GM talks up EV battery longevity tech
'Leccy Tech With some of our media colleagues giving the distinct impression that the current cold snap is on a par with the one that stopped the Wehrmacht at the gates of Moscow in 1941, Green Fuels Forecast have had a timely chat with some senior General Motors staffers about battery lifespans and operating temperature issues.
Temperature is a big deal with it comes to 'leccy vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries for the simple reason that below about -10°C their performance drops off rapidly – as indeed it does above 60°C too, but far more of us are likely to driving around in the former temperature than the latter.
In due course, new generations of Li-ion battery electrolytes may overcome the problem, as indeed may new types of battery - one of the claims Altairnano makes for its NanoSafe battery is an operating temperature envelope of between -30°C and 249°C - but in the short term, battery management is the only way to go.
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