valve regulated lead acid battery Cars That Whirrr And Burn Rubber

By MATTHEW L. WALDFEB.
1992 this is a digital version of an article from The Times Print Archive, before it starts online in 1996.
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When you say "electric", the car you think of is smooth --
Horseback riding, quiet and almost very clean.
This is not really a muscle car.
But muscle is the impact of GM's positioning.
It plans to bring seats to market in the medium term90's.
To meet California's requirements, by 1998, 2% of each car company's sales in the state were "zero-emission vehicles "---
Battery requirements only
Electric cars can now be met--G. M.
Focusing on the sales advantage, it believes that this may give it the best opportunity to achieve such a high penetration rate: performance.
"They have decided that you have to show people something that makes them want to buy electric cars," said a California official . " He asked not to reveal his identity, because, he said, it sounded like he was the shillings of GM.
Some people like the idea.
Mark sheenberg, executive director of the Greater New York Motor Dealers Association, said that the male self-wants a "hoarse, sporty voice," the silence of electric vehicles can be a disadvantage.
"They answered the question by putting a little courage behind them . "
Said Xie Enberg.
This is a very smart idea.
It should work very well.
"But in the car safety center, Clarence M.
"If you want to sell a car, you 'd better go to the mass market, which is not a muscle market," said executive director ditillo.
On top of that, he said, electric cars should be put into the "environmental market", a socially conscious consumer who is shut out of muscle cars.
"The impact of advertising is from 0 miles per hour to 60 miles in 8 seconds.
According to the Journal road and track, of the 1991 models, the car is faster than the Lexus LS 400 and the Chevrolet Beretta GT, and much faster than the Pontiac Grand Prix SE;
It is just a shadow behind the BMW 325iX. As one G. M.
Engineers recently watched the impact call and call on a test track in G. M.
"It's not your father's Oldsmobile.
"People outside the company were also impressed by the show.
William Cesar, a spokesman for the California Aviation Resources Board, said: "It will take your head back . " He took the car at the Los Angeles motor show in early January.
The show is not limited to the opening of jackrabbit;
Because the electric motor delivers torque very quickly, the impact is very serious.
Acceleration of distance--
From 25 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour-
Much better than most gasoline. powered cars.
Its shape is also very noticeable.
"It gives the stylist a lot of freedom," said Larry Osward of G . "M.
Advanced Engineering and technical personnel
"It opens up possibilities.
You don't need a large engine compartment, you can take the battery apart if you want.
"While other automakers are developing electric cars, none of them are like G. M.
About showing off them. (Even G. M.
However, no specific date, price or even name will be discussed in addition to saying that the "impact" is temporary and not a competitor to the final nameplate. )In what G. M.
It is described as an effort to educate the public about electrical, and recently it sets out the impact on appearancebut-don't-
Touch the base and provide the test drive with two Geo storms and a Chevrolet Lumina with an impact drive system.
The Company believes that the public need some familiarity with the acceptance of electrical appliances, which may be right.
In addition to the big problems like charging, there are thousands of small problems, as the blind advocate pointed out: Do guide dogs have to be retrained to be alert to silent cars?
Before releasing the car, advertising and GM have their own set of problems to solve.
Because the car has no background noise from the engine, every whistle and squeak can be heard, which allows engineers to find new ways to suppress the sound.
The cost of $100,000 in power electronics in the model on the test track must drop 50 times.
Also, while the battery will make the car travel more than 100 miles, it won't go that far if the car also has to keep the passengers warm or cool.
California's regulations are a role model for at least 11 states, but small propane space heaters have not yet been taken into account.
"Without heaters, we don't know how to make cars for Maine," Jean L said . "Crocker, a G. M. spokeswoman.
Although the battery weight of Impact is close to 900 pounds, the power of the electric vehicle is only about 1 pound.
Five gallons of gas.
Thanks to stingy engineering, this will make the car travel more than 100 miles. -
Impressive, but only about the third gasoline in general.
This range may eventually be much larger, but for now, supporters want charging stations to be available at any time and consumers will accept that cars are useful for everyday driving.
So, how can such a car with energy constraints be so lively?
This is an unexpected result of a combination of technical constraints and marketing considerations, driving G. M.
A series of choices.
Among them, car companies choose to use familiar leads.
Acid batteries, not batteries based on new technologies.
In the disadvantages of huge size and weight, G. M.
Found a compelling marketing advantage in the lead
Acid Battery: its ability to power quickly.
Below, lead-
Limited battery storage.
The lead-acid capacity of the impact is about 35 watts-
Hours per kilogram, while Mercedes-Benz is using a sodium sulfur battery of 100 watts per kilogram, the other new technology, lithium disulfur iron, is 165 watts per kilogram. Yet lead-
Acid batteries can provide power faster, just as larger garden hoses discharge fixed-capacity water tanks faster than smaller ones.
