NOV 25

Here’s some exciting news for the EV faithful: tests results show that the lithium ion batteries destined for cars last a long time. These are not the sickly, unreliable laptop batteries that are constantly forcing us to search for outlets. These are workhorses. I refer to recent tests conducted by Southern California Edison on a battery made by Johnson Controls-Saft. They installed the battery into a light van and simulated the kind of regular use such a vehicle would typically undergo. They did this for two years. 180,000 miles later, the battery is showing only minimal signs of slowing down. The DOE is excited, and is funding them with the hopes that they will repeat the trick with a battery suitable for a regular-sized passenger vehicle.

It is hard to overstate how much the game would change if batteries with performance like this became the norm. Batteries will also need to improve in terms of how far they can drive the car on a single charge, but it is arguably more important that the battery stays robust over the course of its lifetime.

Via Autobloggreen

Comments (6)

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Battery controller circuit
written by hyperspaced, November 25, 2008

Equally important is the controller circuitry for the regulation of the battery use. Progress could be made in that field as well.

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All weather
written by Craig, November 25, 2008

My concern is how would it fair in places that actually have sub freezing winters that are famous for draining batteries? If they wanted a real world test, why run it in a place with basically only one season?

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...
written by Bob Wallace, November 25, 2008

Lithium batteries perform in cold weather. It's lead acid and alkaline that lose voltage when cooled.

Further, I would expect that Southern California Edison ran their tests in Southern California because they are located in .... ;o)

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It would be enough
written by gadget and electronics reviews, November 25, 2008

It would be enough for the people that live in places like Arizona and Nevada to create a market... IMO. Good information on this site...

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written by Clinch, November 27, 2008

It's not really that clear what the meaning of this is, as distance isn't really a standardised measure for battery performance, and they don't seem to have any comparisons to any other car batteries.

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Lithium polymer battery in B-Zero
written by Carlo, December 04, 2008

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2...ero-produc

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