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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Powering future vehicles with the refuelable zinc/air battery

Journal Article · · Science and Technology Review
OSTI ID:381165
A recent road test at LLNL underscored the zinc/air battery`s capacity to give electric vehicles some of the attractive features of gas-driven cars: a 400-km range between refueling, 10-minute refueling, and highway-safe acceleration. Developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the battery weights only one-sixth as much as standard lead/acid batteries and occupies one-third the space, yet costs less per mile to operate. What`s more, because the battery is easily refuelable, it promises trouble-free, nearly 24-hour-a-day operation for numerous kinds of electric vehicles, from forklifts to delivery vans and possibly, one day, personal automobiles. The test of a Santa Barbara Municipal Transit bus with a hybrid of zinc/air and lead/acid batteries capped a short development period for the zinc/air battery. The test run indicated the zinc/air battery`s potential savings in vehicle weight from 5.7 to 4.0 metric tons, in battery weight from 2.0 to 0.3 metric tons, in battery volume from 0.79 to 0.25 m{sup 3}, and in electricity cost from 5.6 cents per mile to 4.7 cents per mile. The power, however, remains the same.
OSTI ID:
381165
Journal Information:
Science and Technology Review, Journal Name: Science and Technology Review; ISSN STREFR
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English