Electric vehicle
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| Table 3.4 Nominal battery parameters for sodium sulfur batteries. As always, the performance figures depend on usage Specific energy Wh kg −1 (potentially 200 Wh kg −1 ) Energy density Wh l −1 Specific power W kg −1 Nominal cell voltage V Amphour efficiency Very good Internal resistance Broadly similar to NiCad Commercially available Not on the market at all Operating temperature 300–350 ◦ C Self-discharge Quite low, but when not in use energy must be supplied to keep the battery warm Number of life cycles to 80% capacity Recharge time h 48 Electric Vehicle Technology Explained, Second Edition Because of the need for good thermal insulation small batteries are impractical. The battery heating and cooling needs careful design and management. Although the sodium sulfur battery has considerable promise, worries about the safety of two reactive materials separated by a brittle ceramic tube have largely resulted in the batteries not appearing on the commercial market. These fears were boosted by spontaneous fires involving test vehicles during trials. 3.5.3 Sodium Metal Chloride (ZEBRA) Batteries The sodium metal chloride or Zebra 3 battery is in many ways similar to the sodium sulfur battery and has many of this battery’s advantages. However, with this system most (and some would say all) of the safety worries associated with the sodium sulfur battery have been overcome. The principal reason for the greater safety of the Zebra cells is the use of the solid positive electrolyte which is separated from the molten sodium metal by both solid and liquid electrolytes. It is certainly the case that prototype Zebra batteries have passed qualification tests for Europe, including rigorous tests such as crashing the cell at kph into a steel pole (Vincent and Scrosati, 1997, p. 272). This battery has considerable promise and it can be obtained commercially. The Zebra cell uses solid nickel chloride for the positive electrode and molten sodium for the negative electrode. Two electrodes are used, a beta ceramic electrode surrounding the sodium and a secondary electrolyte, sodium–aluminium chloride, is used in the positive electrode chamber. Chlorine ions are the mobile ion in the electrolyte. The electrical energy on discharge is obtained by combining sodium with nickel chloride to give nickel and sodium chloride. The overall chemical reaction which takes place in the Zebra battery is Na+ NiCl 2 ↔ Ni + 2 NaCl Figure 3.10 shows the reactions at each electrode during the middle and early part of the discharge of the cell. This reaction produces an open-circuit voltage of about V per cell. In the later stages of the discharge the reactions become more complex, involving aluminium ions from the electrolyte, and resulting in a lower voltage. Indeed an unfortunate feature of this type of cell is the way that the cell voltage falls during discharge, from about 2.5 V down to around 1.6 V. The internal resistance of the cell also increases, further affecting the output voltage. Nevertheless, as can be seen from the data in Table 3.5, the specific energy is very high, even with these effects. A major problem with the Zebra battery is that it needs to operate at a temperature of about C, similar to the sodium sulfur battery. Heat insulation is maintained by the use of a double-skinned stainless steel box, with 2–3 cm of insulation between the two skins. All the air is removed from the insulation, and the vacuum is maintained for several years. Nevertheless, unless it is fora very short period, a few hours, these batteries need to be kept connected to a mains supply when not in use. This is to keep the battery hot, and is a major limitation to their application. As an example, the battery shown in Figure which fits neatly under the seat of a battery electric car, holds an impressive 17.8 kWh 3 ZEBRA is an acronym for the Zero Emissions Battery Research Association. However, it has now rather lost this connection, and is used as a name for this type of battery. |