Ford outlines aggressive EV strategy - battery electric small car in 2011

Lithium-ion technology key to EVs

Lithium-ion is the latest in electric vehicle battery technology. While the chemistry is similar to the batteries used in consumer goods like laptops and mobile phones, the demands to power a vehicle are different enough to require significantly more intensive technology development. Lithium-ion batteries are lighter and more power efficient that the nickel metal hydride batteries used in both Ford and Toyota hybrid electric vehicles.

For decades, the automobile battery was an essentially static technology, but it’s no longer being taken for granted. Battery technology is now in a starring role in the development of a new generation of electrified vehicles.

But today’s batteries are a far cry from the humble lead-acid battery used for a century in the automobile. The 12-volt lead-acid battery used in traditional automotive applications is rapidly giving way to sophisticated, higher energy and power batteries as the automobile industry shifts further toward electrification.

The advent of hybrid electric vehicles spawned a new generation of batteries, making nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries the energy storage technology of choice. The nickel used in these batteries is lighter than lead, helping the battery deliver twice the power output for the weight as lead-acid batteries, but the cost of Ni-MH batteries is high – four times that of lead acid. Automakers already believe they have tapped most of the potential of Ni-MH technology and are moving rapidly toward Lithium-ion technology.

Lithium-ion batteries are commonplace in the world of consumer electronics. They’re lighter and more energy dense than other types of batteries, making them ideal for laptop computers, mobile phones and other portable devices.

The variant of lithium-ion battery used in laptops and other mobile devices is completely unacceptable for use in cars because automobile batteries have a much harder job than a laptop or phone battery. Cars have to work in huge temperature extremes, stand up to more shocks and vibrations and a much higher energy throughput than consumer electronics goods. And an automobile is expected to have a 10-year lifespan, something most laptop or cell phone owners don’t expect of those devices.

Intensive development work by Ford and other manufacturers is underway to develop automotive lithium-ion technology for the auto industry, and Ford feel confident as they point to the robustness of its hybrid technology with the Ford Escape Hybrid. In New York, some Escape Hybrid taxis have clocked more than 300,000 miles of reliable service.

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