The AW Research one day conference "Hybrid and Electric Vehicles: Powertrain Development, Technology and Trends" in London 14 July was addressed by chairman of the meeting.
Simon Arbuthnot of Ricardo Strategic Consulting plus
Peter Wright - Jaguar Land Rover Hybrid Controls Manager
Phil Barker - Lotus Engineering Chief Engineer - Hybrid and EV Technology
Dave Goodwin - ABSL Power Solutions Business Development Manager
Dr. Michael Lamperth -EVO Electric Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Nick Ford - Frost and Sullivan Consulting Senior Automotive Consultant
From their presentations and from discussion with the thirty or so delegates, IDTechEx learnt of many new types of electric vehicle that they are working on. This includes a tugboat loaded with batteries that gives a huge clean power surge to get a mega ship moving and a hybrid electric aircraft by Flax Power in the Isle of Man UK where those all electric motor bike races take place and the Bladon Jets next generation range extender is made.
The main takeaways from the speakers were that cost is the most important barrier to commercial rollouts and, with hybrids, the fact that hybridisation impacts almost everything in the existing vehicle. Indeed, some speakers argued that the big car firms do not have an advantage by having traditional vehicle platforms to hybridise and it is often better to start again. They warned that there is no inherently safe lithium cell - there are just some that are less likely to runaway thermally than others.
Ricardo could see little or no mass market for pure electric cars though that did not extend to saying that the Nissan Leaf would not meet its 200,000 a year target. There was much reference to Ragone plots by some of the speakers which could give the impression to a newcomer that the less wet lithium polymer electrolyte structure and lithium iron phosphate cathodes are in trouble whereas they are taking market share for other reasons beyond energy and power density as was elaborated by some of the speakers noting safety and environmental credentials etc. Although there is some trend towards flat pouch (said to be the most compact) and prismatic battery cells, there was caution that they bring hot spot and movement challenges in some cases. There may be a trend towards laminar battery packs supporting printed electrics using T-Ink, Inc technology, we believe. There is some trend towards higher voltages. Lithium air batteries may be 20 years away, they told us. Will the lithium sulphur batteries of Oxis Energy Ltd have an opportunity for mainstream use before that? More humble advances proceed however and silicon anodes were predicted to assist in achieving 350 KWh/kg in five years and lithium tin anodes viable in 5-10 years. Battery Management Systems BMS can now be cell agnostic.
Faraday's original electric motor was a disc motor, the equivalent of the disc brake, yet today's traction motors are cylindrical, equivalent to the drum brake. Come Back Faraday All Is Forgiven seemed to be the message of EVO Electric with a very exciting "axial flux motor" ie his original version like a disc brake, with huge savings in materials and space and a road map to a remarkably simple hybrid that can even be a £10,500 retrofit, replacing the gearbox and with a two year payback on a commercial vehicle. Double the miles per gallon of polluting internal combustion engined vehicles is in prospect. The only cited disadvantage was the escalation in cost and complexity if the vehicle is to go at over 100 mph. KPIT Cummins of India will announce a remarkable new hybrid retrofit at Future of Electric Vehicles in San Jose 7-8 December.
The panel discussions were illuminating with everyone negative about battery swapping due to lack of standardisation and fear of swapping your new battery for a bad old one. All were negative about fuel cells because of the need for a formidable battery to manage their power and electrics to compensate for voltage drop when current is taken. Lack of reliability of fuel cells and of expensive refuelling infrastructure were also cited. Nick Ford of Frost & Sullivan said new entrants will die but Simon Arbuthnot argues the opposite. Some speakers saw a new paradigm where standard parts make small manufacturers more viable. We have already heard such arguments from people such as Donald Wu, of Pihsiang in Taiwan, the world leader in mobility scooters for the disabled, who now has a microcar in his range.
For more attend Future of Electric Vehicles which uniquely covers the whole electric vehicle market - land, sea, air whether hybrid or pure EV - with emphasis on future breakthroughs.
Also read Electric Vehicles 2010-2020, which uniquely covers the whole electric vehicle market - land, sea, air whether hybrid or pure EV - with emphasis on future breakthroughs.
