Log In | Register
ONE of the biggest drawbacks with owning an electric vehicle (EV) is range anxiety - a driver's nagging fear that the battery charge will not get them to their destination. Now IBM claims to have solved a fundamental problem that may lead to the creation of a battery with an 800-kilometre (500-mile) range - letting EVs potentially compete with most petrol engines for the first time.
Standard electric vehicles use lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which are bulky and rarely provide 160 kilometres (100 miles) of driving before they run down.
A newer type, known as a lithium-air cell, is more attractive because it has theoretical energy densities more than 1000 times greater than the Li-ion type, putting it almost on a par with gasoline. Instead of using metal oxides in the positive electrode, lithium-air cells use carbon, which is lighter and reacts with oxygen from the air around it to produce an electrical current.
Air battery to let electric cars outlast gas guzzlers
- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (4)
However, if the electrolyte reacts with the oxygen when the car is in use it will eventually be depleted. So, working with his colleague Alessandro Curioni at IBM's Zurich research labs in Switzerland, Wilcke used a Blue Gene supercomputer to run extremely detailed models of the reactions to look for alternative electrolytes. This included a form of atomistic modelling right down to the quantum mechanics of the components, says Curioni.
"We now have one which looks very promising," says Wilcke. He won't reveal what material it is but says that several research prototypes have already been demonstrated. And as part of Battery 500, an IBM-led coalition involving four US national laboratories and commercial partners, the hope is to have a full-scale prototype ready by 2013, with commercial batteries to follow by around 2020.
- 4 votes
#1 - Fri Jan 6, 2012 8:17 PM ESTNow, if:
1) the wheels could be reliably manufactured in mass quantities from carbon fiber, and
2) the inside of the tire could be designed to hold the (non-toxic) electrolyte, and
3) a fuel cell and an electric motor were mounted directly onto each wheel, or designed as a part of the wheel itself,
Then the automobile industry just might have something reliable in that electric car design. No more heavy car parts; no central motor with long goofy cabling nor linkages; much further travel distance on a given amount of fuel; and a much reduced amount of parts obsolescence and wear & tear replacement, except on things like tires.
Petroleum would still be used in the manufacture of some of the plastic car parts, but will not be needed to be used for fuel. A way to get the OPEC'ers off our backs.
Properly enclose the described wheel system, and the car becomes a vehicle needing virtually NO re-fueling; fuel is added when a new wheel system is installed, say , after a tire blow-out.
- 2 votes
#2 - Sat Jan 7, 2012 9:07 AM ESTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
