A Zinc Car Battery Developed by a Taiwan Energy Company: Battery Technology: Eco20/20

A Zinc Car Battery Developed by a Taiwan Energy Company

One of the biggest cost factors in buying an electric car is in the battery itself. The current types can run from $15,000-20,000 for a compact car. That is a lot of money for the average family to come up with and does not include the cost of the car itself. Taiwan's Advanced Power and Energy Services Transportation (APET) have created several different types of fuel cells as well as working on an electric car of its own.

The zinc-air fuel cell is meant to power the plug in type vehicles and is considered to be far superior to the lithium ion battery in many ways. The main by product of the reaction that generates power from the zinc air battery is a zinc oxide which can either be converted back to zinc so that it can be used for fuel or sold off as a chemical. While it is safer, the zinc air battery does have its drawbacks, namely it does not have nearly the same capacity as the lithium ion battery.

In addition to being much safer, the zinc air battery is far cheaper as well with a fuel cell stack costing $3500 compared to the $15,000-20,000 price tag for li-ion. The lithium ion battery is also prone to runaway thermal reactions which can make them highly unstable and dangerous while the zinc air battery does not have any of these particular tendencies.

Lithium ion batteries have the huge advantage when it comes to pure density however, with over 3400 watt hours of energy per liter compared to just over 830 watt hours per kilogram for the zinc air battery. Handled and used correctly, the fear of failure and fire may be reduced; however they are not going to match the safety of the zinc air battery no matter how carefully you handle them.

If the energy density could be raised in the zinc air battery without losing either the cost or safety advantages, then it would be a huge competitor for the lithium ion battery in the very near future. However, because it does have such low capacities, it may not be worth it to the average user at this time. Most people use an electric car to get them to where they need to go - which is generally farther than what they could walk. If the low battery capacity is going to leave them walking anyway it is not worth it, at least, not yet.