It's All About the Battery

If electric cars are going to make a real impact, they have to meet a few criteria. The most important have to do with the batteries that make them go because that is where the technology is most vulnerabe. What should these batteries be able to do?

The batteries should be light enough for the average person to pick up without too much difficulty, and they should not take up too much space.

An electric car should be able to go 1,000 miles between charges or with the use of multiple batteries as long as they don’t take up too much space.

The battery should be able to charge quickly, perhaps, while you are eating lunch especially if you can only carry one battery at a time. It goes without saying, but here it is, anyway, there have to be plenty of places available to charge them not only at home but on the road as well.

Florida encourages electric vehicle travel tourism with more than 500 charging stations, including charging stations at Simon Shopping malls so you can enjoy shopping and dinner and hit the road with a fresh charge -- at no cost in many cases.

Is there anything to get charged up about as far as battery technology is concerned? Companies in China have developed batteries that will not need to be replaced for 10 years. And in the United States, under the direction of the federal Department of Energy, their Electrical Energy Storage in Transportation (BEEST) program is helping to fund companies that are working to advance battery development. So what is on the horizon?

If you have not heard of Envia Systems, you will, soon. They are working on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that could cut the price of batteries in half.

The answer might be a new approach developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Under the guidance of Professors W. Craig Carter and Yet-Ming Chiang, a semi-solid flow cell is being developed. Using a special liquid in which solid particles are suspended, this mixture is propelled through the system.

The Battery500 Project, teams IBM, the Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They are looking at a lithium air battery that creates a charge when heavy-metal oxides are traded with carbon and exposed to oxygen.

While it is important for car companies to continue to refine the design of electric vehicles, nothing much is going to happen until the batteries get where they need to go. However, it is only a matter of time until electric cars can deliver on their promise because the batteries that drive them are finally getting the attention they deserve. If you are waiting until the prices drop and the cars improve, you may not have that much longer to wait. 

Elite Custom Electric Vehicles offers this sporty custom converted electric Audi A8 sedan that travels 90% of the time as an all-electric vehicle for city commutes and around-town. For longer commutes and vacation travel, a click of the switch launches an on-board recharge range-extending power generator.





Evelyn Bradford is a freelance contributor to KeyInsuranceQuotes.com. She owns an electric car, enjoys the lack of fumes and can’t wait to see the technology improve.

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Based in Florida, Elite-evs are faster than blue lightning but they can also be tamed to top speeds under 50 mph for resort community travel needs.

Ideal for town and retirement community travel
 see our Electric City Car Collection at e-cars.cc.

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