I  RECENT ARTICLES ABOUT ELECTRIC VEHICLES - Concluded    II

Battle of Batteries. Business Week 8/9/99, Page 27. Car batteries may be challenged by new developments. There have been developments in nickel-zinc (NiZn) batteries by tiny Evercel in Danbury, CT. They may have found a way around the tendency of NIZii cells to grow sharp dendrites during recharging. These spikes penetrate cell separators and short out the cell after just a few recharge cycles. Evercel adds calcium to the zinc electrode to thwart this process. Tests by Evercel have recharged their batteries 500 times.






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Another entrant in battery development is Boulder Technologies in Golden CO. They are increasing the power density of lead-acid cells by winding the thin plate-separators in a spiral. This increases the active area and increases the power by five times. (Editor's note - the same technique is employed by OPTIMA who have offered their Red and Yellow top batteries commercially for several years). Not to be left behind, Exide is developing the same process.

The Bolder battery could substitute for convention car SLI units. Their unit would weigh just live pounds. Boulder has an exclusive licensing arrangement with Johnson Controls (Die-Hard's) that prevents Boulder from automotive applications until 2001.

These developments could open up a whole new area for electric bikes and scooters. The initial applications will probably be offered in Asia where the bicycle and scooter use has not yet displaced automombiles.

Festival energizes environmental studies. Columbus (OI[) Dispatch 5/22199. Joseph
Mastroianni from Wobuni, MA has been crossing the US riding an electric bicycle. He stopped in
Columbus on Earth Day at the invitation of American Electric Power to exhibit his vehicle.
Batteries on his bike must be recharged or changed every 30 iniles.

Smoke and mirrors and mileage. Business week 8/9/99, Page 36. The popular Suvis are making it harder for Detroit to comply with inileage mandates. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE Standard) for light trucks (SUV's included) is 20.7 mpg. The standard for cars is 27.5 mpg. Carmakers claim the standards adopted in 1975 after the US was reeling from oil embargoes should be changed to reflect customer's current wishes. Environmentalists argue there is a need to close loopholes in the law that carmakers have been using and raise the requirements.

Gimmicks automakers use to meet a current year's target are by shortening the production year, by borrowing credits against fliture years, and credits granted for producing alternate fliel vehicles. The recent Postal Service purchase of vehicles that can use ethanol is an example. Regulations assume these vehicles will run on ethanol 85% of the time, but there are only 200 ethanol-filling stations in the country. Most of the time they will use gasohne and get under 20 mpg but carmakers strn get the advantage of an assumed 50 mpg. It appears the Big Three have now run out of these options and face $ 150-million in fines for the 1999 model year.


IfROM OTHER EV NEWSLETTERS

Most Electric Auto Groups aje now issuing newsletters every other month. Only EV News and EEVC Newsletter were available at press time this month.