In the case of lead
Acid, large hose;
According to G. , it can provide 280 watts per kilogram of battery weight, while sodium sulfur is 110 watts and lithium iron sulfur is 200 watts. M. engineers.
Just as lead-acid batteries can provide power faster, they can also accept it faster.
This effect has a "regenerative braking" or when the driver lifts the foot from the throttle, the motor that will power each front wheel becomes a generator.
Instead of turning electricity into mechanical forces, they turn mechanical forces into mechanical forces. -
Inertia of the car ---
It was turned back to the battery.
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Regenerative braking technology in urban driving
In the energy lost at each stop sign or red light, the energy in the regular car is converted into heat by braking and then dissipated.
Advertising to make up for the weight of lead and low storage capacity
The company chose an induction motor that converts electricity into mechanical forces at high speeds with an efficiency of about 95%.
Unlike other motors, it is also very efficient at low speeds.
It can also run at a speed of 15,000 rpm, so there is no need for transmission.
Each of the 57 horsepower, the power of the two motors is roughly the same as the four motors
Small to medium-used cylinder gasoline enginessized car;
But they gave us light. body two-
A lot of zipper sitting.
Leading combination-
However, the complexity of acid batteries and induction motors is increased.
When the battery quickly supplies power to the motor, it is direct current;
The motor operates under AC. That pushed G. M.
Engineers have made new progress in an electronic field called power regulation, converting electricity from one form to another.
Power regulation essentially refers to the use of silicon switches similar to computer chips to synthesize accurate AC power. Before G. M.
, This technique is used for windmills where the blades can be turned at any speed the wind pushes them, but the generator will turn into a perfect 60-
Cycle, alternating
Current power of the utility grid.
Do conversion, G. M.
Cut DC into pulses.
By short, medium, and long pulses of ac dc, the switch produces a power flow that looks like a sine wave, rising and falling in the mode required by the motor.
Power electronics can also control the acceleration and speed up smoothly.
More torque or mechanical power and speed is needed for the motor to be faster.
Torque increases with the amplitude of the sine wave--
That is, if it is drawn on the chart, its "height" is--
The motor speed increases as the frequency increases, which, unlike utility power systems, is not fixed for 60 cycles.
The power electronics system gets tips from the driver's foot stepping on the throttle.
The system processes 100,000 watts during acceleration.
In a residential environment, such a large amount of electricity can run in a small community.
Packaging cars with complex electronics may have some side benefits.
The car may be charged on a circuit controlled by the power company, so the power company can supply power when power goes off
The peak of price decline.
Once an advertisement is connected to a utility via a communication link, various possibilities arise.
"It can run diagnostics in 3a. M. ;
You can talk to this thing when it's plugged in . "M.
Market development manager for electric vehicles, California.
The car can be reported to the GM computer, which will send a letter to the owner saying that the right rear taillights are off.
Because every car is recognizable, it can inform the police that a car has been stolen.
However, none of these smart projects are entirely voluntary.
If 11 states in the East are all ahead of California as they promised, then the third state in the national auto market will require 2% of sales to be electric vehicles.
(On Friday, Massachusetts became the first state to fully pass the California rules.
That demand rose to 5% in 2003, meaning thousands of electric vehicles will be sold.
California has yet to elaborate on penalties for removing quotas, but may include a refusal to let automakers sell cars there next year.
But a company that sells more than its quota may find itself in a new, very profitable business area: selling credit for additional electricity production to competitors who do not meet the quota.
Why not use solar cells?
In the public's imagination, there is nothing more suitable for powering electric vehicles than photovoltaic cells, which directly convert sunlight into electricity.
GM has extensive experience in this area, building a winner Sunraycer for a race in the Australian desert.
But the company did not consider the impact of solar cells.
According to Bob Wrangler, market development manager for electric vehicles in California, the reason is energy density.
The intensity of the sun is about 1,000 watts per square meter, and the highest quality solar cells that may be used on the car can only convert 20% of the energy into electricity, he said.
If a designer squeeze 2.
Make a 5 square battery into a car that can generate 500 watts of electricity.
But he said that during a steady cruise of 55 miles per hour, the impact consumed about 6,000 watts, using electricity at a speed of 12 times faster than the battery provided electricity.
The help of solar cells on battery charging is also limited.
About 14,000 watts of impact stores-hours.
If the battery provides 500 watts in an hour, it will take about 28 hours of bright daylight to charge the car.
(At a speed of 55 miles per hour, it only takes more than two hours to consume it again.
) But he said that some solar cells may be useful and can "offset" the charge against the natural tendency of the battery to lose its charge over time, whether its power equipment is in use.
When the car is parked in the sun and the window is open, this effect may also use solar cells to run exhaust fans in the car.
This will prevent excessive heat accumulation in the car, thus reducing the work of the air
This must be done the first time the air conditioner is turned on.
A version of this article appears on page 3003010 of the national edition of February 2, 1992, titled: cars that burn rubber.