Ceramic Battery Could Be Breakthrough for Electric Cars

The Holy Grail keeping the electric car from supplanting today's gasoline vehicles has always been energy. Batteries that have been used in electric vehicles of the past — and even the recent Tesla electric sports car — are large, have limited ranges and take hours to charge.

A new company called EEStor is working on a ceramic device — don’t call it a battery — that will deliver a range of 500 miles on $9 worth of power, which equals about $60 worth of gasoline at today's prices. The technology is still being worked on, but the device contains no hazardous materials and can be fully charged in five minutes.

The Tesla proves that an electric car can be fast. It hits 60 mph in 4 seconds and has a top speed of 130 mph. Unfortunately, it also has a range of just 250 miles and needs more than three hours to charge. A power pack like the one EEStor is working on will make any electric car both practical and efficient, and may even kill the gasoline-powered car.

[Gentlemen, Stop Your Engines, Business 2.0]

Comments

[Carlos]

I love how technology advancements can do that sort of thing. I hope it comes true.

Researching a bit, it's a big capacitor. Capacitors do charge faster than batteries. I read about something like this weeks ago, but it was in the avenue of replacing batteries in laptops with technology like this.

[Paul]

This is a real advancement.This is the kind of stuff we need.GM better forget the hydrogen bombs they are teasing.....THIS is the future.

[Paul]

This is a real advancement.This is the kind of stuff we need.GM better forget the hydrogen bombs they are teasing.....THIS is the future.

[Brian]

I don't know that I agree with the post that an improved battery is the "real advancement" vs. a vehicle powered by a renewable energy source such as hydrogen. Unless the battery is charged through wind, water or solar power, the electrical vehicle maintains our reliance on fossil fuels (e.g., oil, natural gas and coal) that pollute the air. An improved battery is certainly better than relying on gasoline or diesel fuel to power a vehicle, but given the abundance of hydrogen and the lack of pollutants it produces, I say: Go GM!

[circuitsmith]

Hydrogen power is a political farce. Current fuel injected IC engines could be easily modofied to run on hydrogen. It's just a matter of storage and fuel station infrastructure. If those in power were serious about hydrogen we could start to switch over today. No need to wait for expensive fuel cells.

[Mattias]

Dear Brian.

I'm not sure why you think hydrogen is "renewable". Whatever goes into the car is the "transfer mechanism". Currently, it's energy stored in gasoline. It might be energy stored in a battery, or in hydrogen.

How do we GET hydrogen gas? It's NOT just floating around in the air in nice fuel-cell-sized bundles. You'll still have to put the same amount of energy into getting free hydrogen (via electrolysis) that you'll get out of it in the end.

So, whether the transfer mechanism we use is hydrogen or a ceramic capacitor, neither one is "renewable" by itself. The advantage of hydrogen is no emissions - just like a battery.
Current batteries are heavy, take a long time to recharge, and may contain dangerous materials. This sounds like it may fix some of those problems.

The power to create the energy we insert into these transfer mechanisms still comes from the same sources - fossil fuels, solar, nuclear, etc.

Hydrogen is NOT a magical free ride. It's just one more way you can transport energy. It has some advantages, but if this capacitor thing is as good as it says, it could be even better: just plug it in, you can power your electrical accessories without an alternator, etc.

[John Birk]

Yes power still has to be generated somewhere, but it's a lot easier and more economical to control emissions at one large power plant than at thousands of individual vehicles.

Furthermore it enables power from variable sources such as, wind, solar, tidal etc, to be stored for when it is needed.

This technology changes the whole game, but suffers from one major fault, there is no way for energy cartels, such as OPEC, to get together and tell people generating their own power that the price of wind or sun will increase due to a market scarcity!

John

[Sean]

Ceramic battery or not, people always try to improve something anyway. Ideas beget ideas so hats off to those in the endeaver to actually do something.

[Andy]

You might want to do a follow uo too that story. Altairnano has just introduced with phoenix motorcars an electric suv that can run up to 200 miles on a single recharge the can be recharged in 10 minutes!!

http://www.altairnano.com/documents/NanoSafeBackgrounder060920.pdf
http://www.b2i.us/profiles/investor/ResLibraryView.asp?BzID=546&ResLibraryID=17202&Category=856
http://www.altairnano.com/
http://www.gravidfilms.com/deliverable/AN_Sac.mov

[ling]

Coming here :http://www.batteries-home.com
Your will find what you need

[Jonathan Steel]

Nov. 28, 2006

Want a fascinating book about the history of the electric car vs. gasoline cars? Try reading Edwin Black's Internal Combustion : how corporations and governments addicted the world to oil and derailed the alternatives.

You may also wish to watch the movie, "Who Killed the Electric Car" and then read the book, The Car That Could as a follow-up.

If necessary, borrow them or interlibrary loan them from your local public library.

Best Wishes

Jonathan

[Happymantis]

I really wouldn't be surprised if ESStor suddenly became the subject of an intense bidding war, I really think that GM should drop stupid hydrogen technology and really look into this stuff.

[Happymantis]

I really wouldn't be surprised if ESStor suddenly became the subject of an intense bidding war, I really think that GM should drop stupid hydrogen technology and really look into this stuff.

[民族工艺品]

民族工艺品

[battery fast]

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[Spanky]

Any word if it will hold the 1.21 Giga-watts to get it to 88?

[Captain Donald Keith Shand]

Here in Australia, our Government has put up 500 million dollars, to budy up with a car manufacturer to produce Sola/electric cars of the future. The time is long gone for the oil companies holding us all to ransome. The electric car ia the future, with no pollution of our World. Wake up car makers in Detroit! Aussie's are pointing the way!