As electric vehicles from major carmakers near the market, folks are focusing on range anxiety — the concern that an electric car will run out of juice and leave you stranded. Here are a couple of potential solutions: mobile technology to help you keep track (see The Answer to Electric Vehicle Range Anxiety: Mobile Tech) and wireless charging so you don’t have to remember to plug in (see Can Electric Vehicles Lose the Plug? and Plug-free electric cars’ hidden cost).
Archive for the ‘batteries’ Category
Easing range anxiety
Thursday, August 5th, 2010Fast car charging
Monday, June 28th, 2010A Nikkei Automotive Technology article about a prototype superfast electric vehicle charging system brings to mind the perception of range limitation. These new electric vehicle charging times — five minutes or so — are short enough for us to get past the idea that electric cars are limited in how far they can travel. Here’s an earlier post with more thoughts on the subject.
Volvo gets in on shapeable ultracapacitors
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Looks like shapeable ultracapacitors have caught the attention of at least one car maker.
Volvo is looking to build energy storage into the bodies of its cars. In particular, the company is working with researchers at Imperial College London on carbon-fiber panels that are both structural and ultracapacitors.
From a New York Times Wheels blog post:
- According to Emile Greenhalgh, the Imperial College aeronautics engineer who is coordinating the three-year project, “Our lightweight carbon-fiber panels can carry a mechanical load and store energy simultaneously, and we’re working toward achieving a 15 percent weight savings in a Volvo hybrid test car.” The ultracapacitors won’t replace the battery pack in hybrid cars — that’s still down the road — but their presence can make it smaller, lighter and cheaper.
The ICL project is along the lines of work being done by startup Paper Battery Co. and Stanford researcher Yi Cui. The ICL work is focused on multifunctional composite materials that can be used as structural components. The Paper Battery Co. and Stanford research is focused on producing shapeable, high-performance ultracapacitors that can be added to structural components.
Ultracapacitors in the news
Monday, February 22nd, 2010An Intel lab is developing nanomaterials for ultracapacitors, according to EE Times Asia (via Technology Review). The lab’s goal is to make devices that store more energy than today’s lithium-ion batteries.
And Mitsubishi Electric has a prototype hybrid ultracapacitor, according to a Nikkei Electronics story. The device has high power and high capacity but a relatively low number of cycles.
Intel and Mitsubishi Electric have a lot of company, as detailed in the new ERN report on ultracapacitors.
Report on ultracapacitors: major advances on tap (updated)
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010You’ll be hearing a lot more about ultracapacitors in the next few years. The devices are poised to transform energy storage by taking over high-power functions from batteries in three key areas:
* Tying wind and solar farms to the power grid
* Stabilizing the grid
* Powering hybrid and electric vehicles
The ERN Research report, Ultracapacitors: Emerging technologies for high-power energy storage, analyzes ultracapacitor technologies for these large-scale applications.
The report details ultracapacitor types, emerging ultracapacitor applications, the components that make up ultracapacitors, the factors that contribute to ultracapacitor cost, performance variables, and future directions.
The report includes detailed profiles of
* 15 startups that are readying potential ultracapacitor breakthroughs
* 27 manufacturers and 29 other companies that have recently developed ultracapacitor technologies
* 52 researchers around the world who are pushing the boundaries of ultracapacitor science and engineering
Some highlights:
One of the hottest ultracapacitor technologies is electrodes made from closely-packed, vertical carbon nanotubes. These prototype electrodes store an order of magnitude more energy than today’s best commercial devices. Players to watch include MIT spinoff FastCAP Systems, research firm ADA Technologies and major ultracapacitor manufacturer Nippon Chemi-con.
Much ultracapacitor development is aimed at driving down costs. This usually means making cheaper carbon electrodes. Players to watch include startup SolRayo, activated carbon maker Reticle, research company TDA Research and University of Kentucky researcher Stephen Lipka.
Electrolytes are another key area, and ionic liquids and lithium are the hot topics. Players to watch include ADA Technologies, Kansai University’s Masashi Ishikawa, Bologna University’s Marina Mastragostino and research company LithChem.
