EnerDel update from chairman Charles Gassenheimer
We spoke with Ener1 Chairman Charles Gassenheimer back in December at the EVS23 expo and at the time he was quite bullish on his company's prospects for 2008. So far this year, there has been quite a bit of good news for the company. Ener1's li-ion battery subsidiary, EnerDel, put a lithium-ion pack in a Th!nk City EV and is a staunch proponent of making future hybrids much more affordable. GM-Volt's Lyle Dennis recently had a chance to get an update on EnerDel's current battery status from Gassenheimer and you can read all about it here. The condensed version is:
- The EnerDel Prius was tested at Argonne national lab and got 77.4 mpg.
- Some EnerDel battery packs are being tested in Canada.
- The available operating range of EnerDel's packs is 95.5 percent, much more than the range that other companies' batteries can offer.
- Ener1 is in talks with more companies to use their batteries.
- Gassenheimer doesn't see a lithium shortage any time soon. Perhaps we'll get it from seawater some day.
- Li-ion Th!nk City still on track to be "on the road by the end of this year."
[Source: GM-Volt]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joce03 4:39PM (7/06/2008)
What happens to a Lithium-ion battery at the end of the car's life? Can it be recycled? Is it toxic? Just curious...
Reply
Chris M 2:02AM (7/07/2008)
In most cases, used LiIon EV batteries still have some capacity left, so they could get a second life buffering the electrical grid, supplying power during peak demand and recharging when there is surplus power.
Batteries that are completely non-functional could be landfilled, as there is no toxic heavy metals in them. But it would be better to recycle to recover the lithium and other potenially useful materials inside. There have already been successful recycling tests done, see:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=66
philmcneal 11:30PM (7/06/2008)
i don't believe a recycling effort is in effect like traditional lead acid batteires since lead is much more harmful to the enviroment than lithium i must say so its not as enforced but it may change.
i really want that enerdel battery upgrade, it would really put the value back into my prius no problem and i believe they quoted 1500 for the battery! even a brand new NIMH from toyota is like 3000 just for the part! and this increases the mileage to 70 MPG ish rather than the 50 ish mpg im getting now! WOW what a difference!
1500 is way easier to swallow than some 10G conversion ENERDEL C"MON GIVE ME ONE.
Reply
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