Electric vehicle batteries comparison

As the book has been written for the non-specialist, the theoretical background to the basic processes involved in cell operation is described in some detail in preference to a more thorough series of comparisons of the characteristics and performance of competing systems. We have excluded any discussion on the very closely related field of fuel cells since a number of accounts of this topic have been published recently. It has been our intention to describe and characterize most of the established and emerging primary and secondary battery systems which are of current commercial or theoretical interest. Research into novel power sources may shortly lead to the major breakthroughs necessary before electric vehicles become a major component of the transportation system, and... 

K. K. Humphreys and D. R. Brown, Life Cycle Cost Comparison of Advanced Storage Batteries and Duel Cellsfor Utility Stand-Alone and Electric Vehicle Application, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Battelle Memorial Institute, 1990. 

Eaves S and Eaves 1 (2004), A cost comparison of fuel-cell and battery electric vehicles, Journal of Power Sources, 130,208-212. 

For investment of electric vehicles for materials handling it has to be regarded that in a normal use the costs of a traction battery during its useful life are between 50 and 75% of the costs of the vehicle (without the battery). Here is one example the price for a forklift truck was 12,000 EUR the service life was 8 years. In this time two to three traction batteries, each for a price of 3000 EUR had to be procured. This very simple comparison shows that it would have been more economical to purchase only two batteries instead of three. It has to be noticed that the extension of life of a battery depends on design and quality of the battery and the charging method and charging equipment. 

As soon as such a battery is available in sufficient quantities and at a reasonable price, electric vehicles will be available at least for urban transportation. A cost comparison to conventional vehicles is presented in Section 10.7.2. Table 10.1 gives an overview of potential candidates from the present point of view. 

Chu A, Braatz P (2002) Comparison of commercial supercapacitors and high-power lithium-ion batteries for power-assist applications in hybrid electric vehicles I. initial characterization. J Power Sources 112(l) 236-246. doi 10.1016/S0378-7753(02)00364-6... 

For closed-cycle applications, such as for spacecraft, submarines, or transportation vehicles, the combinations of lightweight, reasonable power density, and compact size are favorable features in comparison with equivalent-capacity battery-based systems. In the International Space Station, for example, both electricity and water are provided by fuel cells. Fuel cells have not only been used in space exploration, but also in submarines (because they generate no noise or vibration). They have also been used to recover the energy from methane that is generated by wastewater, by garbage dumps, and more recently in automobiles as an alternative to the IC engine. 

M. Einhom, V. Conte, C. Krai, and J. Fleig, Comparison of electrical battery models using a numerically optimized parameterization method, in Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC), 2011 IEEE, pp. 1-7, sept. 2011. 

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