Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Commodities - The Coming Bull Market -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Moominoid who wrote (147)	6/7/2001 2:07:07 AM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1643

Pumping Electric Fuel into the Vehicle The zinc-air fuel cell consumes zinc pellets, and its "exhaust" is zincate, which is a zinc oxide. Stuart Smedley described a fuel pump (shown in Figure 4) which extracts the zincate from a utility vehicle and refills the vehicle's fuel cell with zinc pellets (3). The zinc-air fuel cell, being developed by Metallic Power, has a lower compartment in which oxygen from the air combines with the zinc pellets to produce electric power (Figure 5). The product zincate dissolves into the electrolyte and is carried out into the vehicle's electrolyte management tank. The consumed zinc gets replaced from the zinc hopper. At the "filling station" the electrolyte and zincate are pumped out and replaced with fresh electrolyte. Zinc pellets are delivered into the zinc-pellet hopper. The vehicle departs and the zinc-refueling station then proceeds to electrolyze the zincate and purify the potassium-hydroxide electrolyte. This fuel-cell system was tested by mounting two 17-cell stacks in a Cushman cart which was driven around a 0.6km track. The fuel-cell stack delivered 175 ampere-hours in five hours of operation. The maximum power was 4kW. A second cart was equipped with two 20-cell stacks for further testing. Smedley expected this technology to be applied to lift trucks, industrial sweepers, and commercial lawn and garden equipment. It could also be used in to power small businesses and residences. The Zinc-Air Battery If the refuelable zinc-air battery is the heart of the Electric Fuel system solution, it's the heart of a long-distance runner. With specific energy of more than 200 Wh/kg, the battery delivers as much as 8 times the energy of a lead-acid traction battery, and more than twice the energy of the nearest advanced-battery competitor. As much energy, in fact, as a tank of gas. Each of the battery packs that we're putting into 44 Opel Corsa Combos for the German Post Office delivers more than 80 kWh of energy — just about the same amount delivered by the Opel's standard gasoline engine from the 50-liter gas tank. All this energy translates into driving range — lots of it. Under similar driving conditions and loaded to the same weight, this electric car will go just about as far per charge as its gasoline-powered ancestor did on a tank of gas. But don't let this long-distance runner fool you: it excels in the middle distances, where sustained high power backed up by plenty of energy is the key to highway driving and hill-climbing, and there's still plenty of power left for a strong finish — about 100 W/kg specific peak power at 80% DOD (and we're working on more). No other battery can maintain the power needed for highway driving anywhere near as long as this battery can. That's real power, when you need it. The power comes from Electric Fuel's proprietary zinc anode, compacted from zinc particles in alkaline electrolyte, made under controlled conditions in an Electric Fuel regeneration plant. Each anode is flanked by two specially developed, high-power, long-life oxygen reduction cathodes that extract oxygen from the air for the zinc-oxidation reaction. Patented thermal management and airflow mechanisms ensure uninterrupted performance for the life of the battery. No toxic metals or chemicals. No rare or exotic materials. A safe, reliable 100-year old battery electrochemistry updated with modern technology, already costing less per kWh, in pilot production of only 100 units, than high-volume production cost projections for many other advanced batteries proposed for EV's. EV Refueling What's the driving range of your car? Does it even have one? You drive a few hundred miles, and then stop for a few minutes at a service station to refuel. Then you keep driving. No limit. Why would you want to change that? Why would you want to plan your life around recharging times, or restructure your vehicle fleet around battery availability? Can your business afford to have its assets tied up as much as one-third of the time? An Electric Fuel zinc-air battery is refueled in a matter of minutes at a fleet service depot, or, later on, at a neighborhood gas station. The battery's discharged zinc anode cassettes are quickly removed by an automated refueling machine and charged cassettes are inserted. Charged cassettes are supplied from a regeneration facility (much as gasoline is supplied by a refinery), and discharged cassettes are returned there for regeneration (recycling and recharging). No need to rewire entire cities. No need for multi-Megawatt EV charging stations. No need to rewire homes, parking lots, shopping malls, and who knows where else EV's might be recharged. Instead, an electric vehicle that's available all the time. You drive a few hundred miles, and then stop for a few minutes at a service station to refuel. Then you keep driving. No limit. That's the Electric Fuel system solution.