Electric vehicle batteries nickel zinc

Yuasa are developing a sealed nickel-zinc battery for powering electric lawn mowers. Prototype nickel-zinc electric vehicle batteries are being tested in USA, Europe and Israel and are a strong contender for... 

As stated previously, a battery is an electrochemical device with the ability to convert chemical energy to electrical energy to provide power to electronic devices. Household batteries may also contain cadmium, mercury, copper, zinc, lead, manganese, nickel, and lithium, which may create a hazard when disposed incorrectly. The potential problems or hazards of household batteries are similar to that of vehicle batteries. 

GM built an electric vehicle (EV) called the Electrovette in 1980. It was a Chevette with a DC electric motor and zinc nickel oxide batteries. The Electrovette used a mechanical controller. The batteries were expensive and not much better than lead-acid power for extending the range of operation. The Electrovette had controller problems and GM let the project die. 

The nickel—zinc (NiZn) system is attractive as a secondary cell because of its high energy density and low material cost and the low level of potential pollutants contained. The widespread use of nickel-zinc batteries, particularly as electric vehicle power sources, would be strongly enhanced by significantly extending the deep-discharge cycle life beyond the current level of 100—300 cycles. Considerable work has been done in the past to develop a suitable separator for nickel— and silver—zinc batteries. 272 An excellent discussion of separator development is contained in a comprehensive review. 2 ... 

Numerous other types of cells exist such as zinc-air, aluminum-air, sodium sulfur, and nickel-metal hydride (NiMH). Companies are on a continual quest to develop cells for better batteries for a wide range of applications. Each battery must be evaluated with respect to its intended use and such factors as size, cost, safety, shelf-life, charging characteristics, and voltage. As the twenty-first century unfolds, cells seem to be playing an ever-increasing role in society. Much of this is due to advances in the consumer electronics and the computer industry, but there have also been demands in numerous other areas. These include battery-powered tools, remote data collection, transportation (electric vehicles), and medicine. 

A commercial nickel-zinc battery is considered to be the most likely candidate for electric vehicle development. If the problems of limited life and high installation cost ( 100-l50/kW-h) are solved, a nickel-zinc EV battery could provide twice the driving range for an equivalent weight lead-acid battery. Work is developmental there is no commercial production of nickel-zinc batteries. 

Design and Cost Study Zinc-Nickel Oxide Battery for Electric Vehicle Propulsion in Final Report, ANL Contract No. 109-38-3543, Yardney Elect. Corp., Oct. 1976. 

As with the primary battery systems, significant performance improvements have been made with the older secondary battery systems, and a number of newer types, such as the silver-zinc, the nickel-zinc, nickel-hydrogen, and lithium ion batteries, and the high-temperature system, have been introduced into commercial use or are under advanced development. Much of the development work on new systems has been supported by the need for high-performance batteries for portable consumer electronic applications and electric vehicles. Figure 22.1 illustrates the advances achieved in and the projections of the performance of rechargeable batteries for portable applications. 

Nickel-zinc provides the lowest-cost option for a long-cycle-life alkaline-rechargeable system. The nickel-zinc system is suited for mobile applications such as electric bicycles, electric scooters and electric and hybrid vehicles or other deep cycle applications. Nickel-zinc may also replace other nickel based batteries with a less expensive system. 

Other metal couples that are considered at present to be of great potential are the nickel-hydrogen and nickel-zinc systems. These map be batteries of the future in applications such as utilities load levelling and electric vehicles the latter type is, in fact, now in commercial production. 

Yusaza, Japan, have been developing prototype batteries for electric vehicle applications, claiming 200 maintenance-free cycles at 100% depth of diseharge. The more successful, but still unsatisfactory, batteries such as these are based on the use of PTFE bonded pressed plate zinc electrodes and sintered, plastic bonded pressed plate or fibre or expanded foam nickel electrodes to improve conductance. 

To transport people and material growing transportation systems are needed. More and more of the energy for these systems is drawn from secondary batteries. The reason for this trend is economic, but there is also an environmental need for a future chance for electric traction. The actual development of electrochemical storage systems with components like sodium-sulfur, sodium-nickel chloride, nickel-metal hydride, zinc-bromine, zinc-air, and others, mainly intended for electric road vehicles, make the classical lead-acid traction batteries look old-fashioned and outdated. Lead-acid, this more than 150-year-old system, is currently the reliable and economic power source for electric traction. 

Design Cost Study, Zinc/Nickel Oxide Battery for Hectric Vehicle Propulsion, Yardney Electric Corp., Final Rep., Contract 31-109-38-3543, Oct. 1976. 

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