Jalopnik: Batteries

Could Cars Be Used As Batteries For Cities?

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EDT

There's an idea kicking around in the egghead community about a notion called V2G, or vehicle to grid, where parked hybrid or electric cars would be plugged into the city grid and used as a distributed power storage medium. Car owners would collect a fee as the cars would be used as a buffer to store power generated in off hours for use during peak times. The concept would do away with the need for backup generators and further offset the higher costs of hybrids. What the idea won't do is work without ginormous cross industrial and governmental standardization the likes of which will never be seen in the United States. To Europe, eggheads! [LiveScience]

A Peek Under The Tesla Roadster’s Hood

Wes Siler — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Ever been curious what takes place under the Tesla Roadster’s hood in the absence of internal combustion? Well, here’s an explanation of what the parts are and and what they do, conveniently numbered so you can follow along at home. Make the jump to see why "Tesla mechanic" would be a totally cush job.

Number 1: This is the electric motor. Running on AC power, it can rev up to 13,000 RPM while producing 248 HP and 200 lb-ft. Maximum torque is available all the way from 0-6,000 RPM

Number 2: The one-speed transmission. After reliability problems with a two-speed design, Tesla settled for this stronger, simpler one-speed. The 8.27:1 drive ratio allows for a 0-60 time of around 4 seconds and a top speed of 125 MPH.

Number 3: The Power Electronics Module. In addition to capturing the power from regenerative braking and using it to recharge the batteries, it also smooths out power delivery under hard acceleration.

Number 4: The battery pack. 6,831 Lithium-Ion cells are arranged in 11 series-connected modules and surrounded by sensors and cooling systems designed to prevent catastrophic cell failure. A full 53 kW-h charge takes about 3 1/2 hours, while all the batteries together weigh somewhere between 900 and 1,000 LB. Life expectancy is in excess of 100,000 miles.

Number 5: The body and frame. The Tesla roadster shares its extruded and bonded aluminum frame with the Lotus Elise while wearing its own, superlight carbon fiber bodywork. [via Treehugger]

John McCain Thinks We'll Have 100-Mile-Per-Charge Batteries By Election?

Ray Wert — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:20:00 EDT

So we had the Today Show on in the background this morning while getting ready to run over to NPR when we heard some story about gas prices. We glanced up and noticed a guy who looked exactly like John McCain talking to Matt Lauer. We mean, it looked like McCain, it sounded like McCain — he even moved his cheeks like McCain! But the words coming from his mouth were like those from a crazy man. This nutty doppelgänger told Lauer he thought the possibility existed that we could have a car battery capable of running a car for...wait for it...100 miles on one charge. By November. And, of course, that this new "magic superbattery" would change the gas prices game. Huh? Wait. What? Does he know something we don't? Who is this crazy old coot? We've got the transcript below from the above clip — judge for yourself.

Matt: Come November, what do you think we'll be paying for a gallon of gasoline?
Crazy Old Coot: I'm not sure. Part of it depends on how it looks like we are making advances to alternative energy.
Matt: Can we make advances in that short time?
Crazy Old Coot: I think we can certainly show some progress in development of a battery that'll take us 100 miles or so before we have to plug it in. We need concrete plans with nuclear power. I don't think it'll [gas prices] be dramatically changed [in November], but...I don't think it's going much lower.

Toyota Building Hybrid Battery Plant In Japan

Travis Hudson — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:00:00 EDT

The current state of gas prices may not be as big of a ball-buster for Prius owners, but recent reports suggest that there aren't as many Priuses on the road as there could be because of manufacturing shortages. One move by Toyota to try and combat this shortage is by building a $192 million battery plant in the Japan city of Shizuoka. Toyota is partnering with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. for a plant that will produce nickel-metal hydride batteries, the same batteries used in the Prius hybrid. Maybe they'd save on materials if they made smaller keys. [Wired] (Image via Getty)

Nissan Partners With NEC For Battery Factory, Claims Of EV by 2010 Maybe Not BS?

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:20:00 EDT

Nissan has announced a strategic partnership with tech giant NEC for a lithium ion battery factory in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The facility will operate under a new company dubbed Automotive Energy Supply and will be capable of putting out 16,000 batteries by next year, and 65,000 at full rate by 2011. With this $115 million announcement, Nissan's claims of putting EVs on the road by 2010 don't seem so far fetched. If Carlos the vanquisher says it will be, it will be. [Wired]

Sometimes Yesterday's Today is Eerily Accurate

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:45:00 EST

It's always fun to look back at publications which predict what the future will be like - especially if that future is already the past. Most of the enjoyment comes from seeing just how far we haven't progressed. In the case of this 1979 book, The Usborne Book of the Future - A trip in time to the year 2000 and beyond the predictions are remarkably prescient. Take for instance the car of the future; The book offers two distinctly different and yet remarkably familiar predictions - the hybrid, and the ever elusive electric car.

