Saft has a very interesting NiMH cell on their website - 109AH with a 1200 cycle life. They will assemble them in 12 or 24 volt monoblocks. These are water cooled and made for EVs. Put out high current and fast charging.
These are probably the ones they were going to produce in Georgia before California backed down. I don't know if these are actually available now or not. Large batteries are constructed different from the small tool and computer batteries. My guess is that the lack of a good charger/battery management in the computers and tools killed the batteries. NiMH don't like heat. Will be interesting to see how the Li-ion batteries hold up. Dave Davidson Laurel, MD 1993 Dodge TEVan >From: Seth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Anti-NiMH rant. was: No more Ford Th!nk EV >Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 12:04:15 -0400 > >"David Roden (Akron OH USA)" wrote: > > <snip> > > I believe that where NiMH is concerned, economy of scale would have >arrived > > by now if California had stuck to its original timetable instead of >backing > > down. Saft, for one, had plans to build an NiMH plant in Georgia, but > > shelved them when the original EV goal was chucked. ><unsnip> > >I am a big fan of advanced batteries, but I am yet to see a mature NiMH >battery pack that weighs more than a few pounds. Or a cell that weighs >more than a few ounces. I can't count how many failed when I was at my >last job, between thermal or depth of discharge failures. And I am not >sure that even the small mass produced celly are truly reliable yet. >Anyone who has owned a NiMH powered laptop or drill or radio controlled >car/boat/plane knows this. Laptops have moved on to Lithium Ion and many >drills have stepped back to NiCd. Like Makita for example. > >EV folks will pull over and bypass a smoking 90Ah NiMH cell on the side >of the road on the drive to work, but John/Jane Doe the consumer won't. >I would love for NiMH to work, and I think it is close, but it has been >close for a while and it just isn't "here" yet. > >Seth >-- >vze3v25q@verizondotnet _________________________________________________________________ Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com
