All-electric vehicles

Lithium-ion batteries are being seriously considered for application in all-electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV s) because of their high power and energy densities [1, 2], The U.S. Department of... 

Well-to-wheel thermodynamic efficiencies for (a) crude to regular vehicle (b) crude to hybrid vehicle (c) natural gas to all-electric vehicle (this efficiency increases to 74 respectively 80% for electricity from hydropower or renewable resources) (d) natural gas conversion to H2 and natural gas conversion to electricity followed by electrolysis to H2- Conv Conversion M motor HM hybrid B battery eM electric motor FC fuel cell. Routes a and b do not allow for the capture of C02. (From Marisvensson, A. et al., Energy, 32,437,2006.)... 

First, a little history An all-electric car has long sounded logical to many people. GM launched the EV1, an all-electric vehicle, in 1996. Unfortunately, the car was a complete flop, and the 1-billion project was abandoned in 1999. In 2002, Ford announced that it would give up on the Think, an electric car model in which it had invested 123 million. These efforts were an attempt to satisfy government demands, not an attempt to fill early consumer needs. 

The three distinct characteristics of a rechargeable battery identified in Section 1.2.4 are inextricably linked and, therefore, improvements in any one characteristic come at the expense of one or both of the others. The specific constraints of the battery vary from application to application. For example, the specific constraints are different for hybrid electric vehicles compared with all-electric vehicles, which require high-power density and lower energy density to meet optimum vehicle performance level. 

Studies performed by the author on Pb-acid batteries indicate that these batteries were used in automobiles as early as 1912. The studies further indicate that more than 90% of all electric vehicles ever manufactured in the United States, deployed Pb-acid batteries for their onboard energy storage. The Pb-acid battery technology is fully matured and all possible improvements have been implemented in their designs. In brief, unrestricted wide availability and low procurement cost are the principal advantages of this battery. Furthermore, Pb-acid batteries have been manufactured in present form for many decades, and they have proven to be reliable and cheap for automobile applications [3] since 1924. 

Currently, various automobile manufacturers are focusing on the EVs and HEVs. The battery requirements for all-electric vehicles are different than those for HEVs. The rechargeable batteries are required to produce more electrical power per unit weight or volume to be more cost-effective. The batteries for the hybrid vehicles are recharged from an onboard power source or a charging device composed of an alternator and inverter, which converts the alternating current (AC) to the direct current (DC). Hybrids are often operated over only a small fraction of the battery capacity for many thousands of cycles. 

Editor, Technology report on all-electric vehicles progress to shock the automobile market, Electronic Design (May 2010), pp. 36—44. 

Solid state electrolyte cells have been developed and tested also for high-power pttrposes, for instance, in all-electric vehicle applications. The invention of the sodiirm/p-alirmina/sirlfur battery by Ford Motor Co. intensified interest in the commercial applications of solid electrolytes. 

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