Altair NanoSafe - top dog?
I went to the SF auto show, and learned two things that made it worthwhile (forget the Ferraris, been there, done that).
First was Phoenix Motorcars. Nice Truck! 95 mph (controller limited), >100 mile range, $45K. Right now only fleet sales.
Second was Altair NanoSafe batteries - they power the Phoenix. Holy $#!+. Yes, it's going to require a sophisticated BMS. And they won't be cheap. But no matter, and here's why (ok, not proven, but it's on the datasheet I have):
Currently shipping to OEMs. Won't be too long before they find their way into other applications.
Recharge the pack in <10 minutes! Can discharge at 100C. Can charge at 50C. (you may need a 200 amp socket!)
15,000 cycles. Yep, 15,000 cycles. They believe up to 20 year life span.
NO thermal runaway. Hot-box tested to over 200 degrees C.
Current module is 13.8V, 88 Ah package. Sound familiar? They don't give dimensions or weight - but hey, the auto show is still open - take a tape measure! The hood was closed when I was there, and the Phoenix guy didn't show up, show I can't give you impressions.
They don't have quite the density of current Lithiums. Judging from the whitepaper on their site, I would guess 60%. This is more of a problem for two wheelers, with their limited storage space. But for cars, this is a no brainer. Look for yourself at theit website, altairnano.com. I tried putting that in the post, but it screwed things up - this had to be edited.
Yes, the jury's still out, and I'm also waiting for FireFly, et al. But these guys are here today, look good, and are most definitely not the Chinese vendors offering me "custom batterys (sic) for your application".
I'll see what I can do about uploading the datasheet - it's not on their website.
Patrick
I don't know about Altair Nano - but I believe Pheonix Motors went bust.
No, they're not busted, at least not as of June 10:
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/06/10/plug-in-vehicles-face-speed-bumps-with-federal-fleet/
Yes, the jury's still out, and I'm also waiting for FireFly, et al. But these guys are here today, look good, and are most definitely not the Chinese vendors offering me "custom batterys (sic) for your application".
Don't hold your breath waiting for FireFly, EESTOR, or any of the other hype-masters. Last I heard Firefly released some prototypes of their batteries and, contrary to the hype, they weigh almost as much as traditional lead-acid batteries. Yes, they're less fragile and have some other good features, but I bet they're going to charge a fortune for them.
Altair-Nano is alive and well and growing at a very fast rate. I just met with the vp of sales about a month ago and he said the hope to have a major production line online by the end of July. They have new battery systems that can store 3 to 4 megawatts of energy for power companies. ( think of it as a megawatt UPS).
What all this means to the EV bike and car community is a super rapid charge battery system.
Unlike most Li-Ion batteries they will not catch on fire or over heat as they have a safety shut down feature in them.
is there any upgrade version about this?