SoylentNews

Electric Car, With Light Aluminium-Air Battery, Travels 1,100 Miles on a Single Charge

posted by CoolHand on Friday December 11 2015, @10:26AM   
from the coming-soon-to-a-vehicle-near-you dept.

"exec" writes:

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.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/129419-electric-car-with-light-aluminium-air-battery-travels-1-100-miles-on-a-single-charge-take-note-tesla

-- 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.

Original Submission

• Re:"single charge" Re:"single charge" (Score: 4, Insightful) by FatPhil on Friday December 11 2015, @12:55PM

  by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Friday December 11 2015, @12:55PM (#274947) Homepage

  You're supposed to use the rechargeable Lithium battery for day-to-day short runs. The Al-air is just for occasional long runs where the Li won't do.
  
  Thinking out of the box... If there's room for X Li and X Al batteries, and you only need the Al rarely, wouldn't it be better if you could just have 2X Li batteries for day-to-day use and only swap in the Al when you knew you'd need it. And what's about swapping in 2X Al batteries for ultra-long runs where you know you can just get replacements at the end. I wonder how much complete modularity would cost in terms of complexity?

  --
  Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

  Parent

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+2
  Insightful=1, Interesting=1, Total=2
  Extra 'Insightful' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		4

• Re:"single charge" Re:"single charge" (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @01:50PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @01:50PM (#274960)

  First saw an Al-air battery in a car at a trade show in the 1980s -- not a new idea. The problem at that time was low peak current. Stores lots of energy, but can't deliver high power bursts for acceleration.

  TFA didn't really say much, but it seems like the Al-air battery in this test car is used in the same way as the range-extender engine in the Chevy Volt or other range-extended electric cars.

  Parent

  • Re:"single charge" (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @07:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @07:45PM (#275113)

    IANAEE, but couldn't you add capacitors or something like that to store up power for those sudden bursts of acceleration?

    Parent