On 25 Apr 2017 at 16:49, fred ungewitter via EV wrote: > ... nickel metal hydride, "antique" technology to be sure, but quite a > development when it appeared on the market, prior to being squelched.
Anyone who's used good quality NiMH cells in a flashlight or camera knows how stable and long-lived they are. (I have some that I've been cycling since 2006 with essentially no decline in capacity.) What's more, the Panasonic modules Toyota used for the RAV4-EV were uncommonly high quality batteries. They have a reputation for routinely lasting well over 100k miles in those EVs. NiMH doesn't have as high a specific energy as lithium, but it still makes a pretty good EV battery -- or would have, if not for Chevron/Cobasys large battery patent encumbering literally prohibiting the manufacure of modules large enough to work in road EVs. And here again we also see Panasonic's nose under the door, because Stan Ovshinsky's patent suit against Panasonic didn't help adoption either. Together these developments hobbled large NiMH batteries for EVs, and kept them from reaching any significant economy of scale. As I understand it (someone please correct me if this is wrong), most of the encumbering patents have finally expired. A couple of years ago (2015) it was all over the EV blogs that BASF was working on improving NiMH's specific energy. Their pie-in-the-sky claim was that they could raise it tenfold. That's frankly incredible (by which I mean "not believeable"). However, even a doiubling or tripling of SE would make NiMH competitive with lithium batteries, especially if they retained their well-known longevity and safety. Alas, I've heard nothing more about BASF's work since then; has anyone else? David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
