With each company frenetically busying themselves in proprietary technologies, we wonder why we don’t see more hybrid solutions.
Doesn’t it make you wonder why we can’t have electric vehicles, EV that could hold different types of batteries in order to answer the many driving needs people have?
Companies as AFS Trinity have always impressed us by using two different available technologies to push the performance envelop. Case in point, lithium are light and energy efficient but under intense use, as in with everything, they deplete themselves and shorten their life span. How about slapping on ultracapacitators to offload the wear and tear? Ultracaps, can deliver intense boost of energy and replenish their levels quickly making them perfect secondary battery packs for EVs. However to this day, there are only prototypes using these two techniques.
Promising Benefits. As we can see via FindArticles, considering lithium batteries, under “normal” work load, would have to be replaced every replaced every 25,000 miles. One way to make sure the lithium pack isn’t taxed would be to couple it with ultracapacitators. According to AFS Trinity, their “hybrid batteries” can last 180,000 miles. Not too shabby and certainly would convince a few sitting on the fence.
Ultracapacitators As Energy Storage. And it’s not just the world of EVs that can benefit from ultracaps, but energy storage for the grid load balancing, as the PennySleuth rightfully remarks. And if we look at the world of electric trains locomotion, we can see they have used ultracapacitators to store regenerative electricity for some time now.
So what is the hold up? Price, darn price! If lithium are expensive, imagine slapping on yet another battery type on top of it. Now imagine having to coordinate when and how both batteries operate, and you get the more intricate programing difficulties. Yet, it does exist and we believe it is one of the most likely road to the success of future EV and plug-in hybrids, PHEV.
Watch for companies, such as the Uber secretive EEStor and their latest patents.
[...] Of EVs. Finally the future of EVs looks like it will go through the use of some sort of “hybrid battery” system. AFS Trinity’s results have been impressive to say the least, 160,000 miles [...]
Pingback by Electricnick, The World Of Electric Cars » Blog Archive » The Future Of Electric Cars Is With Ultracapacitators — January 8, 2009 @ 8:01 am
[...] business sense in the long run. The best promise so far is in hybrid battery packs. News of AFS Trinity claiming they lithium/ultracapacitartors lasting 180,000 miles makes us [...]
Pingback by Electricnick, The Electric Car Revolution » Blog Archive » The Electric Car Business Battle — June 24, 2009 @ 1:35 pm