Batteries still drag 'green vehicle' effort

Combined global sales of hybrid and battery electric vehicles are expected to total 5.2 million units in 2020, about 7.3 percent of the 70.9 million passenger vehicles forecast to be sold worldwide that year, according to a recent report from JD Power and Associates.

Of those 5.2 million vehicles, 3.9 million units are expected to be hybrids, with sales coming mostly in the US (1.7 million units), Europe (977,000) and Japan (875,000), the report said. Fewer than 100,000 are expected to be sold in China in 2020.

Of the 1.3 million battery electric cars sold, Europe and China will account for 742,000 and 332,000 units respectively. About 100,000 will be sold in the US and a similar number in Japan, the report said.

Global sales of hybrids and battery electric vehicles are expected to reach 954,000 units this year, or 2.2 percent of the 44.7 million vehicles projected to be sold through the end of 2010.

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Ford goes wireless

As it aims to advance its lithium-ion battery systems for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, Ford has gone wireless.

The company is leveraging the internet and wireless technology to test and refine the systems. Engineers will now collect real-time performance data from batteries in the lab and vehicles on the field using an internet server while wirelessly updating system software to manage thermal load and maximise energy capacity, power capabilities and lifecycle durability.

These methods have helped Ford to slash test-fleet downtime and double its battery lab testing capabilities.

Now system specific engineers can be informed via email whenever software update opportunities occur using an adaptive event monitoring that detects conditions of interest and collects relevant data. According to Ford, this system has already led to at least 20 major design improvements in its vehicles.

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Ford Invests $135M In Green Parts For Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Ford Motor Company announced that it will invest $135 million in two Michigan factories to design, engineer and build key green vehicle parts for the next generation of hybrid-electric vehicles that go into production in 2012.

The investment will result in adding 170 jobs to its Rawsonville plant, while Engineers in Dearborn will design the battery packs and more than 50 engineers to its Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights in the next two years.

Ford would be pumping about $10 million at its Rawsonville components plant to produce lithium-ion battery packs for future hybrid vehicles, also moving its work to Michigan that is currently performed by Delphi in Mexico. About 40 new jobs will be created in the starting of 2012. As of now Ford employs about 780 at Rawsonville plant.

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Battery Technology Used In EVs

A battery is the most expensive and least environmentally friendly component of an electric car. It is a real pain - a hurdle that keeps the electric motoring from development. Using the knowledge we posses, we cannot make an EC travel further than 120 miles between recharges.

With such a low range it is and remains limited by city borders not giving us the real mobility and flexibility. Is there a chance we could come up with a new electric car battery that gives us a better range? Let's first look at the known and available options.

1.    Lead-Acid Batteries

Although Alessandro Volta invented a battery in 1800, it was 1859 when a lead-acid prototype was created by Gaston Plante. These batteries are robust, tolerant to abuse, tried and tested and because of their low cost.

Ø  For higher power applications with intermittent loads however, Lead acid batteries are generally too big and heavy and they suffer from a shorter cycle life and typical usable power down to only 50% Depth of Discharge (DOD). Despite these shortcomings Lead acid batteries are still being specified for Power Net applications (36 Volts 2 kWh capacity) because of the cost, but this is probably the limit of their applicability and NiMH and Li-Ion batteries are making inroads into this market.

Ø  Lead-acid batteries are composed of a Lead-dioxide cathode, a sponge metallic Lead anode and a Sulphuric acid solution electrolyte. This heavy metal element makes them toxic and improper disposal can be hazardous to the environment.
The cell voltage is 2 Volts 

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Advanced Storage Battery Market from Hybrid Electric Vehicles to Cell Phones ( prminds.com ) - EVHUB.BIZ news updates

Bharatbook.com included a new report on "Advanced Storage Battery Market: from Hybrid Electric Vehicles to Cell Phones" which provides a concise, focused look on the world of rechargeable batteries

Advanced Storage Battery Market: from Hybrid Electric Vehicles to Cell Phones report ( http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Advanced-Storage-Battery-Market-from-Hybrid-Electric-Vehicles-to-Cell-Phones.html ) assess Whether it is a battery for the latest laptop, energy storage for a hybrid electric vehicle, or backup power for a remote telecommunications site, everyone wants a battery that has the highest energy density, best safety factor, and longest life in term of discharge cycles and ease of maintenance while still being environmentally friendly. These are the drivers behind rechargeable battery research around the world today. Rechargeable batteries, also known as storage batteries, are a continuing strong market, with worldwide sales of $36 billion in 2008. The rechargeable battery market will rise to $51 billion by 2013. Lithium-ion is the battery chemistry of choice for future generations of portable electronics and hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. In 2008, lithium-ion battery research had more funding than all other battery technologies combined. Nanotechnology and chemistry advances in electrode design are the key research topics that companies are using to push lithium-ion to be the dominant energy storage technology in the future. The portable rechargeable battery market, of which lithium-ion has a 75% share, is the fastest growing segment of the rechargeable battery market, showing world market growth of 20% in 2008. Nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries, still important for power tools and back-up systems, will decline rapidly in market share by 2013 due to stricter environmental controls on cadmium. And Ni-MH will see its market share slowly erode due to increasing lithium-ion market share and new silver-zinc and nickel-zinc rechargeable battery chemistries that are coming to market. But despite the growing portable rechargeable battery market share, tried and true lead-acid battery technology continues to head rechargeable battery sales with a U.S. rechargeable battery market share of 79% in 2008. Current research using carbon based cathodes means that we will see lead acid batteries hold their traditional stronghold markets of automotive, industrial, and telecommunications backup markets. More news on this story @ http://www.prminds.com/pressrelease.php?id=11947