Electric Vehicles - Range Anxiety No more!

8/6/2014

How about a car that can travel around 1,800km without recharging?

Well, the development of this technology has been announced at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference in Atlanta, that the companies are collaborating on new materials, processes and components to commercialize the aluminum-air battery, which can extend electric vehicle range by 1,000 miles

A Canadian company Alcoa and, Israel-based Phinergy clean technology company, have entered into a joint development agreement to further develop Phinergy’s electric vehicle batteries that run on air and aluminum. Together they have demonstrated the in Montreal such a possibility.

The thought of an electric car making a 19-hour, 1,800-kilometre run without having to stop for a recharge is kind of unbelievable even for most electric car fans.

The car can go 1,000 miles (almost 2,000 Kms) on a single charge!

The batter consists of panels made mostly of aluminum. (Alcoa). They did so by refurbishing an ordinary car to use “Aluminum-Air battery. The Aluminum battery can extend the range of any electric car by 1,600 kilometers when used in conjunction with the original electric vehicle's regular lithium-ion battery.

Presently only the most expensive Tesla Model can reach 480 kilometers while the rest can go about one fourth that distance.

The batteries are "charged" from the Alcoa Company’s smelter which is fired by hydroelectric power. These batteries when fully charged are thick, heavy panels made mostly of aluminum.

The energy is released via a chemical reaction that draws oxygen from the air and uses water fed into the car by the user to turn the aluminum into alumina (similar to the reaction that turns iron into rust). This reaction happens naturally when aluminum is exposed to air, but then, the alumina layer on the surface stops the reaction from penetrating deeper. Phinergy's technology includes an electrolyte that dissolves the surface layer, allowing the reaction to continue.

A conventional battery consists of an anode and a cathode, where the cathode takes up to 70% of the battery’s weight. The cathode is used as a container for a reactant (e.g. Oxygen), usually up to 5% of its weight, that is required for releasing the energy in a metal anode. The result is that most of a conventional battery’s weight is poorly utilized.

Just one of the 50 aluminum plates in the battery can power a car for approximately 20 miles, extending vehicle range by approximately 1,000 miles. The technology allows an energy density that surpasses conventional battery technologies

According to Alcoa, car owners need to refill the aluminum air battery with tap water every month or two to feed the chemical reaction, like every time you top up your wiper fluid.

The spent batteries would be replaced with charged batteries during a "quick operation" at a local service station. Around the time to change your breaks pads and check if your tyre needs to be changed or aligned.

A metal-air battery features an air-electrode that breathes oxygen from ambient air, instead of the conventional cathode. That is, the battery consumes the required oxygen from the air, rather than having heavy materials that bound oxygen inside it. Metal-air batteries therefore have a huge potential for delivering high capacity with low weight.

As the car would still rely on its regular rechargeable lithium-ion battery most of the time and would switch to the aluminum-air battery as a backup only if the lithium-ion battery ran out, and because most car trips are 50 kilometers or less, Alcoa estimates the aluminum-air batteries would only need to be changed about once a year.

For more info on these companies you may read:
Alcoa
Phinergy

Below is the image from a US patent titled "Electric vehicle extended range hybrid battery pack system," that Tesla originally filed December 8, 2010 and was granted June 25, 2013. The abstract explains:
A power source comprised of a first battery pack (e.g., a non-metal-air battery pack) and a second battery pack (e.g., a metal-air battery pack) is provided, wherein the second battery pack is only used as required by the state-of-charge (SOC) of the first battery pack or as a result of the user selecting an extended range mode of operation. Minimizing use of the second battery pack prevents it from undergoing unnecessary, and potentially lifetime limiting, charge cycles. The second battery pack may be used to charge the first battery pack or used in combination with the first battery pack to supply operational power to the electric vehicle.

Complete detail description of the Tesla design:http://green.autoblog.com/2013/09/18/tesla-patent-reveals-metal-air-hybrid-battery-powertrain/

3 Comments

Sateesh Reddy

8/6/2014 03:30:52 pm

How long do think it will take before BIG OIL companies buys this company and shelves the entire thing?

Big Oil companies did that with the NiMh battery used on the 2nd Gen EV1 in 1999. History could repeat it's self again. Do watch the movie - Who killed the electric car.

Otherwise, a great break-through if we can keep the government and big oil companies from interfering.

Kamlesh

8/6/2014 04:00:34 pm

That is a valid Point. But i feel that this is a different era where there is so much more public attention and expectation on the EV industry. So if Shell decides to buy this Israeli company, and shelve this technology there would be an public uproar.
And moreover even Tesla Motors have filed patents on the Metal-air 'hybrid' technology. Now that gives me optimism. Big oil companies can meddle with small companies like this, but they cant dare touch Mr Elon Musk :)

Johnson

9/6/2014 03:24:04 am

Personally I feel Tesla is on the verge of extinction. They still have two aces up their sleeves.

1. The economy e-car - which they are developing and hopefully they can price it around the cost of Swift or below the Toyota Corolla If not the company will surely wind up.

2. Tesla Metal-Air batteries. - even if they do develop the Metal Air batteries they need to have a low priced car that can take advantage of that....

I also fear that this Israeli company and Tesla might get into a decade long court battle to decide on the patent.

My point is car companies are best making affordable cars and improving their design and making the ride more smooth....there is so many things that can be improved upon. The battery technology is developing at a rapid stage that almost every year a better technology is being announced. So spending money on researching and developing battery technology is just a waste of time and money.

Ii-Ion Batteries are good enough. So use them till some other technology comes in... and when it does... use it.

The biggest challenge of the EV companies face today and also for all car companies is not the battery. I believe the biggest challenge for them is to reduce the cost of the car and at the same time making sure the maintenance too remains less.

and for this something radical has to come in... cars cannot be made in the same way as they are now... change is must... this is a major thought process that might not go down well with 99% Automobile Engineers who have been hardwired to think in terms of what have been taught to them. It is difficult for anybody to think in terms of what have not been taught. To think independently... to think fearlessly... to think that the best technology available today is crap... and to rebuild something new... something radical...

Electric Vehicles - Range Anxiety No more!

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