While the hybrid reminds us of the epic horror of the AMC Pacer and the electric car looks nothing like the upcoming Tesla roadster, we have to give it to the books writers for their accuracy. Take a look at the super huge version here for all the thrilling details as well as a peek at the semi truck of the future. [via Pointless Museum]

First Lithium-Ion Auto Battery Plant To Open In France

Travis Hudson — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:45:00 EST

Johnson Controls and Saft Advanced Power Solutions have teamed up to open the world's first lithium-ion battery plant—for cars. The plant will be in Nersac, France and will churn out 5,000 batteries per year for clients such as GM, Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz.

Johnson Controls is a supplier of automotive batteries and Saft is a big manufacturer of nickel-cad and lithium-ion batteries, so together they are the perfect couple to produce lithium-ion batteries for electrics and hybrids. Will the creation of this plant increase the production speed or lower costs of electrics and hybrids? Not likely, but at least someone out there is trying to get the ball rolling. [Financial Times via Autopia]

Chevy Volt Battery Cell from A123 Systems

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:15:00 EST

First of all, our good buddy Autoblog Sam is now writing for Hydrogen Forecast. Go Sam! Second, A123 Systems showed off their new "prismatic lithium-iron-phosphate cell" at the twenty-third Electric Vehicle Symposium in Anaheim, CA. This new battery cell was developed for General Motors' E-Flex development program, and that means it will wend its way into the 2011 Chevy Volt. Those of you in the snow belt will be happy to know that the the cells work in -40 degrees. For those living in the sun belt, they are good at temps as high as 120. What does that mean for those days in Vegas when it's 125 in the shade? We don't know. But we do know that these cells will be in Volt mules by 2008. [Hydrogen Forecast]

Tesla Roadster Spotted in Santa Monica

Jonny Lieberman — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:00:00 EST

Location, location, location. Er, make that timing is everything. Whatever the cliché, we were sitting on our butt talking to some friendly Honda folk when in rolls Autoblog Sam and Tesla's Darryl Siry. They had just whipped the all-electric, Elise-based Roadster up and down Latigo Canyon — which is a hell of a road. So, not only is the Tesla for real, but according to Sam it kicks some major butt.

Israel to Back Electric Car Plan

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:00:00 EST

Isreal's cabinet is set to endorse an aggressive plan to convert the country to all electric cars, which is a decent idea if you're surrounded by oil-producing countries that kind of hate you. The idea is to spread charging points (500,000 of them) across the country and let people buy the cars and lease the batteries at a low cost, similar to cell phones. It's a fascinating proposal and may have legs thanks to the endorsement, which comes with major tax breaks and other forms of support. Renault has been mentioned as a possible partner, but the plan hasn't gotten quite that far.

The idea is the brainchild of former SAP exec Shai Agassi, who sees this as an opportunity to revolutionize car ownership and usage. Initially, power for the cars will come off the regular grid. But the firm plans to build a fully solar system once usage creates the capital and reason for such an investment. [Haaretz]

Oops: New York Times Erroneously Reports Tesla Delays "Battery Related"

Jonny Lieberman — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:00 EDT

OMG! Ann Coulter is right. Just like when Dale Sr. took one for the team and the New York Times failed to put it on the front page, once again the Gray Lady gets it all wrong when it comes to cars. Oh wait, the New York Times actually did run Earnhardt's death on the front page and Coulter is a freaky looking drag queen/performance artist. Exhale... Anyhow, in a profile on Silicon Valley "technologist" Shai Agassi, who is planning on sticking battery recharging stations everywhere, Times writer John Markoff mistakenly reported that the delay in the much anticipated electric Tesla Roadster was due to "battery related issues." Tesla's VP of Sales, Marketing and Service — Darryl Siry — was all over it and the New York Times issued a retraction. Funny how that works. Turns out that the delay was and is continuing to be caused by transmission woes. Having spent some time behind the wheel of an Elise, the car the Tesla is based on, we can see how the tranny — the Elise's Achilles' heel — would be an issue. [Update:: Now I have to publish a retraction. What I meant by my bad tranny comment is that the worst part of the Lotus Elise by far is the transmission. Therefor, even though the Tesla has a totally different 2-speed gear-swapper, I'm not shocked because... oh, forget it. I'm just going to re-read Godless: The Church of Liberalism.]

Nissan's Ghosn Green

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:45:00 EDT

Carlos "Guitarlos" Ghosn is pushing his company's dedication to lighter, more compact battery units. While Nissan's current hybrid system is based on NiMH batteries with powertrain tech licensed from Toyota, Renault's Japanese brothers are hammering on lithium ion cells in hopes of gaining a competitive advantage in electrical propulsion; in fact, Ghosn says he'd love to see Nissan in the ring with a viable electric vehicle. With GM having offered up a full-boat commitment to the Volt project and Toyota continuing to be well, Toyota, the melee in the hybrid market's only going to get more interesting before it gets codified. – Davey G. Johnson

Nissan developing smaller, lighter car batteries for hybrids and electric cars, CEO says [IHT]

Related:
Nissan Rolls Out First Fuel Cell Car-For-Hire [Internal]