UK Company Introduces Electric Sportscar with Altairnano Battery Pack; More Models Planned

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ozyran @ Jun 12 2007, 02:18 PM) [snapback]460408[/snapback]</div>

Looks like this electric vehicle has the same performance specs as the Tesla Roadster.

For electric cars to be really practical, battery technology needs to be improved in regards to: a) capacity, B) size, c) safety, d) fast charging rate, d) reliability, and finally e) cost. Other than the battery, other existing technologies (motor/generator, electronic control circuits, etc.) are mature enough to go into a mass production electric vehicle.

Keith

 

Tesla is working on the family EV called White Star at about $50K.
You will be interested in the Miles automotive Javalin at $28K, all electric with 100+ mile range and lithium batteries. It may be out in 2008 if their plans all work.
http://www.evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=14014

Dubbed XS500, the company says its "high speed" vehicle will employ "breakthrough technology" — namely, a lithium-ion battery pack — which it says will enable a speed of up to 80 miles per hour and a range of more than 150 miles. The range, incidentally, has shrunk by 25 percent since last year, when the company promised 200 miles.

The XS500, according to the company's literature, will go on sale in late 2008, priced from around $30,000. It will be joined by a companion model, the XM200, about which there are scant details.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tech_Guy @ Jun 12 2007, 02:58 PM) [snapback]460426[/snapback]</div>

capacity - it sounds like, with the new lithium-ion technologies, that the capacity is very nearly almost there.
Definitely there if the Tesla lives up to it's specs in production.
safety - safer than what? Several gallons of highly flammable gasoline? We're not talking Sony laptop here (I hope )
fast charging - I'm not convinced this is necessary to be practical. In many places electricity is billed at a
variable rate so charging at night is preferable. Speed is not essential here. Down the road
a fast charge capability is certainly desirable, but not initially necessary.
reliability - sure.
cost - that's the trick. If the Tesla and similar vehicles are successful that should build manufacturing base for
batteries and that should lead to economies of scale in battery production.When that happens I expect
to start seeing EVs that the rest of us can afford. [still keeping my Prius though]

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tech_Guy @ Jun 12 2007, 05:58 PM) [snapback]460426[/snapback]</div>

Altair nano batteries have addressed these points:

a) capacity
What's wrong with a 300 mile range?

B) size
Things have moved on a lot since bulky lead-acid (1860s technology), lithium-ion stores big capacity in a small volume.

c) safety
You can pierce, crush, flame, shoot, short or overcharge Altair or Valence cells and they won't burst into flames or do anything similar.

d) fast charging rate
What's wrong with the 10-minute 0-100% recharge of the Altair batteries?

d) reliability
Altair has tested their batteries with 15,000 cycles (20 year projected calender life) and the capacity still remains.

e) cost
OK, you got me on that one, this area does need some work! However, with mass manufacturing they should be able to come down below the $300 per kWh of 18650 cobalt lithium-ion because the component materials of their electrodes are cheaper.

 

Same specs as the Tesla Roadster but three times the cost. And why do people let them get away with using the word "introduce" when all they've done is announce a concept??????? ????????? ??????????. This seems to be the norm now: You dream up a concept, give it some plausible-sounding description, tell the news media you're going to sell this as-yet-nonexistent car in six months, and it's reported as "Acme car company introduces super car."

Lets reserve the word "introduce" for when there are cars actually available for sale to the public, okay?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Jun 13 2007, 05:29 AM) [snapback]460759[/snapback]</div>

apparently, the batteries on this car can be charged in 10 minutes, vs several hours on the tesla.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nark @ Jun 13 2007, 12:29 PM) [snapback]461039[/snapback]</div>

Apparently so. However, doing so requires a charger capable of delivering a mind-boggling amount of current. I think I saw a guesstimate of $100,000 as the cost of the charger.

Yevette goes a mile on about 1/3 kwh. Assuming those bigger, faster cars can go a mile on 1/2 kwh (which I doubt, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt) then 200 miles requires 100 kwh. At present, electricity is delivered to end users at 220 v, but for ease of calculation I'm going to use 200 v. Delivering 100 kwh in ten minutes requires 600 kw. That means the entry box that feeds the charger has to be able to handle three thousand amps!!! In other words, at home you're still going to have to take several hours to charge.

Of course, at home you don't need to charge in ten minutes.

Fast charging on the road at electron stations (instead of gas stations) is the way of the future. But until that infrastructure exists, the car with the Altairnano battery will in actual practice charge no faster than the car with the AC Propulsion battery. The big advantage of the Altairnano battery is its safety. The big advantage of the AC Propulsion battery is its lower cost, since the component cells are readily available in great volume from a large number of suppliers.

 

Rapid charging and discharging rates equals big time heat. This is the achilles heel of electric vehicles, I'm sure they'll get around it somehow but I haven't seen anything yet. I bet this is the big problem with Toyota's next gen hybrid.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Topgas @ Jun 17 2007, 08:43 AM) [snapback]463393[/snapback]</div>

Altair recently demonstrated a fast charge to the press. They charged a 30 kWh pack from 0 to 100% in ten minutes and it barely got warm.

Home 110 or 220V would take several hours, but the ten-minute fast charge is performed using a 480 V three-phase industrial style unit (similar to what's available in thousands of factories all around the country).