Toshiba SCiB EV Battery Lasts Longer Than 4 EVs
Posted by Max Dunn Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:55:00 GMT
Battery life has always been a big concern of electric vehicles (EV). Being the most expensive element of an EV, if they don’t last long it would drastically increase the cost of owning an EV. Early ead acid batteries last about 300 to 500 cycles, which is good for only a year or two of driving. Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries are much better, lasting about 1,500 cycles and with a 100 mile range, this would give a life of 150,000 miles, or about the same as the life of the car.
However, Toshiba has been working on a new battery technology with a greatly increased life span of 6,000 cycles. This would give an EV a lifetime range of about 600,000 miles, or enough to swap into 4 different EVs! Imagine that you buy an EV and 10 years later it is starting to fall apart, but you can use your batteries for your next EV greatly reducing the cost of your subsequent EVs.
Another advantage of the SCiB technology is that it is safer and can withstand fast charging. Now word on price or when it will be available, but they are working with Mitsubishi and several other partners to bring it to market.
Source: AutoBlog Green: Toshiba partners with Mitsubishi for development of li-ion SCiB EV batteries