Yes, EV batteries are durable! (from gristmill...

The following is a guest post by Marc Geller, who blogs at Plugs and Cars, serves on the board of directors of the Electric Auto Association, cofounded Plug In America and DontCrush.com, and appeared in Who Killed The Electric Car.

Menahem Anderman, PhD, is Mister Battery Consultant. The California Air Resources Board, DOE, and Congress all seem to turn to him to analyze the state of battery technology. His reports always suggest batteries won't quite cut it for freeway-capable cars.

His report at CARB in 2003 seemed to suggest the electric cars then on the road couldn't be functioning as well as they were. Drivers of electric cars were stunned at his low opinion of the state of battery technology. He's always called upon, contracted with, and his report inevitably finds batteries wanting.

At EVS23, he stopped at the Plug In America booth to challenge what he felt was the overly optimistic tone taken by these advocates in their questioning at various sessions. One of the things he specifically said to Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids, to demonstrate the inadequacy of NiMH in electric cars was that the batteries have been replaced in many of Southern California Edison's fleet of RAV4-EVs. Chelsea Sexton of Plug In America inquired of Ed Kjaer at SCE to find out what the truth is. Here's what Mr. Kjaer wrote in response to the inquiry:

How he [Anderman] arrives at this fanciful assertion is frankly mystifying to us.

Were he to actually ask we would tell him that the majority of our EV fleet has consisted of '98 and '99 MY RAV4 vehicles. Of the almost 14,000 NiMH battery modules powering these EVs only a little less than 0.5% had to be replaced!

A powerful testament to Toyota and Panasonic design, quality, durability and reliability. And what is even more impressive is the fact that these vehicles were from the 1990's.

Hopefully this answers Sherry's question ... for the record!

Getting a government contract to express one's informed opinion about batteries is one thing. That Mr Anderman always find them wanting despite evidence to the contrary is, perhaps, his right. But spreading malicious falsehoods without asking for evidence from those in the know suggests a lack of professionalism that ought raise questions about his analysis and methodology. It's past time for CARB and other agencies to broaden their search for objective consultants to analyze the state of battery technology.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

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5 Comments

Yeap

And they only get better when you go into nanolithium.
http://greyfalcon.net/quickcharge3.png

If thats not stable enough, I don't know what is.

by GreyFlcn at 2:50 PM on 19 Dec 2007

So who is this guy?

Or more to the point, what's his vested interest?

Consistently pessimistic estimates of the capabilities of batteries in cars could simply be a matter of conservative engineering estimates. Too conservative, perhaps, but that's probably better than the alternative.

However, the bit about the RAV4 batteries suggests that there may be some more nefarious motivation.

by GreenEngineer at 3:06 PM on 19 Dec 2007

my plug in!

deal is done, the car will be delivered in January. pictures to follow.

by robertogreen at 3:30 PM on 19 Dec 2007

Why are they still talking about NiMH batteries?

Last I heard, they are more expensive now than in the 90s' due to a shortage of nickel. I suspect they are about to be eclipsed by the newer nanotechnology batteries. I've used NiCads and NiMH in power tools for many years. These nano phospates are incredible.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 4:27 PM on 19 Dec 2007

Thats because

Thats because NiMH is actually quite stable.

Thats why Toyota uses it in their Prius's, and has been reluctant to move to lithium.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/06/report_toyota_w.h ...

The catch being I thought it was Chevron which held a copyright on the ability to make large-format NiMH batteries. (And hence why Toyota was forced to close down their EV-Rav-4 division)
http://www.ev1.org/msg/19.htm

That said, I doubt Nickel is in short supply.

If anything Lithium is probably in shorter supply.
Especially considering there's a lot of competing applications for lithium which might be able to pay a higher price for it.

If we were allowed to use NiMH for electric car development legit, then that would lower the cost of the batteries down to only a third the cost.

i.e. It would near instantly make electric cars cost effective.

by GreyFlcn at 7:32 PM on 19 Dec 2007
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Yes, EV batteries are durable! (from gristmill.grist.com)

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