Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Phoenix
AeroVironment successfully quick charges Altair Nanotechnologies battery
AeroVironment, a company that helps build drones (unpiloted flying machines) for the U.S. military as well as earlier work on vehicles like the Sunraycer and the GM Impact, announced today that its ten-minute recharge demonstration of an Altair Nanotechnologies 35kWh battery pack was successful, and restored enough power to drive the car for two hours at 60 mph. The demo was performed for folks from California Air Resources Board (CARB) at AeroVironment's Monrovia, California Energy Technology Center. AeroVironment used a 250kW, grid-connected AV advanced battery charger for the demo. AV says that its earlier tests of Altair's batteries demonstrate "that such battery packs can sustain several cycles per day of ten minute charging and two hour discharging. Each cycle is equivalent to an electric vehicle traveling for two hours at 60 miles per hour."
So, how is this news? Altair's CEO, Alan Gotcher, has been telling us and others about the capabilities his batteries have for quite some time. AV calls the demo a "milestone," so that sounds like it means either this is the first time someone other than Altair has been able to verify Altair's claims, or it's the first time a group like CARB was on hand to see the quick charge in action. Either way, it's another step forward for these batteries and the Phoenix vehicles they're destined for.
Related:
[Source: AeroVironmental]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
COINTELPRO 6:38PM (5/30/2007)
They need to have this press release on their website, it is important that independent evaluations are made of product claims.
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John Rowell 10:03PM (5/30/2007)
Maybe it's just that until now nobody but the manufacturer had access to a power source capable of supplying the high amperage necessary to recharge a 35KWH battery pack in 10 minutes. I'll spare you the math: that's an instantaneous load of more than 210KW plus losses (or 140 electric room heaters)!
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Tim 10:26AM (5/31/2007)
This demonstrates that the Zero-Strain feature of this battery design makes ultra-capacitors unnecessary to efficiently recapture breaking energy and rapidly accelerate EVs. Fast charge is perfect for local delivery fleets, industrial lift trucks, Series PHEVs etc. Heck, we may not even need “range-extender” engines. Hybrids will be transitory to pure Battery Electric Vehicles BEVs.
The most important feature is that Fast Charge will alleviate the fears of consumers who may be worried about being stuck on the road with a drained battery. Tow trucks with a spare battery pack onboard can “quick charge” a stranded EV as quickly as they can add gas to a stranded IC vehicle. Hey look ma, no sucking gas from a hose (yuck) or spilling fuel down the side of your nice paintjob. Heck you can even smoke while you refuel. (I don’t smoke)
Anyway, most recharging will be 120v while parked at overnight and "opportunity-charging" while parked at work or while shopping, dining etc. Now Altairnano needs to independently verify cycle life at deep discharge. I believe this is test is underway now.
What’s with GM’s Volt?
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George Krpan 4:13PM (5/31/2007)
Looks like the Altair batteries are for real. Many feel that ultra capacitors are pure hype but they would be better than batteries for the environment, if they exist.
The Phoenix vehicle will cost around 45k which is an indication that the batteries are economical to produce. The Ssangyong vehicle it's based on is not an inexpensive vehicle. The internal combustion version would probably sell for 30k in Europe.
Now we gotta' see if they can be produced in massive quantities. I'd love to see smaller versions for electric bicycles and motorcycles.
They would probably recharge in 60 seconds.
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Tim 6:22PM (5/31/2007)
Imagine the Vetrix with Altair's batteries.
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George Krpan 7:15PM (5/31/2007)
Right on Tim, now you're thinkin'.
How about a Stokemonkey with Altair batteries?
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Tim 10:05AM (6/01/2007)
Stokemonkey? I had to look that one up. The fact that the Altair’s materials resist migration within the cells is what creates long life because there is little blinding of the anodes and cathodes and ZERO strain created by the nanostructures limits heating while charging and discharging.
http://www.altairnano.com/documents/NanoSafeBackgrounder060920.pdf
Materials of construction are important and I’m not sure if A123s design equals these very important Altair qualities. I believe GM chose A123 over Altair because A123s has more production capability and their batteries are already in consumer electronics. I hope Altair did not make a mistake by putting all their EV eggs in one “Pheonix” basket. The best technology doesn’t always win, just look at the IC engine.
Regardless, once the economies of scale bring Nano battery tech within reach of the average consumer, it will change the world as we know it. The only way this is going to happen is if the largest fleets order this tech. Of course the world’s 2 largest fleets are the US Gov’t and US Military. The gov’t would serve this tech best by ordering hundreds of thousands of these vehicles using several different competing battery designs. Let’s hope this is sooner rather than late, but we’ll see…
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GreyFlcn 10:51AM (6/01/2007)
How fast would the car charge up if it was only an 80% charge?
From what I understand 80% charge goes a LOT faster than 100% charge.
For instance, the original EV1 could do an 80% charge in 12 minutes on a 50Kw charger.
http://www.altfuels.org/events/otherafv/quikchrg.html
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Nicholas 11:17AM (8/04/2007)
What the hell! Someone removed the document-link regarding this prestige! Could someone PLEASE tell me why it´s removed?
Thank God I was able to print it before it happened.
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Chris M 6:19PM (8/04/2007)
The California CARB had developed a special preferred class of zero emissions vehicles that could be "refilled" in 10 minutes or less. This was a blatant attempt to favor H2 fuel over battery electrics.
By developing this fast charging ability, some EVs can now get that preferred status. Vehicles powered by zinc-air fuel cells could also easily achieve this status.
Ironically, most H2 vehicles will have trouble achieving that quick 10 minute refill. High pressure H2 refilling speed is limited by thermal shock and strain problems, and metal hydride storage is slowed considerably by the need to cool the hydride during refilling. The H2 promoters on the CARB board have been, as the old saying goes, "hoist on their own petard".
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intusut 10:45PM (5/17/2008)
Dear sir,this charger device can charge lead acid
battery[use in car]or not.
do you have circuit for quick charger device,please advice.thanks sevi.
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