AutoblogGreen

Tesla's cells are only ~160Wh/kg (their packs are about 130Wh/kg). The Aptera's cells will probably be in the range of 100Wh/kg. So, it'd be an even bigger improvement than that :)

This is one of about a dozen different battery chemistry "game changers" working their way toward commercialization right now. The odds of none of them making it seems staggeringly low.

Even better? A number of the game changers *can be combined*. I.e., you have a cathode game changer like
these metal fluorides, mix it with an anode game changer like silicon nanowires, silicon nanoparticles with carbon nanotube reinforcements, tin nanoparticles in buckyballs, or even mere lithium vanadium oxide anodes, and you could well be looking at over a kilowatt hour per kg. Hello cross-country-trip-on-a-single-charge! And with that kind of energy density, who needs a lot of charge cycles? 300 cycles would probably last you the life of the car. All you need to do is make sure that there's no relevant time degradation with the cells.

Isn't the future of EVs looking rosy? :) I find it hard to be pessimistic given the huge number of major battery advancements out there right now; I simply can't picture every last one of them failing. Some? Sure. Most? Probably. All? No way.

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I'm optimistic too but admittedly there's quite a long, windy and rocky road from laboratory to production.

The challenge with cars is the sheer range of operating conditions (temp, humidity, vibration, collision/safety, altitude, etc) that have to be tested and accounted for, which is probably the main unknown with development of the Chevy Volt.

Game changing batteries will happen but probably will not be commercialized as soon as we think, perform as well as, or be priced as competitively as hoped. But it will happen.

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Man price is everything if the prices drastically went down for batteries we could be wondering right now what is gasoline! I just cant wiat until i get my ev. Im not sure which one yet because there are alot of option on 2010

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Karen you are so right, especially when you consider a lot of Japanese and Chinese companies are operating totally stealth. In our culture you pump your PR and say how great you are, they work on stuff in secret and one day, HERE IT IS!
Also the Chinese aren't real respctful of IP so look for them to try combinations of anode, cathode, and seperator technology.

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I haven't heard/read much of anything on the loads that current systems will/can handle. Is there any information out there? What I mean is that it is all well and good to have an electric car, but in Cali the heat is unreal so most people will be sitting in traffic (not moving) and will have the AC cranked and the radio blasting...what will that do to the charge life and range? Anything?

What about when the EV needs to get through a rough New England/Northeast winter? I mean, it is not uncommon to have 3-4 inches of snow on the roads for a day or two. How will traction control and running the heater at full blast and the radio while driving/sitting in traffic effect the charge/range?

I am just curios if there is solid study/lab evidence of this research. It is all well and good to say that the EV car (whatever model) can get a certain range, but MOST people drive like idiots with a "stomp-on-the-gas, slam-on-the-brake" style. Are they real world testing these things, or are they just presenting the comparable "EPA gas mileage" numbers ? (meaning that they test it in the "best-case" scenario.)

Just curious if anyone can direct me to actual evidence so I can read it. Thanks.

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"What I mean is that it is all well and good to have an electric car, but in Cali the heat is unreal"

I hope you laughed when you said that. :) You have the best weather in the entire US. I'd know; I was born there and regularly go there for conferences. Go to Houston for a summer; you'll never complain about Cali summer heat again. The humidity makes you want to crawl out of your skin. My father flew from Houston to Cairo, where it was over 120F, and found that it felt more pleasant than Houston.

" will have the AC cranked and the radio blasting...what will that do to the charge life and range? Anything?"

Radio: not much. While speakers are often rated for hundreds of watts, that's peak power; average consumption is far lower. A typical EV consumes a couple hundred watt hours *per mile* for the motor.

AC: Some, but the effect can be overstated, and some cars (like the Aptera) are turning to solar-assisted climate control. The brighter the sun (i.e., the more heat the car needs to dissipate), the more help the climate control gets. Overall, you'll probably still end up burning several hundred watts to a kilowatt or so. (Compare with the smallest electric personal ACs -- you only need to heat up a very small, enclosed area, not a whole room)

"How will traction control and running the heater at full blast and the radio while driving/sitting in traffic effect the charge/range?"

Traction control helps mileage. Slippage is wasted energy.

Radio: already covered.

Heater: Depends. You could recover a few hundred to a thousand or so watts of heat from the motor at highway speeds (Wh/mi * mph * (1 - motor efficiency)), which should make up a fair portion of the heating needs for something as small as a car. Like the AC, you'll probably still be burning several hundred watts to a kilowatt or so. (Compare with the smallest electric personal heaters -- you only need to heat up a very small, enclosed area, not a whole room)

"I am just curios if there is solid study/lab evidence of this research. It is all well and good to say that the EV car (whatever model) can get a certain range, but MOST people drive like idiots with a "stomp-on-the-gas, slam-on-the-brake" style. Are they real world testing these things, or are they just presenting the comparable "EPA gas mileage" numbers?"

The revised EPA mileages are for precisely that. You're referring to "drive cycles". The old EPA mileages are what you referred to as "test[ing] it in the 'best-case' scenario." These were criticized, which is why they changed. The new tests involve running the AC and other loads, more aggressive driving, and so forth.

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Military contract?

Bet they'll be too expensive for EVs, but just right for extending the runtime of mobile systems designed to microwave political dissidents.

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Cars can relatively easily be convereted to electric by purchasing kits from many availible sources at an average cost of about $8000.00 not including high quality batteries ($3000.00) or a good used car to convert. ($6000.00) total $17,000.00. Nothing compared to purchasing another gas gussler for much more than that.

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