EVcast #233: Milk Floats

there seems to be some misconception about EV batteries being too expensive to invest in BEV transportation. i know several people who drive zap trucks with battery management systems who get up to 10,000 miles on a battery pack, and that is 7 120 amp to 140 amp deep cycle lead acid batteries with a cost per battery of $300 to $400 each. The key to battery life is having a battery management system and with a BMS a failing battery can simply be removed and replaced with a new one in the battery pack. This is a very economical means of transportation without the cost of expensive lithium batteries. East Pen Manufacturing will be comming out with a lead carbon battery soon that should be a drop in replacement for the lead acid type, which means less weight, better cold weather preformance, and longer run time. The expected cost will not be much more than the present top preformace lead acid battery.

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As usual, enjoyed the show guys.  While leasing batteries is a hard sell for the consumer, I think, at least here in the US, it may fly with businesses who lilke to spread out the cost of items.  Still, since you are using lead-acid, buying the packs outright would at least be affordable.  Is that option going to be available Mike?  And what kind of lead-acid batteries will y'all be using?  Perhaps one the newer generation of Lead-acids, like the one mentioned by the guest above- East Penn has licensed that particular battery, a lead-acid with a built-in capacitor, from CSIRO out of Australia.  But there is also Firefly and Axion. 

I have often wondered why some EV makers do not make better use of these advanced lead-acid batteries, at least for the next few years until Li-Ion, or another technology, comes down in price.  In fact, the Urbanmover scooter y'all mentioned, is apparently going to use another new kind of battery from Silicon Battery- a company which is still in stealth mode (now, where have I heard that before;-)

http://urbanmover.com/products/electricScooters/G4000LX.php

http://siliconbattery.com/

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Actually, I may have made the leap from the UrbanMover to Silicon Battery, the company, without much proof- the scooter only says it will use a silicon battery, but not from who.  This is a new technology, using silicon in the anode of a Li-Ion battery successfully, but there is not much info beyond some findings out of Stanford.

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More about the Tango  (6 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pVMGfZO7q8

Really more of a "soft-sell" piece for a 3D drawing package.  But still interesting.

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Thank you John- it was interesting- now we just have to wait the for that sub-$20,000 version;-)

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