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from the coming-soon-to-a-vehicle-near-you dept.
An electric car has been tested that managed a huge 1,100 mile range on a single charge. A massive jump from current electric cars.
-- submitted from IRC
An electric car has been tested that managed a huge 1,100 mile range on a single charge. A massive jump from current electric cars like the Tesla Model S which tops out at around 300 miles.
The secret to this super range is a type of battery technology called aluminium-air. This uses oxygen naturally occurring in the air to fill its cathode. This makes it far lighter than liquid filled lithium-ion batteries to give car a far greater range.
Phinergy, who created the battery, is an Israeli company who worked with aluminium specialist Alcoa Canada to create the batteries.
[...] Aluminium-air batteries drain turning the metal into aluminium hydroxide which can then be recycled to make new batteries. That will mean swapping out batteries every few months. But since it's so much lighter and cheaper than current efforts it should offer huge mileage and be affordable.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday December 11 2015, @07:43PM
That is true, but electric motors can be close to 100% efficient at converting electricity into motion. Think a typical figure is 98%. (However, not every kind of electric motor is that good.) In contrast, gasoline engines max out at about 30% to 35% efficiency. And that is only at the optimum RPM and load. With such a huge disparity, an electric motor more than compensates for the extra weight of the less efficient fuel storage. It's the other problems with batteries that are holding back the electric car-- the long recharge times, limited energy capacity which makes for short ranges, short battery life, and expense. It is really tough to compete against the humble gas tank for simplicity and practicality.