Meanwhile, cutting-edge materials and nanotechnology research promise to push the boundaries of ultracapacitor technology. Researchers to watch include Yonsei University’s Kwang-Bum Kim, University of Texas’ (and Graphene Energy, Inc.’s) Rod Ruoff, MIT’s Yang Shao-Horn and Florida State University’s Jim Zheng.
Given the expected boom in ultracapacitors over the next five years and the differences among application requirements, it’s likely that there will be room for several emerging technologies to reach the market.
Ultracapacitor energy storage capacities are likely to increase by five to 10 times in the next five years, but ultracapacitors aren’t likely to make batteries obsolete. They will, however, replace batteries for many power-intensive applications, including hybrid vehicle acceleration and regenerative braking.
Several laboratory ultracapacitor prototypes are already providing 10 times the power and capacity of today’s commercial ultracapacitors. The key question is how readily these materials can be mass-produced and whether they can be made cheaply enough.
DOE looking to launch battery hub
Monday, February 1st, 2010The Department of Energy is looking to open a fourth Energy Innovation Hub. They’ve slotted $34 million in the fiscal year 2011 budget request to create a Batteries and Energy Storage hub. Overall, the budget request provides a boost for renewable energy research, including $300 million for ARPA-E and a $40 million increase in funding for Energy Frontier Research Centers. (see DOE budget boosts research)
2010: Key year for EVs?
Saturday, December 19th, 2009With the backdrop of good (A123 and SAIC) and bad (Boston-Power and Saab/GM) news for battery startups, a market research firm and a venture capital firm have offered predictions about hybrid/electric cars for 2010.
Pike Research’s study calls 2010 a crucial year for hybrid/electric vehicle technology and identifies a challenge: attract buyers beyond the environmentally conscious. Here’s Cnet’s writeup.
Lightspeed Venture Partners’ predicts that hybrid/electric vehicle startups will enter the market, fleet operators will adopt hybrid/electric vehicles, and there’ll be notable progress and increased competition in advanced car batteries.
Fuel cells and Federal favor
Monday, May 11th, 2009The Obama administration’s decision to cut spending on fuel cell vehicles came as a bit of a surprise, especially given the money the Department of Energy is putting into alternative vehicles in general.
The Wall Street Journal’s Keith Johnson asks if the decision amounts to the government picking a winner. I’d say they’re picking off a loser.
No alternative technology is likely to knock the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine off its throne by 2020, according to a Boston Consulting Group study. But batteries and biofuels are a better bet for making an impact in the next decade than fuel cells.
Electric vehicles benefit from the success of hybrids and the anticipated success of the coming wave of plug-in hybrids, particularly with oil prices expected to be in the midst of a significant rebound when plug-ins hit the market. Carmakers have stepped up their investment in battery R&D.
Although biofuels are a harder case to make than batteries, they benefit from a low cost of deployment. Assuming we can develop an affordable domestic supply of cellulosic biofuels, converting petroleum-based vehicles and fueling infrastructure is a minor cost.
In contrast, today’s fuel cells are expensive and have short life spans.
The clearest evidence against the picking-a-winner thesis is the carmakers. If they’d had a lot invested in fuel-cell vehicles you’d have heard a big outcry. How many images of sexy new prototype fuel cell vehicles have you seen in the years since the Bush administration touted the coming hydrogen economy? And how does that compare to images of electric vehicles, or even E85 vehicles?
At an MIT conference in March, Ford’s John Viera said the company is devoting more of its R&D to electric vehicles than hydrogen vehicles. You could make the case that instead of picking a winner, the government is following the market. More likely everybody is seeing the same thing, and all that’s changed is that the DOE’s Steven Chu is the first to abandon the talking points about agnosticism and say, and publicly act on, what everybody is thinking.
Viera made another point at the conference: alternative vehicle technologies are expensive and it’s going to take innovative business models to make them affordable. His comments were in the context of praising Better Place, the electric vehicle infrastructure company whose CEO is skilled at charming heads of state. If there are people working on innovative business models for fuel-cell vehicles, they’d better hurry up and make a case.
It’s also important to note that even though the DOE has thrown fuel-cell vehicles under the electric bus, they’re still investing in long-term hydrogen-related research. The work at two of the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers is applicable to generating hydrogen, the work at two others will advanced fuel cells, and the work at another will help efforts to improve hydrogen storage. None of this long-term research is likely to make an impact in the next decade, but in 20 or 30 years some of it could lead to breakthroughs that will have us talking about hydrogen again.
