Advancing electric-vehicle development with pure-lead-tin battery technology

Electric-vehicle (EV) development continues to make solid progress towards extending vehicle range, reliability and ease of use, aided significantly by technological advances in vehicle systems. There is, however, a widespread misconception that current battery technologies are not capable of meeting even the minimum user requirements that would launch EVs into daily use. Existing pure-lead-tin technology is moving EVs out of research laboratories and onto the streets, in daily side-by-side operation with vehicles powered by conventional gasoline and alternative fuels. This commercially available battery technology can provide traffic-compatible performance in a reliable and affordable manner, and can be used for either pure EVs or hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Independent results obtained when applying lead-tin batteries in highly abusive conditions, both electrically and environmentally, are presented. The test fleet of EVs is owned and operated by Arizona Public Service (APS), an electric utility in Phoenix, AZ, USA, System, charger and battery development will be described. This gives a single charge range of up to 184 km at a constant speed of 72 km h(-1), and with suitable opportunity charging, a 320 km range in a normal 8 h working day. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.