Green Energy News | April 26, 1998

April 26, 1998 – Vol.3 No.4

ENERGIES... week of April 26,1998

THE COST OF EV BATTERIES. A potential buyer of an electric vehicle might ask three simple questions. How far will it go on a single charge? How long does it take to recharge? What does the car cost?

Energy Research Corporation of Danbury, Connecticut thinks EV batteries should be considered on a cost-per-mile basis, not just the cost of the batteries. When cycle life (the number of charge/recharge cycles a battery can endure) is included in a cost-per-mile comparison, often the more expensive battery wins.

In an identical test of ERC’s nickel-zinc battery with the stock lead-acid battery in a German built TRAPOS electric delivery van, ERC’s battery not only cost one-third as much per mile but went more than twice as far - 44 miles stock, 106 miles on the ERC battery.

Though the off-the-shelf-cost of the ERC battery is more than the stock lead-acid battery of the TRAPOS vehicle, the ERC battery can withstand more cycles, thus doesn’t need to be replaced as often. Given a set cost of $0.06 per kWh for electricity to charge the battery, the cost per mile for the lead-acid battery was $0.15 and $0.05 for the ERC battery.

But as ERC says, “these calculations make certain assumptions, your mileage may vary.” The high cost of some advanced batteries helps keep the cost of EV’s at elevated levels.

ANOTHER VIEW OF BATTERY COSTS. Electric Fuel Corporation thinks that the overall battery cost should be considered. But their zinc-air battery is different - it is never recharged. Their battery is a replaceable “cassette” which is removed and recycled at special facilities.

Electric Fuel recently introduced a new production version of their battery which has 45% fewer parts and is a modular design, making it easier to integrate into many vehicle designs. The improvement in design and production on an automated assembly line have brought down the cost of the new battery.

Calculating the cost-per-mile basis of the Electric Fuel zinc-air battery would be complicated, as it would have to include the cost of recycling facilities, which could vary by location.

LOWERING THE COST OF SOLAR POWER. AstroPower of Newark, Delaware has introduced a new line of low-cost solar cells and power modules - the APex (tm) line. The new line is the first to use the company’s proprietary Silicon-Film (tm) manufacturing process where the APex material is formed as a continuous sheet similar to making glass or sheet steel. Typical solar cell manufacturing is a batch-style process derived from the computer chip industry.

The ease of manufacturing brings the cost down. The two new products introduced are the APX-45 and APX-90 power modules, rated at 45 and 90 watts respectively.