January 13, 2004

By: Adalie Schnider
Website: http://www.1st-in-batteries.com

Pilot productions begins for new electric vehicle batteries

Pilot production begins this year of new batteries with approximately 70 times the energy of an average laptop computer battery, designed to move electric vehicles up to twice as far as today's electric vehicles. But the powerful new batteries that last three times longer and work better in cold weather than today's advanced lead-acid batteries are several times more expensive, according to the United States Advanced Battery Consortium.

"The start-up of pilot production of nickel metal hydride batteries for electric vehicles is a significant step toward giving consumers more choices in electric cars," said Robert Hayden, executive director of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas. "This is essential for bringing down the cost of these longer-range batteries. Moving into pilot production is an impressive success story for the USABC."

Developed through a unique government-industry partnership, the maintenance-free and recyclable nickel metal hydride battery packs for electric vehicles are being manufactured by GM-Ovonic Co. of Troy, Mich., and Saft America, Inc. of Valdosta, Ga. Some of these battery packs are in vehicles on the road already, while others will make their way into vehicles this fall, says Bob Davis, Chrysler's representative to the USABC.

The batteries from GM-Ovonic are being made available in GM's EV1 electric car and S-10 Electric pickup truck. The Saft batteries will appear in Chrysler EPIC minivans after midyear. Ford will offer nickel metal hydride batteries in its electric Ranger EV in the latter half of the year. Since 1992, the USABC has spent over $90 million on the research and development of nickel metal hydride batteries. Funding for the projects is split equally between industry and DOE.

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About The Author:

Adalie Schnider is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-batteries.com.  A great resource for batteries of all kinds including camcorder, laptop, cell phone and more.