Eco Factor: Electric car designed to be powered by zinc batteries.
Advanced Power and Energy Sources Transportation (APET) in Hong Kong is trying to revolutionize electric cars with a unique car that runs on zinc batteries and doesn’t need a plug-in recharge. The car dubbed Salamander will run on zinc air battery technology that till date has been used in hearing aids.
The car will rely on the generation of energy in a zinc battery when it reacts with oxygen from air. Since the car won’t need a plug-in recharge, the vehicle will well be green in every sense. APET is working on a battery that is lightweight, cheap, reusable and rechargeable – the four things that conventional zinc air batteries don’t have.
The resulting car will have a battery that has twice as much Wh/kg (watt hours/kilogram) than a lithium-polymer (Li-Po) solution and four times as much as a nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) one. The cost is also expected to be just one-tenth of a Li-Po solution and one-fifth of a NiMH one.
The ZOE (Zinc Oxygen Energy) battery will be designed to allow the casing to be removed and reused with a fresh batch of zinc. The discharged zinc oxide will also be converted back into zinc in solar furnaces which will capture and concentrate sunlight for the conversion to take place.
Via: Gas2
