US traction battery manufacturer EnerDel has a supply relationship with Nissan and Honda, though not necessarily volume orders, and its relationship with Think is progressing beyond the car. Second generation lithium batteries that are safer and have better performance are incorporated in the Lightning Car Company's Lightning sports car, the KleenSpeed Technologies 200mph Formula One car, the Hawkes Ocean Technologies Deepflight submarines, the PC-Aero pure electric aircraft etc. but even more powerful batteries will be welcome.
A Japanese town near Tokyo is testing cars powered with clean energy. The testing partnership includes Mazda, Think Global, EnerDel and Itochu, a Japanese conglomerate and the tests are taking place in Tsukuba City near Tokyo.
The project aims to comprehensively assess a low-carbon energy network composed of electric vehicles (EVs), rapid chargers, fixed battery stations, solar panels and a car sharing service. Mazda provided three Demios for conversion to EVs, and will assist in determining optimum vehicle specifications and evaluating vehicle performance.
The Mazda2 , which known as the Mazda Demio in Japan, vehicles will be tested in a program which is called Tsukuba Environmental Style Test Project. Similar to Zip Car, customers will have cards that allow them to pick up a car and drive it around as they like, tracking mileage and usage for payment.
The cars rely on solar-generated electricity to charge their batteries, and will be rapidly charged at charging stations at local FamilyMart stores.
Think Global, the Norwegian electric vehicle company, outfitted the cars with their electric drive-trains, and EnerDel provided the solar-charging batteries and charging stations. Solar panels attached to stationary grid-storage units designed by EnerDel will also have rapid-charging stations for the all-electric cars. The stationary storage units, harvesting and storing electricity from solar panels, will supply almost entirely solar-generated electricity for the cars.
EnerDel said that combining battery storage units with rapid re-charging stations will allow for the use of direct current, which is designed to sharply reduce charging time.
Top image of Mazda2, source EV World
For more read : Energy Harvesting and Storage for Electronic Devices 2009-2019
