Interesting talk on automotive electrochemical storage

Make that electrochemical energy storage - batteries. Nov. 2009 Talk at UC Berkeley from the Chemical Sciences and Materials Lab Director at GM. Very knowledgable and speaks well.

bits from 1st half -
* Li Ion are the major traction batteries currently
* Increasing world population major driver to vehicle electrification
* Electrified vehicles can use diverse sources of energy
* 80% traction efficiency from battery to wheels in EV
* note - GM build bus hybrid drive systems (utilized by Gillig in Hayward,Ca)
* Cost a challenge in EV's - batteries & electronics are expensive
* GM calls Volt and EREV because w/ range, ICE will not come on with flooring pedal
* 10 million EREV's (Volts) would only impact grid by 0.9%
* EREV40 requires 2.5x power over PHEV40

2nd half more technical with battery electrochemistry -

* challenging to estimate battery SOC
* using dual negative electrode materials to estimate system state
* promising future using higher capacity electrode materials
* currently using about 300 mAh/g electrode materials.
* Silicon based materials could provide 1500 mAh/g, but challenges to overcome
* chemical and mechanical degradation in Li Ion batteries due to solvent reduction and material surface cracking from expansion / contraction (charging/discharging)

and a lot more.

 

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