Zinc-bromine battery design for electric vehicles

Abstract

Design projections for zinc-bromine batteries are attractive for electric vehicle applications in terms of low manufacturing costs ($28/kWh) and good performance characteristics. Zinc-bromine battery projections (60-80 Wh/kg, 130-200 W/kg) compare favorably to both current lead acid batteries and proposed advanced battery candidates. The performance of recently developed battery components with 1200 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> electrodes in a 120V, 10 kWh module is described. Similarly constructed smaller scale (600 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> ) components have shown lifetimes exceeding 400 cycles and the ability to follow both regenerative braking (J227aD) and random cycling regimes. Initial dynamometer evaluations of full scale 20 kWh batteries is expected in early 1984.