can electric vehicles withstand the indian heat? - home battery pack
With the announcement of the 2020 plan, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged manufacturers to adopt electric vehicles to reduce their dependence on imported oil.
Ambitious plan to produce 6-
By 2020, 7 million electric vehicles are expected to save fuel. 2-2.
5 million tons.
Indian automakers still have a hard way to achieve this and customize electric vehicles for the Indian market.
Electric cars are driven by electric motors and battery packs compared to gasoline/diesel cars.
In a gasoline/diesel car, the fuel tank size determines the mileage, while in an electric car, the battery pack determines the mileage.
Electric vehicles that succeed or fail are firmly in the battery pack.
So far, the penetration rate of electric vehicles in India is largely limited to small strange cars.
The size of the Reva car, almost fully used nearly 200-year-old-
Lead acid battery technology.
However, the main problem is that lead-acid batteries are huge in size, so the driving range of these cars is limited to 25-due to the reasonable packaging size-
Charge 50 km per time.
Even with the shortest commute time per day, this exercise range is terrible and there is an urgent need for better batteries.
There have been many different technological developments in the past few decades, but Li-
Ion batteries have become the first choice for the electronics industry.
Among the many functions, the weight is light and the durability is reasonable, making it stand out from competitors.
However, designing batteries for electric vehicles is more daunting than designing batteries for the electronics industry.
Our laptops and smartphones live in a comfortable "office" world. conditioning.
Not to mention, the calendar life of an electronic device is 3-4 years.
However, the batteries of electric vehicles need to stand the test, especially the high temperatures in India over the years.
Automakers face the daunting task of picking the right car
Ion battery technology
Because any negative publicity of emerging technologies can easily mean its doom.
The working principle of a Li-
The ion battery is a relatively simple one in the host computer-guest.
When the battery is discharged, the lithium ion moves into the host material, and this movement generates electrical energy.
When the power is provided, or in other words, when the battery is charged, the lithium ion is removed from the host material and restored to its original state.
Over the past 30 years, several suitable host materials have been identified that allow lithium ions to penetrate into the interior.
The reliability of the battery depends entirely on the selection of the host material.
Automakers Nissan, Toyota and Tesla bet on different host materials.
Over time, the ability of host materials to accept lithium ions has gradually weakened.
As American automakers have promised and sold, battery packsS.
Touted as losing only about capacity in nearly five years of operation.
Recently, California and Arizona filed a class action lawsuit against Nissan, saying that the battery pack of Nissan Leaf, an electric vehicle, had prematurely lost battery life and mileage.
A common feature between California and Arizona is the hot climate with a temperature of 30-
Summer is 40 degrees Celsius, typical weather in most parts of India.
In a pioneering work, the research team at the University of Dalhousie in Canada demonstrated the use of high
Accurate measurements show that higher temperatures can lead to faster fading due to increased parasitic reactions.
To put it more simply, other unwanted reactions occur at higher temperatures that generate heat.
This leads to rapid degradation, and automakers who are aware of this problem usually have thermal management systems for electric vehicles equipped with cooling batteries.
Nissan chose, however, not to include the system, and the lawsuit said the negligence was the cause of the rapid fading of the battery pack.
The road ahead for electric vehicles is long and difficult, requiring automakers and informed and engaged consumers to make informed technological choices.
Needless to say, the active support of the government and the substantial improvement in power generation are a necessary factor for India to provide electricity to a small part of its road transport. (
Author's mailbox: venkvis @ stanfordedu)