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Evs and The Chemistry Involved

The document discusses the history and chemistry of electric vehicle batteries. It notes that a 1994 report identified 10 candidate battery systems for EVs ranging in specific energy from lead-acid to lithium-polymer batteries. Today, lithium-ion batteries dominate the EV market due to their higher power output, specific energy, and fewer problems compared to previous technologies like nickel-metal hydride. However, EVs have yet to achieve widespread adoption globally and gasoline vehicles still dominate the market, especially for long-distance travel, due to limitations in battery technology.

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26 views

Evs and The Chemistry Involved

The document discusses the history and chemistry of electric vehicle batteries. It notes that a 1994 report identified 10 candidate battery systems for EVs ranging in specific energy from lead-acid to lithium-polymer batteries. Today, lithium-ion batteries dominate the EV market due to their higher power output, specific energy, and fewer problems compared to previous technologies like nickel-metal hydride. However, EVs have yet to achieve widespread adoption globally and gasoline vehicles still dominate the market, especially for long-distance travel, due to limitations in battery technology.

Uploaded by

Vimal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EVs and the Chemistry Involved:

The research on finding the best battery technology isn’t new. A document
from Argonne National Laboratory published in 1994 listed a number of
‘candidate EV battery systems’ which included lead-acid, nickel/cadmium,
nickel/iron, nickel/metal hydride, sodium/sulfur, zinc/bromine, zinc/air,
sodium/nickel chloride, lithium/iron sulfide, and lithium-polymer. They were
listed according to the specific energies of the systems from lowest (lead-
acid i.e. 25–40 watt-hours per kilogram) to highest (lithium-polymer i.e.
100–200 watt-hours per kilogram).

Today, the favored EV battery system is lithium-ion. BY 2012 the previously


dominant battery system was nickel/metal hydride (NiMH) but today the
use of lithium-ion is dominant. Over time researchers observed that lithium-
ion gives higher power output, has higher specific heat and has overall
lesser problems. To see an animation on the functionality of a lithium-ion
battery click here.
The Impact of Electric Vehicles:
As stated before, electric vehicles haven’t exactly ‘taken over the world’.
Instead gasoline and diesel based engines are still in majority use.
Specifically for long distance travel, customers will still prefer petroleum-
based fuels as compared to battery systems. The EV market in the U.S is
not large either. (Compare this to Norway’s EV market share which is about
32 times larger than the USA’s). The use of electric vehicles is also more
common in countries like China (whose electric vehicle market is growing
twice as fast as the U.S.)

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