Fast batteries
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009The news that MIT researchers have developed a lithium material that dramatically shortens battery charging times changes the equation for electric cars. It’s a long way from the lab to the showroom, but the battery breakthrough is a big step toward making electric cars eminently practical.
Even though most of us drive fewer than 40 miles each day, the ranges allowed by today’s battery technologies are a major psychological barrier. And most of us do drive several hundred miles at a go now and then.
Eventually batteries will store enough energy to give electric vehicles the ranges we expect from our cars. Fast-charging batteries could solve the problem before then.
Imagine an electric car with a 100-mile range, something that’s likely to be widely available within five years. If it has a fast-charging battery — say something that allows 10-minute pit stops — people’s perception of electric cars could change dramatically. The recharging stops would be more frequent and a few minutes longer than today’s refueling stops, but I think the experience would be similar enough that people will stop thinking of electric cars as range-limited.
Highway refueling stops usually involve answering nature’s call, buying snacks and/or stretching legs. Behaviorally, the only difference would be that instead of doing these activities before or after refueling, people will do them while their cars are recharging.
It’s clear that liquid fuels will be the dominant power source in the transportation sector for years to come, if for no other reason than the time it takes to replace the installed base of internal combustion engine vehicles. And plug-in hybrid vehicles are an important transition technology. But the best option is electric vehicles powered by renewable energy sources, especially with the expected boom in the global car population thanks to China and India. Fast battery technology could be a critical factor in establishing electric vehicles in time to make a difference.
MIT energy conference: time to get going
Monday, March 9th, 2009The climate picture, at least from where I sit, isn’t pretty: developing a sustainable global energy system will take time and the clock is running out.
I attended the MIT Energy Conference, subtitled Accelerating Change in Global Energy, this past weekend. The conference gave a broad view of energy in today’s environmentally and economically constrained world and conveyed the magnitude of the challenge.
I didn’t sense much doom and gloom at the conference, however. The feeling was more of a recognition of the hard realities and a girding for a difficult battle. Rep. Jay Inslee attempted to rally the troops with his keynote speech. He reiterated the need for Apollo Project-like renewable energy funding, and he offered a vision of American ingenuity once again leading the world to a brighter future.
He also made it clear, however, that congressional Democrats are solidly behind the administration’s cap-and-trade initiative and there won’t be a serious push for a carbon tax anytime soon.
Automotive industry analyst John Casesa and financier and environmentalist Theodore Roosevelt IV separately raised the specter of the recession sparking a bout of protectionism that could hinder efforts to tackle the climate crisis. “We have to resist at all costs economic nationalism,” said Roosevelt. “It’s the fastest route to mutually assured destruction.”
One idea I heard in the biofuels and energy storage sessions is the need for emerging energy technologies to have multiple “value streams” in order to be economically viable, at least until a firm price on carbon emerges. In the case of biofuels this means getting more out of biomass than just biofuel, and in the case of energy storage this means using the storage for multiple purposes like grid support, bulk storage for renewables, and frequency regulation.
Another highlight was American Electric Power’s Ali Nourai describing the utility’s Community Energy Storage pilot project. The company plans to put batteries in neighborhoods, each capable of supplying several hours of electricity to four to six houses. The batteries will have the same aggregate capacity as the utility’s recently deployed centralized storage units, but distributed storage improves security and makes it easier for the utility to respond to local outages. The cost of the batteries should go down because the technology is the same as batteries being developed for electric vehicles. For a lengthier take on the story, see Martin LaMonica’s post on Cnet.
On the research front, Ford’s John Viera said the company is devoting more of its R&D toward electric vehicles than hydrogen. The company is also, not surprisingly, providing less money to universities and other outside researchers. The company is also telling universities what it’s looking for rather than perusing the available research, he said. At the same time, the company is planning to collaborate more on its advanced R&D, which it used to keep in-house.
Neha Misra of The Energy and Resources Institute probably summed things up best during the Energy in Emerging Economies session: “Renewable energy will scale,” she said. “The question is by when. Putting a price on carbon is very important.”