I put together a Slide show and you can see it here.
http://tinyurl.com/2vgoue
This was the first day of the show at the Barker Hanger in the Santa Monica Airport. That was last Friday. The outdoor area had free demo drives in various electric scooters, motorcycles and e-cars. There were some big rigs there too, 18-wheelers that were converted to run LPI or Liquid Propane Injection which benefits in better mpg and longevity.
Roush had a H2 Truck there but nobody to speak to about it.
Inside the Hangar were many many mid speed electric vehicles. They are limited to a 25 MPH speed. I didn't get a shot of the Boshart Tetris, but that vehicle seemed to get the most attention of that type of vehicle. In my mind I see it as a big waste of $$$ since it is for residential driving only, no driving on the freeways! There's a 30k approx. cost Chinese 25mph car called 'Miles' either coming out or already here. I like the looks of the ZENN car out of all the 25MPH cars.
I'm told there is another version of the mid speed electric cars that can go on major boulevards and have a 40-50mph limit. I didn't see any of these.
My Pick~
The Phoenix SUT or Sports Utility Truck goes 95mph+ gets ~130 miles range and overnight charge on home 220 V or 10 min. on a commercial 250KW charger soon to be available at Starbucks and other locations. They will be available late 2009 for individuals or 2008 for fleets. Cost is ~ 47K. Ed Begley Jr. is suppose to be getting one next month. He's an activist and speaks on this topic regularly. He is pictured signing autographs for fellow enthusiasts.
The vehicle has a 4 full-size (200 lbs.) passenger seats and truck bed capable of hauling 1000 lbs. It accelerated 0-60 in less than 10 seconds. The UQM torque motor has 408 ft-lbs of torque! Battery life is said to be 12-20 years. Nothing wears out except tires and brakes.
I spoke to a ALTI nano battery guy and he was saying that there will be available soon a 250 miles + range power pack as an option to the standard 135 KW power system and it will be double the power at 270 KW but at less that twice the weight.
Most of the time getting this PHEV SUT to market has to do with red tape. You can well imagine all the Safety Agencies requirements that they have to jump hoops to get approvals.
IMHO, the Prius Hybrid is going to stick around until they get their R&D cost paid for and that's going to a lot of those $22k cars on the road. We're not going to get rid of petrol as fast as some folks have desires for. I wouldn't be surprised if the hybrids were here for another ten years before they push out the PHEVs in full force.
A123 and ALTI lead the pack in Lithium battery technology but they are costly to produce and sell to the public. I saw on allbattery.com Li-Ion PO batteries 3.6v @ 50 amps selling for ~$250 each. When you stack them up to get the volts up to ~ 60 volts and 200KWs then you have paid some big loot.
My hope is for Phoenix to survive and grow and have competition. I want ALTI to sell to others, not just Phoenix and or ISE.
I almost forgot, there's another approach and that's the AC motor. AC Propulsion's E-Box which is a Scion converted to a PHEV, but it cost $70k and they only make one a month. AC motors are cheaper to build than DC brush-less motors. No rare magnets, just a three-phase AC drive motor. The costly part is the AC drive, I think it's a frequency drive. When I asked what their goal was, the ME said that it wasn't to build and sell cars on production basis, but to sell their AC drive systems for others to build similar E-Box cars. I expect their business to dry up in about three or four years. Not diverse enough.
Btw, there were some ethanol powered vehicles and companies showing how to make your own ethanol, but I'll leave that to ADM. I think ethanol cost would be around $2.00-2.50/gal and if you look at the expected cost of electricity for a PHEV it would be around $20/month, and not much wears out, which would you choose?Private Reply to Ron Sam (new win) |
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