BBC - Reports on LiPo4 Battery that 'charges in seconds'

[cianof]

Just read this on the BBC science page.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7938001.stm

Tunnels..., beltways..., does not lose its capacity to charge over time.

Interesting stuff.

[ChrisB]

Now that would make for an interesting EV , at last a re-charge time that would near refueling time of your average ICE car

ChrisB

[qdos]

It sounds great BUT..........

You've got to deliver all that charge down a wire into the batteries. That's going to be a pretty meaty wire.

[ChrisB]

Well yes there is that issue, but then if lots of folk converted to EV's now with home chargers I suspect we'd run into supply issues anyway

ChrisB

[GregsGarage]

More importantly, they also give higher rates of discharge so should finally give us lithium cells that can rival AGM batteries for power output. While lithiums hold more energy than lead, a good AGM battery can deliver much more power than a lithium cell. If these batteries become availible to buy, should allow smaller packs for conversions.

[qdos]

Funny you should mention that Greg I was thinking along the same lines. all very interesting and rather exciting only these stories often take years to materialise in the real world. My thoughts though are on the discharge rate being alarmingly high to cause a lot of damage to what ever it is connected across the terminals not least of all human flesh..... Could be rather dangerous these new devices I'm thinking. Really they are not far short of capacitors.

I'm thinking it may not be long before regulations come into play making tinkering with electric vehicles somewhat limited to certified trades

[ChrisB]

I'm thinking it may not be long before regulations come into play making tinkering with electric vehicles somewhat limited to certified trades

Lets not think about it too much but as you say its only going to take a few bonfires and the odd person fried on a high voltage system and the cotton wool brigade will come out in force and from then on you might as well kiss goodbye to fiddling about with EV's

ChrisB

[retepsnikrep]

I had a 15V 56F maxwell super capacitor in my old van as the auxillary battery buffer, fed by the dc-dc converter.

I didn't like going near it when it was charged, thinking about the power it could deliver in a split second to melt my spanners

A 100V+ setup with the same power delivery capability would make a spectacular bang if shorted.

Some serious DC fuses required

If you get yourself across a HV supply it won't matter much what's supplying the power if it can reach your vitals at the wrong levels

Nor will it matter much if it gets shorted and can't be interrupted as something will be going bang/on fire.

I suppose it may cause parts of you to explode along the current path a bit like when people get struck by lightning.

Perhaps we shouldn't use them for that reason?

The bit about not being able to tinker will really irk me if that ever becomes reality

[geekygrilli]

On similar lines...what cells are the F1 KERS systems using? The spec, I think, is 80bhp for 6.7 sec per lap

Are they using super capacitors? I read that BMW had a concern with an engineer getting a shock, and the drivers are a bit wary of the systems.

Also, and I've been wondering about this for years (not constantly, though!) - what distinguishes a battery cell for a capacitor?

[evisfuture]

that would not happen soon.