Batteries and the RAV4 EV Experience

Lithium Ion

This has to be the most popular long range battery on the market today (Figure 8-10). The advances is this technology make it the next best solution for the present and the future. The lithium ion moves between an anode to the cathode during discharge and the cathode to the anode during recharging. It is extremely popular in consumer electronics and now power tools. It is light, has a slow energy degradation and no memory issues.

A123 Systems out of Watertown, Massachusetts has developed an amazing lithium ion battery being used in plug-in hybrid technologies from Hymotion™ using a Nanophosphate™ chemistry that was coordinated with the US Department of Energy. It is being used in hybrid electric transit buses (Orion buses), airplanes for when the airplane is docked at an airport for power and will soon be in hybrid electric cars so that they can even be more efficient than they are today. There was recently an electric motorcycle developed called the KillaCycle that uses the A123 batteries. It did a race that was shown on the cable show Planet Green and went 168 mph in 7.824 seconds. Bill Dube (Owner) and his team must be proud of their accomplishments! Keep it up!

Batteries and the RAV4 EV Battery Experience

Ron admits that clearly the RAV4-EV is best fit for those driving less than 100 miles per day.

Quick History

In 1997, the RAV4-EV was made by Toyota Motor Corporation mostly for the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Zero Emissions Mandate (ZEV). The cars were originally leased to commercial entities (such as the New York Power Authority) and other electric utilities. In 2002 they were sold to people for about $40,000 each. Ron added that CARB

Figure 8-10 Litium ion battery.

surveyed vehicles drove over 5 million ZEV miles. This translated to approximately 2,900 fewer tons of carbon dioxide released (assuming the CA average of 17 mpg and 19.54 lbs. per gallon). The batteries made the difference in drivers displacing additional gasoline trips and reducing their carbon footprint.

I love the RAV4 EV driving experience because of the batteries. I use to drive it all over NYC and Westchester County. All the time in New York City and White Plains, I remember people asking me when they could get a RAV4 EV and does the vehicle have a good range. All I could say was, hopefully soon and I can go from White Plains down to a meeting in New York City and back on a single charge. That is what batteries can do today!!

Batteries

The RAV4 batteries were nickel metal hydride (NiMH), which was an improvement (higher capacity) over the ECD model used in the GM EV-1 Gen II. The traction pack performed admirably, when air cooled, over 100 freeway miles at 65 miles per hour in good condition. Even with over 100,000 miles, this pack still could deliver this same kind of freeway performance. Traveling in mountainous areas meant incorporating energy expenditures of about 10 percent for every 1,000 feet of elevation climbed. (Regeneration helped reduce losses.)

Squelching Concern About Battery Degradation

As we all know, a car when left for long periods of time can deteriorate, with fuel fouling and more. In an electric car, prolonged periods of non-use might see a deterioration of maximal range if lead-acid technology were used. (Note: This is the main reason the most popular batteries on the market will not be the battery of the future.) Those batteries need regular exercise to maintain capability.

The RAV4 batteries never had this type of degradation. According to Freund, “If left in the cold winter of western Pennsylvania or at the LAX airport while owners were away, full capability was immediately available upon resumption of service. This is clearly much slower than stored hydrogen (for comparison to FCEV’s).”

In general, Toyota proved with an electric car that batteries have to be an issue regarding range.

“Furthermore,” Freund concluded, “given the indisputable environmental and national security benefits of shifting even a small fraction of our many petroleumdriven miles to the electric grid, and given the outstanding performance of the RAV4 EV with NiMH batteries—it is a tragedy that this choice does not exist in the market today. CARB and Toyota should celebrate this product success and take steps to allow Californians to choose whether to drive on petroleum or electricity. Plug-in cars provide that choice, and as battery and energy storage technology continues to inevitably improve, the inclusion of electricity in the transportation of tomorrow is inescapable.”

So the next time someone tells you that an electric car will not work because of its batteries, you can tell them the truth (which can only set us free—from oil).