Tests Back Bold Range Claims for Audi A2 Electric Car
Some automakers and environmentalists are convinced that electric vehicles are the next big thing. Others however remain skeptical and to date, there’s little indication that EVs will be embraced by most drivers, due to the factors of cost, weight and range limitation.
Nevertheless new claims are being advertised all the time about improved range and lower cost becoming achievable from Lithium based batteries. Tesla Motors lays claim to a capacity of 56 kW hours and a range of 254 miles as used in its two-seat Roadster, but now battery maker Kolibri is stating that it has gone even further.
During a test conducted in Germany, with an Audi A2 converted to EV propulsion by DBM Energy/Lekker Energie and fitted with a Kolibri battery pack system, a total distance of 375 miles was claimed for the vehicle before re-charging.
Naturally, the results were quickly met with skepticism, further fueled by the car being destroyed in a warehouse fire afterwards (the battery pack did survive).
However, the inspection organization Dekkra conducted tests of an A2 on a chassis dynometer and found that a 63 Kilowatt per hour battery gave the A2 a range of 283 miles, not quite as far as the claims listed by DBM, but still rather impressive by current EV standards. In addition, the German Federal Institute for Materials, Research and Testing also conducted experiments on the Kolibri battery pack. The results? Well the organization claimed that the pack easily passed their safety tests and was judged fit to be installed in passenger vehicles.
As a result of these “successful” conclusions, DBM is now planning full scale field trials of the system later this year. However a great deal of skepticism remains about how well the Kolibri pack will perform in real world conditions – I guess only time will tell.
[Source: New York Times]
More by Huw Evans
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DBM is engaging in a little PR here for their batteries. You don't convince battery buyers of your product by stuffing some into an EV and claiming X number of miles. You provide the specs of your batteries. Those are the only facts that battery buyers care about. As for mileage claims, the Tesla Model S out in about 12 months, is using the newest Panasonic commercially available laptop 18650 battery cells and has a capacity well beyond this Audi (74 kWhrs) and claims a realistic range of 300 miles.
It's not actually the capacity of the pack that is important, it's the size and weight of the pack in relation to capacity that's important. Tesla's Roadster pack is around 900lbs for 53 kwh's, the first DBM pack that went 375 miles was supposed to be around 600lbs for 98 kwh's, a huge improvement. Time will tell if it's real or not but it has passed some third party testing.