Over the next few years there’s going to be a serious push for all-electric vehicles. Hybrid vehicles are currently the interim solution. It will be exciting to see what will unfold.
Batteries are currently the limiting factor in electric vehicles. They have a much lower energy density than liquid fuel, such as gasoline, so in general they need to be big and heavy to provide comparable energy output.
The Tesla Roadster is an example of an electric vehicle which has made inroads in electric car development (http://www.teslamotors.com). It is a high-performance sports car with (a claimed) 244 miles per charge, using Lithium Ion batteries. But it is pricey, around $100,000 US, which means only a certain demographics will be able to afford one. It’s good for the time being that such a vehicle is out of the price range of the average consumer. Since the technology is still relatively new it makes sense to test out the product on those that are wealthy enough to not care as much if the vehicle has some issues, or has expensive requirements such as battery replacement cost every few years.
The Tesla Roadster has had one technical issue in particular. There were transmission durability problems caused by high motor torque, which they have apparently resolved.
It’s a good idea to introduce high-end electric vehicles into the market because it will help quell the misconceptions some will have about them having lackluster performance compared to gas powered vehicles. The high performance of the roadster puts these misconceptions to rest.
The general public will be more conditioned to accept electric vehicles if they know ahead of time that it can compare well to gas powered vehicles. And one way to do this is by first introducing high-end electric vehicles into a niche market that will more likely experiment with new technology. And once the technical issues come out and are resolved, a lower cost consumer version can be introduced with greater confidence.
I read an article in the Toronto Star a few days ago that discussed up and coming battery technology in electric cars. There was mention of this Canadian company in Mississauga, Electrovaya (http://www.electrovaya.com), as among the world leaders in advanced battery design. They hold numerous patents in Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery technology. Apparently they have reached an agreement to supply batteries to three large Chinese manufacturers, India’s Tata Motors, and Phoenix Motorcars of California.
The Electrovaya website is scarce on details as to how their technology works. However, they do mention on a pdf that the energy density of their MN-series battery is 170 to 210 Wh/kg. This is a bit higher than standard Lithium Ion batteries which have an energy density of 150-200 Wh/kg (according to Wikipedia).
They claim 1000 cycles capacity with a depth of discharge (DOD) of 100%, to 80% capacity. And 9,700 cycles with a DOD of 50%, to 80% capacity. They have a calendar life of 7 years. So it seems that the batteries experience at most a 20% loss of capacity over the stated number of cycles and depth of discharge.
Although the specs do look good, the one important piece of information I can’t find is the cost. So I figure it must be quite high.
After poking around online I found some information which dates back to May 2005:
“The company is targeting a cost of $270-300/kWh for the battery at moderate levels of production.”
ref: http://bioage.typepad.com/greencarcongress/docs/Electrovaya%20EVS21%20Paper.pdf
So the battery pack for a typical vehicle would cost $10,000-20,000. Quite high. If this is what they are still aiming for then I would say the current cost may still be prohibitive. It makes me wonder if manufacturers would have to keep the cost of the rest of the vehicle somewhat low in order to make the vehicle itself affordable (with batteries included).
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