Estimate of the consumer cost of aluminum fuel for electric vehicles

Conference · Wed Feb 22 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5253610

Cooper, J F

The cost of aluminum fuel to the vehicle owner is estimated in view of technical developments and price increases in aluminum ingot since 1979. The estimate is based on the US Industry Published Price for distributed 50-lb ingot. This price is then increased by the costs of fabrication, alloying agents, premium purity, and service station (retail) markups derived by analogy to gasoline. A credit for recycled hydrargillite is also estimated, although actual return is speculative. A critical assumption is the energy yield of the aluminum, as measured by the vehicular fuel efficiency. For vehicular fuel efficiencies to 36 to 42 gross tonne-km/kg-Al, fuel costs are equivalent to liquid fuel costing $0.56 to 0.94/liter ($2.12 to $3.54/gal) (mid-1981 US dollars) used in advanced automobiles with fuel efficiencies of 13.5 to 19.3 gross-tonne-km/l (35 to 50 gross-ton-miles/gal-fuel). The current distribution system for aluminum is briefly described, and the retail markups for gasoline are tabulated. These results do not differ substantially from those of an earlier study when costs are expressed in constant dollars.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5253610
• Report Number(s): UCRL-90468; CONF-8205249-1; ON: DE84008327
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
250903 -- Energy Storage-- Batteries-- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330300* -- Advanced Propulsion Systems-- Electric-Powered Systems
ALUMINIUM
ALUMINIUM-AIR BATTERIES
COST ESTIMATION
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ELECTRIC-POWERED VEHICLES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELEMENTS
METAL-GAS BATTERIES
METALS
TAXES
VEHICLES