Other Battery Technologies

Other battery technologies include sodium-sulfur which was used in early Ford EVs, and zinc-air. Zinc appeared in GM s failed Electrovette EV in the late 1970s. Zinc-air batteries have been promoted by a number of companies, including Israel s Electric Fuel, Ltd. Zinc is inexpensive and these batteries have six times the energy density of lead-acid. A car with zinc-air batteries could deliver a 400 mile range, but the German postal service found that these batteries cannot be conventionally recharged. 

Leclanche s cells are produced in cylindrical and flat (prismatic) designs in different sizes. Their energy density at 20 °C is very low (65 Wh kg-1 for the cylindrical size, see Table 2) compared to the other primary battery technologies. Fiowever, they are the cheapest batteries available in the market (see Table 2). Their nominal voltage is 1.5 V, which is comparable with other battery technologies (see Table 2). 

The effect of discharge rate on delivered capacity for both types of cells is illustrated in Figs. 41.4 and 41.5 for two 3-cm-diameter cells. The reduction in capacity associated with increasing the discharge rate is less for these technologies than it is for most other battery technologies. 

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