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Ex-Navy officer turned inventor signs a multi-million deal to produce his electric car battery that will take drivers 1,500 miles without needing to charge
Not an idea but a reality, some highlights of the article:
Father-of-eight invents an electric car battery to take drivers 1,500 miles without charging it | Daily Mail Online
(Words in blue were added by me for clarification in US terms.)
That was just some highlights, much more info in the article and well worth the read.
Not an idea but a reality, some highlights of the article:
A revolutionary new type of battery which, unlike those used in conventional electric cars, can also power buses, huge lorries (trucks) and even aircraft. What's more, it's far simpler and cheaper to make than the batteries currently in use in millions of electric vehicles around the world and, unlike them, it can easily be recycled.
Austin Electric, an engineering firm based in Essex, which now owns the rights to use the old Austin Motor Company logo, will begin putting thousands of them into electric vehicles next year.
Scientists had discovered that by dipping aluminium into a chemical solution known as an electrolyte, they could trigger a reaction between the metal and air to produce electricity. At that time the method was useless for commercial batteries because the electrolyte was extremely poisonous, and caustic.
After years of experimentation at his workshop in the Cornish village of Callington, Jackson's eureka moment came when he developed a new formula for the electrolyte that was neither poisonous nor caustic.
I've drunk it when demonstrating it to investors, so I can attest to the fact that it's harmless, Jackson says. Another problem with the 1960s version was that it worked only with totally pure aluminium, which is very expensive.
But Jackson's electrolyte works with much lower-purity metal, including recycled drinks cans. (Aluminum cans) The formula, which is top secret, is the key to his device.
And once an aluminium-air fuel cell is spent, it can be recycled very cheaply. According to Jackson, the cost of recycling means the running costs of an aluminium-air powered car would work out at 7p per mile. (about 10.5 cents US)
Drivers with cars that depend on lithium-ion have to charge their batteries from the mains when they are spent, a process that takes a long time, often overnight. But when an aluminium-air cell became exhausted, the driver would simply exchange it for a new one.
Instead of a vast network of charging points, all that is necessary are stores where cells can be swapped, just as people already swap propane gas bottles.
Swapping a battery, says Jackson, takes about 90 seconds.
Father-of-eight invents an electric car battery to take drivers 1,500 miles without charging it | Daily Mail Online
(Words in blue were added by me for clarification in US terms.)
That was just some highlights, much more info in the article and well worth the read.