[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/EW-10-28-13-Better-Batteries.mp3|titles=EW 10-28-13 Better Batteries]
Electric cars are becoming more popular all the time, but are still a very small niche in the overall vehicle market because they cost too much and they don’t drive far on a single charge.
The root cause of these shortcomings is the same: the battery pack. As of 2012, the cost per kilowatt hour of battery energy capacity was $700 and a kilowatt hour typically provides only 3 to 4 miles of driving. Thus batteries account for a great deal of cost in electric cars, and long driving ranges require very expensive batteries.
Encouraged by programs of the Department of Energy, the battery industry is working to lower battery costs to around $250 per kilowatt hour by 2015. For the moment, lithium ion batteries – the same technology found in smart phones, tablets, and laptop computers – are the main focus of the vehicle battery industry.
However, other approaches are being considered. Recently, Princeton University researchers were funded to investigate ordinary alkaline battery technology to power cars. It is unclear whether this technology can meet the difficult requirements for electric cars, but it would certainly be cheaper.
People are pursuing far more exotic solutions as well. For example, Phinergy, a company in Israel, is developing aluminum-air batteries that it claims will give electric cars a 1000-mile driving range.
Electric cars have a ways to go to gain mainstream acceptance and ultimately, it is all about the batteries.
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Could alkaline batteries be the future of electric vehicle power?
Photo, taken on November 26, 2011, courtesy of Terren in Virginia via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.